Page:Stories from Old English Poetry-1899.djvu/285

Rh laying in the sand. It happened that there dwelt upon the coast in Ephesus, one of the wisest of living physicians, named Cerimon. He knew the properties of all herbs and minerals, their powers of cure, and prepared such wonderful remedies as the world had never seen. To him, then, this chest containing the lifeless body of Thaisa was brought. When Cerimon beheld this box, his first conjecture was that it was filled with golden treasure which had been washed off some lost vessel, and cast ashore. He ordered his servants to tear open the lid, and the pungent odor of the spices, with which Pericles had surrounded the body of Thaisa, filled the whole apartment. He bent over the chest with some curiosity to find what was indeed inclosed there, and beheld the face of the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, upturned to his.

Her pale hands were folded on her breast, and her lips and cheeks still glowed with the hue of life. Transfixed with admiration, Cerimon bent over her, and his eye was caught by a written scroll which Pericles had placed beside her. He opened it and read: