Original: See where she comes, apparell’d like the spring,
Modern: Look, here she comes, dressed as beautifully as springtime,

Original: Graces her subjects, and her thoughts the king
Modern: She brings grace to everyone around her, and her thoughts rule

Original: Of every virtue gives renown to men!
Modern: Over every good quality that makes men famous!

Original: Her face the book of praises, where is read
Modern: Her face is like a book of compliments, where you can read

Original: Nothing but curious pleasures, as from thence
Modern: Only wonderful delights, as if from her face

Original: Sorrow were ever razed and testy wrath
Modern: All sadness has been erased and angry temper

Original: Could never be her mild companion.
Modern: Could never exist alongside her gentle nature.

Original: You gods that made me man, and sway in love,
Modern: You gods who made me human and control matters of love,

Original: That have inflamed desire in my breast
Modern: You who have set my heart on fire with longing

Original: To taste the fruit of yon celestial tree,
Modern: To experience the sweetness of that heavenly woman,

Original: Or die in the adventure, be my helps,
Modern: Or die trying—please help me,

Original: As I am son and servant to your will,
Modern: Since I am your devoted child and obedient servant,

Original: To compass such a boundless happiness!
Modern: To achieve such unlimited joy!

In Act I, Scene i of “Pericles, Prince of Tyre,” Pericles arrives at Antioch seeking to win the hand of King Antiochus’s beautiful daughter in marriage. Antiochus presents Pericles with a riddle that must be solved correctly to win the princess, but failure means death, as evidenced by the heads of previous unsuccessful suitors displayed as a warning. Pericles reads the riddle, which cryptically describes an incestuous relationship, and realizes it reveals that Antiochus has been having sexual relations with his own daughter.

Horrified by this discovery but unable to speak the truth directly without risking immediate execution, Pericles gives an evasive answer that neither solves the riddle openly nor fails to demonstrate his understanding of it. Antiochus, recognizing that Pericles has discovered his secret, grants him forty days to provide a proper answer but privately plans to have him killed to protect the secret. Sensing the danger he now faces, Pericles flees Antioch, abandoning his suit for the princess’s hand and beginning his journey of exile and wandering.

Pericles, Prince of Tyre follows the wandering journey of Prince Pericles across the Mediterranean. The play opens with Pericles fleeing Antioch after discovering that King Antiochus is engaged in an incestuous relationship with his daughter. Fearing for his life, Pericles leaves his kingdom of Tyre in the care of his trusted advisor Helicanus and sets sail. He arrives in Tarsus during a famine, where he provides grain to the starving people, earning the gratitude of Governor Cleon and his wife Dionyza.

Continuing his travels, Pericles is shipwrecked near Pentapolis, where he washes ashore and participates in a tournament to win the hand of Thaisa, daughter of King Simonides. Pericles wins both the tournament and Thaisa’s love, and they marry. However, news arrives that Antiochus and his daughter have died, making it safe for Pericles to return to Tyre. During the sea voyage home, Thaisa gives birth to a daughter during a violent storm but appears to die in childbirth. The sailors insist her body must be cast overboard, so Pericles places her in a sealed coffin and commits it to the sea.

Thaisa’s coffin washes ashore in Ephesus, where the physician Cerimon revives her. Believing her husband and child are dead, she becomes a priestess in Diana’s temple. Meanwhile, Pericles leaves his infant daughter Marina with Cleon and Dionyza in Tarsus, asking them to raise her. Fourteen years pass, and Marina grows into a beautiful and virtuous young woman, causing Dionyza’s own daughter to pale in comparison. Jealous, Dionyza orders Marina’s murder, but pirates capture her before the deed is done and sell her to a brothel in Mytilene.

In the brothel, Marina’s purity and eloquence convert clients to virtue rather than vice, eventually leading to her release and employment as a teacher. When Pericles returns to Tarsus, Cleon and Dionyza show him a false tomb, claiming Marina died of natural causes. Grief-stricken, Pericles becomes a hermit aboard his ship. His vessel eventually arrives in Mytilene, where the governor Lysimachus brings Marina aboard to cure the melancholy stranger through music. Father and daughter recognize each other, leading to joyful reunion. The goddess Diana then appears to Pericles in a vision, directing him to her temple in Ephesus, where he is reunited with Thaisa. The play concludes with Marina’s betrothal to Lysimachus.