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 escapeIs much beyond our loss. Our hint of woeIs common; every day, some sailor’s wife,The masters of some merchantThe captain of a merchant ship. and the merchant,Have just our theme of woe; but for the miracle,I mean our preservation, few in millionsCan speak like us: then wisely, good sir, weighOur sorrow with our comfort.
ALONSO
Prithee, peace.
SEBASTIAN
He receives comfort like cold porridge.
ANTONIO
The visitor will not give him o’er so.
SEBASTIAN
Look, he’s winding up the watch of his wit; by and by it will strike.
GONZALO
Sir,—
SEBASTIAN
One: tell.
GONZALO
When every grief is entertain’d that’s offer’d,Comes to the entertainer—
SEBASTIAN
A dollar.
GONZALO
Dolour comes to him, indeed: you have spoken truer than you purposed.
SEBASTIAN
You have taken it wiselier than I meant you should.
GONZALO
Therefore, my lord,—
ANTONIO
Fie, what a spendthrift is he of his tongue!
ALONSO
I prithee, spare.
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?
SEBASTIAN
The old cock.
ANTONIO
The cockerel.
SEBASTIAN
Done. The wager?
ANTONIO
A laughter.
SEBASTIAN
A match!
ADRIAN
Though this island seem to be desert,—
ANTONIO
Ha, ha, ha!
SEBASTIAN
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 subtle, tender, and delicate temperance.
ANTONIO
Temperance was a delicate wench.
SEBASTIAN
Ay, and a subtle; as he most learnedly delivered.
ADRIAN
The air breathes upon us here most sweetly.
SEBASTIAN
As if it had lungs, and rotten ones.
ANTONIO
Or, as ’twere perfum’d by a fen.
GONZALO
Here is everything advantageous to life.
ANTONIO
True; save means to live.
SEBASTIAN
Of that there’s none, or little.
GONZALO
How lush and lusty the grass looks! how green!
ANTONIO
The ground indeed is tawny.
SEBASTIAN
With an eye of green in’t.
ANTONIO
He misses not much.
SEBASTIAN
No; he doth but mistake the truth totally.
GONZALO
But the rarity of it is,—which is indeed almost beyond credit,—
SEBASTIAN
As many vouch’d rarities are.
GONZALO
That our garments, being, as they were, drenched in the sea, hold notwithstanding their freshness and glosses, being rather new-dyed 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 up his report.
GONZALO
Methinks our garments are now as fresh as when we put them on first in Afric, at the marriage of the King’s fair daughter Claribel to the King of Tunis.
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 DidoDido, the legendary queen of Carthage, who loved Aeneas and killed herself after he abandoned her.’s time.
ANTONIO
Widow! a pox o’ that! How came that widow in? Widow Dido!
SEBASTIAN
What if he had said, widower AeneasA Trojan prince who escaped the fall of Troy and became the legendary ancestor of the Romans. too?Good Lord, how you take it!
ADRIAN
Widow Dido said you? You make me study of that; she was of Carthage, not of Tunis.
GONZALO
This Tunis, sir, was Carthage.
ADRIAN
Carthage?
GONZALO
I assure you, Carthage.
ANTONIO
His word is more than the miraculous harp.
SEBASTIAN
He hath rais’d the wall, and houses too.
ANTONIO
What impossible matter will he make easy next?
SEBASTIAN
I think he will carry this island home in his pocket, and give it his son for an apple.
ANTONIO
And, sowing the kernels of it in the sea, bring forth more islands.
ALONSO
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.
ANTONIO
And the rarest that e’er came there.
SEBASTIAN
Bate, I beseech you, widow Dido.
ANTONIO
O! widow Dido; ay, widow Dido.
GONZALO
Is not, sir, my doublet as fresh as the first day I wore it? I mean, in a sort.
ANTONIO
That sort was well fish’d for.
GONZALO
When I wore it at your daughter’s marriage?
ALONSO
You cram these words into mine ears againstThe stomach of my sense. Would I had neverMarried my daughter there! for, coming thence,My son is lost; and, in my rate, she too,Who is so far from Italy removed,I ne’er again shall see her. O thou mine heirOf Naples and of Milan, what strange fishHath made his meal on thee?
FRANCISCO
Sir, he may live:I saw him beat the surges under him,And ride upon their backs. He trod the water,Whose enmity he flung aside, and breastedThe surge most swoln that met him. His bold head’Bove the contentious waves he kept, and oaredHimself with his good arms in lusty strokeTo th’ shore, that o’er his wave-worn basis bowed,As stooping to relieve him. I not doubtHe came alive to land.
ALONSO
No, no, he’s gone.
SEBASTIAN
Sir, you may thank yourself for this great loss,That would not bless our Europe with your daughter,But rather lose her to an African;Where she, at least, is banish’d from your eye,Who hath cause to wet the grief on ’t.
ALONSO
Prithee, peace.
SEBASTIAN
You were kneel’d to, and importun’d otherwiseBy all of us; and the fair soul herselfWeigh’d between loathness and obedience atWhich end o’ th’ beam should bow. We have lost your son,I fear, for ever: Milan and Naples haveMore widows in them of this business’ making,Than we bring men to comfort them.The fault’s your own.
ALONSO
So is the dear’st o’ th’ loss.
GONZALO
My lord Sebastian,The truth you speak doth lack some gentlenessAnd time to speak it in. You rub the sore,When you should bring the plaster.
SEBASTIAN
Very well.
ANTONIO
And most chirurgeonlyin the manner of a surgeon; with surgical skill or treatment..
GONZALO
It is foul weather in us all, good sir,When you are cloudy.
SEBASTIAN
Foul weather?
ANTONIO
Very foul.
GONZALO
Had I plantation of this isle, my lord,—
ANTONIO
He’d sow ’t with nettle-seed.
SEBASTIAN
Or docks, or mallows.
GONZALO
And were the King on’t, what would I do?
SEBASTIAN
’Scape being drunk for want of wine.
GONZALO
I’ th’ commonwealth I would by contrariesExecute all things; for no kind of trafficWould I admit; no name of magistrate;Letters should not be known; riches, poverty,And use of serviceExperience and practice in performing one's duties., none; contract, succession,Bourn, bound of land, tilth, 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 common nature should produceWithout sweat or endeavour; treason, felony,Sword, pike, knife, gun, or need of any engine,Would I not have; but nature should bring forth,Of it own kind, all foison, 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.
SEBASTIAN
Save his Majesty!
ANTONIO
Long live Gonzalo!
GONZALO
And,—do you mark me, sir?
ALONSO
Prithee, no more: thou dost talk nothing to me.
GONZALO
I do well believe your highness; and did it to minister occasion to these gentlemen, who are of such sensible and nimble lungs that they always use 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-longwith the flat side or full length of a weapon..
GONZALO
You are gentlemen of brave mettle. You would lift the moon out of her sphere, if she would continue in it five weeks without changing.
Enter Ariel, invisible, playing solemn music.
SEBASTIAN
We would so, and then go a-bat-fowlingthe catching of birds at night by dazzling them with lights and beating the bushes in which they roost..
ANTONIO
Nay, good my lord, be not angry.
GONZALO
No, I warrant you; I will not adventure my discretion so weakly. Will you laugh me asleep, for I am very heavy?
ANTONIO
Go sleep, and hear us.
All sleep but Alonso, Sebastian and Antonio.
ALONSO
What, all so soon asleep! I wish mine eyesWould, with themselves, shut up my thoughts: I findThey are inclin’d to do so.
SEBASTIAN
Please you, sir,Do not omit the heavy offer of it: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!
Alonso sleeps. Exit Ariel.
SEBASTIAN
What a strange drowsiness possesses them!
ANTONIO
It is the quality o’ th’ climate.
SEBASTIAN
WhyDoth it not then our eyelids sink? I find notMyself dispos’d to sleep.
ANTONIO
Nor I. My spirits are nimble.They fell together all, as by consent;They dropp’d, 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 speaks thee; andMy strong imagination sees a crownDropping upon thy head.
SEBASTIAN
What, art thou waking?
ANTONIO
Do you not hear me speak?
SEBASTIAN
I do; and surelyIt is a sleepy language, and thou speak’stOut of thy sleep. What is it thou didst say?This is a strange repose, to be asleepWith eyes wide open; standing, speaking, moving,And yet so fast asleep.
Thou dost snore distinctly:There’s meaning in thy snores.
ANTONIO
I am more serious than my custom; youMust be so too, if heed me; which to doTrebles thee o’er.
SEBASTIAN
Well, I am standing water.
ANTONIO
I’ll teach you how to flow.
SEBASTIAN
Do so: to ebb,Hereditary sloth instructs me.
ANTONIO
O,If you but knew how you the purpose cherishWhiles thus you mock it! how, in stripping it,You more invest it! Ebbing men indeed,Most often, do so near the bottom runBy their own fear or sloth.
SEBASTIAN
Prithee, say on:The setting of thine eye and cheek proclaimA matter from thee, and a birth, indeedWhich throes thee much to yield.
ANTONIO
Thus, sir:Although this lord of weak remembrance, thisWho shall be of as little memoryWhen he is earth’d, hath here almost persuaded,—For he’s a spirit of persuasion, onlyProfesses to persuade,—the King his son’s alive,’Tis as impossible that he’s undrown’dAs he that sleeps here swims.
SEBASTIAN
I have no hopeThat he’s undrown’d.
ANTONIO
O, out of that “no hope”What great hope have you! No hope that way isAnother way so high a hope, that evenAmbition cannot pierce a wink beyond,But doubts discovery there. Will you grant with meThat Ferdinand is drown’d?
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 dwellsTen leagues beyond man’s life; she that from NaplesCan have no note, unless the sun were post—The Man i’ th’ Moon’s too slow—till newborn chinsBe rough and razorableold enough to need shaving.; she that from whomWe all were sea-swallow’d, though some cast again,And by that destiny, to perform an actWhereof what’s past is prologue, what to comeIn yours and my discharge.
SEBASTIAN
What stuff is this! How say you?’Tis true, my brother’s daughter’s Queen of Tunis;So is she heir of Naples; ’twixt which regionsThere is some space.
ANTONIO
A space whose ev’ry cubitSeems to cry out “How shall that ClaribelMeasure us back to Naples? Keep in Tunis,And let Sebastian wake.” Say this were deathThat now hath seiz’d them; why, they were no worseThan now they are. There be that can rule NaplesAs well as he that sleeps; lords that can prateAs amply and unnecessarilyAs this Gonzalo. I myself could makeA chough of as deep chat. O, that you boreThe mind that I do! What a sleep were thisFor your advancement! Do you understand me?
SEBASTIAN
Methinks I do.
ANTONIO
And how does your contentTender your own good fortune?
SEBASTIAN
I rememberYou did supplant your brother Prospero.
ANTONIO
True.And look how well my garments sit upon me;Much feater than before; my brother’s servantsWere then my fellows; now they are my men.
SEBASTIAN
But, for your conscience.
ANTONIO
Ay, sir; where lies that? If ’twere a kibeA sore or ulcerated chilblain, especially on the heel.,’Twould put me to my slipper: but I feel notThis deity in my bosom: twenty consciencesThat stand ’twixt me and Milan, candied be theyAnd melt ere they molest! Here lies your brother,No better than the earth he lies upon,If he were that which now he’s like, that’s dead;Whom I, with this obedient steel, three inches of it,Can lay to bed for ever; whiles you, doing thus,To the perpetual wink for aye might putThis ancient morsel, this Sir Prudence, whoShould not upbraid our course. For all the rest,They’ll take suggestion as a cat laps milk.They’ll tell the clock to any business thatWe say befits the hour.
SEBASTIAN
Thy case, dear friend,Shall be my precedent: as thou got’st Milan,I’ll come by Naples. Draw thy sword: one strokeShall free thee from the tribute which thou payest,And I the King shall love thee.
ANTONIO
Draw together,And when I rear my hand, do you the like,To fall it on Gonzalo.
SEBASTIAN
O, but one word.
They converse apart.
Music. Re-enter Ariel, invisible.
ARIEL
My master through his art foresees the dangerThat you, his friend, are in; and sends me forth—For else his project dies—to keep them living.
ARIEL
Sings in Gonzalo’s ear.While you here do snoring lie,Open-ey’d conspiracyHis time doth take.If of life you keep a care,Shake off slumber, and beware.Awake! awake!
ANTONIO
Then let us both be sudden.
GONZALO
Now, good angelsPreserve the King!
They wake.
ALONSO
Why, how now! Ho, awake! Why are you drawn?Wherefore this ghastly looking?
GONZALO
What’s the matter?
SEBASTIAN
Whiles we stood here securing your repose,Even now, we heard a hollow burst of bellowingLike bulls, or rather lions; did ’t not wake you?It struck mine ear most terribly.
ALONSO
I heard nothing.
ANTONIO
O! ’twas a din to fright a monster’s ear,To make an earthquake. Sure, it was the roarOf a whole herd of lions.
ALONSO
Heard you this, Gonzalo?
GONZALO
Upon mine honour, sir, I heard a humming,And that a strange one too, which did awake me.I shak’d you, sir, and cried; as mine eyes open’d,I saw their weapons drawn:—there was a noise,That’s verily. ’Tis best we stand upon our guard,Or that we quit this place: let’s draw our weapons.
ALONSO
Lead off this ground, and let’s make further searchFor my poor son.
GONZALO
Heavens keep him from these beasts!For he is, sure, i’ th’ island.
ALONSO
Lead away.
Exit with the others.
ARIEL
Prospero my lord shall know what I have done:So, King, go safely on to seek thy son.