William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition (480 page)
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Authors: William Shakespeare
Tags: #Drama, #Literary Criticism, #Shakespeare
BOOK: William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition
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PERICLES
Antiochus, I thank thee, who hath taught
My frail mortality to know itself,
And by those fearful objects to prepare
This body, like to them, to what I must;
For death remembered should be like a mirror
Who tells us life’s but breath, to trust it error.
I’ll make my will then, and, as sick men do,
Who know the world, see heav‘n, but feeling woe
Grip not at earthly joys as erst they did,
So I bequeath a happy peace to you
And all good men, as ev’ry prince should do;
My riches to the earth from whence they came,
(To the Daughter)
But my unspotted fire of love to you.
(To Antiochus)
Thus ready for the way of life or death,
I wait the sharpest blow, Antiochus.
My frail mortality to know itself,
And by those fearful objects to prepare
This body, like to them, to what I must;
For death remembered should be like a mirror
Who tells us life’s but breath, to trust it error.
I’ll make my will then, and, as sick men do,
Who know the world, see heav‘n, but feeling woe
Grip not at earthly joys as erst they did,
So I bequeath a happy peace to you
And all good men, as ev’ry prince should do;
My riches to the earth from whence they came,
(To the Daughter)
But my unspotted fire of love to you.
(To Antiochus)
Thus ready for the way of life or death,
I wait the sharpest blow, Antiochus.
ANTIOCHUS
Scorning advice, read the conclusion then,
⌈
He angrily throws down the riddle
⌉
Which read and not expounded, ’tis decreed,
As these before thee, thou thyself shalt bleed.
As these before thee, thou thyself shalt bleed.
DAUGHTER (
to Pericles)
to Pericles)
Of all ‘sayed yet, mayst thou prove prosperous;
Of all ’sayed yet, I wish thee happiness.
Of all ’sayed yet, I wish thee happiness.
PERICLES
Like a bold champion I assume the lists,
Nor ask advice of any other thought
But faithfulness and courage.
Nor ask advice of any other thought
But faithfulness and courage.
⌈
He takes up and
⌉
reads aloud the riddle
I am no viper, yet I feed
On mother’s flesh which did me breed.
I sought a husband, in which labour
I found that kindness in a father.
He’s father, son, and husband mild;
I mother, wife, and yet his child.
How this may be and yet in two,
As you will live resolve it you.
Sharp physic is the last. ⌈
Aside
⌉ But O, you powers
That gives heav’n countless eyes to view men’s acts,
Why cloud they not their sights perpetually
If this be true which makes me pale to read it?
Aside
⌉ But O, you powers
That gives heav’n countless eyes to view men’s acts,
Why cloud they not their sights perpetually
If this be true which makes me pale to read it?
⌈
He gazes on the Daughter
⌉
Fair glass of light, I loved you, and could still,
Were not this glorious casket stored with ill.
But I must tell you now my thoughts revolt,
For he’s no man on whom perfections wait
That, knowing sin within, will touch the gate.
You’re a fair viol, and your sense the strings
Who, fingered to make man his lawful music,
Would draw heav’n down and all the gods to hearken,
But, being played upon before your time,
Hell only danceth at so harsh a chime.
Good sooth, I care not for you.
Were not this glorious casket stored with ill.
But I must tell you now my thoughts revolt,
For he’s no man on whom perfections wait
That, knowing sin within, will touch the gate.
You’re a fair viol, and your sense the strings
Who, fingered to make man his lawful music,
Would draw heav’n down and all the gods to hearken,
But, being played upon before your time,
Hell only danceth at so harsh a chime.
Good sooth, I care not for you.
ANTIOCHUS
Prince Pericles, touch not, upon thy life,
For that’s an article within our law
As dang’rous as the rest. Your time’s expired.
Either expound now, or receive your sentence.
For that’s an article within our law
As dang’rous as the rest. Your time’s expired.
Either expound now, or receive your sentence.
PERICLES Great King,
Few love to hear the sins they love to act.
‘Twould braid yourself too near for me to tell it.
Who has a book of all that monarchs do,
He’s more secure to keep it shut than shown,
For vice repeated, like the wand’ring wind,
Blows dust in others’ eyes to spread itself;
And yet the end of all is bought thus dear,
The breath is gone, and the sore eyes see clear
To stop the air would hurt them. The blind mole casts
Copped hills towards heav’n to tell the earth is thronged
By man’s oppression, and the poor worm doth die for’t.
Kings are earth’s gods; in vice their law’s their will,
And if Jove stray, who dares say Jove doth ill?
It is enough you know, and it is fit,
What being more known grows worse, to smother it.
All love the womb that their first being bred;
Then give my tongue like leave to love my head.
‘Twould braid yourself too near for me to tell it.
Who has a book of all that monarchs do,
He’s more secure to keep it shut than shown,
For vice repeated, like the wand’ring wind,
Blows dust in others’ eyes to spread itself;
And yet the end of all is bought thus dear,
The breath is gone, and the sore eyes see clear
To stop the air would hurt them. The blind mole casts
Copped hills towards heav’n to tell the earth is thronged
By man’s oppression, and the poor worm doth die for’t.
Kings are earth’s gods; in vice their law’s their will,
And if Jove stray, who dares say Jove doth ill?
It is enough you know, and it is fit,
What being more known grows worse, to smother it.
All love the womb that their first being bred;
Then give my tongue like leave to love my head.
ANTIOCHUS
(aside)
(aside)
Heav’n, that I had thy head! He’s found the meaning.
But I will gloze with him.—Young Prince of Tyre,
Though by the tenor of our strict edict,
Your exposition misinterpreting,
We might proceed to cancel of your days,
Yet hope, succeeding from so fair a tree
As your fair self, doth tune us otherwise.
Forty days longer we do respite you,
If by which time our secret be undone,
This mercy shows we’ll joy in such a son.
And until then your entertain shall be
As doth befit your worth and our degree.
But I will gloze with him.—Young Prince of Tyre,
Though by the tenor of our strict edict,
Your exposition misinterpreting,
We might proceed to cancel of your days,
Yet hope, succeeding from so fair a tree
As your fair self, doth tune us otherwise.
Forty days longer we do respite you,
If by which time our secret be undone,
This mercy shows we’ll joy in such a son.
And until then your entertain shall be
As doth befit your worth and our degree.
⌈
Flourish
.⌉
Exeunt all but Pericles
PERICLES
How courtesy would seem to cover sin
When what is done is like an hypocrite,
The which is good in nothing but in sight.
If it be true that I interpret false,
Then were it certain you were not so bad
As with foul incest to abuse your soul,
Where now you’re both a father and a son
By your uncomely claspings with your child—
Which pleasures fits a husband, not a father—
And she, an eater of her mother’s flesh,
By the defiling of her parents’ bed,
And both like serpents are, who though they feed
On sweetest flowers, yet they poison breed.
Antioch, farewell, for wisdom sees those men
Blush not in actions blacker than the night
Will ’schew no course to keep them from the light.
One sin, I know, another doth provoke.
Murder’s as near to lust as flame to smoke.
Poison and treason are the hands of sin,
Ay, and the targets to put off the shame.
Then, lest my life be cropped to keep you clear,
By flight I’ll shun the danger which I fear. Exit
When what is done is like an hypocrite,
The which is good in nothing but in sight.
If it be true that I interpret false,
Then were it certain you were not so bad
As with foul incest to abuse your soul,
Where now you’re both a father and a son
By your uncomely claspings with your child—
Which pleasures fits a husband, not a father—
And she, an eater of her mother’s flesh,
By the defiling of her parents’ bed,
And both like serpents are, who though they feed
On sweetest flowers, yet they poison breed.
Antioch, farewell, for wisdom sees those men
Blush not in actions blacker than the night
Will ’schew no course to keep them from the light.
One sin, I know, another doth provoke.
Murder’s as near to lust as flame to smoke.
Poison and treason are the hands of sin,
Ay, and the targets to put off the shame.
Then, lest my life be cropped to keep you clear,
By flight I’ll shun the danger which I fear. Exit
Enter Antiochus
ANTIOCHUS
He hath found the meaning, for the which we mean
To have his head. He must not live
To trumpet forth my infamy, nor tell the world
Antiochus doth sin in such a loathèd manner,
And therefore instantly this prince must die,
For by his fall my honour must keep high.
Who attends us there?
To have his head. He must not live
To trumpet forth my infamy, nor tell the world
Antiochus doth sin in such a loathèd manner,
And therefore instantly this prince must die,
For by his fall my honour must keep high.
Who attends us there?
Enter Thaliart
THALIART
Doth your highness call?
ANTIOCHUS
Thaliart, you are of our chamber, Thaliart,
And to your secrecy our mind partakes
Her private actions. For your faithfulness
We will advance you, Thaliart. Behold,
Here’s poison, and here’s gold.
We hate the Prince of Tyre, and thou must kill him.
It fits thee not to ask the reason. Why?
Because we bid it. Say, is it done?
And to your secrecy our mind partakes
Her private actions. For your faithfulness
We will advance you, Thaliart. Behold,
Here’s poison, and here’s gold.
We hate the Prince of Tyre, and thou must kill him.
It fits thee not to ask the reason. Why?
Because we bid it. Say, is it done?
THALIART My lord, ’tis done.
ANTIOCHUS Enough.
Enter a Messenger hastily
Let your breath cool yourself, telling your haste.
MESSENGER
Your majesty, Prince Pericles is fled. ⌈
Exit
⌉
Exit
⌉
ANTIOCHUS
(to Thaliart)
(to Thaliart)
As thou wilt live, fly after; like an arrow
Shot from a well-experienced archer hits
The mark his eye doth level at, so thou
Never return unless it be to say
‘Your majesty, Prince Pericles is dead.’
Shot from a well-experienced archer hits
The mark his eye doth level at, so thou
Never return unless it be to say
‘Your majesty, Prince Pericles is dead.’
THALIART
If I can get him in my pistol’s length
I’ll make him sure enough. Farewell, your highness.
I’ll make him sure enough. Farewell, your highness.
ANTIOCHUS
Thaliart, adieu.
⌈
Exit Thaliart
⌉Till Pericles be dead
My heart can lend no succour to my head.
Exit. ⌈
The heads are concealed
⌉
Enter Pericles, distempered, with his lords
PERICLES
Let none disturb us.
Exeunt lords
Why should this change of thoughts,
The sad companion, dull-eyed melancholy,
Be my so used a guest as not an hour
In the day’s glorious walk or peaceful night,
The tomb where grief should sleep, can breed me
quiet? 5
Here pleasures court mine eyes, and mine eyes shun
them,
And danger, which I feared, ’s at Antioch,
Whose arm seems far too short to hit me here.
Yet neither pleasure’s art can joy my spirits,
Nor yet care’s author’s distance comfort me.
Then it is thus: the passions of the mind,
That have their first conception by misdread,
Have after-nourishment and life by care,
And what was first but fear what might be done
Grows elder now, and cares it be not done.
And so with me. The great Antiochus,
‘Gainst whom I am too little to contend,
Since he’s so great can make his will his act,
Will think me speaking though I swear to silence,
Nor boots it me to say I honour him
If he suspect I may dishonour him.
And what may make him blush in being known,
He’ll stop the course by which it might be known.
With hostile forces he’ll o’erspread the land,
And with th‘ostent of war will look so huge
Amazement shall drive courage from the state,
Our men be vanquished ere they do resist,
And subjects punished that ne’er thought offence,
Which care of them, not pity of myself,
Who am no more but as the tops of trees
Which fence the roots they grow by and defend them,
Makes both my body pine and soul to languish,
And punish that before that he would punish.
Be my so used a guest as not an hour
In the day’s glorious walk or peaceful night,
The tomb where grief should sleep, can breed me
quiet? 5
Here pleasures court mine eyes, and mine eyes shun
them,
And danger, which I feared, ’s at Antioch,
Whose arm seems far too short to hit me here.
Yet neither pleasure’s art can joy my spirits,
Nor yet care’s author’s distance comfort me.
Then it is thus: the passions of the mind,
That have their first conception by misdread,
Have after-nourishment and life by care,
And what was first but fear what might be done
Grows elder now, and cares it be not done.
And so with me. The great Antiochus,
‘Gainst whom I am too little to contend,
Since he’s so great can make his will his act,
Will think me speaking though I swear to silence,
Nor boots it me to say I honour him
If he suspect I may dishonour him.
And what may make him blush in being known,
He’ll stop the course by which it might be known.
With hostile forces he’ll o’erspread the land,
And with th‘ostent of war will look so huge
Amazement shall drive courage from the state,
Our men be vanquished ere they do resist,
And subjects punished that ne’er thought offence,
Which care of them, not pity of myself,
Who am no more but as the tops of trees
Which fence the roots they grow by and defend them,
Makes both my body pine and soul to languish,
And punish that before that he would punish.
Enter all the Lords, among them old Helicanus,
to Pericles
FIRST LORD
Joy and all comfort in your sacred breast!
SECOND LORD
And keep your mind peaceful and comfortable.
HELICANUS
Peace, peace, and give experience tongue.
(To Pericles) You do not well so to abuse yourself,
To waste your body here with pining sorrow,
Upon whose safety doth depend the lives
And the prosperity of a whole kingdom.
‘Tis ill in you to do it, and no less
ll in your council not to contradict it.
They do abuse the King that flatter him,
For flatt’ry is the bellows blows up sin;
The thing the which is flattered, but a spark,
To which that wind gives heat and stronger glowing;
Whereas reproof, obedient and in order,
Fits kings as they are men, for they may err.
When Signor Sooth here does proclaim a peace
He flatters you, makes war upon your life.
(To Pericles) You do not well so to abuse yourself,
To waste your body here with pining sorrow,
Upon whose safety doth depend the lives
And the prosperity of a whole kingdom.
‘Tis ill in you to do it, and no less
ll in your council not to contradict it.
They do abuse the King that flatter him,
For flatt’ry is the bellows blows up sin;
The thing the which is flattered, but a spark,
To which that wind gives heat and stronger glowing;
Whereas reproof, obedient and in order,
Fits kings as they are men, for they may err.
When Signor Sooth here does proclaim a peace
He flatters you, makes war upon your life.
⌈
He kneels
⌉
Prince, pardon me, or strike me if you please.
I cannot be much lower than my knees.
I cannot be much lower than my knees.
PERICLES
All leave us else; but let your cares o’erlook
What shipping and what lading’s in our haven,
And then return to us.
Exeunt Lords
What shipping and what lading’s in our haven,
And then return to us.
Exeunt Lords
Helicane, thou
Hast moved us. What
seest
thou in our looks?
seest
thou in our looks?
HELICANUS An angry brow, dread lord.
PERICLES
If there be such a dart in princes’ frowns,
How durst thy tongue move anger to our brows?
How durst thy tongue move anger to our brows?
HELICANUS
How dares the plants look up to heav’n from whence
They have their nourishment?
They have their nourishment?
PERICLES
Thou knowest I have pow’r to take thy life from thee.
HELICANUS
I have ground the axe myself; do you but strike the blow.
PERICLES ⌈
lifting him up
⌉
lifting him up
⌉
Rise, prithee, rise. Sit down. Thou art no flatterer,
I thank thee for it, and the heav‘ns forbid
That kings should let their ears hear their faults hid.
Fit counsellor and servant for a prince,
Who by thy wisdom mak’st a prince thy servant,
What wouldst thou have me do?
I thank thee for it, and the heav‘ns forbid
That kings should let their ears hear their faults hid.
Fit counsellor and servant for a prince,
Who by thy wisdom mak’st a prince thy servant,
What wouldst thou have me do?
HELICANUS
To bear with patience
Such griefs as you do lay upon yourself.
PERICLES
Thou speak‘st like a physician, Helicanus,
That ministers a potion unto me
That thou wouldst tremble to receive thyself.
Attend me, then. I went to Antioch,
Where, as thou know’st, against the face of death
I sought the purchase of a glorious beauty
From whence an issue I might propagate,
As children are heav‘n’s blessings: to parents,
objects;
Are arms to princes, and bring joys to subjects.
Her face was to mine eye beyond all wonder,
The rest—hark in thine ear—as black as incest,
Which by my knowledge found, the sinful father
Seemed not to strike, but smooth. But thou know’st
this,
‘Tis time to fear when tyrants seems to kiss;
Which fear so grew in me I hither fled
Under the covering of careful night,
Who seemed my good protector, and being here
Bethought me what was past, what might succeed.
I knew him tyrannous, and tyrants’ fears
Decrease not, but grow faster than the years.
And should he doubt—as doubt no doubt he doth—
That I should open to the list’ning air
How many worthy princes’ bloods were shed
To keep his bed of blackness unlaid ope,
To lop that doubt he’ll fill this land with arms,
And make pretence of wrong that I have done him,
When all for mine—if I may call—offence
Must feel war’s blow, who spares not innocence;
Which love to all, of which thyself art one,
Who now reproved’st me for’t—
That ministers a potion unto me
That thou wouldst tremble to receive thyself.
Attend me, then. I went to Antioch,
Where, as thou know’st, against the face of death
I sought the purchase of a glorious beauty
From whence an issue I might propagate,
As children are heav‘n’s blessings: to parents,
objects;
Are arms to princes, and bring joys to subjects.
Her face was to mine eye beyond all wonder,
The rest—hark in thine ear—as black as incest,
Which by my knowledge found, the sinful father
Seemed not to strike, but smooth. But thou know’st
this,
‘Tis time to fear when tyrants seems to kiss;
Which fear so grew in me I hither fled
Under the covering of careful night,
Who seemed my good protector, and being here
Bethought me what was past, what might succeed.
I knew him tyrannous, and tyrants’ fears
Decrease not, but grow faster than the years.
And should he doubt—as doubt no doubt he doth—
That I should open to the list’ning air
How many worthy princes’ bloods were shed
To keep his bed of blackness unlaid ope,
To lop that doubt he’ll fill this land with arms,
And make pretence of wrong that I have done him,
When all for mine—if I may call—offence
Must feel war’s blow, who spares not innocence;
Which love to all, of which thyself art one,
Who now reproved’st me for’t—
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