Pericles by William Shakespeare
Act 3 - Scene 2
Ephesus. A room in CERIMON’s house.
Cerimon : Philemon, ho!
Philemon : Doth my lord call?
Cerimon : Get fire and meat for these poor men:
[p]'T has been a turbulent and
stormy night.
Servant : I have been in many; but such a night as this,
[p]Till now, I ne'er
endured.
Cerimon : Your master will be dead ere you return;
[p]There's nothing can be
minister'd to nature
[p]That can recover him.
[p][To PHILEMON]
[p]Give
this to the 'pothecary,
[p]And tell me how it works.
First Gentleman : Good morrow.
Second Gentleman : Good morrow to your lordship.
Cerimon : Gentlemen,
[p]Why do you stir so early?
First Gentleman : Sir,
[p]Our lodgings, standing bleak upon the sea,
[p]Shook as the
earth did quake;
[p]The very principals did seem to rend,
[p]And
all-to topple: pure surprise and fear
[p]Made me to quit the house.
Second Gentleman : That is the cause we trouble you so early;
[p]'Tis not our husbandry.
Cerimon : O, you say well.
First Gentleman : But I much marvel that your lordship, having
[p]Rich tire about you,
should at these early hours
[p]Shake off the golden slumber of
repose.
[p]'Tis most strange,
[p]Nature should be so conversant with
pain,
[p]Being thereto not compell'd.
Cerimon : I hold it ever,
[p]Virtue and cunning were endowments greater
[p]Than
nobleness and riches: careless heirs
[p]May the two latter darken and
expend;
[p]But immortality attends the former.
[p]Making a man a god.
'Tis known, I ever
[p]Have studied physic, through which secret
art,
[p]By turning o'er authorities, I have,
[p]Together with my
practise, made familiar
[p]To me and to my aid the blest
infusions
[p]That dwell in vegetives, in metals, stones;
[p]And I can
speak of the disturbances
[p]That nature works, and of her cures;
which doth give me
[p]A more content in course of true delight
[p]Than
to be thirsty after tottering honour,
[p]Or tie my treasure up in
silken bags,
[p]To please the fool and death.
Second Gentleman : Your honour has through Ephesus pour'd forth
[p]Your charity, and
hundreds call themselves
[p]Your creatures, who by you have been
restored:
[p]And not your knowledge, your personal pain, but
even
[p]Your purse, still open, hath built Lord Cerimon
[p]Such strong
renown as time shall ne'er decay.
First Servant : So; lift there.
Cerimon : What is that?
First Servant : Sir, even now
[p]Did the sea toss upon our shore this chest:
[p]'Tis
of some wreck.
Cerimon : Set 't down, let's look upon't.
Second Gentleman : 'Tis like a coffin, sir.
Cerimon : Whate'er it be,
[p]'Tis wondrous heavy. Wrench it open straight:
[p]If
the sea's stomach be o'ercharged with gold,
[p]'Tis a good constraint
of fortune it belches upon us.
Second Gentleman : 'Tis so, my lord.
Cerimon : How close 'tis caulk'd and bitumed!
[p]Did the sea cast it up?
First Servant : I never saw so huge a billow, sir,
[p]As toss'd it upon shore.
Cerimon : Wrench it open;
[p]Soft! it smells most sweetly in my sense.
Second Gentleman : A delicate odour.
Cerimon : As ever hit my nostril. So, up with it.
[p]O you most potent gods!
what's here? a corse!
First Gentleman : Most strange!
Cerimon : Shrouded in cloth of state; balm'd and entreasured
[p]With full bags
of spices! A passport too!
[p]Apollo, perfect me in the
characters!
[p][Reads from a scroll]
[p]'Here I give to
understand,
[p]If e'er this coffin drive a-land,
[p]I, King Pericles,
have lost
[p]This queen, worth all our mundane cost.
[p]Who finds her,
give her burying;
[p]She was the daughter of a king:
[p]Besides this
treasure for a fee,
[p]The gods requite his charity!'
[p]If thou
livest, Pericles, thou hast a heart
[p]That even cracks for woe! This
chanced tonight.
Second Gentleman : Most likely, sir.
Cerimon : Nay, certainly to-night;
[p]For look how fresh she looks! They were
too rough
[p]That threw her in the sea. Make a fire within:
[p]Fetch
hither all my boxes in my closet.
[p][Exit a Servant]
[p]Death may
usurp on nature many hours,
[p]And yet the fire of life kindle
again
[p]The o'erpress'd spirits. I heard of an Egyptian
[p]That had
nine hours lien dead,
[p]Who was by good appliance
recovered.
[p][Re-enter a Servant, with boxes, napkins, and
fire]
[p]Well said, well said; the fire and cloths.
[p]The rough and
woeful music that we have,
[p]Cause it to sound, beseech you.
[p]The
viol once more: how thou stirr'st, thou block!
[p]The music there!--I
pray you, give her air.
[p]Gentlemen.
[p]This queen will live: nature
awakes; a warmth
[p]Breathes out of her: she hath not been
entranced
[p]Above five hours: see how she gins to blow
[p]Into life's
flower again!
First Gentleman : The heavens,
[p]Through you, increase our wonder and set up
[p]Your
fame forever.
Cerimon : She is alive; behold,
[p]Her eyelids, cases to those heavenly
jewels
[p]Which Pericles hath lost,
[p]Begin to part their fringes of
bright gold;
[p]The diamonds of a most praised water
[p]Do appear, to
make the world twice rich. Live,
[p]And make us weep to hear your
fate, fair creature,
[p]Rare as you seem to be.
Thaisa : O dear Diana,
[p]Where am I? Where's my lord? What world is this?
Second Gentleman : Is not this strange?
First Gentleman : Most rare.
Cerimon : Hush, my gentle neighbours!
[p]Lend me your hands; to the next chamber
bear her.
[p]Get linen: now this matter must be look'd to,
[p]For her
relapse is mortal. Come, come;
[p]And AEsculapius guide us!
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