ARKCODEX
Act II, Scene 1
1Another part of the island.
2Enter Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, Adrian, Francisco, and others.
3GonzaloBeseech you, sir, be merry; you have cause,
So have we all, of joy; for our escape
Is much beyond our loss. Our hint of woe
Is common; every day some sailor’s wife,
The masters of some merchant and the merchant
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, weigh
Our sorrow with our comfort.
4AlonsoPrithee, peace.
5SebastianHe receives comfort like cold porridge.
6AntonioThe visitor will not give him o’er so.
7SebastianLook he’s winding up the watch of his wit; by and by it will strike.
8GonzaloSir—
9SebastianOne: tell.
10GonzaloWhen every grief is entertain’d that’s offer’d,
Comes to the entertainer—
11SebastianA dollar.
12GonzaloDolour comes to him, indeed: you have spoken truer than you purposed.
13SebastianYou have taken it wiselier than I meant you should.
14GonzaloTherefore, my lord—
15AntonioFie, what a spendthrift is he of his tongue!
16AlonsoI prithee, spare.
17GonzaloWell, I have done: but yet—
18SebastianHe will be talking.
19AntonioWhich, of he or Adrian, for a good wager, first begins to crow?
20SebastianThe old cock.
21AntonioThe cockerel.
22SebastianDone. The wager?
23AntonioA laughter.
24SebastianA match!
25AdrianThough this island seem to be desert—
26SebastianHa, ha, ha! So, you’re paid.
27AdrianUninhabitable and almost inaccessible—
28SebastianYet—
29AdrianYet—
30AntonioHe could not miss’t.
31AdrianIt must needs be of subtle, tender and delicate temperance.
32AntonioTemperance was a delicate wench.
33SebastianAy, and a subtle; as he most learnedly delivered.
34AdrianThe air breathes upon us here most sweetly.
35SebastianAs if it had lungs and rotten ones.
36AntonioOr as ’twere perfumed by a fen.
37GonzaloHere is everything advantageous to life.
38AntonioTrue; save means to live.
39SebastianOf that there’s none, or little.
40GonzaloHow lush and lusty the grass looks! how green!
41AntonioThe ground indeed is tawny.
42SebastianWith an eye of green in’t.
43AntonioHe misses not much.
44SebastianNo; he doth but mistake the truth totally.
45GonzaloBut the rarity of it is—which is indeed almost beyond credit—
46SebastianAs many vouched rarities are.
47GonzaloThat 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.
48AntonioIf but one of his pockets could speak, would it not say he lies?
49SebastianAy, or very falsely pocket up his report
50GonzaloMethinks 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.
51Sebastian’Twas a sweet marriage, and we prosper well in our return.
52AdrianTunis was never graced before with such a paragon to their queen.
53GonzaloNot since widow Dido’s time.
54AntonioWidow! a pox o’ that! How came that widow in? widow Dido!
55SebastianWhat if he had said “widower Aenea” too? Good Lord, how you take it!
56Adrian“Widow Dido” said you? you make me study of that: she was of Carthage, not of Tunis.
57GonzaloThis Tunis, sir, was Carthage.
58AdrianCarthage?
59GonzaloI assure you, Carthage.
60SebastianHis word is more than the miraculous harp; he hath raised the wall and houses too.
61AntonioWhat impossible matter will he make easy next?
62SebastianI think he will carry this island home in his pocket and give it his son for an apple.
63AntonioAnd, sowing the kernels of it in the sea, bring forth more islands.
64GonzaloAy.
65AntonioWhy, in good time.
66GonzaloSir, 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.
67AntonioAnd the rarest that e’er came there.
68SebastianBate, I beseech you, widow Dido.
69AntonioO, widow Dido! ay, widow Dido.
70GonzaloIs not, sir, my doublet as fresh as the first day I wore it? I mean, in a sort.
71AntonioThat sort was well fished for.
72GonzaloWhen I wore it at your daughter’s marriage?
73AlonsoYou cram these words into mine ears against
The stomach of my sense. Would I had never
Married 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 heir
Of Naples and of Milan, what strange fish
Hath made his meal on thee?
74FranciscoSir, 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 breasted
The surge most swoln that met him; his bold head
’Bove the contentious waves he kept, and oar’d
Himself with his good arms in lusty stroke
To the shore, that o’er his wave-worn basis bow’d,
As stooping to relieve him: I not doubt
He came alive to land.
75AlonsoNo, no, he’s gone.
76SebastianSir, 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.
77AlonsoPrithee, peace.
78SebastianYou were kneel’d to and importuned otherwise
By all of us, and the fair soul herself
Weigh’d between loathness and obedience, at
Which end o’ the beam should bow. We have lost your son,
I fear, for ever: Milan and Naples have
More widows in them of this business’ making
Than we bring men to comfort them:
The fault’s your own.
79AlonsoSo is the dear’st o’ the loss.
80GonzaloMy lord Sebastian,
The truth you speak doth lack some gentleness
And time to speak it in: you rub the sore,
When you should bring the plaster.
81SebastianVery well.
82AntonioAnd most chirurgeonly.
83GonzaloIt is foul weather in us all, good sir,
When you are cloudy.
84SebastianFoul weather?
85AntonioVery foul.
86GonzaloHad I plantation of this isle, my lord—
87AntonioHe’d sow’t with nettle-seed.
88SebastianOr docks, or mallows.
89GonzaloAnd were the king on’t, what would I do?
90Sebastian’Scape being drunk for want of wine.
91GonzaloI’ the commonwealth I would by contraries
Execute all things; for no kind of traffic
Would I admit; no name of magistrate;
Letters should not be known; riches, poverty,
And use of service, 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;—
92SebastianYet he would be king on’t.
93AntonioThe latter end of his commonwealth forgets the beginning.
94GonzaloAll things in common nature should produce
Without sweat or endeavour: treason, felony,
Sword, pike, knife, gun, or need of any engine,
Would I not have; but nature should bring forth,
Of its own kind, all foison, all abundance,
To feed my innocent people.
95SebastianNo marrying ’mong his subjects?
96AntonioNone, man; all idle: whores and knaves.
97GonzaloI would with such perfection govern, sir,
To excel the golden age.
98SebastianGod save his majesty!
99AntonioLong live Gonzalo!
100GonzaloAnd—do you mark me, sir?
101AlonsoPrithee, no more: thou dost talk nothing to me.
102GonzaloI 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.
103Antonio’Twas you we laughed at.
104GonzaloWho in this kind of merry fooling am nothing to you: so you may continue and laugh at nothing still.
105AntonioWhat a blow was there given!
106SebastianAn it had not fallen flat-long.
107GonzaloYou are gentlemen of brave metal; you would lift the moon out of her sphere, if she would continue in it five weeks without changing.
108Enter Ariel, invisible, playing solemn music.
109SebastianWe would so, and then go a bat-fowling.
110AntonioNay, good my lord, be not angry.
111GonzaloNo, I warrant you; I will not adventure my discretion so weakly. Will you laugh me asleep, for I am very heavy?
112AntonioGo sleep, and hear us. All sleep except Alonso, Sebastian, and Antonio.
113AlonsoWhat, all so soon asleep! I wish mine eyes
Would, with themselves, shut up my thoughts: I find
They are inclined to do so.
114SebastianPlease you, sir,
Do not omit the heavy offer of it:
It seldom visits sorrow; when it doth,
It is a comforter.
115AntonioWe two, my lord,
Will guard your person while you take your rest,
And watch your safety.
116AlonsoThank you. Wondrous heavy. Alonso sleeps. Exit Ariel.
117SebastianWhat a strange drowsiness possesses them!
118AntonioIt is the quality o’ the climate.
119SebastianWhy
Doth it not then our eyelids sink? I find not
Myself disposed to sleep.
120AntonioNor 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 me thinks I see it in thy face,
What thou shouldst be: the occasion speaks thee, and
My strong imagination sees a crown
Dropping upon thy head.
121SebastianWhat, art thou waking?
122AntonioDo you not hear me speak?
123SebastianI 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.
124AntonioNoble Sebastian,
Thou let’st thy fortune sleep—die, rather; wink’st
Whiles thou art waking.
125SebastianThou dost snore distinctly;
There’s meaning in thy snores.
126AntonioI am more serious than my custom: you
Must be so too, if heed me; which to do
Trebles thee o’er.
127SebastianWell, I am standing water.
128AntonioI’ll teach you how to flow.
129SebastianDo so: to ebb
Hereditary sloth instructs me.
130AntonioO,
If you but knew how you the purpose cherish
Whiles thus you mock it! how, in stripping it,
You more invest it! Ebbing men, indeed,
Most often do so near the bottom run
By their own fear or sloth.
131SebastianPrithee, say on:
The setting of thine eye and cheek proclaim
A matter from thee, and a birth indeed
Which throes thee much to yield.
132AntonioThus, sir:
Although this lord of weak remembrance, this,
Who shall be of as little memory
When he is earth’d, hath here almost persuaded—
For he’s a spirit of persuasion, only
Professes to persuade—the king his son’s alive,
’Tis as impossible that he’s undrown’d
And he that sleeps here swims.
133SebastianI have no hope
That he’s undrown’d.
134AntonioO, out of that “no hope”
What great hope have you! no hope that way is
Another way so high a hope that even
Ambition cannot pierce a wink beyond,
But doubt discovery there. Will you grant with me
That Ferdinand is drown’d?
135SebastianHe’s gone.
136AntonioThen, tell me,
Who’s the next heir of Naples?
137SebastianClaribel.
138AntonioShe that is queen of Tunis; she that dwells
Ten leagues beyond man’s life; she that from Naples
Can have no note, unless the sun were post—
The man i’ the moon’s too slow—till new-born chins
Be rough and razorable; she that—from whom?
We all were sea-swallow’d, though some cast again,
And by that destiny to perform an act
Whereof what’s past is prologue, what to come
In yours and my discharge.
139SebastianWhat stuff 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.
140AntonioA space whose every cubit
Seems to cry out, “How shall that Claribel
Measure us back to Naples? Keep in Tunis,
And let Sebastian wake.” 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 prate
As amply and unnecessarily
As this Gonzalo; I myself could make
A chough of as deep chat. O, that you bore
The mind that I do! what a sleep were this
For your advancement! Do you understand me?
141SebastianMethinks I do.
142AntonioAnd how does your content
Tender your own good fortune?
143SebastianI remember
You did supplant your brother Prospero.
144AntonioTrue:
And look how well my garments sit upon me;
Much feater than before: my brother’s servants
Were then my fellows; now they are my men.
145SebastianBut, for your conscience?
146AntonioAy, sir; where lies that? if ’twere a kibe,
’Twould put me to my slipper: but I feel not
This deity in my bosom: twenty consciences,
That stand ’twixt me and Milan, candied be they
And 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 put
This ancient morsel, this Sir Prudence, who
Should 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 that
We say befits the hour.
147SebastianThy case, dear friend,
Shall be my precedent; as thou got’st Milan,
I’ll come by Naples. Draw thy sword: one stroke
Shall free thee from the tribute which thou payest:
And I the king shall love thee.
148AntonioDraw together;
And when I rear my hand, do you the like,
To fall it on Gonzalo.
149SebastianO, but one word. They talk apart.
150Reenter Ariel, invisible.
151ArielMy master through his art foresees the danger
That you, his friend, are in; and sends me forth—
For else his project dies—to keep them living. Sings in Gonzalo’s ear.
152While you here do snoring lie,
Open-eyed conspiracy
His time doth take.
If of life you keep a care,
Shake off slumber, and beware:
Awake, awake!
153AntonioThen let us both be sudden.
154GonzaloNow, good angels
Preserve the king. They wake.
155AlonsoWhy, how now? ho, awake! Why are you drawn?
Wherefore this ghastly looking?
156GonzaloWhat’s the matter?
157SebastianWhiles we stood here securing your repose,
Even now, we heard a hollow burst of bellowing
Like bulls, or rather lions: did’t not wake you?
It struck mine ear most terribly.
158AlonsoI heard nothing.
159AntonioO, ’twas a din to fright a monster’s ear,
To make an earthquake! sure, it was the roar
Of a whole herd of lions.
160AlonsoHeard you this, Gonzalo?
161GonzaloUpon mine honour, sir, I heard a humming,
And that a strange one too, which did awake me:
I shaked 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.
162AlonsoLead off this ground; and let’s make further search
For my poor son.
163GonzaloHeavens keep him from these beasts!
For he is, sure, i’ the island.
164AlonsoLead away.
165ArielProspero my lord shall know what I have done:
So, king, go safely on to seek thy son. Exeunt.