THE TEMPEST

THE TEMPEST THE King’s Men acted The Tempest before their patron, James I, at Whitehall on I November 1611. (It was also chosen for performance during the festivities for the marriage of James’s daughter, Princess Elizabeth, to the Elector Palatine during the winter of 1612- 13.) Shakespeare’s play takes place on a desert island somewhere between Tunis and Naples; he derived some details of it from his reading of travel literature, including accounts of an expedition of nine ships taking five hundred colonists from Plymouth to Virginia, which set sail in May 1609. On 29 July the flagship, the Sea-Adventure, was wrecked by a storm on the coast of the Bermudas. She was presumed lost, but on 23 May 1610 those aboard her arrived safely in Jamestown, Virginia, having found shelter on the island of Bermuda, where they were able to build the pinnaces in which they completed their journey. Accounts of the voyage soon reached England; the last-written that Shakespeare seems to have known is a letter by William Strachey, who was on the Sea-Adventure, dated 15 July 1610; though it was not published until 1625, it circulated in manuscript. So it seems clear that Shakespeare wrote The Tempest during the later part of 1610or in 1611. It was first printed in the 1623 Folio, where it is the opening play. Though other items of Shakespeare’s reading—including both Arthur Golding’s translation and Ovid’s original Metamorphoses (closely echoed in Prospero’s farewell to his magic), John Florio’s translation of essays by Michel de Montaigne, and (less locally but no less pervasively) Virgil’s Aeneid—certainly fed Shakespeare’s imagination as he wrote The Tempest, he appears to have devised the main plot himself. Many of its elements are based on the familiar stuff of romance literature: the long-past shipwreck after a perilous voyage of Prospero and his daughter Miranda; the shipwreck, depicted in the opening scene, of Prospero’s brother, Antonio, with Alonso, King of Naples, and others; the separation and estrangement of relatives—Antonio usurped Prospero’s dukedom, and Alonso believes his son, Ferdinand, is drowned; the chaste love, subjected to trials, of the handsome Ferdinand and the beautiful Miranda; the influence of the supernatural exercised through Prospero’s magic powers; and the final reunions and reconciliations along with the happy conclusion of the love affair. Shakespeare had employed such conventions from the beginning of his career in his comedies, and with especial concentration, shortly before he wrote The Tempest, in Pericles, The Winter’s Tale, and Cymbeline. But whereas those plays unfold the events as they happen, taking us on a journey through time and space, in The Tempest (as elsewhere only in The Comedy of Errors) Shakespeare gives us only the end of the story, concentrating the action into a few hours and locating it in a single place, but informing us about the past, as in the long, romance-type narrative (1.2) in which Prospero tells Miranda of her childhood. The supernatural, a strong presence in all Shakespeare’s late plays, is particularly pervasive in The Tempest; Prospero is a ‘white’ magician—a beneficent one—attended by the spirit Ariel and the sub-human Caliban, two of Shakespeare’s most obviously symbolic characters; and a climax of the play is the supernaturally induced wedding masque that Prospero conjures up for the entertainment and edification of the young lovers, and which vanishes as he remembers Caliban’s plot against his life. THE PERSONS OF THE PLAY PROSPERO, the rightful Duke of Milan MIRANDA, his daughter

ANTONIO, his brother, the usurping Duke of Milan ALONSO, King of Naples SEBASTIAN, his brother FERDINAND, Alonso’s son GONZALO, an honest old counsellor of Naples ARIEL, an airy spirit attendant upon Prospero CALIBAN, a savage and deformed native of the island, Prospero’s slave TRINCULO, Alonso’s jester STEFANO, Alonso’s drunken butler

The MASTER of a ship BOATSWAIN

MARINERS

SPIRITS

The Masque Spirits appearing as: IRIS

CERES

JUNO

Nymphs, reapers

The Tempest

Atto 1, Scena 1

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	A tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning heard. Enter severally a Shipmaster and a Boatswain
MASTER	Boatswain!
BOATSWAIN	Here, Master. What cheer?
MASTER	Good, speak to th’ mariners. Fall to’t yarely, or we run ourselves aground. Bestir, bestir!
(didascalia)	Exit
(didascalia)	Enter Mariners
BOATSWAIN	Heigh, my hearts! Cheerly, cheerly, my hearts! Yare, yare! Take in the topsail! Tend to th’ Master’s whistte!—Blow till thou burst thy wind, if room enough. Enter Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Ferdinand, Gonzalo, and others
ALONSO	Good Boatswain, have care. Where’s the Master? (To the Mariners) Play the men!
BOATSWAIN	I pray now, keep below.
ANTONIO	Where is the Master, Boatswain?
BOATSWAIN	Do you not hear him? You mar our labour. Keep your cabins; you do assist the storm.
GONZALO	Nay, good, be patient.
BOATSWAIN	When the sea is. Hence! What cares these roarers for the name of king? To cabin! Silence; trouble us not.
GONZALO	Good, yet remember whom thou hast aboard.
BOATSWAIN	None that I more love than myself. You are a councillor; if you can command these elements to silence and work peace of the present, we will not hand a rope more. Use your authority. If you cannot, give thanks you have lived so long and make yourself ready in your cabin for the mischance of the hour, if it so hap. (To the Mariners) Cheerly, good hearts! (To Gonzalo) Out of our way, I say!
(didascalia)	Exit
GONZALO	I have great comfort from this fellow. Methinks he hath no drowning mark upon him; his complexion is perfect gallows. Stand fast, good Fate, to his hanging. Make the rope of his destiny our cable, for our own doth little advantage. If he be not born to be hanged, our case is miserable.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Courtiers
(didascalia)	Enter Boatswain
BOATSWAIN	Down with the topmast! Yare! Lower, lower! Bring her to try wi’th’ main-course! A cry within A plague upon this howling! They are louder than the weather, or our office.
(didascalia)	Enter Sebastian, Antonio, and Gonzalo
BOATSWAIN	Yet again? What do you here? Shall we give o’er and drown? Have you a mind to sink?
SEBASTIAN	A pox o’your throat, you bawling, blasphemous, incharitable dog!
BOATSWAIN	Work you, then.
ANTONIO	Hang, cur, hang, you whoreson insolent noisemaker. We are less afraid to be drowned than thou art.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Mariners
GONZALO	I’ll warrant him for drowning, though the ship were no stronger than a nutshell and as leaky as an unstanched wench.
BOATSWAIN	Lay her a-hold, a-hold! Set her two courses! Off to sea again! Lay her off!
(didascalia)	Enter Mariners, wet
MARINERS	All lost! To prayers, to prayers! All lost!
(didascalia)	Exeunt Mariners
BOATSWAIN	What, must our mouths be cold?
GONZALO	The King and Prince at prayers! Let’s assist them, For our case is as theirs.
SEBASTIAN	I’m out of patience.
ANTONIO	We are merely cheated of our lives by drunkards. This wide-chopped rascal—would thou mightst lie drowning The washing of ten tides.
GONZALO	He’ll be hanged yet, Though every drop of water swear against it And gape at wid’st to glut him. A confused noise within
MARINERS	(within) Mercy on us! We split, we split! Farewell, my wife and children! Farewell, brother! We split, we split, we spht!
(didascalia)	Axit Boatswain
ANTONIO	Let’s all sink wi’th’ King.
SEBASTIAN	Let’s take leave of him.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Antonio and Sebastian
GONZALO	Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground: long heath, broom, furze, anything. The wills above be done, but I would fain die a dry death. Exit

Atto 1, Scena 2

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Prospero in his magic cloak, with a staff, and Miranda
MIRANDA	If by your art, my dearest father, you have Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them. The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch, But that the sea, mounting to th’ welkin’s cheek, Dashes the fire out. O, I have suffered With those that I saw suffer! A brave vessel, Who had, no doubt, some noble creature in her, Dashed all to pieces! O, the cry did knock Against my very heart! Poor souls, they perished. Had I been any god of power, I would Have sunk the sea within the earth, or ere It should the good ship so have swallowed and The fraughting souls within her.
PROSPERO	Be collected. No more amazement. Tell your piteous heart There’s no harm done.
MIRANDA	O woe the day!
PROSPERO	No harm. I have done nothing but in care of thee, Of thee, my dear one, thee, my daughter, who Art ignorant of what thou art, naught knowing Of whence I am, nor that I am more better Than Prospero, master of a full poor cell And thy no greater father.
MIRANDA	More to know Did never meddle with my thoughts.
PROSPERO	’Tis time I should inform thee farther. Lend thy hand, And pluck my magic garment from me.
(didascalia)	Miranda removes Prospero’s cloak, and he lays it
(didascalia)	on the ground
PROSPERO	So. Lie there, my art.—Wipe thou thine eyes; have comfort. The direful spectacle of the wreck, which touched The very virtue of compassion in thee, I have with such provision in mine art So safely ordered that there is no soul— No, not so much perdition as an hair Betid to any creature in the vessel, Which thou heard‘st cry, which thou saw’st sink. Sit down, For thou must now know farther. Miranda sits
MIRANDA	You have often Begun to tell me what I am, but stopped And left me to a bootless inquisition, Concluding ‘Stay; not yet’.
PROSPERO	The hour’s now come. The very minute bids thee ope thine ear, Obey, and be attentive. Canst thou remember A time before we came unto this cell? I do not think thou canst, for then thou wast not Out three years old.
MIRANDA	Certainly, sir, I can.
PROSPERO	By what? By any other house or person? Of anything the image tell me that Hath kept with thy remembrance.
MIRANDA	’Tis far off, And rather like a dream than an assurance That my remembrance warrants. Had I not Four or five women once that tended me?
PROSPERO	Thou hadst, and more, Miranda. But how is it That this lives in thy mind? What seest thou else In the dark backward and abyss of time? If thou rememb‘rest aught ere thou cam’st here, How thou cam’st here thou mayst.
MIRANDA	But that I do not.
PROSPERO	Twelve year since, Miranda, twelve year since, Thy father was the Duke of Milan, and A prince of power—
MIRANDA	Sir, are not you my father?
PROSPERO	Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and She said thou wast my daughter; and thy father Was Duke of Milan, and his only heir And princess no worse issued.
MIRANDA	O the heavens! What foul play had we that we came from thence? Or blessed was’t we did?
PROSPERO	Both, both, my girl. By foul play, as thou sayst, were we heaved thence, But blessedly holp hither.
MIRANDA	O, my heart bleeds To think o’th’ teen that I have turned you to, Which is from my remembrance. Please you, farther.
PROSPERO	My brother and thy uncle called Antonio— I pray thee mark me, that a brother should Be so perfidious—he whom next thyself Of all the world I loved, and to him put The manage of my state—as at that time Through all the signories it was the first, And Prospero the prime duke—being so reputed In dignity, and for the liberal arts Without a parallel—those being all my study, The government I cast upon my brother, And to my state grew stranger, being transported And rapt in secret studies. Thy false uncle— Dost thou attend me?
MIRANDA	Sir, most heedfully.
PROSPERO	Being once perfected how to grant suits, How to deny them, who t‘advance and who To trash for over-topping, new created The creatures that were mine, I say—or changed ’em Or else new formed ’em; having both the key Of officer and office, set all hearts i’th’ state To what tune pleased his ear, that now he was The ivy which had hid my princely trunk And sucked my verdure out on’t. Thou attend’st not!
MIRANDA	O good sir, I do.
PROSPERO	I pray thee mark me. I, thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicated To closeness and the bettering of my mind With that which but by being so retired O‘er-priced all popular rate, in my false brother Awaked an evil nature; and my trust, Like a good parent, did beget of him A falsehood, in its contrary as great As my trust was, which had indeed no limit, A confidence sans bound. He being thus lorded Not only with what my revenue yielded But what my power might else exact, like one Who having into truth, by telling oft, Made such a sinner of his memory To credit his own lie, he did believe He was indeed the Duke. Out o’th’ substitution, And executing th’outward face of royalty With all prerogative, hence his ambition growing— Dost thou hear?
MIRANDA	Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.
PROSPERO	To have no screen between this part he played And him he played it for, he needs will be Absolute Milan. Me, poor man—my library Was dukedom large enough—of temporal royalties He thinks me now incapable; confederates, So dry he was for sway, wi’th’ King of Naples To give him annual tribute, do him homage, Subject his coronet to his crown, and bend The dukedom, yet unbowed—alas,poor Milan— To most ignoble stooping.
MIRANDA	O the heavens!
PROSPERO	Mark his condition and th’event, then tell me If this might be a brother.
MIRANDA	I should sin To think but nobly of my grandmother. Good wombs have borne bad sons.
PROSPERO	Now the condition. This King of Naples, being an enemy To me inveterate, hearkens my brother’s suit; Which was that he, in lieu o‘th’ premises Of homage and I know not how much tribute, Should presently extirpate me and mine Out of the dukedom, and confer fair Milan, With all the honours, on my brother. Whereon, A treacherous army levied, one midnight Fated to th’ purpose did Antonio open The gates of Milan; and, i’th’ dead of darkness, The ministers for th’ purpose hurried thence Me and thy crying self.
MIRANDA	Alack, for pity! I, not rememb’ring how I cried out then, Will cry it o’er again; it is a hint That wrings mine eyes to’t.
(didascalia)	PROSPERO sitting
MIRANDA	Hear a little further, And then I’ll bring thee to the present business Which now’s upon’s, without the which this story Were most impertinent.
MIRANDA	Wherefore did they not That hour destroy us?
PROSPERO	Well demanded, wench; My tale provokes that question. Dear, they durst not, So dear the love my people bore me; nor set A mark so bloody on the business, but With colours fairer painted their foul ends. In few, they hurried us aboard a barque, Bore us some leagues to sea, where they prepared A rotten carcass of a butt, not rigged, Nor tackle, sail, nor mast—the very rats Instinctively have quit it. There they hoist us, To cry to th’ sea that roared to us, to sigh To th’winds, whose pity, sighing back again, Did us but loving wrong.
MIRANDA	Alack, what trouble Was I then to you!
PROSPERO	O,a cherubin Thou wast that did preserve me. Thou didst smile, Infused with a fortitude from heaven, When I have decked the sea with drops full salt, Under my burden groaned; which raised in me An undergoing stomach, to bear up Against what should ensue.
MIRANDA	How came we ashore?
PROSPERO	By providence divine. Some food we had, and some fresh water, that A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo, Out of his charity—who being then appointed Master of this design—did give us; with Rich garments, linens, stuffs, and necessaries Which since have steaded much. So, of his gentleness, Knowing I loved my books, he furnished me From mine own library with volumes that I prize above my dukedom.
MIRANDA	Would I might But ever see that man!
PROSPERO	Now I arise.
(didascalia)	He stands and puts on his cloak
PROSPERO	Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow. Here in this island we arrived, and here Have I thy schoolmaster made thee more profit Than other princes can, that have more time For vainer hours and tutors not so careful.
MIRANDA	Heavens thank you for’t. And now I pray you, sir— For still ’tis beating in my mind—your reason For raising this sea-storm.
PROSPERO	Know thus far forth. By accident most strange, bountiful Fortune, Now my dear lady, hath mine enemies Brought to this shore; and by my prescience I find my zenith doth depend upon A most auspicious star, whose influence If now I court not, but omit, my fortunes Will ever after droop. Here cease more questions. Thou art inclined to sleep; ’tis a good dullness, And give it way. I know thou canst not choose. Miranda sleeps Come away, servant, come! I am ready now. Approach, my Ariel, come!
(didascalia)	Enter Ariel
ARIEL	All hail, great master, grave sir, hail. I come To answer thy best pleasure. Be’t to fly, To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride On the curled clouds, to thy strong bidding task Ariel and all his quality.
PROSPERO	Hast thou, spirit, Performed to point the tempest that I bade thee?
ARIEL	To every article. I boarded the King’s ship. Now on the beak, Now in the waste, the deck, in every cabin, I flamed amazement. Sometime I’d divide, And burn in many places; on the top-mast, The yards, and bowsprit, would I flame distinctly; Then meet and join. Jove’s lightning, the precursors O’th’ dreadful thunderclaps, more momentary And sight-outrunning were not. The fire and cracks Of sulphurous roaring the most mighty Neptune Seem to besiege, and make his bold waves tremble, Yea, his dread trident shake.
PROSPERO	My brave spirit! Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil Would not infect his reason?
ARIEL	Not a soul But felt a fever of the mad, and played Some tricks of desperation. All but mariners Plunged in the foaming brine and quit the vessel, Then all afire with me. The King’s son Ferdinand, With hair upstaring—then like reeds, not hair— Was the first man that leaped; cried ‘Hell is empty, And all the devils are here’.
PROSPERO	Why, that’s my spirit! But was not this nigh shore?
ARIEL	Close by, my master.
PROSPERO	But are they, Ariel, safe?
ARIEL	Not a hair perished. On their sustaining garments not a blemish, But fresher than before. And, as thou bad’st me, In troops I have dispersed them ’bout the isle. The King’s son have I landed by himself, Whom I left cooling of the air with sighs In an odd angle of the isle, and sitting, His arms in this sad knot.
PROSPERO	Of the King’s ship, The mariners, say how thou hast disposed, And all the rest o’th’ fleet.
ARIEL	Safely in harbour Is the King’s ship, in the deep nook where cnce Thou called‘st me up at midnight to fetch dew From the still-vexed Bermudas, there she’s hid; The mariners all under hatches stowed, Who, with a charm joined to their suffered labour, I have left asleep. And for the rest o’th’ fleet, Which I dispersed, they all have met again, And are upon the Mediterranean float Bound sadly home for Naples, Supposing that they saw the King’s ship wrecked, And his great person perish.
PROSPERO	Ariel, thy charge Exactly is performed; but there’s more work. What is the time o’th’ day?
ARIEL	Past the mid season.
PROSPERO	At least two glasses. The time ’twixt six and now Must by us both be spent most preciously.
ARIEL	Is there more toil? Since thou dost give me pains, Let me remember thee what thou hast promised Which is not yet performed me.
PROSPERO	How now? Moody? What is’t thou canst demand?
ARIEL	My liberty.
PROSPERO	Before the time be out? No more!
ARIEL	I prithee, Remember I have done thee worthy service, Told thee no lies, made thee no mistakings, served Without or grudge or grumblings. Thou did promise To bate me a full year.
PROSPERO	Dost thou forget From what a torment I did free thee?
ARIEL	No.
PROSPERO	Thou dost, and think‘st it much to tread the ooze Of the salt deep, To run upon the sharp wind of the north, To do me business in the veins o’th’ earth When it is baked with frost.
ARIEL	I do not, sir.
PROSPERO	Thou liest, malignant thing. Hast thou forgot The foul witch Sycorax, who with age and envy Was grown into a hoop? Hast thou forgot her?
ARIEL	No, sir.
PROSPERO	Thou hast. Where was she born? Speak, tell me!
ARIEL	Sir, in Algiers.
PROSPERO	O, was she so! I must Once in a month recount what thou hast been, Which thou forget‘st. This damned witch Sycorax, For mischiefs manifold and sorceries terrible To enter human hearing, from Algiers Thou know’st was banished. For one thing she did They would not take her life. Is not this true?
ARIEL	Ay, sir.
PROSPERO	This blue-eyed hag was hither brought with child, And here was left by th’ sailors. Thou, my slave, As thou report’st thyself, was then her servant; And for thou wast a spirit too delicate To act her earthy and abhorred commands, Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee By help of her more potent ministers, And in her most unmitigable rage, Into a cloven pine; within which rift Imprisoned thou didst painfully remain A dozen years, within which space she died And left thee there, where thou didst vent thy groans As fast as mill-wheels strike. Then was this island— Save for the son that she did litter here, A freckled whelp, hag-born—not honoured with A human shape.
ARIEL	Yes, Caliban her son.
PROSPERO	Dull thing, I say so: he, that Caliban Whom now I keep in service. Thou best know’st What torment I did find thee in. Thy groans Did make wolves howl, and penetrate the breasts Of ever-angry bears; it was a torment To lay upon the damned, which Sycorax Could not again undo. It was mine art, When I arrived and heard thee, that made gape The pine and let thee out.
ARIEL	I thank thee, master.
PROSPERO	If thou more murmur’st, I will rend an oak, And peg thee in his knotty entrails till Thou hast howled away twelve winters.
ARIEL	Pardon, master. I will be correspondent to command, And do my spriting gently.
PROSPERO	Do so, and after two days I will discharge thee.
ARIEL	That’s my noble master! What shall I do? Say what, what shall I do?
PROSPERO	Go make thyself like to a nymph o’th’ sea. Be subject To no sight but thine and mine, invisible To every eyeball else. Go take this shape, And hither come in’t. Go; hence with diligence!
(didascalia)	Exit Ariel
PROSPERO	Awake, dear heart, awake! Thou hast slept well; Awake.
MIRANDA	(awaking) The strangeness of your story put Heaviness in me.
PROSPERO	Shake it off. Come on; We’ll visit Caliban my slave, who never Yields us kind answer.
MIRANDA	’Tis a villain, sir, I do not love to look on.
PROSPERO	But as ’tis, We cannot miss him. He does make our fire, Fetch in our wood, and serves in offices That profit us.—What ho! Slave, Caliban! Thou earth, thou, speak!
CALIBAN	(within) There’s wood enough within.
PROSPERO	Come forth, I say! There’s other business for thee. Come, thou tortoise! When?
(didascalia)	Enter Ariel, like a water-nymph
PROSPERO	Fine apparition! My quaint Ariel, Hark in thine ear. He whispers
ARIEL	My lord, it shall be done. Exit
PROSPERO	Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself Upon thy wicked dam, come forth!
(didascalia)	Enter Caliban
CALIBAN	As wicked dew as e’er my mother brushed With raven’s feather from unwholesome fen Drop on you both! A southwest blow on ye, And blister you all o’er!
PROSPERO	For this be sure tonight thou shalt have cramps, Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up. Urchins Shall forth at vast of night, that they may work All exercise on thee. Thou shalt be pinched As thick as honeycomb, each pinch more stinging Than bees that made ’em.
CALIBAN	I must eat my dinner. This island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother, Which thou tak’st from me. When thou cam’st first, Thou strok’st me and made much of me, wouldst give me Water with berries in’t, and teach me how To name the bigger light, and how the less, That burn by day and night; and then I loved thee, And showed thee all the qualities o’th’ isle, The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place and fertile— Cursed be I that did so! All the charms Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you; For I am all the subjects that you have, Which first was mine own king, and here you sty me In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me The rest o’th’ island.
PROSPERO	Thou most lying slave, Whom stripes may move, not kindness! I have used thee, Filth as thou art, with human care, and lodged thee In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate The honour of my child.
CALIBAN	O ho,O ho! Would’t had been done! Thou didst prevent me; I had peopled else This isle with Calibans.
MIRANDA	Abhorred slave, Which any print of goodness wilt not take, Being capable of all ill! I pitied thee, Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour One thing or other. When thou didst not, savage, Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like A thing most brutish, I endowed thy purposes With words that made them known. But thy vile race, Though thou didst learn, had that in’t which good natures Could not abide to be with; therefore wast thou Deservedly confined into this rock, Who hadst deserved more than a prison.
CALIBAN	You taught me language, and my profit on’t Is I know how to curse. The red plague rid you For learning me your language!
PROSPERO	Hag-seed, hence! Fetch us in fuel. And be quick, thou’rt best, To answer other business.—Shrug’st thou, malice? If thou neglect’st or dost unwillingly What I command, I’ll rack thee with old cramps, Fill all thy bones with aches, make thee roar, That beasts shall tremble at thy din.
CALIBAN	No, pray thee. (Aside) I must obey. His art is of such power It would control my dam’s god Setebos, And make a vassal of him.
PROSPERO	So, slave, hence!
(didascalia)	Exit Caliban
(didascalia)	Enter Ariel like a water-nymph,playing and
PROSPERO	singing, invisible to Ferdinand, who follows.
(didascalia)	Prospero and Miranda stand aside
(didascalia)	Song
ARIEL	Come unto these yellow sands, And then take hands; Curtsied when you have and kissed— The wild waves whist— Foot it featly here and there, And, sweet sprites, bear The burden. Hark, hark.
(didascalia)	SPIRITS (dispersedly within)
ARIEL	Bow-wow!
(didascalia)	ARIEL
ARIEL	The watch-dogs bark. FSPIRITS] (within) Bow-wow!
ARIEL	Hark, hark, I hear The strain of strutting Chanticleer Cry ‘cock-a-diddle-dow’.
FERDINAND	Where should this music be? I’th’ air or th’earth? It sounds no more; and sure it waits upon Some god o‘th’ island. Sitting on a bank, Weeping again the King my father’s wreck, This music crept by me upon the waters, Allaying both their fury and my passion With its sweet air. Thence I have followed it— Or it hath drawn me rather. But ’tis gone. No, it begins again.
(didascalia)	Song
ARIEL	Full fathom five thy father lies. Of his bones are coral made; Those are pearls that were his eyes; Nothing of him that doth fade But doth suffer a sea-change Into something rich and strange. Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:
(didascalia)	SPIRITS(within) Ding dong.
ARIEL	Hark, now I hear them.
(didascalia)	SPIRITS(within)
(didascalia)	Ding-dong bell. etc.
FERDINAND	The ditty does remember my drowned father. This is no mortal business, nor no sound That the earth owes.
(didascalia)	Music
FERDINAND	I hear it now above me.
PROSPERO	(to Miranda) The fringed curtains of thine eye advance, And say what thou seest yon.
MIRANDA	What is’t? A spirit? Lord, how it looks about! Believe me, sir, It carries a brave form. But ’tis a spirit.
PROSPERO	No, wench, it eats and sleeps, and hath such senses As we have, such. This gallant which thou seest Was in the wreck, and but he’s something stained With grief, that’s beauty’s canker, thou mightst call him A goodly person. He hath lost his fellows, And strays about to find ’em.
MIRANDA	I might call him A thing divine, for nothing natural I ever saw so noble.
PROSPERO	(aside) It goes on, I see, As my soul prompts it. (To Ariel) Spirit, fine spirit, I’ll free thee
(didascalia)	Within two days for this.
(didascalia)	FERDINAND aside
PROSPERO	Most sure the goddess On whom these airs attend. (To Miranda) Vouchsafe my prayer 425 May know if you remain upon this island, And that you will some good instruction give How I may bear me here. My prime request, Which I do last pronounce, is—O you wonder— If you be maid or no?
MIRANDA	No wonder, sir, But certainly a maid.
FERDINAND	My language! Heavens! I am the best of them that speak this speech, Were I but where ’tis spoken.
PROSPERO	How, the best? What wert thou if the King of Naples heard thee?
FERDINAND	A single thing, as I am now that wonders To hear thee speak of Naples. He does hear me, And that he does I weep. Myself am Naples, Who with mine eyes, never since at ebb, beheld The King my father wrecked.
MIRANDA	Alack, for mercy!
FERDINAND	Yes, faith, and all his lords, the Duke of Milan And his brave son being twain.
PROSPERO	(aside) The Duke of Milan And his more braver daughter could control thee, If now ’twere fit to do’t. At the first sight They have changed eyes.—Deticate Ariel, I’ll set thee free for this. (To Ferdinand) A word, good sir. 445 I fear you have done yourself some wrong. A word.
MIRANDA	(aside) Why speaks my father so ungently? This Is the third man that e’er I saw, the first That e’er I sighed for. Pity move my father To be inclined my way.
FERDINAND	O, if a virgin, And your affection not gone forth, I’ll make you The Queen of Naples.
PROSPERO	Soft, sir! One word more. (Aside) They are both in either’s powers. But this swift business I must uneasy make, lest too light winning Make the prize light. (To Ferdinand) One word more. I charge thee That thou attend me. Thou dost here usurp The name thou ow’st not; and hast put thyself Upon this island as a spy, to win it From me the lord on’t.
FERDINAND	No, as I am a man.
MIRANDA	There’s nothing ill can dwell in such a temple. If the ill spirit have so fair a house, Good things will strive to dwell with’t.
PROSPERO	(to Ferdinand) Follow me. (To Miranda) Speak not you for him; he’s a traitor. (To Ferdinand) Come! I’ll manacle thy neck and feet together. Sea-water shalt thou drink; thy food shall be The fresh-brook mussels, withered roots, and husks Wherein the acorn cradled. Follow!
FERDINAND	No. I will resist such entertainment 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.
PROSPERO	What, I say, My foot my tutor? Put thy sword up, traitor, Who mak‘st a show but dar’st not strike, thy conscience Is so possessed with guilt. Come from thy ward, For I can here disarm thee with this stick And make thy weapon drop.
MIRANDA	Beseech you, father!
PROSPERO	Hence! Hang not on my garments.
MIRANDA	Sir, have pity. I’ll be his surety.
PROSPERO	Silencel One word more Shall make me chide thee, if not hate thee. What, An advocate for an impostor? Hush! Thou think’st there is no more such shapes as he, Having seen but him and Caliban. Foolish wench! To 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	(to Ferdinand) Come on; obey. Thy nerves are in their infancy again, And have no vigour in them.
FERDINAND	So they are. My spirits, 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 through my prison once a day Behold this maid. All corners else o’th’ earth Let liberty make use of; space enough Have I in such a prison.
PROSPERO	(aside) It works. (To Ferdinand) Come on.— Thou hast done well, fine Ariel. (To Ferdinand) Follow me. (To Ariel) Hark what thou else shalt do me.
MIRANDA	(to Ferdinand) Be of comfort. My father’s of a better nature, sir, Than he appears by speech. This is unwonted Which now came from him.
PROSPERO	(to Ariel) Thou shalt be as free As mountain winds; but then exactly do All points of my command.
ARIEL	To th’ syllable.
PROSPERO	(to Ferdinand) Come, follow. (To Miranda) Speak not for him.
(didascalia)	Exeunt

Atto 2, Scena 1

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, Adrian, and Francisco
GONZALO	(to Alonso) Beseech 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.
ALONSO	Prithee, peace.
SEBASTIAN	(to Antonio) 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	(to Alonso) Sir—
SEBASTIAN	(to Antonio) One: tell.
GONZALO	(to Alonso) When every grief is entertained that’s offered, Comes to th’entertainer—
SEBASTIAN	A dollar.
GONZALO	Dolour comes to him indeed. You have spoken truer than you purposed.
SEABASTIAN	You have taken it wiselier than I meant you should.
GONZALO	(to Alonso) Therefore my lord—
ANTONIO	(to Sebastian) Fie, what a spendthrift is he of his tongue!
ALONSO	(to Gonzalo) I prithee, spare.
GONZALO	Well, I have done. But yet—
SEBASTIAN	(to Antonio) 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. 35
SEBASTIAN	A match!
ADRIAN	(to Gonzalo) Though this island seem to be desert—
(didascalia)	ANTONIO (to Sebastian) Ha, ha, ha!
(didascalia)	SEBASTIANSo, you’re paid.
ADRIAN	Uninhabitable, and almost inaccessible—
SEBASTIAN	(to Antonio) Yet—
ADRIAN	Yet—
ANTONIO	(to Sebastian) He could not miss’t.
ADRIAN	It must needs be of subtle, tender, and delicate temperance. 45
ANTONIO	(to Sebastian) Temperance was a delicate wench.
SEBASTIAN	Ay, and a subtle, as he most learnedly delivered.
ADRIAN	(to Gonzalo) The air breathes upon us here most sweetly.
SEBASTIAN	(to Antonio) As if it had lungs, and rotten ones.
ANTONIO	Or as ’twere perfumed by a fen.
GONZALO	(to Adrian) Here is everything advantageous to life.
ANTONIO	(to Sebastian) True, save means to live.
SEBASTIAN	Of that there’s none, or little.
GONZALO	(to Adrian) How lush and lusty the grass looks! How green!
ANTONIO	The ground indeed is tawny.
SEABASTIAN	With an eye of green in’t.
ANTONIO	He misses not much.
SEBASTIAN	No, he doth but mistake the truth totally.
GONZALO	(to Adrian) But the rarity of it is, which is indeed almost beyond credit—
SEBASTIAN	(to Antonio) As many vouched rarities are.
GONZALO	(to Adrian) 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	(to Sebastian) If but one of his pockets could speak, would it not say he lies?
SEBASTIAN	Ay, or very falsely pocket up his report.
GONZALO	(to Adrian) 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 Dido’s time.
ANTONIO	(to Sebastian) Widow? A pox o‘that! How came that ‘widow’ in? Widow Dido!
SEBASTIAN	What if he had said ‘widower Aeneas’ too? Good Lord, how you take it!
ADRIAN	(to Gonzalo) ‘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	(to Sebastian) His word is more than the miraculous harp.
SEBASTIAN	He hath raised 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.
GONZALO	(to Adrian) Ay.
ANTONIO	(to Sebastian) Why, in good time.
GONZALO	(to Alonso) 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	(to Alonso) Is not, sir, my doublet as fresh as the first day I wore it? I mean in a sort.
ANTONIO	(to Sebastian) That ‘sort’ was well fished for.
GONZALO	(to Alonso) When I wore it at your daughter’s marriage.
ALONSO	You 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?
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 breasted The surge, most swoll‘n, that met him. His bold head ’Bove the contentious waves he kept, and oared Himself with his good arms in lusty stroke To th’ shore, that o’er his wave-worn basis bowed, As stooping to relieve him. I not doubt He came alive to land.
ALONSO	No, no; he’s gone.
SEBASTIAN	(to Alonso) Sir, you may thank yourself for this great loss, That would not bless our Europe with your daughter, But rather loose her to an African, Where she, at least, is banished from your eye, Who hath cause to wet the grief on’t.
ALONSO	Prithee, peace.
SEBASTIAN	You were kneeled to and importuned otherwise By all of us, and the fair soul herself Weighed between loathness and obedience at Which end o’th’ 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.
ALONSO	So is the dear‘st o’th’ loss.
GONZALO	My 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.
SEBASTIAN	(to Antonio) Very well.
ANTONIO	And most chirurgeonly.
GONZALO	(to Alonso) It is foul weather in us all, good sir, When you are cloudy.
SEBASTIAN	(to Antonio) Fowl weather?
ANTONIO	Very foul.
GONZALO	(to Alonso) Had I plantation of this isle, my lord—
ANTONIO	(to Seabastian) He’d sow’t with nettle-seed.
SEBASTIAN	Or docks, or mallows.
GONZALO	And were the king on’t, what would I do?
SEBASTIAN	(to Antonio) Scape being drunk, for want of wine.
GONZALO	I’th’ 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—
SEBASTIAN	(to Antonio) Yet he would be king on’t.
ANTONIO	The latter end of his commonwealth forgets the beginning.
GONZALO	(to Alonso) All 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 it own kind all foison, all abundance, To feed my innocent people.
SEBASTIAN	(to Antonio) No marrying ’mong his subjects?
ANTONIO	None, man, all idle: whores and knaves.
GONZALO	(to Alonso) I would with such perfection govern, sir, T’excel the Golden Age.
SEBASTIAN	Save his majesty!
ANTONIO	Long live Gonzalol
GONZALO	(to Alonso) 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-long.
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.
(didascalia)	Enter Ariel, invisible, playing solemn music
SEBASTIAN	We would so, and then go a-bat-fowling.
ANTONIO	(to Gonzalo) 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. Gonzalo, Adrian, and Francisco sleep
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. 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.
(didascalia)	He sleeps. Exit Ariel
SEBASTIAN	What a strange drowsiness possesses them!
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, as by consent; They dropped as by a thunderstroke. 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, and My strong imagination sees a crown Dropping upon thy head.
SEBASTIAN	What, art thou waking?
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 letst thy fortune sleep, die rather; wink’st Whiles thou art waking.
SEBASTIAN	Thou dost snore distinctly; There’s meaning in thy snores.
ANTONIO	I am more serious than my custom. You Must be so too if heed me, which to do Trebles 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 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.
SEBASTIAN	Prithee, say on. The setting of thine eye and cheek proclaim A matter from thee, and a birth, indeed, Which throes thee much to yield.
ANTONIO	Thus, sir. Although this lord of weak remembrance, this, Who shall be of as little memory When he is earthed, 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 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 hope that even Ambition cannot pierce a wink beyond, 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 life; she that from Naples Can have no note—unless the sun were post— The man i’th’ moon’s too slow—till new-born chins Be rough and razorable; she that from whom We all were sea-swallowed, 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.
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 regions There is some space.
ANTONIO	A 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?
SEBASTIAN	Methinks I do.
ANTONIO	And how does your content Tender your own good fortune?
SEBASTIAN	I remember You did supplant your brother Prospero.
ANTONIO	True; 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.
SEBASTIAN	But for your conscience.
ANTONIO	Ay, 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.
SEBASTIAN	Thy 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.
ANTONIO	Draw together, And when I rear my hand, do you the like To fall it on Gonzalo. They draw
SEBASTIAN	O, but one word.
(didascalia)	Enter Ariel, invisible, with music
ARIEL	(to Gonzalo) My 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. He sings in Gonzalo’s ear While 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!
ANTONIO	(to Sebastian) Then let us both be sudden.
GONZALO	(awaking) Now good angels Preserve the King!
ALONSO	(awaking) Why, how now? Ho, awake! The others awake (To Antonio and Sebastian) Why are you drawn? (To Gonzalo) 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 bellowing, Like 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 roar Of 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 shaked you, sir, and cried. As mine eyes opened 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 search For my poor son.
GONZALO	Heavens keep him from these beasts! For he is sure i’th’ island.
ALONSO	Lead away.
(didascalia)	Exeunt all but Ariel
ARIEL	Prospero my lord shall know what I have done. So, King, go safely on to seek thy son.
(didascalia)	Exit
ARIEL	2.2 Enter Caliban, wearing a gaberdine, and with a burden of wood
(didascalia)	CALIBAN throwing down his burden
ARIEL	All the infections that the sun sucks up From bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall, and make him By inch-meal a disease!
(didascalia)	A noise of thunder heard
ARIEL	His spirits hear me, And yet I needs must curse. But they’ll nor pinch, Fright me with urchin-shows, pitch me i’th’ mire, Nor lead me like a fire-brand in the dark Out of my way, unless he bid ’em. But For every trifle are they set upon me; Sometime like apes, that mow and chatter at me And after bite me; then like hedgehogs, which Lie tumbling in my barefoot way and mount Their pricks at my footfall; sometime am I All wound with adders, who with cloven tongues Do hiss me into madness.
(didascalia)	Enter Trinculo
ARIEL	Lo now, lo! Here comes a spirit of his, and to torment me For bringing wood in slowly. I’ll fall flat. Perchance he will not mind me. He lies down
TRINCULO	Here’s neither bush nor shrub to bear off any weather at all, and another storm brewing. I hear it sing i‘th’ wind. Yon same black cloud, yon huge one, looks like a foul bombard that would shed his liquor. If it should thunder as it did before, I know not where to hide my head. Yon same cloud cannot choose but fall by pailfuls. (Seeing Caliban) What have we here, a man or a fish? Dead or alive?—A fish, he smells like a fish; a very ancient and fish-like smell; a kind of not-of-the-newest poor-john. A strange fish! Were I in England now, as once I was, and had but this fish painted, not a holiday-fool there but would give a piece of silver. There would this monster make a man. Any strange beast there makes a man. When they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian. Legged like a man, and his fins like arms! Warm, o’my troth! I do now let loose my opinion, hold it no longer. This is no fish, but an islander that hath lately suffered by a thunderbolt.
(didascalia)	Thunder
TRINCULO	Alas, the storm is come again. My best way is to creep under his gaberdine; there is no other shelter hereabout. Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows. I will here shroud till the dregs of the storm be past. He hides under Caliban’s gaberdine. Enter Stefano, singing, with a wooden bottle in his hand
STEFANO	I shall no more to sea, to sea, Here shall I die ashore— This is a very scurvy tune to sing at a man’s funeral. Well, here’s my comfort. He drinks, then sings The master, the swabber, the boatswain, and I, 45 The gunner and his mate, Loved Mall, Meg, and Marian, and Margery, But none of us cared for Kate. For she had a tongue with a tang, Would cry to a sailor ‘Go hang!’ She loved not the savour of tar nor of pitch, Yet a tailor might scratch her where’er she did itch. Then to sea, boys, and let her go hang! Then to sea, etc. This is a scurvy tune, too. But here’s my comfort. He drinks
CALIBAN	(to Trinculo) Do not torment me! O!
STEFANO	What’s the matter? Have we devils here? Do you put tricks upon’s with savages and men of Ind, ha? I have not scaped drowning to be afeard now of your four legs. For it hath been said: ‘As proper a man as ever went on four legs cannot make him give ground.’ And it shall be said so again, while Stefano breathes at’ nostrils.
CALIBAN	The spirit torments me. O!
STEFANO	This is some monster of the isle with four legs, who hath got, as I take it, an ague. Where the devil should he learn our language? I will give him some relief, if it be but for that. If I can recover him and keep him tame and get to Naples with him, he’s a present for any emperor that ever trod on neat’s leather.
CALIBAN	(to Trinculo) Do not torment me, prithee! I’ll bring my wood home faster.
STEFANO	He’s in his fit now, and does not talk after the wisest. He shall taste of my bottle. If he have never drunk wine afore, it will go near to remove his fit. If I can recover him and keep him tame, I will not take too much for him. He shall pay for him that hath him, and that soundly.
CALIBAN	(to Trinculo) Thou dost me yet but little hurt. Thou wilt anon, I know it by thy trembling. Now Prosper works upon thee.
STEFANO	Come on your ways. Open your mouth. Here is that which will give language to you, cat. Open your mouth. This will shake your shaking, I can tell you, and that soundly. You cannot tell who’s your friend. Open your chaps again. Caliban drinks
TRINCULO	I should know that voice. It should be—but he is drowned, and these are devils. O, defend me!
STEFANO	Four legs and two voices—a most delicate monster! His forward voice now is to speak well of his friend; his backward voice is to utter foul speeches and to detract. If all the wine in my bottle will recover him, I will help his ague. Come. Caliban drinks Amen. I will pour some in thy other mouth.
TRINCULO	Stefano!
STEFANO	Doth thy other mouth call me? Mercy, mercy! This is a devil, and no monster. I will leave him. I have no long spoon.
TRINCULO	Stefano! If thou beest Stefano, touch me and speak to me, for I am Trinculo. Be not afeard. Thy good friend Trinculo.
STEFANO	If thou beest Trinculo, come forth. I’ll pull thee by the lesser legs. If any be Trinculo’s legs, these are they. He pulls out Trinculo by the legs Thou art very Trinculo indeed! How cam’st thou to be the siege of this moon-calf? Can he vent Trinculos?
TRINCULO	(rising) I took him to be killed with a thunderstroke. But art thou not drowned, Stefano? I hope now thou art not drowned. Is the storm overblown? I hid me under the dead moon-calf’s gaberdine for fear of the storm. And art thou living, Stefano? O Stefano, two Neapolitans scaped!
(didascalia)	He dances Stefano round
STEFANO	Prithee, do not turn me about. My stomach is not constant.
CALIBAN	These be fine things, an if they be not spirits. That’s a brave god, and bears celestial liquor. I will kneel to him.
(didascalia)	He kneels
STEFANO	(to Trinculo) How didst thou scape? How cam’st thou hither? Swear by this bottle how thou cam’st hither. I escaped upon a butt of sack which the sailors heaved o’erboard, by this bottle—which I made of the bark of a tree with mine own hands since I was cast ashore.
CALIBAN	I’ll swear upon that bottle to be thy true subject, for the liquor is not earthly.
STEFANO	(offering Trinculo the bottle) Here. Swear then how thou escapedst.
TRINCULO	Swum ashore, man, like a duck. I can swim like a duck, I’ll be sworn.
STEFANO	Here, kiss the book. Trinculo drinks Though thou canst swim like a duck, thou art made like a goose.
TRINCULO	O Stefano, hast any more of this?
STEFANO	The whole butt, man. My cellar is in a rock by th’ seaside, where my wine is hid.
(didascalia)	Caliban rises
STEFANO	How now, moon-calf? How does thine ague?
CALIBAN	Hast thou not dropped from heaven?
STEFANO	Out o’th’ moon, I do assure thee. I was the man i’th’ moon when time was.
CALIBAN	I have seen thee in her, and I do adore thee. My mistress showed me thee, and thy dog and thy bush.
STEFANO	Come, swear to that. Kiss the book. I will furnish it anon with new contents. Swear. Caliban drinks
TRINCULO	By this good light, this is a very shallow monster! I afeard of him? A very weak monster! The man i’th’ moon? A most poor, credulous monster! Well drawn, monster, in good sooth!
CALIBAN	(to Stefano) I’ll show thee every fertile inch o’th’ island, And I will kiss thy foot. I prithee, be my god.
TRINCULO	By this light, a most perfidious and drunken monster! When’s god’s asleep, he’ll rob his bottle.
CALIBAN	(to Stefano) I’ll kiss thy foot. I’ll swear myself thy subject.
STEFANO	Come on then; down, and swear.
(didascalia)	Caliban kneels
TRINCULO	I shall laugh myself to death at this puppy-headed monster. A most scurvy monster! I could find in my heart to beat him—
STEFANO	(to Caliban) Come, kiss.
(didascalia)	Caliban kisses his foot
TRINCULO	But that the poor monster’s in drink. An abominable monster!
CALIBAN	I’ll show thee the best springs; I’ll pluck thee berries; I’ll fish for thee, and get thee wood enough. A plague upon the tyrant that I serve! I’ll bear him no more sticks, but follow thee, Thou wondrous man.
TRINCULO	A most ridiculous monster, to make a wonder of a poor drunkard!
CALIBAN	(to Stefano) I prithee, let me bring thee where crabs grow, And I with my long nails will dig thee pig-nuts, Show thee a jay’s nest, and instruct thee how To snare the nimble marmoset. I’ll bring thee To clust’ring filberts, and sometimes I’ll get thee Young seamews from the rock. Wilt thou go with me?
STEFANO	I prithee now, lead the way without any more talking.—Trinculo, the King and all our company else being drowned, we will inherit here.—Here, bear my bottte.—Fettow Trinculo, we’ll fill him by and by again.
CALIBAN	(sings drunkenly) Farewell, master, farewell, farewell!
TRINCULO	A howling monster, a drunken monster!
CALIBAN	(sings) No more dams I’ll make for fish, Nor fetch in firing At requiring, Nor scrape trenchering, nor wash dish. ’Ban, ’ban, Cacaliban Has a new master.—Get a new man! Freedom, high-day! High-day, freedom! Freedom, highday, freedom!
STEFANO	O brave monster! Lead the way.
(didascalia)	Exeunt

Atto 3, Scena 1

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Ferdinand, bearing a log
FERDINAND	There be some sports are painful, and their labour Delight in them sets off. Some kinds of baseness Are nobly undergone, and most poor matters Point to rich ends. This my mean task Would be as heavy to me as odious, but The mistress which I serve quickens what’s dead, And makes my labours pleasures. O, she is Ten times more gentle than her father’s crabbed, And he’s composed of harshness. I must remove Some thousands of these logs and pile them up, Upon a sore injunction. My sweet mistress Weeps when she sees me work, and says such baseness Had never like executor. I forget, But these sweet thoughts do even refresh my labours, Most busil’est when I do it.
(didascalia)	Enter Miranda, and Prospero following at a distance
MIRANDA	Alas now, pray you Work not so hard. I would the lightning had Burnt up those logs that you are enjoined to pile. Pray set it down, and rest you. When this burns ’Twill weep for having wearied you. My father Is hard at study. Pray now, rest yourself. He’s safe for these three hours.
FERDINAND	O most dear mistress, The sun will set before I shall discharge What I must strive to do.
MIRANDA	If you’ll sit down I’ll bear your logs the while. Pray give me that; I’ll carry it to the pile.
FERDINAND	No, precious creature. I had rather crack my sinews, break my back, Than you should such dishonour undergo While I sit lazy by.
MIRANDA	It would become me As well as it does you; and I should do it With much more ease, for my good will is to it, And yours it is against.
PROSPERO	(aside) Poor worm, thou art infected. This visitation shows it.
MIRANDA	(to Ferdinand) You look wearily.
FERDINAND	No, noble mistress, ’tis fresh morning with me When you are by at night. I do beseech you, Chiefly that I might set it in my prayers, What is your name?
MIRANDA	Miranda. O my father, I have broke your best to say so!
FERDINAND	Admired Miranda! Indeed the top of admiration, worth What’s dearest to the world. Full many a lady I have eyed with best regard, and many a time Th’harmony of their tongues hath into bondage Brought my too diligent ear. For several virtues Have I liked several women; never any With so full soul but some defect in her Did quarrel with the noblest grace she owed And put it to the foil. But you, O you, So perfect and so peerless, are created Of every creature’s best.
MIRANDA	I do not know One of my sex, no woman’s face remember Save from my glass mine own; nor have I seen More that I may call men than you, good friend, And my dear father. How features are abroad I am skilless of; but, by my modesty, The jewel in my dower, I would not wish Any companion in the world but you; Nor can imagination form a shape Besides yourself to like of. But I prattle Something too wildly, and my father’s precepts I therein do forget.
FERDINAND	I am in my condition A prince, Miranda, I do think a king— I would not so—and would no more endure This wooden slavery than to suffer The flesh-fly blow my mouth. Hear my soul speak. The very instant that I saw you did My heart fly to your service; there resides To make me slave to it. And for your sake Am I this patient log-man.
MIRANDA	Do you love me?
FERDINAND	O heaven, O earth, bear witness to this sound, And crown what I profess with kind event If I speak true! If hollowly, invert What best is boded me to mischief! Beyond all limit of what else i’th’ world, Do love, prize, honour you.
MIRANDA	(weeping) I am a fool To weep at what I am glad of.
PROSPERO	(aside) Fair encounter Of two most rare affections! Heavens rain grace On that which breeds between ’em.
FERDINAND	(to Miranda) Wherefore weep you?
MIRANDA	At mine unworthiness, that dare not offer What I desire to give, and much less take What I shall die to want. But this is trifling, And all the more it seeks to hide itself The bigger bulk it shows. Hence, bashful cunning, And prompt me, plain and holy innocence. I am your wife, if you will marry me. If not, I’ll die your maid. To be your fellow You may deny me, but I’ll be your servant Whether you will or no.
(didascalia)	FERDINAND kneeling
MIRANDA	My mistress, dearest; And I thus humble ever.
MIRANDA	My husband then?
FERDINAND	Ay, with a heart as willing As bondage e’er of freedom. Here’s my hand.
MIRANDA	And mine, with my heart in’t. And now farewell Till half an hour hence.
FERDINAND	A thousand thousand.
(didascalia)	Exeunt severally Miranda and Ferdinand
PROSPERO	So glad of this as they I cannot be, Who are surprised with all; but my rejoicing At nothing can be more. I’ll to my book, For yet ere supper-time must I perform Much business appertaining.
(didascalia)	Exit

Atto 3, Scena 2

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Caliban, Stefano, and Trinculo
STEFANO	(to Caliban) Tell not me. When the butt is out we will drink water, not a drop before. Therefore bear up and board ’em. Servant monster, drink to me.
TRINCULO	Servant monster? The folly of this island! They say there’s but five upon this isle. We are three of them; if th’other two be brained like us, the state totters.
STEFANO	Drink, servant monster, when I bid thee. Thy eyes are almost set in thy head.
TRINCULO	Where should they be set else? He were a brave monster indeed if they were set in his tail.
STEFANO	My man-monster hath drowned his tongue in sack. For my part, the sea cannot drown me. I swam, ere I could recover the shore, five and thirty leagues, off and on. By this light, thou shalt be my lieutenant, monster, or my standard.
TRINCULO	Your lieutenant if you list; he’s no standard.
STEFANO	We’ll not run, Monsieur Monster.
TRINCULO	Nor go neither; but you’ll lie like dogs, and yet say nothing neither.
STEFANO	Moon-calf, speak once in thy life, if thou beest a good moon-calf.
CALIBAN	How does thy honour? Let me lick thy shoe. I’ll not serve him; he is not valiant.
TRINCULO	Thou liest, most ignorant monster! I am in case to jostle a constable. Why, thou debauched fish, thou, was there ever man a coward that hath drunk so much sack as I today? Wilt thou tell a monstrous lie, being but half a fish and half a monster?
CALIBAN	(to Stefano) Lo, how he mocks me! Wilt thou let him, my lord?
TRINCULO	‘Lord’ quoth he? That a monster should be such a natural!
CALIBAN	(to Stefano) Lo, lo, again! Bite him to death, I prithee.
STEFANO	Trinculo, keep a good tongue in your head. If you prove a mutineer, the next tree. The poor monster’s my subject, and he shall not suffer indignity.
CALIBAN	I thank my noble lord. Wilt thou be pleased To hearken once again to the suit I made to thee?
STEFANO	Marry, will I. Kneel and repeat it. I will stand, and so shall Trinculo.
(didascalia)	Caliban kneels.
(didascalia)	Enter Ariel, invisible
CALIBAN	As I told thee before, I am subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer, that by his cunning hath cheated me of the island.
ARIEL	Thou liest.
CALIBAN	(to Trinculo) Thou liest, thou jesting monkey, thou. I would my valiant master would destroy thee. I do not lie.
STEFANO	Trinculo, if you trouble him any more in’s tale, by this hand, I will supplant some of your teeth.
TRINCULO	Why, I said nothing.
STEFANO	Mum, then, and no more. (To Caliban) Proceed.
CALIBAN	I say by sorcery he got this isle; From me he got it. If thy greatness will Revenge it on him—for I know thou dar’st, But this thing dare not—
STEFANO	That’s most certain.
CALIBAN	Thou shalt be lord of it, and I’ll serve thee.
STEFANO	How now shall this be compassed? Canst thou bring me to the party?
CALIBAN	Yea, yea, my lord. I’ll yield him thee asleep Where thou mayst knock a nail into his head.
ARIEL	Thou liest, thou canst not.
CALIBAN	What a pied ninny’s thisl (To Tririculo) Thou scurvy patch! (To Stefano) I do beseech thy greatness give him blows, And take his bottle from him. When that’s gone He shall drink naught but brine, for I’ll not show him Where the quick freshes are.
STEFANO	Trinculo, run into no further danger. Interrupt the monster one word further, and, by this hand, I’ll turn my mercy out o’doors and make a stockfish of thee.
TRINCULO	Why, what did I? I did nothing. I’ll go farther off.
STEFANO	Didst thou not say he lied?
ARIEL	Thou liest.
STEFANO	Do I so? (Striking Trinculo) Take thou that. As you like this, give me the lie another time.
TRINCULO	I did not give the lie. Out o‘your wits and hearing too? A pox o’your bottle! This can sack and drinking do. A murrain on your monster, and the devil take your fingers.
CALIBAN	Ha, ha, ha!
STEFANO	Now forward with your tale. (To Trinculo) Prithee, stand further off.
CALIBAN	Beat him enough; after a little time I’ll beat him too.
STEFANO	(to Trinculo) Stand farther. (To Caliban) Come, proceed.
CALIBAN	Why, as I told thee, ’tis a custom with him I’th’ afternoon to sleep. There thou mayst brain him, Having first seized his books; or with a log Batter his skull, or paunch him with a stake, Or cut his weasand with thy knife. Remember First to possess his books, for without them He’s but a sot as I am, nor hath not One spirit to command—they all do hate him As rootedly as I. Burn but his books. He has brave utensils, for so he calls them, Which when he has a house he’ll deck withal. And that most deeply to consider is The beauty of his daughter. He himself Calls her a nonpareil. I never saw a woman But only Sycorax my dam and she, But she as far surpasseth Sycorax As great’st does least.
STEFANO	Is it so brave a lass?
CALIBAN	Ay, lord. She will become thy bed, I warrant, And bring thee forth brave brood.
STEFANO	Monster, I will kill this man. His daughter and I will be king and queen—save our graces!—and Trinculo and thyself shall be viceroys. Dost thou like the plot, Trinculo? no
TRINCULO	Excellent.
STEFANO	Give me thy hand. I am sorry I beat thee. But while thou liv’st, keep a good tongue in thy head.
(didascalia)	Within this half hour will he be asleep.
CALIBAN	Wilt thou destroy him then?
STEFANO	Ay, on mine honour.
ARIEL	(aside) This will I tell my master.
CALIBAN	Thou mak’st me merry; I am full of pleasure. Let us be jocund. Will you troll the catch You taught me but while-ere?
STEFANO	At thy request, monster, I will do reason, any reason.—Come on, Trinculo, let us sing. (Sings) Flout ’em and cout ’em, And scout ’em and flout ’em. Thought is free.
CALIBAN	That’s not the tune. Ariel plays the tune on a tabor and pipe
STEFANO	What is this same?
TRINCULO	This is the tune of our catch, played by the picture of Nobody.
STEFANO	(calls towards Ariel) If thou beest a man, show thyself in thy likeness. If thou beest a devil, take’t as thou list.
TRINCULO	O, forgive me my sins!
STEFANO	He that dies pays all debts. (Calls) I defy thee.—Mercy upon us!
CALIBAN	Art thou afeard?
STEFANO	No, monster, not I.
CALIBAN	Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises,
(didascalia)	Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt
CALIBAN	not. Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices That if I then had waked after long sleep Will make me sleep again; and then in dreaming The clouds methought would open and show riches Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked I cried to dream again.
STEFANO	This will prove a brave kingdom to me, where I shall have my music for nothing.
CALIBAN	When Prospero is destroyed.
STEFANO	That shall be by and by. I remember the story.
(didascalia)	Exit Ariel, playing music
TRINCULO	The sound is going away. Let’s follow it, and after do our work.
STEFANO	Lead, monster; we’ll follow.—I would I could see this taborer. He lays it on.
TRICULO	(to Caliban) Wilt come? I’ll follow Stefano.
(didascalia)	Exeunt

Atto 3, Scena 3

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, Adrian, and Francisco
GONZALO	(to Alonso) By’r la’kin, I can go no further, sir. My old bones ache. Here’s a maze trod indeed Through forthrights and meanders. By your patience, I needs must rest me.
ALONSO	Old lord, I cannot blame thee, Who am myself attached with weariness To th’ dulling of my spirits. Sit down and rest. Even here I will put off my hope, and keep it No longer for my flatterer. He is drowned Whom thus we stray to find, and the sea mocks Our frustrate search on land. Well, let him go.
(didascalia)	They sit
ANTONIO	(aside to Sebastian) I am right glad that he’s so out of hope. Do not for one repulse forgo the purpose That you resolved t’effect.
SEBASTIAN	(aside to Antonio) The next advantage Will we take throughly.
ANTONIO	(aside to Sebastian) Let it be tonight, For now they are oppressed with travel. They Will not nor cannot use such vigilance As when they are fresh.
SEBASTIAN	(aside to Antonio) I say tonight. No more. Solemn and strange music. Enter Prospero on the top, invisible
ALONSO	What harmony is this? My good friends, hark.
GONZALO	Marvellous sweet music.
(didascalia)	Enter spirits, in several strange shapes, bringing in a table and a banquet, and dance about it with gentle actions of salutations, and, inviting the King and his companions to eat, they depart
ALONSO	Give us kind keepers, heavens! What were these?
SEBASTIAN	A living drollery. Now I will believe That there are unicorns; that in Arabia There is one tree, the phoenix’ throne, one phoenix At this hour reigning there.
ANTONIO	I’ll believe both; And what does else want credit come to me, And I’ll be sworn ’tis true. Travellers ne’er did lie, Though fools at home condemn ’em.
GONZALO	If in Naples I should report this now, would they believe me— If I should say I saw such islanders? For certes these are people of the island, Who though they are of monstrous shape, yet note Their manners are more gentle-kind than of Our human generation you shall find Many, nay, almost any.
PROSPERO	(aside) Honest lord, Thou hast said well, for some of you there present Are worse than devils.
ALONSO	I cannot too much muse. Such shapes, such gesture, and such sound, expressing— Although they want the use of tongue—a kind Of excellent dumb discourse.
PROSPERO	(aside) Praise in departing.
FRANCISCO	They vanished strangely.
SEBASTIAN	No matter, since They have left their viands behind, for we have stomachs. Will’t please you taste of what is here?
ALONSO	Not I.
GONZALO	Faith, sir, you need not fear. When we were boys, Who would believe that there were mountaineers Dewlapped like bulls, whose throats had hanging at ’em Wallets of flesh? Or that there were such men Whose heads stood in their breasts? Which now we find Each putter-out of five for one will bring us Good warrant of.
(didascalia)	ALONSO rising I will stand to and feed,
GONZALO	Although my last—no matter, since I feel The best is past. Brother, my lord the Duke, Stand to, and do as we.
(didascalia)	Alonso, Sebastian, and Antonio approach the table. Thunder and lightning. Ariel descends like a harpy, claps his wings upon the table, and, with a quaint device, the banquet vanishes
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 caused 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 suchlike valour men hang and drown Their proper selves. Alonso, Sebastian, and Antonio draw You fools! I and my fellows Are ministers of fate. The elements Of whom your swords are tempered may as well Wound the loud winds, or with bemocked-at stabs Kill the still-closing waters, as diminish One dowl 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. Alonso, Sebastian, and Antonio stand amazed But remember, For that’s my business to you, that you three From Milan did supplant good Prospero; Exposed unto the sea, which hath requit it, Him and his innocent child; for which foul deed, The powers, delaying not forgetting, have Incensed 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—shatt 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 but heart’s sorrow And a clear life ensuing.
(didascalia)	He ascends and vanishes in thunder. Then, to soft music, enter the spirits again, and dance with mocks and mows, and they depart, carrying out the table
PROSPERO	Bravely the figure of this harpy hast thou Performed, 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 power; And in these fits I leave them, while I visit Young Ferdinand, whom they suppose is drowned, And his and mine loved darling.
(didascalia)	Exit
(didascalia)	Gonzalo, Adrian, and Francisco go towards the others
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, pronounced The name of Prosper. It did bass my trespass. Therefor my son i’th’ ooze is bedded, and I’ll seek him deeper than e’er plummet sounded, And with him there lie mudded.
(didascalia)	Exit
SEBASTIAN	But one fiend at a time, I’ll fight their legions o’er.
ANTONIO	I’ll be thy second.
(didascalia)	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

Atto 4, Scena 1

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Prospero, Ferdinand, and Miranda
PROSPFRO	(to Ferdinand) If I have too austerely punished you, Your compensation makes amends, for I Have given you here a third of mine own tife— Or that for which I live—who once again I tender to thy hand. All thy vexations Were but my trials of thy love, and thou Hast strangely stood the test. Here, afore heaven, I ratify this my rich gift. O Ferdinand, Do not smile at me that I boast of her, For thou shalt find she will outstrip all praise, And make it halt behind her.
FERDINAND	I do believe it Against an oracle.
PROSPERO	Then, as my gift and thine own acquisition Worthily purchased, take my daughter. But If thou dost break her virgin-knot before All sanctimonious ceremonies may With full and holy rite be ministered, No sweet aspersion shall the heavens let fall To make this contract grow; but barren hate, Sour-eyed disdain, and discord, shall bestrew The union of your bed with weeds so loathly That you shall hate it both. Therefore take heed, As Hymen’s lamps shall light you.
FERDINAND	As I hope For quiet days, fair issue, and long life With such love as ’tis now, the murkiest den, The most opportune place, the strong’st suggestion Our worser genius can, shall never melt Mine honour into lust to take away The edge of that day’s celebration; When I shall think or Phoebus’ steeds are foundered Or night kept chained below.
PROSPERO	Fairly spoke. Sit, then, and talk with her. She is thine own. Ferdinand and Miranda sit and talk together What, Ariel, my industrious servant Ariel!
(didascalia)	Enter Ariel
ARIEL	What would my potent master? Here I am.
PROSPERO	Thou and thy meaner fellows your last service Did worthily perform, and I must use you In such another trick. Go bring the rabble, O’er whom I give thee power, here to this place. Incite them to quick motion, for I must Bestow upon the eyes of this young couple Some vanity of mine art. It is my promise, And they expect it from me.
ARIEL	Presently?
PROSPERO	Ay, with a twink.
ARIEL	Before you can say ‘Come’ and ‘Go’, And breathe twice, and cry ‘So, so’, Each one tripping on his toe Will be here with mop and mow. Do you love me, master? No?
PROSPERO	Dearly, my delicate Ariel. Do not approach Till thou dost hear me call.
ARIEL	Well; I conceive.
(didascalia)	Exit
PROSPERO	(to Ferdinand) Look thou be true. Do not give dalliance Too much the rein. The strongest oaths are straw To th’ fire i’th’ blood. Be more abstemious, Or else, good night your vow.
FERDINAND	I warrant you, sir, The white cold virgin snow upon my heart Abates the ardour of my liver.
PROSPERO	Well.— Now come, my Ariel! Bring a corollary Rather than want a spirit. Appear, and pertly. Soft music (To Ferdinand and Miranda) No tongue, all eyes! Be silent.
(didascalia)	Enter Iris
IRIS	Ceres, most bounteous lady, thy rich leas Of wheat, rye, barley, vetches, oats, and peas; Thy turfy mountains where live nibbling sheep, And flat meads thatched with stover, them to keep; Thy banks with peonied and twillèd brims Which spongy April at thy hest betrims To make cold nymphs chaste crowns; and thy broom-groves, Whose shadow the dismissed bachelor loves, Being lass-lorn; thy pole-clipped vineyard, And thy sea-marge, sterile and rocky-hard, Where thou thyself dost air: the Queen o’th’ Sky, Whose wat’ry arch and messenger am I, Bids thee leave these, and with her sovereign grace
(didascalia)	Juno appears in the air
IRIS	Here on this grass-plot, in this very place, To come and sport.—Her peacocks fly amain. Approach, rich Ceres, her to entertain.
(didascalia)	Enter Ariel as Ceres
CERES	Hail, many-coloured messenger, that ne’er Dost disobey the wife of Jupiter; Who with thy saffron wings upon my flowers Diffusest honey-drops, refreshing showers, And with each end of thy blue bow dost crown My bosky acres and my unshrubbed down, Rich scarf to my proud earth. Why hath thy queen Summoned me hither to this short-grassed green?
IRIS	A contract of true love to celebrate, And some donation freely to estate On the blest lovers.
CERES	Tell me, heavenly bow, If Venus or her son, as thou dost know, Do now attend the Queen. Since they did plot The means that dusky Dis my daughter got, Her and her blind boy’s scandalled company I have forsworn.
IRIS	Of her society Be not afraid. I met her deity Cutting the clouds towards Paphos, and her son Dove-drawn with her. Here thought they to have done Some wanton charm upon this man and maid, Whose vows are that no bed-right shall be paid Till Hymen’s torch be lighted—but in vain. Mars’s hot minion is returned again. Her waspish-headed son has broke his arrows, Swears he will shoot no more, but play with sparrows, And be a boy right out.
(didascalia)	Music. Juno descends to the stage
CERES	Highest queen of state, Great Juno, comes; I know her by her gait.
JUNO	How does my bounteous sister? Go with me To bless this twain, that they may prosperous be, And honoured in their issue.
(didascalia)	Ceres joins Juno, and they sing
FERDINAND	This is a most majestic vision, and Harmonious charmingly. May I be bold To think these spirits?
PROSPERO	Spirits, which by mine art I have from their confines called to enact My present fancies.
FERDINAND	Let me live here ever! So rare a wondered father and a wise Makes this place paradise. Juno and Ceres whisper, and send Iris on employment
PROSPERO	Sweet now, silence. Juno and Ceres whisper seriously. There’s something else to do. Hush, and be mute, Or else our spell is marred.
IRIS	You nymphs called naiads of the wind’ring brooks, With your sedged crowns and ever-harmless looks, Leave your crisp channels, and on this green land Answer your summons; Juno does command. Come, temperate nymphs, and help to celebrate A contract of true love. Be not too late.
(didascalia)	Enter certain nymphs
IRIS	You sunburned sicklemen, of August weary, Come hither from the furrow and be merry; Make holiday, your rye-straw hats put on, And these fresh nymphs encounter every one In country footing.
(didascalia)	Enter certain reapers, properly habited. They join with the nymphs in a graceful dance; towards the end whereof Prospero starts suddenly, and speaks
PROSPERO	(aside) I had forgot that foul conspiracy Of the beast Caliban and his confederates Against my life. The minute of their plot Is almost come. (To the spirits) Well done! Avoid; no more!
(didascalia)	To a strange, hollow, and confused noise, the spirits in the pageant heavily vanish. Ferdinand and Miranda rise
FERDINAND	(to Miranda) This is strange. Your father’s in some passion That works him strongly.
MIRANDA	Never till this day Saw I him touched with anger so distempered.
PROSPERO	You do look, my son, in a moved sort, As if you were dismayed. Be cheerful, sir. Our revels now are ended. These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits, and Are melted into air, into thin air; And like the baseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve; And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff As dreams are made on, and our little life Is rounded with a sleep. Sir, I am vexed. Bear with my weakness. My old brain is troubled. Be not disturbed with my infirmity. If you be pleased, retire into my cell, And there repose. A turn or two I’ll walk To still my beating mind.
FERDINAND	and MIRANDA We wish your peace.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Ferdinand and Miranda
PROSPERO	Come with a thought! I thank thee, Ariel. Come!
(didascalia)	Enter Ariel
ARIEL	Thy thoughts I cleave to. What’s thy pleasure?
PROSPERO	Spirit, We must prepare to meet with Caliban.
ARIEL	Ay, my commander. When I presented Ceres I thought to have told thee of it, but I feared Lest I might anger thee.
PROSPERO	Say again: where didst thou leave these varlets?
ARIEL	I told you, sir, they were red-hot with drinking; So full of valour that they smote the air For breathing in their faces, beat the ground For kissing of their feet; yet always bending Towards their project. Then I beat my tabor, At which like unbacked colts they pricked their ears, Advanced their eyelids, lifted up their noses As they smelt music. So I charmed their ears That calf-like they my lowing followed, through Toothed briars, sharp furzes, pricking gorse, and thorns, Which entered their frail shins. At last I left them I’th’ filthy-mantled pool beyond your cell, There dancing up to th’ chins, that the foul lake O’er-stunk their feet.
PROSPERO	This was well done, my bird. Thy shape invisible retain thou still. The trumpery in my house, go bring it hither For stale to catch these thieves.
ARIEL	I go, I go.
(didascalia)	Exit
PROSPERO	A devil, a born devil, on whose nature Nurture can never stick; on whom my pains, Humanely taken, all, all lost, quite lost, And, as with age his body uglier grows, So his mind cankers. I will plague them all, Even to roaring.
(didascalia)	Enter Ariel, laden with glistening apparel, etc.
PROSPERO	Come, hang them on this lime.
(didascalia)	Ariel hangs up the apparel. Exeunt Prospero and
(didascalia)	Ariel.
(didascalia)	Enter Caliban, Stefano, and Trinculo, all wet
CALIBAN	Pray you, tread softly, that the blind mole may Not hear a foot fall. We now are near his cell.
STEFANO	Monster, your fairy, which you say is a harmless fairy, has done little better than played the Jack with us.
TRINCULO	Monster, I do smell all horse-piss, at which my nose is in great indignation.
STEFANO	So is mine. Do you hear, monster? If I should take a displeasure against you, look you—
TRINCULO	Thou wert but a lost monster.
CALIBAN	Good my lord, give me thy favour still. Be patient, for the prize I’ll bring thee to Shall hoodwink this mischance. Therefore speak softly. All’s hushed as midnight yet.
TRINCULO	Ay, but to lose our bottles in the pool!
STEFANO	There is not only disgrace and dishonour in that, monster, but an infinite loss.
TRINCULO	That’s more to me than my wetting. Yet this is your harmless fairy, monster.
STEFANO	I will fetch off my bottle, though I be o’er ears for my labour.
CALIBAN	Prithee, my king, be quiet. Seest thou here; This is the mouth o’th’ cell. No noise, and enter. Do that good mischief which may make this island Thine own for ever, and I thy Caliban For aye thy foot-licker.
STEFANO	Give me thy hand. I do begin to have bloody thoughts.
TRINCULO	(seeing the apparel) O King Stefano, O peer! O worthy Stefano, look what a wardrobe here is for thee!
CALIBAN	Let it alone, thou fool, it is but trash.
TRINCULO	(putting on a gown) O ho, monster, we know what belongs to a frippery! O King Stefano!
STEFANO	Put off that gown, Trinculo. By this hand, I’ll have that gown.
TRINCULO	Thy grace shall have it.
CALIBAN	The dropsy drown this fool! What do you mean To dote thus on such luggage? Let’t alone, And do the murder first. If he awake, From toe to crown he’ll fill our skins with pinches, Make us strange stuff.
STEFANO	Be you quiet, monster.—Mistress lime, is not this my jerkin? Now is the jerkin under the line. Now, jerkin, you are like to lose your hair and prove a bald jerkin. Stefano and Trinculo take garments
TRINCULO	Do, do! We steal by line and level, an’t like your grace.
STEFANO	I thank thee for that jest. Here’s a garment for’t. Wit shall not go unrewarded while I am king of this country. ‘Steal by line and level’ is an excellent pass of pate. There’s another garment for’t.
TRINCULO	Monster, come, put some lime upon your fingers, and away with the rest.
CALIBAN	I will have none on’t. We shall lose our time, And all be turned to barnacles, or to apes With foreheads villainous low.
STEFANO	Monster, lay to your fingers. Help to bear this away where my hogshead of wine is, or I’ll turn you out of my kingdom. Go to, carry this.
TRINCULO	And this.
STEFANO	Ay, and this. They load Caliban with apparel. A noise of hunters heard. Enter divers spirits in shape of dogs and hounds, hunting them about; Prospero and Ariel setting them on
PROSPERO	Hey, Mountain, hey!
ARIEL	Silver! There it goes, Silver!
PROSPERO	Fury, Fury! There, Tyrant, there! Hark, hark!
(didascalia)	Exeunt Stefano, Trinculo, and Caliban, pursued by spirits
PROSPERO	(To Ariel) Go, charge my goblins that they grind their joints With dry convulsions, shorten up their sinews With aged cramps, and more pinch-spotted make them Than pard or cat o’mountain. Cries within
ARIEL	Hark, they roar!
PROSPERO	Let them be hunted soundly. At this hour Lies at my mercy all mine enemies. Shortly shall all my labours end, and thou Shalt have the air at freedom. For a little, Follow, and do me service.
(didascalia)	Exeunt

Atto 5, Scena 1

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Prospero, in his magic robes, and Ariel
PROSPERO	Now does my project gather to a head. My charms crack not, my spirits obey, and time Goes upright with his carriage. How’s the day?
ARIEL	On the sixth hour; at which time, my lord, You said our work should cease.
PROSPERO	I did say so When first I raised the tempest. Say, my spirit, How fares the King and’s followers?
ARIEL	Confined together In the same fashion as you gave in charge, Just as you left them; all prisoners, sir, In the lime-grove which weather-fends your cell. They cannot budge till your release. The King, His brother, and yours, abide all three distracted, And the remainder mourning over them, Brimful of sorrow and dismay; but chiefly Him that you termed, sir, the good old lord Gonzalo: His tears run down his beard like winter’s drops From eaves of reeds. Your charm so strongly works ’em That if you now beheld them your affections Would become tender.
PROSPERO	Dost thou think so, spirit?
ARIEL	Mine would, sir, were I human.
PROSPERO	And mine shall. Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling Of their afflictions, and shall not myself, One of their kind, that relish all as sharply Passion as they, be kindlier moved than thou art? Though with their high wrongs I am struck to th’ quick, Yet with my nobler reason ’gainst my fury Do I take part. The rarer action is In virtue than in vengeance. They being penitent, The sole drift of my purpose doth extend Not a frown further. Go release them, Ariel. My charms I’ll break, their senses I’ll restore, And they shall be themselves.
ARIEL	I’ll fetch them, sir.
(didascalia)	Exit
(didascalia)	Prospero draws a circle with his staff
PROSPERO	Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes and groves, And ye that on the sands with printless foot Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him When he comes back; you demi-puppets that By moonshine do the green sour ringlets make Whereof the ewe not bites; and you whose pastime Is to make midnight mushrooms, that rejoice To hear the solemn curfew; by whose aid, Weak masters though ye be, I have bedimmed The noontide sun, called forth the mutinous winds, And ‘twixt the green sea and the azured vault Set roaring war—to the dread rattling thunder Have I given fire, and rifted Jove’s stout oak With his own bolt; the strong-based promontory Have I made shake, and by the spurs plucked up The pine and cedar; graves at my command Have waked their sleepers, oped, and let ’em forth By my so potent art. But this rough magic I here abjure. And when I have required Some heavenly music—which even now I do— To work mine end upon their senses that This airy charm is for, I’ll break my staff, Bury it certain fathoms in the earth, And deeper than did ever plummet sound I’ll drown my book. Solemn music. Here enters first Ariel, invisible; then Alonso, with a frantic gesture, attended by Gonzalo; Sebastian and Antonio, in like manner, attended by Adrian and Francisco. They all enter the circle which Prospero had made, and there stand charmed; which Prospero observing, speaks (To Alonso) A solemn air, and the best comforter To an unsettled fancy, cure thy brains, Now useless, boiled within thy skull. (To Sebastian and Antonio) There stand, For you are spelt-stopped.— Holy Gonzalo, honourable man, Mine eyes, ev’n sociable to the show of thine, Fall fellowly drops. (Aside) The charm dissolves apace, And as the morning steals upon the night, Melting the darkness, so their rising senses Begin to chase the ignorant fumes that mantle Their clearer reason.—O good Gonzalo, My true preserver, and a loyal sir To him thou follow’st, I will pay thy graces Home both in word and deed.—Most cruelly Didst thou, Alonso, use me and my daughter. Thy brother was a furtherer in the act.— Thou art pinched for’t now, Sebastian. (To Antonio) Flesh and blood, You, brother mine, that entertained ambition, Expelled remorse and nature, whom, with Sebastian— Whose inward pinches therefore are most strong,— Would here have killed your king, I do forgive thee, Unnatural though thou art. (Aside) Their understanding Begins to swell, and the approaching tide Will shortly fill the reasonable shores That now lie foul and muddy. Not one of them That yet looks on me, or would know me.—Ariel, Fetch me the hat and rapier in my cell. I will disease me, and myself present As I was sometime Milan. Quickly, spirit! Thou shalt ere long be free. Ariel sings and helps to attire him as Duke of Milan
ARIEL	Where the bee sucks, there suck I: In a cowslip’s bell I lie; There I couch when owls do cry. On the bat’s back I do fly After summer merrily. Merrily, merrily shall I live now Under the blossom that hangs on the bough. Merrily, merrily shall I live now Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.
PROSPERO	Why, that’s my dainty Ariel! I shall miss thee, But yet thou shalt have freedom.—So, so, so.— To the King’s ship, invisible as thou art! There shalt thou find the mariners asleep Under the hatches. The Master and the Boatswain Being awake, enforce them to this place, And presently, I prithee.
ARIEL	I drink the air before me, and return Or ere your pulse twice beat.
(didascalia)	Exit
GONZALO	All torment, trouble, wonder, and amazement Inhabits here. Some heavenly power guide us Out of this fearful country!
PROSPERO	Behold, sir King, The wronged Duke of Milan, Prospero. For more assurance that a living prince Does now speak to thee, I embrace thy body; And to thee and thy company I bid A hearty welcome. He embraces Alonso
ALONSO	Whe’er thou beest he or no, Or some enchanted trifle to abuse me, As late I have been, I not know. Thy pulse Beats as of flesh and blood; and since I saw thee Th’affliction of my mind amends, with which I fear a madness held me. This must crave— An if this be at all—a most strange story. Thy dukedom I resign, and do entreat Thou pardon me my wrongs. But how should Prospero Be living and be here?
PROSPERO	(to Gonzalo) First, noble friend, Let me embrace thine age, whose honour cannot Be measured or confined. He embraces Gonzalo
GONZALO	Whether this be Or be not, I’ll not swear.
PROSPERO	You do yet taste Some subtleties o’th’ isle that will not let you Believe things certain.—Welcome, my friends all. (Aside to Sebastian and Antonio) But you, my brace of lords, were I so minded, I here could pluck his highness’ frown upon you And justify you traitors. At this time I will tell no tales.
SEBASTIAN	(to Antonio) The devil speaks in him.
PROSPERO	No. (To Antonio) For you, most wicked sir, whom to call brother Would even infect my mouth, I do forgive Thy rankest fault, all of them, and require My dukedom of thee, which perforce I know Thou must restore.
ALONSO	If thou beest Prospero, Give us particulars of thy preservation, How thou hast met us here, whom three hours since Were wrecked upon this shore, where I have lost— How sharp the point of this remembrance is!— My dear son Ferdinand.
PROSPERO	I am woe for’t, sir.
ALONSO	Irreparable is the loss, and patience Says it is past her cure.
PROSPERO	I rather think You have not sought her help, of whose soft grace For the like loss I have her sovereign aid, And rest myself content.
ALONSO	You the like loss?
PROSPERO	As great to me as late; and supportable To make the dear loss have I means much weaker Than you may call to comfort you, for I Have lost my daughter.
ALONSO	A daughter? O heavens, that they were living both in Naples, The king and queen there! That they were, I wish Myself were mudded in that oozy bed Where my son lies. When did you lose your daughter?
PROSPERO	In this last tempest. I perceive these lords At this encounter do so much admire That they devour their reason, and scarce think Their eyes do offices of truth, these words Are natural breath. But howsoe’er you have Been jostled from your senses, know for certain That I am Prospero, and that very Duke Which was thrust forth of Milan, who most strangely, Upon this shore where you were wrecked, was landed To be the lord on’t. No more yet of this, For ’tis a chronicle of day by day, Not a relation for a breakfast, nor Befitting this first meeting. Welcome, sir. This cell’s my court. Here have I few attendants, And subjects none abroad. Pray you, look in. My dukedom since you have given me again, I will requite you with as good a thing; At least bring forth a wonder to content ye As much as me my dukedom. Here Prospero discovers Ferdinand and Miranda, playing at chess
MIRANDA	Sweet lord, you play me false.
FERDINAND	No, my dearest love, I would not for the world.
MIRANDA	Yes, for a score of kingdoms you should wrangle, An I would call it fair play.
ALONSO	If this prove A vision of the island, one dear son Shall I twice lose.
SEBASTIAN	A most high miracle.
FERDINAND	(coming forward) Though the seas threaten, they are merciful. I have cursed them without cause. He kneels
ALONSO	Now all the blessings Of a glad father compass thee about. Arise and say how thou cam’st here. Ferdinand rises
MIRANDA	(coming forward) O wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world That has such people in’t!
PROSPERO	’Tis new to thee.
ALONSO	(to Ferdinand) What is this maid with whom thou wast at play? Your eld’st acquaintance cannot be three hours. Is she the goddess that hath severed us, And brought us thus together?
FERDINAND	Sir, she is mortal; But by immortal providence she’s mine. I chose her when I could not ask my father For his advice, nor thought I had one. She Is daughter to this famous Duke of Milan, Of whom so often I have heard renown, But never saw before; of whom I have Received a second life; and second father This lady makes him to me.
ALONSO	I am hers. But O, how oddly will it sound, that I Must ask my child forgiveness!
PROSPERO	There, sir, stop. Let us not burden our remembrance with A heaviness that’s gone.
GONZALO	I have inly wept, Or should have spoke ere this. Look down, you gods, And on this couple drop a blessed crown, For it is you that have chalked forth the way Which brought us hither.
ALONSO	I say amen, Gonzalo.
GONZALO	Was Milan thrust from Milan, that his issue Should become kings of Naples? O rejoice Beyond a common joy! And set it down With gold on lasting pillars: in one voyage Did Claribel her husband find at Tunis, And Ferdinand her brother found a wife Where he himself was lost; Prospero his dukedom In a poor isle; and all of us ourselves, When no man was his own.
ALONSO	(to Ferdinand and Miranda) Give me your hands. Let grief and sorrow still embrace his heart That doth not wish you joy.
GONZALO	Be it so! Amen!
(didascalia)	Enter Ariel, with the Master and Boatswain amazedly following
GONZALO	O look, sir, look, sir, here is more of us! I prophesied if a gallows were on land This fellow could not drown. (To the Boatswain) Now, blasphemy, That swear’st grace o’erboard: not an oath on shore? Hast thou no mouth by land? What is the news?
BOATSWAIN	The best news is that we have safely found Our King and company. The next, our ship, Which but three glasses since we gave out split, Is tight and yare and bravely rigged, as when We first put out to sea.
ARIEL	(aside to Prospero) Sir, all this service Have I done since I went.
PROSPERO	(aside to Ariel) My tricksy spirit!
ALONSO	These are not natural events; they strengthen From strange to stranger. Say, how came you hither?
BOATSWAIN	If I did think, sir, I were well awake I’d strive to tell you. We were dead of sleep, And—how we know not—all clapped under hatches, Where but even now, with strange and several noises Of roaring, shrieking, howling, jingling chains, And more diversity of sounds, all horrible, We were awaked; straightway at liberty; Where we in all her trim freshly beheld Our royal, good, and gallant ship, our Master Cap’ring to eye her. On a trice, so please you, Even in a dream, were we divided from them, And were brought moping hither.
ARIEL	(aside to Prospero) Was’t well done?
PROSPERO	(aside to Ariel) Bravely, my diligence. Thou shalt be free.
ALONSO	This is as strange a maze as e’er men trod, And there is in this business more than nature Was ever conduct of. Some oracle Must rectify our knowledge.
PROSPERO	Sir, my liege, Do not infest your mind with beating on The strangeness of this business. At picked leisure, Which shall be shortly, single I’ll resolve you, Which to you shall seem probable, of every These happened accidents; till when be cheerful, And think of each thing well. (Aside to Ariel) Come hither, spirit. Set Caliban and his companions free. Untie the spell.
(didascalia)	Exit Ariel
PROSPERO	(To Alonso) How fares my gracious sir? There are yet missing of your company Some few odd lads that you remember not.
(didascalia)	Enter Ariel, driving in Caliban, Stefano, and Trinculo, in their stolen apparel
STEFANO	Every man shift for all the rest, and let no man take care for himself, for all is but fortune. Coragio, bully-monster, coragio!
TRINCULO	If these be true spies which I wear in my head, here’s a goodly sight.
CALIBAN	O Setebos, these be brave spirits indeed! How fine my master is! I am afraid He will chastise me.
SEBASTIAN	Ha, ha! What things are these, my lord Antonio? Will money buy ’em?
ANTONIO	Very like; one of them Is a plain fish, and no doubt marketable.
PROSPERO	Mark but the badges of these men, my lords, Then say if they be true. This misshapen knave, His mother was a witch, and one so strong That could control the moon, make flows and ebbs, And deal in her command without her power. These three have robbed me, and this demi-devil, For he’s a bastard one, had plotted with them To take my life. Two of these fellows you Must know and own. This thing of darkness I Acknowledge mine.
CALIBAN	I shall be pinched to death.
ALONSO	Is not this Stefano, my drunken butler?
SEBASTIAN	He is drunk now. Where had he wine?
ALONSO	And Trinculo is reeling ripe. Where should they Find this grand liquor that hath gilded ’em? (To Trinculo) How cam’st thou in this pickle?
TRINCULO	I have been in such a pickle since I saw you last that, I fear me, will never out of my bones. I shall not fear fly-blowing.
SEBASTIAN	Why, how now, Stefano?
STEFANO	O, touch me not! I am not Stefano, but a cramp.
PROSPERO	You’d be king o’the isle, sirrah?
STEFANO	I should have been a sore one, then.
ALONSO	(pointing to Caliban) This is a strange thing as e’er I looked on.
PROSPERO	He is as disproportioned in his manners As in his shape. (To Caliban) Go, sirrah, to my cell. Take with you your companions. As you look To have my pardon, trim it handsomely.
CALIBAN	Ay, that I will; and I’ll be wise hereafter, And seek for grace. What a thrice-double ass Was I to take this drunkard for a god, And worship this dull fooll
PROSPERO	Go to, away!
(didascalia)	Exit Caliban
ALONSO	(to Stefano and Trinculo) Hence, and bestow your luggage where you found it.
SEBASTIAN	Or stole it, rather.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Stefano and Trinculo
PROSPERO	(to Alonso) Sir, I invite your highness and your train To my poor cell, where you shall take your rest For this one night; which part of it I’ll waste With such discourse as I not doubt shall make it Go quick away: the story of my life, And the particular accidents gone by Since I came to this isle. And in the morn I’ll bring you to your ship, and so to Naples, Where I have hope to see the nuptial Of these our dear-belovèd solemnized; And thence retire me to my Milan, where Every third thought shall be my grave.
ALONSO	I long To hear the story of your life, which must Take the ear strangely.
PROSPERO	I’ll deliver all, And promise you calm seas, auspicious gales, And sail so expeditious that shall catch Your royal fleet far off. (Aside to Ariel) My Ariel, chick, That is thy charge. Then to the elements Be free, and fare thou well.
(didascalia)	Exit Ariel
PROSPERO	Please you, draw near.
(didascalia)	Exeunt all but Prospero
PROSPERO	Epilogue
PROSPERO	Now my charms are all o’erthrown, And what strength I have’s mine own, Which is most faint. Now ’tis true I must be here confined by you Or sent to Naples. Let me not, Since I have my dukedom got, And pardoned the deceiver, dwell In this bare island by your spell; But release me from my bands With the help of your good hands. Gentle breath of yours my sails Must fill, or else my project fails, Which was to please. Now I want Spirits to enforce, art to enchant; And my ending is despair Unless I be relieved by prayer, Which pierces so, that it assaults Mercy itself, and frees all faults. As you from crimes would pardoned be, Let your indulgence set me free. He awaits applause, then exit
CARDENIO	A BRIEF ACCOUNT
MANY	plays acted in Shakespeare’s time have failed to survive; they may easily include some that he wrote. The mystery of Love’s Labour’s Won is discussed elsewhere (pp. xxxvii, 337). Certain manuscript records of the seventeenth century suggest that at least one other play in which he had a hand may have disappeared. On 9 September 1653 the London publisher Humphrey Moseley entered in the Stationers’ Register a batch of plays including ‘The History of Cardenio, by Mr Fletcher and Shakespeare’. Cardenio is a character in Part One of Cervantes’ Don Quixote, published in English translation in 1612. Two earlier allusions suggest that the King’s Men owned a play on this subject at the time that Shakespeare was collaborating with John Fletcher (1579-1625). On 20 May 1613 the Privy Council authorized payment of £20 to John Heminges, as leader of the King’s Men, for the presentation at court of six plays, one listed as ‘Cardenno’. On 9 July of the same year Heminges received £6 13s. 4d. for his company’s performance of a play ‘called Cardenna’ before the ambassador of the Duke of Savoy. No more information about this play survives from the seventeenth century, but in 1728 Lewis Theobald published a play based on the story of Cardenio and called Double Falsehood, or The Distrest Lovers, which he claimed to have ‘revised and adapted’ from one ‘written originally by W. Shakespeare’. It had been successfully produced at Drury Lane on 13 December 1727, and was given thirteen times up to 1 May 1728. Other performances are recorded in 1740, 1741, 1767 (when it was reprinted), 1770, and 1847. In 1770 a newspaper stated that ‘the original manuscript’ was ‘treasured up in the Museum of Covent Garden Playhouse’; fire destroyed the theatre, including its library, in 1808. Theobald claimed to own several manuscripts of an original play by Shakespeare, and remarked that some of his contemporaries thought the style was Fletcher’s, not Shakespeare’s. When he himself came to edit Shakespeare’s plays he did not include either Double Falsehood or the play on which he claimed to have based it; he simply edited the plays of the First Folio, not adding either Pericles or The Two Noble Kinsmen, though he believed they were partly by Shakespeare. It is quite possible that Double Falsehood is based (however distantly) on a play of Shakespeare’s time; if so, the play is likely to have been the one performed by the King’s Men and ascribed by Moseley in 1653 to Fletcher and Shakespeare. Double Falsehood is a tragicomedy; the characters’ names differ from those in Don Quixote, and the story is varied. Henriquez rapes Violante, then falls in love with Leonora, loved by his friend Julio. Her parents agree to the marriage, but Julio interrupts the ceremony. Leonora (who had intended to kill herself) swoons and later takes sanctuary in a nunnery. Julio goes mad with desire for vengeance on his false friend; and the wronged Violante, disguised as a boy, joins a group of shepherds, and is almost raped by one of them. Henriquez’s virtuous brother, Roderick, ignorant of his villainy, helps him to abduct Leonora. Leonora and Violante both denounce Henriquez to Roderick. Finally Henriquez repents and marries Violante, while Julio (now sane) marries Leonora. Some of the motifs of Double Falsehood, such as the disguised heroine wronged by her lover and, particularly, the reuniting and reconciliation of parents with children, recall Shakespeare’s late plays. But most of the dialogue seems un-Shakespearian. Though the play deserved its limited success, it is now no more than an interesting curiosity.

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	A tempestuous noise of thunder and lightning heard. Enter severally a Shipmaster and a Boatswain
MASTER	Boatswain!
BOATSWAIN	Here, Master. What cheer?
MASTER	Good, speak to th’ mariners. Fall to’t yarely, or we run ourselves aground. Bestir, bestir!
(didascalia)	Exit
(didascalia)	Enter Mariners
BOATSWAIN	Heigh, my hearts! Cheerly, cheerly, my hearts! Yare, yare! Take in the topsail! Tend to th’ Master’s whistte!—Blow till thou burst thy wind, if room enough. Enter Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Ferdinand, Gonzalo, and others
ALONSO	Good Boatswain, have care. Where’s the Master? (To the Mariners) Play the men!
BOATSWAIN	I pray now, keep below.
ANTONIO	Where is the Master, Boatswain?
BOATSWAIN	Do you not hear him? You mar our labour. Keep your cabins; you do assist the storm.
GONZALO	Nay, good, be patient.
BOATSWAIN	When the sea is. Hence! What cares these roarers for the name of king? To cabin! Silence; trouble us not.
GONZALO	Good, yet remember whom thou hast aboard.
BOATSWAIN	None that I more love than myself. You are a councillor; if you can command these elements to silence and work peace of the present, we will not hand a rope more. Use your authority. If you cannot, give thanks you have lived so long and make yourself ready in your cabin for the mischance of the hour, if it so hap. (To the Mariners) Cheerly, good hearts! (To Gonzalo) Out of our way, I say!
(didascalia)	Exit
GONZALO	I have great comfort from this fellow. Methinks he hath no drowning mark upon him; his complexion is perfect gallows. Stand fast, good Fate, to his hanging. Make the rope of his destiny our cable, for our own doth little advantage. If he be not born to be hanged, our case is miserable.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Courtiers
(didascalia)	Enter Boatswain
BOATSWAIN	Down with the topmast! Yare! Lower, lower! Bring her to try wi’th’ main-course! A cry within A plague upon this howling! They are louder than the weather, or our office.
(didascalia)	Enter Sebastian, Antonio, and Gonzalo
BOATSWAIN	Yet again? What do you here? Shall we give o’er and drown? Have you a mind to sink?
SEBASTIAN	A pox o’your throat, you bawling, blasphemous, incharitable dog!
BOATSWAIN	Work you, then.
ANTONIO	Hang, cur, hang, you whoreson insolent noisemaker. We are less afraid to be drowned than thou art.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Mariners
GONZALO	I’ll warrant him for drowning, though the ship were no stronger than a nutshell and as leaky as an unstanched wench.
BOATSWAIN	Lay her a-hold, a-hold! Set her two courses! Off to sea again! Lay her off!
(didascalia)	Enter Mariners, wet
MARINERS	All lost! To prayers, to prayers! All lost!
(didascalia)	Exeunt Mariners
BOATSWAIN	What, must our mouths be cold?
GONZALO	The King and Prince at prayers! Let’s assist them, For our case is as theirs.
SEBASTIAN	I’m out of patience.
ANTONIO	We are merely cheated of our lives by drunkards. This wide-chopped rascal—would thou mightst lie drowning The washing of ten tides.
GONZALO	He’ll be hanged yet, Though every drop of water swear against it And gape at wid’st to glut him. A confused noise within
MARINERS	(within) Mercy on us! We split, we split! Farewell, my wife and children! Farewell, brother! We split, we split, we spht!
(didascalia)	Axit Boatswain
ANTONIO	Let’s all sink wi’th’ King.
SEBASTIAN	Let’s take leave of him.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Antonio and Sebastian
GONZALO	Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground: long heath, broom, furze, anything. The wills above be done, but I would fain die a dry death. Exit

Chi parla	Battuta
(didascalia)	Si ode un fragore tempestoso di tuono e di lampi. Entrano da parti opposte un Capitano di nave e un Nostromo
CAPITANO	Nostromo!
NOSTROMO	Son qui, Capitano. Che c’è di buono?
CAPITANO	Bene, parla ai marinai. Datevi da fare, e in fretta, o finiamo in secca. Muovetevi, muovetevi!
(didascalia)	Esce
(didascalia)	Entrano i Marinai
NOSTROMO	Ehi, cuori miei! Animo, animo, cuori miei! Svelti, svelti! Ammainate la gabbia! Attenti al fischio del Capitano!—Soffia fino a scoppiarne il tuo vento, se c’è spazio abbastanza. Entrano Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Ferdinand, Gonzalo e altri
ALONSO	Buon Nostromo, abbi cura. Dov’è il Capitano? (Ai marinai) Fate da uomini!
NOSTROMO	Vi prego, ora, restate sottocoperta.
ANTONIO	Dov’è il Capitano, Nostromo?
NOSTROMO	Non lo sentite? Ci guastate la fatica. State nelle vostre cabine: date man forte alla tempesta.
GONZALO	Suvvia, buon uomo, sii paziente.
NOSTROMO	Quando lo sarà il mare. Via di qui! Che importa a questi ruggenti del nome di re? In cabina! Silenzio; non ci disturbate.
GONZALO	Bene, ma ricordati chi hai a bordo.
NOSTROMO	Nessuno che io ami più di me stesso. Voi siete consigliere; se sapete comandare a questi elementi il silenzio e far pace col momento presente, non toccheremo più una cima. Usate la vostra autorità. Se non potete, ringraziate d’aver vissuto tanto a lungo e preparatevi nella vostra cabina alla sventura dell’ora, se mai debba venire. (Ai marinai) Animo, bravi cuori! (A Gonzalo) Fuori dai piedi, dico!
(didascalia)	Esce
GONZALO	Da costui traggo gran conforto. Mi pare che non abbia addosso alcun marchio d’annegato; la sua cera è perfetto patibolo. Tieni fermo, buon Destino, alla sua impiccagione. Fa’ della corda del suo destino la nostra gomena, ché la nostra ci giova poco. Se non è nato per essere impiccato, il nostro caso è miserevole.
(didascalia)	Escono i Cortigiani
(didascalia)	Entra il Nostromo
NOSTROMO	Giù l’albero di gabbia! Svelti! Più giù, più giù! Mettetela alla cappa con la maestra! Un grido dall’interno La peste su questi urli! Son più forti del tempo, e del nostro lavoro.
(didascalia)	Entrano Sebastian, Antonio e Gonzalo
NOSTROMO	Ancora? Che fate qui? Dobbiamo lasciar tutto e annegare? Avete voglia di colare a picco?
SEBASTIAN	Il canchero alla tua gola, cane urlatore, bestemmiatore, spietato!
NOSTROMO	Lavorate voi, allora.
ANTONIO	Impiccati, botolo, impiccati, insolente schiamazzatore figlio di puttana. Abbiamo meno paura d’annegare di quanta ne hai tu.
(didascalia)	Escono i Marinai
GONZALO	Garantisco io che non annegherà, foss’anche la nave non più salda d’un guscio di noce e sconnessa come una femmina che non si tura.
NOSTROMO	Tenetela al vento, al vento! Spiegate le due vele basse! Di nuovo al largo! Portatela fuori!
(didascalia)	Entrano i Marinai, fradici
MARINAI	Tutto perduto! Alle preghiere, alle preghiere! Tutto perduto!
(didascalia)	Escono i Marinai
NOSTROMO	Come, dovranno restar fredde le nostre bocche?
GONZALO	Il Re e il Principe in preghiera! Andiamo ad assisterli, ché il nostro caso è come il loro.
SEBASTIAN	Non ho più pazienza.
ANTONIO	Ci vengon rubate le vite, e solo da ubriaconi. Questo furfante dalle larghe mascelle—potessi tu giacere annegato al lavacro di dieci maree.
GONZALO	Sarà impiccato lo stesso, anche se ogni goccia d’acqua giurasse il contrario e spalancasse la bocca per inghiottirlo. Un rumore confuso dall’interno
MARINAI	(dall’interno) Pietà di noi! Ci spacchiamo, ci spacchiamo! Addio, moglie e figli miei! Addio, fratello! Ci spacchiamo, ci spacchiamo, ci spacchiamo!
(didascalia)	Esce il Nostromo
ANTONIO	Affondiamo tutti insieme al Re.
SEBASTIAN	Andiamo a congedarci da lui.
(didascalia)	Escono Antonio e Sebastian
GONZALO	Ora darei mille miglia di mare per un acro di terra sterile: brughiera alta, ginestra, ulice, qualunque cosa. Sia fatta la volontà del cielo, ma vorrei pur morire d’una morte asciutta. Esce

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Prospero in his magic cloak, with a staff, and Miranda
MIRANDA	If by your art, my dearest father, you have Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them. The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch, But that the sea, mounting to th’ welkin’s cheek, Dashes the fire out. O, I have suffered With those that I saw suffer! A brave vessel, Who had, no doubt, some noble creature in her, Dashed all to pieces! O, the cry did knock Against my very heart! Poor souls, they perished. Had I been any god of power, I would Have sunk the sea within the earth, or ere It should the good ship so have swallowed and The fraughting souls within her.
PROSPERO	Be collected. No more amazement. Tell your piteous heart There’s no harm done.
MIRANDA	O woe the day!
PROSPERO	No harm. I have done nothing but in care of thee, Of thee, my dear one, thee, my daughter, who Art ignorant of what thou art, naught knowing Of whence I am, nor that I am more better Than Prospero, master of a full poor cell And thy no greater father.
MIRANDA	More to know Did never meddle with my thoughts.
PROSPERO	’Tis time I should inform thee farther. Lend thy hand, And pluck my magic garment from me.
(didascalia)	Miranda removes Prospero’s cloak, and he lays it
(didascalia)	on the ground
PROSPERO	So. Lie there, my art.—Wipe thou thine eyes; have comfort. The direful spectacle of the wreck, which touched The very virtue of compassion in thee, I have with such provision in mine art So safely ordered that there is no soul— No, not so much perdition as an hair Betid to any creature in the vessel, Which thou heard‘st cry, which thou saw’st sink. Sit down, For thou must now know farther. Miranda sits
MIRANDA	You have often Begun to tell me what I am, but stopped And left me to a bootless inquisition, Concluding ‘Stay; not yet’.
PROSPERO	The hour’s now come. The very minute bids thee ope thine ear, Obey, and be attentive. Canst thou remember A time before we came unto this cell? I do not think thou canst, for then thou wast not Out three years old.
MIRANDA	Certainly, sir, I can.
PROSPERO	By what? By any other house or person? Of anything the image tell me that Hath kept with thy remembrance.
MIRANDA	’Tis far off, And rather like a dream than an assurance That my remembrance warrants. Had I not Four or five women once that tended me?
PROSPERO	Thou hadst, and more, Miranda. But how is it That this lives in thy mind? What seest thou else In the dark backward and abyss of time? If thou rememb‘rest aught ere thou cam’st here, How thou cam’st here thou mayst.
MIRANDA	But that I do not.
PROSPERO	Twelve year since, Miranda, twelve year since, Thy father was the Duke of Milan, and A prince of power—
MIRANDA	Sir, are not you my father?
PROSPERO	Thy mother was a piece of virtue, and She said thou wast my daughter; and thy father Was Duke of Milan, and his only heir And princess no worse issued.
MIRANDA	O the heavens! What foul play had we that we came from thence? Or blessed was’t we did?
PROSPERO	Both, both, my girl. By foul play, as thou sayst, were we heaved thence, But blessedly holp hither.
MIRANDA	O, my heart bleeds To think o’th’ teen that I have turned you to, Which is from my remembrance. Please you, farther.
PROSPERO	My brother and thy uncle called Antonio— I pray thee mark me, that a brother should Be so perfidious—he whom next thyself Of all the world I loved, and to him put The manage of my state—as at that time Through all the signories it was the first, And Prospero the prime duke—being so reputed In dignity, and for the liberal arts Without a parallel—those being all my study, The government I cast upon my brother, And to my state grew stranger, being transported And rapt in secret studies. Thy false uncle— Dost thou attend me?
MIRANDA	Sir, most heedfully.
PROSPERO	Being once perfected how to grant suits, How to deny them, who t‘advance and who To trash for over-topping, new created The creatures that were mine, I say—or changed ’em Or else new formed ’em; having both the key Of officer and office, set all hearts i’th’ state To what tune pleased his ear, that now he was The ivy which had hid my princely trunk And sucked my verdure out on’t. Thou attend’st not!
MIRANDA	O good sir, I do.
PROSPERO	I pray thee mark me. I, thus neglecting worldly ends, all dedicated To closeness and the bettering of my mind With that which but by being so retired O‘er-priced all popular rate, in my false brother Awaked an evil nature; and my trust, Like a good parent, did beget of him A falsehood, in its contrary as great As my trust was, which had indeed no limit, A confidence sans bound. He being thus lorded Not only with what my revenue yielded But what my power might else exact, like one Who having into truth, by telling oft, Made such a sinner of his memory To credit his own lie, he did believe He was indeed the Duke. Out o’th’ substitution, And executing th’outward face of royalty With all prerogative, hence his ambition growing— Dost thou hear?
MIRANDA	Your tale, sir, would cure deafness.
PROSPERO	To have no screen between this part he played And him he played it for, he needs will be Absolute Milan. Me, poor man—my library Was dukedom large enough—of temporal royalties He thinks me now incapable; confederates, So dry he was for sway, wi’th’ King of Naples To give him annual tribute, do him homage, Subject his coronet to his crown, and bend The dukedom, yet unbowed—alas,poor Milan— To most ignoble stooping.
MIRANDA	O the heavens!
PROSPERO	Mark his condition and th’event, then tell me If this might be a brother.
MIRANDA	I should sin To think but nobly of my grandmother. Good wombs have borne bad sons.
PROSPERO	Now the condition. This King of Naples, being an enemy To me inveterate, hearkens my brother’s suit; Which was that he, in lieu o‘th’ premises Of homage and I know not how much tribute, Should presently extirpate me and mine Out of the dukedom, and confer fair Milan, With all the honours, on my brother. Whereon, A treacherous army levied, one midnight Fated to th’ purpose did Antonio open The gates of Milan; and, i’th’ dead of darkness, The ministers for th’ purpose hurried thence Me and thy crying self.
MIRANDA	Alack, for pity! I, not rememb’ring how I cried out then, Will cry it o’er again; it is a hint That wrings mine eyes to’t.
(didascalia)	PROSPERO sitting
MIRANDA	Hear a little further, And then I’ll bring thee to the present business Which now’s upon’s, without the which this story Were most impertinent.
MIRANDA	Wherefore did they not That hour destroy us?
PROSPERO	Well demanded, wench; My tale provokes that question. Dear, they durst not, So dear the love my people bore me; nor set A mark so bloody on the business, but With colours fairer painted their foul ends. In few, they hurried us aboard a barque, Bore us some leagues to sea, where they prepared A rotten carcass of a butt, not rigged, Nor tackle, sail, nor mast—the very rats Instinctively have quit it. There they hoist us, To cry to th’ sea that roared to us, to sigh To th’winds, whose pity, sighing back again, Did us but loving wrong.
MIRANDA	Alack, what trouble Was I then to you!
PROSPERO	O,a cherubin Thou wast that did preserve me. Thou didst smile, Infused with a fortitude from heaven, When I have decked the sea with drops full salt, Under my burden groaned; which raised in me An undergoing stomach, to bear up Against what should ensue.
MIRANDA	How came we ashore?
PROSPERO	By providence divine. Some food we had, and some fresh water, that A noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo, Out of his charity—who being then appointed Master of this design—did give us; with Rich garments, linens, stuffs, and necessaries Which since have steaded much. So, of his gentleness, Knowing I loved my books, he furnished me From mine own library with volumes that I prize above my dukedom.
MIRANDA	Would I might But ever see that man!
PROSPERO	Now I arise.
(didascalia)	He stands and puts on his cloak
PROSPERO	Sit still, and hear the last of our sea-sorrow. Here in this island we arrived, and here Have I thy schoolmaster made thee more profit Than other princes can, that have more time For vainer hours and tutors not so careful.
MIRANDA	Heavens thank you for’t. And now I pray you, sir— For still ’tis beating in my mind—your reason For raising this sea-storm.
PROSPERO	Know thus far forth. By accident most strange, bountiful Fortune, Now my dear lady, hath mine enemies Brought to this shore; and by my prescience I find my zenith doth depend upon A most auspicious star, whose influence If now I court not, but omit, my fortunes Will ever after droop. Here cease more questions. Thou art inclined to sleep; ’tis a good dullness, And give it way. I know thou canst not choose. Miranda sleeps Come away, servant, come! I am ready now. Approach, my Ariel, come!
(didascalia)	Enter Ariel
ARIEL	All hail, great master, grave sir, hail. I come To answer thy best pleasure. Be’t to fly, To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride On the curled clouds, to thy strong bidding task Ariel and all his quality.
PROSPERO	Hast thou, spirit, Performed to point the tempest that I bade thee?
ARIEL	To every article. I boarded the King’s ship. Now on the beak, Now in the waste, the deck, in every cabin, I flamed amazement. Sometime I’d divide, And burn in many places; on the top-mast, The yards, and bowsprit, would I flame distinctly; Then meet and join. Jove’s lightning, the precursors O’th’ dreadful thunderclaps, more momentary And sight-outrunning were not. The fire and cracks Of sulphurous roaring the most mighty Neptune Seem to besiege, and make his bold waves tremble, Yea, his dread trident shake.
PROSPERO	My brave spirit! Who was so firm, so constant, that this coil Would not infect his reason?
ARIEL	Not a soul But felt a fever of the mad, and played Some tricks of desperation. All but mariners Plunged in the foaming brine and quit the vessel, Then all afire with me. The King’s son Ferdinand, With hair upstaring—then like reeds, not hair— Was the first man that leaped; cried ‘Hell is empty, And all the devils are here’.
PROSPERO	Why, that’s my spirit! But was not this nigh shore?
ARIEL	Close by, my master.
PROSPERO	But are they, Ariel, safe?
ARIEL	Not a hair perished. On their sustaining garments not a blemish, But fresher than before. And, as thou bad’st me, In troops I have dispersed them ’bout the isle. The King’s son have I landed by himself, Whom I left cooling of the air with sighs In an odd angle of the isle, and sitting, His arms in this sad knot.
PROSPERO	Of the King’s ship, The mariners, say how thou hast disposed, And all the rest o’th’ fleet.
ARIEL	Safely in harbour Is the King’s ship, in the deep nook where cnce Thou called‘st me up at midnight to fetch dew From the still-vexed Bermudas, there she’s hid; The mariners all under hatches stowed, Who, with a charm joined to their suffered labour, I have left asleep. And for the rest o’th’ fleet, Which I dispersed, they all have met again, And are upon the Mediterranean float Bound sadly home for Naples, Supposing that they saw the King’s ship wrecked, And his great person perish.
PROSPERO	Ariel, thy charge Exactly is performed; but there’s more work. What is the time o’th’ day?
ARIEL	Past the mid season.
PROSPERO	At least two glasses. The time ’twixt six and now Must by us both be spent most preciously.
ARIEL	Is there more toil? Since thou dost give me pains, Let me remember thee what thou hast promised Which is not yet performed me.
PROSPERO	How now? Moody? What is’t thou canst demand?
ARIEL	My liberty.
PROSPERO	Before the time be out? No more!
ARIEL	I prithee, Remember I have done thee worthy service, Told thee no lies, made thee no mistakings, served Without or grudge or grumblings. Thou did promise To bate me a full year.
PROSPERO	Dost thou forget From what a torment I did free thee?
ARIEL	No.
PROSPERO	Thou dost, and think‘st it much to tread the ooze Of the salt deep, To run upon the sharp wind of the north, To do me business in the veins o’th’ earth When it is baked with frost.
ARIEL	I do not, sir.
PROSPERO	Thou liest, malignant thing. Hast thou forgot The foul witch Sycorax, who with age and envy Was grown into a hoop? Hast thou forgot her?
ARIEL	No, sir.
PROSPERO	Thou hast. Where was she born? Speak, tell me!
ARIEL	Sir, in Algiers.
PROSPERO	O, was she so! I must Once in a month recount what thou hast been, Which thou forget‘st. This damned witch Sycorax, For mischiefs manifold and sorceries terrible To enter human hearing, from Algiers Thou know’st was banished. For one thing she did They would not take her life. Is not this true?
ARIEL	Ay, sir.
PROSPERO	This blue-eyed hag was hither brought with child, And here was left by th’ sailors. Thou, my slave, As thou report’st thyself, was then her servant; And for thou wast a spirit too delicate To act her earthy and abhorred commands, Refusing her grand hests, she did confine thee By help of her more potent ministers, And in her most unmitigable rage, Into a cloven pine; within which rift Imprisoned thou didst painfully remain A dozen years, within which space she died And left thee there, where thou didst vent thy groans As fast as mill-wheels strike. Then was this island— Save for the son that she did litter here, A freckled whelp, hag-born—not honoured with A human shape.
ARIEL	Yes, Caliban her son.
PROSPERO	Dull thing, I say so: he, that Caliban Whom now I keep in service. Thou best know’st What torment I did find thee in. Thy groans Did make wolves howl, and penetrate the breasts Of ever-angry bears; it was a torment To lay upon the damned, which Sycorax Could not again undo. It was mine art, When I arrived and heard thee, that made gape The pine and let thee out.
ARIEL	I thank thee, master.
PROSPERO	If thou more murmur’st, I will rend an oak, And peg thee in his knotty entrails till Thou hast howled away twelve winters.
ARIEL	Pardon, master. I will be correspondent to command, And do my spriting gently.
PROSPERO	Do so, and after two days I will discharge thee.
ARIEL	That’s my noble master! What shall I do? Say what, what shall I do?
PROSPERO	Go make thyself like to a nymph o’th’ sea. Be subject To no sight but thine and mine, invisible To every eyeball else. Go take this shape, And hither come in’t. Go; hence with diligence!
(didascalia)	Exit Ariel
PROSPERO	Awake, dear heart, awake! Thou hast slept well; Awake.
MIRANDA	(awaking) The strangeness of your story put Heaviness in me.
PROSPERO	Shake it off. Come on; We’ll visit Caliban my slave, who never Yields us kind answer.
MIRANDA	’Tis a villain, sir, I do not love to look on.
PROSPERO	But as ’tis, We cannot miss him. He does make our fire, Fetch in our wood, and serves in offices That profit us.—What ho! Slave, Caliban! Thou earth, thou, speak!
CALIBAN	(within) There’s wood enough within.
PROSPERO	Come forth, I say! There’s other business for thee. Come, thou tortoise! When?
(didascalia)	Enter Ariel, like a water-nymph
PROSPERO	Fine apparition! My quaint Ariel, Hark in thine ear. He whispers
ARIEL	My lord, it shall be done. Exit
PROSPERO	Thou poisonous slave, got by the devil himself Upon thy wicked dam, come forth!
(didascalia)	Enter Caliban
CALIBAN	As wicked dew as e’er my mother brushed With raven’s feather from unwholesome fen Drop on you both! A southwest blow on ye, And blister you all o’er!
PROSPERO	For this be sure tonight thou shalt have cramps, Side-stitches that shall pen thy breath up. Urchins Shall forth at vast of night, that they may work All exercise on thee. Thou shalt be pinched As thick as honeycomb, each pinch more stinging Than bees that made ’em.
CALIBAN	I must eat my dinner. This island’s mine, by Sycorax my mother, Which thou tak’st from me. When thou cam’st first, Thou strok’st me and made much of me, wouldst give me Water with berries in’t, and teach me how To name the bigger light, and how the less, That burn by day and night; and then I loved thee, And showed thee all the qualities o’th’ isle, The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place and fertile— Cursed be I that did so! All the charms Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you; For I am all the subjects that you have, Which first was mine own king, and here you sty me In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me The rest o’th’ island.
PROSPERO	Thou most lying slave, Whom stripes may move, not kindness! I have used thee, Filth as thou art, with human care, and lodged thee In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate The honour of my child.
CALIBAN	O ho,O ho! Would’t had been done! Thou didst prevent me; I had peopled else This isle with Calibans.
MIRANDA	Abhorred slave, Which any print of goodness wilt not take, Being capable of all ill! I pitied thee, Took pains to make thee speak, taught thee each hour One thing or other. When thou didst not, savage, Know thine own meaning, but wouldst gabble like A thing most brutish, I endowed thy purposes With words that made them known. But thy vile race, Though thou didst learn, had that in’t which good natures Could not abide to be with; therefore wast thou Deservedly confined into this rock, Who hadst deserved more than a prison.
CALIBAN	You taught me language, and my profit on’t Is I know how to curse. The red plague rid you For learning me your language!
PROSPERO	Hag-seed, hence! Fetch us in fuel. And be quick, thou’rt best, To answer other business.—Shrug’st thou, malice? If thou neglect’st or dost unwillingly What I command, I’ll rack thee with old cramps, Fill all thy bones with aches, make thee roar, That beasts shall tremble at thy din.
CALIBAN	No, pray thee. (Aside) I must obey. His art is of such power It would control my dam’s god Setebos, And make a vassal of him.
PROSPERO	So, slave, hence!
(didascalia)	Exit Caliban
(didascalia)	Enter Ariel like a water-nymph,playing and
PROSPERO	singing, invisible to Ferdinand, who follows.
(didascalia)	Prospero and Miranda stand aside
(didascalia)	Song
ARIEL	Come unto these yellow sands, And then take hands; Curtsied when you have and kissed— The wild waves whist— Foot it featly here and there, And, sweet sprites, bear The burden. Hark, hark.
(didascalia)	SPIRITS (dispersedly within)
ARIEL	Bow-wow!
(didascalia)	ARIEL
ARIEL	The watch-dogs bark. FSPIRITS] (within) Bow-wow!
ARIEL	Hark, hark, I hear The strain of strutting Chanticleer Cry ‘cock-a-diddle-dow’.
FERDINAND	Where should this music be? I’th’ air or th’earth? It sounds no more; and sure it waits upon Some god o‘th’ island. Sitting on a bank, Weeping again the King my father’s wreck, This music crept by me upon the waters, Allaying both their fury and my passion With its sweet air. Thence I have followed it— Or it hath drawn me rather. But ’tis gone. No, it begins again.
(didascalia)	Song
ARIEL	Full fathom five thy father lies. Of his bones are coral made; Those are pearls that were his eyes; Nothing of him that doth fade But doth suffer a sea-change Into something rich and strange. Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:
(didascalia)	SPIRITS(within) Ding dong.
ARIEL	Hark, now I hear them.
(didascalia)	SPIRITS(within)
(didascalia)	Ding-dong bell. etc.
FERDINAND	The ditty does remember my drowned father. This is no mortal business, nor no sound That the earth owes.
(didascalia)	Music
FERDINAND	I hear it now above me.
PROSPERO	(to Miranda) The fringed curtains of thine eye advance, And say what thou seest yon.
MIRANDA	What is’t? A spirit? Lord, how it looks about! Believe me, sir, It carries a brave form. But ’tis a spirit.
PROSPERO	No, wench, it eats and sleeps, and hath such senses As we have, such. This gallant which thou seest Was in the wreck, and but he’s something stained With grief, that’s beauty’s canker, thou mightst call him A goodly person. He hath lost his fellows, And strays about to find ’em.
MIRANDA	I might call him A thing divine, for nothing natural I ever saw so noble.
PROSPERO	(aside) It goes on, I see, As my soul prompts it. (To Ariel) Spirit, fine spirit, I’ll free thee
(didascalia)	Within two days for this.
(didascalia)	FERDINAND aside
PROSPERO	Most sure the goddess On whom these airs attend. (To Miranda) Vouchsafe my prayer 425 May know if you remain upon this island, And that you will some good instruction give How I may bear me here. My prime request, Which I do last pronounce, is—O you wonder— If you be maid or no?
MIRANDA	No wonder, sir, But certainly a maid.
FERDINAND	My language! Heavens! I am the best of them that speak this speech, Were I but where ’tis spoken.
PROSPERO	How, the best? What wert thou if the King of Naples heard thee?
FERDINAND	A single thing, as I am now that wonders To hear thee speak of Naples. He does hear me, And that he does I weep. Myself am Naples, Who with mine eyes, never since at ebb, beheld The King my father wrecked.
MIRANDA	Alack, for mercy!
FERDINAND	Yes, faith, and all his lords, the Duke of Milan And his brave son being twain.
PROSPERO	(aside) The Duke of Milan And his more braver daughter could control thee, If now ’twere fit to do’t. At the first sight They have changed eyes.—Deticate Ariel, I’ll set thee free for this. (To Ferdinand) A word, good sir. 445 I fear you have done yourself some wrong. A word.
MIRANDA	(aside) Why speaks my father so ungently? This Is the third man that e’er I saw, the first That e’er I sighed for. Pity move my father To be inclined my way.
FERDINAND	O, if a virgin, And your affection not gone forth, I’ll make you The Queen of Naples.
PROSPERO	Soft, sir! One word more. (Aside) They are both in either’s powers. But this swift business I must uneasy make, lest too light winning Make the prize light. (To Ferdinand) One word more. I charge thee That thou attend me. Thou dost here usurp The name thou ow’st not; and hast put thyself Upon this island as a spy, to win it From me the lord on’t.
FERDINAND	No, as I am a man.
MIRANDA	There’s nothing ill can dwell in such a temple. If the ill spirit have so fair a house, Good things will strive to dwell with’t.
PROSPERO	(to Ferdinand) Follow me. (To Miranda) Speak not you for him; he’s a traitor. (To Ferdinand) Come! I’ll manacle thy neck and feet together. Sea-water shalt thou drink; thy food shall be The fresh-brook mussels, withered roots, and husks Wherein the acorn cradled. Follow!
FERDINAND	No. I will resist such entertainment 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.
PROSPERO	What, I say, My foot my tutor? Put thy sword up, traitor, Who mak‘st a show but dar’st not strike, thy conscience Is so possessed with guilt. Come from thy ward, For I can here disarm thee with this stick And make thy weapon drop.
MIRANDA	Beseech you, father!
PROSPERO	Hence! Hang not on my garments.
MIRANDA	Sir, have pity. I’ll be his surety.
PROSPERO	Silencel One word more Shall make me chide thee, if not hate thee. What, An advocate for an impostor? Hush! Thou think’st there is no more such shapes as he, Having seen but him and Caliban. Foolish wench! To 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	(to Ferdinand) Come on; obey. Thy nerves are in their infancy again, And have no vigour in them.
FERDINAND	So they are. My spirits, 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 through my prison once a day Behold this maid. All corners else o’th’ earth Let liberty make use of; space enough Have I in such a prison.
PROSPERO	(aside) It works. (To Ferdinand) Come on.— Thou hast done well, fine Ariel. (To Ferdinand) Follow me. (To Ariel) Hark what thou else shalt do me.
MIRANDA	(to Ferdinand) Be of comfort. My father’s of a better nature, sir, Than he appears by speech. This is unwonted Which now came from him.
PROSPERO	(to Ariel) Thou shalt be as free As mountain winds; but then exactly do All points of my command.
ARIEL	To th’ syllable.
PROSPERO	(to Ferdinand) Come, follow. (To Miranda) Speak not for him.
(didascalia)	Exeunt

Chi parla	Battuta
(didascalia)	Entra Prospero nel suo mantello magico, con un bastone, e Miranda
MIRANDA	Se con la vostra arte, padre carissimo, avete messo in questo fragore le acque selvagge, placatele. Il cielo, pare, vorrebbe rovesciare pece fetida, se non che il mare, salendo alla guancia del firmamento, ne spegne il fuoco. Oh, ho sofferto con quelli che ho visto soffrire! Un nobile vascello, che aveva, senza dubbio, qualche nobile creatura a bordo, fatto tutto in pezzi! Oh, quel grido percosse il mio cuore stesso! Povere anime, sono perite. Fossi stata un dio di potenza, avrei sprofondato il mare dentro la terra, prima che inghiottisse così la buona nave e le anime che portava in grembo.
PROSPERO	Rasserénati. Basta sgomento. Di’ al tuo cuore pietoso che nessun male è stato fatto.
MIRANDA	Oh, giorno di sventura!
PROSPERO	Nessun male. Nulla ho fatto se non per cura di te, di te, mia cara, di te, figlia mia, che ignori ciò che sei, nulla sapendo di donde io venga, né che io sia altro e meglio che Prospero, signore d’una assai povera cella e tuo padre non più grande.
MIRANDA	Saperne di più non s’è mai immischiato coi miei pensieri.
PROSPERO	È tempo ch’io t’informi oltre. Porgi la mano, e togli da me la mia veste magica.
(didascalia)	Miranda toglie a Prospero il mantello, ed egli lo depone
(didascalia)	a terra
PROSPERO	Così. Giaci lì, arte mia.—Asciugati gli occhi; consòlati. Il tremendo spettacolo del naufragio, che ha toccato in te la virtù stessa della compassione, io l’ho con tale previdenza nella mia arte ordinato al sicuro che non v’è anima— no, non tanta perdita quanto un capello è occorsa ad alcuna creatura di quel vascello, che udisti gridare, che vedesti affondare. Siedi qui, ché ora devi saperne di più. Miranda si siede
MIRANDA	Spesso avete cominciato a dirmi ciò che sono, ma vi siete fermato lasciandomi a una vana inchiesta, concludendo: «Férmati; non ancora».
PROSPERO	L’ora è venuta. Il minuto stesso ti comanda d’aprire l’orecchio, d’obbedire e d’essere attenta. Puoi ricordare un tempo prima che venissimo a questa cella? Non credo che tu possa, ché allora non avevi compiuto i tre anni.
MIRANDA	Certamente, signore, posso.
PROSPERO	Da che? Da qualche altra casa o persona? Di qualunque cosa dimmi l’immagine che sia rimasta nel tuo ricordo.
MIRANDA	È lontano, e più simile a un sogno che a una certezza garantita dalla mia memoria. Non avevo quattro o cinque donne, un tempo, che mi accudivano?
PROSPERO	Le avevi, e di più, Miranda. Ma com’è che questo vive nella tua mente? Che altro vedi nel buio retrocedere e nell’abisso del tempo? Se ricordi qualcosa prima che qui giungessi, puoi ricordare come qui giungesti.
MIRANDA	Ma questo no.
PROSPERO	Dodici anni fa, Miranda, dodici anni fa, tuo padre era il Duca di Milano, e un principe di potenza—
MIRANDA	Signore, non siete voi mio padre?
PROSPERO	Tua madre era un modello di virtù, e disse che tu eri mia figlia; e tuo padre era Duca di Milano, e la sua unica erede principessa di non minore nascita.
MIRANDA	Oh cieli! Quale trama scellerata ci portò via di là? O fu benedizione che ne venissimo?
PROSPERO	Entrambe, entrambe, bambina mia. Per trama scellerata, come dici, di là fummo cacciati, ma benedettamente sospinti qui.
MIRANDA	Oh, mi sanguina il cuore a pensare all’affanno cui vi ho costretto, che è fuori dal mio ricordo. Vi prego, proseguite.
PROSPERO	Mio fratello e tuo zio, chiamato Antonio— ti prego, ascoltami: che un fratello possa essere così perfido!—lui che dopo di te amavo più d’ogni altro al mondo, e a lui affidai la gestione del mio stato—che a quel tempo fra tutte le signorie era il primo, e Prospero il duca sovrano—così reputato in dignità, e per le arti liberali senza pari—ed essendo quelle tutto il mio studio, il governo rovesciai su mio fratello, e al mio stato divenni estraneo, rapito e assorto in studi segreti. Il tuo falso zio— mi stai ascoltando?
MIRANDA	Signore, con la massima attenzione.
PROSPERO	Perfezionatosi una volta nel concedere le suppliche, nel negarle, chi promuovere e chi potare perché troppo s’innalza, ricreò le creature che erano mie, dico—o le mutò o le riformò daccapo; avendo la chiave e dell’ufficiale e dell’ufficio, accordò tutti i cuori dello stato sul tono che piaceva al suo orecchio, sicché ormai egli era l’edera che aveva nascosto il mio tronco principesco e ne aveva succhiato via il verde. Non mi ascolti!
MIRANDA	Oh, buon signore, vi ascolto.
PROSPERO	Ti prego, ascoltami. Io, trascurando così i fini mondani, tutto dedito al ritiro e al perfezionamento della mia mente con ciò che, solo per essere tanto appartato, superava ogni stima comune, nel mio falso fratello destai una malvagia natura; e la mia fiducia, come un buon padre, generò in lui una falsità grande, nel suo contrario, quanto grande era la mia fiducia, che davvero non aveva limite, una confidenza senza confini. Fatto egli così signore non solo di quanto rendeva la mia entrata, ma di quanto altro il mio potere potesse esigere, come colui che, della verità, a forza di ripeterla, fa tal peccatrice della propria memoria da prestar fede alla sua stessa menzogna, credette d’essere davvero il Duca. Dalla sostituzione, e dall’esercitare la faccia esteriore della regalità con ogni prerogativa, crebbe quindi la sua ambizione— mi senti?
MIRANDA	Il vostro racconto, signore, guarirebbe la sordità.
PROSPERO	Per non aver schermo tra la parte che recitava e colui per cui la recitava, volle a ogni costo essere Milano assoluto. Me, pover’uomo—la mia biblioteca era ducato abbastanza grande—delle regalità temporali mi giudica ormai incapace; s’accorda, tanta sete aveva di dominio, col Re di Napoli per dargli tributo annuo, rendergli omaggio, sottomettere la sua coroncina alla corona di lui, e piegare il ducato, finora mai piegato—ahimè, povera Milano— al più ignobile inchino.
MIRANDA	Oh cieli!
PROSPERO	Nota la sua condizione e l’esito, poi dimmi se questi possa essere un fratello.
MIRANDA	Peccherei a non pensare nobilmente di mia nonna. Buoni grembi han partorito cattivi figli.
PROSPERO	Ora la condizione. Questo Re di Napoli, essendo nemico mio inveterato, dà ascolto alla supplica di mio fratello; la quale era che egli, in cambio delle premesse d’omaggio e non so quanto tributo, dovesse all’istante estirpare me e i miei fuori dal ducato, e conferire la bella Milano, con tutti gli onori, a mio fratello. Onde, levato un esercito traditore, una mezzanotte fatata allo scopo Antonio aprì le porte di Milano; e, nel fitto del buio, i ministri deputati allo scopo di là trascinarono me e il tuo piangente io.
MIRANDA	Ahimè, che pietà! Io, non ricordando come allora gridai, tornerò a gridarlo; è uno spunto che mi strizza gli occhi a farlo.
(didascalia)	PROSPERO si siede
MIRANDA	Ascolta ancora un poco, e poi ti condurrò all’affare presente che ora ci incombe, senza il quale questa storia sarebbe del tutto impertinente.
MIRANDA	Perché non ci distrussero in quell’ora?
PROSPERO	Bene domandato, ragazza; il mio racconto provoca quella domanda. Cara, non osarono, tanto caro era l’amore che il mio popolo mi portava; né posero un marchio così sanguinoso sull’impresa, ma con colori più belli dipinsero i loro turpi fini. In breve, ci trascinarono a bordo d’una barca, ci portarono qualche lega al largo, dove avevano preparato la carcassa marcita d’un barile, senza sartiame, né gomene, né vela, né albero—i topi stessi per istinto l’avevano abbandonata. Là ci issarono, a gridare al mare che ci ruggiva, a sospirare ai venti, la cui pietà, risospirando, non ci fece che un amoroso torto.
MIRANDA	Ahimè, che pena fui allora per voi!
PROSPERO	Oh, un cherubino tu fosti, che mi preservò. Tu sorridevi, infusa d’una fortezza venuta dal cielo, quando io adornavo il mare di gocce salatissime, gemendo sotto il mio peso; il che destò in me un animo capace di sopportare, per reggere contro ciò che doveva venire.
MIRANDA	Come giungemmo a riva?
PROSPERO	Per divina provvidenza. Un po’ di cibo avemmo, e un po’ d’acqua dolce, che un nobile napoletano, Gonzalo, per la sua carità—essendo allora designato esecutore di questo disegno—ci diede; con ricche vesti, biancherie, stoffe e necessari che poi ci han giovato molto. Così, per la sua gentilezza, sapendo che amavo i miei libri, mi fornì dalla mia stessa biblioteca volumi che apprezzo più del mio ducato.
MIRANDA	Potessi io vedere una volta quell’uomo!
PROSPERO	Ora mi alzo.
(didascalia)	Si alza e indossa il mantello
PROSPERO	Resta seduta, e odi l’ultimo del nostro dolore marino. Qui in quest’isola approdammo, e qui io, tuo maestro, t’ho fatta profittare più di quanto possano altri principi, che hanno più tempo per ore più vane e precettori non così solleciti.
MIRANDA	Il cielo ve ne renda grazie. E ora vi prego, signore— ché ancora mi batte nella mente—la vostra ragione per aver sollevato questa tempesta marina.
PROSPERO	Sappi fin qui. Per accidente stranissimo, la generosa Fortuna, ora mia cara signora, i miei nemici ha portato a questa riva; e per la mia prescienza scopro che il mio zenit dipende da una stella assai propizia, il cui influsso se ora non corteggio, ma trascuro, le mie sorti per sempre appresso languiranno. Qui cessino altre domande. Sei inclinata al sonno; è un buon torpore, e lasciagli via libera. So che non puoi scegliere. Miranda dorme Vieni, servo, vieni! Sono pronto adesso. Accòstati, mio Ariel, vieni!
(didascalia)	Entra Ariel
ARIEL	Salve, gran padrone, grave signore, salve. Vengo a rispondere al tuo miglior piacere. Sia volare, nuotare, tuffarsi nel fuoco, cavalcare sulle nubi arricciate: al tuo forte comando metti all’opera Ariel e tutta la sua schiera.
PROSPERO	Hai tu, spirito, eseguito a puntino la tempesta che t’ordinai?
ARIEL	In ogni articolo. Salii sulla nave del Re. Ora sul rostro, ora a mezza nave, sul ponte, in ogni cabina, fiammeggiai sgomento. Talora mi dividevo, e ardevo in molti luoghi; sull’albero di gabbia, sui pennoni e sul bompresso fiammeggiavo distinto; poi mi riunivo. Le folgori di Giove, precorritrici dei tremendi tuoni, non furono mai più istantanee né più rapide della vista. Il fuoco e gli schianti del ruggito sulfureo parvero assediare il potentissimo Nettuno, e far tremare le sue onde ardite, sì, e vacillare il suo temuto tridente.
PROSPERO	Mio bravo spirito! Chi fu così fermo, così costante, che questo tumulto non infettasse la sua ragione?
ARIEL	Non un’anima che non sentisse una febbre da folli, e non facesse qualche atto di disperazione. Tutti fuorché i marinai si tuffarono nella salsedine spumosa e lasciarono il vascello, tutto in fiamme con me. Il figlio del Re, Ferdinand, coi capelli ritti—canne allora, non capelli— fu il primo a saltare; gridò: «L’inferno è vuoto, e tutti i diavoli sono qui».
PROSPERO	Ecco, questo è il mio spirito! Ma non era vicino a riva?
ARIEL	Vicinissimo, padrone mio.
PROSPERO	Ma sono, Ariel, salvi?
ARIEL	Non un capello è perito. Sulle vesti che li sostennero non una macchia, anzi più fresche di prima. E, come m’ordinasti, a gruppi li ho dispersi per l’isola. Il figlio del Re l’ho sbarcato tutto solo, e l’ho lasciato a rinfrescar l’aria di sospiri in uno strano angolo dell’isola, seduto, le braccia in questo triste nodo.
PROSPERO	Della nave del Re, dei marinai, di’ come hai disposto, e di tutto il resto della flotta.
ARIEL	Al sicuro nel porto è la nave del Re, nella profonda insenatura dove una volta mi chiamasti a mezzanotte a coglier rugiada dalle sempre tempestose Bermude: là è nascosta; i marinai tutti stivati sotto i boccaporti, che, con un incanto unito alla fatica sofferta, ho lasciato addormentati. E quanto al resto della flotta, che dispersi, si sono tutti ritrovati, e sull’onda mediterranea navigano tristemente diretti a casa, verso Napoli, supponendo d’aver visto la nave del Re naufragata e perire la sua gran persona.
PROSPERO	Ariel, il tuo incarico è eseguito esattamente; ma c’è altro lavoro. Che ora è del giorno?
ARIEL	Passato il mezzo del giorno.
PROSPERO	Almeno due ampolle. Il tempo fra le sei e adesso dev’essere da noi due speso preziosamente.
ARIEL	C’è altra fatica? Poiché mi dai travagli, lascia che ti rammenti ciò che hai promesso e che non m’è stato ancora adempiuto.
PROSPERO	E che? Di malumore? Che cosa puoi pretendere?
ARIEL	La mia libertà.
PROSPERO	Prima che il tempo sia scaduto? Basta!
ARIEL	Ti prego, ricorda che t’ho reso degno servizio, non t’ho detto bugie, non t’ho fatto errori, ho servito senza rancore né brontolii. Tu promettesti di scontarmi un anno intero.
PROSPERO	Dimentichi da quale tormento ti liberai?
ARIEL	No.
PROSPERO	Sì, e ti pare gran cosa calcare la melma del salso abisso, correre sull’aspro vento del nord, sbrigarmi faccende nelle vene della terra quando è indurita dal gelo.
ARIEL	Non è così, signore.
PROSPERO	Menti, cosa maligna. Hai dimenticato la turpe strega Sicorace, che per età e invidia s’era piegata in cerchio? L’hai dimenticata?
ARIEL	No, signore.
PROSPERO	Sì. Dov’è nata? Parla, dimmelo!
ARIEL	Signore, in Algeri.
PROSPERO	Oh, era così! Devo una volta al mese raccontarti ciò che sei stato, e che dimentichi. Questa dannata strega Sicorace, per malefici molteplici e stregonerie terribili a entrare in umano udito, da Algeri sai che fu bandita. Per una cosa che fece non le tolsero la vita. Non è forse vero?
ARIEL	Sì, signore.
PROSPERO	Questa megera dagli occhi lividi fu portata qui gravida d’un figlio, e qui fu lasciata dai marinai. Tu, mio schiavo, come tu stesso riferisci, eri allora suo servo; e poiché eri uno spirito troppo delicato per eseguire i suoi terrosi e aborriti comandi, rifiutando i suoi grandi ordini, ella ti confinò con l’aiuto dei suoi ministri più potenti, e nella sua rabbia più inesorabile, dentro un pino spaccato; nella qual fenditura imprigionato dolorosamente rimanesti una dozzina d’anni, nel qual tempo ella morì e ti lasciò là, dove sfogavi i tuoi gemiti fitti come i colpi delle ruote di mulino. Allora quest’isola— salvo il figlio ch’ella figliò qui, un cucciolo lentigginoso, nato da strega—non era onorata di forma umana.
ARIEL	Sì, Calibano suo figlio.
PROSPERO	Cosa ottusa, così dico: lui, quel Calibano che ora tengo al mio servizio. Tu sai meglio d’ogni altro in quale tormento ti trovai. I tuoi gemiti facevano ululare i lupi, e penetravano i petti degli orsi sempre iracondi; era un tormento da infliggere ai dannati, che Sicorace non poté più disfare. Fu la mia arte, quando giunsi e t’udii, a far spalancare il pino e a lasciarti uscire.
ARIEL	Ti ringrazio, padrone.
PROSPERO	Se mormori ancora, squarcerò una quercia, e t’inchioderò nelle sue nodose viscere finché non avrai ululato via dodici inverni.
ARIEL	Perdono, padrone. Sarò conforme al comando, e farò il mio ufficio di spirito docilmente.
PROSPERO	Fa’ così, e dopo due giorni ti congederò.
ARIEL	Ecco il mio nobile padrone! Che devo fare? Di’ che cosa, che devo fare?
PROSPERO	Va’, fatti simile a una ninfa del mare. Non essere visibile ad altra vista che alla tua e alla mia, invisibile a ogni altra pupilla. Va’, prendi questa forma, e in essa torna qui. Va’; via, con diligenza!
(didascalia)	Esce Ariel
PROSPERO	Svegliati, cuore caro, svegliati! Hai dormito bene; svegliati.
MIRANDA	(destandosi) La stranezza del vostro racconto ha messo pesantezza in me.
PROSPERO	Scuotila via. Andiamo; visiteremo Calibano, mio schiavo, che mai ci rende gentile risposta.
MIRANDA	È un furfante, signore, che non amo guardare.
PROSPERO	Ma per come stanno le cose, non possiamo farne a meno. Egli accende il nostro fuoco, porta dentro la legna, e serve in uffici che ci giovano.—Ehilà! Schiavo, Calibano! Tu, terra, tu, parla!
CALIBAN	(da dentro) C’è legna abbastanza qui dentro.
PROSPERO	Vieni fuori, dico! C’è altra faccenda per te. Vieni, tartaruga! Quando?
(didascalia)	Entra Ariel, come ninfa dell’acqua
PROSPERO	Bella apparizione! Mio grazioso Ariel, ascolta nel tuo orecchio. Gli sussurra
ARIEL	Mio signore, sarà fatto. Esce
PROSPERO	Tu, schiavo velenoso, generato dal diavolo in persona sulla tua scellerata madre, vieni fuori!
(didascalia)	Entra Calibano
CALIBAN	Rugiada malefica quanta mai mia madre ne raccolse con penna di corvo da palude insalubre cada su voi due! Un libeccio soffi su di voi, e vi copra tutti di vesciche!
PROSPERO	Per questo, stanne certo, stanotte avrai crampi, fitte al fianco che ti chiuderanno il respiro. Folletti usciranno nel vuoto della notte, per esercitare su di te ogni loro travaglio. Sarai pizzicato fitto come un favo, ogni pizzico più pungente delle api che l’han fatto.
CALIBAN	Devo mangiare il mio pranzo. Quest’isola è mia, per Sicorace mia madre, e tu me la togli. Quando venisti la prima volta, mi accarezzavi e mi vezzeggiavi, mi davi acqua con dentro delle bacche, e m’insegnavi a nominare la luce più grande, e come la minore, che ardono di giorno e di notte; e allora t’amai, e ti mostrai tutte le qualità dell’isola, le fonti fresche, le saline, il luogo sterile e il fertile— maledetto io che lo feci! Tutti gli incanti di Sicorace, rospi, scarafaggi, pipistrelli, cadano su di te; ché io sono tutti i sudditi che hai, io che prima ero re di me stesso, e qui mi rinchiudi in questa dura roccia, mentre mi tieni lontano dal resto dell’isola.
PROSPERO	Schiavo mendacissimo, che le frustate muovono, non la bontà! Io t’ho usato, te, lordura qual sei, con umana cura, e t’ho alloggiato nella mia stessa cella, finché non cercasti di violare l’onore della mia figlia.
CALIBAN	Oh oh, oh oh! Fosse stato fatto! Tu me l’impedisti; altrimenti avrei popolato quest’isola di Calibani.
MIRANDA	Schiavo aborrito, che nessuna impronta di bontà vuoi ricevere, capace d’ogni male! Ebbi pietà di te, mi diedi pena d’insegnarti a parlare, t’insegnai ogni ora una cosa o l’altra. Quando tu, selvaggio, non conoscevi il tuo stesso senso, ma farfugliavi come cosa brutissima, dotai i tuoi intenti di parole che li rendessero noti. Ma la tua vile razza, benché tu imparassi, aveva in sé ciò con cui le buone nature non potevano sopportare di stare; perciò fosti meritatamente confinato in questa roccia, tu che avevi meritato più d’una prigione.
CALIBAN	M’insegnaste la lingua, e il mio guadagno è che so maledire. La peste rossa vi porti via per avermi insegnato la vostra lingua!
PROSPERO	Seme di strega, via! Portaci legna. E sii svelto, ti conviene, per attendere ad altre faccende.—Alzi le spalle, malizia? Se trascuri o fai di malavoglia ciò che comando, ti torturerò con vecchi crampi, ti riempirò le ossa di dolori, ti farò ruggire sì che le bestie tremeranno al tuo fracasso.
CALIBAN	No, ti prego. (A parte) Devo obbedire. La sua arte è di tal potere che dominerebbe Setebo, il dio di mia madre, e ne farebbe un vassallo.
PROSPERO	Così, schiavo, via!
(didascalia)	Esce Calibano
(didascalia)	Entra Ariel come ninfa dell’acqua, suonando e
PROSPERO	cantando, invisibile a Ferdinand, che lo segue.
(didascalia)	Prospero e Miranda si tengono in disparte
(didascalia)	Canzone
ARIEL	Venite su queste sabbie gialle, e poi datevi la mano; fatta la riverenza e dato il bacio— tacciano le onde selvagge— danzate lievi qua e là, e voi, dolci spiriti, reggete il ritornello. Udite, udite.
(didascalia)	SPIRITI (sparsi, da dentro)
ARIEL	Bau-bau!
(didascalia)	ARIEL
ARIEL	I cani da guardia abbaiano. [SPIRITI] (da dentro) Bau-bau!
ARIEL	Udite, udite, sento il canto di Chanticleer che si pavoneggia gridare «chicchirichì».
FERDINAND	Dove sarà questa musica? Nell’aria o nella terra? Non suona più; e certo essa fa corteo a qualche dio dell’isola. Sedendo su una riva, piangendo di nuovo il naufragio del Re mio padre, questa musica mi strisciò accanto sulle acque, placando e la loro furia e la mia passione con la sua dolce aria. Di là l’ho seguita— o piuttosto essa m’ha attratto. Ma è svanita. No, ricomincia.
(didascalia)	Canzone
ARIEL	A cinque tese di fondo giace tuo padre. Delle sue ossa è fatto corallo; sono perle quelli che erano i suoi occhi; nulla di lui che si dissolva che non subisca una marina metamorfosi in qualcosa di ricco e strano. Le ninfe del mare suonano d’ora in ora la sua campana a morto:
(didascalia)	SPIRITI (da dentro) Din don.
ARIEL	Udite, ora li sento.
(didascalia)	SPIRITI (da dentro)
(didascalia)	Din-don campana. ecc.
FERDINAND	La cantilena ricorda il mio padre annegato. Questa non è faccenda mortale, né suono che appartenga alla terra.
(didascalia)	Musica
FERDINAND	Ora la sento sopra di me.
PROSPERO	(a Miranda) Solleva le frangiate cortine dei tuoi occhi, e di’ che cosa vedi laggiù.
MIRANDA	Che cos’è? Uno spirito? Signore, come si guarda intorno! Credetemi, signore, ha una bella forma. Ma è uno spirito.
PROSPERO	No, ragazza, mangia e dorme, e ha sensi quali abbiamo noi, proprio tali. Questo galante che vedi era nel naufragio, e se non fosse un po’ guastato dal dolore, che è il tarlo della bellezza, potresti dire di lui che è una bella persona. Ha perduto i suoi compagni, e va errando per ritrovarli.
MIRANDA	Potrei chiamarlo cosa divina, ché nulla di naturale vidi mai così nobile.
PROSPERO	(a parte) Procede, lo vedo, come la mia anima lo suggerisce. (A Ariel) Spirito, fine spirito, ti libererò
(didascalia)	entro due giorni, per questo.
(didascalia)	FERDINAND a parte
PROSPERO	Certissimamente la dea cui queste arie fanno corteo. (A Miranda) Concedete alla mia preghiera 425 di sapere se dimorate in quest’isola, e che vogliate darmi qualche buon insegnamento su come io debba comportarmi qui. La mia prima richiesta, che pronuncio per ultima, è—o voi meraviglia— se siate fanciulla o no.
MIRANDA	Nessuna meraviglia, signore, ma certamente una fanciulla.
FERDINAND	La mia lingua! Cieli! Sono il primo fra quanti parlano questo idioma, fossi soltanto dove lo si parla.
PROSPERO	Come, il primo? Che saresti se il Re di Napoli t’udisse?
FERDINAND	Una cosa sola, come sono adesso, che si stupisce d’udirti parlare di Napoli. Egli mi ode, e che m’oda io piango. Io stesso sono Napoli, io che con questi occhi, mai da allora in riflusso, vidi il Re mio padre naufragare.
MIRANDA	Ahimè, pietà!
FERDINAND	Sì, in fede, e tutti i suoi signori, il Duca di Milano e il suo bravo figlio essendo due di loro.
PROSPERO	(a parte) Il Duca di Milano e la sua ancor più brava figlia potrebbero smentirti, se ora fosse opportuno farlo. Al primo sguardo si sono scambiati gli occhi.—Delicato Ariel, per questo ti farò libero. (A Ferdinand) Una parola, buon signore. 445 Temo che vi siate fatto qualche torto. Una parola.
MIRANDA	(a parte) Perché mio padre parla così sgarbatamente? Questo è il terzo uomo che io abbia mai visto, il primo per cui abbia mai sospirato. La pietà muova mio padre a inclinare dalla mia parte.
FERDINAND	Oh, se siete vergine, e il vostro affetto non è già altrove, farò di voi la Regina di Napoli.
PROSPERO	Piano, signore! Un’altra parola. (A parte) Sono l’uno in potere dell’altra. Ma questa rapida faccenda devo renderla malagevole, ché una conquista troppo lieve non renda lieve il premio. (A Ferdinand) Un’altra parola. Ti ordino di darmi ascolto. Tu qui usurpi un nome che non ti appartiene; e ti sei introdotto in quest’isola come spia, per strapparla a me che ne sono il signore.
FERDINAND	No, com’è vero che sono un uomo.
MIRANDA	Nulla di male può abitare in un tal tempio. Se lo spirito maligno ha una casa così bella, le cose buone si contenderanno d’abitarvi.
PROSPERO	(a Ferdinand) Seguimi. (A Miranda) Non parlare tu per lui; è un traditore. (A Ferdinand) Vieni! T’ammanetterò il collo e i piedi insieme. Acqua di mare berrai; il tuo cibo saranno le cozze del ruscello, radici avvizzite e i gusci in cui la ghianda ebbe culla. Segui!
FERDINAND	No. Resisterò a un tale trattamento finché il mio nemico non abbia più forza. Sguaina la spada, ed è incantato e non può muoversi
MIRANDA	Oh caro padre, non fate di lui prova troppo avventata, perché è gentile, e non è da temere.
PROSPERO	Come, dico, il mio piede mio maestro? Rinfodera la spada, traditore, tu che fai mostra ma non osi colpire, tanto la tua coscienza è posseduta dalla colpa. Lascia la tua guardia, ché posso qui disarmarti con questo bastone e farti cadere l’arma.
MIRANDA	Vi supplico, padre!
PROSPERO	Via! Non t’aggrappare alle mie vesti.
MIRANDA	Signore, abbiate pietà. Sarò io la sua garante.
PROSPERO	Silenzio! Un’altra parola mi farà rimproverarti, se non odiarti. Come, avvocata d’un impostore? Zitta! Credi che non vi siano altre forme come la sua, avendo visto solo lui e Calibano. Sciocca ragazza! Rispetto ai più degli uomini costui è un Calibano, e quelli, in confronto a lui, sono angeli.
MIRANDA	I miei affetti sono dunque assai umili. Non ho ambizione di vedere un uomo più bello.
PROSPERO	(a Ferdinand) Vieni; obbedisci. I tuoi nervi sono di nuovo nella loro infanzia, e non hanno vigore in sé.
FERDINAND	Così sono. I miei spiriti, come in un sogno, sono tutti legati. La perdita di mio padre, la debolezza che sento, il naufragio di tutti i miei amici, né le minacce di quest’uomo al quale sono soggiogato, mi sarebbero che lievi, potessi io solo, dalla mia prigione, una volta al giorno contemplare questa fanciulla. Di tutti gli altri angoli della terra si serva la libertà; spazio abbastanza ho in una tale prigione.
PROSPERO	(a parte) Funziona. (A Ferdinand) Vieni.— Hai fatto bene, fine Ariel. (A Ferdinand) Vieni dietro a me. (A Ariel) Odi che altro dovrai fare per me.
MIRANDA	(a Ferdinand) Fatevi coraggio. Mio padre è di natura migliore, signore, di quanto appaia dal suo parlare. È insolito ciò che ora gli è uscito.
PROSPERO	(a Ariel) Sarai libero come i venti dei monti; ma allora esegui esattamente tutti i punti del mio comando.
ARIEL	Alla sillaba.
PROSPERO	(a Ferdinand) Vieni, seguimi. (A Miranda) Non parlare per lui.
(didascalia)	Escono

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, Adrian, and Francisco
GONZALO	(to Alonso) Beseech 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.
ALONSO	Prithee, peace.
SEBASTIAN	(to Antonio) 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	(to Alonso) Sir—
SEBASTIAN	(to Antonio) One: tell.
GONZALO	(to Alonso) When every grief is entertained that’s offered, Comes to th’entertainer—
SEBASTIAN	A dollar.
GONZALO	Dolour comes to him indeed. You have spoken truer than you purposed.
SEABASTIAN	You have taken it wiselier than I meant you should.
GONZALO	(to Alonso) Therefore my lord—
ANTONIO	(to Sebastian) Fie, what a spendthrift is he of his tongue!
ALONSO	(to Gonzalo) I prithee, spare.
GONZALO	Well, I have done. But yet—
SEBASTIAN	(to Antonio) 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. 35
SEBASTIAN	A match!
ADRIAN	(to Gonzalo) Though this island seem to be desert—
(didascalia)	ANTONIO (to Sebastian) Ha, ha, ha!
(didascalia)	SEBASTIANSo, you’re paid.
ADRIAN	Uninhabitable, and almost inaccessible—
SEBASTIAN	(to Antonio) Yet—
ADRIAN	Yet—
ANTONIO	(to Sebastian) He could not miss’t.
ADRIAN	It must needs be of subtle, tender, and delicate temperance. 45
ANTONIO	(to Sebastian) Temperance was a delicate wench.
SEBASTIAN	Ay, and a subtle, as he most learnedly delivered.
ADRIAN	(to Gonzalo) The air breathes upon us here most sweetly.
SEBASTIAN	(to Antonio) As if it had lungs, and rotten ones.
ANTONIO	Or as ’twere perfumed by a fen.
GONZALO	(to Adrian) Here is everything advantageous to life.
ANTONIO	(to Sebastian) True, save means to live.
SEBASTIAN	Of that there’s none, or little.
GONZALO	(to Adrian) How lush and lusty the grass looks! How green!
ANTONIO	The ground indeed is tawny.
SEABASTIAN	With an eye of green in’t.
ANTONIO	He misses not much.
SEBASTIAN	No, he doth but mistake the truth totally.
GONZALO	(to Adrian) But the rarity of it is, which is indeed almost beyond credit—
SEBASTIAN	(to Antonio) As many vouched rarities are.
GONZALO	(to Adrian) 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	(to Sebastian) If but one of his pockets could speak, would it not say he lies?
SEBASTIAN	Ay, or very falsely pocket up his report.
GONZALO	(to Adrian) 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 Dido’s time.
ANTONIO	(to Sebastian) Widow? A pox o‘that! How came that ‘widow’ in? Widow Dido!
SEBASTIAN	What if he had said ‘widower Aeneas’ too? Good Lord, how you take it!
ADRIAN	(to Gonzalo) ‘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	(to Sebastian) His word is more than the miraculous harp.
SEBASTIAN	He hath raised 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.
GONZALO	(to Adrian) Ay.
ANTONIO	(to Sebastian) Why, in good time.
GONZALO	(to Alonso) 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	(to Alonso) Is not, sir, my doublet as fresh as the first day I wore it? I mean in a sort.
ANTONIO	(to Sebastian) That ‘sort’ was well fished for.
GONZALO	(to Alonso) When I wore it at your daughter’s marriage.
ALONSO	You 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?
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 breasted The surge, most swoll‘n, that met him. His bold head ’Bove the contentious waves he kept, and oared Himself with his good arms in lusty stroke To th’ shore, that o’er his wave-worn basis bowed, As stooping to relieve him. I not doubt He came alive to land.
ALONSO	No, no; he’s gone.
SEBASTIAN	(to Alonso) Sir, you may thank yourself for this great loss, That would not bless our Europe with your daughter, But rather loose her to an African, Where she, at least, is banished from your eye, Who hath cause to wet the grief on’t.
ALONSO	Prithee, peace.
SEBASTIAN	You were kneeled to and importuned otherwise By all of us, and the fair soul herself Weighed between loathness and obedience at Which end o’th’ 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.
ALONSO	So is the dear‘st o’th’ loss.
GONZALO	My 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.
SEBASTIAN	(to Antonio) Very well.
ANTONIO	And most chirurgeonly.
GONZALO	(to Alonso) It is foul weather in us all, good sir, When you are cloudy.
SEBASTIAN	(to Antonio) Fowl weather?
ANTONIO	Very foul.
GONZALO	(to Alonso) Had I plantation of this isle, my lord—
ANTONIO	(to Seabastian) He’d sow’t with nettle-seed.
SEBASTIAN	Or docks, or mallows.
GONZALO	And were the king on’t, what would I do?
SEBASTIAN	(to Antonio) Scape being drunk, for want of wine.
GONZALO	I’th’ 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—
SEBASTIAN	(to Antonio) Yet he would be king on’t.
ANTONIO	The latter end of his commonwealth forgets the beginning.
GONZALO	(to Alonso) All 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 it own kind all foison, all abundance, To feed my innocent people.
SEBASTIAN	(to Antonio) No marrying ’mong his subjects?
ANTONIO	None, man, all idle: whores and knaves.
GONZALO	(to Alonso) I would with such perfection govern, sir, T’excel the Golden Age.
SEBASTIAN	Save his majesty!
ANTONIO	Long live Gonzalol
GONZALO	(to Alonso) 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-long.
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.
(didascalia)	Enter Ariel, invisible, playing solemn music
SEBASTIAN	We would so, and then go a-bat-fowling.
ANTONIO	(to Gonzalo) 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. Gonzalo, Adrian, and Francisco sleep
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. 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.
(didascalia)	He sleeps. Exit Ariel
SEBASTIAN	What a strange drowsiness possesses them!
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, as by consent; They dropped as by a thunderstroke. 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, and My strong imagination sees a crown Dropping upon thy head.
SEBASTIAN	What, art thou waking?
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 letst thy fortune sleep, die rather; wink’st Whiles thou art waking.
SEBASTIAN	Thou dost snore distinctly; There’s meaning in thy snores.
ANTONIO	I am more serious than my custom. You Must be so too if heed me, which to do Trebles 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 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.
SEBASTIAN	Prithee, say on. The setting of thine eye and cheek proclaim A matter from thee, and a birth, indeed, Which throes thee much to yield.
ANTONIO	Thus, sir. Although this lord of weak remembrance, this, Who shall be of as little memory When he is earthed, 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 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 hope that even Ambition cannot pierce a wink beyond, 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 life; she that from Naples Can have no note—unless the sun were post— The man i’th’ moon’s too slow—till new-born chins Be rough and razorable; she that from whom We all were sea-swallowed, 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.
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 regions There is some space.
ANTONIO	A 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?
SEBASTIAN	Methinks I do.
ANTONIO	And how does your content Tender your own good fortune?
SEBASTIAN	I remember You did supplant your brother Prospero.
ANTONIO	True; 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.
SEBASTIAN	But for your conscience.
ANTONIO	Ay, 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.
SEBASTIAN	Thy 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.
ANTONIO	Draw together, And when I rear my hand, do you the like To fall it on Gonzalo. They draw
SEBASTIAN	O, but one word.
(didascalia)	Enter Ariel, invisible, with music
ARIEL	(to Gonzalo) My 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. He sings in Gonzalo’s ear While 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!
ANTONIO	(to Sebastian) Then let us both be sudden.
GONZALO	(awaking) Now good angels Preserve the King!
ALONSO	(awaking) Why, how now? Ho, awake! The others awake (To Antonio and Sebastian) Why are you drawn? (To Gonzalo) 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 bellowing, Like 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 roar Of 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 shaked you, sir, and cried. As mine eyes opened 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 search For my poor son.
GONZALO	Heavens keep him from these beasts! For he is sure i’th’ island.
ALONSO	Lead away.
(didascalia)	Exeunt all but Ariel
ARIEL	Prospero my lord shall know what I have done. So, King, go safely on to seek thy son.
(didascalia)	Exit
ARIEL	2.2 Enter Caliban, wearing a gaberdine, and with a burden of wood
(didascalia)	CALIBAN throwing down his burden
ARIEL	All the infections that the sun sucks up From bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall, and make him By inch-meal a disease!
(didascalia)	A noise of thunder heard
ARIEL	His spirits hear me, And yet I needs must curse. But they’ll nor pinch, Fright me with urchin-shows, pitch me i’th’ mire, Nor lead me like a fire-brand in the dark Out of my way, unless he bid ’em. But For every trifle are they set upon me; Sometime like apes, that mow and chatter at me And after bite me; then like hedgehogs, which Lie tumbling in my barefoot way and mount Their pricks at my footfall; sometime am I All wound with adders, who with cloven tongues Do hiss me into madness.
(didascalia)	Enter Trinculo
ARIEL	Lo now, lo! Here comes a spirit of his, and to torment me For bringing wood in slowly. I’ll fall flat. Perchance he will not mind me. He lies down
TRINCULO	Here’s neither bush nor shrub to bear off any weather at all, and another storm brewing. I hear it sing i‘th’ wind. Yon same black cloud, yon huge one, looks like a foul bombard that would shed his liquor. If it should thunder as it did before, I know not where to hide my head. Yon same cloud cannot choose but fall by pailfuls. (Seeing Caliban) What have we here, a man or a fish? Dead or alive?—A fish, he smells like a fish; a very ancient and fish-like smell; a kind of not-of-the-newest poor-john. A strange fish! Were I in England now, as once I was, and had but this fish painted, not a holiday-fool there but would give a piece of silver. There would this monster make a man. Any strange beast there makes a man. When they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian. Legged like a man, and his fins like arms! Warm, o’my troth! I do now let loose my opinion, hold it no longer. This is no fish, but an islander that hath lately suffered by a thunderbolt.
(didascalia)	Thunder
TRINCULO	Alas, the storm is come again. My best way is to creep under his gaberdine; there is no other shelter hereabout. Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows. I will here shroud till the dregs of the storm be past. He hides under Caliban’s gaberdine. Enter Stefano, singing, with a wooden bottle in his hand
STEFANO	I shall no more to sea, to sea, Here shall I die ashore— This is a very scurvy tune to sing at a man’s funeral. Well, here’s my comfort. He drinks, then sings The master, the swabber, the boatswain, and I, 45 The gunner and his mate, Loved Mall, Meg, and Marian, and Margery, But none of us cared for Kate. For she had a tongue with a tang, Would cry to a sailor ‘Go hang!’ She loved not the savour of tar nor of pitch, Yet a tailor might scratch her where’er she did itch. Then to sea, boys, and let her go hang! Then to sea, etc. This is a scurvy tune, too. But here’s my comfort. He drinks
CALIBAN	(to Trinculo) Do not torment me! O!
STEFANO	What’s the matter? Have we devils here? Do you put tricks upon’s with savages and men of Ind, ha? I have not scaped drowning to be afeard now of your four legs. For it hath been said: ‘As proper a man as ever went on four legs cannot make him give ground.’ And it shall be said so again, while Stefano breathes at’ nostrils.
CALIBAN	The spirit torments me. O!
STEFANO	This is some monster of the isle with four legs, who hath got, as I take it, an ague. Where the devil should he learn our language? I will give him some relief, if it be but for that. If I can recover him and keep him tame and get to Naples with him, he’s a present for any emperor that ever trod on neat’s leather.
CALIBAN	(to Trinculo) Do not torment me, prithee! I’ll bring my wood home faster.
STEFANO	He’s in his fit now, and does not talk after the wisest. He shall taste of my bottle. If he have never drunk wine afore, it will go near to remove his fit. If I can recover him and keep him tame, I will not take too much for him. He shall pay for him that hath him, and that soundly.
CALIBAN	(to Trinculo) Thou dost me yet but little hurt. Thou wilt anon, I know it by thy trembling. Now Prosper works upon thee.
STEFANO	Come on your ways. Open your mouth. Here is that which will give language to you, cat. Open your mouth. This will shake your shaking, I can tell you, and that soundly. You cannot tell who’s your friend. Open your chaps again. Caliban drinks
TRINCULO	I should know that voice. It should be—but he is drowned, and these are devils. O, defend me!
STEFANO	Four legs and two voices—a most delicate monster! His forward voice now is to speak well of his friend; his backward voice is to utter foul speeches and to detract. If all the wine in my bottle will recover him, I will help his ague. Come. Caliban drinks Amen. I will pour some in thy other mouth.
TRINCULO	Stefano!
STEFANO	Doth thy other mouth call me? Mercy, mercy! This is a devil, and no monster. I will leave him. I have no long spoon.
TRINCULO	Stefano! If thou beest Stefano, touch me and speak to me, for I am Trinculo. Be not afeard. Thy good friend Trinculo.
STEFANO	If thou beest Trinculo, come forth. I’ll pull thee by the lesser legs. If any be Trinculo’s legs, these are they. He pulls out Trinculo by the legs Thou art very Trinculo indeed! How cam’st thou to be the siege of this moon-calf? Can he vent Trinculos?
TRINCULO	(rising) I took him to be killed with a thunderstroke. But art thou not drowned, Stefano? I hope now thou art not drowned. Is the storm overblown? I hid me under the dead moon-calf’s gaberdine for fear of the storm. And art thou living, Stefano? O Stefano, two Neapolitans scaped!
(didascalia)	He dances Stefano round
STEFANO	Prithee, do not turn me about. My stomach is not constant.
CALIBAN	These be fine things, an if they be not spirits. That’s a brave god, and bears celestial liquor. I will kneel to him.
(didascalia)	He kneels
STEFANO	(to Trinculo) How didst thou scape? How cam’st thou hither? Swear by this bottle how thou cam’st hither. I escaped upon a butt of sack which the sailors heaved o’erboard, by this bottle—which I made of the bark of a tree with mine own hands since I was cast ashore.
CALIBAN	I’ll swear upon that bottle to be thy true subject, for the liquor is not earthly.
STEFANO	(offering Trinculo the bottle) Here. Swear then how thou escapedst.
TRINCULO	Swum ashore, man, like a duck. I can swim like a duck, I’ll be sworn.
STEFANO	Here, kiss the book. Trinculo drinks Though thou canst swim like a duck, thou art made like a goose.
TRINCULO	O Stefano, hast any more of this?
STEFANO	The whole butt, man. My cellar is in a rock by th’ seaside, where my wine is hid.
(didascalia)	Caliban rises
STEFANO	How now, moon-calf? How does thine ague?
CALIBAN	Hast thou not dropped from heaven?
STEFANO	Out o’th’ moon, I do assure thee. I was the man i’th’ moon when time was.
CALIBAN	I have seen thee in her, and I do adore thee. My mistress showed me thee, and thy dog and thy bush.
STEFANO	Come, swear to that. Kiss the book. I will furnish it anon with new contents. Swear. Caliban drinks
TRINCULO	By this good light, this is a very shallow monster! I afeard of him? A very weak monster! The man i’th’ moon? A most poor, credulous monster! Well drawn, monster, in good sooth!
CALIBAN	(to Stefano) I’ll show thee every fertile inch o’th’ island, And I will kiss thy foot. I prithee, be my god.
TRINCULO	By this light, a most perfidious and drunken monster! When’s god’s asleep, he’ll rob his bottle.
CALIBAN	(to Stefano) I’ll kiss thy foot. I’ll swear myself thy subject.
STEFANO	Come on then; down, and swear.
(didascalia)	Caliban kneels
TRINCULO	I shall laugh myself to death at this puppy-headed monster. A most scurvy monster! I could find in my heart to beat him—
STEFANO	(to Caliban) Come, kiss.
(didascalia)	Caliban kisses his foot
TRINCULO	But that the poor monster’s in drink. An abominable monster!
CALIBAN	I’ll show thee the best springs; I’ll pluck thee berries; I’ll fish for thee, and get thee wood enough. A plague upon the tyrant that I serve! I’ll bear him no more sticks, but follow thee, Thou wondrous man.
TRINCULO	A most ridiculous monster, to make a wonder of a poor drunkard!
CALIBAN	(to Stefano) I prithee, let me bring thee where crabs grow, And I with my long nails will dig thee pig-nuts, Show thee a jay’s nest, and instruct thee how To snare the nimble marmoset. I’ll bring thee To clust’ring filberts, and sometimes I’ll get thee Young seamews from the rock. Wilt thou go with me?
STEFANO	I prithee now, lead the way without any more talking.—Trinculo, the King and all our company else being drowned, we will inherit here.—Here, bear my bottte.—Fettow Trinculo, we’ll fill him by and by again.
CALIBAN	(sings drunkenly) Farewell, master, farewell, farewell!
TRINCULO	A howling monster, a drunken monster!
CALIBAN	(sings) No more dams I’ll make for fish, Nor fetch in firing At requiring, Nor scrape trenchering, nor wash dish. ’Ban, ’ban, Cacaliban Has a new master.—Get a new man! Freedom, high-day! High-day, freedom! Freedom, highday, freedom!
STEFANO	O brave monster! Lead the way.
(didascalia)	Exeunt

Chi parla	Battuta
(didascalia)	Entrano Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, Adrian e Francisco
GONZALO	(ad Alonso) Vi supplico, signore, siate lieto. Avete ragione, e tutti noi, di gioia; ché il nostro scampo supera di molto la perdita. Il nostro motivo di pena è comune; ogni giorno la moglie di qualche marinaio, i padroni di qualche mercantile, e il mercante, hanno il nostro stesso tema di dolore. Ma quanto al miracolo, intendo il nostro salvamento, pochi su milioni ne possono dire altrettanto. Dunque saggiamente, buon signore, pesate il nostro dolore col nostro conforto.
ALONSO	Ti prego, taci.
SEBASTIAN	(ad Antonio) Riceve il conforto come una minestra fredda.
ANTONIO	Il visitatore non lo mollerà così.
SEBASTIAN	Guarda, sta caricando l’orologio del suo ingegno. Fra poco suonerà.
GONZALO	(ad Alonso) Signore—
SEBASTIAN	(ad Antonio) Uno: conta.
GONZALO	(ad Alonso) Quando ogni pena che s’offre viene accolta, viene a chi l’accoglie—
SEBASTIAN	Un dollaro.
GONZALO	Dolore, in verità, gli viene. Avete detto più vero di quanto intendevate.
SEABASTIAN	L’avete presa più saggiamente di quanto volessi.
GONZALO	(ad Alonso) Perciò, mio signore—
ANTONIO	(a Sebastian) Ohibò, che scialacquatore della propria lingua!
ALONSO	(a Gonzalo) Ti prego, risparmiami.
GONZALO	Bene, ho finito. Eppure—
SEBASTIAN	(ad Antonio) Vuole seguitare a parlare.
ANTONIO	Chi dei due, lui o Adrian, scommettiamo, comincerà per primo a cantare?
SEBASTIAN	Il vecchio gallo.
ANTONIO	Il galletto.
SEBASTIAN	Fatto. La posta?
ANTONIO	Una risata. 35
SEBASTIAN	Ci sto!
ADRIAN	(a Gonzalo) Benché quest’isola sembri deserta—
(didascalia)	ANTONIO (a Sebastian) Ah, ah, ah!
(didascalia)	SEBASTIANCosì, siete pagato.
ADRIAN	Inabitabile, e quasi inaccessibile—
SEBASTIAN	(ad Antonio) Eppure—
ADRIAN	Eppure—
ANTONIO	(a Sebastian) Non poteva mancarlo.
ADRIAN	Dev’essere per forza di sottile, tenera e delicata temperanza. 45
ANTONIO	(a Sebastian) Temperanza era una ragazza delicata.
SEBASTIAN	Sì, e sottile, come egli dottissimamente ha esposto.
ADRIAN	(a Gonzalo) L’aria spira qui su di noi dolcissima.
SEBASTIAN	(ad Antonio) Come se avesse polmoni, e marci.
ANTONIO	O come se fosse profumata da un pantano.
GONZALO	(ad Adrian) Qui c’è tutto ciò che giova alla vita.
ANTONIO	(a Sebastian) Vero, salvo i mezzi per vivere.
SEBASTIAN	Di quelli non ce n’è, o poco.
GONZALO	(ad Adrian) Com’è rigogliosa e vigorosa l’erba! Come verde!
ANTONIO	Il suolo, in verità, è fulvo.
SEABASTIAN	Con dentro una punta di verde.
ANTONIO	Non sbaglia di molto.
SEBASTIAN	No, non fa che sbagliare del tutto la verità.
GONZALO	(ad Adrian) Ma la rarità della cosa è, ed è davvero quasi incredibile—
SEBASTIAN	(ad Antonio) Come molte rarità garantite.
GONZALO	(ad Adrian) Che le nostre vesti, essendo state, come furono, inzuppate nel mare, conservano nondimeno la loro freschezza e il loro lustro, sembrando piuttosto tinte di nuovo che macchiate d’acqua salsa.
ANTONIO	(a Sebastian) Se una sola delle sue tasche potesse parlare, non direbbe che mente?
SEBASTIAN	Sì, o intascherebbe assai falsamente il suo rapporto.
GONZALO	(ad Adrian) Mi pare che le nostre vesti siano ora fresche come quando le indossammo la prima volta in Africa, alle nozze della bella figlia del re, Claribel, col re di Tunisi.
SEBASTIAN	Furono dolci nozze, e prosperiamo bene nel ritorno.
ADRIAN	Tunisi non fu mai prima onorata d’un tale modello per regina.
GONZALO	Non dal tempo della vedova Didone.
ANTONIO	(a Sebastian) Vedova? Al diavolo! Come c’entra quella ‘vedova’? Vedova Didone!
SEBASTIAN	E se avesse detto anche ‘vedovo Enea’? Buon Dio, come la prendete!
ADRIAN	(a Gonzalo) ‘Vedova Didone’ avete detto? Mi fate riflettere: era di Cartagine, non di Tunisi.
GONZALO	Questa Tunisi, signore, era Cartagine.
ADRIAN	Cartagine?
GONZALO	Ve l’assicuro, Cartagine.
ANTONIO	(a Sebastian) La sua parola vale più dell’arpa miracolosa.
SEBASTIAN	Ha innalzato le mura, e anche le case.
ANTONIO	Quale impossibile impresa renderà facile adesso?
SEBASTIAN	Credo che si porterà quest’isola a casa in tasca, e la darà a suo figlio come una mela.
ANTONIO	E seminandone i semi nel mare, farà nascere altre isole.
GONZALO	(ad Adrian) Sì.
ANTONIO	(a Sebastian) Ma sì, a suo tempo.
GONZALO	(ad Alonso) Signore, dicevamo che le nostre vesti sembrano ora fresche come quando eravamo a Tunisi, alle nozze di vostra figlia, che ora è regina.
ANTONIO	E la più rara che mai vi sia giunta.
SEBASTIAN	Eccettuate, vi prego, la vedova Didone.
ANTONIO	Oh, vedova Didone? Sì, vedova Didone.
GONZALO	(ad Alonso) Non è, signore, il mio farsetto fresco come il primo giorno che l’indossai? In certo modo, intendo.
ANTONIO	(a Sebastian) Quel ‘modo’ fu bene pescato.
GONZALO	(ad Alonso) Quando lo portai alle nozze di vostra figlia.
ALONSO	Voi mi cacciate queste parole negli orecchi contro lo stomaco del mio sentire. Non avessi mai maritato là mia figlia! Ché, tornandone, mio figlio è perduto; e, a mio giudizio, anche lei, che è tanto lontana rimossa dall’Italia che mai più la rivedrò. O tu, mio erede di Napoli e di Milano, qual pesce strano ha fatto di te il suo pasto?
FRANCISCO	Signore, egli può vivere. L’ho visto battere i flutti sotto di sé e cavalcarne il dorso. Calpestava l’acqua, la cui inimicizia scostava, e affrontava col petto l’onda più gonfia che gli veniva incontro. La testa ardita tenne alta sopra i marosi contendenti, e remò con le sue buone braccia in vigorosa bracciata verso la riva, che sopra la sua base rosa dall’onda si chinava, come piegandosi a soccorrerlo. Non dubito che sia giunto vivo a terra.
ALONSO	No, no; è perduto.
SEBASTIAN	(ad Alonso) Signore, potete ringraziare voi stesso di questa gran perdita, voi che non voleste benedire la nostra Europa con vostra figlia, ma piuttosto perderla per un africano, là dove essa, almeno, è bandita dal vostro occhio, che ha ben ragione di bagnarne il dolore.
ALONSO	Ti prego, taci.
SEBASTIAN	Foste supplicato in ginocchio e pregato altrimenti da tutti noi, e la bella anima stessa pesò tra ripugnanza e obbedienza a quale estremo della bilancia piegare. Abbiamo perduto vostro figlio, temo, per sempre. Milano e Napoli hanno più vedove per opera di questa impresa di quanti uomini ne portiamo a consolarle. La colpa è vostra.
ALONSO	E così la parte più cara della perdita.
GONZALO	Mio signore Sebastian, alla verità che dite manca un po’ di gentilezza e il tempo per dirla. Sfregate la piaga quando dovreste recare l’impiastro.
SEBASTIAN	(ad Antonio) Molto bene.
ANTONIO	E assai chirurgicamente.
GONZALO	(ad Alonso) C’è cattivo tempo in tutti noi, buon signore, quando voi vi rannuvolate.
SEBASTIAN	(ad Antonio) Tempo da uccellacci?
ANTONIO	Assai cattivo.
GONZALO	(ad Alonso) Avessi io la colonia di quest’isola, mio signore—
ANTONIO	(a Seabastian) La seminerebbe di semi d’ortica.
SEBASTIAN	O di lapazio, o di malva.
GONZALO	E fossi io il re dell’isola, che farei?
SEBASTIAN	(ad Antonio) Scamperebbe l’ubriachezza, per mancanza di vino.
GONZALO	Nella repubblica io farei ogni cosa al contrario. Ché nessuna sorta di traffico ammetterei, né nome di magistrato; le lettere non sarebbero note; ricchezza, povertà, e uso di servitù, nessuno; contratto, successione, confine, termine di terra, coltura, vigna, nessuno; nessun uso di metallo, grano, o vino, o olio; nessun mestiere, tutti gli uomini oziosi, tutti; e anche le donne—ma innocenti e pure; nessuna sovranità—
SEBASTIAN	(ad Antonio) Eppure ne sarebbe re.
ANTONIO	La fine della sua repubblica dimentica il principio.
GONZALO	(ad Alonso) Ogni cosa in comune la natura produrrebbe senza sudore né fatica. Tradimento, fellonia, spada, picca, coltello, schioppo, o bisogno d’alcun ordigno, non vorrei; ma la natura recherebbe di sua propria specie ogni ubertà, ogni abbondanza, per nutrire il mio popolo innocente.
SEBASTIAN	(ad Antonio) Niente matrimoni fra i suoi sudditi?
ANTONIO	Nessuno, amico, tutti oziosi: puttane e furfanti.
GONZALO	(ad Alonso) Governerei con tale perfezione, signore, da superare l’età dell’oro.
SEBASTIAN	Dio salvi sua maestà!
ANTONIO	Lunga vita a Gonzalol
GONZALO	(ad Alonso) E—mi seguite, signore?
ALONSO	Ti prego, basta. Non mi dici nulla.
GONZALO	Credo bene a vostra altezza, e l’ho fatto per porgere occasione a questi gentiluomini, che hanno polmoni così sensibili e agili da ridere sempre di nulla.
ANTONIO	Era di voi che ridevamo.
GONZALO	Il quale, in questa sorta di allegra buffoneria, non sono nulla per voi. Così potete continuare, e ridere ancora di nulla.
ANTONIO	Che colpo è stato dato!
SEBASTIAN	Se non fosse caduto di piatto.
GONZALO	Siete gentiluomini di gagliarda tempra. Sollevereste la luna fuori dalla sua sfera, se vi restasse cinque settimane senza mutare.
(didascalia)	Entra Ariel, invisibile, suonando una musica solenne
SEBASTIAN	Lo faremmo, e poi andremmo a caccia di pipistrelli.
ANTONIO	(a Gonzalo) Suvvia, mio buon signore, non v’adirate.
GONZALO	No, ve l’assicuro, non arrischierò così debolmente la mia discrezione. Volete ridermi fino al sonno? Ché mi sento assai pesante.
ANTONIO	Andate a dormire, e ascoltateci. Gonzalo, Adrian e Francisco dormono
ALONSO	Come, tutti già addormentati? Vorrei che i miei occhi, chiudendosi, chiudessero anche i miei pensieri.—Sento che vi sono inclini.
SEBASTIAN	Vi piaccia, signore, non trascurare quella grave offerta. Rado visita il dolore; e quando lo fa, è un consolatore.
ANTONIO	Noi due, mio signore, custodiremo la vostra persona mentre riposate, e veglieremo sulla vostra sicurezza.
ALONSO	Grazie. Meravigliosamente pesante.
(didascalia)	Si addormenta. Esce Ariel
SEBASTIAN	Che strano sopore li possiede!
ANTONIO	È la qualità del clima.
SEBASTIAN	Perché allora non fa calare le nostre palpebre? Non mi sento disposto al sonno.
ANTONIO	Né io; i miei spiriti sono desti. Caddero tutti insieme, come d’accordo; crollarono come colpiti dal fulmine. Che cosa potrebbe, degno Sebastian, oh, che cosa potrebbe—? Non più!— Eppure mi pare di vederlo sul tuo volto. Ciò che dovresti essere l’occasione ti dice, e la mia forte immaginazione vede una corona calare sul tuo capo.
SEBASTIAN	Come, sei sveglio?
ANTONIO	Non mi senti parlare?
SEBASTIAN	Ti sento, e certo è un linguaggio assonnato, e tu parli fuori dal tuo sonno. Che cosa hai detto? Strano riposo è questo, dormire con gli occhi spalancati; ritto, parlante, in moto, e pure così profondamente addormentato.
ANTONIO	Nobile Sebastian, tu lasci dormire la tua fortuna, anzi morire; chiudi gli occhi mentre sei desto.
SEBASTIAN	Russi distintamente; c’è un senso nel tuo russare.
ANTONIO	Sono più serio del mio costume. Anche tu devi esserlo se mi ascolti, e il farlo ti triplica.
SEBASTIAN	Bene, io sono acqua ferma.
ANTONIO	T’insegnerò io a fluire.
SEBASTIAN	Fallo; a rifluire m’istruisce la pigrizia ereditaria.
ANTONIO	Oh, se solo sapessi come accarezzi il disegno mentre così lo schernisci; come spogliandolo più lo rivesti! Gli uomini che rifluiscono, in verità, corrono spessissimo tanto vicino al fondo per loro stessa paura o pigrizia.
SEBASTIAN	Ti prego, continua. Il fisso del tuo occhio e della tua guancia proclamano in te una materia, e un parto, in verità, che ti costa gran doglie a rendere.
ANTONIO	Ecco, signore. Benché questo signore di debole ricordo, costui, di cui si avrà altrettanto poca memoria quando sarà interrato, abbia qui quasi persuaso— ché è uno spirito di persuasione, e solo professa il persuadere—il re che suo figlio è vivo, è tanto impossibile che egli non sia annegato quanto che colui che qui dorme nuoti.
SEBASTIAN	Non ho speranza che non sia annegato.
ANTONIO	Oh, da quella ‘nessuna speranza’ che gran speranza ti viene! Nessuna speranza da quel lato è dall’altro una speranza così alta che perfino l’ambizione non può spingere lo sguardo oltre, ma dubita di scoprire là. Vuoi concedermi che Ferdinand sia annegato?
SEBASTIAN	È perduto.
ANTONIO	Allora dimmi, chi è il prossimo erede di Napoli?
SEBASTIAN	Claribel.
ANTONIO	Colei che è regina di Tunisi; che dimora dieci leghe oltre la vita d’un uomo; che da Napoli non può aver notizia—se il sole non fosse corriere— l’uomo nella luna è troppo lento—finché i menti neonati siano ruvidi e da rasoio; colei venendo dalla quale fummo tutti inghiottiti dal mare, benché alcuni rigettati— e da quel destino chiamati a compiere un atto di cui il passato è prologo, e il futuro affidato al tuo e al mio operare.
SEBASTIAN	Che roba è questa? Che dici? È vero che la figlia di mio fratello è regina di Tunisi; e così è erede di Napoli; fra queste regioni c’è un certo spazio.
ANTONIO	Uno spazio ogni cui cubito par gridare: ‘Come potrà quella Claribel rimisurarci indietro fino a Napoli? Resti a Tunisi, e Sebastian si desti.’ Poni che questa fosse la morte che ora li ha ghermiti; ebbene, non starebbero peggio di come stanno adesso. C’è chi sa governare Napoli bene quanto colui che dorme, signori che sanno cianciare tanto ampiamente e inutilmente quanto questo Gonzalo; io stesso saprei fare una cornacchia di ciarla altrettanto profonda. Oh, avessi tu la mente che ho io, che sonno sarebbe questo per la tua elevazione! Mi capisci?
SEBASTIAN	Mi pare di sì.
ANTONIO	E come accoglie il tuo compiacimento la tua stessa buona fortuna?
SEBASTIAN	Ricordo che soppiantasti tuo fratello Prospero.
ANTONIO	Vero; e guarda come bene mi cadono addosso le vesti, assai più acconce di prima. I servi di mio fratello erano allora i miei pari; ora sono i miei uomini.
SEBASTIAN	Ma la tua coscienza?
ANTONIO	Sì, signore, e dove sta? Se fosse un gelone mi costringerebbe alla pantofola; ma non sento questa divinità nel petto. Venti coscienze che stessero fra me e Milano, siano pur candite, e si sciolgano prima di molestarmi. Qui giace tuo fratello, non migliore della terra su cui giace se fosse ciò a cui ora somiglia—cioè morto; lui che io con questo acciaio obbediente, tre pollici soltanto, posso coricare per sempre; mentre tu, facendo così, potresti mandare al sonno perpetuo questo antico boccone, questo Ser Prudenza, che non ci rimproveri poi la via. Quanto a tutti gli altri, accoglieranno il suggerimento come gatta che lappa latte; segneranno l’orologio su qualunque faccenda diremo si convenga all’ora.
SEBASTIAN	Il tuo caso, caro amico, sarà il mio precedente. Come tu ottenesti Milano, io avrò Napoli. Sguaina la tua spada. Un colpo ti libererà dal tributo che paghi, e io, il re, ti amerò.
ANTONIO	Sguainiamo insieme, e quando io alzo la mano, fa’ tu lo stesso per calarla su Gonzalo. Sguainano
SEBASTIAN	Oh, una parola sola.
(didascalia)	Entra Ariel, invisibile, con musica
ARIEL	(a Gonzalo) Il mio padrone con la sua arte prevede il pericolo in cui voi suo amico vi trovate—e mi manda, ché altrimenti il suo disegno muore, a tenerli in vita. Canta all’orecchio di Gonzalo Mentre voi qui giacete russando, la congiura con gli occhi aperti coglie il suo tempo. Se della vita avete cura, scuotete il sonno, e state in guardia. Svegliatevi, svegliatevi!
ANTONIO	(a Sebastian) Allora siamo entrambi rapidi.
GONZALO	(svegliandosi) Ora i buoni angeli preservino il re!
ALONSO	(svegliandosi) Come, che c’è? Olà, sveglia! Gli altri si svegliano (Ad Antonio e Sebastian) Perché avete le spade sguainate? (A Gonzalo) Perché quest’aspetto atterrito?
GONZALO	Che cosa succede?
SEBASTIAN	Mentre stavamo qui a custodire il vostro riposo, proprio ora udimmo un cupo scoppio di muggiti, come di tori, o piuttosto di leoni. Non vi svegliò? Mi colpì l’orecchio terribilmente.
ALONSO	Io non udii nulla.
ANTONIO	Oh, era un fragore da spaventare l’orecchio d’un mostro, da far tremare la terra! Certo era il ruggito d’un branco intero di leoni.
ALONSO	Udiste questo, Gonzalo?
GONZALO	Sul mio onore, signore, udii un ronzio, e strano per giunta, che mi destò. Vi scossi, signore, e gridai. Come apersi gli occhi vidi le loro armi sguainate. Ci fu un rumore, questo è certo. Meglio che stiamo in guardia, o che lasciamo questo luogo. Sguainiamo le armi.
ALONSO	Via da questo suolo, e cerchiamo ancora il mio povero figlio.
GONZALO	Il cielo lo guardi da queste bestie! Ché di certo è nell’isola.
ALONSO	Guidateci.
(didascalia)	Escono tutti tranne Ariel
ARIEL	Prospero mio signore saprà ciò che ho fatto. Va’ dunque sicuro, re, a cercare tuo figlio.
(didascalia)	Esce

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Caliban, wearing a gaberdine, and with a burden of wood
(didascalia)	CALIBAN throwing down his burden
ARIEL	All the infections that the sun sucks up From bogs, fens, flats, on Prosper fall, and make him By inch-meal a disease!
(didascalia)	A noise of thunder heard
ARIEL	His spirits hear me, And yet I needs must curse. But they’ll nor pinch, Fright me with urchin-shows, pitch me i’th’ mire, Nor lead me like a fire-brand in the dark Out of my way, unless he bid ’em. But For every trifle are they set upon me; Sometime like apes, that mow and chatter at me And after bite me; then like hedgehogs, which Lie tumbling in my barefoot way and mount Their pricks at my footfall; sometime am I All wound with adders, who with cloven tongues Do hiss me into madness.
(didascalia)	Enter Trinculo
ARIEL	Lo now, lo! Here comes a spirit of his, and to torment me For bringing wood in slowly. I’ll fall flat. Perchance he will not mind me. He lies down
TRINCULO	Here’s neither bush nor shrub to bear off any weather at all, and another storm brewing. I hear it sing i‘th’ wind. Yon same black cloud, yon huge one, looks like a foul bombard that would shed his liquor. If it should thunder as it did before, I know not where to hide my head. Yon same cloud cannot choose but fall by pailfuls. (Seeing Caliban) What have we here, a man or a fish? Dead or alive?—A fish, he smells like a fish; a very ancient and fish-like smell; a kind of not-of-the-newest poor-john. A strange fish! Were I in England now, as once I was, and had but this fish painted, not a holiday-fool there but would give a piece of silver. There would this monster make a man. Any strange beast there makes a man. When they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian. Legged like a man, and his fins like arms! Warm, o’my troth! I do now let loose my opinion, hold it no longer. This is no fish, but an islander that hath lately suffered by a thunderbolt.
(didascalia)	Thunder
TRINCULO	Alas, the storm is come again. My best way is to creep under his gaberdine; there is no other shelter hereabout. Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows. I will here shroud till the dregs of the storm be past. He hides under Caliban’s gaberdine. Enter Stefano, singing, with a wooden bottle in his hand
STEFANO	I shall no more to sea, to sea, Here shall I die ashore— This is a very scurvy tune to sing at a man’s funeral. Well, here’s my comfort. He drinks, then sings The master, the swabber, the boatswain, and I, 45 The gunner and his mate, Loved Mall, Meg, and Marian, and Margery, But none of us cared for Kate. For she had a tongue with a tang, Would cry to a sailor ‘Go hang!’ She loved not the savour of tar nor of pitch, Yet a tailor might scratch her where’er she did itch. Then to sea, boys, and let her go hang! Then to sea, etc. This is a scurvy tune, too. But here’s my comfort. He drinks
CALIBAN	(to Trinculo) Do not torment me! O!
STEFANO	What’s the matter? Have we devils here? Do you put tricks upon’s with savages and men of Ind, ha? I have not scaped drowning to be afeard now of your four legs. For it hath been said: ‘As proper a man as ever went on four legs cannot make him give ground.’ And it shall be said so again, while Stefano breathes at’ nostrils.
CALIBAN	The spirit torments me. O!
STEFANO	This is some monster of the isle with four legs, who hath got, as I take it, an ague. Where the devil should he learn our language? I will give him some relief, if it be but for that. If I can recover him and keep him tame and get to Naples with him, he’s a present for any emperor that ever trod on neat’s leather.
CALIBAN	(to Trinculo) Do not torment me, prithee! I’ll bring my wood home faster.
STEFANO	He’s in his fit now, and does not talk after the wisest. He shall taste of my bottle. If he have never drunk wine afore, it will go near to remove his fit. If I can recover him and keep him tame, I will not take too much for him. He shall pay for him that hath him, and that soundly.
CALIBAN	(to Trinculo) Thou dost me yet but little hurt. Thou wilt anon, I know it by thy trembling. Now Prosper works upon thee.
STEFANO	Come on your ways. Open your mouth. Here is that which will give language to you, cat. Open your mouth. This will shake your shaking, I can tell you, and that soundly. You cannot tell who’s your friend. Open your chaps again. Caliban drinks
TRINCULO	I should know that voice. It should be—but he is drowned, and these are devils. O, defend me!
STEFANO	Four legs and two voices—a most delicate monster! His forward voice now is to speak well of his friend; his backward voice is to utter foul speeches and to detract. If all the wine in my bottle will recover him, I will help his ague. Come. Caliban drinks Amen. I will pour some in thy other mouth.
TRINCULO	Stefano!
STEFANO	Doth thy other mouth call me? Mercy, mercy! This is a devil, and no monster. I will leave him. I have no long spoon.
TRINCULO	Stefano! If thou beest Stefano, touch me and speak to me, for I am Trinculo. Be not afeard. Thy good friend Trinculo.
STEFANO	If thou beest Trinculo, come forth. I’ll pull thee by the lesser legs. If any be Trinculo’s legs, these are they. He pulls out Trinculo by the legs Thou art very Trinculo indeed! How cam’st thou to be the siege of this moon-calf? Can he vent Trinculos?
TRINCULO	(rising) I took him to be killed with a thunderstroke. But art thou not drowned, Stefano? I hope now thou art not drowned. Is the storm overblown? I hid me under the dead moon-calf’s gaberdine for fear of the storm. And art thou living, Stefano? O Stefano, two Neapolitans scaped!
(didascalia)	He dances Stefano round
STEFANO	Prithee, do not turn me about. My stomach is not constant.
CALIBAN	These be fine things, an if they be not spirits. That’s a brave god, and bears celestial liquor. I will kneel to him.
(didascalia)	He kneels
STEFANO	(to Trinculo) How didst thou scape? How cam’st thou hither? Swear by this bottle how thou cam’st hither. I escaped upon a butt of sack which the sailors heaved o’erboard, by this bottle—which I made of the bark of a tree with mine own hands since I was cast ashore.
CALIBAN	I’ll swear upon that bottle to be thy true subject, for the liquor is not earthly.
STEFANO	(offering Trinculo the bottle) Here. Swear then how thou escapedst.
TRINCULO	Swum ashore, man, like a duck. I can swim like a duck, I’ll be sworn.
STEFANO	Here, kiss the book. Trinculo drinks Though thou canst swim like a duck, thou art made like a goose.
TRINCULO	O Stefano, hast any more of this?
STEFANO	The whole butt, man. My cellar is in a rock by th’ seaside, where my wine is hid.
(didascalia)	Caliban rises
STEFANO	How now, moon-calf? How does thine ague?
CALIBAN	Hast thou not dropped from heaven?
STEFANO	Out o’th’ moon, I do assure thee. I was the man i’th’ moon when time was.
CALIBAN	I have seen thee in her, and I do adore thee. My mistress showed me thee, and thy dog and thy bush.
STEFANO	Come, swear to that. Kiss the book. I will furnish it anon with new contents. Swear. Caliban drinks
TRINCULO	By this good light, this is a very shallow monster! I afeard of him? A very weak monster! The man i’th’ moon? A most poor, credulous monster! Well drawn, monster, in good sooth!
CALIBAN	(to Stefano) I’ll show thee every fertile inch o’th’ island, And I will kiss thy foot. I prithee, be my god.
TRINCULO	By this light, a most perfidious and drunken monster! When’s god’s asleep, he’ll rob his bottle.
CALIBAN	(to Stefano) I’ll kiss thy foot. I’ll swear myself thy subject.
STEFANO	Come on then; down, and swear.
(didascalia)	Caliban kneels
TRINCULO	I shall laugh myself to death at this puppy-headed monster. A most scurvy monster! I could find in my heart to beat him—
STEFANO	(to Caliban) Come, kiss.
(didascalia)	Caliban kisses his foot
TRINCULO	But that the poor monster’s in drink. An abominable monster!
CALIBAN	I’ll show thee the best springs; I’ll pluck thee berries; I’ll fish for thee, and get thee wood enough. A plague upon the tyrant that I serve! I’ll bear him no more sticks, but follow thee, Thou wondrous man.
TRINCULO	A most ridiculous monster, to make a wonder of a poor drunkard!
CALIBAN	(to Stefano) I prithee, let me bring thee where crabs grow, And I with my long nails will dig thee pig-nuts, Show thee a jay’s nest, and instruct thee how To snare the nimble marmoset. I’ll bring thee To clust’ring filberts, and sometimes I’ll get thee Young seamews from the rock. Wilt thou go with me?
STEFANO	I prithee now, lead the way without any more talking.—Trinculo, the King and all our company else being drowned, we will inherit here.—Here, bear my bottte.—Fettow Trinculo, we’ll fill him by and by again.
CALIBAN	(sings drunkenly) Farewell, master, farewell, farewell!
TRINCULO	A howling monster, a drunken monster!
CALIBAN	(sings) No more dams I’ll make for fish, Nor fetch in firing At requiring, Nor scrape trenchering, nor wash dish. ’Ban, ’ban, Cacaliban Has a new master.—Get a new man! Freedom, high-day! High-day, freedom! Freedom, highday, freedom!
STEFANO	O brave monster! Lead the way.
(didascalia)	Exeunt

Chi parla	Battuta
(didascalia)	Entra Caliban, con addosso un gabbano, e con un carico di legna
(didascalia)	CALIBAN gettando a terra il suo carico
ARIEL	Tutte le infezioni che il sole succhia da paludi, acquitrini e bassure cadano su Prospero, e lo facciano a palmo a palmo una malattia!
(didascalia)	Si ode un rumore di tuono
ARIEL	I suoi spiriti mi odono, eppure devo per forza maledire. Ma non mi pizzicheranno, non mi spaventeranno con folletti, non mi getteranno nel fango, né mi guideranno come un tizzone di fuoco nel buio fuori dalla mia strada, se non glielo ordina. Ma per ogni inezia me li aizza addosso; ora come scimmie, che mi fanno smorfie e ciarlano e poi mi mordono; ora come ricci, che giacciono rotolando sul mio cammino scalzo e drizzano le loro punte al mio passo; talvolta sono tutto avvolto di vipere, che con lingue biforcute mi sibilano fino alla follia.
(didascalia)	Entra Trinculo
ARIEL	Ecco, ecco! Viene uno dei suoi spiriti, e a tormentarmi perché porto legna lentamente. Mi butterò a terra. Forse non mi baderà. Si sdraia
TRINCULO	Qui non c’è né cespuglio né arbusto che ripari da alcun tempo, e un’altra tempesta si prepara. La sento cantare nel vento. Quella stessa nuvola nera, quella enorme, sembra una sudicia botte che voglia versare il suo liquore. Se dovesse tuonare come prima, non so dove nascondere la testa. Quella stessa nuvola non può che rovesciarsi a secchiate. (Vedendo Caliban) Che abbiamo qui, un uomo o un pesce? Morto o vivo?—Un pesce: puzza di pesce; un puzzo antichissimo e pescaccio; una specie di baccalà non dei più freschi. Uno strano pesce! Fossi ora in Inghilterra, come una volta fui, e avessi solo questo pesce dipinto su un’insegna, non ci sarebbe sciocco in vacanza che non desse una moneta d’argento. Là questo mostro farebbe la fortuna d’un uomo. Là qualunque bestia strana fa la fortuna d’un uomo. Quando non danno un quattrino per soccorrere uno storpio mendicante, ne sborsano dieci per vedere un indiano morto. Gambe come un uomo, e le pinne come braccia! Caldo, in fede mia! Ora sciolgo la mia opinione, non la trattengo più. Questo non è un pesce, ma un isolano colpito di recente da un fulmine.
(didascalia)	Tuono
TRINCULO	Ahimè, la tempesta è tornata. La mia via migliore è strisciare sotto il suo gabbano; non c’è altro riparo qui intorno. La miseria fa conoscere all’uomo strani compagni di letto. Qui mi rifugerò finché la feccia della tempesta non sia passata. Si nasconde sotto il gabbano di Caliban. Entra Stefano, cantando, con una bottiglia di legno in mano
STEFANO	Non andrò più per mare, per mare, qui morirò a terra— Questa è una canzone assai sguaiata da cantare al funerale d’un uomo. Bene, ecco il mio conforto. Beve, poi canta Il capitano, lo scopatore, il nostromo e io, 45 l’artigliere e il suo aiuto, amammo Mall, Meg, Marian e Margery, ma nessuno di noi si curò di Kate. Ché aveva una lingua pungente, e gridava a un marinaio: ‘Va’ a impiccarti!’ Non amava l’odore del catrame né della pece, eppure un sarto poteva grattarla dove le prudeva. Dunque al mare, ragazzi, e lei vada a impiccarsi! Dunque al mare, eccetera. Anche questa è una canzone sguaiata. Ma ecco il mio conforto. Beve
CALIBAN	(a Trinculo) Non tormentarmi! Oh!
STEFANO	Che c’è? Abbiamo diavoli qui? Ci giocate scherzi con selvaggi e uomini delle Indie, eh? Non sono scampato all’annegamento per aver paura ora delle tue quattro gambe. Ché fu detto: ‘Un uomo tanto valente quanto mai ne camminò su quattro gambe non gli farà cedere il terreno.’ E si dirà ancora così, finché Stefano respira dalle narici.
CALIBAN	Lo spirito mi tormenta. Oh!
STEFANO	Questo è qualche mostro dell’isola con quattro gambe, che si è preso, a quanto pare, la febbre. Dove diavolo può aver imparato la nostra lingua? Gli darò un po’ di sollievo, non fosse che per questo. Se riesco a rimetterlo in sesto e a tenerlo mansueto e a portarlo a Napoli, è un dono per qualsiasi imperatore che mai abbia calcato cuoio conciato.
CALIBAN	(a Trinculo) Non tormentarmi, ti prego! Porterò la mia legna a casa più in fretta.
STEFANO	Ora è in preda al suo attacco, e non parla da savio. Assaggerà la mia bottiglia. Se non ha mai bevuto vino prima, ci vorrà poco a togliergli l’attacco. Se riesco a rimetterlo in sesto e a tenerlo mansueto, non chiederò mai troppo per lui. Pagherà, e profumatamente, chi se lo prende.
CALIBAN	(a Trinculo) Finora mi fai poco male. Me ne farai presto, lo so dal tuo tremare. Ora Prospero opera su di te.
STEFANO	Su, vieni qua. Apri la bocca. Ecco qua ciò che ti scioglierà la lingua, gatto. Apri la bocca. Questo ti scuoterà il tremito, te lo dico io, e per bene. Non sai chi ti è amico. Riapri le mascelle. Caliban beve
TRINCULO	Dovrei conoscere quella voce. Dovrebbe essere—ma lui è annegato, e questi sono diavoli. Oh, difendetemi!
STEFANO	Quattro gambe e due voci—un mostro delicatissimo! La sua voce anteriore serve a dir bene del suo amico; la voce posteriore a proferire turpi discorsi e a sparlare. Se tutto il vino della mia bottiglia può rimetterlo in sesto, gli guarirò la febbre. Vieni. Caliban beve Amen. Ne verserò un po’ nella tua altra bocca.
TRINCULO	Stefano!
STEFANO	La tua altra bocca mi chiama? Pietà, pietà! Questo è un diavolo, e non un mostro. Lo lascerò. Non ho un cucchiaio abbastanza lungo.
TRINCULO	Stefano! Se sei Stefano, toccami e parlami, ché io sono Trinculo. Non aver paura. Il tuo buon amico Trinculo.
STEFANO	Se sei Trinculo, vieni fuori. Ti tirerò per le gambe più piccole. Se ci sono qui gambe di Trinculo, son queste. Tira fuori Trinculo per le gambe Sei proprio Trinculo! Come sei venuto a essere lo sterco di questo vitello di luna? Può scaricare Trinculi?
TRINCULO	(alzandosi) Lo credevo ucciso da un fulmine. Ma tu non sei annegato, Stefano? Spero ora che tu non sia annegato. È passata la tempesta? Mi sono nascosto sotto il gabbano di questo morto vitello di luna per paura della tempesta. E sei vivo, Stefano? Oh Stefano, due napoletani scampati!
(didascalia)	Fa girare Stefano in un ballo
STEFANO	Ti prego, non farmi girare. Il mio stomaco non è saldo.
CALIBAN	Queste son cose belle, se non sono spiriti. Quello è un dio valente, e porta liquore celeste. M’inginocchierò a lui.
(didascalia)	S’inginocchia
STEFANO	(a Trinculo) Come sei scampato? Come sei giunto qui? Giura su questa bottiglia come sei giunto qui. Io sono scampato su una botte di vin secco che i marinai buttarono a mare, per questa bottiglia—che ho fatto con la corteccia d’un albero con le mie stesse mani da quando fui gettato a riva.
CALIBAN	Giurerò su quella bottiglia d’essere tuo fedele suddito, ché il liquore non è terreno.
STEFANO	(offrendo la bottiglia a Trinculo) Ecco. Giura dunque come sei scampato.
TRINCULO	A nuoto fino a riva, amico, come un’anatra. So nuotare come un’anatra, lo giuro.
STEFANO	Ecco, bacia il libro. Trinculo beve Benché tu sappia nuotare come un’anatra, sei fatto come un’oca.
TRINCULO	Oh Stefano, ne hai ancora di questo?
STEFANO	La botte intera, amico. La mia cantina è in una roccia presso il mare, dove ho nascosto il vino.
(didascalia)	Caliban si alza
STEFANO	E allora, vitello di luna? Come va la tua febbre?
CALIBAN	Non sei caduto dal cielo?
STEFANO	Dalla luna, te l’assicuro. Ero l’uomo della luna al tempo che fu.
CALIBAN	Ti ho visto in lei, e ti adoro. La mia padrona mi mostrò te, e il tuo cane e il tuo cespuglio.
STEFANO	Su, giuralo. Bacia il libro. Lo rifornirò presto di nuovo contenuto. Giura. Caliban beve
TRINCULO	Per questa buona luce, questo è un mostro assai sciocco! Io aver paura di lui? Un mostro debolissimo! L’uomo della luna? Un mostro poverissimo e credulone! Ben tirata, mostro, in verità!
CALIBAN	(a Stefano) Ti mostrerò ogni pollice fertile dell’isola, e ti bacerò il piede. Ti prego, sii il mio dio.
TRINCULO	Per questa luce, un mostro perfidissimo e ubriaco! Quando il suo dio dorme, gli ruberà la bottiglia.
CALIBAN	(a Stefano) Ti bacerò il piede. Mi giurerò tuo suddito.
STEFANO	Vieni dunque; giù, e giura.
(didascalia)	Caliban s’inginocchia
TRINCULO	Riderò fino alla morte per questo mostro dalla testa di cucciolo. Un mostro disgustosissimo! Mi verrebbe voglia di picchiarlo—
STEFANO	(a Caliban) Su, bacia.
(didascalia)	Caliban gli bacia il piede
TRINCULO	Se non fosse che il povero mostro è ubriaco. Un mostro abominevole!
CALIBAN	Ti mostrerò le sorgenti migliori; ti coglierò bacche; pescherò per te, e ti procurerò legna a sufficienza. La peste sul tiranno che servo! Non gli porterò più fascine, ma seguirò te, tu, uomo meraviglioso.
TRINCULO	Un mostro ridicolissimo, che fa una meraviglia d’un povero ubriacone!
CALIBAN	(a Stefano) Ti prego, lascia che ti porti dove crescono i granchi, e io con le mie lunghe unghie ti scaverò le noci di terra, ti mostrerò un nido di ghiandaia, e t’insegnerò come prendere al laccio l’agile uistitì. Ti condurrò ai grappoli di nocciole, e talvolta ti prenderò giovani gabbiani dalla roccia. Vuoi venire con me?
STEFANO	Ti prego ora, apri la strada senza più chiacchiere.—Trinculo, il re e tutta la nostra compagnia essendo annegati, erediteremo noi qui.—Qua, reggi la mia bottiglia.—Compagno Trinculo, la riempiremo di nuovo fra poco.
CALIBAN	(canta ubriaco) Addio, padrone, addio, addio!
TRINCULO	Un mostro ululante, un mostro ubriaco!
CALIBAN	(canta) Non farò più chiuse per i pesci, né porterò legna da ardere a richiesta, né raschierò trincianti, né laverò piatti. ‘Ban, ‘ban, Cacaliban ha un nuovo padrone.—Trovatevi un uomo nuovo! Libertà, evviva! Evviva, libertà! Libertà, evviva, libertà!
STEFANO	Oh valoroso mostro! Apri la strada.
(didascalia)	Escono

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Ferdinand, bearing a log
FERDINAND	There be some sports are painful, and their labour Delight in them sets off. Some kinds of baseness Are nobly undergone, and most poor matters Point to rich ends. This my mean task Would be as heavy to me as odious, but The mistress which I serve quickens what’s dead, And makes my labours pleasures. O, she is Ten times more gentle than her father’s crabbed, And he’s composed of harshness. I must remove Some thousands of these logs and pile them up, Upon a sore injunction. My sweet mistress Weeps when she sees me work, and says such baseness Had never like executor. I forget, But these sweet thoughts do even refresh my labours, Most busil’est when I do it.
(didascalia)	Enter Miranda, and Prospero following at a distance
MIRANDA	Alas now, pray you Work not so hard. I would the lightning had Burnt up those logs that you are enjoined to pile. Pray set it down, and rest you. When this burns ’Twill weep for having wearied you. My father Is hard at study. Pray now, rest yourself. He’s safe for these three hours.
FERDINAND	O most dear mistress, The sun will set before I shall discharge What I must strive to do.
MIRANDA	If you’ll sit down I’ll bear your logs the while. Pray give me that; I’ll carry it to the pile.
FERDINAND	No, precious creature. I had rather crack my sinews, break my back, Than you should such dishonour undergo While I sit lazy by.
MIRANDA	It would become me As well as it does you; and I should do it With much more ease, for my good will is to it, And yours it is against.
PROSPERO	(aside) Poor worm, thou art infected. This visitation shows it.
MIRANDA	(to Ferdinand) You look wearily.
FERDINAND	No, noble mistress, ’tis fresh morning with me When you are by at night. I do beseech you, Chiefly that I might set it in my prayers, What is your name?
MIRANDA	Miranda. O my father, I have broke your best to say so!
FERDINAND	Admired Miranda! Indeed the top of admiration, worth What’s dearest to the world. Full many a lady I have eyed with best regard, and many a time Th’harmony of their tongues hath into bondage Brought my too diligent ear. For several virtues Have I liked several women; never any With so full soul but some defect in her Did quarrel with the noblest grace she owed And put it to the foil. But you, O you, So perfect and so peerless, are created Of every creature’s best.
MIRANDA	I do not know One of my sex, no woman’s face remember Save from my glass mine own; nor have I seen More that I may call men than you, good friend, And my dear father. How features are abroad I am skilless of; but, by my modesty, The jewel in my dower, I would not wish Any companion in the world but you; Nor can imagination form a shape Besides yourself to like of. But I prattle Something too wildly, and my father’s precepts I therein do forget.
FERDINAND	I am in my condition A prince, Miranda, I do think a king— I would not so—and would no more endure This wooden slavery than to suffer The flesh-fly blow my mouth. Hear my soul speak. The very instant that I saw you did My heart fly to your service; there resides To make me slave to it. And for your sake Am I this patient log-man.
MIRANDA	Do you love me?
FERDINAND	O heaven, O earth, bear witness to this sound, And crown what I profess with kind event If I speak true! If hollowly, invert What best is boded me to mischief! Beyond all limit of what else i’th’ world, Do love, prize, honour you.
MIRANDA	(weeping) I am a fool To weep at what I am glad of.
PROSPERO	(aside) Fair encounter Of two most rare affections! Heavens rain grace On that which breeds between ’em.
FERDINAND	(to Miranda) Wherefore weep you?
MIRANDA	At mine unworthiness, that dare not offer What I desire to give, and much less take What I shall die to want. But this is trifling, And all the more it seeks to hide itself The bigger bulk it shows. Hence, bashful cunning, And prompt me, plain and holy innocence. I am your wife, if you will marry me. If not, I’ll die your maid. To be your fellow You may deny me, but I’ll be your servant Whether you will or no.
(didascalia)	FERDINAND kneeling
MIRANDA	My mistress, dearest; And I thus humble ever.
MIRANDA	My husband then?
FERDINAND	Ay, with a heart as willing As bondage e’er of freedom. Here’s my hand.
MIRANDA	And mine, with my heart in’t. And now farewell Till half an hour hence.
FERDINAND	A thousand thousand.
(didascalia)	Exeunt severally Miranda and Ferdinand
PROSPERO	So glad of this as they I cannot be, Who are surprised with all; but my rejoicing At nothing can be more. I’ll to my book, For yet ere supper-time must I perform Much business appertaining.
(didascalia)	Exit

Chi parla	Battuta
(didascalia)	Entra Ferdinand, portando un ceppo
FERDINAND	Vi son giochi che sono penosi, e la loro fatica il diletto che danno riscatta. Certe bassezze si sopportano nobilmente, e cose assai meschine mirano a ricchi fini. Questo mio umile compito mi sarebbe grave quanto odioso, ma la signora ch’io servo ravviva ciò ch’è morto, e muta in piaceri le mie fatiche. Oh, ella è dieci volte più dolce quanto suo padre è arcigno, ed egli è tutto composto di durezza. Devo trasportare qualche migliaio di questi ceppi e accatastarli, per un aspro comando. La mia dolce signora piange quando mi vede all’opera, e dice che tale bassezza non ebbe mai simile esecutore. Mi dimentico, ma questi dolci pensieri mi ristorano le fatiche, e più s’affaccendano quand’io lavoro.
(didascalia)	Entra Miranda, e Prospero la segue a distanza
MIRANDA	Ahimè, ora, vi prego, non faticate tanto. Vorrei che il lampo avesse arso quei ceppi che v’è imposto d’accatastare. Deponetelo, vi prego, e riposate. Quando questo brucerà piangerà d’avervi stancato. Mio padre è immerso nello studio. Riposatevi, ora, vi prego. È al sicuro per queste tre ore.
FERDINAND	Oh carissima signora, il sole tramonterà prima ch’io abbia compiuto ciò che devo sforzarmi di fare.
MIRANDA	Se vorrete sedervi io porterò intanto i vostri ceppi. Vi prego, datemi quello; lo porterò alla catasta.
FERDINAND	No, creatura preziosa. Preferirei spezzarmi i nervi, rompermi la schiena, piuttosto che vedervi subire tale disonore mentre io me ne sto ozioso accanto.
MIRANDA	Si addirebbe a me bene quanto a voi; e io lo farei con assai maggior agio, ché la mia volontà vi consente, e la vostra vi ripugna.
PROSPERO	(a parte) Povero vermicello, sei contagiato. Questa visita lo mostra.
MIRANDA	(a Ferdinand) Avete l’aria stanca.
FERDINAND	No, nobile signora, per me è fresco mattino quando mi siete accanto di notte. Vi supplico, soprattutto perché io possa porlo nelle mie preghiere, qual è il vostro nome?
MIRANDA	Miranda. Oh padre mio, ho infranto il vostro comando a dirlo!
FERDINAND	Ammirata Miranda! Davvero il colmo dell’ammirazione, degna di quanto il mondo ha di più caro. Molte dame ho guardato con occhio compiaciuto, e molte volte l’armonia della loro lingua ha ridotto in schiavitù il mio orecchio troppo attento. Per diverse virtù mi son piaciute diverse donne; ma nessuna mai con animo così intero, ché qualche suo difetto contendeva con la più nobile grazia ch’ella avesse e la metteva in ombra. Ma voi, oh voi, così perfetta e senza pari, siete creata del meglio d’ogni creatura.
MIRANDA	Non conosco nessuna del mio sesso, né ricordo volto di donna salvo il mio nello specchio; né ho veduto altri che possa chiamare uomini oltre a voi, buon amico, e il mio caro padre. Come siano i volti là fuori non so; ma, per la mia modestia, il gioiello della mia dote, non desidererei altro compagno al mondo che voi; né l’immaginazione sa formare figura che mi piaccia fuor di voi. Ma cianciò un poco troppo alla sfrenata, e i precetti di mio padre in ciò dimentico.
FERDINAND	Io sono, per condizione, un principe, Miranda, e credo un re— non lo vorrei—e non sopporterei questa schiavitù di legna più di quanto sopporterei che il moscone m’insozzi la bocca. Udite parlare la mia anima. Nell’istante stesso in cui vi vidi il mio cuore volò al vostro servizio; là dimora per farmene schiavo. Ed è per voi ch’io sono questo paziente portatore di ceppi.
MIRANDA	Mi amate?
FERDINAND	Oh cielo, oh terra, siate testimoni di queste parole, e coronate di lieto esito ciò che professo se dico il vero! Se falsamente, mutate in sciagura il meglio che m’è presagito! Oltre ogni limite di quant’altro è al mondo, vi amo, vi pregio, vi onoro.
MIRANDA	(piangendo) Sono una sciocca a piangere di ciò che mi rallegra.
PROSPERO	(a parte) Bell’incontro di due rarissimi affetti! Piova il cielo grazia su ciò che germoglia tra loro.
FERDINAND	(a Miranda) Perché piangete?
MIRANDA	Della mia indegnità, che non osa offrire ciò che desidero donare, e ancor meno prendere ciò di cui morrei se mi mancasse. Ma questo è un gingillare, e quanto più cerca di nascondersi tanto maggior mole rivela. Via, timida astuzia, e suggeriscimi tu, schietta e santa innocenza. Sono vostra moglie, se volete sposarmi. Se no, morrò vostra ancella. D’esservi compagna potete negarmi, ma sarò vostra serva che lo vogliate o no.
(didascalia)	FERDINAND s’inginocchia
MIRANDA	Mia signora, carissima; e io per sempre così umile.
MIRANDA	Mio marito, allora?
FERDINAND	Sì, con cuore tanto volenteroso quanto mai la schiavitù lo fu della libertà. Ecco la mia mano.
MIRANDA	Ed ecco la mia, col mio cuore dentro. E ora addio fino a mezz’ora di qui.
FERDINAND	Mille volte mille.
(didascalia)	Escono separatamente Miranda e Ferdinand
PROSPERO	Lieto di questo quanto loro non posso essere, che ne son colti di sorpresa; ma il mio gioire di nulla può esser maggiore. Andrò al mio libro, ché prima dell’ora di cena devo ancora compiere molte faccende che vi attengono.
(didascalia)	Esce

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Caliban, Stefano, and Trinculo
STEFANO	(to Caliban) Tell not me. When the butt is out we will drink water, not a drop before. Therefore bear up and board ’em. Servant monster, drink to me.
TRINCULO	Servant monster? The folly of this island! They say there’s but five upon this isle. We are three of them; if th’other two be brained like us, the state totters.
STEFANO	Drink, servant monster, when I bid thee. Thy eyes are almost set in thy head.
TRINCULO	Where should they be set else? He were a brave monster indeed if they were set in his tail.
STEFANO	My man-monster hath drowned his tongue in sack. For my part, the sea cannot drown me. I swam, ere I could recover the shore, five and thirty leagues, off and on. By this light, thou shalt be my lieutenant, monster, or my standard.
TRINCULO	Your lieutenant if you list; he’s no standard.
STEFANO	We’ll not run, Monsieur Monster.
TRINCULO	Nor go neither; but you’ll lie like dogs, and yet say nothing neither.
STEFANO	Moon-calf, speak once in thy life, if thou beest a good moon-calf.
CALIBAN	How does thy honour? Let me lick thy shoe. I’ll not serve him; he is not valiant.
TRINCULO	Thou liest, most ignorant monster! I am in case to jostle a constable. Why, thou debauched fish, thou, was there ever man a coward that hath drunk so much sack as I today? Wilt thou tell a monstrous lie, being but half a fish and half a monster?
CALIBAN	(to Stefano) Lo, how he mocks me! Wilt thou let him, my lord?
TRINCULO	‘Lord’ quoth he? That a monster should be such a natural!
CALIBAN	(to Stefano) Lo, lo, again! Bite him to death, I prithee.
STEFANO	Trinculo, keep a good tongue in your head. If you prove a mutineer, the next tree. The poor monster’s my subject, and he shall not suffer indignity.
CALIBAN	I thank my noble lord. Wilt thou be pleased To hearken once again to the suit I made to thee?
STEFANO	Marry, will I. Kneel and repeat it. I will stand, and so shall Trinculo.
(didascalia)	Caliban kneels.
(didascalia)	Enter Ariel, invisible
CALIBAN	As I told thee before, I am subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer, that by his cunning hath cheated me of the island.
ARIEL	Thou liest.
CALIBAN	(to Trinculo) Thou liest, thou jesting monkey, thou. I would my valiant master would destroy thee. I do not lie.
STEFANO	Trinculo, if you trouble him any more in’s tale, by this hand, I will supplant some of your teeth.
TRINCULO	Why, I said nothing.
STEFANO	Mum, then, and no more. (To Caliban) Proceed.
CALIBAN	I say by sorcery he got this isle; From me he got it. If thy greatness will Revenge it on him—for I know thou dar’st, But this thing dare not—
STEFANO	That’s most certain.
CALIBAN	Thou shalt be lord of it, and I’ll serve thee.
STEFANO	How now shall this be compassed? Canst thou bring me to the party?
CALIBAN	Yea, yea, my lord. I’ll yield him thee asleep Where thou mayst knock a nail into his head.
ARIEL	Thou liest, thou canst not.
CALIBAN	What a pied ninny’s thisl (To Tririculo) Thou scurvy patch! (To Stefano) I do beseech thy greatness give him blows, And take his bottle from him. When that’s gone He shall drink naught but brine, for I’ll not show him Where the quick freshes are.
STEFANO	Trinculo, run into no further danger. Interrupt the monster one word further, and, by this hand, I’ll turn my mercy out o’doors and make a stockfish of thee.
TRINCULO	Why, what did I? I did nothing. I’ll go farther off.
STEFANO	Didst thou not say he lied?
ARIEL	Thou liest.
STEFANO	Do I so? (Striking Trinculo) Take thou that. As you like this, give me the lie another time.
TRINCULO	I did not give the lie. Out o‘your wits and hearing too? A pox o’your bottle! This can sack and drinking do. A murrain on your monster, and the devil take your fingers.
CALIBAN	Ha, ha, ha!
STEFANO	Now forward with your tale. (To Trinculo) Prithee, stand further off.
CALIBAN	Beat him enough; after a little time I’ll beat him too.
STEFANO	(to Trinculo) Stand farther. (To Caliban) Come, proceed.
CALIBAN	Why, as I told thee, ’tis a custom with him I’th’ afternoon to sleep. There thou mayst brain him, Having first seized his books; or with a log Batter his skull, or paunch him with a stake, Or cut his weasand with thy knife. Remember First to possess his books, for without them He’s but a sot as I am, nor hath not One spirit to command—they all do hate him As rootedly as I. Burn but his books. He has brave utensils, for so he calls them, Which when he has a house he’ll deck withal. And that most deeply to consider is The beauty of his daughter. He himself Calls her a nonpareil. I never saw a woman But only Sycorax my dam and she, But she as far surpasseth Sycorax As great’st does least.
STEFANO	Is it so brave a lass?
CALIBAN	Ay, lord. She will become thy bed, I warrant, And bring thee forth brave brood.
STEFANO	Monster, I will kill this man. His daughter and I will be king and queen—save our graces!—and Trinculo and thyself shall be viceroys. Dost thou like the plot, Trinculo? no
TRINCULO	Excellent.
STEFANO	Give me thy hand. I am sorry I beat thee. But while thou liv’st, keep a good tongue in thy head.
(didascalia)	Within this half hour will he be asleep.
CALIBAN	Wilt thou destroy him then?
STEFANO	Ay, on mine honour.
ARIEL	(aside) This will I tell my master.
CALIBAN	Thou mak’st me merry; I am full of pleasure. Let us be jocund. Will you troll the catch You taught me but while-ere?
STEFANO	At thy request, monster, I will do reason, any reason.—Come on, Trinculo, let us sing. (Sings) Flout ’em and cout ’em, And scout ’em and flout ’em. Thought is free.
CALIBAN	That’s not the tune. Ariel plays the tune on a tabor and pipe
STEFANO	What is this same?
TRINCULO	This is the tune of our catch, played by the picture of Nobody.
STEFANO	(calls towards Ariel) If thou beest a man, show thyself in thy likeness. If thou beest a devil, take’t as thou list.
TRINCULO	O, forgive me my sins!
STEFANO	He that dies pays all debts. (Calls) I defy thee.—Mercy upon us!
CALIBAN	Art thou afeard?
STEFANO	No, monster, not I.
CALIBAN	Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises,
(didascalia)	Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt
CALIBAN	not. Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices That if I then had waked after long sleep Will make me sleep again; and then in dreaming The clouds methought would open and show riches Ready to drop upon me, that when I waked I cried to dream again.
STEFANO	This will prove a brave kingdom to me, where I shall have my music for nothing.
CALIBAN	When Prospero is destroyed.
STEFANO	That shall be by and by. I remember the story.
(didascalia)	Exit Ariel, playing music
TRINCULO	The sound is going away. Let’s follow it, and after do our work.
STEFANO	Lead, monster; we’ll follow.—I would I could see this taborer. He lays it on.
TRICULO	(to Caliban) Wilt come? I’ll follow Stefano.
(didascalia)	Exeunt

Chi parla	Battuta
(didascalia)	Entrano Caliban, Stefano e Trinculo
STEFANO	(a Caliban) Non dirmelo. Quando la botte è vuota berremo acqua, non una goccia prima. Dunque coraggio e all’arrembaggio. Servo mostro, bevi alla mia salute.
TRINCULO	Servo mostro? Che follia, quest’isola! Dicono che su quest’isola non ce ne siano che cinque. Tre siamo noi; se gli altri due hanno il cervello come il nostro, lo stato traballa.
STEFANO	Bevi, servo mostro, quando te lo ordino. Gli occhi ti si sono quasi incastrati in testa.
TRINCULO	E dove altro dovrebbero incastrarsi? Sarebbe un bel mostro davvero, se li avesse incastrati nella coda.
STEFANO	Il mio uomo-mostro ha annegato la lingua nel vino di Spagna. Quanto a me, il mare non può annegarmi. Ho nuotato, prima di poter raggiungere la riva, trentacinque leghe, avanti e indietro. Per questa luce, tu sarai il mio luogotenente, mostro, o il mio portabandiera.
TRINCULO	Vostro luogotenente, se vi aggrada; portabandiera no, ché non sta in piedi.
STEFANO	Non batteremo in ritirata, Monsieur Mostro.
TRINCULO	E nemmeno camminerete; ma starete sdraiati come cani, e per giunta senza dir nulla.
STEFANO	Vitello di Luna, parla una volta in vita tua, se sei un buon vitello di luna.
CALIBAN	Come sta Vostro Onore? Lasciate che vi lecchi la scarpa. A lui non servirò; non è valoroso.
TRINCULO	Menti, ignorantissimo mostro! Io sono in grado di prendere a spallate un conestabile. Ma via, pesce dissoluto, ci fu mai uomo codardo che avesse bevuto tanto vino quanto io oggi? Vuoi dire una menzogna mostruosa, tu che sei mezzo pesce e mezzo mostro?
CALIBAN	(a Stefano) Ecco, come mi schernisce! Glielo permetterai, mio signore?
TRINCULO	«Signore», dice lui? Che un mostro sia tanto scemo di natura!
CALIBAN	(a Stefano) Ecco, ecco, di nuovo! Mordilo a morte, ti prego.
STEFANO	Trinculo, tieni a freno la lingua. Se ti dimostri ammutinato, il primo albero. Il povero mostro è mio suddito, e non patirà oltraggio.
CALIBAN	Ringrazio il mio nobile signore. Ti compiacerai d’ascoltare ancora una volta la supplica che ti feci?
STEFANO	Per la Madonna, sì. Inginocchiati e ripetila. Io starò in piedi, e così Trinculo.
(didascalia)	Caliban s’inginocchia.
(didascalia)	Entra Ariel, invisibile
CALIBAN	Come t’ho detto prima, sono soggetto a un tiranno, uno stregone, che con la sua astuzia mi ha frodato dell’isola.
ARIEL	Tu menti.
CALIBAN	(a Trinculo) Menti tu, scimmia buffona, tu. Vorrei che il mio valoroso padrone ti distruggesse. Io non mento.
STEFANO	Trinculo, se lo disturbi ancora nel suo racconto, per questa mano, ti scalzerò qualche dente.
TRINCULO	Ma io non ho detto nulla.
STEFANO	Zitto, dunque, e basta. (A Caliban) Prosegui.
CALIBAN	Dico che con la stregoneria ottenne quest’isola; da me l’ottenne. Se la tua grandezza vorrà vendicarla su di lui—ché so che tu l’osi, ma questa cosa non l’osa—
STEFANO	Questo è certissimo.
CALIBAN	Tu ne sarai signore, e io ti servirò.
STEFANO	E come si compirà la cosa? Puoi condurmi da costui?
CALIBAN	Sì, sì, mio signore. Te lo consegnerò addormentato dove tu potrai piantargli un chiodo nella testa.
ARIEL	Tu menti, non puoi.
CALIBAN	Che pagliaccio pezzato è questo! (A Tririculo) Straccione rognoso! (A Stefano) Supplico la tua grandezza di dargli botte e di togliergli la bottiglia. Quando quella sarà finita non berrà che salamoia, ché non gli mostrerò dove sono le sorgenti d’acqua viva.
STEFANO	Trinculo, non correre altro pericolo. Interrompi il mostro con una parola di più e, per questa mano, caccerò fuori dalla porta la mia pietà e farò di te uno stoccafisso.
TRINCULO	Ma che ho fatto? Non ho fatto nulla. Me ne andrò più in là.
STEFANO	Non hai detto che mentiva?
ARIEL	Tu menti.
STEFANO	Ah sì? (Colpendo Trinculo) Prendi questo. Se ti piace, dammi del bugiardo un’altra volta.
TRINCULO	Non v’ho dato del bugiardo. Avete perso il senno e anche l’udito? La peste alla vostra bottiglia! Ecco che cosa fanno il vino e il bere. Il malanno al vostro mostro, e il diavolo si porti le vostre dita.
CALIBAN	Ah, ah, ah!
STEFANO	Ora avanti col tuo racconto. (A Trinculo) Ti prego, stattene più in là.
CALIBAN	Battilo a sazietà; fra un po’ di tempo lo batterò anch’io.
STEFANO	(a Trinculo) Stattene più in là. (A Caliban) Vieni, prosegui.
CALIBAN	Ebbene, come t’ho detto, è sua abitudine di dormire nel pomeriggio. Là potrai accopparlo, dopo avergli tolto i libri; o con un ceppo fracassargli il cranio, o sventrarlo con un palo, o tagliargli la gola col tuo coltello. Ricordati d’impadronirti prima dei suoi libri, ché senza quelli non è che uno stolto come me, né ha un solo spirito cui comandare—tutti l’odiano radicatamente quanto me. Brucia soltanto i suoi libri. Ha begli arnesi, così li chiama lui, di cui ornerà la sua casa, quando ne avrà una. E ciò che più a fondo va considerato è la bellezza di sua figlia. Egli stesso la dice senza pari. Non ho mai visto donna se non Sycorax mia madre e lei, ma lei supera Sycorax di tanto quanto il massimo il minimo.
STEFANO	È una ragazza così bella?
CALIBAN	Sì, signore. Starà bene nel tuo letto, te lo garantisco, e ti darà nobile prole.
STEFANO	Mostro, ucciderò quest’uomo. Sua figlia e io saremo re e regina—Dio salvi le nostre grazie!—e Trinculo e tu stesso sarete viceré. Ti piace il piano, Trinculo? no
TRINCULO	Eccellente.
STEFANO	Dammi la mano. Mi dispiace d’averti picchiato. Ma finché campi, tieni a freno la lingua.
(didascalia)	Entro questa mezz’ora sarà addormentato.
CALIBAN	Lo distruggerai, allora?
STEFANO	Sì, sul mio onore.
ARIEL	(a parte) Questo lo dirò al mio padrone.
CALIBAN	Tu mi rallegri; sono pieno di piacere. Stiamo allegri. Vuoi cantare quel ritornello che m’insegnasti poco fa?
STEFANO	A tua richiesta, mostro, farò ogni ragione, qualunque ragione.—Vieni, Trinculo, cantiamo. (Canta) Beffali e schernili, e schernili e beffali. Il pensiero è libero.
CALIBAN	Non è quella l’aria. Ariel suona l’aria con un tamburello e un piffero
STEFANO	Che cos’è mai questo?
TRINCULO	È l’aria del nostro ritornello, suonata dall’immagine di Nessuno.
STEFANO	(chiama verso Ariel) Se sei un uomo, mostrati nella tua sembianza. Se sei un diavolo, prendila come ti pare.
TRINCULO	Oh, perdonami i miei peccati!
STEFANO	Chi muore paga tutti i debiti. (Chiama) Ti sfido.—Pietà di noi!
CALIBAN	Hai paura?
STEFANO	No, mostro, io no.
CALIBAN	Non aver paura. L’isola è piena di rumori,
(didascalia)	suoni e dolci arie, che danno diletto e non fanno
CALIBAN	male. A volte mille strumenti vibranti mi ronzano intorno alle orecchie, e a volte voci che, se allora mi fossi destato dopo un lungo sonno, mi farebbero dormire di nuovo; e allora, sognando, le nuvole mi pareva s’aprissero e mostrassero ricchezze pronte a piovermi addosso, sicché, al risveglio, piangevo per tornare a sognare.
STEFANO	Questo si rivelerà per me un bel regno, dove avrò la mia musica per niente.
CALIBAN	Quando Prospero sarà distrutto.
STEFANO	Sarà fatto tra poco. Ricordo la storia.
(didascalia)	Esce Ariel, suonando musica
TRINCULO	Il suono si allontana. Seguiamolo, e poi facciamo il nostro lavoro.
STEFANO	Guida, mostro; noi seguiremo.—Vorrei poter vedere questo tamburino. Ci dà dentro di brutto.
TRICULO	(a Caliban) Vuoi venire? Io seguo Stefano.
(didascalia)	Escono

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, Adrian, and Francisco
GONZALO	(to Alonso) By’r la’kin, I can go no further, sir. My old bones ache. Here’s a maze trod indeed Through forthrights and meanders. By your patience, I needs must rest me.
ALONSO	Old lord, I cannot blame thee, Who am myself attached with weariness To th’ dulling of my spirits. Sit down and rest. Even here I will put off my hope, and keep it No longer for my flatterer. He is drowned Whom thus we stray to find, and the sea mocks Our frustrate search on land. Well, let him go.
(didascalia)	They sit
ANTONIO	(aside to Sebastian) I am right glad that he’s so out of hope. Do not for one repulse forgo the purpose That you resolved t’effect.
SEBASTIAN	(aside to Antonio) The next advantage Will we take throughly.
ANTONIO	(aside to Sebastian) Let it be tonight, For now they are oppressed with travel. They Will not nor cannot use such vigilance As when they are fresh.
SEBASTIAN	(aside to Antonio) I say tonight. No more. Solemn and strange music. Enter Prospero on the top, invisible
ALONSO	What harmony is this? My good friends, hark.
GONZALO	Marvellous sweet music.
(didascalia)	Enter spirits, in several strange shapes, bringing in a table and a banquet, and dance about it with gentle actions of salutations, and, inviting the King and his companions to eat, they depart
ALONSO	Give us kind keepers, heavens! What were these?
SEBASTIAN	A living drollery. Now I will believe That there are unicorns; that in Arabia There is one tree, the phoenix’ throne, one phoenix At this hour reigning there.
ANTONIO	I’ll believe both; And what does else want credit come to me, And I’ll be sworn ’tis true. Travellers ne’er did lie, Though fools at home condemn ’em.
GONZALO	If in Naples I should report this now, would they believe me— If I should say I saw such islanders? For certes these are people of the island, Who though they are of monstrous shape, yet note Their manners are more gentle-kind than of Our human generation you shall find Many, nay, almost any.
PROSPERO	(aside) Honest lord, Thou hast said well, for some of you there present Are worse than devils.
ALONSO	I cannot too much muse. Such shapes, such gesture, and such sound, expressing— Although they want the use of tongue—a kind Of excellent dumb discourse.
PROSPERO	(aside) Praise in departing.
FRANCISCO	They vanished strangely.
SEBASTIAN	No matter, since They have left their viands behind, for we have stomachs. Will’t please you taste of what is here?
ALONSO	Not I.
GONZALO	Faith, sir, you need not fear. When we were boys, Who would believe that there were mountaineers Dewlapped like bulls, whose throats had hanging at ’em Wallets of flesh? Or that there were such men Whose heads stood in their breasts? Which now we find Each putter-out of five for one will bring us Good warrant of.
(didascalia)	ALONSO rising I will stand to and feed,
GONZALO	Although my last—no matter, since I feel The best is past. Brother, my lord the Duke, Stand to, and do as we.
(didascalia)	Alonso, Sebastian, and Antonio approach the table. Thunder and lightning. Ariel descends like a harpy, claps his wings upon the table, and, with a quaint device, the banquet vanishes
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 caused 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 suchlike valour men hang and drown Their proper selves. Alonso, Sebastian, and Antonio draw You fools! I and my fellows Are ministers of fate. The elements Of whom your swords are tempered may as well Wound the loud winds, or with bemocked-at stabs Kill the still-closing waters, as diminish One dowl 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. Alonso, Sebastian, and Antonio stand amazed But remember, For that’s my business to you, that you three From Milan did supplant good Prospero; Exposed unto the sea, which hath requit it, Him and his innocent child; for which foul deed, The powers, delaying not forgetting, have Incensed 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—shatt 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 but heart’s sorrow And a clear life ensuing.
(didascalia)	He ascends and vanishes in thunder. Then, to soft music, enter the spirits again, and dance with mocks and mows, and they depart, carrying out the table
PROSPERO	Bravely the figure of this harpy hast thou Performed, 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 power; And in these fits I leave them, while I visit Young Ferdinand, whom they suppose is drowned, And his and mine loved darling.
(didascalia)	Exit
(didascalia)	Gonzalo, Adrian, and Francisco go towards the others
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, pronounced The name of Prosper. It did bass my trespass. Therefor my son i’th’ ooze is bedded, and I’ll seek him deeper than e’er plummet sounded, And with him there lie mudded.
(didascalia)	Exit
SEBASTIAN	But one fiend at a time, I’ll fight their legions o’er.
ANTONIO	I’ll be thy second.
(didascalia)	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

Chi parla	Battuta
(didascalia)	Entrano Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, Adrian e Francisco
GONZALO	(a Alonso) Per la Vergine, non posso andare oltre, signore. Mi dolgono le vecchie ossa. Un labirinto davvero abbiamo calcato tra diritture e giravolte. Con vostra licenza, devo per forza riposarmi.
ALONSO	Vecchio signore, non posso biasimarti, ché io stesso son preso da tale stanchezza che m’intorpidisce gli spiriti. Siedi e riposa. Qui deporrò la mia speranza, e non la terrò più oltre come mio adulatore. È annegato colui che errando cerchiamo, e il mare irride la nostra vana ricerca sulla terra. Bene, che se ne vada.
(didascalia)	Siedono
ANTONIO	(a parte, a Sebastian) Son ben lieto che sia così fuori di speranza. Non abbandonare per un solo scacco il disegno che risolvesti di compiere.
SEBASTIAN	(a parte, ad Antonio) Al prossimo destro coglieremo a fondo.
ANTONIO	(a parte, a Sebastian) Sia questa notte, ché ora son gravati dal cammino. Non vorranno né potranno usare quella vigilanza che hanno da freschi.
SEBASTIAN	(a parte, ad Antonio) Dico stanotte. Basta. Musica solenne e strana. Entra Prospero in alto, invisibile
ALONSO	Che armonia è questa? Buoni amici, udite.
GONZALO	Musica mirabilmente dolce.
(didascalia)	Entrano spiriti, in varie strane forme, portando una tavola e un banchetto, e danzano intorno ad essa con gentili gesti di saluto e, invitando il re e i suoi compagni a mangiare, si allontanano
ALONSO	Cieli, dateci benigni custodi! Che eran costoro?
SEBASTIAN	Un teatrino vivente. Ora crederò che esistano unicorni; che in Arabia vi sia un albero, il trono della fenice, e una fenice che a quest’ora vi regna.
ANTONIO	Crederò a entrambi; e ogni altra cosa che manchi di credito venga a me, e giurerò che è vera. Mai mentirono i viaggiatori, benché gli sciocchi a casa li condannino.
GONZALO	Se a Napoli riferissi ora questo, mi crederebbero— se dicessi d’aver visto tali isolani? Ché certo costoro son genti dell’isola, e benché siano di forma mostruosa, pur notate che i loro modi son più gentili di quanto nella nostra umana generazione ne troverete in molti, anzi, in quasi tutti.
PROSPERO	(a parte) Onesto signore, hai detto bene, ché alcuni di voi qui presenti son peggiori dei diavoli.
ALONSO	Non finisco di stupirmi. Tali forme, tali gesti e tali suoni, che esprimono— benché manchino dell’uso della lingua—una sorta d’eccellente discorso muto.
PROSPERO	(a parte) La lode al congedo.
FRANCISCO	Sono svaniti stranamente.
SEBASTIAN	Non importa, giacché hanno lasciato le loro vivande, e noi abbiamo appetito. Vi piacerà assaggiare ciò che è qui?
ALONSO	Io no.
GONZALO	In fede, signore, non dovete temere. Quand’eravamo fanciulli, chi avrebbe creduto che vi fossero montanari con giogaie da tori, dalle cui gole pendessero bisacce di carne? O che vi fossero uomini con la testa piantata nel petto? Cosa che ora troviamo ogni assicuratore che dà cinque per uno ce ne porterà buona garanzia.
(didascalia)	ALONSO alzandosi Mi accosterò e mangerò,
GONZALO	fosse anche l’ultimo—non importa, ché sento che il meglio è passato. Fratello, mio signore il Duca, accostatevi e fate come noi.
(didascalia)	Alonso, Sebastian e Antonio si accostano alla tavola. Tuono e lampi. Ariel scende in forma d’arpia, batte le ali sulla tavola e, con un ingegnoso congegno, il banchetto svanisce
ARIEL	Voi siete tre uomini di peccato, che il destino— il quale ha per strumento questo mondo inferiore e ciò che vi è dentro—il mare mai sazio ha fatto vomitare, e su quest’isola dove l’uomo non abita, voi fra gli uomini essendo i più indegni di vivere. Vi ho reso folli, e con simile valore gli uomini impiccano e annegano le proprie persone. Alonso, Sebastian e Antonio sguainano le spade Sciocchi! Io e i miei compagni siamo ministri del fato. Gli elementi di cui son temprate le vostre spade potrebbero altrettanto bene ferire i venti sonori, o con colpi irrisi uccidere le acque che sempre si richiudono, quanto scemare una sola piuma del mio piumaggio. I miei compagni ministri sono del pari invulnerabili. Se poteste ferire, le vostre spade son ora troppo pesanti per le vostre forze e non si lasceranno sollevare. Alonso, Sebastian e Antonio restano attoniti Ma ricordate, ché questo è il mio messaggio per voi, che voi tre da Milano scacciaste il buon Prospero; lo esponeste al mare, che l’ha ripagato, lui e la sua innocente figlia; per quel turpe atto, le potenze, che indugiano ma non dimenticano, hanno aizzato i mari e le rive, sì, tutte le creature, contro la vostra pace. Te di tuo figlio, Alonso, hanno privato, e per bocca mia pronunciano una perdizione lenta—peggiore d’ogni morte che venga in un colpo solo—che passo passo seguirà voi e le vostre vie; e per guardarvi dalle loro ire— che qui, in quest’isola desolatissima, altrimenti cadono sui vostri capi—non v’è nulla se non dolore del cuore e una vita pura d’ora innanzi.
(didascalia)	Ascende e svanisce tra i tuoni. Poi, a una musica dolce, entrano di nuovo gli spiriti e danzano con lazzi e smorfie, e si allontanano portando via la tavola
PROSPERO	Bravamente la figura di quest’arpia hai rappresentato, mio Ariel; ebbe una grazia divorante. Nulla hai tolto alle mie istruzioni in ciò che dovevi dire. Così con vivezza e mirabile cura i miei ministri minori hanno compiuto ciascuno la sua parte. I miei alti incanti operano, e questi miei nemici sono tutti avvinti nei loro smarrimenti. Ora sono in mio potere; e in questi accessi li lascio, mentre vado a visitare il giovane Ferdinand, che credono annegato, e la diletta amata sua e mia.
(didascalia)	Esce
(didascalia)	Gonzalo, Adrian e Francisco si dirigono verso gli altri
GONZALO	In nome di qualcosa di santo, signore, perché state con questo strano sguardo fisso?
ALONSO	Oh, è mostruoso, mostruoso! Mi parve che i flutti parlassero e me ne dicessero, i venti me lo cantarono, e il tuono, quella canna d’organo cupa e tremenda, pronunciò il nome di Prospero. Intonò sui bassi la mia colpa. Per questo mio figlio giace nel limo, e lo cercherò più a fondo di quanto mai scandagliò piombino, e con lui laggiù starò sepolto nel fango.
(didascalia)	Esce
SEBASTIAN	Purché un demonio alla volta, combatterò le loro legioni a una a una.
ANTONIO	Sarò il tuo secondo.
(didascalia)	Escono Sebastian e Antonio
GONZALO	Tutti e tre sono disperati. La loro grande colpa, come veleno dato per agire molto tempo dopo, comincia ora a mordere gli spiriti. Vi supplico, voi che avete giunture più agili, seguiteli in fretta e impedite loro ciò a cui questa frenesia potrebbe ora spingerli.
ADRIAN	Seguiamoli, vi prego. Escono

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Prospero, Ferdinand, and Miranda
PROSPFRO	(to Ferdinand) If I have too austerely punished you, Your compensation makes amends, for I Have given you here a third of mine own tife— Or that for which I live—who once again I tender to thy hand. All thy vexations Were but my trials of thy love, and thou Hast strangely stood the test. Here, afore heaven, I ratify this my rich gift. O Ferdinand, Do not smile at me that I boast of her, For thou shalt find she will outstrip all praise, And make it halt behind her.
FERDINAND	I do believe it Against an oracle.
PROSPERO	Then, as my gift and thine own acquisition Worthily purchased, take my daughter. But If thou dost break her virgin-knot before All sanctimonious ceremonies may With full and holy rite be ministered, No sweet aspersion shall the heavens let fall To make this contract grow; but barren hate, Sour-eyed disdain, and discord, shall bestrew The union of your bed with weeds so loathly That you shall hate it both. Therefore take heed, As Hymen’s lamps shall light you.
FERDINAND	As I hope For quiet days, fair issue, and long life With such love as ’tis now, the murkiest den, The most opportune place, the strong’st suggestion Our worser genius can, shall never melt Mine honour into lust to take away The edge of that day’s celebration; When I shall think or Phoebus’ steeds are foundered Or night kept chained below.
PROSPERO	Fairly spoke. Sit, then, and talk with her. She is thine own. Ferdinand and Miranda sit and talk together What, Ariel, my industrious servant Ariel!
(didascalia)	Enter Ariel
ARIEL	What would my potent master? Here I am.
PROSPERO	Thou and thy meaner fellows your last service Did worthily perform, and I must use you In such another trick. Go bring the rabble, O’er whom I give thee power, here to this place. Incite them to quick motion, for I must Bestow upon the eyes of this young couple Some vanity of mine art. It is my promise, And they expect it from me.
ARIEL	Presently?
PROSPERO	Ay, with a twink.
ARIEL	Before you can say ‘Come’ and ‘Go’, And breathe twice, and cry ‘So, so’, Each one tripping on his toe Will be here with mop and mow. Do you love me, master? No?
PROSPERO	Dearly, my delicate Ariel. Do not approach Till thou dost hear me call.
ARIEL	Well; I conceive.
(didascalia)	Exit
PROSPERO	(to Ferdinand) Look thou be true. Do not give dalliance Too much the rein. The strongest oaths are straw To th’ fire i’th’ blood. Be more abstemious, Or else, good night your vow.
FERDINAND	I warrant you, sir, The white cold virgin snow upon my heart Abates the ardour of my liver.
PROSPERO	Well.— Now come, my Ariel! Bring a corollary Rather than want a spirit. Appear, and pertly. Soft music (To Ferdinand and Miranda) No tongue, all eyes! Be silent.
(didascalia)	Enter Iris
IRIS	Ceres, most bounteous lady, thy rich leas Of wheat, rye, barley, vetches, oats, and peas; Thy turfy mountains where live nibbling sheep, And flat meads thatched with stover, them to keep; Thy banks with peonied and twillèd brims Which spongy April at thy hest betrims To make cold nymphs chaste crowns; and thy broom-groves, Whose shadow the dismissed bachelor loves, Being lass-lorn; thy pole-clipped vineyard, And thy sea-marge, sterile and rocky-hard, Where thou thyself dost air: the Queen o’th’ Sky, Whose wat’ry arch and messenger am I, Bids thee leave these, and with her sovereign grace
(didascalia)	Juno appears in the air
IRIS	Here on this grass-plot, in this very place, To come and sport.—Her peacocks fly amain. Approach, rich Ceres, her to entertain.
(didascalia)	Enter Ariel as Ceres
CERES	Hail, many-coloured messenger, that ne’er Dost disobey the wife of Jupiter; Who with thy saffron wings upon my flowers Diffusest honey-drops, refreshing showers, And with each end of thy blue bow dost crown My bosky acres and my unshrubbed down, Rich scarf to my proud earth. Why hath thy queen Summoned me hither to this short-grassed green?
IRIS	A contract of true love to celebrate, And some donation freely to estate On the blest lovers.
CERES	Tell me, heavenly bow, If Venus or her son, as thou dost know, Do now attend the Queen. Since they did plot The means that dusky Dis my daughter got, Her and her blind boy’s scandalled company I have forsworn.
IRIS	Of her society Be not afraid. I met her deity Cutting the clouds towards Paphos, and her son Dove-drawn with her. Here thought they to have done Some wanton charm upon this man and maid, Whose vows are that no bed-right shall be paid Till Hymen’s torch be lighted—but in vain. Mars’s hot minion is returned again. Her waspish-headed son has broke his arrows, Swears he will shoot no more, but play with sparrows, And be a boy right out.
(didascalia)	Music. Juno descends to the stage
CERES	Highest queen of state, Great Juno, comes; I know her by her gait.
JUNO	How does my bounteous sister? Go with me To bless this twain, that they may prosperous be, And honoured in their issue.
(didascalia)	Ceres joins Juno, and they sing
FERDINAND	This is a most majestic vision, and Harmonious charmingly. May I be bold To think these spirits?
PROSPERO	Spirits, which by mine art I have from their confines called to enact My present fancies.
FERDINAND	Let me live here ever! So rare a wondered father and a wise Makes this place paradise. Juno and Ceres whisper, and send Iris on employment
PROSPERO	Sweet now, silence. Juno and Ceres whisper seriously. There’s something else to do. Hush, and be mute, Or else our spell is marred.
IRIS	You nymphs called naiads of the wind’ring brooks, With your sedged crowns and ever-harmless looks, Leave your crisp channels, and on this green land Answer your summons; Juno does command. Come, temperate nymphs, and help to celebrate A contract of true love. Be not too late.
(didascalia)	Enter certain nymphs
IRIS	You sunburned sicklemen, of August weary, Come hither from the furrow and be merry; Make holiday, your rye-straw hats put on, And these fresh nymphs encounter every one In country footing.
(didascalia)	Enter certain reapers, properly habited. They join with the nymphs in a graceful dance; towards the end whereof Prospero starts suddenly, and speaks
PROSPERO	(aside) I had forgot that foul conspiracy Of the beast Caliban and his confederates Against my life. The minute of their plot Is almost come. (To the spirits) Well done! Avoid; no more!
(didascalia)	To a strange, hollow, and confused noise, the spirits in the pageant heavily vanish. Ferdinand and Miranda rise
FERDINAND	(to Miranda) This is strange. Your father’s in some passion That works him strongly.
MIRANDA	Never till this day Saw I him touched with anger so distempered.
PROSPERO	You do look, my son, in a moved sort, As if you were dismayed. Be cheerful, sir. Our revels now are ended. These our actors, As I foretold you, were all spirits, and Are melted into air, into thin air; And like the baseless fabric of this vision, The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve; And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff As dreams are made on, and our little life Is rounded with a sleep. Sir, I am vexed. Bear with my weakness. My old brain is troubled. Be not disturbed with my infirmity. If you be pleased, retire into my cell, And there repose. A turn or two I’ll walk To still my beating mind.
FERDINAND	and MIRANDA We wish your peace.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Ferdinand and Miranda
PROSPERO	Come with a thought! I thank thee, Ariel. Come!
(didascalia)	Enter Ariel
ARIEL	Thy thoughts I cleave to. What’s thy pleasure?
PROSPERO	Spirit, We must prepare to meet with Caliban.
ARIEL	Ay, my commander. When I presented Ceres I thought to have told thee of it, but I feared Lest I might anger thee.
PROSPERO	Say again: where didst thou leave these varlets?
ARIEL	I told you, sir, they were red-hot with drinking; So full of valour that they smote the air For breathing in their faces, beat the ground For kissing of their feet; yet always bending Towards their project. Then I beat my tabor, At which like unbacked colts they pricked their ears, Advanced their eyelids, lifted up their noses As they smelt music. So I charmed their ears That calf-like they my lowing followed, through Toothed briars, sharp furzes, pricking gorse, and thorns, Which entered their frail shins. At last I left them I’th’ filthy-mantled pool beyond your cell, There dancing up to th’ chins, that the foul lake O’er-stunk their feet.
PROSPERO	This was well done, my bird. Thy shape invisible retain thou still. The trumpery in my house, go bring it hither For stale to catch these thieves.
ARIEL	I go, I go.
(didascalia)	Exit
PROSPERO	A devil, a born devil, on whose nature Nurture can never stick; on whom my pains, Humanely taken, all, all lost, quite lost, And, as with age his body uglier grows, So his mind cankers. I will plague them all, Even to roaring.
(didascalia)	Enter Ariel, laden with glistening apparel, etc.
PROSPERO	Come, hang them on this lime.
(didascalia)	Ariel hangs up the apparel. Exeunt Prospero and
(didascalia)	Ariel.
(didascalia)	Enter Caliban, Stefano, and Trinculo, all wet
CALIBAN	Pray you, tread softly, that the blind mole may Not hear a foot fall. We now are near his cell.
STEFANO	Monster, your fairy, which you say is a harmless fairy, has done little better than played the Jack with us.
TRINCULO	Monster, I do smell all horse-piss, at which my nose is in great indignation.
STEFANO	So is mine. Do you hear, monster? If I should take a displeasure against you, look you—
TRINCULO	Thou wert but a lost monster.
CALIBAN	Good my lord, give me thy favour still. Be patient, for the prize I’ll bring thee to Shall hoodwink this mischance. Therefore speak softly. All’s hushed as midnight yet.
TRINCULO	Ay, but to lose our bottles in the pool!
STEFANO	There is not only disgrace and dishonour in that, monster, but an infinite loss.
TRINCULO	That’s more to me than my wetting. Yet this is your harmless fairy, monster.
STEFANO	I will fetch off my bottle, though I be o’er ears for my labour.
CALIBAN	Prithee, my king, be quiet. Seest thou here; This is the mouth o’th’ cell. No noise, and enter. Do that good mischief which may make this island Thine own for ever, and I thy Caliban For aye thy foot-licker.
STEFANO	Give me thy hand. I do begin to have bloody thoughts.
TRINCULO	(seeing the apparel) O King Stefano, O peer! O worthy Stefano, look what a wardrobe here is for thee!
CALIBAN	Let it alone, thou fool, it is but trash.
TRINCULO	(putting on a gown) O ho, monster, we know what belongs to a frippery! O King Stefano!
STEFANO	Put off that gown, Trinculo. By this hand, I’ll have that gown.
TRINCULO	Thy grace shall have it.
CALIBAN	The dropsy drown this fool! What do you mean To dote thus on such luggage? Let’t alone, And do the murder first. If he awake, From toe to crown he’ll fill our skins with pinches, Make us strange stuff.
STEFANO	Be you quiet, monster.—Mistress lime, is not this my jerkin? Now is the jerkin under the line. Now, jerkin, you are like to lose your hair and prove a bald jerkin. Stefano and Trinculo take garments
TRINCULO	Do, do! We steal by line and level, an’t like your grace.
STEFANO	I thank thee for that jest. Here’s a garment for’t. Wit shall not go unrewarded while I am king of this country. ‘Steal by line and level’ is an excellent pass of pate. There’s another garment for’t.
TRINCULO	Monster, come, put some lime upon your fingers, and away with the rest.
CALIBAN	I will have none on’t. We shall lose our time, And all be turned to barnacles, or to apes With foreheads villainous low.
STEFANO	Monster, lay to your fingers. Help to bear this away where my hogshead of wine is, or I’ll turn you out of my kingdom. Go to, carry this.
TRINCULO	And this.
STEFANO	Ay, and this. They load Caliban with apparel. A noise of hunters heard. Enter divers spirits in shape of dogs and hounds, hunting them about; Prospero and Ariel setting them on
PROSPERO	Hey, Mountain, hey!
ARIEL	Silver! There it goes, Silver!
PROSPERO	Fury, Fury! There, Tyrant, there! Hark, hark!
(didascalia)	Exeunt Stefano, Trinculo, and Caliban, pursued by spirits
PROSPERO	(To Ariel) Go, charge my goblins that they grind their joints With dry convulsions, shorten up their sinews With aged cramps, and more pinch-spotted make them Than pard or cat o’mountain. Cries within
ARIEL	Hark, they roar!
PROSPERO	Let them be hunted soundly. At this hour Lies at my mercy all mine enemies. Shortly shall all my labours end, and thou Shalt have the air at freedom. For a little, Follow, and do me service.
(didascalia)	Exeunt

Chi parla	Battuta
(didascalia)	Entrano Prospero, Ferdinand e Miranda
PROSPERO	(a Ferdinand) Se t’ho punito con troppa asprezza, il tuo compenso ripara ogni torto, ché io t’ho dato qui un terzo della mia stessa vita— o ciò per cui vivo—che ancora una volta affido alla tua mano. Tutti i tuoi tormenti furon solo mie prove del tuo amore, e tu mirabilmente hai retto alla prova. Qui, dinanzi al cielo, ratifico questo mio ricco dono. O Ferdinand, non sorridere di me se mi vanto di lei, ché la troverai tale da superare ogni lode, e da lasciarla zoppicare indietro.
FERDINAND	Lo credo anche contro un oracolo.
PROSPERO	Allora, come mio dono e tua conquista degnamente meritata, prendi mia figlia. Ma se tu rompi il suo nodo verginale prima che tutte le sacre cerimonie possano con pieno e santo rito esser celebrate, nessuna dolce rugiada lasceranno cadere i cieli per far crescere questo patto; ma sterile odio, disdegno dall’occhio torvo e discordia cospargeranno l’unione del vostro letto d’erbacce sì ripugnanti che l’odierete entrambi. Perciò bada, secondo che le lampade d’Imene ti faran lume.
FERDINAND	Come io spero giorni sereni, bella prole e lunga vita con tale amore qual è ora, la più tenebrosa tana, il luogo più propizio, la più forte tentazione che il nostro genio peggiore possa, mai scioglieranno il mio onore in libidine, sì da togliere il fiore a quel giorno di festa; quando penserò che i destrieri di Febo sian azzoppati o che la notte sia tenuta incatenata laggiù.
PROSPERO	Ben detto. Siedi, dunque, e parla con lei. È tua. Ferdinand e Miranda siedono e parlano insieme Ehi, Ariel, mio industre servitore Ariel!
(didascalia)	Entra Ariel
ARIEL	Che vuole il mio potente padrone? Eccomi qui.
PROSPERO	Tu e i tuoi compagni minori il vostro ultimo servizio degnamente compiste, e devo servirmi di voi per un altro simile artificio. Va’, porta qui la brigata su cui ti do potere, in questo luogo. Incitali a rapido movimento, ché devo offrire agli occhi di questa giovane coppia qualche vanità della mia arte. È mia promessa, e se l’aspettano da me.
ARIEL	Subito?
PROSPERO	Sì, in un batter d’occhio.
ARIEL	Prima che tu dica ‘Vieni’ e ‘Va’’, e respiri due volte, e gridi ‘Così, così’, ciascuno saltellando sulla punta del piede sarà qui con smorfie e boccacce. Mi ami, padrone? No?
PROSPERO	Teneramente, mio delicato Ariel. Non t’accostare finché non m’odi chiamare.
ARIEL	Bene; ho capito.
(didascalia)	Esce
PROSPERO	(a Ferdinand) Bada d’esser fedele. Non dar troppa briglia al trastullo. I giuramenti più forti son paglia al fuoco nel sangue. Sii più astinente, o buona notte al tuo voto.
FERDINAND	Ve lo garantisco, signore, la bianca fredda neve verginale sul mio cuore tempera l’ardore del mio fegato.
PROSPERO	Bene.— Ora vieni, mio Ariel! Porta un soprappiù piuttosto che mancarci uno spirito. Appari, e lesto. Musica soave (A Ferdinand e Miranda) Non una parola, tutti occhi! Silenzio.
(didascalia)	Entra Iride
IRIDE	Cerere, dama munificentissima, i tuoi ricchi campi di frumento, segale, orzo, veccia, avena e piselli; i tuoi monti erbosi dove vivono pecore brucanti, e i piani prati coperti di strame per nutrirle; le tue rive dagli orli di peonie e d’argini intrecciati che l’aprile spugnoso al tuo comando adorna per far caste corone alle fredde ninfe; e i tuoi ginestreti, la cui ombra ama lo scapolo respinto, privo della sua amata; la tua vigna dai pali potati, e il tuo lido marino, sterile e duro di rocce, dove tu stessa prendi aria: la Regina del Cielo, di cui sono l’arco d’acqua e la messaggera, t’invita a lasciar tutto ciò, e con la sua sovrana grazia
(didascalia)	Giunone appare nell’aria
IRIDE	Qui su questo prato erboso, in questo stesso luogo, a venire e a far festa.—I suoi pavoni volano veloci. Accostati, ricca Cerere, per intrattenerla.
(didascalia)	Entra Ariel nelle vesti di Cerere
CERERE	Salve, messaggera dai molti colori, che mai disobbedisci alla sposa di Giove; tu che con le tue ali di zafferano sui miei fiori spargi gocce di miele, piogge ristoratrici, e con ciascun capo del tuo arco azzurro incoroni i miei acri boscosi e la mia landa senza arbusti, ricca sciarpa alla mia terra superba. Perché la tua regina m’ha chiamata quaggiù su questo verde d’erba corta?
IRIDE	Un patto di vero amore da celebrare, e qualche dono da conferire liberamente ai benedetti amanti.
CERERE	Dimmi, arco celeste, se Venere o suo figlio, per quanto tu ne sai, siano ora al seguito della Regina. Da quando tramarono il modo con cui il fosco Dite ebbe mia figlia, la scandalosa compagnia di lei e del suo cieco fanciullo ho abiurato.
IRIDE	Della sua compagnia non temere. Ho incontrato la sua deità fendere le nubi verso Pafo, e suo figlio tratto con lei dalle colombe. Qui pensavano d’aver compiuto qualche lascivo incanto su quest’uomo e questa fanciulla, i cui voti sono che nessun diritto di letto sia pagato finché la torcia d’Imene non sia accesa—ma invano. L’ardente favorita di Marte se n’è tornata indietro. Il suo figliolo dal capo di vespa ha spezzato le frecce, giura che non tirerà più, ma giocherà con i passeri, e sarà un fanciullo e basta.
(didascalia)	Musica. Giunone scende sulla scena
CERERE	Altissima regina in maestà, la grande Giunone, viene; la riconosco dall’incedere.
GIUNONE	Come sta la mia munifica sorella? Vieni con me a benedire questi due, che possano esser prosperi e onorati nella loro prole.
(didascalia)	Cerere si unisce a Giunone, e cantano
FERDINAND	Questa è una visione maestosissima, e armoniosa in modo incantevole. Posso osare di crederli spiriti?
PROSPERO	Spiriti, che con la mia arte ho chiamato dalle loro dimore a rappresentare le mie presenti fantasie.
FERDINAND	Ch’io possa viver qui per sempre! Un padre così raro e prodigioso e saggio fa di questo luogo un paradiso. Giunone e Cerere bisbigliano, e mandano Iride in commissione
PROSPERO	Dolcezza, ora silenzio. Giunone e Cerere bisbigliano gravemente. C’è dell’altro da fare. Zitti, e muti, o il nostro incanto è guastato.
IRIDE	Voi ninfe dette naiadi dei ruscelli erranti, con le vostre corone di giunchi e gli sguardi sempre innocenti, lasciate i vostri canali increspati, e su questa verde terra rispondete alla chiamata; Giunone lo comanda. Venite, temperate ninfe, e aiutate a celebrare un patto di vero amore. Non tardate troppo.
(didascalia)	Entrano alcune ninfe
IRIDE	Voi mietitori arsi dal sole, stanchi d’agosto, venite qui dal solco e state allegri; fate festa, mettetevi i cappelli di paglia di segale, e ciascuno incontri queste fresche ninfe in una danza campagnola.
(didascalia)	Entrano alcuni mietitori, acconciamente vestiti. Si uniscono alle ninfe in una graziosa danza; verso la fine della quale Prospero trasale improvvisamente, e parla
PROSPERO	(a parte) Avevo scordato quella turpe congiura della bestia Caliban e dei suoi complici contro la mia vita. Il minuto della loro trama è quasi giunto. (Agli spiriti) Ben fatto! Via; basta così!
(didascalia)	A uno strano rumore, cupo e confuso, gli spiriti della mascherata svaniscono pesantemente. Ferdinand e Miranda si alzano
FERDINAND	(a Miranda) Questo è strano. Vostro padre è in preda a una passione che lo scuote fortemente.
MIRANDA	Mai fino a questo giorno l’ho visto toccato da un’ira così sconvolta.
PROSPERO	Avete l’aria, figlio mio, d’essere turbato, come se foste sgomento. Fatevi animo, signore. I nostri svaghi ora sono finiti. Questi nostri attori, come vi predissi, erano tutti spiriti, e si sono dissolti nell’aria, nell’aria sottile; e come l’edificio senza fondamenta di questa visione, le torri incoronate di nubi, i palazzi sfarzosi, i templi solenni, lo stesso gran globo, sì, e quanto esso contiene, si dissolverà; e, come questo spettacolo inconsistente svanito, non lascerà dietro di sé una traccia. Noi siamo fatti della materia dei sogni, e la nostra breve vita è cinta da un sonno. Signore, sono turbato. Compatite la mia debolezza. Il mio vecchio cervello è confuso. Non vi crucci la mia infermità. Se vi piace, ritiratevi nella mia cella, e là riposate. Un giro o due andrò facendo per acquietare la mente che mi batte.
FERDINAND	e MIRANDA Vi auguriamo pace.
(didascalia)	Escono Ferdinand e Miranda
PROSPERO	Vieni col pensiero! Ti ringrazio, Ariel. Vieni!
(didascalia)	Entra Ariel
ARIEL	Ai tuoi pensieri m’attengo. Qual è il tuo piacere?
PROSPERO	Spirito, dobbiamo prepararci a incontrare Caliban.
ARIEL	Sì, mio comandante. Quando impersonavo Cerere pensai di dirtene, ma temetti di farti adirare.
PROSPERO	Ripeti: dove hai lasciato quei furfanti?
ARIEL	Ve l’ho detto, signore, erano roventi dal bere; così pieni di valore che percossero l’aria perché soffiava sui loro volti, batterono il suolo perché baciava i loro piedi; eppure sempre volti al loro disegno. Allora battei il mio tamburello, al che come puledri indomiti drizzarono le orecchie, alzarono le palpebre, levarono i nasi come fiutassero la musica. Così incantai le loro orecchie che al par di vitelli seguirono il mio muggito, attraverso rovi dentati, ginestre aguzze, pungenti sterpi e spine, che entrarono nei loro fragili stinchi. Alla fine li lasciai nello stagno dal manto immondo di là dalla vostra cella, là a danzare fino al mento, tanto che il lago fetido puzzava più dei loro piedi.
PROSPERO	Questo fu ben fatto, uccellino mio. Serba ancora invisibile la tua forma. La paccottiglia nella mia casa, va’ a portarla qui come esca per prendere questi ladri.
ARIEL	Vado, vado.
(didascalia)	Esce
PROSPERO	Un diavolo, un diavolo nato, alla cui natura l’educazione non può mai attaccarsi; su cui le mie pene, umanamente prese, tutte, tutte perdute, del tutto perdute, e, come con l’età il suo corpo si fa più brutto, così la sua mente incancrenisce. Li tormenterò tutti, fino a farli ruggire.
(didascalia)	Entra Ariel, carico di vesti scintillanti, ecc.
PROSPERO	Vieni, appendile a questo tiglio.
(didascalia)	Ariel appende le vesti. Escono Prospero e
(didascalia)	Ariel.
(didascalia)	Entrano Caliban, Stefano e Trinculo, tutti bagnati
CALIBAN	Vi prego, camminate piano, che la talpa cieca non oda cadere un passo. Ora siamo presso la sua cella.
STEFANO	Mostro, la tua fata, che dici essere una fata innocua, non ha fatto molto di meglio che giocarci un brutto tiro.
TRINCULO	Mostro, io puzzo tutto di piscio di cavallo, al che il mio naso è in grande indignazione.
STEFANO	Anche il mio. Senti un po’, mostro? Se mi venisse in uggia di prendermela con te, guarda un po’—
TRINCULO	Non saresti che un mostro perduto.
CALIBAN	Mio buon signore, concedimi ancora il tuo favore. Sii paziente, ché il premio a cui ti condurrò bendarà gli occhi a questa disgrazia. Perciò parla piano. Tutto è ancora muto come a mezzanotte.
TRINCULO	Sì, ma perdere le nostre bottiglie nello stagno!
STEFANO	In ciò non c’è solo disgrazia e disonore, mostro, ma una perdita infinita.
TRINCULO	Per me conta più della bagnata che ho preso. Eppure questa è la tua fata innocua, mostro.
STEFANO	Andrò a ripescare la mia bottiglia, dovessi immergermi fin sopra le orecchie per la fatica.
CALIBAN	Ti prego, mio re, sta’ quieto. Vedi qui; questa è la bocca della cella. Nessun rumore, ed entra. Compi quel buon misfatto che può far quest’isola tua per sempre, e io tuo Caliban per sempre leccapiedi.
STEFANO	Dammi la mano. Comincio ad avere pensieri sanguinari.
TRINCULO	(vedendo le vesti) O Re Stefano, o pari del regno! O degno Stefano, guarda che guardaroba c’è qui per te!
CALIBAN	Lascialo stare, sciocco, non è che ciarpame.
TRINCULO	(indossando una veste) Oh oh, mostro, sappiamo bene noi che cosa spetta a un rigattiere! O Re Stefano!
STEFANO	Togliti quella veste, Trinculo. Per questa mano, quella veste l’avrò io.
TRINCULO	Vostra grazia l’avrà.
CALIBAN	L’idropisia affoghi questo sciocco! Che intendete invaghirvi così di simili bagagli? Lasciatelo stare, e fate prima l’omicidio. Se si sveglia, dalla punta dei piedi alla corona del capo ci riempirà la pelle di pizzicotti, farà di noi strana roba.
STEFANO	Sta’ quieto tu, mostro.—Signora tiglio, non è questo il mio giubbetto? Ora il giubbetto è sotto la linea. Ora, giubbetto, sei sul punto di perdere il pelo e di diventare un giubbetto calvo. Stefano e Trinculo prendono gli indumenti
TRINCULO	Fate, fate! Noi rubiamo a filo e a livella, se piace a vostra grazia.
STEFANO	Ti ringrazio per quel motto. Ecco un capo per ricompensa. L’arguzia non resterà senza premio finché sarò re di questo paese. ‘Rubare a filo e a livella’ è un eccellente colpo d’ingegno. Ecco un altro capo per ricompensa.
TRINCULO	Mostro, vieni, mettiti un po’ di vischio sulle dita, e via col resto.
CALIBAN	Non ne voglio niente. Perderemo il nostro tempo, e saremo tutti mutati in oche marine, o in scimmie dalla fronte vilmente bassa.
STEFANO	Mostro, metti mano. Aiuta a portar via tutto questo dov’è la mia botte di vino, o ti caccio fuori dal mio regno. Su, porta questo.
TRINCULO	E questo.
STEFANO	Sì, e questo. Caricano Caliban di vesti. Si ode un rumore di cacciatori. Entrano vari spiriti in forma di cani e di segugi, che li inseguono all’intorno; Prospero e Ariel li aizzano
PROSPERO	Ehi, Montagna, ehi!
ARIEL	Argento! Ecco che va, Argento!
PROSPERO	Furia, Furia! Là, Tiranno, là! Ascolta, ascolta!
(didascalia)	Escono Stefano, Trinculo e Caliban, inseguiti dagli spiriti
PROSPERO	(A Ariel) Va’, ordina ai miei folletti che macinino le loro giunture con secche convulsioni, che accorcino i loro nervi con crampi senili, e più chiazzati di pizzichi facciano loro di quanto sia il pardo o il gatto selvatico. Grida dall’interno
ARIEL	Ascolta, ruggiscono!
PROSPERO	Siano cacciati a dovere. In quest’ora giacciono alla mia mercé tutti i miei nemici. Fra poco tutte le mie fatiche avranno fine, e tu avrai l’aria in libertà. Per un poco ancora, seguimi, e rendimi servizio.
(didascalia)	Escono

Speaker	Line
(didascalia)	Enter Prospero, in his magic robes, and Ariel
PROSPERO	Now does my project gather to a head. My charms crack not, my spirits obey, and time Goes upright with his carriage. How’s the day?
ARIEL	On the sixth hour; at which time, my lord, You said our work should cease.
PROSPERO	I did say so When first I raised the tempest. Say, my spirit, How fares the King and’s followers?
ARIEL	Confined together In the same fashion as you gave in charge, Just as you left them; all prisoners, sir, In the lime-grove which weather-fends your cell. They cannot budge till your release. The King, His brother, and yours, abide all three distracted, And the remainder mourning over them, Brimful of sorrow and dismay; but chiefly Him that you termed, sir, the good old lord Gonzalo: His tears run down his beard like winter’s drops From eaves of reeds. Your charm so strongly works ’em That if you now beheld them your affections Would become tender.
PROSPERO	Dost thou think so, spirit?
ARIEL	Mine would, sir, were I human.
PROSPERO	And mine shall. Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling Of their afflictions, and shall not myself, One of their kind, that relish all as sharply Passion as they, be kindlier moved than thou art? Though with their high wrongs I am struck to th’ quick, Yet with my nobler reason ’gainst my fury Do I take part. The rarer action is In virtue than in vengeance. They being penitent, The sole drift of my purpose doth extend Not a frown further. Go release them, Ariel. My charms I’ll break, their senses I’ll restore, And they shall be themselves.
ARIEL	I’ll fetch them, sir.
(didascalia)	Exit
(didascalia)	Prospero draws a circle with his staff
PROSPERO	Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes and groves, And ye that on the sands with printless foot Do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him When he comes back; you demi-puppets that By moonshine do the green sour ringlets make Whereof the ewe not bites; and you whose pastime Is to make midnight mushrooms, that rejoice To hear the solemn curfew; by whose aid, Weak masters though ye be, I have bedimmed The noontide sun, called forth the mutinous winds, And ‘twixt the green sea and the azured vault Set roaring war—to the dread rattling thunder Have I given fire, and rifted Jove’s stout oak With his own bolt; the strong-based promontory Have I made shake, and by the spurs plucked up The pine and cedar; graves at my command Have waked their sleepers, oped, and let ’em forth By my so potent art. But this rough magic I here abjure. And when I have required Some heavenly music—which even now I do— To work mine end upon their senses that This airy charm is for, I’ll break my staff, Bury it certain fathoms in the earth, And deeper than did ever plummet sound I’ll drown my book. Solemn music. Here enters first Ariel, invisible; then Alonso, with a frantic gesture, attended by Gonzalo; Sebastian and Antonio, in like manner, attended by Adrian and Francisco. They all enter the circle which Prospero had made, and there stand charmed; which Prospero observing, speaks (To Alonso) A solemn air, and the best comforter To an unsettled fancy, cure thy brains, Now useless, boiled within thy skull. (To Sebastian and Antonio) There stand, For you are spelt-stopped.— Holy Gonzalo, honourable man, Mine eyes, ev’n sociable to the show of thine, Fall fellowly drops. (Aside) The charm dissolves apace, And as the morning steals upon the night, Melting the darkness, so their rising senses Begin to chase the ignorant fumes that mantle Their clearer reason.—O good Gonzalo, My true preserver, and a loyal sir To him thou follow’st, I will pay thy graces Home both in word and deed.—Most cruelly Didst thou, Alonso, use me and my daughter. Thy brother was a furtherer in the act.— Thou art pinched for’t now, Sebastian. (To Antonio) Flesh and blood, You, brother mine, that entertained ambition, Expelled remorse and nature, whom, with Sebastian— Whose inward pinches therefore are most strong,— Would here have killed your king, I do forgive thee, Unnatural though thou art. (Aside) Their understanding Begins to swell, and the approaching tide Will shortly fill the reasonable shores That now lie foul and muddy. Not one of them That yet looks on me, or would know me.—Ariel, Fetch me the hat and rapier in my cell. I will disease me, and myself present As I was sometime Milan. Quickly, spirit! Thou shalt ere long be free. Ariel sings and helps to attire him as Duke of Milan
ARIEL	Where the bee sucks, there suck I: In a cowslip’s bell I lie; There I couch when owls do cry. On the bat’s back I do fly After summer merrily. Merrily, merrily shall I live now Under the blossom that hangs on the bough. Merrily, merrily shall I live now Under the blossom that hangs on the bough.
PROSPERO	Why, that’s my dainty Ariel! I shall miss thee, But yet thou shalt have freedom.—So, so, so.— To the King’s ship, invisible as thou art! There shalt thou find the mariners asleep Under the hatches. The Master and the Boatswain Being awake, enforce them to this place, And presently, I prithee.
ARIEL	I drink the air before me, and return Or ere your pulse twice beat.
(didascalia)	Exit
GONZALO	All torment, trouble, wonder, and amazement Inhabits here. Some heavenly power guide us Out of this fearful country!
PROSPERO	Behold, sir King, The wronged Duke of Milan, Prospero. For more assurance that a living prince Does now speak to thee, I embrace thy body; And to thee and thy company I bid A hearty welcome. He embraces Alonso
ALONSO	Whe’er thou beest he or no, Or some enchanted trifle to abuse me, As late I have been, I not know. Thy pulse Beats as of flesh and blood; and since I saw thee Th’affliction of my mind amends, with which I fear a madness held me. This must crave— An if this be at all—a most strange story. Thy dukedom I resign, and do entreat Thou pardon me my wrongs. But how should Prospero Be living and be here?
PROSPERO	(to Gonzalo) First, noble friend, Let me embrace thine age, whose honour cannot Be measured or confined. He embraces Gonzalo
GONZALO	Whether this be Or be not, I’ll not swear.
PROSPERO	You do yet taste Some subtleties o’th’ isle that will not let you Believe things certain.—Welcome, my friends all. (Aside to Sebastian and Antonio) But you, my brace of lords, were I so minded, I here could pluck his highness’ frown upon you And justify you traitors. At this time I will tell no tales.
SEBASTIAN	(to Antonio) The devil speaks in him.
PROSPERO	No. (To Antonio) For you, most wicked sir, whom to call brother Would even infect my mouth, I do forgive Thy rankest fault, all of them, and require My dukedom of thee, which perforce I know Thou must restore.
ALONSO	If thou beest Prospero, Give us particulars of thy preservation, How thou hast met us here, whom three hours since Were wrecked upon this shore, where I have lost— How sharp the point of this remembrance is!— My dear son Ferdinand.
PROSPERO	I am woe for’t, sir.
ALONSO	Irreparable is the loss, and patience Says it is past her cure.
PROSPERO	I rather think You have not sought her help, of whose soft grace For the like loss I have her sovereign aid, And rest myself content.
ALONSO	You the like loss?
PROSPERO	As great to me as late; and supportable To make the dear loss have I means much weaker Than you may call to comfort you, for I Have lost my daughter.
ALONSO	A daughter? O heavens, that they were living both in Naples, The king and queen there! That they were, I wish Myself were mudded in that oozy bed Where my son lies. When did you lose your daughter?
PROSPERO	In this last tempest. I perceive these lords At this encounter do so much admire That they devour their reason, and scarce think Their eyes do offices of truth, these words Are natural breath. But howsoe’er you have Been jostled from your senses, know for certain That I am Prospero, and that very Duke Which was thrust forth of Milan, who most strangely, Upon this shore where you were wrecked, was landed To be the lord on’t. No more yet of this, For ’tis a chronicle of day by day, Not a relation for a breakfast, nor Befitting this first meeting. Welcome, sir. This cell’s my court. Here have I few attendants, And subjects none abroad. Pray you, look in. My dukedom since you have given me again, I will requite you with as good a thing; At least bring forth a wonder to content ye As much as me my dukedom. Here Prospero discovers Ferdinand and Miranda, playing at chess
MIRANDA	Sweet lord, you play me false.
FERDINAND	No, my dearest love, I would not for the world.
MIRANDA	Yes, for a score of kingdoms you should wrangle, An I would call it fair play.
ALONSO	If this prove A vision of the island, one dear son Shall I twice lose.
SEBASTIAN	A most high miracle.
FERDINAND	(coming forward) Though the seas threaten, they are merciful. I have cursed them without cause. He kneels
ALONSO	Now all the blessings Of a glad father compass thee about. Arise and say how thou cam’st here. Ferdinand rises
MIRANDA	(coming forward) O wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world That has such people in’t!
PROSPERO	’Tis new to thee.
ALONSO	(to Ferdinand) What is this maid with whom thou wast at play? Your eld’st acquaintance cannot be three hours. Is she the goddess that hath severed us, And brought us thus together?
FERDINAND	Sir, she is mortal; But by immortal providence she’s mine. I chose her when I could not ask my father For his advice, nor thought I had one. She Is daughter to this famous Duke of Milan, Of whom so often I have heard renown, But never saw before; of whom I have Received a second life; and second father This lady makes him to me.
ALONSO	I am hers. But O, how oddly will it sound, that I Must ask my child forgiveness!
PROSPERO	There, sir, stop. Let us not burden our remembrance with A heaviness that’s gone.
GONZALO	I have inly wept, Or should have spoke ere this. Look down, you gods, And on this couple drop a blessed crown, For it is you that have chalked forth the way Which brought us hither.
ALONSO	I say amen, Gonzalo.
GONZALO	Was Milan thrust from Milan, that his issue Should become kings of Naples? O rejoice Beyond a common joy! And set it down With gold on lasting pillars: in one voyage Did Claribel her husband find at Tunis, And Ferdinand her brother found a wife Where he himself was lost; Prospero his dukedom In a poor isle; and all of us ourselves, When no man was his own.
ALONSO	(to Ferdinand and Miranda) Give me your hands. Let grief and sorrow still embrace his heart That doth not wish you joy.
GONZALO	Be it so! Amen!
(didascalia)	Enter Ariel, with the Master and Boatswain amazedly following
GONZALO	O look, sir, look, sir, here is more of us! I prophesied if a gallows were on land This fellow could not drown. (To the Boatswain) Now, blasphemy, That swear’st grace o’erboard: not an oath on shore? Hast thou no mouth by land? What is the news?
BOATSWAIN	The best news is that we have safely found Our King and company. The next, our ship, Which but three glasses since we gave out split, Is tight and yare and bravely rigged, as when We first put out to sea.
ARIEL	(aside to Prospero) Sir, all this service Have I done since I went.
PROSPERO	(aside to Ariel) My tricksy spirit!
ALONSO	These are not natural events; they strengthen From strange to stranger. Say, how came you hither?
BOATSWAIN	If I did think, sir, I were well awake I’d strive to tell you. We were dead of sleep, And—how we know not—all clapped under hatches, Where but even now, with strange and several noises Of roaring, shrieking, howling, jingling chains, And more diversity of sounds, all horrible, We were awaked; straightway at liberty; Where we in all her trim freshly beheld Our royal, good, and gallant ship, our Master Cap’ring to eye her. On a trice, so please you, Even in a dream, were we divided from them, And were brought moping hither.
ARIEL	(aside to Prospero) Was’t well done?
PROSPERO	(aside to Ariel) Bravely, my diligence. Thou shalt be free.
ALONSO	This is as strange a maze as e’er men trod, And there is in this business more than nature Was ever conduct of. Some oracle Must rectify our knowledge.
PROSPERO	Sir, my liege, Do not infest your mind with beating on The strangeness of this business. At picked leisure, Which shall be shortly, single I’ll resolve you, Which to you shall seem probable, of every These happened accidents; till when be cheerful, And think of each thing well. (Aside to Ariel) Come hither, spirit. Set Caliban and his companions free. Untie the spell.
(didascalia)	Exit Ariel
PROSPERO	(To Alonso) How fares my gracious sir? There are yet missing of your company Some few odd lads that you remember not.
(didascalia)	Enter Ariel, driving in Caliban, Stefano, and Trinculo, in their stolen apparel
STEFANO	Every man shift for all the rest, and let no man take care for himself, for all is but fortune. Coragio, bully-monster, coragio!
TRINCULO	If these be true spies which I wear in my head, here’s a goodly sight.
CALIBAN	O Setebos, these be brave spirits indeed! How fine my master is! I am afraid He will chastise me.
SEBASTIAN	Ha, ha! What things are these, my lord Antonio? Will money buy ’em?
ANTONIO	Very like; one of them Is a plain fish, and no doubt marketable.
PROSPERO	Mark but the badges of these men, my lords, Then say if they be true. This misshapen knave, His mother was a witch, and one so strong That could control the moon, make flows and ebbs, And deal in her command without her power. These three have robbed me, and this demi-devil, For he’s a bastard one, had plotted with them To take my life. Two of these fellows you Must know and own. This thing of darkness I Acknowledge mine.
CALIBAN	I shall be pinched to death.
ALONSO	Is not this Stefano, my drunken butler?
SEBASTIAN	He is drunk now. Where had he wine?
ALONSO	And Trinculo is reeling ripe. Where should they Find this grand liquor that hath gilded ’em? (To Trinculo) How cam’st thou in this pickle?
TRINCULO	I have been in such a pickle since I saw you last that, I fear me, will never out of my bones. I shall not fear fly-blowing.
SEBASTIAN	Why, how now, Stefano?
STEFANO	O, touch me not! I am not Stefano, but a cramp.
PROSPERO	You’d be king o’the isle, sirrah?
STEFANO	I should have been a sore one, then.
ALONSO	(pointing to Caliban) This is a strange thing as e’er I looked on.
PROSPERO	He is as disproportioned in his manners As in his shape. (To Caliban) Go, sirrah, to my cell. Take with you your companions. As you look To have my pardon, trim it handsomely.
CALIBAN	Ay, that I will; and I’ll be wise hereafter, And seek for grace. What a thrice-double ass Was I to take this drunkard for a god, And worship this dull fooll
PROSPERO	Go to, away!
(didascalia)	Exit Caliban
ALONSO	(to Stefano and Trinculo) Hence, and bestow your luggage where you found it.
SEBASTIAN	Or stole it, rather.
(didascalia)	Exeunt Stefano and Trinculo
PROSPERO	(to Alonso) Sir, I invite your highness and your train To my poor cell, where you shall take your rest For this one night; which part of it I’ll waste With such discourse as I not doubt shall make it Go quick away: the story of my life, And the particular accidents gone by Since I came to this isle. And in the morn I’ll bring you to your ship, and so to Naples, Where I have hope to see the nuptial Of these our dear-belovèd solemnized; And thence retire me to my Milan, where Every third thought shall be my grave.
ALONSO	I long To hear the story of your life, which must Take the ear strangely.
PROSPERO	I’ll deliver all, And promise you calm seas, auspicious gales, And sail so expeditious that shall catch Your royal fleet far off. (Aside to Ariel) My Ariel, chick, That is thy charge. Then to the elements Be free, and fare thou well.
(didascalia)	Exit Ariel
PROSPERO	Please you, draw near.
(didascalia)	Exeunt all but Prospero
PROSPERO	Epilogue
PROSPERO	Now my charms are all o’erthrown, And what strength I have’s mine own, Which is most faint. Now ’tis true I must be here confined by you Or sent to Naples. Let me not, Since I have my dukedom got, And pardoned the deceiver, dwell In this bare island by your spell; But release me from my bands With the help of your good hands. Gentle breath of yours my sails Must fill, or else my project fails, Which was to please. Now I want Spirits to enforce, art to enchant; And my ending is despair Unless I be relieved by prayer, Which pierces so, that it assaults Mercy itself, and frees all faults. As you from crimes would pardoned be, Let your indulgence set me free. He awaits applause, then exit
CARDENIO	A BRIEF ACCOUNT
MANY	plays acted in Shakespeare’s time have failed to survive; they may easily include some that he wrote. The mystery of Love’s Labour’s Won is discussed elsewhere (pp. xxxvii, 337). Certain manuscript records of the seventeenth century suggest that at least one other play in which he had a hand may have disappeared. On 9 September 1653 the London publisher Humphrey Moseley entered in the Stationers’ Register a batch of plays including ‘The History of Cardenio, by Mr Fletcher and Shakespeare’. Cardenio is a character in Part One of Cervantes’ Don Quixote, published in English translation in 1612. Two earlier allusions suggest that the King’s Men owned a play on this subject at the time that Shakespeare was collaborating with John Fletcher (1579-1625). On 20 May 1613 the Privy Council authorized payment of £20 to John Heminges, as leader of the King’s Men, for the presentation at court of six plays, one listed as ‘Cardenno’. On 9 July of the same year Heminges received £6 13s. 4d. for his company’s performance of a play ‘called Cardenna’ before the ambassador of the Duke of Savoy. No more information about this play survives from the seventeenth century, but in 1728 Lewis Theobald published a play based on the story of Cardenio and called Double Falsehood, or The Distrest Lovers, which he claimed to have ‘revised and adapted’ from one ‘written originally by W. Shakespeare’. It had been successfully produced at Drury Lane on 13 December 1727, and was given thirteen times up to 1 May 1728. Other performances are recorded in 1740, 1741, 1767 (when it was reprinted), 1770, and 1847. In 1770 a newspaper stated that ‘the original manuscript’ was ‘treasured up in the Museum of Covent Garden Playhouse’; fire destroyed the theatre, including its library, in 1808. Theobald claimed to own several manuscripts of an original play by Shakespeare, and remarked that some of his contemporaries thought the style was Fletcher’s, not Shakespeare’s. When he himself came to edit Shakespeare’s plays he did not include either Double Falsehood or the play on which he claimed to have based it; he simply edited the plays of the First Folio, not adding either Pericles or The Two Noble Kinsmen, though he believed they were partly by Shakespeare. It is quite possible that Double Falsehood is based (however distantly) on a play of Shakespeare’s time; if so, the play is likely to have been the one performed by the King’s Men and ascribed by Moseley in 1653 to Fletcher and Shakespeare. Double Falsehood is a tragicomedy; the characters’ names differ from those in Don Quixote, and the story is varied. Henriquez rapes Violante, then falls in love with Leonora, loved by his friend Julio. Her parents agree to the marriage, but Julio interrupts the ceremony. Leonora (who had intended to kill herself) swoons and later takes sanctuary in a nunnery. Julio goes mad with desire for vengeance on his false friend; and the wronged Violante, disguised as a boy, joins a group of shepherds, and is almost raped by one of them. Henriquez’s virtuous brother, Roderick, ignorant of his villainy, helps him to abduct Leonora. Leonora and Violante both denounce Henriquez to Roderick. Finally Henriquez repents and marries Violante, while Julio (now sane) marries Leonora. Some of the motifs of Double Falsehood, such as the disguised heroine wronged by her lover and, particularly, the reuniting and reconciliation of parents with children, recall Shakespeare’s late plays. But most of the dialogue seems un-Shakespearian. Though the play deserved its limited success, it is now no more than an interesting curiosity.

Chi parla	Battuta
(didascalia)	Entra Prospero, nelle sue vesti magiche, e Ariel
PROSPERO	Ora il mio disegno giunge al suo colmo. I miei incanti non falliscono, i miei spiriti obbediscono, e il tempo procede eretto sotto il suo carico. A che punto è il giorno?
ARIEL	Sulla sesta ora; al qual tempo, mio signore, dicesti che la nostra opera sarebbe cessata.
PROSPERO	Così dissi quando per la prima volta levai la tempesta. Dimmi, mio spirito, come stanno il Re e il suo seguito?
ARIEL	Rinchiusi insieme nella stessa foggia che tu ordinasti, proprio come li lasciasti; tutti prigionieri, signore, nel boschetto di tigli che ripara dal tempo la tua cella. Non possono muoversi finché tu non li liberi. Il Re, suo fratello e il tuo, restano tutti e tre stravolti, e gli altri in pianto sopra di loro, colmi di dolore e di sgomento; ma soprattutto colui che tu chiamasti, signore, il buon vecchio Gonzalo: le sue lacrime gli scendono per la barba come gocce d’inverno da una gronda di canne. Il tuo incanto opera in loro sì forte che se ora li vedessi il tuo affetto si farebbe tenero.
PROSPERO	Lo credi tu, spirito?
ARIEL	Il mio lo sarebbe, signore, fossi io umano.
PROSPERO	E il mio lo sarà. Se tu, che non sei che aria, hai un tocco, un sentimento delle loro afflizioni, e non dovrò io stesso, uno della loro specie, che gusto ogni passione altrettanto acuta di loro, commuovermi più di te? Benché dai loro gravi torti io sia colpito nel vivo, pure con la mia più nobile ragione contro la mia furia prendo partito. Più rara è l’azione nella virtù che nella vendetta. Essendo essi pentiti, il solo corso del mio proposito non si estende d’un cipiglio più oltre. Va’ a liberarli, Ariel. Spezzerò i miei incanti, restituirò loro i sensi, ed essi torneranno se stessi.
ARIEL	Andrò a prenderli, signore.
(didascalia)	Esce
(didascalia)	Prospero traccia un cerchio con la sua verga
PROSPERO	Voi elfi dei colli, dei ruscelli, dei laghi immoti e dei boschi, e voi che sulle sabbie con piede che non lascia orma inseguite Nettuno che rifluisce, e da lui fuggite quando ritorna; voi mezze marionette che al chiaro di luna fate quei verdi cerchi acri che la pecora non bruca; e voi il cui diletto è far spuntare i funghi di mezzanotte, che godete d’udire il solenne coprifuoco; col cui aiuto, per deboli maestri che siate, ho oscurato il sole del meriggio, chiamato a raccolta i venti ammutinati, e fra il verde mare e la volta azzurra ho scatenato guerra ruggente—al tremendo tuono rombante ho dato il fuoco, e ho squarciato la salda quercia di Giove con la sua stessa folgore; il promontorio dalle salde basi ho fatto tremare, e dalle radici ho divelto il pino e il cedro; le tombe al mio comando hanno destato i loro dormienti, si sono aperte e li hanno lasciati uscire per la mia arte sì potente. Ma questa rozza magia qui abiuro. E quando avrò richiesto una musica celeste—come or ora faccio— per operare il mio fine sui sensi di coloro cui questo aereo incanto è rivolto, spezzerò la mia verga, la seppellirò molte braccia dentro la terra, e più fondo di quanto mai scandaglio abbia toccato affogherò il mio libro. Musica solenne. Entra per primo Ariel, invisibile; poi Alonso, con gesto frenetico, accompagnato da Gonzalo; Sebastian e Antonio, allo stesso modo, accompagnati da Adrian e Francisco. Entrano tutti nel cerchio che Prospero aveva tracciato, e vi restano incantati; e Prospero, osservandoli, dice (Ad Alonso) Un’aria solenne, il miglior conforto a una fantasia sconvolta, sani il tuo cervello, ora inutile, ribollito dentro il tuo cranio. (A Sebastian e Antonio) Restate là, ché siete arrestati dall’incanto.— Santo Gonzalo, uomo d’onore, i miei occhi, solidali con lo spettacolo dei tuoi, versano gocce fraterne. (A parte) L’incanto si dissolve rapido, e come il mattino s’insinua sulla notte, sciogliendo le tenebre, così i loro sensi che risorgono cominciano a scacciare i fumi ottusi che ammantano la loro più chiara ragione.—O buon Gonzalo, mio vero salvatore, e signore leale a colui che tu segui, ricompenserò le tue grazie appieno, in parola e in atto.—Assai crudelmente trattasti me e mia figlia, Alonso. Tuo fratello fu complice nell’atto.— Ora ne sei punzecchiato, Sebastian. (Ad Antonio) Carne e sangue, tu, fratello mio, che accogliesti l’ambizione, scacciasti il rimorso e la natura, tu che, con Sebastian— le cui punture interiori sono perciò fortissime,— avresti qui ucciso il tuo re, io ti perdono, snaturato quale sei. (A parte) Il loro intelletto comincia a gonfiarsi, e la marea che s’appressa colmerà tra poco le rive della ragione che ora giacciono lorde e fangose. Non uno di loro che ancora mi guardi, o mi riconosca.—Ariel, portami il cappello e lo spadino nella mia cella. Mi spoglierò di quest’abito, e mi mostrerò quale fui un tempo il Duca di Milano. Presto, spirito! Fra non molto sarai libero. Ariel canta e lo aiuta a vestirsi da Duca di Milano
ARIEL	Dove sugge l’ape, suggo anch’io: nel calice d’una primula mi corico; là mi rannicchio quando gridano i gufi. Sul dorso del pipistrello volo dietro all’estate, allegramente. Allegro, allegro vivrò d’ora innanzi sotto il fiore che pende dal ramo. Allegro, allegro vivrò d’ora innanzi sotto il fiore che pende dal ramo.
PROSPERO	Ecco il mio grazioso Ariel! Mi mancherai, eppure avrai la tua libertà.—Così, così, così.— Alla nave del Re, invisibile come sei! Là troverai i marinai addormentati sotto i boccaporti. Il Capitano e il Nostromo, appena svegli, costringili a venire in questo luogo, e sull’istante, ti prego.
ARIEL	Bevo l’aria davanti a me, e ritorno prima che il tuo polso batta due volte.
(didascalia)	Esce
GONZALO	Ogni tormento, travaglio, meraviglia e stupore abita qui. Qualche potenza celeste ci guidi fuori da questo paese pauroso!
PROSPERO	Guarda, signor Re, l’oltraggiato Duca di Milano, Prospero. Per maggior certezza che un principe vivo ora ti parla, abbraccio il tuo corpo; e a te e alla tua compagnia porgo un cordiale benvenuto. Abbraccia Alonso
ALONSO	Se tu sia lui o no, o qualche inganno incantato per illudermi, come di recente sono stato, non so. Il tuo polso batte come di carne e sangue; e da quando t’ho visto l’afflizione della mia mente si placa, per la quale temo che una follia mi tenesse. Questo esige— se pure tutto ciò è vero—una storia stranissima. Rinuncio al tuo ducato, e ti supplico di perdonarmi i miei torti. Ma come può Prospero essere vivo ed essere qui?
PROSPERO	(a Gonzalo) Prima, nobile amico, lascia ch’io abbracci la tua vecchiezza, il cui onore non può essere misurato né circoscritto. Abbraccia Gonzalo
GONZALO	Se questo sia o non sia, non lo giurerò.
PROSPERO	Gustate ancora certe sottigliezze dell’isola che non vi lasciano credere alle cose certe.—Benvenuti, amici miei tutti. (A parte, a Sebastian e Antonio) Ma voi, mia coppia di signori, se ne avessi voglia, potrei qui attirarvi addosso il cipiglio di sua altezza e provarvi traditori. Per questa volta non racconterò nulla.
SEBASTIAN	(ad Antonio) Parla in lui il diavolo.
PROSPERO	No. (Ad Antonio) Quanto a te, uomo scelleratissimo, che chiamare fratello m’infetterebbe la bocca, io perdono la tua colpa più fetida, tutte quante, e ti richiedo il mio ducato, che per forza so che devi restituire.
ALONSO	Se tu sei Prospero, dacci i particolari del tuo scampo, come ci hai incontrati qui, noi che tre ore fa naufragammo su questa riva, dove ho perduto— quanto è acuta la punta di questo ricordo!— il mio caro figlio Ferdinand.
PROSPERO	Me ne duole, signore.
ALONSO	Irreparabile è la perdita, e la pazienza dice che è oltre il suo rimedio.
PROSPERO	Piuttosto io credo che non ne abbiate cercato l’aiuto: della sua dolce grazia, per simile perdita, ho avuto il sovrano soccorso, e me ne resto contento.
ALONSO	Voi, simile perdita?
PROSPERO	Per me altrettanto grande e altrettanto recente; e per rendere sopportabile la cara perdita ho mezzi assai più deboli di quelli che voi potete chiamare a confortarvi, ché io ho perduto mia figlia.
ALONSO	Una figlia? O cieli, fossero vivi entrambi a Napoli, re e regina laggiù! Se lo fossero, vorrei essere io stesso affondato nel fango di quel letto limaccioso dove giace mio figlio. Quando perdeste vostra figlia?
PROSPERO	In quest’ultima tempesta. M’avvedo che questi signori a tale incontro tanto si stupiscono da divorare la propria ragione, e a stento credono che i loro occhi facciano ufficio di verità, che queste parole siano fiato naturale. Ma per quanto siate stati scossi fuori dei vostri sensi, sappiate per certo che io sono Prospero, e quello stesso Duca che fu cacciato da Milano, e che stranissimamente, su questa riva dove naufragaste, approdò per esserne il signore. Basta per ora di questo, ché è cronaca di giorno in giorno, non racconto per una colazione, né cosa che convenga a questo primo incontro. Benvenuto, signore. Questa cella è la mia corte. Qui ho pochi servitori, e nessun suddito fuori. Vi prego, guardate dentro. Poiché mi avete reso il mio ducato, vi ricambierò con cosa altrettanto buona; o almeno vi mostrerò una meraviglia che vi appaghi quanto me il mio ducato. Qui Prospero scopre Ferdinand e Miranda, che giocano a scacchi
MIRANDA	Dolce signore, mi giocate falso.
FERDINAND	No, mio carissimo amore, non lo farei per tutto il mondo.
MIRANDA	Sì, per una ventina di regni voi litighereste, e io lo chiamerei gioco leale.
ALONSO	Se questa si rivela una visione dell’isola, un caro figlio perderò due volte.
SEBASTIAN	Un altissimo miracolo.
FERDINAND	(facendosi avanti) Benché i mari minaccino, sono misericordiosi. Li ho maledetti senza ragione. S’inginocchia
ALONSO	Ora tutte le benedizioni d’un padre lieto ti circondino. Alzati e di’ come sei giunto qui. Ferdinand si alza
MIRANDA	(facendosi avanti) O meraviglia! Quante belle creature ci sono qui! Com’è bella l’umanità! O mirabile mondo nuovo che ha in sé tal gente!
PROSPERO	È nuovo per te.
ALONSO	(a Ferdinand) Chi è questa fanciulla con cui stavi giocando? La vostra più antica conoscenza non può essere di tre ore. È lei la dea che ci ha separati, e che così ci ha riuniti?
FERDINAND	Signore, è mortale; ma per immortale provvidenza è mia. La scelsi quando non potevo chiedere a mio padre il suo consiglio, né credevo d’averne uno. Ella è figlia di questo famoso Duca di Milano, della cui fama ho tanto spesso udito, ma che mai prima vidi; da lui ho ricevuto una seconda vita; e secondo padre me lo rende questa dama.
ALONSO	Io sono suo. Ma oh, come suonerà strano, che io debba chiedere perdono a mia figlia!
PROSPERO	Qui, signore, fermatevi. Non graviamo la nostra memoria d’un peso che è passato.
GONZALO	Ho pianto dentro di me, o avrei parlato prima d’ora. Guardate quaggiù, o dèi, e su questa coppia calate una benedetta corona, ché siete voi che avete segnato col gesso la via che ci ha condotti qui.
ALONSO	Io dico amen, Gonzalo.
GONZALO	Fu il Duca cacciato da Milano, perché la sua progenie divenisse re di Napoli? Oh, gioite oltre ogni gioia comune! E incidetelo in oro su colonne durature: in un solo viaggio Claribel trovò a Tunisi il suo sposo, e Ferdinand suo fratello trovò una sposa là dove egli stesso era perduto; Prospero il suo ducato in una povera isola; e tutti noi noi stessi, quando nessuno era più suo.
ALONSO	(a Ferdinand e Miranda) Datemi le vostre mani. Che affanno e dolore stringano per sempre il cuore di chi non vi augura gioia.
GONZALO	Così sia! Amen!
(didascalia)	Entra Ariel, seguito dal Capitano e dal Nostromo, stupefatti
GONZALO	Oh guardate, signore, guardate, ecco altri dei nostri! Profetizzai che se ci fosse stata una forca in terra costui non poteva annegare. (Al Nostromo) Ebbene, bestemmia, tu che getti la grazia fuori bordo: non un giuramento a riva? Non hai bocca in terraferma? Che notizie ci sono?
NOSTROMO	La miglior notizia è che abbiamo ritrovato salvi il nostro Re e la compagnia. Poi, la nostra nave, che tre clessidre fa davamo per sfasciata, è stagna e agile e bravamente attrezzata, come quando prendemmo il mare la prima volta.
ARIEL	(a parte, a Prospero) Signore, tutto questo servigio ho compiuto da quando partii.
PROSPERO	(a parte, ad Ariel) Mio spirito ingegnoso!
ALONSO	Questi non sono eventi naturali; si rafforzano di strano in più strano. Dite, come siete giunti qui?
NOSTROMO	Se credessi, signore, d’essere ben desto mi sforzerei di dirvelo. Eravamo morti di sonno, e—non sappiamo come—tutti cacciati sotto i boccaporti, dove poco fa, con strani e vari rumori di ruggiti, strida, ululati, tintinnio di catene, e altra diversità di suoni, tutti orribili, fummo svegliati; e subito in libertà; dove in tutto il suo assetto vedemmo di nuovo la nostra regale, buona e gagliarda nave, e il nostro Capitano saltellare a mirarla. In un attimo, con vostra licenza, come in un sogno, fummo separati da loro, e portati qui intontiti.
ARIEL	(a parte, a Prospero) È stato fatto bene?
PROSPERO	(a parte, ad Ariel) Egregiamente, mia diligenza. Sarai libero.
ALONSO	Questo è il labirinto più strano che uomini abbian mai calcato, e c’è in questa faccenda più di quanto la natura abbia mai guidato. Qualche oracolo deve raddrizzare il nostro sapere.
PROSPERO	Signore, mio sovrano, non tormentate la mente battendo sulla stranezza di questa faccenda. In un’ora scelta, che sarà presto, a voi solo spiegherò, e vi parrà verosimile, ognuno di questi casi accaduti; fino allora siate lieto, e pensate bene d’ogni cosa. (A parte, ad Ariel) Vieni qui, spirito. Libera Caliban e i suoi compagni. Sciogli l’incantesimo.
(didascalia)	Esce Ariel
PROSPERO	(Ad Alonso) Come sta il mio grazioso signore? Mancano ancora della vostra compagnia alcuni strani compari che voi non ricordate.
(didascalia)	Entra Ariel, sospingendo Caliban, Stefano e Trinculo, nei loro abiti rubati
STEFANO	Ognuno s’arrangi per tutti gli altri, e nessuno badi a se stesso, ché tutto non è che fortuna. Coragio, bel mostro, coragio!
TRINCULO	Se queste che porto in testa sono spie fedeli, ecco un bello spettacolo.
CALIBAN	O Setebos, questi sì che sono spiriti magnifici! Com’è bello il mio padrone! Ho paura che mi castighi.
SEBASTIAN	Ah, ah! Che cose son queste, mio signor Antonio? Si comprano col denaro?
ANTONIO	Molto probabile; uno di loro è un pesce bell’e buono, e senza dubbio vendibile.
PROSPERO	Osservate soltanto le livree di questi uomini, signori, poi dite se sono fedeli. Questo furfante deforme: sua madre era una strega, e tanto potente da governare la luna, fare flussi e riflussi, e agire in suo comando senza il suo potere. Questi tre mi hanno derubato, e questo mezzo demonio, ché è un bastardo, aveva congiurato con loro per togliermi la vita. Due di questi tipi voi dovete conoscerli e riconoscerli per vostri. Questa cosa di tenebra io la riconosco mia.
CALIBAN	Sarò punzecchiato a morte.
ALONSO	Non è questo Stefano, il mio coppiere ubriacone?
SEBASTIAN	È ubriaco anche adesso. Dove ha trovato il vino?
ALONSO	E Trinculo barcolla che è un piacere. Dove mai avranno trovato questo gran liquore che li ha indorati? (A Trinculo) Come sei finito in questa salamoia?
TRINCULO	Sono stato in una tal salamoia da quando vi vidi l’ultima volta che, temo, non mi uscirà mai più dalle ossa. Non avrò da temere le mosche.
SEBASTIAN	Ebbene, come va, Stefano?
STEFANO	Oh, non toccarmi! Non sono Stefano, ma un crampo.
PROSPERO	Volevi essere re dell’isola, messere?
STEFANO	Sarei stato un re dolente, allora.
ALONSO	(indicando Caliban) Questa è la cosa più strana su cui abbia mai posato gli occhi.
PROSPERO	È tanto sproporzionato nei modi quanto nella figura. (A Caliban) Va’, messere, alla mia cella. Porta con te i tuoi compagni. Se speri d’ottenere il mio perdono, mettila bene in ordine.
CALIBAN	Sì, lo farò; e sarò savio d’ora innanzi, e cercherò la grazia. Che asino tre volte doppio fui io a prendere questo ubriacone per un dio, e ad adorare questo stolido sciocco!
PROSPERO	Via, andate!
(didascalia)	Esce Caliban
ALONSO	(a Stefano e Trinculo) Via di qui, e riponete il vostro bagaglio dove lo trovaste.
SEBASTIAN	O piuttosto dove lo rubaste.
(didascalia)	Escono Stefano e Trinculo
PROSPERO	(ad Alonso) Signore, invito vostra altezza e il vostro seguito nella mia povera cella, dove prenderete riposo per questa sola notte; e parte di essa la spenderò con tali discorsi che non dubito la faranno trascorrere veloce: la storia della mia vita, e i particolari casi trascorsi da quando venni a quest’isola. E al mattino vi condurrò alla vostra nave, e poi a Napoli, dove ho speranza di veder solennizzate le nozze di questi nostri diletti; e di là mi ritirerò nella mia Milano, dove ogni terzo pensiero sarà la mia tomba.
ALONSO	Ardo dal desiderio d’udire la storia della vostra vita, che deve prendere l’orecchio in modo strano.
PROSPERO	Narrerò ogni cosa, e vi prometto mari calmi, brezze propizie, e navigazione così spedita da raggiungere la vostra flotta regale, per lontana che sia. (A parte, ad Ariel) Mio Ariel, pulcino, questo è il tuo incarico. Poi agli elementi sii libero, e sta’ bene.
(didascalia)	Esce Ariel
PROSPERO	Vi prego, avvicinatevi.
(didascalia)	Escono tutti tranne Prospero
PROSPERO	Epilogo
PROSPERO	Or sono infranti tutti i miei incanti, e la forza che ho è la mia soltanto, ch’è debolissima. Ora è ben vero ch’io debba qui restar da voi confinato o mandato a Napoli. Non permettete, poiché ho riavuto il ducato mio e perdonato l’ingannatore, ch’io dimori in quest’isola nuda per vostro incanto; ma scioglietemi voi dai miei legami con l’aiuto delle vostre buone mani. Il vostro gentile fiato le mie vele deve gonfiare, o il mio disegno fallisce, ch’era di piacere. Ora mi mancano spiriti che costringano, arte che incanti; e la mia fine è disperazione se non mi soccorre la preghiera, che tanto trafigge da dare l’assalto alla Pietà stessa, e ogni colpa assolve. Come voi dai delitti vorreste esser perdonati, così la vostra indulgenza mi renda libero. Attende l’applauso, poi esce