This is the man that can, in aught you would,
Resolve you.

Lys. Hail, reverend sir! the gods preserve you!
Hel. And you, sir, to outlive the age I am,

And die as I would do.

Lys.

You wish me well.

Being on shore, honouring of Neptune's triumphs,

Seeing this goodly vessel ride before us,

I made to it, to know of whence you are.

Hel. First, what is your place?

Lys. I am the governor of this place you lie before.

Hel. Sir,

Our vessel is of Tyre, in it the king;

A man who for this three months hath not spoken

To any one, nor taken sustenance

But to prorogue his grief.

Lys. Upon what ground is his distemperature ?

Hel. 'Twould be too tedious to repeat;

But the main grief springs from the loss

Of a beloved daughter and a wife.

Lys. May we not see him?

Hel. You may;

But bootless is your sight: he will not speak

To any.

Lys. Yet let me obtain my wish.

Hel. Behold him. [Pericles discovered.] This

was a goodly person,

Till the disaster that, one mortal night,
Drove him to this.

Lys. Sir king, all hail! the gods preserve you!
Hail, royal sir!

20

30

40

Hel. It is in vain; he will not speak to you.
First Lord. Sir,

We have a maid in Mytilene, I durst wager,

Would win some words of him.

Lys.

'Tis well bethought.

She questionless with her sweet harmony

And other chosen attractions, would allure,
And make a battery through his deafen'd parts,

Which now are midway stopp'd:

She is all happy as the fairest of all,

And, with her fellow maids, is now upon

The leafy shelter that abuts against

The island's side.

50

[Whispers a Lord, who goes off in the

We have stretch'd thus far, let us beseech you

That for our gold we may provision have,
Wherein we are not destitute for want,

But weary for the staleness.

Lys.

O, sir, a courtesy

Which if we should deny, the most just gods
For every graff would send a caterpillar,

And so inflict our province. Yet once more

Let me entreat to know at large the cause

Of your king's sorrow.

Hel.

But, see, I am prevented.

Sit, sir, I will recount it to you:

60

Re-enter, from the barge, Lord, with MARINA,

Lys.

and a young Lady.

O, here is

The lady that I sent for. Welcome, fair one!

Is 't not a goodly presence?

Hel.

She's a gallant lady.

Lys. She's such a one, that, were I well assured

Came of a gentle kind and noble stock,

I'ld wish no better choice, and think me rarely

wed.

Fair one, all goodness that consists in bounty
Expect even here, where is a kingly patient:
If that thy prosperous and artificial feat
Can draw him but to answer thee in aught,
Thy sacred physic shall receive such pay
As thy desires can wish.

Mar.

Sir, I will use

My utmost skill in his recovery,

Provided

That none but I and my companion maid

Be suffer'd to come near him.

Lys.

70

Come, let us leave her;

80

My lord, that ne'er before invited eyes,
But have been gazed on like a comet: she speaks,
My lord, that, may be, hath endured a grief
Might equal yours, if both were justly weigh'd.
Though wayward fortune did malign my state,
My derivation was from ancestors
Who stood equivalent with mighty kings:
But time hath rooted out my parentage,
And to the world and awkward casualties
Bound me in servitude. [Aside] I will desist;
But there is something glows upon my cheek,
And whispers in mine ear 'Go not till he speak.'
Per. My fortunes-parentage-good parent-
age-

To equal mine! - was it not thus? what say you?
Mar. I said, my lord, if you did know my

Yet I was mortally brought forth, and am

No other than I appear.

Per. I am great with woe, and shall deliver
weeping.

My dearest wife was like this maid, and such a one
My daughter might have been: my queen's square

90

100

Her stature to an inch; as wand-like straight;
As silver-voiced; her eyes as jewel-like

And cased as richly; in pace another Juno;

Who starves the ears she feeds, and makes them

hungry,

The more she gives them speech. Where do you live?

Mar. Where I am but a stranger: from the deck You may discern the place.

Per.

Where were you bred ? And how achieved you these endowments, which You make more rich to owe?

Mar. If I should tell my history, it would seem

Like lies disdain'd in the reporting.

IIO

Prithee, speak: 120

Per. Falseness cannot come from thee; for thou look'st Modest as Justice, and thou seem'st a palace

For the crown'd Truth to dwell in: I will believe

thee,

And make my senses credit thy relation
To points that seem impossible; for thou look'st
Like one I loved indeed. What were thy friends?
Didst thou not say, when I did push thee back-
Which was when I perceived thee-that thou

camest

From good descending?
Mar.

So indeed I did.

I think thou said'st 130

Per. Report thy parentage.

Thou hadst been toss'd from wrong to injury,

And that thou thought'st thy griefs might equal

mine,

If both were open'd.

Mar.

Some such thing

I said, and said no more but what my thoughts
Did warrant me was likely.

118. to owe, by possessing them.

VOL. IV

97

H