SCENE IV.
Thunder and lightning. Enter Ariel like a harpy, claps
his wings upon the table, seems to seize upon the dishes,
and with a quaint device the banquet vanishes.
Ari.
You are three men of sin, whom destiny,
That hath to instrument this lower world,
And what is in't, the never-surfeited sea
Hath caused to belch up; and on this Island
Where man doth not inhabit, you 'mongst men
Being most unfit to live. I have made you mad;
And ev'n with such like valour men hang and drown
Their proper selves.
[Alonso, Sebastian, and the rest draw their swords.
Ye fools! I and my fellows
Are ministers of fate; the elements,
Of whom your swords are temper'd, may as well
Wound the loud winds, or with bemockt-at stabs
Kill the still-closing waters, as diminish
One down that's in my plume: my fellow-ministers
Are like invulnerable. If you could hurt,
Your swords are now too massy for your strengths,
And will not be up-lifted. But remember,
(For that's my business to you) that you three
From Milan did supplant good Prospero:
Expos'd unto the sea, which hath requit it,
Him, and his innocent child: for which foul deed
The powers, delaying not forgetting, have
Incens'd the seas and shores, yea, all the creatures,
-- 60 --
Against your peace. Thee of thy son, Alonso,
They have bereft; and do pronounce by me,
Ling'ring perdition, worse than any death
Can be at once, shall step by step attend
You and your ways; whose wrath to guard you from,
Which here in this most desolate Isle else falls
Upon your heads, is nothing but heart's sorrow,
And a clear life ensuing.3 note
He vanishes in thunder: then to soft musick, Enter the
shapes again, and dance with mops and mowes, and
carrying out the table.
Pro.
Bravely the figure of this harpy hast thou
Perform'd, my Ariel; a grace it had, devouring:
Of my instruction hast thou nothing 'bated,
In what thou hadst to say; so with good life,4 note
And observation strange, my meaner ministers
Their several kinds have done. My high charms work,
And these, mine enemies, are all knit up
In their distractions: they are in my power;
And in these fits I leave them, whilst I visit
Young Ferdinand, whom they suppose is drown'd,
And his and my lov'd darling.
[Exit Prospero from above.
Gon.
I'th'name of something holy, Sir, why stand you
In this strange stare?
Alon.
O, it is monstrous! monstrous!
Methought, the billows spoke, and told me of it;
The winds did sing it to me; and the thunder,
-- 61 --
That deep and dreadful organ-pipe, pronounc'd
The Name of Prosper: it did bass my trespass.5 note
Therefore, my son i'th' ooze is bedded; and
I'll seek him deeper than e'er plummet sounded,
And with him there lye mudded.
[Exit.
Seb.
But one fiend at a time,
I'll fight their legions o'er.
Ant.
I'll be thy second.
[Exeunt.
Gon.
All three of them are desperate; their great guilt,
Like poison giv'n to work a great time after,
Now 'gins to bite the spirits. I do beseech you
That are of suppler joints, follow them swiftly;
And hinder them from what this ecstasie
May now provoke them to.
Adri.
Follow, I pray you.
[Exeunt.
Samuel Johnson [1765], The plays of William Shakespeare, in eight volumes, with the corrections and illustrations of Various Commentators; To which are added notes by Sam. Johnson (Printed for J. and R. Tonson [and] C. Corbet [etc.], London) [word count] [S11001].
