Therefore my son i' the ooze is bedded, and Seb. I'll fight their legions o'er. Ant. [Exit. But one fiend at a time, I'll be thy second. Gon. All three of them are desperate: their great guilt, Like poison given to work a great time after, 100 Adr. Follow, I pray you. [Exeunt. SCENE I. ACT IV. Before PROSPERO'S cell. Enter PROSPERO, FERDINAND, and Miranda. Hast strangely stood the test: here, afore Heaven, 108. ecstasy, madness. 3. a third, i.e. a main portion. For thou shalt find she will outstrip all praise Fer. Against an oracle. I do believe it Pros. Then, as my gift and thine own acquisition Worthily purchased, take my daughter: but Fer. 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 ΤΟ 20 When I shall think, or Phœbus' steeds are founder'd, 30 Or Night kept chain'd below. 14. purchased, won. 18. aspersion, sprinkling, as of dew. 26. suggestion, temptation. 27. Our worser genius, the demon within us. Elsewhere Shakespeare's language suggests a single genius or guardian spirit presiding over, but within, each man, and associating itself now with his planning intellect (Jul. Cæs. ii. 1. 66), now with his heroism (Ant. and Cleo. ii. 3. 19), now with his weakness (ib. ii. 3. 21). Here, on the contrary, the evil impulses of men are ascribed to a special 'worser genius' whom a 'better' genius resists. The passage goes far to show that the whole doctrine was with Shakespeare little more than inherited phraseology. 30. founder'd, disabled (by over-riding). Pros. Fairly spoke. Sit then and talk with her; she is thine own. Enter ARIEL. Ari. What would my potent master? here I am. Pros. Thou and thy meaner fellows your last service Did worthily perform; and I must use you In such another trick. Go bring the rabble, Bestow upon the eyes Some vanity of mine art: it is my promise, And they expect it from me. Ari. Pros. Ay, with a twink. Presently? Ari. Before you can say 'come' and 'go,' Each one, tripping on his toe, Do you love me, master? no? Pros. Dearly, my delicate Ariel. proach Till thou dost hear me call. Ari. Do not ap 40 Well, I conceive. [Exit. 50 Pros. Look thou be true; do not give dalliance Too much the rein: the strongest oaths are straw To the fire i' the blood: be more abstemious, Or else, good night your vow! Fer. I warrant you, sir; The white cold virgin snow upon my heart Pros. Well. Now come, my Ariel! bring a corollary, 47. mop and mow, grimaces. 57. corollary, supernumerary. Rather than want a spirit: appear, and pertly! Enter IRIS. [Soft music. Iris. Ceres, most bounteous lady, thy rich leas Of wheat, rye, barley, vetches, oats and pease; Thy turfy mountains, where live nibbling sheep, And flat meads thatch'd with stover, them to keep; Thy banks with pioned and twilled 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-clipt vineyard; And thy sea-marge, sterile and rocky-hard, 60 Where thou thyself dost air;-the queen o' the sky, 70 Whose watery arch and messenger am I, Bids thee leave these, and with her sovereign grace, Here on this grass-plot, in this very place, To come and sport: her peacocks fly amain: 61. vetches, Ff fetches, an archaic and provincial form of the word. 63. stover, straw of rye, barley, or wheat, used as winter-fodder for cattle. 64. banks with pioned and twilled brims. Two interpretations still compete for the possession of this line. According to one, it refers to a river bank overgrown with 'marigolds' and 'reeds.' But the meanings thus given to pioned and twilled rest on very doubtful authority; while the following line implies that the banks are 'pioned and twilled' before they are 'trimmed' with flowers. Hence the less picturesque but perhaps more logical interpretation has latterly gained ground, according to which the banks' are those of trenches or dykes dividing cornlands, artificially heaped up (pioned) and 'furrowed' or 'faced with mire' (Fr. fouiller). Can twilled describe the appearance of the two banks running in 'twinned' parallel lines between the meadows? 66. broom-groves, luxuriant copses of broom. 68. pole-clipt, having vines clinging about its poles. Enter CERES. Cer. Hail, many-colour'd messenger, that ne'er Who with thy saffron wings upon my flowers On the blest lovers. Cer. Tell me, heavenly bow, If Venus or her son, as thou dost know, Do now attend the queen? Since they did plot 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, 80 90 Her waspish-headed son has broke his arrows, Cer. Great Juno, comes; I know her by her gait. 85. freely estate, liberally bestow. 89. Dis, Pluto. Cf. Perdita's High'st queen of state, allusion to the story, Wini. Tale, iv. 4. 118. |