SCENE V. Pentapolis. A room in the palace. Pericles, Prince of Tyre  Shakespeare homepage  |  Pericles  | Act 2, Scene 5 

 Previous scene  |  Next scene  SCENE V. Pentapolis. A room in the palace. 

 Enter SIMONIDES, reading a letter, at one door: the Knights meet him  First Knight  Good morrow to the good Simonides. 

 SIMONIDES  Knights, from my daughter this I let you know, 

 That for this twelvemonth she'll not undertake 

 A married life. 

 Her reason to herself is only known, 

 Which yet from her by no means can I get. 

 Second Knight  May we not get access to her, my lord? 

 SIMONIDES  '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 vow'd 

 And on her virgin honour will not break it. 

 Third Knight  Loath to bid farewell, we take our leaves. 



 Exeunt Knights  SIMONIDES  So, 

 They are well dispatch'd; now to my daughter's letter: 

 She tells me here, she'd wed the stranger knight, 

 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 delay'd. 

 Soft! here he comes: I must dissemble it. 



 Enter PERICLES  PERICLES  All fortune to the good Simonides! 

 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. 

 PERICLES  It is your grace's pleasure to commend; 

 Not my desert. 

 SIMONIDES  Sir, you are music's master. 

 PERICLES  The worst of all her scholars, my good lord. 

 SIMONIDES  Let me ask you one thing: 

 What do you think of my daughter, sir? 

 PERICLES  A most virtuous princess. 

 SIMONIDES  And she is fair too, is she not? 

 PERICLES  As a fair day in summer, wondrous fair. 

 SIMONIDES  Sir, my daughter thinks very well of you; 

 Ay, so well, that you must be her master, 

 And she will be your scholar: therefore look to it. 

 PERICLES  I am unworthy for her schoolmaster. 

 SIMONIDES  She thinks not so; peruse this writing else. 

 PERICLES  [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 aim'd so high to love your daughter, 

 But bent all offices to honour her. 

 SIMONIDES  Thou hast bewitch'd my daughter, and thou art 

 A villain. 

 PERICLES  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. 

 SIMONIDES  Traitor, thou liest. 

 PERICLES  Traitor! 

 SIMONIDES  Ay, traitor. 

 PERICLES  Even in his throat--unless it be the king-- 

 That calls me traitor, I return the lie. 

 SIMONIDES  [Aside]  Now, by the gods, I do applaud his courage. 

 PERICLES  My actions are as noble as my thoughts, 

 That never relish'd of a base descent. 

 I came unto 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. 

 SIMONIDES  No? 

 Here comes my daughter, she can witness it. 



 Enter THAISA  PERICLES  Then, as you are as virtuous as fair, 

 Resolve your angry father, if my tongue 

 Did ere solicit, or my hand subscribe 

 To any syllable that made love to you. 

 THAISA  Why, sir, say if you had, 

 Who takes offence at that would make me glad? 

 SIMONIDES  Yea, mistress, are you so peremptory? 



 Aside  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? 



 Aside  who, for aught I know, 

 May be, nor can I think the contrary, 

 As great in blood as I myself.-- 

 Therefore hear you, mistress; either frame 

 Your will to mine,--and you, sir, hear you, 

 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 join'd, I'll thus your hopes destroy; 

 And for a further grief,--God give you joy!-- 

 What, are you both pleased? 

 THAISA  Yes, if you love me, sir. 

 PERICLES  Even as my life, or blood that fosters it. 

 SIMONIDES  What, are you both agreed? 

 BOTH  Yes, if it please your majesty. 

 SIMONIDES  It pleaseth me so well, that I will see you wed; 

 And then with what haste you can get you to bed. 



 Exeunt 

 Enter GOWER  GOWER  Now sleep y-slaked hath the rout; 

 No din but snores the house about, 

 Made louder by the o'er-fed breast 

 Of this most pompous marriage-feast. 

 The cat, with eyne of burning coal, 

 Now crouches fore the mouse's hole; 

 And crickets sing at the oven's mouth, 

 E'er the blither for their drouth. 

 Hymen hath brought the bride to bed. 

 Where, by the loss of maidenhead, 

 A babe is moulded. Be attent, 

 And time that is so briefly spent 

 With your fine fancies quaintly eche: 

 What's dumb in show I'll plain with speech. 

 DUMB SHOW. 



 Enter, PERICLES and SIMONIDES at one door, with  Attendants; a Messenger meets them, kneels, and  gives PERICLES a letter: PERICLES shows it  SIMONIDES; the Lords kneel to him. Then enter  THAISA with child, with LYCHORIDA a nurse. The  KING shows her the letter; she rejoices: she and  PERICLES takes leave of her father, and depart with  LYCHORIDA and their Attendants. Then exeunt SIMONIDES and the rest  By many a dern and painful perch 

 Of Pericles the careful search, 

 By the four opposing coigns 

 Which the world together joins, 

 Is made with all due diligence 

 That horse and sail and high expense 

 Can stead the quest. At last from Tyre, 

 Fame answering the most strange inquire, 

 To the court of King Simonides 

 Are letters brought, the tenor these: 

 Antiochus and his daughter dead; 

 The men of Tyrus on the head 

 Of Helicanus would set on 

 The crown of Tyre, but he will none: 

 The mutiny he there hastes t' oppress; 

 Says to 'em, if King Pericles 

 Come not home in twice six moons, 

 He, obedient to their dooms, 

 Will take the crown. The sum of this, 

 Brought hither to Pentapolis, 

 Y-ravished the regions round, 

 And every one with claps can sound, 

 'Our heir-apparent is a king! 

 Who dream'd, who thought of such a thing?' 

 Brief, he must hence depart to Tyre: 

 His queen with child makes her desire-- 

 Which who shall cross?--along to go: 

 Omit we all their dole and woe: 

 Lychorida, her nurse, she takes, 

 And so to sea. Their vessel shakes 

 On Neptune's billow; half the flood 

 Hath their keel cut: but fortune's mood 

 Varies again; the grisly north 

 Disgorges such a tempest forth, 

 That, as a duck for life that dives, 

 So up and down the poor ship drives: 

 The lady shrieks, and well-a-near 

 Does fall in travail with her fear: 

 And what ensues in this fell storm 

 Shall for itself itself perform. 

 I nill relate, action may 

 Conveniently the rest convey; 

 Which might not what by me is told. 

 In your imagination hold 

 This stage the ship, upon whose deck 

 The sea-tost Pericles appears to speak. 



 Exit  SCENE I: 



 Enter PERICLES, on shipboard  PERICLES  Thou god of this great vast, rebuke these surges, 

 Which wash both heaven and hell; and thou, that hast 

 Upon the winds command, bind them in brass, 

 Having call'd them from the deep! O, still 

 Thy deafening, dreadful thunders; gently quench 

 Thy nimble, sulphurous flashes! O, how, Lychorida, 

 How does my queen? Thou stormest venomously; 

 Wilt thou spit all thyself? The seaman's whistle 

 Is as a whisper in the ears of death, 

 Unheard. Lychorida!--Lucina, O 

 Divinest patroness, and midwife gentle 

 To those that cry by night, convey thy deity 

 Aboard our dancing boat; make swift the pangs 

 Of my queen's travails! 



 Enter LYCHORIDA, with an Infant  Now, Lychorida! 

 LYCHORIDA  Here is a thing too young for such a place, 

 Who, if it had conceit, would die, as I 

 Am like to do: take in your arms this piece 

 Of your dead queen. 

 PERICLES  How, how, Lychorida! 

 LYCHORIDA  Patience, good sir; do not assist the storm. 

 Here's all that is left living of your queen, 

 A little daughter: for the sake of it, 

 Be manly, and take comfort. 

 PERICLES  O you gods! 

 Why do you make us love your goodly gifts, 

 And snatch them straight away? We here below 

 Recall not what we give, and therein may 

 Use honour with you. 

 LYCHORIDA  Patience, good sir, 

 Even for this charge. 

 PERICLES  Now, mild may be thy life! 

 For a more blustrous birth had never babe: 

 Quiet and gentle thy conditions! for 

 Thou art the rudeliest welcome to this world 

 That ever was prince's child. Happy what follows! 

 Thou hast as chiding a nativity 

 As fire, air, water, earth, and heaven can make, 

 To herald thee from the womb: even at the first 

 Thy loss is more than can thy portage quit, 

 With all thou canst find here. Now, the good gods 

 Throw their best eyes upon't! 



 Enter two Sailors  First Sailor  What courage, sir? God save you! 

 PERICLES  Courage enough: I do not fear the flaw; 

 It hath done to me the worst. Yet, for the love 

 Of this poor infant, this fresh-new sea-farer, 

 I would it would be quiet. 

 First Sailor  Slack the bolins there! Thou wilt not, wilt thou? 

 Blow, and split thyself. 

 Second Sailor  But sea-room, an the brine and cloudy billow kiss 

 the moon, I care not. 

 First Sailor  Sir, your queen must overboard: the sea works high, 

 the wind is loud, and will not lie till the ship be 

 cleared of the dead. 

 PERICLES  That's your superstition. 

 First Sailor  Pardon us, sir; with us at sea it hath been still 

 observed: and we are strong in custom. Therefore 

 briefly yield her; for she must overboard straight. 

 PERICLES  As you think meet. Most wretched queen! 

 LYCHORIDA  Here she lies, sir. 

 PERICLES  A terrible childbed hast thou had, my dear; 

 No light, no fire: the unfriendly elements 

 Forgot thee utterly: nor have I time 

 To give thee hallow'd to thy grave, but straight 

 Must cast thee, scarcely coffin'd, in the ooze; 

 Where, for a monument upon thy bones, 

 And e'er-remaining lamps, the belching whale 

 And humming water must o'erwhelm thy corpse, 

 Lying with simple shells. O Lychorida, 

 Bid Nestor bring me spices, ink and paper, 

 My casket and my jewels; and bid Nicander 

 Bring me the satin coffer: lay the babe 

 Upon the pillow: hie thee, whiles I say 

 A priestly farewell to her: suddenly, woman. 



 Exit LYCHORIDA  Second Sailor  Sir, we have a chest beneath the hatches, caulked 

 and bitumed ready. 

 PERICLES  I thank thee. Mariner, say what coast is this? 

 Second Sailor  We are near Tarsus. 

 PERICLES  Thither, gentle mariner. 

 Alter thy course for Tyre. When canst thou reach it? 

 Second Sailor  By break of day, if the wind cease. 

 PERICLES  O, make for Tarsus! 

 There will I visit Cleon, for the babe 

 Cannot hold out to Tyrus: there I'll leave it 

 At careful nursing. Go thy ways, good mariner: 

 I'll bring the body presently. 



 Exeunt  Shakespeare homepage  |  Pericles  | Act 2, Scene 5 

 Previous scene  |  Next scene 