Original: Why should this change of thoughts,
Modern: Why should this shift in my thinking,

Original: The sad companion, dull-eyed melancholy,
Modern: This gloomy sadness that follows me everywhere,

Original: Be my so used a guest as not an hour,
Modern: Be such a constant visitor that not even an hour

Original: In the day’s glorious walk, or peaceful night,
Modern: During the beautiful day or quiet night,

Original: The tomb where grief should sleep, can breed me quiet?
Modern: When sorrow should rest, can give me any peace?

Original: Here pleasures court mine eyes, and mine eyes shun them,
Modern: Here enjoyable things try to attract me, but I avoid them,

Original: And danger, which I fear’d, is at Antioch,
Modern: And the threat I was afraid of is back in Antioch,

Original: Whose aim seems far too short to hit me here:
Modern: Which seems too far away to reach me here:

Original: Yet neither pleasure’s art can joy my spirits,
Modern: Yet neither entertainment can lift my mood,

Original: Nor yet the other’s distance comfort me.
Modern: Nor can the distance from that danger comfort me.

Original: Then it is thus: the passions of the mind,
Modern: So this is how it works: our mental emotions,

Original: That have their first conception by mis-dread,
Modern: That are first born from unnecessary fear,

Original: Have after-nourishment and life by care;
Modern: Are then fed and kept alive by constant worry;

Original: And what was first but fear what might be done,
Modern: And what started as just fear of what could happen,

Original: Grows elder now and cares it be not done.
Modern: Now grows stronger and worries it won’t happen.

Original: And so with me: the great Antiochus,
Modern: And that’s what’s happening to me: the powerful Antiochus,

Original: ‘Gainst whom I am too little to contend,
Modern: Against whom I’m too weak to fight,

Original: Since he’s so great can make his will his act,
Modern: Since he’s so powerful he can do whatever he wants,

Original: Will think me speaking, though I swear to silence;
Modern: Will assume I’m talking, even though I promise to stay quiet;

Original: Nor boots it me to say I honour him.
Modern: It won’t help me to say I respect him

Original: If he suspect I may dishonour him:
Modern: If he thinks I might disgrace him:

Original: And what may make him blush in being known,
Modern: And the secret that would embarrass him if revealed,

Original: He’ll stop the course by which it might be known;
Modern: He’ll eliminate anyone who might expose it;

Original: With hostile forces he’ll o’erspread the land,
Modern: He’ll cover this land with enemy armies,

Original: And with the ostent of war will look so huge,
Modern: And his display of military might will seem so overwhelming,

Original: Amazement shall drive courage from the state;
Modern: Terror will destroy our country’s bravery;

Original: Our men be vanquish’d ere they do resist,
Modern: Our soldiers will be defeated before they even fight back,

Original: And subjects punish’d that ne’er thought offence:
Modern: And innocent people will be punished who never meant any harm:

Original: Which care of them, not pity of myself,
Modern: This concern for them, not self-pity,

Original: Who am no more but as the tops of trees,
Modern: Since I’m nothing more than like the tops of trees,

Original: Which fence the roots they grow by and defend them,
Modern: That protect the roots they grow from and defend them,

Original: Makes both my body pine and soul to languish,
Modern: Makes both my body waste away and my spirit suffer,

Original: And punish that before that he would punish.
Modern: And tortures me before he would actually punish me.

In Act I, Scene ii of “Pericles, Prince of Tyre,” Pericles arrives at his palace in Tyre after fleeing from Antioch, deeply troubled by his discovery of the incestuous relationship between King Antiochus and his daughter. Pericles confides in his trusted counselor Helicanus, revealing the dark secret that has forced him to leave Antioch without claiming the princess as his bride. He explains that solving Antiochus’s riddle exposed the king’s shameful secret, putting Pericles in mortal danger since Antiochus cannot allow anyone who knows the truth to live.

Recognizing that Antiochus will likely pursue him to Tyre to eliminate the threat he poses, Pericles decides he must leave his homeland to protect both himself and his subjects from potential war. He appoints Helicanus as regent to govern in his absence and prepares to embark on a journey of exile. The scene establishes Pericles as a noble prince caught between moral obligation and political necessity, forced to abandon his kingdom to preserve both his life and the safety of his people. Helicanus accepts the responsibility reluctantly but loyally, understanding the wisdom of his prince’s decision despite the personal cost.

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.