Gower, the presenter of the play, then announces that news from abroad arrives at the court of Simonides. The chest floats to Ephesus, where servants of a physician named Cerimon find it. Noticing how fresh she looks, he suspects she is not yet dead and, working over her, revives her. When she is fully recovered, she becomes a priestess serving the goddess Diana. Pericles, meanwhile, has left his child, named Marina, in Tarsus in the care of two friends, Cleon and Dionyza, before returning to Tyre.
Years pass and Marina grows into a beautiful and intelligent young lady.
However, at the moment when Leonine seizes Marina to fulfill his evil commission, pirates kidnap Marina and sell her to a brothel in Mytilene. Pericles, meanwhile, sets sail for Tarsus to see his long-absent daughter, leaving Escanes, a lord of Tyre, in charge of the government. Anticipating that Pericles would one day come for his daughter, Dionyza has given out word that Marina has died. Dionyza has even erected a monument to Marina with ''epitaphs in glittering golden characters.'' Upon his arrival in Tarsus, Pericles learns of his daughter's ''death,'' visits her tomb and then leaves for Tyre. In Mytilene, Marina's goodness and virtuous living endear her to patrons of the brothel, including the governor of Mytilene, Lysimachus.