Pericles by William Shakespeare
Act 1 - Scene 1
Antioch. A room in the palace.
Antiochus : Young prince of Tyre, you have at large received
[p]The danger of the
task you undertake.
Pericles : I have, Antiochus, and, with a soul
[p]Embolden'd with the glory of
her praise,
[p]Think death no hazard in this enterprise.
Antiochus : Bring in our daughter, clothed like a bride,
[p]For the embracements
even of Jove himself;
[p]At whose conception, till Lucina
reign'd,
[p]Nature this dowry gave, to glad her presence,
[p]The
senate-house of planets all did sit,
[p]To knit in her their best
perfections.
Pericles : See where she comes, apparell'd like the spring,
[p]Graces her
subjects, and her thoughts the king
[p]Of every virtue gives renown to
men!
[p]Her face the book of praises, where is read
[p]Nothing but
curious pleasures, as from thence
[p]Sorrow were ever razed and testy
wrath
[p]Could never be her mild companion.
[p]You gods that made me
man, and sway in love,
[p]That have inflamed desire in my breast
[p]To
taste the fruit of yon celestial tree,
[p]Or die in the adventure, be
my helps,
[p]As I am son and servant to your will,
[p]To compass such
a boundless happiness!
Antiochus : Prince Pericles,--
Pericles : That would be son to great Antiochus.
Antiochus : Before thee stands this fair Hesperides,
[p]With golden fruit, but
dangerous to be touch'd;
[p]For death-like dragons here affright thee
hard:
[p]Her face, like heaven, enticeth thee to view
[p]Her countless
glory, which desert must gain;
[p]And which, without desert, because
thine eye
[p]Presumes to reach, all thy whole heap must die.
[p]Yon
sometimes famous princes, like thyself,
[p]Drawn by report,
adventurous by desire,
[p]Tell thee, with speechless tongues and
semblance pale,
[p]That without covering, save yon field of
stars,
[p]Here they stand martyrs, slain in Cupid's wars;
[p]And with
dead cheeks advise thee to desist
[p]For going on death's net, whom
none resist.
Pericles : Antiochus, I thank thee, who hath taught
[p]My frail mortality to know
itself,
[p]And by those fearful objects to prepare
[p]This body, like
to them, to what I must;
[p]For death remember'd should be like a
mirror,
[p]Who tells us life's but breath, to trust it error.
[p]I'll
make my will then, and, as sick men do
[p]Who know the world, see
heaven, but, feeling woe,
[p]Gripe not at earthly joys as erst they
did;
[p]So I bequeath a happy peace to you
[p]And all good men, as
every prince should do;
[p]My riches to the earth from whence they
came;
[p]But my unspotted fire of love to you.
[p][To the Daughter of
ANTIOCHUS]
[p]Thus ready for the way of life or death,
[p]I wait the
sharpest blow, Antiochus.
Antiochus : Scorning advice, read the conclusion then:
[p]Which read and not
expounded, 'tis decreed,
[p]As these before thee thou thyself shalt
bleed.
Daughter of Antiochus : Of all say'd yet, mayst thou prove prosperous!
[p]Of all say'd yet, I
wish thee happiness!
Pericles : Like a bold champion, I assume the lists,
[p]Nor ask advice of any
other thought
[p]But faithfulness and courage.
[p][He reads the
riddle]
[p]I am no viper, yet I feed
[p]On mother's flesh which did me
breed.
[p]I sought a husband, in which labour
[p]I found that kindness
in a father:
[p]He's father, son, and husband mild;
[p]I mother, wife,
and yet his child.
[p]How they may be, and yet in two,
[p]As you will
live, resolve it you.
[p]Sharp physic is the last: but, O you
powers
[p]That give heaven countless eyes to view men's acts,
[p]Why
cloud they not their sights perpetually,
[p]If this be true, which
makes me pale to read it?
[p]Fair glass of light, I loved you, and
could still,
[p][Takes hold of the hand of the Daughter of
ANTIOCHUS]
[p]Were not this glorious casket stored with ill:
[p]But I
must tell you, now my thoughts revolt
[p]For he's no man on whom
perfections wait
[p]That, knowing sin within, will touch the
gate.
[p]You are a fair viol, and your sense the strings;
[p]Who,
finger'd to make man his lawful music,
[p]Would draw heaven down, and
all the gods, to hearken:
[p]But being play'd upon before your
time,
[p]Hell only danceth at so harsh a chime.
[p]Good sooth, I care
not for you.
Antiochus : Prince Pericles, touch not, upon thy life.
[p]For that's an article
within our law,
[p]As dangerous as the rest. Your time's
expired:
[p]Either expound now, or receive your sentence.
Pericles : Great king,
[p]Few love to hear the sins they love to act;
[p]'Twould
braid yourself too near for me to tell it.
[p]Who has a book of all
that monarchs do,
[p]He's more secure to keep it shut than
shown:
[p]For vice repeated is like the wandering wind.
[p]Blows dust
in other's eyes, to spread itself;
[p]And yet the end of all is bought
thus dear,
[p]The breath is gone, and the sore eyes see clear:
[p]To
stop the air would hurt them. The blind mole casts
[p]Copp'd hills
towards heaven, to tell the earth is throng'd
[p]By man's oppression;
and the poor worm doth die for't.
[p]Kings are earth's gods; in vice
their law's
[p]their will;
[p]And if Jove stray, who dares say Jove
doth ill?
[p]It is enough you know; and it is fit,
[p]What being more
known grows worse, to smother it.
[p]All love the womb that their
first being bred,
[p]Then give my tongue like leave to love my head.
Antiochus : [Aside] Heaven, that I had thy head! he has found
[p]the
meaning:
[p]But I will gloze with him.--Young prince of
Tyre,
[p]Though by the tenor of our strict edict,
[p]Your exposition
misinterpreting,
[p]We might proceed to cancel of your days;
[p]Yet
hope, succeeding from so fair a tree
[p]As your fair self, doth tune
us otherwise:
[p]Forty days longer we do respite you;
[p]If by which
time our secret be undone,
[p]This mercy shows we'll joy in such a
son:
[p]And until then your entertain shall be
[p]As doth befit our
honour and your worth.
Pericles : How courtesy would seem to cover sin,
[p]When what is done is like an
hypocrite,
[p]The which is good in nothing but in sight!
[p]If it be
true that I interpret false,
[p]Then were it certain you were not so
bad
[p]As with foul incest to abuse your soul;
[p]Where now you're
both a father and a son,
[p]By your untimely claspings with your
child,
[p]Which pleasure fits an husband, not a father;
[p]And she an
eater of her mother's flesh,
[p]By the defiling of her parent's
bed;
[p]And both like serpents are, who though they feed
[p]On
sweetest flowers, yet they poison breed.
[p]Antioch, farewell! for
wisdom sees, those men
[p]Blush not in actions blacker than the
night,
[p]Will shun no course to keep them from the light.
[p]One sin,
I know, another doth provoke;
[p]Murder's as near to lust as flame to
smoke:
[p]Poison and treason are the hands of sin,
[p]Ay, and the
targets, to put off the shame:
[p]Then, lest my lie be cropp'd to keep
you clear,
[p]By flight I'll shun the danger which I fear.
Antiochus : He hath found the meaning, for which we mean
[p]To have his
head.
[p]He must not live to trumpet forth my infamy,
[p]Nor tell the
world Antiochus doth sin
[p]In such a loathed manner;
[p]And therefore
instantly this prince must die:
[p]For by his fall my honour must keep
high.
[p]Who attends us there?
Thaliard : Doth your highness call?
Antiochus : Thaliard,
[p]You are of our chamber, and our mind partakes
[p]Her
private actions to your secrecy;
[p]And for your faithfulness we will
advance you.
[p]Thaliard, behold, here's poison, and here's
gold;
[p]We hate the prince of Tyre, and thou must kill him:
[p]It
fits thee not to ask the reason why,
[p]Because we bid it. Say, is it
done?
Thaliard : My lord,
[p]'Tis done.
Antiochus : Enough.
[p][Enter a Messenger]
[p]Let your breath cool yourself,
telling your haste.
Messenger : My lord, prince Pericles is fled.
Antiochus : As thou
[p]Wilt live, fly after: and like an arrow shot
[p]From a
well-experienced archer hits the mark
[p]His eye doth level at, so
thou ne'er return
[p]Unless thou say 'Prince Pericles is dead.'
Thaliard : My lord,
[p]If I can get him within my pistol's length,
[p]I'll make
him sure enough: so, farewell to your highness.
Antiochus : Thaliard, adieu!
[p][Exit THALIARD]
[p]Till Pericles be dead,
[p]My
heart can lend no succor to my head.
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Next: Act 1 - Scene 2
