Peri

“ In Persic, the term Peri expresses a species of imaginary being, which resembles the Fairy in some of its qualities, and is one of the fairest creatures of romantic fancy. This superstition must have been known to the Arabs, among whom the Persian tales, or romances, even as early as the time of Mahomet, were so popular, that it required the most terrible denunciations of that legislator to proscribe them. Now, in the enunciation of the Arabs, the term Peri would sound Fairy, the letter p not occurring in the alphabet of that nation ”

“ The word Peri, in the Persian language, signifies that beautiful race of creatures which constitutes the link between angels and men. The Arabians call them Ginn, or genii, and we (from the Persian, perhaps) Fairies: at least, the peris of the Persian romance correspond to that imaginary class of beings in our poetical system. The Italians denominate them Fata, in allusion to their power of charming and enchanting; thus the Manto fatidica of Virgil is rendered in Orlando, La Fata Manto. ”

“ It must be recollected that the Peries are of both sexes: we have just spoken of Peri kings, and of the brothers of Merjân.
[39] In the Shâh Nâmeh it is said of Prince Siyawush, that when he was born he was bright as a Peri. We find the poets everywhere comparing female beauty to that of superior beings. The Greeks and Romans compared a lovely woman to Venus, Diana, or the nymphs; the Persians to a Peri; the ancient Scandinavians would say she was Frith sem Alfkone, "fair as an Alf-woman;" and an Anglo-Saxon poet says of Judith that she was Elf-sheen, or fair as an Elf. ”

“ Arabic, MARSDEN 207, obligatory observances (by divine institution) .
Pėréng, name of a ficus variety with multitudinous small seeds all over the stem, Picus Ribes.
Pěrés, to squeeze out water from a cloth, to wring out. To milk a cow. The word sounds like the English press in press out. In Malay it is Pruh, with same meaning as the Sunda Pěrés. See MARSDEN p. 221.
Pěrěték, steep and rugged; said of a road or way which is very bad and almost impassable from its steepness.
Péri, Persian, a fairy; a class of supernatural beings residing upon earth but invisible, whose nature is beneficent. ”

“ Beaumont and Fletcher, Rule a Wife and Have a Wife (1640) .
Peri, (plu., Peris) , gentle, fairy-like beings of Eastern mythology, offspring of the fallen angels, and constituting a race of beings between angels and men. They direct with a wand the pure-minded the way to heaven, and dwell in Shadu ́kiam ́ and Am ́bre-abad, two cities subject to Eblis.
Are the peries coming down from their spheres?
W. Beckford, Vathek (1786) .
Pe ́richole (La) , the heroine of Offenbach’s comic opera (opera bouffe) of that name. ”

“ The term ginn being common to both peris and dives, some have erroneously fancied that the peris were female dives. This appellation, however, served only to discriminate their common nature from the angelic and human, without respect to their qualities, moral or personal. Thus, the dives are hideous and wicked, whilst the peris are beautiful and good. Amongst the Persian poets, the beauty of the peris is proverbial: insomuch that a woman superlatively handsome, is styled by them, the offspring of a Peri. ”

“ MARINA. First, sir, I pray, What is your title?
PERICLES. I am Pericles of Tyre: but tell me now My drown'd queen's name, as in the rest you said Thou hast been godlike perfect, The heir of kingdoms and another like To Pericles thy father.
MARINA. Is it no more to be your daughter than To say my mother's name was Thaisa? Thaisa was my mother, who did end The minute I began.
PERICLES. Now, blessing on thee! rise; thou art my child. Give me fresh garments. Mine own, Helicanus; She is not dead at Tarsus, as she should have been, By savage Cleon: she shall tell thee all ”

“ The gods requite his charity.
If thou livest, Pericles, thou hast a heart
That even cracks for woe! This chanced tonight.
SECOND GENTLEMAN.
Most likely, sir.
CERIMON.
Nay, certainly tonight;
For look how fresh she looks! They were too rough
That threw her in the sea. Make a fire within
Fetch hither all my boxes in my closet.
[Exit a Servant.]
Death may usurp on nature many hours,
And yet the fire of life kindle again
The o’erpress’d spirits. ”

“ THAISA.
My recompense is thanks, that’s all;
Yet my good will is great, though the gift small.
[Exeunt.]
ACT IV Enter Gower.
GOWER.
Imagine Pericles arrived at Tyre,
Welcomed and settled to his own desire.
His woeful queen we leave at Ephesus,
Unto Diana there a votaress.
Now to Marina bend your mind,
Whom our fast-growing scene must find
At Tarsus, and by Cleon train’d
In music’s letters; who hath gain’d
Of education all the grace,
Which makes her both the heart and place
Of general wonder. ”

“ She has always pretended that thou hast lacked a vocation. To thy health! And to yours, M. German! I present to you my godson, Captain Pericles, a charming young man who knows many languages, and who will replace me during my absence. My dear Pericles, I present to thee Monsieur, who is a doctor and is valued at fifteen thousand francs. Canst thou believe that this tall doctor, all doctor as he is, has not yet found out how to pay his ransom through our English captives. The world has degenerated, little one: it was better in my day. ”

“ You are a fair viol, and your sense the strings;
Who, finger’d to make man his lawful music,
Would draw heaven down, and all the gods to hearken;
But being play’d upon before your time,
Hell only danceth at so harsh a chime.
Good sooth, I care not for you.
ANTIOCHUS.
Prince Pericles, touch not, upon thy life,
For that’s an article within our law,
As dangerous as the rest. Your time’s expired:
Either expound now, or receive your sentence.
PERICLES.
Great king,
Few love to hear the sins they love to act ”

“ When noble Pericles shall demand his child?
DIONYZA.
That she is dead. Nurses are not the fates,
To foster it, nor ever to preserve.
She died at night; I’ll say so. Who can cross it?
Unless you play the pious innocent,
And for an honest attribute cry out
‘She died by foul play.’
CLEON.
O, go to. Well, well,
Of all the faults beneath the heavens, the gods
Do like this worst.
DIONYZA.
Be one of those that thinks
The petty wrens of Tarsus will fly hence,
And open this to Pericles. I do shame
To think of what a noble strain you are,
And of how coward a spirit. ”

“ Simonides and Thaisa sat upon a raised throne, placed under a crimson canopy at the extremity of the amphitheatre in which the tourney was to take place. Pericles looked at the princess, and thought her the most beautiful woman he had ever gazed upon. ”

“ THAISA. He thanks your grace; names himself Pericles, A gentleman of Tyre, Who only by misfortune of the seas Bereft of ships and men, cast on this shore.
SIMONIDES. Now, by the gods, I pity his misfortune, And will awake him from his melancholy. Come, gentlemen, we sit too long on trifles, And waste the time, which looks for other revels. Even in your armours, as you are address'd, Will very well become a soldier's dance. I will not have excuse, with saying this, Loud music is too harsh for ladies' heads Since they love men in arms as well as beds. ”

“ No other man seems to have been held in so high estimation by most of the ablest writers of Greece and Rome, for universal superiority of talents, as Pericles. The accounts remaining of his actions hardly support his renown, which was yet, perhaps, more fairly earned than that of many, the merit of whose achievements has been, in a great degree, due to others acting under them, whose very names have perished. The philosophy of Pericles taught him not to be vain-glorious, but to rest his fame upon essentially great and good rather than upon brilliant actions. ”

“ You know that that proud young man and his extravagant wife could never forgive the frugality of Pericles. Even in his dying moments he refused to call him father, and made no answer to his affectionate inquiries. ”

“ In Pericles, his queen and daughter, seen, Although assail’d with fortune fierce and keen, Virtue preserved from fell destruction’s blast, Led on by heaven, and crown’d with joy at last: In Helicanus may you well descry A figure of truth, of faith, of loyalty: In reverend Cerimon there well appears The worth that learned charity aye wears: For wicked Cleon and his wife, when fame Had spread their cursed deed, and honour’d name Of Pericles, to rage the city turn, That him and his they in his palace burn; The gods for murder seemed so content To punish them although not done but meant. ”

“ His generous and richly-endowed nature responded to all that was beautiful and noble not only in literature and art but in life, 409and it is with justice that the age of Pericles has received its name from the man in whom, more than in any other, all the various lines of Greek culture met and were harmonised. In this perfect harmony and completeness of nature, and in the classic calm which was the fruit of it, Pericles is the type of the ideal spirit, not of his own age only, but of antiquity. ”

“ As soon as he could speak, he said, "O you gods, why do you make us love your goodly gifts, and then snatch those gifts away?" "Patience, good sir," said Lychorida, "here is all that is left alive of our dead queen, a little daughter, and for your child's sake be more manly. Patience, good sir, even for the sake of this precious charge." Pericles took the new-born infant in his arms, and he said to the little babe, "Now may your life be mild, for a more blusterous birth had never babe! ”

“ The age of Pericles is the sole historian of Pericles.
This statesman was now at that period of life when public men are usually most esteemed—when, still in the vigour of manhood, they have acquired the dignity and experience of years, outlived the earlier prejudices and jealousies they excited, and see themselves surrounded by a new generation, among whom rivals must be less common than disciples and admirers. ”

“ CERIMON. Look to the lady; O, she's but o'er-joy'd. Early in blustering morn this lady was Thrown upon this shore. I oped the coffin, Found there rich jewels; recover'd her, and placed her Here in Diana's temple.
PERICLES. May we see them?
CERIMON. Great sir, they shall be brought you to my house, Whither I invite you. Look, Thaisa is Recovered.
THAISA. O, let me look! If he be none of mine, my sanctity Will to my sense bend no licentious ear, But curb it, spite of seeing. O, my lord, Are you not Pericles? Like him you spake, Like him you are: did you not name a tempest, A birth, and death? ”

“ PERICLES.
You have heard me say, when did fly from Tyre, I left behind an ancient substitute: Can you remember what I call’d the man I have named him oft. THAISA.
’Twas Helicanus then. PERICLES.
Still confirmation: Embrace him, dear Thaisa; this is he. Now do I long to hear how you were found: How possibly preserved; and who to thank, Besides the gods, for this great miracle. THAISA.
Lord Cerimon, my lord; this man, Through whom the gods have shown their power; that can From first to last resolve you. PERICLES.
Reverend sir, The gods can have no mortal officer More like a god than you. ”

“ SCENE III. The temple of Diana at Ephesus; Thaisa standing near the altar, as high priestess; a number of Virgins on each side; Cerimon and other inhabitants of Ephesus attending. [Enter Pericles, with his train; Lysimachus, Helicanus, Marina, and a Lady.]
PERICLES. Hail, Dian! to perform thy just command, I here confess myself the king of Tyre; Who, frighted from my country, did wed At Pentapolis the fair Thaisa. At sea in childbed died she, but brought forth A maid-child call'd Marina; who, O goddess, Wears yet thy silver livery. She at Tarsus Was nursed with Cleon ”

“ The Peris have for their abode the kingdom of Shad-u-Kan, that is, of Pleasure and Delight, with its capital Juber-a-bad, or the Jewel City; and the Divs have for their dwelling Ahermambad, or Ahriman's city, in which there are enchanted castles and palaces, guarded by terrible monsters and powerful magicians. The Peris are very beautiful beings, usually represented as women with wings, and charming robes of all colours. The Divs are painted as demons of the most frightful kind. ”

“ The next day Pericles, clad in his brave father's armour, repaired to the royal court of Symonides, where he performed wonders at the tournament, vanquishing with ease all the brave knights and valiant princes who contended with him in arms for the honour of Thaisa's love. ”

“ In the morning Pericles found himself quite bravely furnished forth. The wife of the fisher man had worked all night to make him garments from the ample gown of her husband, and the armor had been mended and polished as well as it might be. Besides all this, the old fellow lent him his only horse, and thus furnished, Pericles rode gallantly off for the court of Simonides. ”

“ A babe is moulded. Be attent,
And time that is so briefly spent
With your fine fancies quaintly eche:
What’s dumb in show I’ll plain with speech.
Dumb-show. Enter, Pericles and Simonides at one door with Attendants; a Messenger meets them, kneels, and gives Pericles a letter: Pericles shows it Simonides; the Lords kneel to him. Then enter Thaisa with child, with Lychorida, a nurse. The King shows her the letter; she rejoices: she and Pericles take leave of her father, and depart, with Lychorida and their Attendants. Then exeunt Simonides and the rest. ”