Pericles
Act I, Scene 3
Tyre. An antechamber in the palace.
Dramatis Personae for American Book Company's edition of Pericles
W. J. Rolfe, 1911
- Enter Thaliard solus.
Thaliard
1 - 8- So this is Tyre, and this the court. Here must I kill King
- Pericles; and if I do it not, I am sure to be hang’d at
- home. ’Tis dangerous. Well, I perceive he was a wise fellow
- and had good discretion that, being bid to ask what he would
- of the king, desir’d he might know none of his secrets. Now
- do I see he had some reason for’t; for if a king bid a man
- be a villain, he’s bound by the indenture of his oath to be
- one. Husht! Here comes the lords of Tyre.
- Enter Helicanus, Escanes, with other Lords.
Helicanus
9 - 12- You shall not need, my fellow peers of Tyre,
- Further to question me of your king’s departure.
- His seal’d commission, left in trust with me,
- Does speak sufficiently he’s gone to travel.
Thaliard
13- Aside.
- How? The King gone?
Helicanus
14 - 17- If further yet you will be satisfied
- Why (as it were unlicens’d of your loves)
- He would depart, I’ll give some light unto you.
- Being at Antioch—
Thaliard
18- Aside.
- What from Antioch?
Helicanus
19 - 24- Royal Antiochus, on what cause I know not,
- Took some displeasure at him, at lease he judg’d so;
- And doubting lest he had err’d or sinn’d,
- To show his sorrow, he’d correct himself;
- So puts himself unto the shipman’s toil,
- With whom each minute threatens life or death.
Thaliard
25 - 29- Aside.
- Well, I perceive
- I shall not be hang’d now, although I would;
- But since he’s gone, the King’s seas must please:
- He scap’d the land to perish at the sea.
- I’ll present myself.—Peace to the lords of Tyre!
Helicanus
30- Lord Thaliard from Antiochus is welcome.
Thaliard
31 - 35- From him I come
- With message unto princely Pericles,
- But since my landing I have understood
- Your lord has betook himself to unknown travels;
- Now message must return from whence it came.
Helicanus
36 - 39- We have no reason to desire it,
- Commended to our master, not to us;
- Yet ere you shall depart, this we desire,
- As friends to Antioch, we may feast in Tyre.
- Exeunt.