ACT IV.

Enter GOWER.

Gow. Imagine Pericles arriv'd at Tyre,
Welcom'd and settled to his own desire.
His woeful queen we leave at Ephesus,
Unto Diana there a votaress.

Now to Marina bend your mind,
Whom our fast growing scene must find
At Tharsus, and by Cleon train'd
In music, letters; who hath gain'd
Of education all the grace,

Which makes her both the heart and place
Of general wonder. But, alack,
That monster envy, oft the wrack
Of earned praise, Marina's life
Seeks to take off by treason's knife.
And in this kind hath our Cleon
One daughter, and a wench full grown,
Even ripe for marriage-rite; this maid
Hight Philoten: and it is said
For certain in our story, she

Would ever with Marina be:

Be't when she weav'd the sleided silk
With fingers long, small, white as milk;
Or when she would with sharp needle wound
The cambric, which she made more sound
By hurting it; or when to the lute

She sung, and made the night-bird mute,
That still records with moan; or when
She would with rich and constant pen
Vail to her mistress Dian; still
This Philoten contends in skill
With absolute Marina: so

With the dove of Paphos might the crow
Vie feathers white. Marina gets
All praises, which are paid as debts,
And not as given. This so darks
In Philoten all graceful marks
That Cleon's wife, with envy rare,
A present murderer does prepare
For good Marina, that her daughter
Might stand peerless by this slaughter.
The sooner her vile thoughts to stead,

Lychorida, our nurse, is dead:
And cursed Dionyza hath

The pregnant instrument of wrath

Prest for this blow. The unborn event

I do commend to your content:

Only I carry winged time

Post on the lame feet of my rhyme;

Which never could I so convey

Unless your thoughts went on my way.

Dionyza does appear,

With Leonine, a murderer.

[Exit.

SCENE I.—THARSUS. An open Place near the Sea-shore.

Enter DIONYZA and LEONINE.

Dion. Thy oath remember; thou hast sworn to do't. 'Tis but a blow, which never shall be known.

Thou canst not do a thing i' the world so soon

To yield thee so much profit. Let not conscience,
Which is but cold, inflaming love in thy bosom,
Inflame too nicely; nor let pity, which

Even women have cast off, melt thee, but be
A soldier to thy purpose.

Leon. I will do't; but yet she is a goodly creature.
Dion. The fitter, then, the gods should have her.-
Here she comes weeping for her only mistress' death.
Thou art resolv'd?

Enter MARINA with a basket of flowers.

Mar. No, I will rob Tellus of her weed,

To strew thy green with flowers: the yellows, blues,
The purple violets, and marigolds

Shall as a carpet hang upon thy grave

While summer-days do last. Ay me! poor maid,
Born in a tempest, when my mother died,
This world to me is like a lasting storm,

Whirring me from my friends.

Dion. How now, Marina! why do you keep alone?
How chance my daughter is not with you? Do not
Consume your blood with sorrowing: you have
A nurse of me. Lord, how your favour's chang'd
With this unprofitable woe! Come,

Give me your flowers ere the sea mar them.
Walk with Leonine; the air is quick there,

And it pierces and sharpens the stomach.-Come,
Leonine, take her by the arm, walk with her.
Mar. No, I pray you;

I'll not bereave you of your servant.

Dion.

Come, come;
I love the king your father, and yourself,
With more than foreign heart. We every day
Expect him here: when he shall come, and find
Our paragon to all reports thus blasted,
He will repent the breadth of his great voyage;
Blame both my lord and me that we have taken
No care to your best courses. Go, I pray you,
Walk, and be cheerful once again; reserve
That excellent complexion, which did steal
The eyes of young and old. Care not for me;
I can go home alone.

Mar.

Well, I will go; But yet I have no desire to it.

Dion. Come, come, I know 'tis good for you.Walk half an hour, Leonine, at the least: Remember what I have said.

I warrant you, madam.

Leon.
Dion. I'll leave you, my sweet lady, for awhile:
Pray, walk softly, do not heat your blood:

What! I must have a care of you.

Mar.

[Exit DIONYZA.

My thanks, sweet madam.-

South-west.

Is this wind westerly that blows?
Leon.

Mar. When I was born the wind was north.
Leon.

Was't so?

Mar. My father, as nurse said, did never fear,
But cried, Good seamen! to the sailors, galling
His kingly hands with hauling of the ropes;
And, clasping to the mast, endur'd a sea
That almost burst the deck.

Leon. When was this?

Mar. When I was born:

Never was waves nor wind more violent

And from the ladder-tackle washes off

A canvas-climber: Ha! says one, wilt out?

And with a dropping industry they skip

From stem to stern: the boatswain whistles, and
The master calls, and trebles their confusion.

Leon. Come, say your prayers.

Mar.

What mean you?

Leon. If you require a little space for prayer,
I grant it: pray; but be not tedious,

For the gods are quick of ear, and I am sworn
To do my work with haste.

Mar.

Why will you kill me?
Leon. To satisfy my lady.

Mar. Why would she have me kill'd?
Now, as I can remember, by my troth,
I never did her hurt in all my life:
I never spake bad word, nor did ill turn
To any living creature: believe me, la,
I never kill'd a mouse, nor hurt a fly:
I trod upon a worm against my will,
But I wept for it. How have I offended,
Wherein my death might yield her profit,
Or my life imply her danger?

Leon.

My commission
Is not to reason of the deed, but do it.

Mar. You will not do't for all the world, I hope.
You are well-favour'd, and your looks foreshow
You have a gentle heart. I saw you lately
When you caught hurt in parting two that fought:
Good sooth, it show'd well in you: do so now:
Your lady seeks my life; come you between,
And save poor me, the weaker.

Leon.

And will despatch.

I am sworn,

Enter Pirates whilst MARINA is struggling.

1 Pirate. Hold, villain!

2 Pirate. A prize! a prize!

[LEONINE runs away.

3 Pirate. Half-part, mates, half-part. Come, let's have her aboard suddenly.

[Exeunt Pirates with MARINA.

Re-enter LEONINE.

Leon. These roving thieves serve the great pirate Valdes, And they have seiz'd Marina. Let her go:

There's no hope she will return. I'll swear she's dead
And thrown into the sea.-But I'll see further:

Perhaps they will but please themselves upon her,
Not carry her aboard. If she remain,

Whom they have ravish'd must by me be slain.

[Exit.

SCENE II.-MITYLENE. A Room in a Brothel.

Enter Pander, Bawd, and BOULT.

Pand. Boult,

Boult. Sir?

Pand. Search the market narrowly; Mitylene is full of gallants. We lost too much money this mart by being too wenchless.

Bawd. We were never so much out of creatures. We have but poor three, and they can do no more than they can do; and they with continual action are even as good as rotten.

Pand. Therefore let's have fresh ones, whate'er we pay for them. If there be not a conscience to be used in every trade we shall never prosper.

Bawd. Thou sayest true; 'tis not our bringing up of poor bastards,-as, I think, I have brought up some eleven,Boult. Ay, to eleven; and brought them down again.— But shall I search the market?

Bawd. What else, man? The stuff we have, a strong wind will blow it to pieces, they are so pitifully sodden.

Pand. Thou sayest true; they are too unwholesome, o' conscience. The poor Transylvanian is dead, that lay with the little baggage.

Boult. Ay, she quickly pooped him; she made him roastmeat for worms.-But I'll go search the market.

[Exit.

Pand. Three or four thousand chequins were as pretty a proportion to live quietly, and so give over.

Bawd. Why to give over, I pray you? is it a shame to get when we are old?

Pand. O, our credit comes not in like the commodity; nor the commodity wages not with the danger: therefore, if in our youths we could pick up some pretty estate, 'twere not amiss to keep our door hatch'd. Besides, the sore termis we stand upon with the gods will be strong with us for giving over.

Bawd. Come, other sorts offend as well as we.

Pand. As well as we! ay, and better too; we offend worse. Neither is our profession any trade; it's no calling. -But here comes Boult.

Re-enter BOULT, with MARINA and the Pirates.

Boult. [to MARINA.] Come your ways.-My masters, you say she's a virgin?

1 Pirate. O, sir, we doubt it not.