Pericles by William Shakespeare
Act 2 - Scene 3
The same. A hall of state: a banquet prepared.
Simonides : Knights,
[p]To say you're welcome were superfluous.
[p]To place upon
the volume of your deeds,
[p]As in a title-page, your worth in
arms,
[p]Were more than you expect, or more than's fit,
[p]Since every
worth in show commends itself.
[p]Prepare for mirth, for mirth becomes
a feast:
[p]You are princes and my guests.
Thaisa : But you, my knight and guest;
[p]To whom this wreath of victory I
give,
[p]And crown you king of this day's happiness.
Pericles : 'Tis more by fortune, lady, than by merit.
Simonides : Call it by what you will, the day is yours;
[p]And here, I hope, is
none that envies it.
[p]In framing an artist, art hath thus
decreed,
[p]To make some good, but others to exceed;
[p]And you are
her labour'd scholar. Come, queen o'
[p]the feast,--
[p]For, daughter,
so you are,--here take your place:
[p]Marshal the rest, as they
deserve their grace.
Knights : We are honour'd much by good Simonides.
Simonides : Your presence glads our days: honour we love;
[p]For who hates honour
hates the gods above.
Marshal : Sir, yonder is your place.
Pericles : Some other is more fit.
First Knight : Contend not, sir; for we are gentlemen
[p]That neither in our hearts
nor outward eyes
[p]Envy the great nor do the low despise.
Pericles : You are right courteous knights.
Simonides : Sit, sir, sit.
Pericles : By Jove, I wonder, that is king of thoughts,
[p]These cates resist me,
she but thought upon.
Thaisa : By Juno, that is queen of marriage,
[p]All viands that I eat do seem
unsavoury.
[p]Wishing him my meat. Sure, he's a gallant gentleman.
Simonides : He's but a country gentleman;
[p]Has done no more than other knights
have done;
[p]Has broken a staff or so; so let it pass.
Thaisa : To me he seems like diamond to glass.
Pericles : Yon king's to me like to my father's picture,
[p]Which tells me in
that glory once he was;
[p]Had princes sit, like stars, about his
throne,
[p]And he the sun, for them to reverence;
[p]None that beheld
him, but, like lesser lights,
[p]Did vail their crowns to his
supremacy:
[p]Where now his son's like a glow-worm in the
night,
[p]The which hath fire in darkness, none in light:
[p]Whereby I
see that Time's the king of men,
[p]He's both their parent, and he is
their grave,
[p]And gives them what he will, not what they crave.
Simonides : What, are you merry, knights?
Knights : Who can be other in this royal presence?
Simonides : Here, with a cup that's stored unto the brim,--
[p]As you do love,
fill to your mistress' lips,--
[p]We drink this health to you.
Knights : We thank your grace.
Simonides : Yet pause awhile:
[p]Yon knight doth sit too melancholy,
[p]As if the
entertainment in our court
[p]Had not a show might countervail his
worth.
[p]Note it not you, Thaisa?
Thaisa : What is it
[p]To me, my father?
Simonides : O, attend, my daughter:
[p]Princes in this should live like gods
above,
[p]Who freely give to every one that comes
[p]To honour
them:
[p]And princes not doing so are like to gnats,
[p]Which make a
sound, but kill'd are wonder'd at.
[p]Therefore to make his entrance
more sweet,
[p]Here, say we drink this standing-bowl of wine to him.
Thaisa : Alas, my father, it befits not me
[p]Unto a stranger knight to be so
bold:
[p]He may my proffer take for an offence,
[p]Since men take
women's gifts for impudence.
Simonides : How!
[p]Do as I bid you, or you'll move me else.
Thaisa : [Aside] Now, by the gods, he could not please me better.
Simonides : And furthermore tell him, we desire to know of him,
[p]Of whence he
is, his name and parentage.
Thaisa : The king my father, sir, has drunk to you.
Pericles : I thank him.
Thaisa : Wishing it so much blood unto your life.
Pericles : I thank both him and you, and pledge him freely.
Thaisa : And further he desires to know of you,
[p]Of whence you are, your name
and parentage.
Pericles : A gentleman of Tyre; my name, Pericles;
[p]My education been in arts
and arms;
[p]Who, looking for adventures in the world,
[p]Was by the
rough seas reft of ships and men,
[p]And after shipwreck driven upon
this shore.
Thaisa : He thanks your grace; names himself Pericles,
[p]A gentleman of
Tyre,
[p]Who only by misfortune of the seas
[p]Bereft of ships and
men, cast on this shore.
Simonides : Now, by the gods, I pity his misfortune,
[p]And will awake him from
his melancholy.
[p]Come, gentlemen, we sit too long on trifles,
[p]And
waste the time, which looks for other revels.
[p]Even in your armours,
as you are address'd,
[p]Will very well become a soldier's dance.
[p]I
will not have excuse, with saying this
[p]Loud music is too harsh for
ladies' heads,
[p]Since they love men in arms as well as beds.
[p][The
Knights dance]
[p]So, this was well ask'd,'twas so well
perform'd.
[p]Come, sir;
[p]Here is a lady that wants breathing
too:
[p]And I have heard, you knights of Tyre
[p]Are excellent in
making ladies trip;
[p]And that their measures are as excellent.
Pericles : In those that practise them they are, my lord.
Simonides : O, that's as much as you would be denied
[p]Of your fair
courtesy.
[p][The Knights and Ladies dance]
[p]Unclasp,
unclasp:
[p]Thanks, gentlemen, to all; all have done well.
[p][To
PERICLES]
[p]But you the best. Pages and lights, to conduct
[p]These
knights unto their several lodgings!
[p][To PERICLES]
[p]Yours,
sir,
[p]We have given order to be next our own.
Pericles : I am at your grace's pleasure.
Simonides : Princes, it is too late to talk of love;
[p]And that's the mark I know
you level at:
[p]Therefore each one betake him to his
rest;
[p]To-morrow all for speeding do their best.
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Next: Act 2 - Scene 4
