The same. A hall of state: a banquet prepared.
Enter SIMONIDES, THAISA, Lords, Attendants, and Knights, from tilting
SIMONIDES
1 Knights,
2 To say you're welcome were superfluous.
3 To place upon the volume of your deeds,
4 As in a title-page, your worth in arms,
5 Were more than you expect or more than's fit,
6 Since every worth in show commends itself.
7 Prepare for mirth, for mirth becomes a feast:
8 You are princes and my guests.
THAISA
9 But you, my knight and guest;
10 To whom this wreath of victory I give,
11 And crown you king of this day's happiness.
PERICLES
'Tis more by fortune, lady, than by merit.
SIMONIDES
13 Call it by what you will, the day is yours;
14 And here, I hope, is none that envies it.
15 In framing an artist, art hath thus decreed,
16 To make some good, but others to exceed;
17 And you are her labour'd scholar. Come, queen o'
18 the feast,--
For, daughter, so you are,--here take your place:
20 Marshal the rest, as they deserve their grace.
KNIGHTS
21 We are honour'd much by good Simonides.
SIMONIDES
22 Your presence glads our days: honour we love;
23 For who hates honour hates the gods above.
Marshal
Sir, yonder is your place.
PERICLES
25 Some other is more fit.
First Knight
26 Contend not, sir; for we are gentlemen
27 That neither in our hearts nor outward eyes
28 Envy the great nor do the low despise.
PERICLES
29 You are right courteous knights.
SIMONIDES
Sit, sir, sit.
PERICLES
31 By Jove, I wonder, that is king of thoughts,
32 These cates resist me, she but thought upon.
THAISA
33 By Juno, that is queen of marriage,
34 All viands that I eat do seem unsavoury.
35 Wishing him my meat. Sure, he's a gallant gentleman.
SIMONIDES
36 He's but a country gentleman;
37 Has done no more than other knights have done;
38 Has broken a staff or so; so let it pass.
THAISA
39 To me he seems like diamond to glass.
PERICLES
40 Yon king's to me like to my father's picture,
41 Which tells me in that glory once he was;
42 Had princes sit, like stars, about his throne,
43 And he the sun, for them to reverence;
44 None that beheld him, but, like lesser lights,
45 Did vail their crowns to his supremacy:
46 Where now his son's like a glow-worm in the night,
47 The which hath fire in darkness, none in light:
48 Whereby I see that Time's the king of men,
49 He's both their parent, and he is their grave,
50 And gives them what he will, not what they crave.
SIMONIDES
What, are you merry, knights?
Knights
52 Who can be other in this royal presence?
SIMONIDES
Here, with a cup that's stored unto the brim,--
54 As you do love, fill to your mistress' lips,--
55 We drink this health to you.
KNIGHTS
56 We thank your grace.
SIMONIDES
57 Yet pause awhile:
58 Yon knight doth sit too melancholy,
59 As if the entertainment in our court
60 Had not a show might countervail his worth.
61 Note it not you, Thaisa?
THAISA
62 What is it
63 To me, my father?
SIMONIDES
O, attend, my daughter:
65 Princes in this should live like gods above,
66 Who freely give to every one that comes
67 To honour them:
68 And princes not doing so are like to gnats,
69 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.
THAISA
Alas, my father, it befits not me
73 Unto a stranger knight to be so
bold:
74 He may my proffer take for an offence,
75 Since men take women's gifts for impudence.
SIMONIDES
How!
77 Do as I bid you, or you'll move me else.
THAISA
Aside Now, by the gods, he could not please me better.
SIMONIDES
79 And furthermore tell him, we desire to know of him,
80 Of whence he is, his name and parentage.
THAISA
81 The king my father, sir, has drunk to you.
PERICLES
82 I thank him.
THAISA
83 Wishing it so much blood unto your life.
PERICLES
84 I thank both him and you, and pledge him freely.
THAISA
85 And further he desires to know of you,
86 Of whence you are, your name and parentage.
PERICLES
87 A gentleman of Tyre; my name, Pericles;
88 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,
91 And after shipwreck driven upon this shore.
THAISA
92 He thanks your grace; names himself Pericles,
93 A gentleman of Tyre,
94 Who only by misfortune of the seas
95 Bereft of ships and men, cast on this shore.
SIMONIDES
Now, by the gods, I pity his misfortune,
97 And will awake him from his melancholy.
Come, gentlemen, we sit too long on trifles,
99 And waste the time, which looks for other revels.
100 Even in your armours, as you are address'd,
101 Will very well become a soldier's dance.
102 I will not have excuse, with saying this
103 Loud music is too harsh for ladies' heads,
104 Since they love men in arms as well as beds.
The Knights dance
So, this was well ask'd,'twas so well perform'd.
Come, sir;
107 Here is a lady that wants breathing too:
108 And I have heard, you knights of Tyre
109 Are excellent in making ladies trip;
110 And that their measures are as excellent.
PERICLES
111 In those that practise them they are, my lord.
SIMONIDES
O, that's as much as you would be denied
113 Of your fair courtesy.
The Knights and Ladies dance
Unclasp, unclasp:
Thanks, gentlemen, to all; all have done well.
To PERICLES
116 But you the best. Pages and lights, to conduct
117 These knights unto their several lodgings!
To PERICLES
Yours, sir,
119 We have given order to be next our own.
PERICLES
120 I am at your grace's pleasure.
SIMONIDES
Princes, it is too late to talk of love;
122 And that's the mark I know you level at:
123 Therefore each one betake him to his rest;
124 To-morrow all for speeding do their best.
Exeunt