William Shakespeare - The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

And that you’ld guide me to your sovereign court,

Where with it I may appear a gentleman;

And if that ever my fortune’s better,

I’ll pay your bounties; till then rest your debtor.

FIRST FISHERMAN.

Why, wilt thou tourney for the lady?

PERICLES.

I’ll show the virtue I have borne in arms.

FIRST FISHERMAN.

Why, do’e take it, and the gods give thee good on ‘t!

SECOND FISHERMAN. Ay, but hark you, my friend; ‘twas we that made up this garment through the rough seams of the waters: there are certain condolements, certain vails. I hope, sir, if you thrive, you’ll remember from whence you had it.

PERICLES.

Believe’t I will.

By your furtherance I am clothed in steel;

And, spite of all the rapture of the sea,

This jewel holds his building on my arm:

Unto thy value I will mount myself

Upon a courser, whose delightful steps

Shall make the gazer joy to see him tread.

Only, my friend, I yet am unprovided

Of a pair of bases.

SECOND FISHERMAN. We’ll sure provide: thou shalt have my best gown to make thee a pair; and I’ll bring thee to the court myself.

PERICLES.

Then honour be but a goal to my will,

This day I’ll rise, or else add ill to ill.

[Exeunt.]

SCENE II. The same. A public way, or platform leading to the lists. A pavilion by the side of it for the reception of the King, Princess, Lords, etc.

[Enter Simonides, Lords and Attendants.]

SIMONIDES.

Are the knights ready to begin the triumph?

FIRST LORD.

They are, my liege;

And stay your coming to present themselves.

SIMONIDES.

Return them, we are ready; and our daughter,

In honour of whose birth these triumphs are,

Sits here, like beauty’s child, whom nature gat

For men to see, and seeing wonder at.

[Exit a Lord.]

THALIARD.

It pleaseth you1 my royal father, to express

My commendations great, whose merit’s less.

SIMONIDES.

It’s fit it should be so; for princes are

A model, which heaven makes like to itself:

As jewels lose their glory if neglected,

So princes their renowns if not respected.

‘Tis now your honour, daughter, to explain

The labour of each knight in his device.

THALIARD.

Which, to preserve mine honour, I’ll perform.

[Enter a Knight; he passes over, and his Squire presents his shield to the Princess.]

SIMONIDES.

Who is the first that doth prefer himself?

THALIARD.

A knight of Sparta, my renowned father;

And the device he bears upon his shield

Is a black Ethiope reaching at the sun:

The word, ‘Lux tua vita mihi.’

SIMONIDES.

He loves you well that holds his life of you.

[The Second Knight passes over.]

Who is the second that presents himself?

THALIARD.

A prince of Macedon, my royal father;

And the device he bears upon his shield

Is an arm’d knight that’s conquer’d by a lady;

The motto thus, in Spanish, ‘Piu por dulzura que por fuerza.’

[The Third Knight passes over.]

SIMONIDES.

And what’s the third?

THALIARD.

The third of Antioch;

And his device, a wreath of chivalry;

The word, ‘Me pompae provexit apex.’

[The Fourth Knight passes over.]

SIMONIDES.

What is the fourth?

THALIARD.

A burning torch that’s turned upside down;

The word, ‘Quod me alit, me extinguit.’

SIMONIDES.

Which shows that beauty hath his power and will,

Which can as well inflame as it can kill.

[The Fifth Knight passes over.]

THALIARD.

The fifth, an hand environed with clouds,

Holding out gold that’s by the touchstone tried;

The motto thus, ‘Sic spectanda fides.’

[The Sixith Knight, Pericles, passes over.]

SIMONIDES.

And what’s

The sixth and last, the which the knight himself

With such a graceful courtesy deliver’d?

THALIARD.

He seems to be a stranger; but his present is

A wither’d branch, that’s only green at top;

The motto, ‘In hac spe vivo.’

SIMONIDES.

A pretty moral;

From the dejected state wherein he is,

He hopes by you his fortunes yet may flourish.

FIRST LORD.

He had need mean better than his outward show

Can any way speak in his just commend;

For by his rusty outside he appears

To have practised more the whipstock than the lance.

SECOND LORD.

He well may be a stranger, for he comes

To an honour’d triumph strangely furnished.

THIRD LORD.

And on set purpose let his armour rust

Until this day, to scour it in the dust.

SIMONIDES.

Opinion’s but a fool, that makes us scan

The outward habit by the inward man.

But stay, the knights are coming: we will withdraw

Into the gallery.

[Exeunt.]

[Great shouts within, and all cry ‘The mean knight!’]

SCENE III. The same. A hall of state: a banquet prepared.

[Enter Simonides, Thaisa, Lords, Attendants, and Knights, from tilting.]

SIMONIDES.

Knights,

To say you’re welcome were superfluous.

To place upon the volume of your deeds,

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.

THAISA.

But you, my knight and guest;

To whom this wreath of victory I give,

And crown you king of this day’s happiness.

PERICLES.

‘Tis more by fortune, lady, than by merit.

SIMONIDES.

Call it by what you will, the day is yours;

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 are her labour’d scholar. Come queen of the feast, —

For, daughter, so you are, — here take your place:

Marshal the rest, as they deserve their grace.

KNIGHTS.

We are honour’d much by good Simonides.

SIMONIDES.

Your presence glads our days; honour we love;

For who hates honour hates the gods above.

MARSHALL.

Sir, yonder is your place.

PERICLES.

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.

PERICLES.

You are right courteous knights.

SIMONIDES.

Sit, sir, sit.

PERICLES.

By Jove, I wonder, that is king of thoughts,

These cates resist me, she but thought upon.

THAISA.

By Juno, that is queen of marriage,

All viands that I eat do seem unsavoury,

Wishing him my meat. Sure, he’s a gallant gentleman.

SIMONIDES.

He’s but a country gentleman;

Has done no more than other knights have done;

Has broken a staff or so; so let it pass.

THAISA.

To me he seems like diamond to glass.

PERICLES.

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,

Did vail their crowns to his supremacy:

Where now his son’s like a glowworm 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,

And gives them what he will, not what they crave.

SIMONIDES.

What, are you merry, knights?

KNIGHTS.

Who can be other in this royal presence?

SIMONIDES.