The Works of William Shakespeare, Complete

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Bawd. Here comes that which grows to the stalk; -never plucked yet, I can assure you. Is she not a fair creature?

Lys. 'Faith, she would serve after a long voyage at sea. Well, there's for you;-leave us.

Bawd. I beseech your honor, give me leave; a word, and I'll have done presently.

Lys. I beseech you, do. Bawd. First, I would have you note, this is an honorable man.

[To MARINA, whom she takes aside. Mar. I desire to find him so, that I may worthily note him.

Bawd. Next, he is the governor of this country, and a man whom I am bound to.

Mar. If he govern the country, you are bound to him indeed; but how honorable he is in that, I know not.

Bawd. 'Pray you, without any more virginal fencing, will you use him kindly? He will line your apron with gold.

Mar. What he will do graciously, I will thankfully receive.

Lys. Have you done?

Bawd. My lord, she's not paced yet; you must take some pains to work her to your manage. Come, we will leave his honor and her together.

[Exeunt Bawd, Pander, and BOULT. Lys. Go thy ways.-Now, pretty one, how long have you been at this trade?

Mar. What trade, sir?

Lys. What I cannot name but I shall offend. Mar. I cannot be offended with my trade. Please you to name it.

Lys. How long have you been of this profession? Mar. Ever since I can remember.

Lys. Did you go to it so young? Were you a gamester at five, or at seven?

Mar. Earlier too, sir, if now I be one. Lys. Why, the house you dwell in, proclaims you to be a creature of sale.

Mar. Do you know this house to be a place of such resort, and will come into it? I hear say, you are of honorable parts, and are the governor of this place.

Lys. Why, hath your principal made known unto you, who I am?

Mar. Who is my principal?

Lys. Why, your herb-woman; she that sets seeds and roots of shame and iniquity. O, you have heard something of my power, and so stand aloof for more serious wooing. But I protest to thee, pretty one, my authority shall not see thee, or else look friendly upon thee. Come, bring me to some private place. Come, come.

• How much? what price?

thou couldst.

Had I brought hither a corrupted mind,
Thy speech had alter'd it. Hold, here's gold for
thee:

Perséver still in that clear way thou goest,
And the gods strengthen thee!
Mar. The gods preserve you!
Lys.
For me, be you thoughten
That I came with no ill intent; for to me
Farewell. Thou art a piece of virtue, and
The very doors and windows savor vilely.
I doubt not but thy training hath been noble.-
Hold; here's more gold for thee.-

A curse upon him, die he like a thief,
That robs thee of thy goodness!-If thou hear'st
from me,

It shall be for thy good.

[AS LYSIMACHUS is putting up his Purse, BOULT enters.

Boult. I beseech your honor, one piece for me. Lys. Avaunt, thou damned door-keeper! Your house,

But for this virgin, that doth prop it up, Would sink, and overwhelm you all. Away! [Exit LYSIMACHUS

Boult. How's this? We must take another course with you. If your peevish chastity, which is not worth a breakfast in the cheapest country under the cope, shall undo a whole household, let me be gelded like a spaniel. Come your ways.

Mar. Whither would you have me?

Boult. I must have your maidenhead taken off, or the common hangman shall execute it. Come your way. We'll have no more gentlemen driven away. Come your ways, I say. Re-enter Bawd.

Baud. How now! what's the matter?

Boult. Worse and worse, mistress; she has here spoken holy words to the lord Lysimachus. Bawd. O abominable!

Boult. She makes our profession, as it were, to stink afore the face of the gods.

Bawd. Marry, hang her up forever! Boult. The nobleman would have dealt with her like a nobleman, and she sent him away as cold as a snowball; saying his prayers too.

Bawd. Boult, take her away; use her at thy pleasure: crack the glass of her virginity, and make the rest malleable.

Boult. An if she were a thornier piece of ground than she is, she shall be ploughed.

Mar. Hark, hark, you gods!

Bawd. She conjures: away with her. Would she had never come within my doors! Marry hang you! She's born to undo us. Will you not go the way of woman-kind? Marry come up, my dish of chastity with rosemary and bays! [Exit Bawd.

Boult. Come, mistress; come your way with me. Mar. Whither would you have me?

Boult. To take from you the jewel you hold so

dear.

Mar. Pr'ythee, tell me one thing first. Boult. Come now, your one thing? Mar. What canst thou wish thine enemy to be? Boult. Why, I could wish him to be my master, or rather, my mistress.

Mar. Neither of these are yet so bad as thou art, Since they do better thee in their command. Thou hold'st a place, for which the pained'st fiend Of hell would not in reputation change: Thou'rt the damn'd door-keeper to every coystrel That hither comes inquiring for his tib; Paltry fellow.

Cope or canopy of heaven.

To the choleric fisting of each rogue thy ear
Is liable; thy very food is such

As hath been belch'd on by infected lungs.

Boult. What would you have me? go to the
wars, would you? where a man may serve seven
years for the loss of a leg, and have not money
enough in the end to buy him a wooden one?
Mar. Do any thing but this thou doest. Empty
Old receptacles, common sewers. of filth;
Serve by indenture to the common hangman;
Any of these ways are better yet than this:
For that which thou professest, a baboon,
Could he but speak, would own a name too dear:
O that the gods would safely from this place
Deliver me? Here, here is gold for thee.
If that thy master would gain aught by me,
Proclaim that I can sing, weave, sew, and dance,
With other virtues, which I'll keep from boast;

Enter GOWER.

And I will undertake all these to teach.
I doubt not but this populous city will
Yield many scholars.

Boult. But can you teach all this you speak of?
Mar. Prove that I cannot, take me home again,
And prostitute me to the basest groom
That doth frequent your house.

Boull. Well, I will see what I can do for thee: if I can place thee, I will.

Mar. But amongst honest women?

Boult. 'Faith, my acquaintance lies little amongst them. But since my master and mistress have bought you, there's no going but by their consent; therefore I will make them acquainted with your purpose, and I doubt not but I shall find them tractable enough. Come, I'll do for thee what I can; come your ways. [Exeunt.

ACT V.

Gow. 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 neeldR com

poses

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 arriv'd
Here where his daughter dwells; and on this coast
Suppose him now at anchor. The city striv'd
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 the 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 Mitylene.
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.
Tyr. Sail. Where's the lord Helicanus? He can
resolve you.
[To the Sailor of Mitylene.

O, here he is.-
Sir, there's a barge put off from Mitylene;
And in it is Lysimachus the governor,
Who craves to come aboard. What is your will?
Hel. That he have his. Call up some gentle-

men.

Tyr. Sail. Ho, gentlemen! my lord calls.

Enter two Gentlemen.

1 Gent. Doth your lordship call?

Hel. Gentlemen,

There is some of worth would come aboard; I pray

you

To greet them fairly.

Seeing this goodly vessel ride before us,
I made to it, to know of whence you are.
Hel. First, sir, what is your place?

Lys. I am governor of this place you lie before.
Hel. 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.

Lys. Upon what ground is his distemperature?
Hel. Sir, it would be too tedious to repeat;
But the main grief of all springs from the loss
Of a beloved daughter and a wife.
Lys. May we not see him, then?
Hel.

You may, indeed, sir,
But bootless is your sight; he will not speak
To any.

Lys. Yet, let me obtain my wish.

Hel. Behold him, sir: [PERICLES discovered.]
this was a goodly person,

Till the disaster, that, one mortal night,
Drove him to this.

Lys. Sir, king, all hail! the gods preserve you!

Hail,

Hail, royal sir!

Hel. It is in vain; he will not speak to you.
1 Lord. Sir, we have a maid in Mitylene, I durst
wager,
Would win some words of him.
Lys.
'Tis well bethought,
She, questionless, with her sweet harmony
And other choice attractions, would allure,
And make a battery through his deafen'd parts,1
She, all as happy as of all the fairest,
Which now are midway stopp'd;
Is, with her fellow-maidens, now within
The leafy shelter that abuts against
The island's side.

[He whispers one of the attendant Lords.-
Exit Lord, in the Barge of Lysimachus.
Hel. Sure, all's effectless; yet nothing we'll omit
That bears recovery's name. But, since your kind-

ness

We have stretch'd thus far, let us beseech you fur-
ther,

That for our gold we may provision have,
Wherein we are not destitute for want,
But weary for the staleness.
Lys.

O, sir, a courtesy,
Which if we should deny, the most just God
For every graff would send a caterpillar,

[The Gentlemen and the two Sailors descend, And so inflict our province.-Yet once more
and go on board the Barge.

Enter from thence LYSIMACHUS and Lords; the
Tyrian Gentlemen and the two Sailors.

Sit, sir, I will recount it;

Let me entreat to know at large the cause
Of your king's sorrow.
Hel.
But see, I am prevented.
Enter, from the Barge, Lord, MARINA, and a young
Lady.

Of 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 artificial teat
Can draw him but to answer thee in aught,
Thy sacred physic shall receive such pay
As thy desires can wish.
Mar.

Sir, I will use
My utmost skill in his recovery,
Provided none but I and my companion
Be suffer'd to come near him.
Lys.

Come, let us leave her, And the gods make her prosperous. [MAR. sings. Mark'd he your music?

Lys.

Mar No, nor looked on us.
Lys

See, she will speak to him.
Mar. Hail, sir! my lord, lend ear:-
Per. Hum! ha!

Mar.

I am a maid,

My lord, that ne'er before invited eyes,
But have been gazed on comet-like: she speaks,
My lord, that, may be, hath endur'd a grief
Might equal yours, if both were justly weigh'd.
Though wayward fortune did malign my state,
My derivation was from ancestors
Who stood equivalent with mighty kings:
But time hath rooted out my parentage,
And to the world and awkward casualties
Bound me in servitude.-I will desist;
But there is something glows upon my cheek,
And whispers in mine ear, Go not till he speak.

[Aside. Per. My fortunes-parentage-good parentageTo equal mine;-was it not thus what say you? Mar. I said, my lord, if you did know my parent

age,

You would not do me violence.
Per.
I do think so.
I pray you turn your eyes again upon me.-
You are like something that-What country woman?
Here of these shores!

Mar. No, nor of any shores:

Yet I was mortally brought forth, and am
No other than I appear.

Per. I am great with woe, and shall deliver weeping.

My dearest wife was like this maid, and such a one My daughter might have been: my queen's square brows;

Her stature to an inch; as wand-like straight;
As silver-voiced; her eyes as jewel-like,
And cased as richly: in pace another Juno;
Who starves the ears she feeds, and makes them

hungry,

The more she gives them speech.-Where do you live?

Mar. Where I am but a stranger: from the deck You may discern the place. Per. Where were you bred? And how achiev'd you these endowments, which You make more rich to owe?

Mar. Should I tell my history, 'Twould seem like lies disdain'd in the reporting. Per. Pr'ythee speak; Falseness cannot come from thee, for thou look'st Modest as justice, and thou seem'st a palace For the crown'd truth to dwell in: I'll believe thee, And make my senses credit thy relation, To points that seem impossible; for thou look'st Like one I lov'd indeed. What were thy friends? Didst thou not say, when I did push thee back, (Which was when I perceiv'd thee,) that thou cam'st

Thou little know'st how thou dost startle me,
To call thyselt Marina.
Mar.

The name Marina,
Was given me by one that had some power;
My father, and a king.
Per.

How! a king's daughter?

And call'd Marina?
Mar.
You said you would believe me;
But, not to be a troubler of your peace,
I will end here.
Per.
But are you flesh and blood?
Have you a working pulse? and are no fairy?
No motion ?2--Well; speak on.

born?

And wherefore call'd Marina? Mar.

Where were you

Call'd Marina,

For I was born at sea.
Per.
At sea? Thy mother?
Mar. My mother was the daughter of a king;
Who died the very minute I was born,
As my good nurse Lychorida hath oft
Deliver'd weeping.

Per.
O, stop there a little!
This is the rarest dream that e'er dull sleep
Did mock sad fools withal: this cannot be.
My daughter's buried. [Aside.] Well:-where
were you bred?

I'll hear you more, to the bottom of your story,
And never interrupt you.

Mur. You'll scarce believe me; 'twere best I did give o'er.

Per. I will believe you by the syllable

Of what you shall deliver. Yet, give me leave:How came you in these parts? where were you bred?

Mar. The king, my father,did in Tharsus leave me;
Till cruel Cleon, with his wicked wife,
Did seek to murder me: and having woo'd
A villain to attempt it, who having drawn,
A crew of pirates came and rescued me;
Brought me to Mitylene. But now, good sir,
Whither will you have me? Why do you weep?
It may be,

You think me an impostor; no, good faith;
I am the daughter to king Pericles,
If good king Pericles be.
Per. Ho, Helicanus!
Hel.
Calls my gracious lord?
Per. Thou art a grave and noble counsellor,
Most wise in general: Tell me, if thou canst,
What this maid is, or what is like to be,
That thus hath made me weep?
Hel.
I know not; but
Here is the regent, sir, of Mitylene,
Speaks nobly of her.

Lys.
She would never tell
Her parentage; being demanded that,
She would sit still and weep.

Per. O Helicanus, strike me, honor'd sir;
Give me a gash, put me to present pain;
Lest this great sea of joys rushing upon me,
O'erbear the shores of my mortality,
And drown me with their sweetness.

O, come

hither, Thou that beget'st him that did thee beget: Thou that wast born at sea, buried at Tharsus, And found at sea again! O Helicanus, Down on thy knees, thank the holy gods, as loud As thunder threatens us. This is Marina.What was thy mother's name? tell me but that, For truth can never be confirm'd enough, Though doubts did ever sleep. Mar. What is your title?

First, sir, I pray,

Per. I am Pericles of Tyre: but tell me now (As in the rest thou hast been godlike perfect) My drown'd queen's name, thou art the heir of

kingdoms,

And another life to Pericles thy father.

2 i. e. No puppet dressed up to deceive me.

Per. Now, blessing on thee, rise; thou art my
child.

Give me fresh garments. Mine own, Helicanus,
(Not dead at Tharsus, as she should have been,
By savage Cleon,) she shall tell thee all;
When thou shalt kneel and justify in knowledge,
She is thy very princess.-Who is this?

Hel. Sir, 'tis the governor of Mitylene,
Who, hearing of your melancholy state,
Did come to see you.

Per.
I embrace you, sir.
Give me my robes; I am wild in my beholding.
O heavens bless my girl! But hark, what music!
Tell Helicanus, my Marina, tell him

O'er, point by point, for yet he seems to doubt,
How sure you are my daughter.-But what music?
Hel. My lord, I hear none.

Per. None?

The music of the spheres: List, my Marina.
Lys. It is not good to cross him; give him way.
Per. Rarest sounds!

Do ye not hear?

Lys.

Music? my lord, I hear

Per. Most heavenly music:

It nips me unto list'ning, and thick slumber
Hangs on mine eye-lids; let me rest.

Lys. A pillow for his head;

[He sleeps.

[The Curtain before the Pavilion of PERICLES
is closed.

So leave him all.-Well, my companion-friends,
If this but answer to my just belief,
I'll well remember you.

SCENE III-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 at
tending.

Enter PERICLES, with his Train; LYSIMACHUS,
HELICANUS, MARINA, and a Lady.

Per. Hail, Dian; to perform thy just command
here confess myself the king of Tyre;
Who, frighted from my country, did wed
The fair Thaisa, at Pentapolis.

At sea in child-bed died she; but brought forth
A maid-child call'd Marina; who, O goddess,
Wears yet thy silver livery. She at Tharsus
Was nurs'd with Cleon; whom at fourteen years
He sought to murder: but her better stars
Brought her to Mitylene; against whose shore
Riding, her fortunes brought the maid aboard us,
Where, by her own most clear remembrance, she
Made known herself my daughter.
Thai.
Voice and favor!-
You are you are-O royal Pericles! [She faints.
Per. What means the woman? she dies! help,
gentlemen!
Cer. Noble sir,

[Exeunt LYSIMACHUS, HELICANUS, MA- If you have told Diana's altar true,

RINA, and Attendant Lady.

SCENE II.-The same.

PERICLES on the Deck

asleep; DIANA appearing to him as in a Vision.

Dia. My temple stands in Ephesus: hie thee thither,

And do upon mine altar sacrifice.

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.
Cer. Look to the lady ;-O, she's but o'erjoy'd.
Early, one blust'ring morn, this lady was

There, when my maiden priests are met to- Thrown on this shore. I oped the coffin, and

gether,

Before the people all,

Reveal how thou at sea didst lose thy wife:

To mourn thy crosses, with thy daughter's, call,
And give them repetition to the life.

Perform my bidding, or thou liv'st in woe:
Do't, and be happy, by my silver bow.

Awake, and tell thy dream. [DIANA disappears.
Per. Celestial Dian, goddess argentine,3

I will obey thee!-Helicanus!

Enter LYSIMACHUS, HELICANUS, and MARINA.
Hel.

Sir.

Per. This, this: no more, you gods! your pre-
sent kindness

Makes my past miseries sport: You shall do well,
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
[Kneels to THAISA.
Per. Look, who kneels here! Flesh of thy flesh,
Thaisa:

Leaps to be gone into my mother's bosom.

Thy burden at the sea, and call'd Marina,
For she was yielded there.

Gow. In Antioch,' 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,
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.
For wicked Cleon and his wife, when fame
Had spread their cursed deed, and honor'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
To punish them; although not done, but meant.
So on your patience evermore attending,
New joy wait on you! Here our play has ending.
[Exit GOWER.

ii. e. The king of Antioch.

« Previous Continue »

Books

The Works of William Shakespeare, Complete: Accurately Printed from the Text ...