This mercy shows we'll joy in such a son;
And until then your
entertain shall be
As doth befit our honour and your worth.
Exeunt all but PERICLES
PERICLES. How
courtesy would seem to cover sin,
When what is done is like an hypocrite,
The which is good in nothing but in sight!
If it be true that I interpret false,
Then were it certain you were not so bad
As with foul incest to abuse your soul;
Where now you're both a father and a son
By your
untimely claspings with your child-
Which pleasure fits a husband, not a father-
And she an eater of her mother's flesh
By the defiling of her parent's bed;
And both like serpents are, who, though they feed
On sweetest flowers, yet they
poison breed.
Antioch,
farewell! for
wisdom sees those men
Blush not in actions blacker than the night
Will shun no course to keep them from the light.
One sin I know another doth provoke:
Murder's as near to lust as flame to smoke.
Poison and
treason are the hands of sin,
Ay, and the targets to put off the shame.
Then, lest my life be cropp'd to keep you clear,
By
flight I'll shun the danger which I fear. Exit
Re-enter ANTIOCHUS
ANTIOCHUS. He hath found the meaning,
For which we mean to have his head.
He must not live to
trumpet forth my infamy,
Nor tell the world Antiochus doth sin
In such a loathed manner;
And
thereforeinstantly this
prince must die;
For by his fall my honour must keep high.
Who attends us there?
Enter THALIARD
THALIARD. Doth your Highness call?
ANTIOCHUS. Thaliard, you are of our
chamber, and our
mind partakes
Her private actions to your secrecy;
And for your
faithfulness we will advance you.
Thaliard, behold here's
poison and here's gold;
We hate the Prince of Tyre, and thou must kill him.
It fits thee not to ask the reason why,
Because we bid it. Say, is it done?
THALIARD. My lord,
'Tis done.
ANTIOCHUS. Enough.
Enter a MESSENGER
Let your
breath cool yourself, telling your haste.
MESSENGER. My lord, Prince Pericles is fled. Exit
ANTIOCHUS. As thou wilt live, fly after; and like an arrow
shot from a well-experienc'd
archer hits the mark his eye
doth level at, so thou never return unless thou say Prince
Pericles is dead.
THALIARD. My lord, if I can get him within my pistol's
length I'll make him sure enough. So,
farewell to your
Highness.
ANTIOCHUS. Thaliard, adieu! [Exit THALIARD] Till Pericles
be dead
My heart can lend no succour to my head. Exit
SCENE 2.
Tyre. The palace
Enter PERICLES with his LORDS
PERICLES. Let none
disturb us. Exeunt LORDS
Why should this change of thoughts,
The sad
companion, dull-ey'd melancholy,
Be my so us'd a guest as not an hour
In the day's
glorious walk, or
peaceful night,
The tomb where grief should sleep, can breed me quiet?
Here pleasures court mine eyes, and mine eyes shun them,
And danger, which I fear'd, is at Antioch,
Whose arm seems far too short to hit me here.
Yet neither pleasure's art can joy my spirits,
Nor yet the other's distance comfort me.
Then it is thus: the passions of the mind,
That have their first
conception by misdread,
Have after-nourishment and life by care;
And what was first but fear what might be done
Grows elder now, and cares it be not done.
And so with me. The great Antiochus-
'Gainst whom I am too little to contend,
Since he's so great can make his will his act-
Will think me
speaking, though I swear to silence;
Nor boots it me to say I honour him,
If he
suspect I may dishonour him;
And what may make him blush in being known,
He'll stop the course by which it might be known.
With
hostile forces he'll o'erspread the land,
And with th' ostent of war will look so huge
Amazement shall drive courage from the state;
Our men be vanquish'd ere they do resist,
And subjects
punish'd that ne'er thought offence;
Which care of them, not pity of myself-
Who am no more but as the tops of trees
Which fence the roots they grow by and defend them-
Makes both my body pine and soul to languish,
And
punish that before that he would
punish.
Enter HELICANUS and all the LORDS
FIRST LORD. Joy and all comfort in your
sacred breast!
SECOND LORD. And keep your mind till you return to us,
Peaceful and comfortable!
HELICANUS. Peace, peace, and give experience tongue.
They do abuse the king that
flatter him,
For
flattery is the bellows blows up sin;
The thing the which is
flattered but a spark,
To which that blast gives heat and stronger glowing;
Whereas
reproof,
obedient, and in order,
Fits kings as they are men, for they may err.
When Signior Sooth here does
proclaim a peace,
He
flatters you, makes war upon your life.
Prince,
pardon me, or strike me if you please;
I cannot be much lower than my knees. [Kneels]
PERICLES. All leave us else; but let your cares o'erlook
What
shipping and what lading's in our haven,
And then return to us. [Exeunt LORDS] Helicanus, thou
Hast moved us. What seest thou in our looks?
HELICANUS. An angry brow, dread lord.
PERICLES. If there be such a dart in
princes' frowns,
How durst thy tongue move anger to our face?
HELICANUS. How dare the plants look up to heaven, from
whenceThey have their nourishment?
PERICLES. Thou know'st I have power
To take thy life from thee.
HELICANUS. I have ground the axe myself;
Do but you strike the blow.
PERICLES. Rise, pr'ythee, rise.
Sit down. Thou art no
flatterer.
I thank thee for't; and heaven forbid
That kings should let their cars hear their faults chid!
Fit counsellor and servant for a
prince,
Who by thy
wisdom mak'st a
prince thy servant,
What wouldst thou have me do?
HELICANUS. To bear with patience
Such griefs as you yourself do lay upon yourself.
PERICLES. Thou speak'st like a
physician, Helicanus,
That ministers a potion unto me
That thou wouldst tremble to receive thyself.
Attend me, then: I went to Antioch,
Where, as thou know'st, against the face of death,
I sought the purchase of a
glorious beauty,
From
whence an issue I might propagate
Are arms to
princes and bring joys to subjects.
Her face was to mine eye beyond all wonder;
The rest-hark in thine ear-as black as incest;
Which by my knowledge found, the sinful father
Seem'd not to strike, but smooth. But thou know'st this,
'Tis time to fear when tyrants seem to kiss.
Which fear so grew in me I
hither fled
Under the covering of a careful night,
Who seem'd my good
protector; and, being here,
Bethought me what was past, what might succeed.
I knew him tyrannous; and tyrants' fears
Decrease not, but grow faster than the years;
And should he doubt it, as no doubt he doth,
That I should open to the list'ning air
How many
worthyprinces' bloods were shed
To keep his bed of
blackness unlaid ope,
To lop that doubt, he'll fill this land with arms,
And make
pretence of wrong that I have done him;
When all, for mine, if I may call offence,
Must feel war's blow, who spares not innocence;
Which love to all, of which thyself art one,
Who now reprov'dst me for't-
HELICANUS. Alas, sir!
PERICLES. Drew sleep out of mine eyes, blood from my
cheeks,
Musings into my mind, with thousand doubts
How I might stop this
tempest ere it came;
And,
finding little comfort to
relieve them,
I thought it
princely
charity to
grieve them.
HELICANUS. Well, my lord, since you have given me leave
to speak,
Freely will I speak. Antiochus you fear,
And
justly too, I think, you fear the tyrant,
Who either by public war or private
treasonWill take away your life.
Therefore, my lord, go travel for a while
Till that his rage and anger be forgot,
Or till the Destinies do cut his thread of life.
Your rule direct to any; if to me,
Day serves not light more
faithful than I'll be.
PERICLES. I do not doubt thy faith;
But should he wrong my liberties in my absence?
HELICANUS. We'll
mingle our bloods together in the earth,
From
whence we had our being and our birth.
PERICLES. Tyre, I now look from thee then, and to Tharsus
Intend my travel, where I'll hear from thee;
And by whose letters I'll
dispose myself.
The care I had and have of subjects' good
On thee I lay, whose
wisdom's strength can bear it.
I'll take thy word for faith, not ask thine oath:
Who shuns not to break one will sure crack both.
But in our orbs we'll live so round and safe
That time of both this truth shall ne'er convince,
Thou show'dst a subject's shine, I a true
prince. Exeunt
SCENE 3.
Tyre. The palace
Enter THALIARD
THALIARD. So, this is Tyre, and this the court. Here must
kill King Pericles; and if I do it not, I am sure to be