Pericles, Prince of Tyre Act 2

ACT II.

SCENE I.

PENTAPOLIS. AN OPEN PLACE BY THE SEASIDE. ENTER PERICLES.

WET. 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 washed 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 what.

Ho pilch.

Come and bring away the gnats what patch breach i say.

What say you master.

Look how thou stirrest now come away or i'll fix thee with a warning.

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

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.

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

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 while. They plays and tumbles, driving the poor fry before him, and at last devours them all at a mouthful. such wails have i heard on o the land who never leave gyping till they've swallowed the whole parish church steeple bells and all.

Aside a pretty moral but master if i had been the sexton i would have been that day in the belfry why ma'am 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 his bells, steeple, church, and parish up again. But if the good King Simonides were of my mind— Aside.

Simonides!

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

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 labor honest fisherman.

Honest good fellow what's that if it be a day fits you search out the calendar and nobody look after.

It may see the sea hath cast upon your coast what.

A drunken knave was the sea to cast thee in our way.

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 i never used to beg no.

Friend cannot you beg there's them in our country greece gets more with begging than we can do with working.

Canst thou catch any fishes then i never practised it nay then thou wilt starve sure for here's nothing to be got nowadays unless thou canst fish for.

It what i have been i have forgot to know but what i am what teaches me to think on a man thronged 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.

Die now gods forbid i have a gown here come put it on keep thee warm now for me a handsome fellow come thou shalt go home and we'll have flesh for holidays fish for fasting days and moreover puddings and flapjacks and thou shalt be welcome i thank you.

Sir hark my friend you said you could not beg i did but crave But crave! Then I'll turn craver too, and so I shall scape whipping.

Why, are all your beggars whipped then?

Oh, 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 ASIDE.

How well this honest mirth becomes their labor!

Hark you, sir! Do you know where ye are?

Not well.

Why, I'll tell you. This is called Pentapolis, and our king, the good Simonides.

The good king Simonides, do you call him?

Aye, sir, and he deserves so to be called for his peaceable line and good government.

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?

Marry, sir, Aphrodite's journey. And I'll tell you, he hath a fair daughter, and tomorrow is her birthday, and there are princes and knights come from all parts of the world to just Antony for her love.

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

Oh, sir, things must be as they may. and what a man cannot get he may lawfully deal for his wife's.

So re-entered second and third fisherman drawing up a net.

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 but on't tis come at last and tis turned to a rusty armour.

An armour friends i pray you let me see it thanks fortune yet that after all my crosses thou giv'st me something 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 which me in death and pointed to this brace for that it saved me keep it in like necessity to 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 calmed have given it again i thank thee for it my shipwreck now's no ill since i have here my father's gift in.

His will what mean you sir 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'd 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.

Why wilt thou tourney for the lady.

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

Why do we take it, and the gods give thee good on it?

Ay, but hark you, my friend, t'was we that made up this garment through the rough seams of the waters. There are certain condolments, certain veils. I hope, sir, if you thrive, you'll remember from whence you had it.

Believe it, 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 am yet unprovided of a pair of bases.

We'll sure provide thou shalt have my best gown to make thee a pair And I'll bring thee to the court myself.

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

Are the dates ready to begin the triumph?

They are my liege and stay your coming to present themselves.

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 o lord It pleaseth you, my royal father, to express my commendations great, whose merits less.

It's fit it should be so, for princes are unbottled 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.

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

Enter a knight. He passes over, and his squire presents his shield to the princess.

Who is the first that doth prefer himself?

A knight of Sparta, my renowned father, and the device he bears upon his shield is a black Ethiop reaching at the sun, the word Lux tua vita mihi.

He loves you well that holds his life of you.

The second knight passes over.

Who is the second that presents himself?

A prince of Macedon, my royal father, and the device he bears upon his shield is an armed knight that's conquered by a lady. The motto thus in Spanish, Piupo d'Othura, que por fuerza.

The third knight passes over.

And what's the third?

The third of Antioch, and his device, a wreath of chivalry. The word, me pompae proexit apex.

The fourth night passes over.

What is the farth?

A burning torch that's turned upside down. The word, quod me alit, me extinguit.

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

The fifth night passes over.

The fifth, and hand environed with clouds, holding out gold that's by the touchstone tried. The motto thus. Six spectanda fides.

The sixth knight, Pericles, passes over.

And what's the sixth and last, the which the knight himself, with such a graceful courtesy, delivered?

He seems to be a stranger, but is present as a withered branch that's only green at top. The motto, In hax pe vivo.

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

He had need mean better than his outward show can any way speak in his just command for by his rusty outside he appears to have practised more the whip-stock than the lance.

He well may be a stranger for he comes to an honour'd triumph strangely furnish'd.

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

Dust epilion's but a fool that makes a 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! Act II, Scene III. The same, a hall of state, a banquet prepared. Enter Simonides, Theissa, lords, attendants, and knights from tilting.

Knights, to say you're welcome, were superfluous. to place upon the volume of your deeds, as in a title-page, your worth at 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.

But you, my knight and guest, to whom this wreath of victory I give, and crown you king of this day's happiness—' Tis.

More by fortune, lady, than by merit.

Call it by what you will, the day is yours,' and here, I hope, is none that envies it.' In framing an artist, art hath thus decreed' to make some good, but others to exceed.' And you are her laboured scholar.' Come, queen of the feast,' for, daughter, so you are.' Here, take your place.' Martial the rest, As they deserve their grace.

We are honoured much by good simonides.

Your presence glads our days. Honour we love. For who hates honour hates the gods above.

Sir, yonder is your place.

Some other is more fit.

Contend not, sir, for we are gentlemen That neither in our hearts nor outward eyes Envy the great, nor do the low despise.

You are right courteous knights.

Sit, sit, sit.

By Jove, I wonder, that is king of thoughts. These Cates resist me, she but thought upon.

By Juno, that is queen of marriage, all viands that I eat do seem unsavoury, wishing him my meat. Sure, he's a gallant gentleman.

He's but a country gentleman, has done no more than other knights have done, has broken a staff or so. so let it pass.

To me he seems like diamond to.

Glass yon kings to me like to my father's picture which tells me in that glory once he was had princes sit like stars about his throne and he the sun for them to reverence none that beheld him but like lesser lights did veil their crowns to his supremacy where now his sun's like a glow-worm in the night the which hath fire in darkness none in light whereby i see that time's the king of men he's both their parent and he is their grave and give them what he will not what they crave.

What are you merry knights.

Who can be other in this royal presence here with the cups that's stored unto the brim as you do love filled to your mistress We drink this health to you.

We thank your grace.

Yet pause a while. Your knight doth sit to melancholy, as if the entertainment in our court had not a show he might countervail his worth. Noted not you, Thaisa?

What is it to me, my father?

Oh, attend, my daughter. Princes and this should live like gods above, who freely give to everyone that comes to honour them. and princes not doing so are like to gnats, which make a sound, but killed are wondered at. Therefore, to make his entrance more sweet, here say we drink this standing bowl of wine to him.

Alas, my father, it befits me not unto a stranger knight to be so bold. He may take my proffer for an offence, since men take women's gifts for impudence.

How? Do as I bid you. or you'll move me else. Aside.

Now by the gods he could not please me better.

And furthermore, tell him, we desire to know of him, of whence he is, his name and parentage.

The king, my father, sir, has drunk to you.

I thank him.

Wishing it so much blood unto your life.

I thank both him and you, and pledge him freely.

And furthermore, he desires to know of you, Of whence you are, your name and parentage.

A gentleman of Tyre, my name Pericles, my education being in arts and arms, who looking for adventures in the world was by the rough seas reft of ships and men and after shipwreck driven upon this shore.

He thanks your grace, names himself Pericles, a gentleman of Tyre, who only by misfortune of the seas bereft of ships and men cast on this shore.

Now, by the gods, I pity his misfortune, and will awake him from his melancholy. Come, gentlemen, we sit too long on trifles, and waste the time, which looks for other revels. Even in your armours, as you are addressed, will very well become a soldier's dance. I will not have excuse for saying this loud music is too harsh for ladies' heads, since they love men in arms as well as beds. THE NIGHT'S DANCE So this was well asked, was so well performed. Come, sir, here is a lady that wants breathing too, and I have heard you knights of Tyre are excellent in making ladies trip, and that their measures are as excellent.

In those that practise them they are, my lord.

Oh, that's as much as you would be denied of your fair courtesy.

The knights and ladies dance.

Unclasp, unclasp. thanks gentlemen to all all have done well but you the best pages and lights to conduct these knights unto their several lodgings your sir we have given order to be next.

Our own I am at your gracious pleasure.

Princes, it is too late to talk of love, and that's the mark I know you level at. Therefore each one betake him to his rest. Tomorrow all for speeding do their best. Exeunt.

Act 2. Scene 4. Tyre, a room in the governor's house. Enter Gower.

Here have you seen a mighty king his child he was to incest bring. A better prince and benign lord that will prove awful both in deed and word. Be quiet then as men should be till he hath passed necessity. I'll show you those in troubles reign losing a mite a mountain gain. The good Inconversation, to whom I give my benison, is still at Tarsus, where each man thinks all is writ he speaken can, and to remember what he does build his statue to make him glorious. But tidings to the contrary are brought your eyes, what need speak I.

Dumb show enter at one door pericles talking with cleon all the train with them enter at another door a gentleman with a letter to pericles pericles shows the letter to cleon gives the messenger a reward and knights him exit pericles at one door and cleon at another.

Good helicane that stayed at home not to eat honey like a drone from others labours for though he strive to kill and bad, keep good alive, and to fulfil his prince desire, sends word of all that haps entire, how Thaliard came full bent with sin, and had intent to murder him, and that in Tarsus was not best longer for him to make his rest, he doing so put forth to cease, where when men bane there's seldom ease for now the wind begins to blow thunder above and deeps below make such unquiet that the ship should house him safe is wrecked and split and hey good prince having all lost by waves from coast to coast is tossed all perishing of man of pelf nay och d'escapn but himself till fortune tired with doing bad threw

him ashore to give him glad and here he comes what shall be next pardon old gower this longs the.

Text exit enter helicanus and eschanes.

No eschanes know this of me antiochus from incest lived not free for which the most high gods not minding longer to withhold the vengeance that they had in store due to this heinous capital offence even in the height and pride of all his glory when he was seated in a chariot of inestimable value and his daughter with him a fire from heaven came and shrivelled up their bodies even to loathing for they so stunk that all those eyes adored them ere their fall scorned now their hands should give them burial.

Twas very strange And yet.

But justice, for though this king were great, his greatness was no guard to bar heaven's shaft, but sin had his reward.

Tis very true.

Enter two or three lords.

See, not a man in private conference or council has respect with him, but he.

It shall no longer grieve without reproof.

And cursed be he that will not second it.

Follow me then. Lord Helicane, a word.

With me, and welcome. Happy day, my lords.

Know that our griefs are risen to the top, and now at length they overflow their banks.

Your griefs?

For what?

Wrong not your prince you love.

Wrong not yourself, then, noble Helicane. But if the prince do live, let us salute him, or know what grounds made happy by his breath. If in the world he live, we'll seek him out. If in his grave he rest, we'll find him there. And be resolved he lives to govern us, or dead. gives cause to mourn his funeral, and leave us to our free election.

Whose death indeed's the strongest in our censure, and knowing this kingdom is without a head, like goodly buildings left without a roof soon fall to ruin, your noble self, that best know how to rule and how to reign, we thus submit unto our sovereign.

Live, noble Helicane!

For honor's cause, forbear your suffrages. If that you love Prince Pericles, forbear. Take I your wish. I leap into the seas, where's hourly trouble for a minute's ease. A twelve-month longer, let me entreat you to forbear the absence of your king. If in which time expired, he not return, I shall with aged patience bear your yoke. But if I cannot win you to this love, go search like nobles, like noble subjects, and in your search spend your adventurous worth, whom if you find, and win unto return, you shall like diamonds sit about his crown.

To wisdom he's a fool that will not yield. And since Lord Helicani enjoineth us, we with our travels will endeavor us.

Then you love us, we you, and we'll clasp hands. When piers thus knit, a kingdom ever stands.

Act II, Scene V. Pentapolis, a room in the palace. Enter Simonides, reading a letter at one door. The knights meet him.

Good morrow to the good Simonides.

Knights, from my daughter this I'll let you know, that for this twelve months she'll not undertake a married life. Her reason to herself is only known, which yet from her by no means can I get.

May we not get access to her, my lord?

Faith, by no means. She has so strictly tied her to her chamber that tis impossible. One twelve moons more she'll wear Diana's livery. This by the eye of Cynthia hath she vowed, and on her virgin honour will not break it.

Loathe to bid farewell. We take our leaves.

Exeunt Nights So they are well dispatched. Now to my daughter's letter. She tells me here she'd wed the stranger night, or never more to view, nor day, nor light. Tis well, mistress. Your choice agrees with mine. I like that well. Nay, how absolute she's in't, not minding whether I dislike or no. Well, I do commend her choice, and will no longer have it be delayed. Soft, here he comes. I must assemble it.

Enter Pericles.

All fortune to the good Simonides.

To you as much, sir. I am beholding to you for your sweet music this last night. i do protest my ears were never better fed with such delightful pleasing harmony it is.

Your grace's pleasure to commend not my desert sir you are music's master the worst of all her scholars my good lord let me ask you one thing what do you think of my daughter sir a most virtuous princess and.

She is fair too is she not as.

A fair day in summer wondrous fair.

Sir, my daughter thinks very well of you. I so well that you must be her master, and she will be your scholar. Therefore look to it.

I am unworthy for her schoolmaster.

She thinks not so. Peruse this writing else.

Aside What's here?

A letter? That she loves the knight of Tyre? Tis the king's subtlety to have my life. O seek not to entrap me, gracious lord, a stranger and distressed gentleman, that never aimed so high to love your daughter, and bent all offices to honour her.

Thou hast bewitched my daughter, and thou art a villain.

By the gods I have not. Never did thought of mine levy offence, nor never did my actions yet commence a deed might gain her love or your displeasure.

Traitor, thou liest.

Traitor?

Traitor? ay traitor even in his throat unless it be the king that calls me traitor i return.

The lie aside now by the gods i do applaud his courage.

My actions are as noble as my thoughts that never relished of a base descent i came into your court for honour's cause and not to be a rebel to her state and he that otherwise accounts of me this sword shall prove he's honour's enemy.

Here comes my daughter she can witness it.

Then as you are as virtuous as fair resolve your angry father if my tongue did e'er solicit or my hand subscribe to any syllable that made love to you thea.

Why sir say if you had who takes offence at that would make me glad thea.

Yea mistress are you so peremptory i am glad on't with all my heart i'll tame you i'll bring you in subjection Will you, not having my consent, bestow your love and your affections upon a stranger?

Assigned.

Who, for aught I know, may be, nor can I think the contrary, as great in blood as I myself. Therefore he, you mistress, either frame your will to mine, and you, sir, either be ruled by me, or I will make you, man and wife. Nay, come, your hands and lips must seal it too. And being joined, I'll thus your hopes destroy. And for a further grief, God give you joy. What, are you both pleased?

Yes, if you love me, sir.

Even as my life, or blood that fosters it.

What, are you both agreed?

Yes, if it please your majesty.

It pleaseth me so well, that I will see you wed. and then with what haste you can get you to bed.

Pericles, Prince of Tyre Act 2

Kapitelklicken springt direkt hin

Shownotes

Transkriptvom Podcast bereitgestellt · Zeitmarken springen hin