Enter Pericles, wet.PERICLES Yet cease your ire, you angry stars of heaven! Wind, rain, and thunder, remember earthly man Is but a substance that must yield to you, And I, as fits my nature, do obey you.5 Alas, the seas hath cast me on the rocks,
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Washed me from shore to shore, and left my breath Nothing to think on but ensuing death. Let it suffice the greatness of your powers To have bereft a prince of all his fortunes;10 And, having thrown him from your wat’ry grave, Here to have death in peace is all he’ll crave.Enter three Fishermen.FIRST FISHERMAN What ⌜ho,⌝ Pilch!SECOND FISHERMAN Ha, come and bring away the nets!FIRST FISHERMAN What, Patchbreech, I say!THIRD FISHERMAN 15What say you, master?FIRST FISHERMAN Look how thou stirr’st now! Come away, or I’ll fetch thee with a wanion.THIRD FISHERMAN Faith, master, I am thinking of the poor men that were cast away before us even now.FIRST FISHERMAN 20Alas, poor souls, it grieved my heart to hear what pitiful cries they made to us to help them, when, welladay, we could scarce help ourselves!THIRD FISHERMAN Nay, master, said not I as much25 when I saw the porpoise how he bounced and tumbled? They say they’re half fish, half flesh. A plague on them! They ne’er come but I look to be washed. Master, I marvel how the fishes live in the sea.FIRST FISHERMAN Why, as men do a-land: the great30 ones eat up the little ones. I can compare our rich misers to nothing so fitly as to a whale: he plays and tumbles, driving the poor fry before him and at last ⌜devours⌝ them all at a mouthful. Such whales have I heard on a’ the land, who never leave35 gaping till they swallowed the whole parish— church, steeple, bells and all.PERICLES, ⌜aside⌝ A pretty moral.THIRD FISHERMAN But, master, if I had been the sexton, I would have been that day in the belfry.
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SECOND FISHERMAN 40Why, man?⌜THIRD⌝ FISHERMAN Because he should have swallowed me too. And when I had been in his belly, I would have kept such a jangling of the bells that he should never have left till he cast bells, steeple, church, and45 parish up again. But if the good King Simonides were of my mind—PERICLES, ⌜aside⌝ Simonides?THIRD FISHERMAN We would purge the land of these drones that rob the bee of her honey.PERICLES, ⌜aside⌝ 50 How from the ⌜finny⌝ subject of the sea These fishers tell the infirmities of men, And from their wat’ry empire recollect All that may men approve or men detect!— Peace be at your labor, honest fishermen.SECOND FISHERMAN 55Honest good fellow, what’s that? If it be a day fits you, search out of the calendar, and nobody look after it!PERICLES May see the sea hath cast upon your coast—SECOND FISHERMAN What a drunken knave was the sea60 to cast thee in our way!PERICLES A man whom both the waters and the wind In that vast tennis court hath made the ball For them to play upon entreats you pity him. He asks of you that never used to beg.FIRST FISHERMAN 65No, friend, cannot you beg? Here’s them in our country of Greece gets more with begging than we can do with working.SECOND FISHERMAN, ⌜to Pericles⌝ Canst thou catch any fishes, then?PERICLES 70I never practiced it.SECOND FISHERMAN Nay, then, thou wilt starve sure, for here’s nothing to be got nowadays unless thou canst fish for ’t.
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PERICLES What I have been I have forgot to know,75 But what I am want teaches me to think on: A man thronged up with cold. My veins are chill And have no more of life than may suffice To give my tongue that heat to ask your help— Which, if you shall refuse, when I am dead,80 For that I am a man, pray you see me buried.FIRST FISHERMAN Die, quotha? Now gods forbid ’t, an I have a gown. Here, come, put it on; keep thee warm. ⌜Pericles puts on the garment.⌝ Now, afore me, a handsome fellow! Come, thou shalt go home,85 and we’ll have flesh for ⌜holidays,⌝ fish for fasting days, and, ⌜moreo’er,⌝ puddings and flapjacks, and thou shalt be welcome.PERICLES I thank you, sir.SECOND FISHERMAN Hark you, my friend. You said you90 could not beg?PERICLES I did but crave.SECOND FISHERMAN But crave? Then I’ll turn craver too, and so I shall ’scape whipping.PERICLES Why, are ⌜your⌝ beggars whipped, then?SECOND FISHERMAN 95O, not all, my friend, not all; for if all your beggars were whipped, I would wish no better office than to be beadle.—But, master, I’ll go draw up the net.⌜He exits with Third Fisherman.⌝PERICLES, ⌜aside⌝ How well this honest mirth becomes their labor!FIRST FISHERMAN 100Hark you, sir, do you know where you are?PERICLES Not well.FIRST FISHERMAN Why, I’ll tell you. This ⌜is⌝ called Pentapolis, and our king the good Simonides.PERICLES 105“The good Simonides” do you call him?FIRST FISHERMAN Ay, sir, and he deserves so to be called for his peaceable reign and good government.
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PERICLES He is a happy king, since he gains from his subjects the name of “good” by his government.110 How far is his court distant from this shore?FIRST FISHERMAN Marry, sir, half a day’s journey. And I’ll tell you, he hath a fair daughter, and tomorrow is her birthday; and there are princes and knights come from all parts of the world to joust and tourney115 for her love.PERICLES Were my fortunes equal to my desires, I could wish to make one there.FIRST FISHERMAN O, sir, things must be as they may; and what a man cannot get he may lawfully deal120 for his wife’s soul.Enter the two ⌜other⌝ Fishermen, drawing up a net.SECOND FISHERMAN Help, master, help! Here’s a fish hangs in the net like a poor man’s right in the law: ’twill hardly come out. Ha! Bots on ’t, ’tis come at last, and ’tis turned to a rusty armor.PERICLES 125 An armor, friends? I pray you let me see it.⌜They pull out the armor.⌝ Thanks, Fortune, yet, that after all ⌜thy⌝ crosses Thou givest me somewhat to repair myself; And though it was mine own, part of my heritage Which my dead father did bequeath to me130 With this strict charge even as he left his life, “Keep it, my Pericles; it hath been a shield ’Twixt me and death,” and pointed to this brace, “For that it saved me, keep it. In like necessity— The which the gods protect thee ⌜from⌝—⌜may ’t⌝135 defend thee.” It kept where I kept, I so dearly loved it, Till the rough seas, that spares not any man, Took it in rage, though calmed have given ’t again. I thank thee for ’t; my shipwrack now’s no ill140 Since I have here my father gave in his will.
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FIRST FISHERMAN What mean you, sir?PERICLES To beg of you, kind friends, this coat of worth, For it was sometime target to a king; I know it by this mark. He loved me dearly,145 And for his sake I wish the having of it, And that you’d guide me to your sovereign’s court, Where with it I may appear a gentleman. And if that ever my low fortune’s better, I’ll pay your bounties; till then, rest your debtor.FIRST FISHERMAN 150Why, wilt thou tourney for the lady?PERICLES I’ll show the virtue I have borne in arms.FIRST FISHERMAN Why, do ’ee take it, and the gods give thee good on ’t.SECOND FISHERMAN Ay, but hark you, my friend, ’twas155 we that made up this garment through the rough seams of the waters. There are certain condolements, certain vails. I hope, sir, if you thrive, you’ll remember from whence you had them.PERICLES Believe ’t, I will.⌜He puts on the armor.⌝160 By your furtherance I am clothed in steel, And spite of all the rupture of the sea, This jewel holds his ⌜biding⌝ on my arm. Unto thy value I will mount myself Upon a courser, whose ⌜delightful⌝ steps165 Shall make the gazer joy to see him tread. Only, my friend, I yet am unprovided Of a pair of bases.SECOND FISHERMAN We’ll sure provide. Thou shalt have my best gown to make thee a pair; and I’ll bring170 thee to the court myself.PERICLES Then honor be but a goal to my will; This day I’ll rise or else add ill to ill.⌜They exit.⌝
Pericles
