Home
This site uses cookies
log out

Pericles: Act V, Scene 1

Sign in with Google to add your annotations.

Pericles
Act V, Scene 1

On board Pericles’s ship, off Mytilene.

Marina sings the song.

Artuš Scheiner, circa 1900

  1. On board Pericles’ ship, off Mytilene. A close pavilion on
  2. deck, with a curtain before it; Pericles within it, reclined
  3. on a couch.
  1. Enter Helicanus; to him two Sailors, one of Tyre, the other
  2. of Mytilene.

Sailor of Tyre

1 - 5
  1. To the Sailor of Mytilene.
  2. Where is Lord Helicanus? He can resolve you.
  3. O, here he is.—
  4. Sir, there is a barge put off from Mytilene,
  5. And in it is Lysimachus the governor,
  6. Who craves to come aboard. What is your will?

Helicanus

6
  1. That he have his. Call up some gentlemen.

Sailor of Tyre

7
  1. Ho, gentlemen! My lord calls.
  1. Enter two or three Gentlemen.

First Gentleman of Tyre

8
  1. Doth your lordship call?

Helicanus

9 - 10
  1. Gentlemen, there is some of worth would come aboard;
  2. I pray greet him fairly.
  1. Exeunt Gentlemen, Sailor of Tyre and Sailor of Mytilene.
  1. Enter Lysimachus and Lords with the Gentlemen and the Tyrian
  2. Sailor.

Sailor of Tyre

11 - 13
  1. Sir,
  2. This is the man that can, in aught you would,
  3. Resolve you.

Lysimachus

14
  1. Hail, reverent sir! The gods preserve you!

Helicanus

15 - 16
  1. And you, to outlive the age I am,
  2. And die as I would do.

Lysimachus

17 - 20
  1.                        You wish me well.
  2. Being on shore, honoring of Neptune’s triumphs,
  3. Seeing this goodly vessel ride before us,
  4. I made to it to know of whence you are.

Helicanus

21
  1. First, what is your place?

Lysimachus

22
  1. I am the governor of this place you lie before.

Helicanus

23 - 27
  1. Sir,
  2. Our vessel is of Tyre, in it the King,
  3. A man who for this three months hath not spoken
  4. To any one, nor taken sustenance
  5. But to prorogue his grief.

Lysimachus

28
  1. Upon what ground is his distemperature?

Helicanus

29 - 31
  1. ’Twould be too tedious to repeat,
  2. But the main grief springs from the loss
  3. Of a beloved daughter and a wife.

Lysimachus

32
  1. May we not see him?

Helicanus

33 - 35
  1. You may,
  2. But bootless is your sight; he will not speak
  3. To any.

Lysimachus

36
  1. Yet let me obtain my wish.

Helicanus

37 - 40
  1. Behold him.
  2. Pericles discovered.
  3.             This was a goodly person,
  4. Till the disaster that, one mortal night,
  5. Drove him to this.

Lysimachus

41
  1. Sir King, all hail! The gods preserve you! Hail, royal sir!

Helicanus

42
  1. It is in vain, he will not speak to you.

Lord of Myteline

43 - 45
  1. Sir,
  2. We have a maid in Mytilene, I durst wager,
  3. Would win some words of him.

Lysimachus

46 - 54
  1.                              ’Tis well bethought.
  2. She questionless with her sweet harmony,
  3. And other chosen attractions, would allure
  4. And make a batt’ry through his deafen’d parts,
  5. Which now are midway stopp’d.
  6. She is all happy as the fairest of all,
  7. And with her fellow maids, is now upon
  8. The leavy shelter that abuts against
  9. The island’s side.
  1. Gives an order to a Lord, who goes out.

Helicanus

55 - 60
  1. Sure all effectless; yet nothing we’ll omit
  2. That bears recovery’s name. But since your kindness
  3. We have stretch’d thus far, let us beseech you
  4. That for our gold we may provision have,
  5. Wherein we are not destitute for want,
  6. But weary for the staleness.

Lysimachus

61 - 66
  1.                              O sir, a courtesy
  2. Which if we should deny, the most just God
  3. For every graff would send a caterpillar,
  4. And so inflict our province. Yet once more
  5. Let me entreat to know at large the cause
  6. Of your king’s sorrow.

Helicanus

67 - 68
  1.                        Sit, sir, I will recount it to you,
  2. But see, I am prevented.
  1. Enter Lord with Marina and a young Lady.

Lysimachus

69 - 71
  1. O, here’s
  2. The lady that I sent for. Welcome, fair one!
  3. —Is’t not a goodly presence?

Helicanus

72
  1.                              She’s a gallant lady.

Lysimachus

73 - 81
  1. She’s such a one that were I well assur’d
  2. Came of a gentle kind and noble stock,
  3. I’d wish no better choice, and think me rarely to wed.
  4. Fair one, all goodness that consists in beauty,
  5. Expect even here, where is a kingly patient,
  6. If that thy prosperous and artificial feat
  7. Can draw him but to answer thee in aught,
  8. Thy sacred physic shall receive such pay
  9. As thy desires can wish.

How, a king’s daughter? And call’d Marina?

1901

Marina

82 - 85
  1.                          Sir, I will use
  2. My utmost skill in his recovery, provided
  3. That none but I and my companion maid
  4. Be suffered to come near him.

Lysimachus

86 - 87
  1.                               Come, let us leave her,
  2. And the gods make her prosperous!
  1. They withdraw. Marina sings the song.

Lysimachus

88
  1. Advances.
  2. Mark’d he your music?

Marina

89
  1. No, nor look’d on us.

Lysimachus

90
  1. See, she will speak to him.

Marina

91
  1. Hail, sir! My lord, lend ear.

Pericles

92
  1. Hum, ha!
  1. Pushing her roughly back.

Marina

93 - 106
  1. I am a maid,
  2. My lord, that ne’er before invited eyes,
  3. But have been gaz’d on like a comet. She speaks,
  4. My lord, that, may be, hath endur’d a grief
  5. Might equal yours, if both were justly weigh’d.
  6. Though wayward fortune did malign my state,
  7. My derivation was from ancestors
  8. Who stood equivalent with mighty kings,
  9. But time hath rooted out my parentage,
  10. And to the world and awkward casualties
  11. Bound me in servitude.
  12. Aside.
  13.                        I will desist,
  14. But there is something glows upon my cheek,
  15. And whispers in mine ear, “Go not till he speak.”

Pericles

107 - 108
  1. My fortunes—parentage—good parentage—
  2. To equal mine—was it not thus? What say you?

Marina

109 - 110
  1. I said, my lord, if you did know my parentage,
  2. You would not do me violence.

Pericles

111 - 113
  1. I do think so. Pray you turn your eyes upon me.
  2. You’re like something that—What country-woman?
  3. Here of these shores?

Marina

114 - 116
  1.                       No, nor of any shores,
  2. Yet I was mortally brought forth, and am
  3. No other than I appear.

Pericles

117 - 124
  1. I am great with woe, and shall deliver weeping.
  2. My dearest wife was like this maid, and such a one
  3. My daughter might have been. My queen’s square brows,
  4. Her stature to an inch, as wand-like straight,
  5. As silver-voic’d, her eyes as jewel-like
  6. And cas’d as richly, in pace another Juno;
  7. Who starves the ears she feeds, and makes them hungry,
  8. The more she gives them speech. Where do you live?

Marina

125 - 126
  1. Where I am but a stranger. From the deck
  2. You may discern the place.

Pericles

127 - 129
  1.                            Where were you bred?
  2. And how achiev’d you these endowments which
  3. You make more rich to owe?

Marina

130 - 131
  1. If I should tell my history, it would seem
  2. Like lies disdain’d in the reporting.

Pericles

132 - 141
  1.                                       Prithee speak.
  2. Falseness cannot come from thee, for thou lookest
  3. Modest as Justice, and thou seemest a palace
  4. For the crown’d Truth to dwell in. I will believe thee,
  5. And make my senses credit thy relation
  6. To points that seem impossible, for thou lookest
  7. Like one I lov’d indeed. What were thy friends?
  8. Didst thou not say, when I did push thee back—
  9. Which was when I perceiv’d thee—that thou cam’st
  10. From good descending?

Marina

142
  1.                       So indeed I did.

Pericles

143 - 146
  1. Report thy parentage. I think thou saidst
  2. Thou hadst been toss’d from wrong to injury,
  3. And that thou thoughts’ thy griefs might equal mine,
  4. If both were opened.

Marina

147 - 149
  1.                      Some such thing
  2. I said, and said no more but what my thoughts
  3. Did warrant me was likely.

Pericles

150 - 157
  1.                            Tell thy story;
  2. If thine, considered, prove the thousand part
  3. Of my endurance, thou art a man, and I
  4. Have suffered like a girl. Yet thou dost look
  5. Like Patience gazing on kings’ graves, and smiling
  6. Extremity out of act. What were thy friends?
  7. How lost thou them? Thy name, my most kind virgin?
  8. Recount, I do beseech thee. Come sit by me.

Marina

158
  1. My name is Marina.

Pericles

159 - 161
  1.                    O, I am mock’d,
  2. And thou by some incensed god sent hither
  3. To make the world to laugh at me.
Diana Appears to Pericles as in a Vision

Diana Appears to Pericles as in a Vision

Edwin Austin Abbey, 1902

Marina

162 - 163
  1.                                   Patience, good sir!
  2. Or here I’ll cease.

Pericles

164 - 166
  1.                     Nay, I’ll be patient.
  2. Thou little know’st how thou dost startle me
  3. To call thyself Marina.

Marina

167 - 169
  1.                         The name
  2. Was given me by one that had some power,
  3. My father, and a king.

Pericles

170 - 171
  1.                        How, a king’s daughter?
  2. And call’d Marina?

Marina

172 - 174
  1.                    You said you would believe me,
  2. But not to be a troubler of your peace,
  3. I will end here.

Pericles

175 - 178
  1.                  But are you flesh and blood?
  2. Have you a working pulse, and are no fairy?
  3. Motion? Well, speak on. Where were you born?
  4. And wherefore call’d Marina?

Marina

179 - 180
  1.                              Call’d Marina
  2. For I was born at sea.

Pericles

181
  1.                        At sea! What mother?

Marina

182 - 185
  1. My mother was the daughter of a king,
  2. Who died the minute I was born,
  3. As my good nurse Lychorida hath oft
  4. Delivered weeping.

Pericles

186 - 191
  1.                    O, stop there a little!
  2. Aside.
  3. This is the rarest dream that e’er dull’d sleep
  4. Did mock sad fools withal. This cannot be
  5. My daughter—buried!—Well, where were you bred?
  6. I’ll hear you more, to th’ bottom of your story,
  7. And never interrupt you.

Marina

192
  1. You scorn. Believe me, ’twere best I did give o’er.

Pericles

193 - 195
  1. I will believe you by the syllable
  2. Of what you shall deliver. Yet give me leave:
  3. How came you in these parts? Where were you bred?

Marina

196 - 205
  1. The King my father did in Tharsus leave me,
  2. Till cruel Cleon, with his wicked wife,
  3. Did seek to murder me; and having wooed
  4. A villain to attempt it, who having drawn to do’t,
  5. A crew of pirates came and rescued me;
  6. Brought me to Mytilene. But, good sir,
  7. Whither will you have me? Why do you weep? It may be
  8. You think me an imposture. No, good faith;
  9. I am the daughter to King Pericles,
  10. If good King Pericles be.

Pericles

206
  1. Ho, Helicanus!

Helicanus

207
  1. Calls my lord?

Pericles

208 - 211
  1. Thou art a grave and noble counsellor,
  2. Most wise in general, tell me if thou canst,
  3. What this maid is, or what is like to be,
  4. That thus hath made me weep.

Helicanus

212 - 214
  1.                              I know not, but
  2. Here’s the regent, sir, of Mytilene
  3. Speaks nobly of her.

Lysimachus

215 - 217
  1.                      She never would tell
  2. Her parentage; being demanded that,
  3. She would sit still and weep.

Pericles

218 - 230
  1. O Helicanus, strike me, honored sir,
  2. Give me a gash, put me to present pain,
  3. Lest this great sea of joys rushing upon me
  4. O’erbear the shores of my mortality,
  5. And drown me with their sweetness. O, come hither,
  6. Thou that beget’st him that did thee beget;
  7. Thou that wast born at sea, buried at Tharsus,
  8. And found at sea again! O Helicanus,
  9. Down on thy knees, thank the holy gods as loud
  10. As thunder threatens us. This is Marina.
  11. What was thy mother’s name? Tell me but that,
  12. For truth can never be confirm’d enough,
  13. Though doubts did ever sleep.

Marina

231 - 232
  1.                               First, sir, I pray,
  2. What is your title?

Pericles

233 - 237
  1. I am Pericles of Tyre; but tell me now
  2. My drown’d queen’s name, as in the rest you said
  3. Thou hast been godlike perfit,
  4. The heir of kingdoms, and another life
  5. To Pericles thy father.

Marina

238 - 241
  1. Is it no more to be your daughter than
  2. To say my mother’s name was Thaisa?
  3. Thaisa was my mother, who did end
  4. The minute I began.
Marina sings before Pericles

Marina sings before Pericles

Thomas Stothard, 1825

Pericles

242 - 247
  1. Now blessing on thee! Rise, th’ art my child.
  2. Give me fresh garments. Mine own Helicanus,
  3. She is not dead at Tharsus as she should have been
  4. By savage Cleon. She shall tell thee all,
  5. When thou shalt kneel, and justify in knowledge
  6. She is thy very princess. Who is this?

Helicanus

248 - 250
  1. Sir, ’tis the governor of Mytilene,
  2. Who, hearing of your melancholy state,
  3. Did come to see you.

Pericles

251 - 256
  1.                      I embrace you.
  2. Give me my robes. I am wild in my beholding.
  3. O heavens bless my girl! But hark, what music?
  4. Tell Helicanus, my Marina, tell him
  5. O’er, point by point, for yet he seems to dote,
  6. How sure you are my daughter. But what music?

Helicanus

257
  1. My lord, I hear none.

Pericles

258 - 259
  1. None?
  2. The music of the spheres! List, my Marina.

Lysimachus

260
  1. It is not good to cross him, give him way.

Pericles

261
  1. Rarest sounds! Do ye not hear?

Lysimachus

262
  1. Music, my lord? I hear.

Pericles

263 - 265
  1. Most heavenly music!
  2. It nips me unto list’ning, and thick slumber
  3. Hangs upon mine eyes. Let me rest.
  1. Sleeps.

Lysimachus

266 - 269
  1. A pillow for his head.
  2. So leave him all. Well, my companion friends,
  3. If this but answer to my just belief,
  4. I’ll well remember you.
  1. Exeunt all but Pericles.
  1. Diana appears to Pericles as in a vision.

Diana

270 - 279
  1. My temple stands in Ephesus, hie thee thither,
  2. And do upon mine altar sacrifice.
  3. There, when my maiden priests are met together
  4. Before the people all,
  5. Reveal how thou at sea didst lose thy wife.
  6. To mourn thy crosses, with thy daughter’s, call
  7. And give them repetition to the life.
  8. Or perform my bidding, or thou livest in woe;
  9. Do’t, and happy, by my silver bow!
  10. Awake, and tell thy dream.
  1. Disappears.

Pericles

280 - 281
  1. Celestial Dian, goddess argentine,
  2. I will obey thee. Helicanus!
  1. Enter Helicanus, Lysimachus, and Marina.

Helicanus

282
  1.                              Sir?

Pericles

283 - 289
  1. My purpose was for Tharsus, there to strike
  2. The inhospitable Cleon, but I am
  3. For other service first. Toward Ephesus
  4. Turn our blown sails; eftsoons I’ll tell thee why.
  5. To Lysimachus.
  6. Shall we refresh us, sir, upon your shore,
  7. And give you gold for such provision
  8. As our intents will need?

Lysimachus

290 - 292
  1. Sir,
  2. With all my heart, and, when you come ashore,
  3. I have another suit.

Pericles

293 - 295
  1.                      You shall prevail,
  2. Were it to woo my daughter, for it seems
  3. You have been noble towards her.

Lysimachus

296
  1.                                  Sir, lend me your arm.

Pericles

297
  1. Come, my Marina.
  1. Exeunt.
Tales from Shakespeare

Tell thy story

From: Tales from Shakespeare

Louis Rhead, circa 1918

© 2021 Unotate.com • contact • privacy policy • Creative Commons text from PlayShakespeare.com • All illustrations are public domain or Creative Commons