Act 2 Scene 1
2.1 Location: the seashore at Pentapolis
1 ire fury
6 breath life
12 Pilch leather coat/jerkin
14 Patch-breech patched trousers
16 Look … now! Get a move on!/Now you’re moving! (ironic)
17 fetch th’ strike thee
17 wanion vengeance
21 well-a-day alas
24 porpoise porpoises were thought to appear before stormy weather
26 I … washed I expect to be soaked
28 a-land on land
30 fitly appropriately
30 a he
30 fry young fish
32 on of
35 pretty clever/ingenious
35 moral story with a moral point
36 sexton church officer whose duties included bell-ringing
37 belfry bell tower
41 cast regurgitated
46 drones … honey i.e. lazy and unproductive subjects
47 finny subject fin-bearing citizens (i.e. fish)
49 recollect gather up
50 All … detect i.e. everything that might represent men in a positive or negative light
54 If … it! i.e. if honesty is a condition that suits a bedraggled creature such as Pericles, it could be eradicated and no one would miss it (it is possible that a line is missing, in which Pericles says “good day” to the fishermen)
54 search’t remove it
55 May you may
55 hath cast has thrown
56 cast vomit
59 that vast tennis-court i.e. the sea
61 never used was never accustomed
62 Here’s them there are those
68 fish for’t get it through fishing/get it by artifice (i.e. begging or trickery)
71 thronged up overwhelmed
75 For that because
75 pray you may I ask/please
76 quotha says he/indeed
76 gods forbid’t i.e. god forbid
76 an if/as long as
78 afore me a mild oath
80 fish for fasting-days meat was forbidden during Lent, on Fridays and Saturdays, and on some other penitential days
80 puddings sausages; also carries its modern meaning of a sweet or savory pudding
80 flapjacks pancakes
84 crave request
85 craver supplicant/beggar
90 beadle parish constable, whose duties included whipping vagrants
91 becomes suits/is appropriate for
94 Pentapolis seemingly located in Greece, but should probably be identified with Cyrene in Cyrenaica, the major Greek colony in North Africa
102 Marry by the Virgin Mary (a mild oath)
105 tourney take part in a tournament
107 make one be one of the participants
108 what … soul what a man cannot otherwise obtain he may get by selling his wife for sex; plays on “wife’s soul”/“wife’s hole” (i.e. vagina) and puns on get: if the man cannot get (beget) children, then he can sell his wife to someone who will father them for him
111 right just claim
111 ’twill … out the “fish” will not come out of the net/the poor man will not get the verdict he desires
112 bots on’t an expletive, equivalent to “a plague on it” bots a maggot infection in horses
115 crosses misfortunes/trials
117 heritage inheritance
119 charge command/responsibility
121 brace vambrace, armor covering the arms
122 For that because
122 in like necessity in a similarly dire situation
124 kept dwelled/stayed
126 though … again i.e. now the seas are calm, they have given it back again
128 my father that which my father
130 coat of worth valuable coat (i.e. the armor)
131 sometime once
131 target shield/protection
137 pay your bounties repay your generosity
137 rest remain
138 tourney joust/take part in a tournament
139 virtue courage/ability
140 d’ye take it do you take it (i.e. take it)
141 on’t of it/from it
143 made up fitted together, as in the making of clothes
143 seams the furrows of the waves, imagined as the seams of a garment
144 condolements usually means expressions of sympathy: the Second Fisherman either confuses it with “emoluments” (profits) or with “dole” (portion or share), or he is being deliberately euphemistic
144 vails tips/gratuities (literally, the remnants of cloth kept by tailors after a suit is finished)
147 furtherance assistance
148 rapture seizure/plundering
149 holds his building occupies its proper position
150 Unto thy value either a jewel on Pericles’ arm has also survived, with which he will buy the horse, or Pericles will buy a horse equal to the worth of the piece of armor (described as a jewel)
151 courser horse
152 gazer onlooker
154 bases knee-length skirts worn by a knight on horseback
158 honour … will let honor spur me on
158 goad a rod used for driving cattle
Act 2 Scene 2
2.2 Location: Pentapolis
1 triumph tournament
3 stay wait for
4 Return answer/inform
8 express … great praise me highly
10 princes men and women of high (princely) rank
11 model image
13 renowns reputations
14 honour honorable duty
14 entertain accept/receive
15 device heraldic design and motto
17 prefer present
18 Sparta powerful ancient Greek city-state
20 Ethiop used loosely in the seventeenth century to refer to all black Africans
21 word motto
21 Lux … mihi “Your light is life to me” (Latin)
22 holds … of regards his life as being dependent on
24 Macedon Macedonia, a kingdom at the northern end of the Greek peninsula that became a world power under Philip II and Alexander the Great
27 in Spanish puzzling as the motto is closer to Italian than Spanish
27 Piùe … forza “More by gentleness than by force”
30 wreath of chivalry chaplet or garland of leaves or flowers, worn or awarded as a mark of distinction/the twisted band by which the crest is joined to a knight’s helmet
31 Me … apex the honor of the contest has led me on
34 Qui … extinguit “Who feeds me extinguishes me”
37 environèd surrounded
38 touchstone smooth black quartz or jasper, used to test the purity of gold; the touchstone became a symbol of fidelity
38 tried tested
39 Sic spectanda fides “Thus is faithfulness to be tested”
39 device may be a real branch, as Pericles has no shield
42 stranger unfamiliar person/foreigner
42 present offering
44 In … vivo “In this hope I live”
48 He … commend i.e. he must prove that he is better than his appearance would suggest, because that cannot speak in his favor
51 whipstock handle of a whip
53 strangely bizarrely (playing on stranger)
53 furnishèd equipped/fitted out
54 on set purpose deliberately
55 scour clean
56 Opinion’s … man public opinion makes us foolishly examine (scan) the external appearance of a man in search of (for) his inner worth
59 mean humble/poor
Act 2 Scene 3
2.3 tilting jousting
3 place … arms i.e. advertise your martial ability
6 in show in action
7 becomes suits
9 you yo
u are
15 framing making, creating
17 her laboured scholar the scholar into whom Art has put most effort/the scholar who has laboriously studied art
19 Marshal arrange, position
19 as … grace according to their merit
22 who whoever
25 Contend not do not argue
26 Have who have
26 outward eyes eyes that see outward/eyes on the outside of the body
27 Envies that which envies
28 right very
31 By … upon by Jove, who is aware of everything, I marvel that these delicacies (cates) become unappetizing to me when I think of him
33 viands foodstuffs
33 unsavoury tasteless/unappetizing
34 meat food/object of my sexual attention
34 gallant fine/brave
37 a staff i.e. his opponent’s lance in the tournament
38 to compared with
39 Yon that
40 tells me announces or discloses (him to) me
41 Had when he had
42 reverence pay homage to
44 vail lower
45 Where whereas
46 Where … light i.e. like a glowworm, Pericles is best seen at night; in the light of his father’s glory he would not seem to glow at all
52 stored filled
53 fill … lips i.e. drink a full cup in honor of your mistress
56 Yon that
58 countervail match, equal
59 Note … you don’t you observe it
64 like … at like gnats, which when they are dead seem very small considering how noisy they were
66 entertain entertainment
67 standing bowl bowl/goblet with a stem or legs
69 stranger knight knight who is a stranger/foreign knight
69 bold shameless/immodest
70 proffer offering
72 move me provoke me
78 blood spirit/health
79 pledge him drink his health
83 arts and arms artistic/scholarly pursuits and martial skills
85 reft robbed/deprived
90 cast was cast
93 sit dwell trifles trivialities
95 addressed dressed/attired
96 Will you will become suit/be appropriate for
97 I … beds i.e. I won’t have anyone excuse themselves by saying that women don’t like the loud music of a soldier’s dance, as I know that they like men in arms (i.e. knights) as well as men in their beds
100 this … asked i.e. I did well to ask for this
101 breathing exercising
103 trip dance/step lightly/fall sexually
104 measures formal dance steps/strategies in wooing
105 practise them put them to use
106 that’s … courtesy i.e. you are too modest
110 several various
114 level aim
115 betake him take himself
116 speeding success
Act 2 Scene 4
2.4 Location: Tyre
3 not minding longer intending no longer
5 capital punishable by death
11 eyes adored eyes that adored
15 bar prevent
15 shaft arrow (i.e. vengeance)
16 his its
19 respect influence
20 grieve cause grievance
23 Happy day i.e. “good day”
24 griefs grievances
26 you love i.e. that you love
29 what … breath what country he is living in
32 resolved reassured/persuaded
32 he lives if/that he lives
33 give’s i.e. it will give us
33 mourn his funeral mourn at his funeral/regret his death
34 to … election to choose another ruler
35 Whose i.e. Pericles’
35 strongest … censure most likely (probability) in our assessment
37 left which, if left
42 Try honour’s cause try being honorable
42 forbear your suffrages refrain from voting (for me)/avoid electing (another ruler)
43 forbear leave off/have patience
47 forbear to endure with patience
48 not does not
49 yoke harness (i.e. the servitude of the ruler to the people)
50 love demonstration of your affection
52 spend … worth demonstrate your courageous nobility
53 Whom i.e. Pericles
53 win unto persuade to
56 enjoineth instructs/urges
57 travels journeys (or travails, endeavors)
59 knit unite
Act 2 Scene 5
2.5 Location: Pentapolis
9 Tied her confined herself
10 twelvemoons twelve months
10 Diana goddess of hunting, virginity, and the moon; also associated with childbirth and with witchcraft
10 livery uniform (i.e. Thaisa will remain a virgin)
11 the … Cynthia the moon
11 Cynthia Diana as moon goddess
14 dispatched dismissed
17 nor day nor either day or
19 absolute certain
23 Soft be quiet
25 beholding indebted
30 desert merit
42 else if you don’t believe it
44 that saying that
45 subtlety trick
48 to as to
49 bent directed
49 offices service
53 levy raise/intend; possibly misused for level, aim
55 might that might
63 relished tasted
63 base ignoble/common
65 state kingdom/rule
66 accounts of me thinks me
71 Resolve assure
72 subscribe sign
73 made love to courted
75 that, would that which would
76 peremptory determined
81 aught anything
84 frame adapt/accommodate
84 will intentions (puns on will, sexual desire)
92 fosters nourishes
Act 3 Chorus
1 y-slackèd reduced to inactivity (archaic)
1 rouse carousing/mirth
3 breast stomach
4 pompous magnificent/ceremonious
5 eyne eyes
6 couches lies asleep
6 from away from
7 crickets sing i.e. crickets that sing
8 blither more happy
8 drouth the dryness of their position (crickets were thought to like heat)
9 Hymen Greek god of marriage
10 maidenhead virginity
11 Be attent listen
12 briefly quickly
13 fancies imaginations
13 eche eke out/supplement
14 plain explain
15 dern dreary/secret
15 painful laborious
15 perch a measure of land: 30.5 square yards or 25.3 square meters
16 Of for
17 coigns corners
21 stead help, assist
22 Fame rumor
22 most … inquire inquiries from the most distant places
24 tenor substance/content
25 dead being dead
28 will none will have none of it
29 t’appease to pacify/relieve
31 moons months
32 dooms decisions, judgments
33 sum summary/essence
35 Y-ravishèd entranced/enraptured (archaic)
36 claps applause
36 can began sound declare
37 heir apparent next in line to the throne
39 Brief in short
41 cross contradict
42 dole grief/sorrow
43 nurse nurse/midwife
45 Neptune god of the oceans
45 Neptune’s billow the waves
46 half … cut they are halfway there
45 flood waves/rushing water
46 moved provoked
47 grizzled grisly/horrible/gray
47 north north wind (thought to raise storms)
50 drives is propelled
51 well-a-near alas
52 Does … travail goes into labor
53 fell cruel
55 nill will not (archaic)
55 action performance
56 Conveniently suitably
57 Which … told i.e. which my story might not be able to convey
58 hold consider/retain
60 appears to speak appears and speaks
Act 3 Scene 1
3.1 Location: a ship
1 The god i.e. Neptune
1 vast immense space, i.e. the sea
1 rebuke repress
1 surges violent waves
2 thou Aeolus, god of the winds
3 bind … brass in Homer’s Odyssey, Aeolus’ island was surrounded by walls of brass
4 still calm
5 Thy Pericles may now address Jove, who controlled thunder
6 nimble sudden
6 sulphurous flashes lightning
8 Wilt … thyself i.e. will you spit out all of your thunder and lightning at once
8 seaman’s whistle used to give orders
9 as … Unheard as silent as a whisper to the dead
10 Lucina goddess of childbirth
14 travails labor, with a pun on “travels”
16 conceit understanding
17 like likely
18 piece fragment/masterpiece
20 assist i.e. by ranting or weeping
27 Recall not do not demand the return of
27 therein in that respect
28 Use … you deal honorably with you/deserve to be treated honorably by you
29 charge responsibility
30 mild … life i.e. may your life be mild
32 conditions way of life
33 rudeliest most roughly
34 Happy what follows may what follows be happy
35 chiding noisy/tumultuous
39 thy … here i.e. the cost of losing her mother is so great that in coming into the world Marina has already lost more than the world can ever repay her
39 portage porterage or freight charges
39 quit repay
40 best eyes most favorable aspect
42 flaw gust, squall
46 Slack slacken
46 bowlines ropes used to steady the sails
46 Thou the storm
48 But sea-room if we have room to maneuver the ship
48 brine sea
48 cloudy billow sea spray
50 works high is turbulent
54 still always
55 strong in custom adhere strongly to our traditions
55 briefly quickly/immediately
56 straight immediately
57 meet suitable
62 hallowed with religious ceremony
64 for a monument instead of a tomb
65 aye-remaining lamps ever-burning votive lights
65 belching spouting