The Tempest

1 Enter Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, Adrian, Francisco and
2 others.
3 GONZALO.
4 Beseech you, sir, be merry; you have cause,
5 So have we all, of joy; for our escape
6 Is much beyond our loss. Our hint of woe
7 Is common; every day, some sailor’s wife,
8 The masters of some merchant and the merchant,
9 Have just our theme of woe; but for the miracle,
10 I mean our preservation, few in millions
11 Can speak like us: then wisely, good sir, weigh
12 Our sorrow with our comfort.
13 ALONSO.
14 Prithee, peace.
15 SEBASTIAN.
16 He receives comfort like cold porridge.
17 ANTONIO.
18 The visitor will not give him o’er so.
19 SEBASTIAN.
20 Look, he’s winding up the watch of his wit; by and by it will strike.
21 GONZALO.
22 Sir,—
23 SEBASTIAN.
24 One: tell.
25 GONZALO.
26 When every grief is entertain’d that’s offer’d,
27 Comes to the entertainer—
28 SEBASTIAN.
29 A dollar.
30 GONZALO.
31 Dolour comes to him, indeed: you have spoken truer than you purposed.
32 SEBASTIAN.
33 You have taken it wiselier than I meant you should.
34 GONZALO.
35 Therefore, my lord,—
36 ANTONIO.
37 Fie, what a spendthrift is he of his tongue!
38 ALONSO.
39 I prithee, spare.
40 GONZALO.
41 Well, I have done: but yet—
42 SEBASTIAN.
43 He will be talking.
44 ANTONIO.
45 Which, of he or Adrian, for a good wager, first begins to crow?
46 SEBASTIAN.
47 The old cock.
48 ANTONIO.
49 The cockerel.
50 SEBASTIAN.
51 Done. The wager?
52 ANTONIO.
53 A laughter.
54 SEBASTIAN.
55 A match!
56 ADRIAN.
57 Though this island seem to be desert,—
58 ANTONIO.
59 Ha, ha, ha!
60 SEBASTIAN.
61 So. You’re paid.
62 ADRIAN.
63 Uninhabitable, and almost inaccessible,—
64 SEBASTIAN.
65 Yet—
66 ADRIAN.
67 Yet—
68 ANTONIO.
69 He could not miss ’t.
70 ADRIAN.
71 It must needs be of subtle, tender, and delicate temperance.
72 ANTONIO.
73 Temperance was a delicate wench.
74 SEBASTIAN.
75 Ay, and a subtle; as he most learnedly delivered.
76 ADRIAN.
77 The air breathes upon us here most sweetly.
78 SEBASTIAN.
79 As if it had lungs, and rotten ones.
80 ANTONIO.
81 Or, as ’twere perfum’d by a fen.
82 GONZALO.
83 Here is everything advantageous to life.
84 ANTONIO.
85 True; save means to live.
86 SEBASTIAN.
87 Of that there’s none, or little.
88 GONZALO.
89 How lush and lusty the grass looks! how green!
90 ANTONIO.
91 The ground indeed is tawny.
92 SEBASTIAN.
93 With an eye of green in’t.
94 ANTONIO.
95 He misses not much.
96 SEBASTIAN.
97 No; he doth but mistake the truth totally.
98 GONZALO.
99 But the rarity of it is,—which is indeed almost beyond credit,—
100 SEBASTIAN.
101 As many vouch’d rarities are.
102 GONZALO.
103 That our garments, being, as they were, drenched in the sea, hold
104 notwithstanding their freshness and glosses, being rather new-dyed than
105 stained with salt water.
106 ANTONIO.
107 If but one of his pockets could speak, would it not say he lies?
108 SEBASTIAN.
109 Ay, or very falsely pocket up his report.
110 GONZALO.
111 Methinks our garments are now as fresh as when we put them on first in
112 Afric, at the marriage of the King’s fair daughter Claribel to the King
113 of Tunis.
114 SEBASTIAN.
115 ’Twas a sweet marriage, and we prosper well in our return.
116 ADRIAN.
117 Tunis was never graced before with such a paragon to their Queen.
118 GONZALO.
119 Not since widow Dido’s time.
120 ANTONIO.
121 Widow! a pox o’ that! How came that widow in? Widow Dido!
122 SEBASTIAN.
123 What if he had said, widower Aeneas too?
124 Good Lord, how you take it!
125 ADRIAN.
126 Widow Dido said you? You make me study of that; she was of Carthage,
127 not of Tunis.
128 GONZALO.
129 This Tunis, sir, was Carthage.
130 ADRIAN.
131 Carthage?
132 GONZALO.
133 I assure you, Carthage.
134 ANTONIO.
135 His word is more than the miraculous harp.
136 SEBASTIAN.
137 He hath rais’d the wall, and houses too.
138 ANTONIO.
139 What impossible matter will he make easy next?
140 SEBASTIAN.
141 I think he will carry this island home in his pocket, and give it his
142 son for an apple.
143 ANTONIO.
144 And, sowing the kernels of it in the sea, bring forth more islands.
145 ALONSO.
146 Ay.
147 ANTONIO.
148 Why, in good time.
149 GONZALO.
150 [_To Alonso._] Sir, we were talking that our garments seem now as fresh
151 as when we were at Tunis at the marriage of your daughter, who is now
152 Queen.
153 ANTONIO.
154 And the rarest that e’er came there.
155 SEBASTIAN.
156 Bate, I beseech you, widow Dido.
157 ANTONIO.
158 O! widow Dido; ay, widow Dido.
159 GONZALO.
160 Is not, sir, my doublet as fresh as the first day I wore it? I mean, in
161 a sort.
162 ANTONIO.
163 That sort was well fish’d for.
164 GONZALO.
165 When I wore it at your daughter’s marriage?
166 ALONSO.
167 You cram these words into mine ears against
168 The stomach of my sense. Would I had never
169 Married my daughter there! for, coming thence,
170 My son is lost; and, in my rate, she too,
171 Who is so far from Italy removed,
172 I ne’er again shall see her. O thou mine heir
173 Of Naples and of Milan, what strange fish
174 Hath made his meal on thee?
175 FRANCISCO.
176 Sir, he may live:
177 I saw him beat the surges under him,
178 And ride upon their backs. He trod the water,
179 Whose enmity he flung aside, and breasted
180 The surge most swoln that met him. His bold head
181 ’Bove the contentious waves he kept, and oared
182 Himself with his good arms in lusty stroke
183 To th’ shore, that o’er his wave-worn basis bowed,
184 As stooping to relieve him. I not doubt
185 He came alive to land.
186 ALONSO.
187 No, no, he’s gone.
188 SEBASTIAN.
189 Sir, you may thank yourself for this great loss,
190 That would not bless our Europe with your daughter,
191 But rather lose her to an African;
192 Where she, at least, is banish’d from your eye,
193 Who hath cause to wet the grief on ’t.
194 ALONSO.
195 Prithee, peace.
196 SEBASTIAN.
197 You were kneel’d to, and importun’d otherwise
198 By all of us; and the fair soul herself
199 Weigh’d between loathness and obedience at
200 Which end o’ th’ beam should bow. We have lost your son,
201 I fear, for ever: Milan and Naples have
202 More widows in them of this business’ making,
203 Than we bring men to comfort them.
204 The fault’s your own.
205 ALONSO.
206 So is the dear’st o’ th’ loss.
207 GONZALO.
208 My lord Sebastian,
209 The truth you speak doth lack some gentleness
210 And time to speak it in. You rub the sore,
211 When you should bring the plaster.
212 SEBASTIAN.
213 Very well.
214 ANTONIO.
215 And most chirurgeonly.
216 GONZALO.
217 It is foul weather in us all, good sir,
218 When you are cloudy.
219 SEBASTIAN.
220 Foul weather?
221 ANTONIO.
222 Very foul.
223 GONZALO.
224 Had I plantation of this isle, my lord,—
225 ANTONIO.
226 He’d sow ’t with nettle-seed.
227 SEBASTIAN.
228 Or docks, or mallows.
229 GONZALO.
230 And were the King on’t, what would I do?
231 SEBASTIAN.
232 ’Scape being drunk for want of wine.
233 GONZALO.
234 I’ th’ commonwealth I would by contraries
235 Execute all things; for no kind of traffic
236 Would I admit; no name of magistrate;
237 Letters should not be known; riches, poverty,
238 And use of service, none; contract, succession,
239 Bourn, bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none;
240 No use of metal, corn, or wine, or oil;
241 No occupation; all men idle, all;
242 And women too, but innocent and pure;
243 No sovereignty,—
244 SEBASTIAN.
245 Yet he would be King on’t.
246 ANTONIO.
247 The latter end of his commonwealth forgets the beginning.
248 GONZALO.
249 All things in common nature should produce
250 Without sweat or endeavour; treason, felony,
251 Sword, pike, knife, gun, or need of any engine,
252 Would I not have; but nature should bring forth,
253 Of it own kind, all foison, all abundance,
254 To feed my innocent people.
255 SEBASTIAN.
256 No marrying ’mong his subjects?
257 ANTONIO.
258 None, man; all idle; whores and knaves.
259 GONZALO.
260 I would with such perfection govern, sir,
261 T’ excel the Golden Age.
262 SEBASTIAN.
263 Save his Majesty!
264 ANTONIO.
265 Long live Gonzalo!
266 GONZALO.
267 And,—do you mark me, sir?
268 ALONSO.
269 Prithee, no more: thou dost talk nothing to me.
270 GONZALO.
271 I do well believe your highness; and did it to minister occasion to
272 these gentlemen, who are of such sensible and nimble lungs that they
273 always use to laugh at nothing.
274 ANTONIO.
275 ’Twas you we laughed at.
276 GONZALO.
277 Who in this kind of merry fooling am nothing to you. So you may
278 continue, and laugh at nothing still.
279 ANTONIO.
280 What a blow was there given!
281 SEBASTIAN.
282 An it had not fallen flat-long.
283 GONZALO.
284 You are gentlemen of brave mettle. You would lift the moon out of her
285 sphere, if she would continue in it five weeks without changing.
286 Enter Ariel, invisible, playing solemn music.
287 SEBASTIAN.
288 We would so, and then go a-bat-fowling.
289 ANTONIO.
290 Nay, good my lord, be not angry.
291 GONZALO.
292 No, I warrant you; I will not adventure my discretion so weakly. Will
293 you laugh me asleep, for I am very heavy?
294 ANTONIO.
295 Go sleep, and hear us.
296 [_All sleep but Alonso, Sebastian and Antonio._]
297 ALONSO.
298 What, all so soon asleep! I wish mine eyes
299 Would, with themselves, shut up my thoughts: I find
300 They are inclin’d to do so.
301 SEBASTIAN.
302 Please you, sir,
303 Do not omit the heavy offer of it:
304 It seldom visits sorrow; when it doth,
305 It is a comforter.
306 ANTONIO.
307 We two, my lord,
308 Will guard your person while you take your rest,
309 And watch your safety.
310 ALONSO.
311 Thank you. Wondrous heavy!
312 [_Alonso sleeps. Exit Ariel._]
313 SEBASTIAN.
314 What a strange drowsiness possesses them!
315 ANTONIO.
316 It is the quality o’ th’ climate.
317 SEBASTIAN.
318 Why
319 Doth it not then our eyelids sink? I find not
320 Myself dispos’d to sleep.
321 ANTONIO.
322 Nor I. My spirits are nimble.
323 They fell together all, as by consent;
324 They dropp’d, as by a thunder-stroke. What might,
325 Worthy Sebastian? O, what might?—No more.
326 And yet methinks I see it in thy face,
327 What thou shouldst be. Th’ occasion speaks thee; and
328 My strong imagination sees a crown
329 Dropping upon thy head.
330 SEBASTIAN.
331 What, art thou waking?
332 ANTONIO.
333 Do you not hear me speak?
334 SEBASTIAN.
335 I do; and surely
336 It is a sleepy language, and thou speak’st
337 Out of thy sleep. What is it thou didst say?
338 This is a strange repose, to be asleep
339 With eyes wide open; standing, speaking, moving,
340 And yet so fast asleep.
341 ANTONIO.
342 Noble Sebastian,
343 Thou let’st thy fortune sleep—die rather; wink’st
344 Whiles thou art waking.
345 SEBASTIAN.
346 Thou dost snore distinctly:
347 There’s meaning in thy snores.
348 ANTONIO.
349 I am more serious than my custom; you
350 Must be so too, if heed me; which to do
351 Trebles thee o’er.
352 SEBASTIAN.
353 Well, I am standing water.
354 ANTONIO.
355 I’ll teach you how to flow.
356 SEBASTIAN.
357 Do so: to ebb,
358 Hereditary sloth instructs me.
359 ANTONIO.
360 O,
361 If you but knew how you the purpose cherish
362 Whiles thus you mock it! how, in stripping it,
363 You more invest it! Ebbing men indeed,
364 Most often, do so near the bottom run
365 By their own fear or sloth.
366 SEBASTIAN.
367 Prithee, say on:
368 The setting of thine eye and cheek proclaim
369 A matter from thee, and a birth, indeed
370 Which throes thee much to yield.
371 ANTONIO.
372 Thus, sir:
373 Although this lord of weak remembrance, this
374 Who shall be of as little memory
375 When he is earth’d, hath here almost persuaded,—
376 For he’s a spirit of persuasion, only
377 Professes to persuade,—the King his son’s alive,
378 ’Tis as impossible that he’s undrown’d
379 As he that sleeps here swims.
380 SEBASTIAN.
381 I have no hope
382 That he’s undrown’d.
383 ANTONIO.
384 O, out of that “no hope”
385 What great hope have you! No hope that way is
386 Another way so high a hope, that even
387 Ambition cannot pierce a wink beyond,
388 But doubts discovery there. Will you grant with me
389 That Ferdinand is drown’d?
390 SEBASTIAN.
391 He’s gone.
392 ANTONIO.
393 Then tell me,
394 Who’s the next heir of Naples?
395 SEBASTIAN.
396 Claribel.
397 ANTONIO.
398 She that is Queen of Tunis; she that dwells
399 Ten leagues beyond man’s life; she that from Naples
400 Can have no note, unless the sun were post—
401 The Man i’ th’ Moon’s too slow—till newborn chins
402 Be rough and razorable; she that from whom
403 We all were sea-swallow’d, though some cast again,
404 And by that destiny, to perform an act
405 Whereof what’s past is prologue, what to come
406 In yours and my discharge.
407 SEBASTIAN.
408 What stuff is this! How say you?
409 ’Tis true, my brother’s daughter’s Queen of Tunis;
410 So is she heir of Naples; ’twixt which regions
411 There is some space.
412 ANTONIO.
413 A space whose ev’ry cubit
414 Seems to cry out “How shall that Claribel
415 Measure us back to Naples? Keep in Tunis,
416 And let Sebastian wake.” Say this were death
417 That now hath seiz’d them; why, they were no worse
418 Than now they are. There be that can rule Naples
419 As well as he that sleeps; lords that can prate
420 As amply and unnecessarily
421 As this Gonzalo. I myself could make
422 A chough of as deep chat. O, that you bore
423 The mind that I do! What a sleep were this
424 For your advancement! Do you understand me?
425 SEBASTIAN.
426 Methinks I do.
427 ANTONIO.
428 And how does your content
429 Tender your own good fortune?
430 SEBASTIAN.
431 I remember
432 You did supplant your brother Prospero.
433 ANTONIO.
434 True.
435 And look how well my garments sit upon me;
436 Much feater than before; my brother’s servants
437 Were then my fellows; now they are my men.
438 SEBASTIAN.
439 But, for your conscience.
440 ANTONIO.
441 Ay, sir; where lies that? If ’twere a kibe,
442 ’Twould put me to my slipper: but I feel not
443 This deity in my bosom: twenty consciences
444 That stand ’twixt me and Milan, candied be they
445 And melt ere they molest! Here lies your brother,
446 No better than the earth he lies upon,
447 If he were that which now he’s like, that’s dead;
448 Whom I, with this obedient steel, three inches of it,
449 Can lay to bed for ever; whiles you, doing thus,
450 To the perpetual wink for aye might put
451 This ancient morsel, this Sir Prudence, who
452 Should not upbraid our course. For all the rest,
453 They’ll take suggestion as a cat laps milk.
454 They’ll tell the clock to any business that
455 We say befits the hour.
456 SEBASTIAN.
457 Thy case, dear friend,
458 Shall be my precedent: as thou got’st Milan,
459 I’ll come by Naples. Draw thy sword: one stroke
460 Shall free thee from the tribute which thou payest,
461 And I the King shall love thee.
462 ANTONIO.
463 Draw together,
464 And when I rear my hand, do you the like,
465 To fall it on Gonzalo.
466 SEBASTIAN.
467 O, but one word.
468 [_They converse apart._]
469 Music. Re-enter Ariel, invisible.
470 ARIEL.
471 My master through his art foresees the danger
472 That you, his friend, are in; and sends me forth—
473 For else his project dies—to keep them living.
474 [_Sings in Gonzalo’s ear._]
475 _While you here do snoring lie,
476 Open-ey’d conspiracy
477 His time doth take.
478 If of life you keep a care,
479 Shake off slumber, and beware.
480 Awake! awake!_
481 ANTONIO.
482 Then let us both be sudden.
483 GONZALO.
484 Now, good angels
485 Preserve the King!
486 [_They wake._]
487 ALONSO.
488 Why, how now! Ho, awake! Why are you drawn?
489 Wherefore this ghastly looking?
490 GONZALO.
491 What’s the matter?
492 SEBASTIAN.
493 Whiles we stood here securing your repose,
494 Even now, we heard a hollow burst of bellowing
495 Like bulls, or rather lions; did ’t not wake you?
496 It struck mine ear most terribly.
497 ALONSO.
498 I heard nothing.
499 ANTONIO.
500 O! ’twas a din to fright a monster’s ear,
501 To make an earthquake. Sure, it was the roar
502 Of a whole herd of lions.
503 ALONSO.
504 Heard you this, Gonzalo?
505 GONZALO.
506 Upon mine honour, sir, I heard a humming,
507 And that a strange one too, which did awake me.
508 I shak’d you, sir, and cried; as mine eyes open’d,
509 I saw their weapons drawn:—there was a noise,
510 That’s verily. ’Tis best we stand upon our guard,
511 Or that we quit this place: let’s draw our weapons.
512 ALONSO.
513 Lead off this ground, and let’s make further search
514 For my poor son.
515 GONZALO.
516 Heavens keep him from these beasts!
517 For he is, sure, i’ th’ island.
518 ALONSO.
519 Lead away.
520 [_Exit with the others._]
521 ARIEL.
522 Prospero my lord shall know what I have done:
523 So, King, go safely on to seek thy son.
524 [_Exit._]