Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Adaptations; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Stories, plots, etc. -- Juvenile literature
Pericles arrived in safety at Tyre, and was once more settled in
the quiet possession of his throne, while his woeful queen, whom
he thought dead, remained at Ephesus. Her little babe Marina,
whom this hapless mother had never seen, was brought up by Cleon
in a manner suitable to her high birth. He gave her the most
careful education, so that by the time Marina attained the age of
fourteen years the most deeply learned men were not more studied
in the learning of those times than was Marina. She sang like one
immortal, and danced as goddess-like, and with her needle she was
so skilful that she seemed to compose nature’s own shapes in
birds, fruits, or flowers, the natural roses being scarcely more
like to each other than they were to Marina’s silken flowers. But
when she had gained from education all these graces which made
her the general wonder, Dionysia, the wife of Cleon, became her
mortal enemy from jealousy, by reason that her own daughter, from
the slowness of her mind, was not able to attain to that
perfection wherein Marina excelled; and finding that all praise
was bestowed on Marina, while her daughter, who was of the same
age and had been educated with the same care as Marina, though
not with the same success, was in comparison disregarded, she
formed a project to remove Marina out of the way, vainly
imagining that her untoward daughter would be more respected when
Marina was no more seen. To encompass this she employed a man to
murder Marina, and she well timed her wicked design, when
Lychorida, the faithful nurse, had just died. Dionysia was
discoursing with the man she had commanded to commit this murder
when the young Marina was weeping over the dead Lychorida.
Leonine, the man she employed to do this bad deed, though he was
a very wicked man, could hardly be persuaded to undertake it, so
had Marina won all hearts to love her. He said:
“She is a goodly creature!”
“The fitter then the gods should have her,” replied her merciless
enemy. “Here she comes weeping for the death of her nurse
Lychorida. Are you resolved to obey me?”
Leonine, fearing to disobey her, replied, “I am resolved.” And
so, in that one short sentence, was the matchless Marina doomed
to an untimely death. She now approached, with a basket of
flowers in her hand, which she said she would daily strew over
the grave of good Lychorida. The purple violet and the marigold
should as a carpet hang upon her grave, while summer days did
last.
“Alas for met” she said, “poor unhappy maid, born in a tempest,
when my mother died. This world to me is like a lasting storm,
hurrying me from my friends.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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