Scene I

Another part of the island.

[Enter Alonso, Sebastian, Antonio, Gonzalo, Adrian, and Francisco]

GONZ:

[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(5)
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.

GONZ:

Please, sir, cheer up; you have a reason,
Just as we all have, to be happy, because our escape
Is more than the loss we expected. Our sadness
Is common: every day, some sailor's wife,
The masters of some merchant and the merchant himself,
Have our same sadness; except for the miracle,
I mean our preservation, few in millions
Can say what we can: then, good sir, wisely weigh
Our sadness with our escape.

ALONSO:

Prithee, peace.(10)

ALONSO:

Please, peace.

SEBAST:

He receives comfort like cold porridge.

SEBAST:

Any comfort he gets is like cold oatmeal.

ANTONIO:

The visitor will not give him o'er so.

ANTONIO:

The visitor won’t abandon him like that.

SEBAST:

Look, he's winding up the watch of his wit. By and by
it will strike.

SEBAST:

Look, he's winding up the watch of his mind; it will
Strike the hour in a little bit.

GONZ:

[to Alonso] Sir,—(15)

GONZ:

Sir,—

SEBAST:

[to Antonio] One: tell.

SEBAST:

One: speak.

GONZ:

[to Alonso] —when every grief is entertained that's
offered,
Comes to th’ entertainer—

GONZ:

When every possible sorrow that's talked about is thought about,
There comes to the thinker—

SEBAST:

A dollar.(20)

SEBAST:

A dollar.

GONZ:

Dolour comes to him indeed. You have spoken truer
than you
purposed.

GONZ:

Dolor - sorrow comes to him, indeed: you have spoken
more truly than you intended.

SEBAST:

You have taken it wiselier than I meant you should.

SEBAST:

You have taken it more seriously than I meant you to.

GONZ:

[to Alonso] Therefore, my lord,—(25)

GONZ:

Therefore, my lord,—

ANTONIO:

[to Sebastian] Fie, what a spendthrift is he of his
tongue!

ANTONIO:

Damn it, what a waste he makes of his words!

ANLONSO:

[to Gonzalo] I prithee, spare.

ANLONSO:

Please, spare me.

GONZ:

Well, I have done. But yet—

GONZ:

Well, I’m finished: but still—

SEBAST:

[to Antonio] He will be talking.(30)

SEBAST:

He keeps on talking.

ANTONIO:

Which, of he or Adrian, for a good wager, first
begins to crow?

ANTONIO:

Let’s make a good bet: which one, he or Adrian, will be
The first to begin to crow?

SEBAST:

The old cock.

SEBAST:

The old rooster.

ANTONIO:

The cockerel.

ANTONIO:

The young rooster.

SEBAST:

Done. The wager?(35)

SEBAST:

OK. What’s the bet?

ANTONIO:

A laughter.

ANTONIO:

A hearty laugh.

SEBAST:

A match!

SEBAST:

It’s a bet!

ADRIAN:

[to Gonzalo] Though this island seem to be
desert,—

ADRIAN:

Though this island seems to be deserted,—

ANTONIO:

[to Sebastian] Ha, ha, ha!(40)

ANTONIO:

Ha, ha, ha!

SEBAST:

So, you're paid.

SEBAST:

So, now you're paid.

ADRIAN:

Uninhabitable, and almost inaccessible—

ADRIAN:

Unable to be lived on and almost out of reach,—

SEBAST:

[to Antonio] Yet—

SEBAST:

Still—

ADRIAN:

Yet—

ADRIAN:

Still—

ANTONIO:

[to Sebastian] He could not miss't.(45)

ANTONIO:

He couldn’t resist it.

ANDRIAN:

It must needs be of subtle, tender, and delicate
temperance.

ANDRIAN:

It has to be of mild, tender, and delicate
climate.

ANTONIO:

[to Sebastian] Temperance was a delicate wench.

ANTONIO:

Climate was a delicate mistress.

SEBAST:

Ay, and a subtle, as he most learnedly delivered.

SEBAST:

Yes, and mild, as he has said most knowledgeably.

ADRIAN:

[to Gonzalo] The air breathes upon us here most(50)
sweetly.

ADRIAN:

The air here is very sweet for us.

SEBAST:

[to Antonio] As if it had lungs, and rotten ones.

SEBAST:

As if it had lungs, and rotten ones at that.

ANTONIO:

Or as ’twere perfumed by a fen.

ANTONIO:

Or, as it were perfumed by a swamp.

GONZ:

[to Adrian] Here is everything advantageous to life.

GONZ:

Here is everything beneficial to life.

ANTONIO:

[to Sebastian] True, save means to live.(55)

ANTONIO:

True; except the means to live it.

SEBAST:

Of that there's none, or little.

SEBAST:

There's none, or little of that.

GONZ:

[to Adrian] How lush and lusty the grass looks!
How green!

GONZ:

How lush and lusty the grass looks! How green!

ANTONIO:

The ground indeed is tawny.

ANTONIO:

The ground indeed is orangey.

SEBAST:

With an eye of green in't.(60)

SEBAST:

With a touch of green in it.

ANTONIO:

He misses not much.

ANTONIO:

He doesn’t miss much.

SEBAST:

No, he doth but mistake the truth totally.

SEBAST:

No; he only totally misses the truth.

GONZ:

[to Adrian] But the rarity of it is, which is indeed
almost beyond credit—

GONZ:

But the special thing about it is,—which is indeed almost
beyond belief,—

SEBASST:

[to Antonio] As many vouched rarities are.(65)

SEBASST:

As many verified “special things” are.

GONZ:

[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.

GONZ:

That our garments, being, as they were, drenched
in the ocean, have, nevertheless, retained their freshness and
sheen, seeming to be just cleaned rather than stained with salt
water.

ANTONIO:

[to Sebastian] If but one of his pockets could speak,(70)
would it not say he lies?

ANTONIO:

If only one of his pockets could speak, wouldn’t it
say he lies?

SEBAST:

Ay, or very falsely pocket up his report.

SEBAST:

Yes, or hide the report in the pocket.

GONZ:

[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.(75)

GONZ:

I think our garments are now as fresh as they were when
we first put them in Africa, at the wedding of the
king's fair daughter, Claribel, to the King of Tunis.

SEBAST:

’Twas a sweet marriage, and we prosper well in our
return.

SEBAST:

It was a sweet wedding, and we were doing so well on our return.

ADRIAN:

Tunis was never graced before with such a paragon to
their queen.

ADRIAN:

Tunis was never graced before with anything equal
to their queen.

GONZ:

Not since widow Dido's time.(80)

GONZ:

Not since widow Dido's time.

ANTONIO:

Widow? A pox o'that! How came that widow in?
Widow Dido!

ANTONIO:

Widow! Like hell she was! How did she become a widow? Widow Dido!

SEBAST:

What if he had said ‘widower Aeneas’ too? Good Lord,
how you take it!

SEBAST:

What if he had said, “Widower Aeneas too?”
Good Lord, you take it so seriously!

ADRIAN:

[to Gonzalo] ‘Widow Dido’ said you? You make me(85)
study of that: she was of Carthage, not of Tunis.

ADRIAN:

“Widow Dido,” you said? You made me study that one; she was from
Carthage, not of Tunis.

GONZ:

This Tunis, sir, was Carthage.

GONZ:

This Tunis, sir, was Carthage.

ADRIAN:

Carthage?

ADRIAN:

Carthage?

GONZ:

I assure you, Carthage.

GONZ:

Trust me, Carthage.

ANTONIO:

[to Sebastian] His word is more than the miraculous(90)
harp.

ANTONIO:

His word is more miraculous than the magic harp.

SEBAST:

He hath raised the wall, and houses too.

SEBAST:

He has raised the wall and houses too.

ANTONIO:

What impossible matter will he make easy next?

ANTONIO:

What impossible subject will he make easy next?

SEBAST:

I think he will carry this island home in his pocket and
give it his son for an apple.(95)

SEBAST:

I think he will carry this island home in his
pocket, and give it his son as an apple.

ANTONIO:

And sowing the kernels of it in the sea, bring forth
more islands.

ANTONIO:

And, sowing the seeds of it in the ocean,
create more islands.

GONZ:

[to Adrian] Ay.

GONZ:

Yes.

ANTINIO:

[to Sebastian] Why, in good time.

ANTINIO:

Why, in good time.

GONZ:

[to Alonso] Sir, we were talking that our garments seem(100)
now as fresh as when we were at Tunis at the marriage of
your daughter, who is not queen.

GONZ:

[To ALONSO.] Sir, we were discussing how our garments now seem
as fresh as they were when we were at the wedding of
your daughter, who is now Queen, in Tunis.

ANTONIO:

And the rarest that e'er came there.

ANTONIO:

And the rarest person that ever came there.

SEBAST:

Bate, I beseech you, widow Dido.

SEBAST:

Stop, please, widow Dido.

ANTONIO:

O, widow Dido! Ay, widow Dido.(105)

ANTONIO:

Oh! Widow Dido; yes, widow Dido.

GONZ:

[to Alonso] Is not, sir, my doublet as fresh as the first day
I wore it? I mean, in a sort.

GONZ:

Isn’t my jacket, sir, as fresh as the first day I
wore it? I mean, in a way.

ANTONIO:

[to Sebastian] That sort was well fished for.

ANTONIO:

That way was well fished for.

GONZ:

[to Alonso] When I wore it at your daughter's marriage.

GONZ:

When I wore it at your daughter's wedding?

ALONSO:

You cram these words into mine ears against(110)
The stomach of my sense. Would I have 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(115)
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?

ALONSO:

You cram these words into my ears against
The stomach of my sense. I wish I had never
Married my daughter there! Because, coming from there,
My son is lost; and, in my opinion, she is too,
Who is so far away from Italy,
That I shall never see her again. O you, my heir
Of Naples and of Milan! What strange fish
Has made you his dinner?

FRANCIS:

Sir, he may live.
I saw him beat the surges under him(120)
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(125)
To th’ shore, that o'er his wave-worn basis bowed,
As stooping to relieve him: I not doubt
He came alive to land.

FRANCIS:

Sir, he may be alive:
I saw him beat the waves under him,
And ride on their backs: he was treading water,
Whose hatred he pushed aside, and hit
The swollen surge that met him with his chest: he kept
His bold head above the troublesome waves, and rowed
Himself with his good arms in lusty strokes
To the shore, that bent itself to welcome his weary body,
As if it was stooping to save him. I have no doubt
That he came to the island, alive.

ALONSO:

No, no; he's gone.

ALONSO:

No, no; he's gone.

SEBAST:

[to Alonso] Sir, you may thank yourself for this(130)
great loss,
That would not bless our Europe with your daughter,
But rather lose her to an African,
Where she, at least, is banished from your eye,
Who hath cause to wet the grief on't.(135)

SEBAST:

Sir, you may thank yourself for this great loss,
Since you wouldn’t bless our Europe with your daughter,
But would rather marry her to an African;
Where she is, at least, out of your sight,
You who has cause to shed tears about it.

ALONSO:

Prithee, peace.

ALONSO:

Please, peace.

SEBAST:

You were kneeled to an 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(140)
son,
I fear, for ever. Milan and Naples have
More widows in them of this business’ making
Than we bring men to comfort them.
That fault's your own.(145)

SEBAST:

You were kneeled to and otherwise begged
By all of us; and the fair soul herself
Considered at which option she should take,
Between reluctance and obedience. I’m afraid
We have lost your son forever: Milan and Naples now have
More widows in them made by this business' making
Than we bring men to comfort them; It’s your own fault.