Gon. I' the commonwealth I would by contraries Letters should not be known; riches, poverty, And women too; but innocent and pure: Seb. And yet he would be king on't. Ant. The latter end of his commonwealth forgets the beginning. Gon. All things in common nature should produce Without sweat or endeavour: treason, felony, Sword, pike, knife, gun, or need of any engine 12, Would I not have; but nature should bring forth, Of its own kind, all foison 13, all abundance, 13 To feed my innocent people. Seb. No marrying 'mong his subjects? Ant. None, man; all idle; whores, and knaves. Gon. I would with such perfection govern, sir, To excel the golden age 14. Seb. Ant. Long live Gonzalo ! Gon. 'Save his majesty! And, do you mark me, sir? Alon. Pr'ythee, no more: thou dost talk nothing to me. 11 See Montaigne's Essays translated by John Florio, fol. 1603, Chap. "Of the Caniballes." 12 An engine was a term applied to any kind of machine in Shakspeare's age. 13 Foison is only another word for plenty or abundance of provision, but chiefly of the fruits of the earth. In a subsequent scene we have "Earth's increase, and foison plenty." 14 See Montaigne as cited before. Gon. 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. Ant. 'Twas you we laugh'd at. Gon. Who, in this kind of merry fooling, am nothing to you; so you may continue, and laugh at nothing still. Ant. What a blow was there given? Seb. An it had not fallen flat-long. Gon. 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 15. Enter ARIEL, invisible, playing solemn musick. Gon. No, I warrant you; I will not adventure my discrétion so weakly. Will you laugh me asleep, for I am very heavy? Ant. Go sleep, and hear us. [All sleep but ALON. SEB. and ANT. Alon. What, all so soon asleep! I wish mine eyes Would, with themselves, shut up my thoughts: I find, They are inclin'd to do so. Seb. Please you, sir, Do not omit the heavy offer of it: Ant. We two, my lord, Will guard your person, while you take your rest, 15 Warburton remarks that "all this dialogue is a fine satire on the Utopian Treatises of Government, and the impracticable inconsistent schemes therein recommended." Alon. Thank you: Wondrous heavy. [ALONSO sleeps. Exit ARIEL. Seb. What a strange drowsiness possesses them! Ant. It is the quality o' the climate. Seb. Why Doth it not then our eye-lids sink? I find not Ant. Nor I; my spirits are nimble. They fell together all, as by consent; They dropp'd, as by a thunder-stroke. What might Worthy Sebastian?—O, what might?—No more ;And yet, methinks, I see it in thy face, What thou should'st be: the occasion speaks thee; and My strong imagination sees a crown Dropping upon thy head. Seb. What, art thou waking? Ant. Do you not hear me speak? I do; and, surely, Seb. With eyes wide open; standing, speaking, moving, Ant. Noble Sebastian, Thou let'st thy fortune sleep-die rather; wink'st Whiles thou art waking. Seb. Thou dost snore distinctly; There's meaning in thy snores. Ant. I am more serious than my custom: you Must be so too, if heed me; which to do, Seb. Well; I am standing water. 16 Antonio apparently means to say, "You must be more serious than you usually are, if you would pay attention to my proposals; which attention, if you bestow it, will in the end make you thrice what you are." If you but knew how you the purpose cherish, Whiles thus you mock it! how, in stripping it, You more invest it 17! Ebbing men, indeed, Most often do so near the bottom run, By their own fear, or sloth. Seb. Pr'ythee, say on: The setting of thine eye, and cheek, proclaim Ant. Thus, sir: Although this lord of weak remembrance, this (Who shall be of as little memory, When he is earth'd,) hath here almost persuaded (For he's a spirit of persuasion, only Professes to persuade) the king, his son's alive; 'Tis as impossible that he's undrown'd, As he that sleeps here, swims. Seb. That he's undrown'd. Ant. I have no hope O, out of that no hope, What great hope have you! no hope, that way, is 17 Sebastian introduces the simile of water. It is taken up by Antonio, who says he will teach his stagnant water to flow. "It has already learned to ebb," says Sebastian. To which Antonio replies-" O, if you but knew how much even that metaphor, which you use in jest, encourages the design which I hint at; how, in stripping it of words of their common meaning, and using them figuratively, you adapt them to your own situation."-Edinburgh Magazine, Nov. 1786. 18 i. e. The utmost extent of the prospect of ambition, the point where the eye can pass no farther. But doubts discovery there. Will you grant, with me, That Ferdinand is drown'd? Ant. She that is queen of Tunis; she that dwells Ten leagues beyond man's life; she that from Naples Can have no note 19, unless the sun were post, (The man i' the moon's too slow,) till new-born chins Be rough and razorable: she, from whom We all were sea-swallow'd, though some cast again; Whereof what's past is prologue; what to come, Seb. There is some space. cubit Ant. A space whose every 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 seiz'd 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 19 The commentators have treated this as a remarkable instance of Shakspeare's ignorance of Geography, but though the real distance between Naples and Tunis is not so immeasurable; the intercourse in early times between the Neapolitans and the Tunisians was not so frequent as to make it popularly considered less than a formidable voyage; Shakspeare may however be countenanced in his poetical exaggeration, when we remember that Eschylus has placed the river Eridanus in Spain; and that Appolonius Rhodius describes the Rhone and the Po as meeting in one and discharging themselves into the Gulf of Venice. 20 What is past is the prologue to events which are to come; that depends on what you and I are to perform. |