Pericles by William Shakespeare
Act 5 - Scene 3
The temple of Diana at Ephesus; THAISA standing
Pericles : Hail, Dian! to perform thy just command,
[p]I here confess myself the
king of Tyre;
[p]Who, frighted from my country, did wed
[p]At
Pentapolis the fair Thaisa.
[p]At sea in childbed died she, but
brought forth
[p]A maid-child call'd Marina; who, O goddess,
[p]Wears
yet thy silver livery. She at Tarsus
[p]Was nursed with Cleon; who at
fourteen years
[p]He sought to murder: but her better stars
[p]Brought
her to Mytilene; 'gainst whose shore
[p]Riding, her fortunes brought
the maid aboard us,
[p]Where, by her own most clear remembrance,
she
[p]Made known herself my daughter.
Thaisa : Voice and favour!
[p]You are, you are--O royal Pericles!
Pericles : What means the nun? she dies! help, gentlemen!
Cerimon : Noble sir,
[p]If you have told Diana's altar true,
[p]This is your
wife.
Pericles : Reverend appearer, no;
[p]I threw her overboard with these very arms.
Cerimon : Upon this coast, I warrant you.
Pericles : 'Tis most certain.
Cerimon : Look to the lady; O, she's but o'erjoy'd.
[p]Early in blustering morn
this lady was
[p]Thrown upon this shore. I oped the coffin,
[p]Found
there rich jewels; recover'd her, and placed her
[p]Here in Diana's
temple.
Pericles : May we see them?
Cerimon : Great sir, they shall be brought you to my house,
[p]Whither I invite
you. Look, Thaisa is recovered.
Thaisa : O, let me look!
[p]If he be none of mine, my sanctity
[p]Will to my
sense bend no licentious ear,
[p]But curb it, spite of seeing. O, my
lord,
[p]Are you not Pericles? Like him you spake,
[p]Like him you
are: did you not name a tempest,
[p]A birth, and death?
Pericles : The voice of dead Thaisa!
Thaisa : That Thaisa am I, supposed dead
[p]And drown'd.
Pericles : Immortal Dian!
Thaisa : Now I know you better.
[p]When we with tears parted Pentapolis,
[p]The
king my father gave you such a ring.
Pericles : This, this: no more, you gods! your present kindness
[p]Makes my past
miseries sports: you shall do well,
[p]That on the touching of her
lips I may
[p]Melt and no more be seen. O, come, be buried
[p]A second
time within these arms.
Marina : My heart
[p]Leaps to be gone into my mother's bosom.
Pericles : Look, who kneels here! Flesh of thy flesh, Thaisa;
[p]Thy burden at
the sea, and call'd Marina
[p]For she was yielded there.
Thaisa : Blest, and mine own!
Helicanus : Hail, madam, and my queen!
Thaisa : I know you not.
Pericles : You have heard me say, when I did fly from Tyre,
[p]I left behind an
ancient substitute:
[p]Can you remember what I call'd the man?
[p]I
have named him oft.
Thaisa : 'Twas Helicanus then.
Pericles : Still confirmation:
[p]Embrace him, dear Thaisa; this is he.
[p]Now do
I long to hear how you were found;
[p]How possibly preserved; and who
to thank,
[p]Besides the gods, for this great miracle.
Thaisa : Lord Cerimon, my lord; this man,
[p]Through whom the gods have shown
their power; that can
[p]From first to last resolve you.
Pericles : Reverend sir,
[p]The gods can have no mortal officer
[p]More like a
god than you. Will you deliver
[p]How this dead queen re-lives?
Cerimon : I will, my lord.
[p]Beseech you, first go with me to my
house,
[p]Where shall be shown you all was found with her;
[p]How she
came placed here in the temple;
[p]No needful thing omitted.
Pericles : Pure Dian, bless thee for thy vision! I
[p]Will offer night-oblations
to thee. Thaisa,
[p]This prince, the fair-betrothed of your
daughter,
[p]Shall marry her at Pentapolis. And now,
[p]This
ornament
[p]Makes me look dismal will I clip to form;
[p]And what this
fourteen years no razor touch'd,
[p]To grace thy marriage-day, I'll
beautify.
Thaisa : Lord Cerimon hath letters of good credit, sir,
[p]My father's dead.
Pericles : Heavens make a star of him! Yet there, my queen,
[p]We'll celebrate
their nuptials, and ourselves
[p]Will in that kingdom spend our
following days:
[p]Our son and daughter shall in Tyrus reign.
[p]Lord
Cerimon, we do our longing stay
[p]To hear the rest untold: sir,
lead's the way.
Gower : In Antiochus and his daughter you have heard
[p]Of monstrous lust the
due and just reward:
[p]In Pericles, his queen and daughter,
seen,
[p]Although assail'd with fortune fierce and keen,
[p]Virtue
preserved from fell destruction's blast,
[p]Led on by heaven, and
crown'd with joy at last:
[p]In Helicanus may you well descry
[p]A
figure of truth, of faith, of loyalty:
[p]In reverend Cerimon there
well appears
[p]The worth that learned charity aye wears:
[p]For
wicked Cleon and his wife, when fame
[p]Had spread their cursed deed,
and honour'd name
[p]Of Pericles, to rage the city turn,
[p]That him
and his they in his palace burn;
[p]The gods for murder seemed so
content
[p]To punish them; although not done, but meant.
[p]So, on
your patience evermore attending,
[p]New joy wait on you! Here our
play has ending.
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Next: Act 5 - Scene 3
