This is the man that can, in aught you would, Lys. Hail, reverend sir! the gods preserve you! Lys. You wish me well. Being on shore, honouring of Neptune's triumphs, 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 But to prorogue his grief. Lys. Upon what ground is his distemperature? 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, Lys. Sir king, all hail! the gods preserve you! 26. prorogue, prolong, linger out. He has eaten only enough to keep him in languishing sorrow. 36. [Pericles discovered.] Wilkins describes his condition 20 30 40 in more detail: 'with a long overgrown beard, diffused hair, undecent nails on his fingers, and himself lying upon his couch, grovelling on his face.' Hel. It is in vain; he will not speak to you. We have a maid in Mytilene, I durst wager, Lys. 'Tis well bethought. She questionless with her sweet harmony She is all happy as the fairest of all, And, with her fellow maids, is now upon [Whispers a Lord, who goes off in the Hel. Sure, all's effectless; yet nothing we'll omit That bears recovery's name. kindness But, since your We have stretch'd thus far, let us beseech you 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. 60 50 Re-enter, from the barge, Lord, with MARINA, Lys. O, here is The lady that I sent for. Welcome, fair one! 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 Fair one, all goodness that consists in bounty Mar. My utmost skill in his Provided Sir, I will use recovery, That none but I and my companion maid Lys. And the gods make her prosperous ! 70 Come, let us leave her; 80 [Marina sings. No, nor look'd on us. Mar. Lys. See, she will speak to him. Mar. Hail, sir! my lord, lend ear. Per. Hum, ha! Mar. I am a maid, 67. that, were I well assured came. The construction is idiomatic, the subject of came being supplied from the relative that. 72. artificial feat, dexterous performance; prosperous is proleptic, anticipating the success of the 'feat,' which is still in question. Cf. v. 80. My lord, that ne'er before invited eyes, But have been gazed on like a comet: she speaks, Who stood equivalent with mighty kings: To equal mine!—was it not thus? what say you? parentage, You would not do me violence. Per. I do think so. Pray you, turn your eyes upon me. You are like something that-What country woman? Here of these shores ? Mar. No, nor of any shores : 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 brows; 94. awkward, adverse. 95. He may be supposed here to hold her from him at arm's length (cf. v. 127); but certainly not, as the novelist thought, 90 100 in resentment at her presumption: 'presumptuous beauty in a child, how darest thou urge so much? and therewithal in this rash distemperature, struck her in the face.' Her stature to an inch; as wand-like straight; And cased as richly; in pace another Juno; Who starves the ears she feeds, and makes them hungry, The more she gives them speech. live? Where do you Mar. Where I am but a stranger: from the deck Per. Mar. If I should tell my history, it would seem Per. Prithee, speak: 120 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 camest From good descending? Mar. So indeed I did. Per. Report thy parentage. I think thou said'st 130 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. VOL. IV 118. to owe, by possessing them. 97 H |