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The Same. A Hall of State. A Banquet prepared. | |
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Enter SIMONIDES, THAISA, Marshal, Ladies, Lords, Knights from tilting, and Attendants. | |
| Sim. Knights, | |
| To say you’re welcome were superfluous. | |
| To place upon the volume of your deeds, | 5 |
| As in a title-page, your worth in arms, | |
| Were more than you expect, or more than’s fit, | |
| Since every worth in show commends itself. | |
| Prepare for mirth, for mirth becomes a feast: | |
| You are princes and my guests. | 10 |
| Thai. But you, my knight and guest; | |
| To whom this wreath of victory I give, | |
| And crown you king of this day’s happiness. | |
| Per. ’Tis more by fortune, lady, than by merit. | |
| Sim. Call it by what you will, the day is yours; | 15 |
| And here, I hope, is none that envies it. | |
| In framing an artist art hath thus decreed, | |
| To make some good, but others to exceed; | |
| And you’re her labour’d scholar. Come, queen o’ the feast,— | |
| For, daughter, so you are,—here take your place; | 20 |
| Marshal the rest, as they deserve their grace. | |
| Knights. We are honour’d much by good Simonides. | |
| Sim. Your presence glads our days; honour we love, | |
| For who hates honour, hates the gods above. | |
| Marshal. Sir, yonder is your place. | 25 |
| Per. Some other is more fit. | |
| First Knight. Contend not, sir; for we are gentlemen | |
| That neither in our hearts nor outward eyes | |
| Envy the great nor do the low despise. | |
| Per. You are right courteous knights. | 30 |
| Sim. Sit, sir; sit. | |
| Per. By Jove, I wonder, that is king of thoughts, | |
| These cates resist me, she but thought upon. | |
| Thai. [Aside.] By Juno, that is queen of marriage, | |
| All viands that I eat do seem unsavoury, | 35 |
| Wishing him my meat. Sure, he’s a gallant gentleman. | |
| Sim. He’s but a country gentleman; | |
| He has done no more than other knights have done; | |
| He has broken a staff or so; so let it pass. | |
| Thai. To me he seems like diamond to glass. | 40 |
| Per. Yon king’s to me like to my father’s picture, | |
| Which tells me in that glory once he was; | |
| Had princes sit, like stars, about his throne, | |
| And he the sun for them to reverence. | |
| None that beheld him, but like lesser lights | 45 |
| Did vail their crowns to his supremacy; | |
| Where now his son’s like a glow-worm in the night, | |
| The which hath fire in darkness, none in light: | |
| Whereby I see that Time’s the king of men; | |
| He’s both their parent, and he is their grave, | 50 |
| And gives them what he will, not what they crave. | |
| Sim. What, are you merry, knights? | |
| First Knight. Who can be other in this royal presence? | |
| Sim. Here, with a cup that’s stor’d unto the brim, | |
| As you do love, fill to your mistress’ lips, | 55 |
| We drink this health to you. | |
| Knights. We thank your Grace. | |
| Sim. Yet pause awhile; | |
| Yon knight doth sit too melancholy, | |
| As if the entertainment in our court | 60 |
| Had not a show might countervail his worth. | |
| Note it not you, Thaisa? | |
| Thai. What is it | |
| To me, my father? | |
| Sim. O! attend, my daughter: | 65 |
| Princes in this should live like gods above, | |
| Who freely give to every one that comes | |
| To honour them; | |
| And princes not doing so are like to gnats, | |
| Which make a sound, but kill’d are wonder’d at. | 70 |
| Therefore to make his entrance more sweet, | |
| Here say we drink this standing-bowl of wine to him. | |
| Thai. Alas! my father, it befits not me | |
| Unto a stranger knight to be so bold; | |
| He may my proffer take for an offence, | 75 |
| Since men take women’s gifts for impudence. | |
| Sim. How! | |
| Do as I bid you, or you’ll move me else. | |
| Thai. [Aside.] Now, by the gods, he could not please me better. | |
| Sim. And further tell him, we desire to know of him, | 80 |
| Of whence he is, his name, and parentage. | |
| Thai. The king, my father, sir, has drunk to you. | |
| Per. I thank him. | |
| Thai. Wishing it so much blood unto your life. | |
| Per. I thank both him and you, and pledge him freely. | 85 |
| Thai. And further he desires to know of you, | |
| Of whence you are, your name and parentage. | |
| Per. A gentleman of Tyre, my name, Pericles; | |
| My education been in arts and arms; | |
| Who, looking for adventures in the world, | 90 |
| Was by the rough seas reft of ships and men, | |
| And after shipwrack, driven upon this shore. | |
| Thai. He thanks your Grace; names himself Pericles, | |
| A gentleman of Tyre, | |
| Who only by misfortune of the seas | 95 |
| Bereft of ships and men, cast on this shore. | |
| Sim. Now, by the gods, I pity his misfortune, | |
| And will awake him from his melancholy. | |
| Come, gentlemen, we sit too long on trifles, | |
| And waste the time which looks for other revels. | 100 |
| Even in your armours, as you are address’d, | |
| Will very well become a soldier’s dance. | |
| I will not have excuse, with saying this | |
| Loud music is too harsh for ladies’ heads | |
| Since they love men in arms as well as beds. [The Knights dance. | 105 |
| So this was well ask’d, ’twas so well perform’d. | |
| Come, sir; | |
| Here is a lady that wants breathing too: | |
| And I have often heard, you knights of Tyre | |
| Are excellent in making ladies trip, | 110 |
| And that their measures are as excellent. | |
| Per. In those that practise them they are, my lord. | |
| Sim. O! that’s as much as you would be denied | |
| Of your fair courtesy. [The Knights and Ladies dance. | |
| Unclasp, unclasp; | 115 |
| Thanks, gentlemen, to all; all have done well, | |
| [To PERICLES.] But you the best. Pages and lights, to conduct | |
| These knights unto their several lodgings! Yours, sir, | |
| We have given order to be next our own. | |
| Per. I am at your Grace’s pleasure. | 120 |
| Sim. Princes, it is too late to talk of love, | |
| And that’s the mark I know you level at; | |
| Therefore each one betake him to his rest; | |
| To-morrow all for speeding do their best. [Exeunt. | |
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