Act 1, Scene 3

Tyre. An ante-chamber in the Palace.

[Enter Thaliard.]
Thaliard
348 So, this is Tyre, and this the court. Here must I Kill King
349 Pericles; and if I do it not, I am sure to be hanged at home:
350 'tis dangerous. Well, I perceive he was a wise fellow, and
351 had good discretion, that, being bid to ask what he would of
352 the king, desired he might know none of his secrets: now do I
353 see he had some reason for 't; for if a king bid a man be a
354 villain, he's bound by the indenture of his oath to be one.
355 Hush! here come the lords of Tyre.
[Enter Helicanus and Escanes, with other Lords of Tyre.]
Helicanus
356 You shall not need, my fellow peers of Tyre,
357 Further to question me of your king's departure:
358 His seal'd commission, left in trust with me,
359 Doth speak sufficiently he 's gone to travel.
[Aside.]
Thaliard
360 How! the king gone!
Helicanus
361 If further yet you will be satisfied,
362 Why, as it were unlicensed of your loves,
363 He would depart, I 'II give some light unto you.
364 Being at Antioch —
[Aside.]
Thaliard
365 What from Antioch?
Helicanus
366 Royal Antiochus — on what cause I know not
367 Took some displeasure at him; at least he judged so:
368 And doubting lest that he had err'd or sinn'd,
369 To show his sorrow, he 'ld correct himself;
370 So puts himself unto the shipman's toil,
371 With whom each minute threatens life or death.
[Aside.]
Thaliard
372 Well, I perceive
373 I shall not be hang'd now, although I would;
374 But since he 's gone, the king's seas must please
375 He 'scaped the land, to perish at the sea.
376 I 'll present myself. Peace to the lords of Tyre!
Helicanus
377 Lord Thaliard from Antiochus is welcome.
Thaliard
378 From him I come
379 With message unto princely Pericles;
380 But since my landing I have understood
381 Your lord has betook himself to unknown travels,
382 My message must return from whence it came.
Helicanus
383 We have no reason to desire it,
384 Commended to our master, not to us:
385 Yet, ere you shall depart, this we desire,
386 As friends to Antioch, we may feast in Tyre.
[Exeunt.]

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Notes

TLN 354archaic vocab
“bound by the indenture of his oath”
An 'indenture' was a formal legal contract — so called because the document was cut with a jagged (indented) edge so that two matching halves could prove its authenticity. To be 'bound by the indenture of his oath' means to be held by a sworn contract as if by a legally enforceable bond. Thaliard is saying a man sworn to serve a king is legally and morally obligated to commit whatever crime the king commands.
TLN 362syntax grammar
“unlicensed of your loves”
The phrase is compressed and inverted: 'unlicensed of your loves' means 'without having obtained leave from your affection' — that is, without asking the permission of the loyalty you bear him. Helicanus is saying that Pericles departed as if he had not first sought the approval of his people's love for him, which would normally obligate a king to explain his movements to those who serve him faithfully.
TLN 370cultural context
“puts himself unto the shipman's toil”
A 'shipman' is a sailor, and 'the shipman's toil' is the hardship of life at sea — constant physical labour, violent weather, and the ever-present risk of drowning. Helicanus is telling the lords that Pericles has deliberately submitted himself to the daily dangers of a mariner's life: the next line drives the point home with 'each minute threatens life or death.' For an Elizabethan audience, sea-voyaging was understood as one of the most dangerous occupations imaginable, with mortality rates on long passages that could exceed a third of a crew.
classical Neptune, god of the sea
TLN 373rhetorical device
“I shall not be hang'd now, although I would”
Thaliard reasons that since his target has already fled to sea, he cannot be executed for failing to kill Pericles on land — and then adds the darkly comic 'although I would,' meaning even if he wanted to be hanged (i.e., even if he tried to fail), he cannot be, because the circumstances have removed his opportunity. He then pivots to a grim consolation: 'it must please the king's seas' that Pericles escaped one death on land only to 'perish at the sea.' The aside is built on sustained dark irony — the assassin finds relief not in justice but in being made redundant by fortune.
classical Fortune and her wheel