DIONYZA I have one myself,
Who shall not be more dear to my respect
Than yours, my lord.
PERICLES Madam, my thanks and prayers.
CLEON
We’ll bring your grace e‘en to the edge o’th’ shore,
Then give you up to th’ masted Neptune and
The gentlest winds of heaven.
PERICLES
I will embrace your offer.—Come, dear’st madam.—
O, no tears, Lychorida, no tears.
Look to your little mistress, on whose grace
You may depend hereafter.—Come, my lord.
Exeunt
Sc. 14
Enter Cerimon and Thaisa
CERIMON
Madam, this letter and some certain jewels
Lay with you in your coffer, which are all
At your command. Know you the character?
THAISA
It is my lord’s. That I was shipped at sea
I well remember, ev’n on my eaning time,
But whether there delivered, by th’ holy gods
I cannot rightly say. But since King Pericles,
My wedded lord, I ne‘er shall see again,
A vestal liv’ry will I take me to,
And never more have joy.
CERIMON
Madam, if this you purpose as ye speak,
Diana’s temple is not distant far,
Where till your date expire you may abide.
Moreover, if you please a niece of mine
Shall there attend you.
THAISA
My recompense is thanks, that’s all,
Yet my good will is great, though the gift small.
Exeunt
Sc. 15
Enter Gower
GOWER
Imagine Pericles arrived at Tyre,
Welcomed and settled to his own desire.
His woeful queen we leave at Ephesus,
Unto Diana there ’s a votaress.
Now to Marina bend your mind,
Whom our fast-growing scene must find
At Tarsus, and by Cleon trained
In music, letters; who hath gained
Of education all the grace,
Which makes her both the heart and place
Of gen‘ral wonder. But, alack,
That monster envy, oft the wrack
Of earned praise, Marina’s life
Seeks to take off by treason’s knife,
And in this kind our Cleon has
One daughter, and a full-grown lass
E’en ripe for marriage-rite. This maid
Hight Philoten, and it is said
For certain in our story she
Would ever with Marina be,
Be’t when they weaved the sleided silk
With fingers long, small, white as milk;
Or when she would with sharp nee‘le wound
The cambric which she made more sound
By hurting it, or when to th’ lute
She sung, and made the night bird mute,
That still records with moan; or when
She would with rich and constant pen
Vail to her mistress Dian. Still
This Philoten contends in skill
With absolute Marina; so
With dove of Paphos might the crow
Vie feathers white. Marina gets
All praises which are paid as debts,
And not as given. This so darks
In Philoten all graceful marks
That Cleon’s wife with envy rare
A present murder does prepare
For good Marina, that her daughter
Might stand peerless by this slaughter.
The sooner her vile thoughts to stead
Lychorida, our nurse, is dead,
⌈
A tomb is revealed
⌉
And cursed Dionyza hath
The pregnant instrument of wrath
Pressed for this blow. Th’unborn event
I do commend to your content,
Only I carry winged Time
Post on the lame feet of my rhyme,
Which never could I so convey
Unless your thoughts went on my way.
⌈
Enter Dionyza with Leonine
⌉
Dionyza does appear,
With Leonine, a murderer. Exit
DIONYZA
Thy oath remember. Thou hast sworn to do’t.
‘Tis but a blow, which never shall be known.
Thou canst not do a thing i’th’ world so soon
To yield thee so much profit. Let not conscience,
Which is but cold, or fanning love thy bosom
Unflame too nicely, nor let pity, which
E’en women have cast off, melt thee; but be
A soldier to thy purpose.
LEONINE I will do’t;
But yet she is a goodly creature.
DIONYZA
The fitter then the gods should have her.
Enter Marina
⌈
to the tomb
⌉
with a basket of flowers
Here she comes, weeping her only nurse’s death.
Thou art resolved.
LEONINE I am resolved.
MARINA
No, I will rob Tellus of her weed
To strew thy grave with flow’rs. The yellows, blues,
The purple violets and marigolds
Shall as a carpet hang upon thy tomb
While summer days doth last. Ay me, poor maid,
Born in a tempest when my mother died,
This world to me is but a ceaseless storm
Whirring me from my friends.
DIONYZA
How now, Marina, why do you keep alone?
How chance my daughter is not with you?
Do not consume your blood with sorrowing.
Have you a nurse of me. Lord, how your favour
Is changed with this unprofitable woe!
Give me your flowers. Come, o’er the sea margin
Walk with Leonine. The air is piercing there,
And quick; it sharps the stomach. Come, Leonine,
Take her by th’ arm. Walk with her.
MARINA No, I pray you,
I’ll not bereave you of your servant.
DIONYZA Come, come,
I love the King your father and yourself
With more than foreign heart. We ev’ry day
Expect him here. When he shall come and find
Our paragon to all reports thus blasted,
He will repent the breadth of his great voyage,
Blame both my lord and me, that we have taken
No care to your best courses. Go, I pray you,
Walk and be cheerful once again; resume
That excellent complexion which did steal
The eyes of young and old. Care not for me.
I can go home alone.
MARINA Well, I will go,
But truly I have no desire to it.
DIONYZA
Nay, I know ’tis good for you. Walk half an hour,
Leonine, at the least; remember
What I have said.
LEONINE I warr’nt you, madam.
DIONYZA (
to Marina
)
I’ll leave you, my sweet lady, for a while.
Pray you walk softly, do not heat your blood.
What, I must have care of you!
MARINA My thanks, sweet madam.
Is this wind westerly that blows?
LEONINE South-west.
MARINA
When I was born the wind was north.
LEONINE Was’t SO? MARINA
My father, as nurse says, did never fear,
But cried ’Good seamen’ to the mariners,
Galling his kingly hands with haling ropes,
And, clasping to the mast, endured a sea
That almost burst the deck.
LEONINE When was this?
MARINA When I was born.
Never was waves nor wind more violent.
Once from the ladder tackle washes off
A canvas-climber. ‘Ha!’ says one, ‘wolt out?’
And with a dropping industry they skip
From stem to stern. The boatswain whistles, and
The master calls and trebles their confusion.
LEONINE Come, say your prayers.
MARINA What mean you?
LEONINE
If you require a little space for prayer
I grant it. Pray, but be not tedious.
The gods are quick of ear, and I am sworn
To do my work with haste.
MARINA Why would you kill me?
LEONINE
To satisfy my lady.
MARINA
Why would she have me killed? Now, as I can remember, by my troth
I never did her hurt in all my life.
I never spake bad word, nor did ill turn
To any living creature. Believe me, la.
I never killed a mouse nor hurt a fly.
I trod once on a worm against my will,
But I wept for it. How have I offended
Wherein my death might yield her any profit
Or my life imply her danger?
LEONINE My commission
Is not to reason of the deed, but do’t.
MARINA
You will not do’t for all the world, I hope.
You are well favoured, and your looks foreshow
You have a gentle heart. I saw you lately
When you caught hurt in parting two that fought.
Good sooth, it showed well in you. Do so now.
Your lady seeks my life. Come you between,
And save poor me, the weaker.
LEONINE ⌈
drawing out his sword
⌉ I am sworn,
And will dispatch.
FIRST PIRATE Hold, villain.
Leonine runs away
⌈
and hides behind the tomb
⌉
SECOND PIRATE A prize, a prize.
THIRD PIRATE Half-part, mates, half-part. Come, let’s have her aboard suddenly.
Exeunt Pirates
⌈
carrying
⌉
Marina
Leonine
⌈
steals back
⌉
LEONINE
These roguing thieves serve the great pirate Valdes.
An they have seized Marina, let her go.
There’s no hope she’ll return. I’ll swear she’s dead
And thrown into the sea; but I’ll see further.
Perhaps they will but please themselves upon her,
Not carry her aboard. If she remain,
Whom they have ravished must by me be slain.
Exit.
⌈
The tomb is concealed
⌉
Sc. 16
⌈
A brothel sign.] Enter the Pander, his wife the Bawd, and their man Boult
PANDER Boult.
BOULT Sir.
PANDER Search the market narrowly. Mytilene is full of gallants. We lose too much money this mart by being wenchless.
BAWD We were never so much out of creatures. We have but poor three, and they can do no more than they can do, and they with continual action are even as good as rotten.
PANDER Therefore let’s have fresh ones, whate’er we pay for them. If there be not a conscience to be used in every trade, we shall never prosper.
BAWD Thou sayst true. ’Tis not our bringing up of poor bastards—as I think I have brought up some eleven—
BOULT Ay, to eleven, and brought them down again. But shall I search the market?
BAWD What else, man? The stuff we have, a strong wind will blow it to pieces, they are so pitifully sodden.
PANDER Thou sayst true. They’re too unwholesome, o’ conscience. The poor Transylvanian is dead that lay with the little baggage.
BOULT Ay, she quickly pooped him, she made him roast meat for worms. But I’ll go search the market. Exit
PANDER Three or four thousand chequins were as pretty a proportion to live quietly, and so give over.
BAWD Why to give over, I pray you? Is it a shame to get when we are old?
PANDER O, our credit comes not in like the commodity, nor the commodity wages not with the danger. Therefore if in our youths we could pick up some pretty estate, ‘twere not amiss to keep our door hatched. Besides, the sore terms we stand upon with the gods will be strong with us for giving o’er.
BAWD Come, other sorts offend as well as we. PANDER As well as we? Ay, and better too; we offend worse. Neither is our profession any mystery, it’s no calling. But here comes Boult.
Enter Boult with the Pirates and Marina
BOULT ⌈
to the Pirates
⌉ Come your ways, my masters, you say she’s a virgin?
A PIRATE O sir, we doubt it not.
BOULT (
to Pander
) Master, I have gone through for this piece you see. If you like her, so; if not, I have lost my earnest.
BAWD Boult, has she any qualities?
BOULT She has a good face, speaks well, and has excellent good clothes. There’s no farther necessity of qualities can make her be refused.
BAWD What’s her price, Boult?
BOULT I cannot be bated one doit of a hundred sesterces.
PANDER (
to Pirates
) Well, follow me, my masters. You shall have your money presently. (To Bawd) Wife, take her in, instruct her what she has to do, that she may not be raw in her entertainment.
Exeunt Pander and Pirates
BAWD Boult, take you the marks of her, the colour of her hair, complexion, height, her age, with warrant of her virginity, and cry ‘He that will give most shall have her first.’ Such a maidenhead were no cheap thing if men were as they have been. Get this done as I command you.