The Same. A public Way. Platform leading to the Lists. A Pavilion near it, for the reception of the KING, Princess, Ladies, Lords, &c. | |
| |
Enter SIMONIDES, THAISA, Lords, and Attendants. | |
| Sim. Are the knights ready to begin the triumph? | |
| First Lord. They are, my liege; | 4 |
| And stay your coming to present themselves. | |
| Sim. 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 | 8 |
| For men to see, and seeing wonder at. [Exit a Lord. | |
| Thai. It pleaseth you, my royal father, to express | |
| My commendations great, whose merit’s less. | |
| Sim. ’Tis fit it should be so; for princes are | 12 |
| 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 | 16 |
| The labour of each knight in his device. | |
| Thai. Which, to preserve mine honour, I’ll perform. | |
| |
Enter a Knight; he passes over the stage, and his Squire presents his shield to the Princess. | |
| Sim. Who is the first that doth prefer himself? | 20 |
| Thai. A knight of Sparta, my renowned father; | |
| And the device he bears upon his shield | |
| Is a black Ethiop reaching at the sun; | |
| The word, Lux tua vita mihi. | 24 |
| Sim. He loves you well that holds his life of you. [The Second Knight passes over. | |
| Who is the second that presents himself? | |
| Thai. A prince of Macedon, my royal father; | |
| And the device he bears upon his shield | 28 |
| 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. | |
| Sim. And what’s the third? | |
| Thai. The third of Antioch; | 32 |
| And his device, a wreath of chivalry; | |
| The word, Me pompœ provexit apex. [The Fourth Knight passes over. | |
| Sim. What is the fourth? | |
| Thai. A burning torch that’s turned upside down; | 36 |
| The word, Quod me alit me extinguit. | |
| Sim. Which shows that beauty hath his power and will, | |
| Which can as well inflame as it can kill. [The Fifth Knight passes over. | |
| Thai. The fifth, a hand environed with clouds, | 40 |
| Holding out gold that’s by the touchstone tried; | |
| The motto thus, Sic spectanda fides. [The Sixth Knight, PERICLES, passes over. | |
| Sim. And what ’s | |
| The sixth and last, the which the knight himself | 44 |
| With such a graceful courtesy deliver’d? | |
| Thai. 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. | 48 |
| Sim. A pretty moral; | |
| From the dejected state wherein he is, | |
| He hopes by you his fortune yet may flourish. | |
| First Lord. He had need mean better than his outward show | 52 |
| Can any way speak in his just commend; | |
| For, by his rusty outside he appears | |
| To have practis’d more the whipstock than the lance. | |
| Sec. Lord. He well may be a stranger, for he comes | 56 |
| 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. | |
| Sim. Opinion’s but a fool, that makes us scan | 60 |
| The outward habit by the inward man. | |
| But stay, the knights are coming; we’ll withdraw | |
| Into the gallery. [Exeunt. Great shouts, and all cry, ‘The mean knight!’ | |
