The Tempest
Page 5
That thou attend527 me: thou dost here usurp The name thou ow'st not528, and hast put thyself Upon this island as a spy, to win it
From me, the lord on't.530
FERDINAND No, as I am a man.
MIRANDA There's nothing ill can dwell in such a temple532: If the ill-spirit have so fair a house,
Good things will strive to dwell with't.
PROSPERO Follow me.--
To Ferdinand
Speak not you for him: he's a traitor.-- Come:
To Miranda/To Ferdinand
I'll manacle thy neck and feet together:
Seawater shalt thou drink: thy food shall be
The fresh-brook mussels539, withered roots and husks Wherein the acorn cradled. Follow.
FERDINAND No!
I will resist such entertainment542 till Mine enemy has more power.
He draws, and is charmed from moving
MIRANDA O dear father,
Make not too rash a trial of him, for
He's gentle, and not fearful.546
PROSPERO What, I say,
My foot548 my tutor?-- Put thy sword up, traitor:
To Ferdinand
Who mak'st a show but dar'st not strike, thy conscience
Is so possessed with guilt. Come from thy ward550,
For I can here disarm thee with this stick,
Brandishes his staff
And make thy weapon drop.
MIRANDA Beseech you, father.
Kneels or attempts to stop him
PROSPERO Hence! Hang not on my garments.
MIRANDA Sir, have pity:
I'll be his surety.556
PROSPERO Silence! One word more
Shall make me chide558 thee, if not hate thee. What, An advocate for an impostor? Hush!
Thou think'st there is no more such shapes560 as he, Having seen but him and Caliban. Foolish wench,
To562 th'most of men this is a Caliban, And they to him are angels.
MIRANDA My affections
Are then most humble: I have no ambition
To see a goodlier man.
PROSPERO Come on, obey:
To Ferdinand
Thy nerves568 are in their infancy again And have no vigour569 in them.
FERDINAND So they are:
My spirits571, as in a dream, are all bound up.
My father's loss, the weakness which I feel,
The wreck of all my friends, nor this man's threats,
To whom I am subdued, are but light to me,
Might I but through575 my prison once a day Behold this maid: all corners else576 o'th'earth Let liberty make use of: space enough
Have I in such a prison.
PROSPERO It works.-- Come on.--
Aside/To Ferdinand
Thou hast done well, fine Ariel!-- Follow me.--
To Ariel/To Ferdinand
Hark what thou else shalt do me.581
MIRANDA Be of comfort:
To Ariel
My father's of a better nature, sir,
Than he appears by speech: this is unwonted584
Which now came from him.
PROSPERO Thou shalt be as free
To Ariel
As mountain winds; but then587 exactly do All points of my command.
ARIEL To th'syllable.
PROSPERO Come, follow.-- Speak not for him.
To Ferdinand/To Mir.
Exeunt
Act 2 Scene 1
running scene 3
Enter Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, Adrian, Francisco and others
GONZALO Beseech you, sir, be merry; you have cause --
So have we all -- of joy, for our escape
To Alonso
Is much beyond our loss. Our hint3 of woe Is common: every day some sailor's wife,
The masters of some merchant, and the merchant5
Have just our theme of woe. But for the miracle --
I mean our preservation -- few in millions
Can speak like us: then wisely, good sir, weigh8
Our sorrow with our comfort.
ALONSO Prithee, peace.10
SEBASTIAN He receives comfort like cold porridge.11
Antonio and Sebastian speak apart
ANTONIO The visitor12 will not give him o'er so.
SEBASTIAN Look, he's winding up the watch of his wit13: by and by it will strike.
GONZALO Sir--
To Alonso
SEBASTIAN One: tell.16
GONZALO When every grief is entertained17 that's offered, comes to th'entertainer--
SEBASTIAN A dollar.19
Aside to Antonio, but overheard by Gonzalo
GONZALO Dolour20 comes to him, indeed: you have spoken truer than you purposed.21
SEBASTIAN You have taken it wiselier22 than I meant you should.
GONZALO Therefore, my lord--
To Alonso
ANTONIO Fie, what a spendthrift is he of his tongue!
ALONSO I prithee, spare.25
To Gonzalo
GONZALO Well, I have done: but yet--
SEBASTIAN He will be talking.
ANTONIO Which, of he or Adrian, for a good wager, first begins to crow?29
SEBASTIAN The old cock.
ANTONIO The cockerel.31
SEBASTIAN Done. The wager?32
ANTONIO A laughter.33
SEBASTIAN A match!
ADRIAN Though this island seem to be desert35--
SEBASTIAN Ha, ha, ha!36
ANTONIO So: you're paid.
ADRIAN Uninhabitable and almost inaccessible--
SEBASTIAN Yet--
ADRIAN Yet--
ANTONIO He could not miss't.
ADRIAN It must needs be of subtle42, tender and delicate temperance.43
ANTONIO Temperance was a delicate44 wench.
SEBASTIAN Ay, and a subtle, as he most learnedly delivered.45
ADRIAN The air breathes upon us here most sweetly.
SEBASTIAN As if it had lungs, and rotten ones.
ANTONIO Or as 'twere perfumed by a fen.48
GONZALO Here is everything advantageous to life.
ANTONIO True: save50 means to live.
SEBASTIAN Of that there's none, or little.
GONZALO How lush and lusty52 the grass looks. How green!
ANTONIO The ground indeed is tawny.53
SEBASTIAN With an eye54 of green in't.
ANTONIO He misses not much.
SEBASTIAN No: he doth but mistake the truth totally.
GONZALO But the rarity57 of it is -- which is indeed almost beyond credit58--
SEBASTIAN As many vouched59 rarities are.
GONZALO --That our garments, being, as they were,
drenched in the sea, hold notwithstanding their freshness
and glosses, being rather new-dyed62 than stained with salt water.
ANTONIO If but one of his pockets could speak, would it not say he lies?
SEBASTIAN Ay, or very falsely pocket up66 his report.
GONZALO Methinks our garments are now as fresh as when we put them on first in Afric68, at the marriage of the king's fair daughter Claribel to the King of Tunis.69
SEBASTIAN 'Twas a sweet marriage, and we prosper well in our return.
ADRIAN Tunis was never graced before with such a paragon to their queen.
GONZALO Not since widow Dido's74 time.
ANTONIO Widow! A pox o'that! How came that 'widow' in?75
Widow Dido!
SEBASTIAN What if he had said 'widower Aeneas'77 too? Good lord, how you take it!
ADRIAN 'Widow Dido', said you? You make me study of79 that: she was of Carthage, not of Tunis.
GONZALO This Tunis, sir, was Carthage.81
ADRIAN Carthage?
GONZALO I assure you, Carthage.
ANTONIO His word is more than the miraculous harp.84
SEBASTIAN He hath raised the wall and houses too.
ANTONIO What impossible matter will he make easy next?
SEBASTIAN I thin
k he will carry this island home in his pocket and give it his son for an apple.
ANTONIO And, sowing the kernels89 of it in the sea, bring forth more islands.
GONZALO Ay.
ANTONIO Why, in good time.
GONZALO Sir, we were talking that our garments seem now as fresh as when we were at Tunis at the marriage of your
daughter, who is now queen.
To Alonso
ANTONIO And the rarest96 that e'er came there.
SEBASTIAN Bate97, I beseech you, widow Dido.
ANTONIO O, widow Dido? Ay, widow Dido.98
GONZALO Is not, sir, my doublet99 as fresh as the first day I wore it? I mean, in a sort100--
ANTONIO That sort101 was well fished for.
GONZALO --When I wore it at your daughter's marriage.
ALONSO You cram these words into mine ears against
The stomach of my sense.104 Would I had never Married my daughter there: for, coming thence,
My son is lost and -- in my rate106 -- she too, Who is so far from Italy removed
I ne'er again shall see her. O thou mine heir
Of Naples and of Milan, what strange fish
Hath made his meal on thee?
FRANCISCO Sir, he may live:
I saw him beat the surges112 under him, And ride upon their backs; he trod the water,
Whose enmity he flung aside, and breasted
The surge most swoll'n that met him: his bold head
'Bove the contentious waves he kept, and oared116
Himself with his good arms in lusty117 stroke To th'shore, that o'er his wave-worn basis118 bowed, As119 stooping to relieve him: I not doubt He came alive to land.
ALONSO No, no, he's gone.
SEBASTIAN Sir, you may thank yourself for this great loss, To Alonso
That would not bless our Europe with your daughter,
But rather loose124 her to an African, Where she, at least, is banished from your eye,
Who hath cause to wet the grief126 on't.
ALONSO Prithee, peace.
SEBASTIAN You were kneeled to and importuned128 otherwise By all of us: and the fair soul herself
Weighed between loathness130 and obedience at Which end o'th'beam should bow.131 We have lost your son, I fear, forever: Milan and Naples have
More widows in them of this business' making
Than we bring men to comfort them.
The fault's your own.
ALONSO So is the dear'st136 o'th'loss.
GONZALO My lord Sebastian,
The truth you speak doth lack some gentleness,
And time139 to speak it in: you rub the sore, When you should bring the plaster.
SEBASTIAN Very well.
ANTONIO And most chirurgeonly.142
GONZALO It is foul weather in us all, good sir,
To Alonso
When you are cloudy.
SEBASTIAN Foul weather?
ANTONIO Very foul.
GONZALO Had I plantation147 of this isle, my lord--
ANTONIO He'd sow't with nettle-seed.148
SEBASTIAN Or docks, or mallows.
GONZALO And were the king on't, what would I do?
SEBASTIAN Scape being drunk for want151 of wine.
GONZALO I'th'commonwealth I would by contraries152
Execute all things: for no kind of traffic153
Would I admit: no name of magistrate:
Letters155 should not be known: riches, poverty, And use of service, none: contract, succession156, Bourn, bound of land, tilth157, vineyard, none: No use of metal, corn, or wine, or oil:
No occupation, all men idle, all:
And women too, but innocent and pure:
No sovereignty.
SEBASTIAN Yet he would be king on't.
ANTONIO The latter end of his commonwealth forgets the beginning.
GONZALO All things in common165 nature should produce Without sweat or endeavour: treason, felony,
Sword, pike, knife, gun, or need of any engine167, Would I not have: but nature should bring forth,
Of it own kind, all foison169, all abundance, To feed my innocent people.
SEBASTIAN No marrying 'mong his subjects?
ANTONIO None, man, all idle: whores and knaves.
GONZALO I would with such perfection govern, sir,
T'excel the golden age.174
SEBASTIAN 'Save his majesty!
ANTONIO Long live Gonzalo!
Bowing or doffing hats
GONZALO And -- do you mark177 me, sir?
ALONSO Prithee, no more: thou dost talk nothing to me.
GONZALO I do well believe your highness: and did it to minister179
occasion to these gentlemen, who are of such sensible180 and nimble lungs that they always use181 to laugh at nothing.
ANTONIO 'Twas you we laughed at.
GONZALO Who in this kind of merry fooling am nothing to you: so you may continue and laugh at nothing still.
ANTONIO What a blow was there given!
SEBASTIAN An it had not fallen flat-long.186
GONZALO You are gentlemen of brave metal187: you would lift the moon out of her sphere, if she would continue in it five188
weeks without changing.
Enter Ariel [invisible] playing solemn music
SEBASTIAN We would so, and then go a-batfowling.190
ANTONIO Nay, good my lord, be not angry.
GONZALO No, I warrant you: I will not adventure my192
discretion so weakly. Will you laugh me asleep, for I am very
heavy?194
ANTONIO Go sleep, and hear us.
All sleep except Alonso, Sebastian, and Antonio
ALONSO What, all so soon asleep? I wish mine eyes
Would, with themselves, shut up my thoughts.
I find they are inclined to do so.
SEBASTIAN Please you, sir,
Do not omit the heavy offer of it.200
It seldom visits sorrow: when it doth, it is a comforter.
ANTONIO We two, my lord, will guard your person
While you take your rest, and watch your safety.
ALONSO Thank you. Wondrous heavy.
He sleeps
SEBASTIAN What a strange drowsiness possesses them!
[Exit Ariel]
ANTONIO It is the quality o'th'climate.
SEBASTIAN Why
Doth it not then our eyelids sink? I find
Not myself disposed to sleep.
ANTONIO Nor I: my spirits are nimble.
They fell together all, as211 by consent They dropped, as by a thunder-stroke. What might,
Worthy Sebastian? O, what might? -- No more.--
And yet, methinks I see it in thy face,
What thou shouldst be: th'occasion speaks215 thee, and My strong imagination sees a crown
Dropping upon thy head.
SEBASTIAN What? Art thou waking?218
ANTONIO Do you not hear me speak?
SEBASTIAN I do, and surely
It is a sleepy language and thou speak'st
Out of thy sleep. What is it thou didst say?
This is a strange repose, to be asleep
With eyes wide open: standing, speaking, moving,
And yet so fast asleep.
ANTONIO Noble Sebastian,
Thou let'st thy fortune sleep -- die, rather: wink'st227
Whiles thou art waking.
SEBASTIAN Thou dost snore distinctly229: There's meaning in thy snores.
ANTONIO I am more serious than my custom231: you Must be so too, if heed232 me: which to do Trebles thee o'er.233
SEBASTIAN Well, I am standing water.234
ANTONIO I'll teach you how to flow.
SEBASTIAN Do so: to ebb
Hereditary sloth237 instructs me.
ANTONIO O,
If you but knew how you the purpose cherish239
Whiles thus you mock it: how in stripping it
You more invest it. Ebbing241 men, indeed, Most often, do so near the bot
tom run
By their own fear, or sloth.
SEBASTIAN Prithee, say on244: The setting245 of thine eye and cheek proclaim A matter246 from thee; and a birth, indeed, Which throes thee much to yield.247
ANTONIO Thus, sir:
Although this lord of weak remembrance249, this, Who shall be of as little memory250
When he is earthed251, hath here almost persuaded --
For he's a spirit of persuasion, only252
Professes to persuade -- the king his son's alive:
'Tis as impossible that he's undrowned
As he that sleeps here swims.
SEBASTIAN I have no hope
That he's undrowned.
ANTONIO O, out of that 'no hope'
What great hope have you! No hope that way is
Another way so high a hope260, that even Ambition cannot pierce a wink beyond261, But doubt discovery there. Will you grant with me
That Ferdinand is drowned?
SEBASTIAN He's gone.
ANTONIO Then, tell me: who's the next heir of Naples?
SEBASTIAN Claribel.
ANTONIO She that is Queen of Tunis: she that dwells
Ten leagues beyond man's life268: she that from Naples Can have no note, unless the sun were post269 --
The man i'th'moon's too slow -- till new-born chins
Be rough and razorable: she that from whom271
We all were sea-swallowed, though some cast272 again --
And by that destiny -- to perform an act
Whereof what's past is prologue274, what to come In yours and my discharge.275
SEBASTIAN What stuff276 is this? How say you?
'Tis true, my brother's daughter's Queen of Tunis:
So is she heir of Naples, 'twixt which regions
There is some space.279
ANTONIO A space whose every cubit280
Seems to cry out, 'How shall that Claribel
Measure us back to Naples? Keep282 in Tunis, And let Sebastian wake.283' Say this were death That now hath seized them: why, they were no worse
Than now they are. There be that can rule Naples
As well as he that sleeps: lords that can prate286
As amply and unnecessarily
As this Gonzalo: I myself could make288
A chough of as deep chat. O, that you bore289
The mind that I do! What a sleep were this
For your advancement! Do you understand me?
SEBASTIAN Methinks I do.
ANTONIO And how does your content293
Tender294 your own good fortune?
SEBASTIAN I remember
You did supplant296 your brother Prospero.
ANTONIO True:
And look how well my garments298 sit upon me, Much feater299 than before. My brother's servants Were then my fellows: now they are my men.300
SEBASTIAN But for your conscience.
ANTONIO Ay, sir: where lies that? If 'twere a kibe302, 'Twould put me to303 my slipper: but I feel not This deity304 in my bosom: twenty consciences That stand 'twixt me and Milan, candied305 be they, And melt ere they molest! Here lies your brother,