Pericles arrives at Antioch to compete for the hand of the King's daughter by solving a riddle. Antiochus warns him of the deadly stakes—all who fail are executed. Pericles solves the riddle, discovering it reveals incest between the King and his daughter. He realizes the danger this knowledge poses and flees. Antiochus, threatened by exposure, orders his assassin Thaliard to pursue and kill the prince.
This scene establishes the play's central moral crisis: knowledge as a weapon that can destroy. The riddle itself—'I am no viper, yet I feed / On mother's flesh'—is a puzzle only solvable by recognizing a truth so terrible that speaking it becomes dangerous. Pericles' intelligence is both his strength and his vulnerability. He sees through the riddle's language to its obscene meaning, then immediately understands that his knowledge makes him a threat to Antiochus. The scene moves from courtly competition to flight in moments, setting the pattern for the rest of the play: Pericles as a man hunted not for what he has done, but for what he knows.
Antiochus emerges as a figure of corrupt power who uses beauty and ceremony to mask depravity. His daughter stands silent throughout, an ornament praised extravagantly while being positioned as both victim and lure. The King's language—comparing her to the Hesperides, to Jove himself—attempts to sanctify what the riddle reveals as monstrous. Pericles' response is remarkable: he refuses to condemn outright, instead speaking in the abstract about how 'virtue sees those men blush not in actions blacker than the night.' He chooses survival over righteous accusation, fleeing rather than exposing. This pragmatism—prioritizing his own life and his people's welfare over confronting evil directly—defines his character and shapes the tragedy to come.
Good sooth, I care not for you.
Honestly, I don't care for you.
Pericles · Act 1, Scene 1
Pericles, having solved the riddle of Antioch and glimpsed its incestuous horror, turns away from the king's daughter with these words. The line endures because it is a refusal — Pericles chooses truth over flattery, and moral revulsion over desire. In a play full of people caught by circumstance, this moment shows a man still free to choose his own heart.
How courtesy would seem to cover sin, When what is done is like an hypocrite, The which is good in nothing but in sight!
How politeness seems to hide wrongdoing, When what is done is like a liar, Which is only good for appearances!
Pericles · Act 1, Scene 1
Pericles has just solved Antioch's riddle and glimpsed the king's unspeakable crime — incest — hidden beneath royal ceremony and jeweled beauty. The line endures because it names the play's terror: that wickedness can wear the mask of nobility, and that knowing the truth makes a man a hunted thing. It is Pericles' first insight into a world where virtue itself becomes dangerous.
Original Shakespeare alongside modern English. Synced read-along narration in the app.
