Complete Plays, The (437 page)

Enter Pericles, wet

Pericles

Yet cease your ire, you angry stars of heaven!
Wind, rain, and thunder, remember, earthly man
Is but a substance that must yield to you;
And I, as fits my nature, do obey you:
Alas, the sea hath cast me on the rocks,
Wash’d me from shore to shore, and left me breath
Nothing to think on but ensuing death:
Let it suffice the greatness of your powers
To have bereft a prince of all his fortunes;
And having thrown him from your watery grave,
Here to have death in peace is all he’ll crave.

Enter three Fishermen

First Fisherman

What, ho, Pilch!

Second Fisherman

Ha, come and bring away the nets!

First Fisherman

What, Patch-breech, I say!

Third Fisherman

What say you, master?

First Fisherman

Look how thou stirrest now! come away, or I’ll fetch thee with a wanion.

Third Fisherman

Faith, master, I am thinking of the poor men that were cast away before us even now.

First Fisherman

Alas, poor souls, it grieved my heart to hear what pitiful cries they made to us to help them, when, well-a-day, we could scarce help ourselves.

Third Fisherman

Nay, master, said not I as much when I saw the porpus how he bounced and tumbled? they say they’re half fish, half flesh: a plague on them, they ne’er come but I look to be washed. Master, I marvel how the fishes live in the sea.

First Fisherman

Why, as men do a-land; the great ones eat up the little ones: I can compare our rich misers to nothing so fitly as to a whale; a’ plays and tumbles, driving the poor fry before him, and at last devours them all at a mouthful: such whales have I heard on o’ the land, who never leave gaping till they’ve swallowed the whole parish, church, steeple, bells, and all.

Pericles

[Aside]
 
A pretty moral.

Third Fisherman

But, master, if I had been the sexton, I would have been that day in the belfry.

Second Fisherman

Why, man?

Third Fisherman

Because he should have swallowed me too: and when I had been in his belly, I would have kept such a jangling of the bells, that he should never have left, till he cast bells, steeple, church, and parish up again. But if the good King Simonides were of my mind,—

Pericles

[Aside]
 
Simonides!

Third Fisherman

We would purge the land of these drones, that rob the bee of her honey.

Pericles

[Aside]
 
How from the finny subject of the sea
These fishers tell the infirmities of men;
And from their watery empire recollect
All that may men approve or men detect!
Peace be at your labour, honest fishermen.

Second Fisherman

Honest! good fellow, what’s that? If it be a day fits you, search out of the calendar, and nobody look after it.

Pericles

May see the sea hath cast upon your coast.

Second Fisherman

What a drunken knave was the sea to cast thee in our way!

Pericles

A man whom both the waters and the wind,
In that vast tennis-court, have made the ball
For them to play upon, entreats you pity him:
He asks of you, that never used to beg.

First Fisherman

No, friend, cannot you beg? Here’s them in our country Greece gets more with begging than we can do with working.

Second Fisherman

Canst thou catch any fishes, then?

Pericles

I never practised it.

Second Fisherman

Nay, then thou wilt starve, sure; for here’s nothing to be got now-a-days, unless thou canst fish for’t.

Pericles

What I have been I have forgot to know;
But what I am, want teaches me to think on:
A man throng’d up with cold: my veins are chill,
And have no more of life than may suffice
To give my tongue that heat to ask your help;
Which if you shall refuse, when I am dead,
For that I am a man, pray see me buried.

First Fisherman

Die quoth-a? Now gods forbid! I have a gown here; come, put it on; keep thee warm. Now, afore me, a handsome fellow! Come, thou shalt go home, and we’ll have flesh for holidays, fish for fasting-days, and moreo’er puddings and flap-jacks, and thou shalt be welcome.

Pericles

I thank you, sir.

Second Fisherman

Hark you, my friend; you said you could not beg.

Pericles

I did but crave.

Second Fisherman

But crave! Then I’ll turn craver too, and so I shall ’scape whipping.

Pericles

Why, are all your beggars whipped, then?

Second Fisherman

O, not all, my friend, not all; for if all your beggars were whipped, I would wish no better office than to be beadle. But, master, I’ll go draw up the net.

Exit with Third Fisherman

Pericles

[Aside]
 
How well this honest mirth becomes their labour!

First Fisherman

Hark you, sir, do you know where ye are?

Pericles

Not well.

First Fisherman

Why, I’ll tell you: this is called Pentapolis, and our king the good Simonides.

Pericles

The good King Simonides, do you call him.

First Fisherman

Ay, sir; and he deserves so to be called for his peaceable reign and good government.

Pericles

He is a happy king, since he gains from his subjects the name of good by his government. How far is his court distant from this shore?

First Fisherman

Marry, sir, half a day’s journey: and I’ll tell you, he hath a fair daughter, and to-morrow is her birth-day; and there are princes and knights come from all parts of the world to just and tourney for her love.

Pericles

Were my fortunes equal to my desires, I could wish to make one there.

First Fisherman

O, sir, things must be as they may; and what a man cannot get, he may lawfully deal for — his wife’s soul.

Re-enter Second and Third Fishermen, drawing up a net

Second Fisherman

Help, master, help! here’s a fish hangs in the net, like a poor man’s right in the law; ’twill hardly come out. Ha! bots on’t, ’tis come at last, and ’tis turned to a rusty armour.

Pericles

An armour, friends! I pray you, let me see it.
Thanks, fortune, yet, that, after all my crosses,
Thou givest me somewhat to repair myself;
And though it was mine own, part of my heritage,
Which my dead father did bequeath to me.
With this strict charge, even as he left his life,
‘Keep it, my Pericles; it hath been a shield
Twixt me and death;’— and pointed to this brace;—
‘For that it saved me, keep it; in like necessity —
The which the gods protect thee from!— may defend thee.’
It kept where I kept, I so dearly loved it;
Till the rough seas, that spare not any man,
Took it in rage, though calm’d have given’t again:
I thank thee for’t: my shipwreck now’s no ill,
Since I have here my father’s gift in’s will.

First Fisherman

What mean you, sir?

Pericles

To beg of you, kind friends, this coat of worth,
For it was sometime target to a king;
I know it by this mark. He loved me dearly,
And for his sake I wish the having of it;
And that you’ld guide me to your sovereign’s court,
Where with it I may appear a gentleman;
And if that ever my low fortune’s better,
I’ll pay your bounties; till then rest your debtor.

First Fisherman

Why, wilt thou tourney for the lady?

Pericles

I’ll show the virtue I have borne in arms.

First Fisherman

Why, do ’e take it, and the gods give thee good on’t!

Second Fisherman

Ay, but hark you, my friend; ’twas we that made up this garment through the rough seams of the waters: there are certain condolements, certain vails. I hope, sir, if you thrive, you’ll remember from whence you had it.

Pericles

Believe ’t, I will.
By your furtherance I am clothed in steel;
And, spite of all the rapture of the sea,
This jewel holds his building on my arm:
Unto thy value I will mount myself
Upon a courser, whose delightful steps
Shall make the gazer joy to see him tread.
Only, my friend, I yet am unprovided
Of a pair of bases.

Second Fisherman

We’ll sure provide: thou shalt have my best gown to make thee a pair; and I’ll bring thee to the court myself.

Pericles

Then honour be but a goal to my will,
This day I’ll rise, or else add ill to ill.

Exeunt

S
CENE
II. T
HE
SAME
. A
PUBLIC
WAY
OR
PLATFORM
LEADING
TO
THE

lists. A pavilion by the side of it for the reception of King, Princess, Lords, & c.

Enter Simonides, Thaisa, Lords, and Attendants

Simonides

Are the knights ready to begin the triumph?

First Lord

They are, my liege;
And stay your coming to present themselves.

Simonides

Return them, we are ready; and our daughter,
In honour of whose birth these triumphs are,
Sits here, like beauty’s child, whom nature gat
For men to see, and seeing wonder at.

Exit a Lord

Thaisa

It pleaseth you, my royal father, to express
My commendations great, whose merit’s less.

Simonides

It’s fit it should be so; for princes are
A model which heaven makes like to itself:
As jewels lose their glory if neglected,
So princes their renowns if not respected.
’Tis now your honour, daughter, to explain
The labour of each knight in his device.

Thaisa

Which, to preserve mine honour, I’ll perform.

Enter a Knight; he passes over, and his Squire presents his shield to the Princess

Simonides

Who is the first that doth prefer himself?

Thaisa

A knight of Sparta, my renowned father;
And the device he bears upon his shield
Is a black Ethiope reaching at the sun
The word, ‘Lux tua vita mihi.’

Simonides

He loves you well that holds his life of you.

The Second Knight passes over

Who is the second that presents himself?

Thaisa

A prince of Macedon, my royal father;
And the device he bears upon his shield
Is an arm’d knight that’s conquer’d by a lady;
The motto thus, in Spanish, ‘Piu por dulzura que por fuerza.’

The Third Knight passes over

Simonides

And what’s the third?

Thaisa

The third of Antioch;
And his device, a wreath of chivalry;
The word, ‘Me pompae provexit apex.’

The Fourth Knight passes over

Simonides

What is the fourth?

Thaisa

A burning torch that’s turned upside down;
The word, ‘Quod me alit, me extinguit.’

Simonides

Which shows that beauty hath his power and will,
Which can as well inflame as it can kill.

The Fifth Knight passes over

Thaisa

The fifth, an hand environed with clouds,
Holding out gold that’s by the touchstone tried;
The motto thus, ‘sic spectanda fides.’

The Sixth Knight, Pericles, passes over

Simonides

And what’s
The sixth and last, the which the knight himself
With such a graceful courtesy deliver’d?

Thaisa

He seems to be a stranger; but his present is
A wither’d branch, that’s only green at top;
The motto, ‘In hac spe vivo.’

Simonides

A pretty moral;
From the dejected state wherein he is,
He hopes by you his fortunes yet may flourish.

First Lord

He had need mean better than his outward show
Can any way speak in his just commend;
For by his rusty outside he appears
To have practised more the whipstock than the lance.

Second Lord

He well may be a stranger, for he comes
To an honour’d triumph strangely furnished.

Third Lord

And on set purpose let his armour rust
Until this day, to scour it in the dust.

Simonides

Opinion’s but a fool, that makes us scan
The outward habit by the inward man.
But stay, the knights are coming: we will withdraw
Into the gallery.

Exeunt

Great shouts within and all cry ‘The mean knight!’

S
CENE
III. T
HE
SAME
. A
HALL
OF
STATE
:
A
BANQUET
PREPARED
.

Enter Simonides, Thaisa, Lords, Attendants, and Knights, from tilting

Simonides

Knights,
To say you’re welcome were superfluous.
To place upon the volume of your deeds,
As in a title-page, your worth in arms,
Were more than you expect, or more than’s fit,
Since every worth in show commends itself.
Prepare for mirth, for mirth becomes a feast:
You are princes and my guests.

Thaisa

But you, my knight and guest;
To whom this wreath of victory I give,
And crown you king of this day’s happiness.