TPTT Pericles, Prince of Tyre: ACT V
Introduction
ACT I
ACT II
ACT III
ACT IV
ACT V
[Prologue]
SCENE I. On board PERICLES' ship, off Mytilene. A close pavilion on deck, with a curtain before it; PERICLES within it, reclined on a couch. A barge lying beside the Tyrian vessel.
SCENE II
SCENE III. The temple of Diana at Ephesus; THAISA standing near the altar, as high priestess; a number of Virgins on each side; CERIMON and other Inhabitants of Ephesus attending.
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SCENE III. The temple of Diana at Ephesus; THAISA standing near the altar, as high priestess; a number of Virgins on each side; CERIMON and other Inhabitants of Ephesus attending.
Enter PERICLES, with his train; LYSIMACHUS, HELICANUS, MARINA, and a Lady
PERICLES
      Hail, Dian! to perform thy just command,
      I here confess myself the king of Tyre;
      Who, frighted from my country, did wed
      At Pentapolis the fair Thaisa.
5     At sea in childbed died she, but brought forth
      A maid-child call'd Marina; who, O goddess,
      Wears yet thy silver livery. She at Tarsus
      Was nursed with Cleon; who at fourteen years
      He sought to murder: but her better stars
10    Brought her to Mytilene; 'gainst whose shore
      Riding, her fortunes brought the maid aboard us,
      Where, by her own most clear remembrance, she
      Made known herself my daughter.
THAISA
      Voice and favour!
15    You are, you are--O royal Pericles!
Faints
PERICLES
      What means the nun? she dies! help, gentlemen!
CERIMON
      Noble sir,
      If you have told Diana's altar true,
      This is your wife.
PERICLES
20    Reverend appearer, no;
      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.
25    Early in blustering morn this lady was
      Thrown upon this shore. I oped the coffin,
      Found there rich jewels; recover'd her, and placed her
      Here in Diana's temple.
PERICLES
      May we see them?
CERIMON
30    Great sir, they shall be brought you to my house,
      Whither I invite you. Look, Thaisa is recovered.
THAISA
      O, let me look!
      If he be none of mine, my sanctity
      Will to my sense bend no licentious ear,
35    But curb it, spite of seeing. O, my lord,
      Are you not Pericles? Like him you spake,
      Like him you are: did you not name a tempest,
      A birth, and death?
PERICLES
      The voice of dead Thaisa!
THAISA
40    That Thaisa am I, supposed dead
      And drown'd.
PERICLES
      Immortal Dian!
THAISA
      Now I know you better.
      When we with tears parted Pentapolis,
45    The king my father gave you such a ring.
Shows a ring
PERICLES
      This, this: no more, you gods! your present kindness
      Makes my past miseries sports: you shall do well,
      That on the touching of her lips I may
      Melt and no more be seen. O, come, be buried
50    A second time within these arms.
MARINA
      My heart
      Leaps to be gone into my mother's bosom.
Kneels to THAISA
PERICLES
      Look, who kneels here! Flesh of thy flesh, Thaisa;
      Thy burden at the sea, and call'd Marina
55    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,
60    I left behind an ancient substitute:
      Can you remember what I call'd the man?
      I have named him oft.
THAISA
      'Twas Helicanus then.
PERICLES
      Still confirmation:
65    Embrace him, dear Thaisa; this is he.
      Now do I long to hear how you were found;
      How possibly preserved; and who to thank,
      Besides the gods, for this great miracle.
THAISA
      Lord Cerimon, my lord; this man,
70    Through whom the gods have shown their power; that can
      From first to last resolve you.
PERICLES
      Reverend sir,
      The gods can have no mortal officer
      More like a god than you. Will you deliver
75    How this dead queen re-lives?
CERIMON
      I will, my lord.
      Beseech you, first go with me to my house,
      Where shall be shown you all was found with her;
      How she came placed here in the temple;
80    No needful thing omitted.
PERICLES
      Pure Dian, bless thee for thy vision! I
      Will offer night-oblations to thee. Thaisa,
      This prince, the fair-betrothed of your daughter,
      Shall marry her at Pentapolis. And now,
85    This ornament
      Makes me look dismal will I clip to form;
      And what this fourteen years no razor touch'd,
      To grace thy marriage-day, I'll beautify.
THAISA
      Lord Cerimon hath letters of good credit, sir,
90    My father's dead.
PERICLES
      Heavens make a star of him! Yet there, my queen,
      We'll celebrate their nuptials, and ourselves
      Will in that kingdom spend our following days:
      Our son and daughter shall in Tyrus reign.
95    Lord Cerimon, we do our longing stay
      To hear the rest untold: sir, lead's the way.
Exeunt
Enter GOWER
GOWER
      In Antiochus and his daughter you have heard
      Of monstrous lust the due and just reward:
      In Pericles, his queen and daughter, seen,
100   Although assail'd with fortune fierce and keen,
      Virtue preserved from fell destruction's blast,
      Led on by heaven, and crown'd with joy at last:
      In Helicanus may you well descry
      A figure of truth, of faith, of loyalty:
105   In reverend Cerimon there well appears
      The worth that learned charity aye wears:
      For wicked Cleon and his wife, when fame
      Had spread their cursed deed, and honour'd name
      Of Pericles, to rage the city turn,
110   That him and his they in his palace burn;
      The gods for murder seemed so content
      To punish them; although not done, but meant.
      So, on your patience evermore attending,
      New joy wait on you! Here our play has ending.
Exit
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