Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Adaptations; Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Stories, plots, etc. -- Juvenile literature
The pirate who had made Marina his prize carried her to Mitylene, and
sold her for a slave, where, though in that humble condition, Marina
soon became known throughout the whole city of Mitylene for her beauty
and her virtues; and the person to whom she was sold became rich by the
money she earned for him. She taught music, dancing, and fine
needleworks, and the money she got by her scholars she gave to her
master and mistress; and the fame of her learning and her great industry
came to the knowledge of Lysimachus, a young nobleman who was governor
of Mitylene, and Lysimachus went himself to the house where Marina
dwelt, to see this paragon of excellence, whom all the city praised so
highly. Her conversation delighted Lysimachus beyond measure, for though
he had heard much of this admired maiden, he did not expect to find her
so sensible a lady, so virtuous, and so good, as he perceived Marina to
be; and he left her, saying, he hoped she would persevere in her
industrious and virtuous course, and that if ever she heard from him
again it should be for her good. Lysimachus thought Marina such a
miracle for sense, fine breeding, and excellent qualities, as well as
for beauty and all outward graces, that he wished to marry her, and
notwithstanding her humble situation, he hoped to find that her birth
was noble; but ever when they asked her parentage she would sit still
and weep.
Meantime, at Tarsus, Leonine, fearing the anger of Dionysia, told her he
had killed Marina; and that wicked woman gave out that she was dead, and
made a pretended funeral for her, and erected a stately monument; and
shortly after Pericles, accompanied by his loyal minister Helicanus,
made a voyage from Tyre to Tarsus, on purpose to see his daughter,
intending to take her home with him: and he never having beheld her
since he left her an infant in the care of Cleon and his wife, how did
this good prince rejoice at the thought of seeing this dear child of his
buried queen! but when they told him Marina was dead, and showed the
monument they had erected for her, great was the misery this most
wretched father endured, and not being able to bear the sight of that
country where his last hope and only memory of his dear Thaisa was
entombed, he took ship, and hastily departed from Tarsus. From the day
he entered the ship a dull and heavy melancholy seized him. He never
spoke, and seemed totally insensible to everything around him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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