| ACT IV SCENE I | PROLOGUE. |
| [Enter GOWER] |
| GOWER | Imagine Pericles arrived at Tyre, |
| Welcomed and settled to his own desire. |
| His woeful queen we leave at Ephesus, |
| Unto Diana there a votaress. |
| Now to Marina bend your mind, | 5 |
| Whom our fast-growing scene must find |
| At Tarsus, and by Cleon train'd |
| In music, letters; who hath gain'd |
| Of education all the grace, |
| Which makes her both the heart and place | 10 |
| Of general wonder. But, alack, |
| That monster envy, oft the wrack |
| Of earned praise, Marina's life |
| Seeks to take off by treason's knife. |
| And in this kind hath our Cleon | 15 |
| One daughter, and a wench full grown, |
| Even ripe for marriage-rite; this maid |
| Hight Philoten: and it is said |
| For certain in our story, she |
| Would ever with Marina be: | 20 |
| Be't when she weaved the sleided silk |
| With fingers long, small, white as milk; |
| Or when she would with sharp needle wound |
| The cambric, which she made more sound |
| By hurting it; or when to the lute | 25 |
| She sung, and made the night-bird mute, |
| That still records with moan; or when |
| She would with rich and constant pen |
| Vail to her mistress Dian; still |
| This Philoten contends in skill | 30 |
| With absolute Marina: so |
| With the dove of Paphos might the crow |
| Vie feathers white. Marina gets |
| All praises, which are paid as debts, |
| And not as given. This so darks | 35 |
| In Philoten all graceful marks, |
| That Cleon's wife, with envy rare, |
| A present murderer does prepare |
| For good Marina, that her daughter |
| Might stand peerless by this slaughter. | 40 |
| The sooner her vile thoughts to stead, |
| Lychorida, our nurse, is dead: |
| And cursed Dionyza hath |
| The pregnant instrument of wrath |
| Prest for this blow. The unborn event | 45 |
| I do commend to your content: |
| Only I carry winged time |
| Post on the lame feet of my rhyme; |
| Which never could I so convey, |
| Unless your thoughts went on my way. | 50 |
| Dionyza does appear, |
| With Leonine, a murderer. |
| [Exit] |
| ACT IV SCENE I | Tarsus. An open place near the sea-shore. |
| [Enter DIONYZA and LEONINE] |
| DIONYZA | Thy oath remember; thou hast sworn to do't: |
| 'Tis but a blow, which never shall be known. |
| Thou canst not do a thing in the world so soon, |
| To yield thee so much profit. Let not conscience, |
| Which is but cold, inflaming love i' thy bosom, | 5 |
| Inflame too nicely; nor let pity, which |
| Even women have cast off, melt thee, but be |
| A soldier to thy purpose. |
| LEONINE | I will do't; but yet she is a goodly creature. |
| DIONYZA | The fitter, then, the gods should have her. Here | 10 |
| she comes weeping for her only mistress' death. |
| Thou art resolved? |
| LEONINE | I am resolved. |
| [Enter MARINA, with a basket of flowers] |
| MARINA | No, I will rob Tellus of her weed, |
| To strew thy green with flowers: the yellows, blues, | 15 |
| The purple violets, and marigolds, |
| Shall as a carpet hang upon thy grave, |
| While summer-days do last. Ay me! poor maid, |
| Born in a tempest, when my mother died, |
| This world to me is like a lasting storm, | 20 |
| Whirring me from my friends. |
| DIONYZA | How now, Marina! why do you keep alone? |
| How chance my daughter is not with you? Do not |
| Consume your blood with sorrowing: you have |
| A nurse of me. Lord, how your favour's changed | 25 |
| With this unprofitable woe! |
| Come, give me your flowers, ere the sea mar it. |
| Walk with Leonine; the air is quick there, |
| And it pierces and sharpens the stomach. Come, |
| Leonine, take her by the arm, walk with her. | 30 |
| MARINA | No, I pray you; |
| I'll not bereave you of your servant. |
| DIONYZA | Come, come; |
| I love the king your father, and yourself, |
| With more than foreign heart. We every day | 35 |
| Expect him here: when he shall come and find |
| Our paragon to all reports thus blasted, |
| He will repent the breadth of his great voyage; |
| Blame both my lord and me, that we have taken |
| No care to your best courses. Go, I pray you, | 40 |
| Walk, and be cheerful once again; reserve |
| That excellent complexion, which did steal
|
| The eyes of young and old. Care not for me |
| I can go home alone. |
| MARINA | Well, I will go; | 45 |
| But yet I have no desire to it. |
| DIONYZA | Come, come, I know 'tis good for you. |
| Walk half an hour, Leonine, at the least: |
| Remember what I have said. |
| LEONINE | I warrant you, madam. | 50 |
| DIONYZA | I'll leave you, my sweet lady, for a while: |
| Pray, walk softly, do not heat your blood: |
| What! I must have a care of you. |
| MARINA | My thanks, sweet madam. |
[Exit DIONYZA] |
| Is this wind westerly that blows? | 55 |
| LEONINE | South-west. |
| MARINA | When I was born, the wind was north. |
| LEONINE | Was't so? |
| MARINA | My father, as nurse said, did never fear, |
| But cried 'Good seaman!' to the sailors, galling | 60 |
| His kingly hands, haling ropes; |
| And, clasping to the mast, endured a sea |
| That almost burst the deck. |
| LEONINE | When was this? |
| MARINA | When I was born: | 65 |
| Never was waves nor wind more violent; |
| And from the ladder-tackle washes off |
| A canvas-climber. 'Ha!' says one, 'wilt out?' |
| And with a dropping industry they skip |
| From stem to stern: the boatswain whistles, and | 70 |
| The master calls, and trebles their confusion. |
| LEONINE | Come, say your prayers. |
| MARINA | What mean you? |
| LEONINE | If you require a little space for prayer, |
| I grant it: pray; but be not tedious, | 75 |
| For the gods are quick of ear, and I am sworn |
| To do my work with haste. |
| MARINA | Why will you kill me? |
| LEONINE | To satisfy my lady. |
| MARINA | Why would she have me kill'd? | 80 |
| Now, as I can remember, by my troth, |
| I never did her hurt in all my life: |
| I never spake bad word, nor did ill turn |
| To any living creature: believe me, la, |
| I never kill'd a mouse, nor hurt a fly: | 85 |
| I trod upon a worm against my will, |
| But I wept for it. How have I offended, |
| Wherein my death might yield her any profit, |
| Or my life imply her any danger? |
| LEONINE | My commission | 90 |
| Is not to reason of the deed, but do it. |
| MARINA | You will not do't for all the world, I hope. |
| You are well favour'd, and your looks foreshow |
| You have a gentle heart. I saw you lately, |
| When you caught hurt in parting two that fought: | 95 |
| Good sooth, it show'd well in you: do so now: |
| Your lady seeks my life; come you between, |
| And save poor me, the weaker. |
| LEONINE | I am sworn, |
| And will dispatch. | 100 |
| [He seizes her] |
| [Enter Pirates] |
| First Pirate | Hold, villain! |
| [LEONINE runs away] |
| Second Pirate | A prize! a prize! |
| Third Pirate | Half-part, mates, half-part. |
| Come, let's have her aboard suddenly. |
| [Exeunt Pirates with MARINA] |
| [Re-enter LEONINE] |
| LEONINE | These roguing thieves serve the great pirate Valdes; | 105 |
| And they have seized Marina. Let her go: |
| There's no hope she will return. I'll swear |
| she's dead, |
| And thrown into the sea. But I'll see further: |
| Perhaps they will but please themselves upon her, | 110 |
| Not carry her aboard. If she remain, |
| Whom they have ravish'd must by me be slain. |
| [Exit] |
Shakespeare's Sources for Pericles