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The Temple of DIANA at Ephesus; THAISA standing near the altar, as high priestess; a number of Virgins on each side; CERIMON and other Inhabitants of Ephesus attending. | |
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Enter PERICLES, with his Train; LYSIMACHUS, HELICANUS, MARINA, and a Lady. | |
| Per. Hail, Dian! to perform thy just command, | |
| I here confess myself the King of Tyre; | |
| Who, frighted from my country, did wed | 5 |
| At Pentapolis the fair Thaisa. | |
| At sea in childbed died she, but brought forth | |
| A maid-child call’d Marina; who, O goddess! | |
| Wears yet thy silver livery. She at Tarsus | |
| Was nurs’d with Cleon, whom at fourteen years | 10 |
| He sought to murder; but her better stars | |
| Brought her to Mitylene, ’gainst whose shore | |
| Riding, her fortunes brought the maid aboard us, | |
| Where, by her own most clear remembrance, she | |
| Made known herself my daughter. | 15 |
| Thai. Voice and favour! | |
| You are, you are—O royal Pericles!— [She faints. | |
| Per. What means the nun? she dies! help, gentlemen! | |
| Cer. Noble sir, | |
| If you have told Diana’s altar true, | 20 |
| This is your wife. | |
| Per. Reverend appearer, no; | |
| I threw her o’erboard with these very arms. | |
| Cer. Upon this coast, I warrant you. | |
| Per. ’Tis most certain. | 25 |
| Cer. Look to the lady. O! she’s but o’erjoy’d. | |
| Early in blustering morn this lady was | |
| Thrown upon this shore. I op’d the coffin, | |
| Found there rich jewels; recover’d her, and plac’d her | |
| Here in Diana’s temple. | 30 |
| Per. May we see them? | |
| Cer. Great sir, they shall be brought you to my house, | |
| Whither I invite you. Look! Thaisa is | |
| Recovered. | |
| Thai. O! let me look! | 35 |
| If he be none of mine, my sanctity | |
| Will to my sense bend no licentious ear, | |
| But curb it, spite of seeing. O! my lord, | |
| Are you not Pericles? Like him you speak, | |
| Like him you are. Did you not name a tempest, | 40 |
| A birth, and death? | |
| Per. The voice of dead Thaisa! | |
| Thai. That Thaisa am I, supposed dead | |
| And drown’d. | |
| Per. Immortal Dian! | 45 |
| Thai. Now I know you better. | |
| When we with tears parted Pentapolis, | |
| The king my father gave you such a ring. [Shows a ring. | |
| Per. This, this: no more, you gods! your present kindness | |
| Makes my past miseries sport: you shall do well, | 50 |
| That on the touching of her lips I may | |
| Melt and no more be seen. O! come, be buried | |
| A second time within these arms. | |
| Mar. My heart | |
| Leaps to be gone into my mother’s bosom. [Kneels to THAISA. | 55 |
| Per. Look, who kneels here! Flesh of thy flesh, Thaisa; | |
| Thy burden at the sea, and call’d Marina, | |
| For she was yielded there. | |
| Thai. Bless’d, and mine own! | |
| Hel. Hail, madam, and my queen! | 60 |
| Thai. I know you not. | |
| Per. You have heard me say, when I did fly from Tyre, | |
| I left behind an ancient substitute; | |
| Can you remember what I call’d the man? | |
| I have nam’d him oft. | 65 |
| Thai. ’Twas Helicanus then. | |
| Per. Still confirmation! | |
| Embrace him, dear Thaisa; this is he. | |
| Now do I long to hear how you were found, | |
| How possibly preserv’d, and whom to thank, | 70 |
| Besides the gods, for this great miracle. | |
| Thai. Lord Cerimon, my lord; this man, | |
| Through whom the gods have shown their power; that can | |
| From first to last resolve you. | |
| Per. Reverend sir, | 75 |
| The gods can have no mortal officer | |
| More like a god than you. Will you deliver | |
| How this dead queen re-lives? | |
| Cer. I will, my lord. | |
| Beseech you, first go with me to my house. | 80 |
| Where shall be shown you all was found with her; | |
| How she came placed here in the temple; | |
| No needful thing omitted. | |
| Per. Pure Dian! bless thee for thy vision; I | |
| Will offer night-oblations to thee. Thaisa, | 85 |
| This prince, the fair-betrothed of your daughter, | |
| Shall marry her at Pentapolis. And now | |
| This ornament | |
| Makes me look dismal will I clip to form; | |
| And what this fourteen years no razor touch’d, | 90 |
| To grace thy marriage-day I’ll beautify. | |
| Thai. Lord Cerimon hath letters of good credit, sir, | |
| My father’s dead. | |
| Per. Heavens make a star of him! Yet there, my queen, | |
| We’ll celebrate their nuptials, and ourselves | 95 |
| Will in that kingdom spend our following days; | |
| Our son and daughter shall in Tyrus reign. | |
| Lord Cerimon, we do our longing stay | |
| To hear the rest untold. Sir, lead’s the way. [Exeunt. | |
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Enter GOWER. | 100 |
| In Antiochus and his daughter you have heard | |
| Of monstrous lust the due and just reward: | |
| In Pericles, his queen, and daughter, seen— | |
| Although assail’d with fortune fierce and keen— | |
| Virtue preserv’d from fell destruction’s blast, | 105 |
| Led on by heaven, and crown’d with joy at last. | |
| In Helicanus may you well descry | |
| A figure of truth, of faith, of loyalty. | |
| In reverend Cerimon there well appears | |
| The worth that learned charity aye wears. | 110 |
| For wicked Cleon and his wife, when fame | |
| Had spread their cursed deed, and honour’d name | |
| Of Pericles, to rage the city turn, | |
| That him and his they in his palace burn: | |
| The gods for murder seemed so content | 115 |
| To punish them; although not done, but meant. | |
| So on your patience evermore attending, | |
| New joy wait on you! Here our play hath ending. [Exit. | |
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