PROLOGUE
Enter GOWER
GOWER
Marina thus the brothel 'scapes, and chances
Into an honest house, our story says.
She sings like one immortal, and she dances
As goddess-like to her admired lays;
Deep clerks she dumbs; and with her needle composes
Nature's own shape, of bud, bird, branch, or berry,
That even her art sisters the natural roses;
Her inkle, silk, twin with the rubied cherry:
That pupils lacks she none of noble race,
Who pour their bounty on her; and her gain
She gives the cursed bawd. Here we her place;
And to her father turn our thoughts again,
Where we left him, on the sea. We there him lost;
Whence, driven before the winds, he is arrived
Here where his daughter dwells; and on this coast
Suppose him now at anchor. The city strived
God Neptune's annual feast to keep: from whence
Lysimachus our Tyrian ship espies,
His banners sable, trimm'd with rich expense;
And to him in his barge with fervor hies.
In your supposing once more put your sight
Of heavy Pericles; think this his bark:
Where what is done in action, more, if might,
Shall be discover'd; please you, sit and hark.
Exit
SCENE I. On board PERICLES' ship, off
Mytilene
A close
pavilion on deck, with a curtain before it; PERICLES
within it, reclined on a couch. A barge lying
beside the Tyrian vessel.
Enter two Sailors, one belonging to the Tyrian vessel, the other to the barge; to them HELICANUS
Tyrian Sailor
[To the Sailor of Mytilene]
Where is lord Helicanus?
he can resolve you.
O, here he is.
Sir, there's a barge put off from Mytilene,
And in it is Lysimachus the governor,
Who craves to come aboard. What is your will?
HELICANUS
That he have his. Call up some gentlemen.
Tyrian Sailor
Ho, gentlemen! my lord calls.
Enter two or three Gentlemen
First Gentleman
Doth your lordship call?
HELICANUS
Gentlemen, there's some of worth would come aboard;
I pray ye, greet them fairly.
The Gentlemen and the two Sailors descend, and go on board the barge
Enter, from thence, LYSIMACHUS and Lords; with the Gentlemen and the two Sailors
Tyrian Sailor
Sir,
This is the man that can, in aught you would,
Resolve you.
LYSIMACHUS
Hail, reverend sir! the gods preserve you!
HELICANUS
And you, sir, to outlive the age I am,
And die as I would do.
LYSIMACHUS
You wish me well.
Being on shore, honouring of Neptune's triumphs,
Seeing this goodly vessel ride before us,
I made to it, to know of whence you are.
HELICANUS
First, what is your place?
LYSIMACHUS
I am the governor of this place you lie before.
HELICANUS
Sir,
Our vessel is of Tyre, in it the king;
A man who for this three months hath not spoken
To any one, nor taken sustenance
But to prorogue his grief.
LYSIMACHUS
Upon what ground is his distemperature?
HELICANUS
'Twould be too tedious to repeat;
But the main grief springs from the loss
Of a beloved daughter and a wife.
LYSIMACHUS
May we not see him?
HELICANUS
You may;
But bootless is your sight: he will not speak To any.
LYSIMACHUS
Yet let me obtain my wish.
HELICANUS
Behold him.
PERICLES discovered
This was a goodly person,
Till the disaster that, one mortal night,
Drove him to this.
LYSIMACHUS
Sir king, all hail! the gods preserve you!
Hail, royal sir!
HELICANUS
It is in vain; he will not speak to you.
First Lord
Sir,
We have a maid in Mytilene, I durst wager,
Would win some words of him.
LYSIMACHUS
'Tis well bethought.
She questionless with her sweet harmony
And other chosen attractions, would allure,
And make a battery through his deafen'd parts,
Which now are midway stopp'd:
She is all happy as the fairest of all,
And, with her fellow maids is now upon
The leafy shelter that abuts against
The island's side.
Whispers a Lord, who goes off in the barge of LYSIMACHUS
HELICANUS
Sure, all's effectless; yet nothing we'll omit
That bears recovery's name. But, since your kindness
We have stretch'd thus far, let us beseech you
That for our gold we may provision have,
Wherein we are not destitute for want,
But weary for the staleness.
LYSIMACHUS
O, sir, a courtesy
Which if we should deny, the most just gods
For every graff would send a caterpillar,
And so afflict our province. Yet once more
Let me entreat to know at large the cause
Of your king's sorrow.
HELICANUS
Sit, sir, I will recount it to you:
But, see, I am prevented.
Re-enter, from the barge, Lord, with MARINA, and a young Lady
LYSIMACHUS
O, here is
The lady that I sent for. Welcome, fair one!
Is't not a goodly presence?
HELICANUS
She's a gallant lady.
LYSIMACHUS
She's such a one, that, were I well assured
Came of a gentle kind and noble stock,
I'd wish no better choice, and think me rarely wed.
Fair one, all goodness that consists in bounty
Expect even here, where is a kingly patient:
If that thy prosperous and artificial feat
Can draw him but to answer thee in aught,
Thy sacred physic shall receive such pay
As thy desires can wish.
MARINA
Sir, I will use
My utmost skill in his recovery, Provided
That none but I and my companion maid
Be suffer'd to come near him.
LYSIMACHUS
Come, let us leave her;
And the gods make her prosperous!
MARINA sings
LYSIMACHUS
Mark'd he your music?
MARINA
No, nor look'd on us.
LYSIMACHUS
See, she will speak to him.
MARINA
Hail, sir! my lord, lend ear.
PERICLES
Hum, ha!
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