Pericles by William Shakespeare
Act 1 - Scene 2
Tyre. A room in the palace.
Pericles : [To Lords without] Let none disturb us.--Why should
[p]this change of
thoughts,
[p]The sad companion, dull-eyed melancholy,
[p]Be my so used
a guest as not an hour,
[p]In the day's glorious walk, or peaceful
night,
[p]The tomb where grief should sleep, can breed me
quiet?
[p]Here pleasures court mine eyes, and mine eyes shun
them,
[p]And danger, which I fear'd, is at Antioch,
[p]Whose aim seems
far too short to hit me here:
[p]Yet neither pleasure's art can joy my
spirits,
[p]Nor yet the other's distance comfort me.
[p]Then it is
thus: the passions of the mind,
[p]That have their first conception by
mis-dread,
[p]Have after-nourishment and life by care;
[p]And what was
first but fear what might be done,
[p]Grows elder now and cares it be
not done.
[p]And so with me: the great Antiochus,
[p]'Gainst whom I am
too little to contend,
[p]Since he's so great can make his will his
act,
[p]Will think me speaking, though I swear to silence;
[p]Nor
boots it me to say I honour him.
[p]If he suspect I may dishonour
him:
[p]And what may make him blush in being known,
[p]He'll stop the
course by which it might be known;
[p]With hostile forces he'll
o'erspread the land,
[p]And with the ostent of war will look so
huge,
[p]Amazement shall drive courage from the state;
[p]Our men be
vanquish'd ere they do resist,
[p]And subjects punish'd that ne'er
thought offence:
[p]Which care of them, not pity of myself,
[p]Who am
no more but as the tops of trees,
[p]Which fence the roots they grow
by and defend them,
[p]Makes both my body pine and soul to
languish,
[p]And punish that before that he would punish.
First Lord : Joy and all comfort in your sacred breast!
Second Lord : And keep your mind, till you return to us,
[p]Peaceful and
comfortable!
Helicanus : Peace, peace, and give experience tongue.
[p]They do abuse the king
that flatter him:
[p]For flattery is the bellows blows up sin;
[p]The
thing which is flatter'd, but a spark,
[p]To which that blast gives
heat and stronger glowing;
[p]Whereas reproof, obedient and in
order,
[p]Fits kings, as they are men, for they may err.
[p]When
Signior Sooth here does proclaim a peace,
[p]He flatters you, makes
war upon your life.
[p]Prince, pardon me, or strike me, if you
please;
[p]I cannot be much lower than my knees.
Pericles : All leave us else; but let your cares o'erlook
[p]What shipping and
what lading's in our haven,
[p]And then return to us.
[p][Exeunt
Lords]
[p]Helicanus, thou
[p]Hast moved us: what seest thou in our
looks?
Helicanus : An angry brow, dread lord.
Pericles : If there be such a dart in princes' frowns,
[p]How durst thy tongue
move anger to our face?
Helicanus : How dare the plants look up to heaven, from whence
[p]They have their
nourishment?
Pericles : Thou know'st I have power
[p]To take thy life from thee.
Helicanus : [Kneeling]
[p]I have ground the axe myself;
[p]Do you but strike the
blow.
Pericles : Rise, prithee, rise.
[p]Sit down: thou art no flatterer:
[p]I thank
thee for it; and heaven forbid
[p]That kings should let their ears
hear their
[p]faults hid!
[p]Fit counsellor and servant for a
prince,
[p]Who by thy wisdom makest a prince thy servant,
[p]What
wouldst thou have me do?
Helicanus : To bear with patience
[p]Such griefs as you yourself do lay upon
yourself.
Pericles : Thou speak'st like a physician, Helicanus,
[p]That minister'st a
potion unto me
[p]That thou wouldst tremble to receive
thyself.
[p]Attend me, then: I went to Antioch,
[p]Where as thou
know'st, against the face of death,
[p]I sought the purchase of a
glorious beauty.
[p]From whence an issue I might propagate,
[p]Are
arms to princes, and bring joys to subjects.
[p]Her face was to mine
eye beyond all wonder;
[p]The rest--hark in thine ear--as black as
incest:
[p]Which by my knowledge found, the sinful father
[p]Seem'd
not to strike, but smooth: but thou
[p]know'st this,
[p]'Tis time to
fear when tyrants seem to kiss.
[p]Such fear so grew in me, I hither
fled,
[p]Under the covering of a careful night,
[p]Who seem'd my good
protector; and, being here,
[p]Bethought me what was past, what might
succeed.
[p]I knew him tyrannous; and tyrants' fears
[p]Decrease not,
but grow faster than the years:
[p]And should he doubt it, as no doubt
he doth,
[p]That I should open to the listening air
[p]How many worthy
princes' bloods were shed,
[p]To keep his bed of blackness unlaid
ope,
[p]To lop that doubt, he'll fill this land with arms,
[p]And make
pretence of wrong that I have done him:
[p]When all, for mine, if I
may call offence,
[p]Must feel war's blow, who spares not
innocence:
[p]Which love to all, of which thyself art one,
[p]Who now
reprovest me for it,--
Helicanus : Alas, sir!
Pericles : Drew sleep out of mine eyes, blood from my cheeks,
[p]Musings into my
mind, with thousand doubts
[p]How I might stop this tempest ere it
came;
[p]And finding little comfort to relieve them,
[p]I thought it
princely charity to grieve them.
Helicanus : Well, my lord, since you have given me leave to speak.
[p]Freely will
I speak. Antiochus you fear,
[p]And justly too, I think, you fear the
tyrant,
[p]Who either by public war or private treason
[p]Will take
away your life.
[p]Therefore, my lord, go travel for a while,
[p]Till
that his rage and anger be forgot,
[p]Or till the Destinies do cut his
thread of life.
[p]Your rule direct to any; if to me.
[p]Day serves
not light more faithful than I'll be.
Pericles : I do not doubt thy faith;
[p]But should he wrong my liberties in my
absence?
Helicanus : We'll mingle our bloods together in the earth,
[p]From whence we had
our being and our birth.
Pericles : Tyre, I now look from thee then, and to Tarsus
[p]Intend my travel,
where I'll hear from thee;
[p]And by whose letters I'll dispose
myself.
[p]The care I had and have of subjects' good
[p]On thee I lay
whose wisdom's strength can bear it.
[p]I'll take thy word for faith,
not ask thine oath:
[p]Who shuns not to break one will sure crack
both:
[p]But in our orbs we'll live so round and safe,
[p]That time of
both this truth shall ne'er convince,
[p]Thou show'dst a subject's
shine, I a true prince.
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