ARIEL.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 caus'd to belch up you; and on this island Where man doth not inhabit-you 'mongst men Being most unfit to live.I have made you mad; And even with such-like valour men hang and drown Their proper selves.[ALONSO, SEBASTIAN etc., draw their swords] You 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 bemock'd-at stabs Kill the still-closing waters, as diminish One dowle 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 uplifted.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 pow'rs, delaying, not forgetting, have Incens'd the seas and shores, yea, all the creatures, 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 wraths to guard you from- Which here, in this most desolate isle, else falls Upon your heads-is nothing butheart's sorrow, And a clear life ensuing.
[He vanishes in thunder; then, to soft music, enter the SHAPES again, and dance, with mocks and mows, and carrying out the table]
PROSPERO.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 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 now are in my pow'r; And in these fits I leave them, while I visit Young Ferdinand, whom they suppose is drown'd, And his and mine lov'd darling.[Exit above] GONZALO.I' th' name of something holy, sir, why stand you In this strange stare? ALONSO.O, it is monstrous, monstrous! Methought the billows spoke, and told me of it; The winds did sing it to me; and the thunder, That deep and dreadful organ-pipe, pronounc'd The name of Prosper; it did bass my trespass.Therefore my son i' th' ooze is bedded; and I'll seek him deeper than e'er plummet sounded, And with him there lie mudded.[Exit] SEBASTIAN.But one fiend at a time, I'll fight their legions o'er.ANTONIO.I'll be thy second.[Exeunt SEBASTIAN and ANTONIO] GONZALO.All three of them are desperate; their great guilt, Like poison given 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 ecstasy May now provoke them to.ADRIAN.Follow, I pray you.[Exeunt]
