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Pericles - Act 2, scene 3
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Pericles - Act 2, scene 3Act 2, scene 3
⌜Scene 3⌝
Synopsis:
Simonides and Thaisa separately express their admiration for “the stranger knight.”
Enter the King ⌜Simonides, Thaisa, Marshal, Ladies,Lords, Attendants,⌝ and Knights ⌜in armor,⌝ from tilting.
SIMONIDES 0778 Knights,
0779 To say you’re welcome were superfluous.
0780 ⌜To⌝ place upon the volume of your deeds,
0781 As in a title page, your worth in arms
0782 5 Were more than you expect or more than ’s fit,
0783 Since every worth in show commends itself.
0784 Prepare for mirth, for mirth becomes a feast.
0785 You are princes and my guests.
THAISA, ⌜to Pericles⌝ 0786 But you my knight and guest,
0787 10 To whom this wreath of victory I give
0788 And crown you king of this day’s happiness.
⌜She places a wreath on Pericles’ head.⌝
PERICLES
0789 ’Tis more by fortune, lady, than my merit.
SIMONIDES
0790 Call it by what you will, the day is ⌜yours,⌝
0791 And here, I hope, is none that envies it.
0792 15 In framing an artist, Art hath thus decreed,
0793 To make some good but others to exceed,
0794 And you are her labored scholar.—Come, queen o’
0795 the feast,
0796 For, daughter, so you are; here, take your place.—
0797 20 Marshal, the rest as they deserve their grace.
KNIGHTS
0798 We are honored much by good Simonides.
SIMONIDES
0799 Your presence glads our days. Honor we love,
0800 For who hates honor hates the gods above.
MARSHAL, ⌜to Pericles⌝ 0801 Sir, yonder is your place.
PERICLES 0802 25Some other is more fit.
FIRST KNIGHT
0803 Contend not, sir, for we are gentlemen
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65
0804
Have neither in our hearts nor outward eyes0805 Envies the great, nor shall the low despise.
PERICLES
0806 You are right courteous knights.
SIMONIDES 0807 30 Sit, sir, sit.⌜They sit.⌝
0808 ⌜Aside.⌝ By Jove I wonder, that is king of thoughts,
0809 These cates resist me, he not thought upon.
THAISA, ⌜aside⌝
0810 By Juno, that is queen of marriage,
0811 All viands that I eat do seem unsavory,
0812 35 Wishing him my meat.—Sure, he’s a gallant
0813 gentleman.
SIMONIDES
0814 He’s but a country gentleman;
0815 Has done no more than other knights have done;
0816 Has broken a staff or so. So let it pass.
THAISA, ⌜aside⌝
0817 40 To me he seems like diamond to glass.
PERICLES, ⌜aside⌝
0818 ⌜Yon⌝ king’s to me like to my father’s picture,
0819 Which tells in that glory once he was—
0820 Had princes sit like stars about his throne,
0821 And he the sun for them to reverence.
0822 45 None that beheld him but like lesser lights
0823 Did vail their crowns to his supremacy;
0824 Where now his ⌜son’s⌝ like a glowworm in the night,
0825 The which hath fire in darkness, none in light;
0826 Whereby I see that Time’s the king of men.
0827 50 He’s both their parent, and he is their grave,
0828 And gives them what he will, not what they crave.
SIMONIDES 0829 What, are you merry, knights?
KNIGHTS
0830 Who can be other in this royal presence?
SIMONIDES
0831 Here, with a cup that’s ⌜stored⌝ unto the brim,
0832 55 As do you love, fill to your mistress’ lips.
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0833
We drink this health to you.⌜He drinks.⌝KNIGHTS 0834 We thank your Grace.
SIMONIDES
0835 Yet pause awhile. Yon knight doth sit too melancholy,
0836 As if the entertainment in our court
0837 60 Had not a show might countervail his worth.—
0838 Note it not you, Thaisa?
THAISA 0839 What is ’t to me, my father?
SIMONIDES
0840 O, attend, my daughter. Princes in this
0841 Should live like gods above, who freely give
0842 65 To everyone that come to honor them.
0843 And princes not doing so are like to gnats,
0844 Which make a sound but, killed, are wondered at.
0845 Therefore, to make his entrance more sweet,
0846 Here, say we drink this standing-bowl of wine to him.
⌜He drinks.⌝
THAISA
0847 70 Alas, my father, it befits not me
0848 Unto a stranger knight to be so bold.
0849 He may my proffer take for an offense,
0850 Since men take women’s gifts for impudence.
SIMONIDES 0851 How?
0852 75 Do as I bid you, or you’ll move me else.
THAISA, ⌜aside⌝
0853 Now, by the gods, he could not please me better.
SIMONIDES
0854 And furthermore tell him we desire to know of him
0855 Of whence he is, his name and parentage.
THAISA, ⌜going to Pericles⌝
0856 The King, my father, sir, has drunk to you.
PERICLES 0857 80I thank him.
THAISA
0858 Wishing it so much blood unto your life.
PERICLES
0859 I thank both him and you, and pledge him freely.
⌜He drinks to Simonides.⌝
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THAISA 0860 And further, he desires to know of you
0861 Of whence you are, your name and parentage.
PERICLES
0862 85 A gentleman of Tyre, my name Pericles.
0863 My education been in arts and arms,
0864 Who, looking for adventures in the world,
0865 Was by the rough seas reft of ships and men,
0866 And after shipwrack driven upon this shore.
THAISA, ⌜returning to her place⌝
0867 90 He thanks your Grace; names himself Pericles,
0868 A gentleman of Tyre,
0869 Who only by misfortune of the seas,
0870 Bereft of ships and men, cast on this shore.
SIMONIDES
0871 Now, by the gods, I pity his misfortune,
0872 95 And will awake him from his melancholy.—
0873 Come, gentlemen, we sit too long on trifles
0874 And waste the time which looks for other revels.
0875 Even in your armors, as you are addressed,
0876 Will well become a soldiers’ dance.
0877 100 I will not have excuse with saying this:
0878 “Loud music is too harsh for ladies’ heads,”
0879 Since they love men in arms as well as beds.
They dance.
0880 So, this was well asked, ’twas so well performed.
0881 Come, sir.⌜He presents Pericles to Thaisa.⌝
0882 105 Here’s a lady that wants breathing too,
0883 And I have heard you knights of Tyre
0884 Are excellent in making ladies trip,
0885 And that their measures are as excellent.
PERICLES
0886 In those that practice them they are, my lord.
SIMONIDES
0887 110 O, that’s as much as you would be denied
0888 Of your fair courtesy.They dance.
0889 Unclasp, unclasp!
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0890
Thanks, gentlemen, to all; all have done well;0891 ⌜To Pericles.⌝ But you the best.—Pages and lights, to
0892 115 conduct
0893 These knights unto their several lodgings. ⌜To
Pericles.⌝ 0894 Yours, sir,
0895 We have given order be next our own.
PERICLES 0896 I am at your Grace’s pleasure.
⌜SIMONIDES⌝
0897 120 Princes, it is too late to talk of love,
0898 And that’s the mark I know you level at.
0899 Therefore each one betake him to his rest,
0900 Tomorrow all for speeding do their best.
⌜They exit.⌝