Pericles

the lie. Simonides Aside. Now, by the gods, I do applaud his courage. Pericles

My actions are as noble as my thoughts,
That never relish’d of a base descent.
I came unto your court for honour’s cause,
And not to be a rebel to her state;
And he that otherwise accounts of me,
This sword shall prove he’s honour’s enemy.

Simonides

No?
Here comes my daughter, she can witness it.

Enter Thaisa. Pericles

Then, as you are as virtuous as fair,
Resolve your angry father, if my tongue
Did e’er solicit, or my hand subscribe
To any syllable that made love to you.

Thaisa

Why, sir, say if you had,
Who takes offence at that would make me glad?

Simonides

Yea, mistress, are you so peremptory?
Aside. I am glad on’t with all my heart.⁠—
I’ll tame you; I’ll bring you in subjection.
Will you, not having my consent,
Bestow your love and your affections
Upon a stranger? Aside. who, for aught I know,
May be, nor can I think the contrary,
As great in blood as I myself.⁠—
Therefore hear you, mistress; either frame
Your will to mine⁠—and you, sir, hear you,
Either be ruled by me, or I will make you⁠—
Man and wife:
Nay, come, your hands and lips must seal it too:
And being join’d, I’ll thus your hopes destroy;
And for a further grief⁠—God give you joy!⁠—
What, are you both pleased?

Thaisa Yes, if you love me, sir. Pericles Even as my life, or blood that fosters it. Simonides What, are you both agreed? Both Yes, if it please your majesty. Simonides

It pleaseth me so well, that I will see you wed;
And then with what haste you can get you to bed. Exeunt.

Act III

	Enter Gower.
Gower	Now sleep yslaked hath the rout; No din but snores the house about, Made louder by the o’er-fed breast Of this most pompous marriage-feast. The cat, with eyne of burning coal, Now crouches fore the mouse’s hole; And crickets sing at the oven’s mouth, E’er the blither for their drouth. Hymen hath brought the bride to bed, Where, by the loss of maidenhead, A babe is moulded. Be attent, And time that is so briefly spent With your fine fancies quaintly eche: What’s dumb in show I’ll plain with speech.
	Dumb Show.
	Enter, Pericles and Simonides at one door, with Attendants; a Messenger meets them, kneels, and gives Pericles a letter: Pericles shows it Simonides; the Lords kneel to him. Then enter Thaisa with child, with Lychorida a nurse. The King shows her the letter; she rejoices: she and Pericles takes leave of her father, and depart with Lychorida and their Attendants. Then exeunt Simonides and the rest.
	By many a dern and painful perch Of Pericles the careful search, By the four opposing coigns Which the world together joins, Is made with all due diligence That horse and sail and high expense Can stead the quest. At last from Tyre, Fame answering the most strange inquire, To the court of King Simonides Are letters brought, the tenour these: Antiochus and his daughter dead; The men of Tyrus on the head Of Helicanus would set on The crown of Tyre, but he will none: The mutiny he there hastes t’ oppress; Says to ’em, if King Pericles Come not home in twice six moons, He, obedient to their dooms, Will take the crown. The sum of this, Brought hither to Pentapolis, Y-ravished the regions round, And every one with claps can sound, “Our heir-apparent is a king! Who dream’d, who thought of such a thing?” Brief, he must hence depart to Tyre: His queen with child makes her desire⁠— Which who shall cross?⁠—along to go: Omit we all their dole and woe: Lychorida, her nurse, she takes, And so to sea. Their vessel shakes On Neptune’s billow; half the flood Hath their keel cut: but fortune’s mood Varies again; the grisly north Disgorges such a tempest forth, That, as a duck for life that dives, So up and down the poor ship drives: The lady shrieks, and well-a-near Does fall in travail with her fear: And what ensues in this fell storm Shall for itself itself perform. I nill relate, action may Conveniently the rest convey; Which might not what by me is told. In your imagination hold This stage the ship, upon whose deck The sea-tost Pericles appears to speak. Exit.

Scene I

	Enter Pericles, on shipboard.
Pericles	Thou god of this great vast, rebuke these surges, Which wash both heaven and hell; and thou, that hast Upon the winds command, bind them in brass, Having call’d them from the deep! O, still Thy deafening, dreadful thunders; gently quench Thy nimble, sulphurous flashes! O, how, Lychorida, How does my queen? Thou stormest venomously; Wilt thou spit all thyself? The seaman’s whistle Is as a whisper in the ears of death, Unheard. Lychorida!⁠—Lucina, O Divinest patroness, and midwife gentle To those that cry by night, convey thy deity Aboard our dancing boat; make swift the pangs Of my queen’s travails!
	Enter Lychorida, with an Infant.
	Now, Lychorida!
Lychorida	Here is a thing too young for such a place, Who, if it had conceit, would die, as I Am like to do: take in your arms this piece Of your dead queen.
Pericles	How, how, Lychorida!
Lychorida	Patience, good sir; do not assist the storm. Here’s all that is left living of your queen, A little daughter: for the sake of it, Be manly, and take comfort.
Pericles	O you gods! Why do you make us love your goodly gifts, And snatch them straight away? We here below Recall not what we give, and therein may Use honour with you.
Lychorida	Patience, good sir, Even for this charge.
Pericles	Now, mild may be thy life! For a more blustrous birth had never babe: Quiet and gentle thy conditions! for Thou art the rudeliest welcome to this world That ever was prince’s child. Happy what follows! Thou hast as chiding a nativity As fire, air, water, earth, and heaven can make, To herald thee from the womb: even at the first Thy loss is more than can thy portage quit, With all thou canst find here. Now, the good gods Throw their best eyes upon’t!
	Enter two Sailors.
First Sailor	What courage, sir? God save you!
Pericles	Courage enough: I do not fear the flaw; It hath done to me the worst. Yet, for the love Of this poor infant, this fresh-new sea-farer, I would it would be quiet.
First