LITMIR.BIZ

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‘Twould be too tedious to repeat;

       But the main grief springs from the loss

       Of a beloved daughter and a wife.

       LYSIMACHUS.

       May we not see him?

       HELICANUS.

       You may;

       But bootless is your sight: he will not speak

       To any.

       LYSIMACHUS.

       Yet let me obtain my wish.

       HELICANUS.

       Behold him.

       [Pericles discovered.]

       This was a goodly person.

       Till the disaster that, one mortal night,

       Drove him to this.

       LYSIMACHUS.

       Sir king, all hail! the gods preserve you!

       Hail, royal sir!

       HELICANUS.

       It is in vain; he will not speak to you.

       FIRST LORD.

       Sir,

       We have a maid in Mytilene, I durst wager,

       Would win some words of him.

       LYSIMACHUS.

       ‘Tis well bethought.

       She questionless with her sweet harmony

       And other chosen attractions, would allure,

       And make a battery through his deafen’d parts,

       Which now are midway stopp’d:

       She is all happy as the fairest of all,

       And, with her fellow maids, is now upon

       The leafy shelter that abuts against

       The island’s side.

       [Whispers a Lord, who goes off in the barge of Lysimachus.]

       HELICANUS.

       Sure, all’s effectless; yet nothing we’ll omit

       That bears recovery’s name. But, since your kindness

       We have stretch’d thus far, let us beseech you

       That for our gold we may provision have,

       Wherein we are not destitute for want,

       But weary for the staleness.

       LYSIMACHUS.

       O, sir, a courtesy

       Which if we should deny, the most just gods

       For every graff would send a catepillar,

       And so afflict our province. Yet once more

       Let me entreat to know at large the cause

       Of your king’s sorrow.

       HELICANUS.

       Sit, sir, I will recount it to you:

       But, see, I am prevented.

       [Re-enter, from the barge, Lord, with Marina, and a young Lady.]

       LYSIMACHUS.

       O, here is

       The lady that I sent for. Welcome, fair one!

       Is’t not a goodly presence?

       HELICANUS.

       She’s a gallant lady.

       LYSIMACHUS.

       She’s such a one, that, were I well assured

       Came of a gentle kind and noble stock,

       I’ld wish no better choice, and think me rarely wed.

       Fair one, all goodness that consists in bounty

       Expect even here, where is a kingly patient:

       If that thy prosperous and artificial feat

       Can draw him but to answer thee in aught,

       Thy sacred physic shall receive such pay

       As thy desires can wish.

       MARINA.

       Sir, I will use

       My utmost skill in his recovery,

       Provided

       That none but I and my companion maid

       Be suffer’d to come near him.

       LYSIMACHUS.

       Come, let us leave her,

       And the gods make her prosperous!

       [Marina sings.]

       LYSIMACHUS.

       Mark’d he your music?

       MARINA.

       No, nor look’d on us,

       LYSIMACHUS.

       See, she will speak to him.

       MARINA.

       Hail, sir! my lord, lend ear.

       PERICLES.

       Hum, ha!

       MARINA.

       I am a maid,

       My lord, that ne’er before invited eyes,

       But have been gazed on like a cornet: she speaks,

       My lord, that, may be, hath endured a grief

       Might equal yours, if both were justly weigh’d.

       Though wayward fortune did malign my state,

       My derivation was from ancestors

       Who stood equivalent with mighty kings:

       But time hath rooted out my parentage,

       And to the world and awkward casualties

       Bound me in servitude.

       [Aside.]

       I will desist;

       But there is something glows upon my cheek,

       And whispers in mine ear ‘Go not till he speak.’

       PERICLES.

       My fortunes — parentage — good parentage —

       To equal mine! — was it not thus? what say you?

       MARINA.

       I said, my lord, if you did know my parentage.

       You would not do me violence.

       PERICLES.

       I do think so. Pray you, turn your eyes upon me.

       You are like something that — What countrywoman?

       Here of these shores?

       MARINA.

       No, nor of any shores:

       Yet I was mortally brought forth, and am

       No other than I appear.

       PERICLES.

       I am great with woe, and shall deliver weeping.

       My dearest wife was like this maid, and such a one

       My daughter might have been: my queen’s square brows;

       Her stature to an inch; as wand-like straight;

       As silver-voiced; her eyes as jewel-like

       And cased as richly; in pace another Juno;

       Who starves the ears she feeds, and makes them hungry,

       The more she gives them speech. Where do you live?

       MARINA.

       Where I am but a stranger: from the deck

       You may discern the place.

       PERICLES.

       Where were you bred?

       And how achieved you these endowments, which

      

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