William Shakespeare: The Tempest

ACT 3
3. SCENE III. Another part of the island

[Enter ALONSO, SEBASTIAN, ANTONIO, GONZALO, ADRIAN, FRANCISCO,
and OTHERS.]

GONZALO.
By'r lakin, I can go no further, sir;
My old bones ache: here's a maze trod, indeed,
Through forth-rights and meanders! By your patience,
I needs must rest me.

ALONSO.
Old lord, I cannot blame thee,
Who am myself attach'd 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 drown'd
Whom thus we stray to find; and the sea mocks
Our frustrate search on land. Well, let him go.

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 resolv'd to effect.

SEBASTIAN.
[Aside to ANTONIO] The next advantage
Will we take throughly.

ANTONIO.
[Aside to SEBASTIAN] Let it be to-night;
For, now they are oppress'd with travel, they
Will not, nor cannot, use such vigilance
As when they are fresh.

SEBASTIAN.
[Aside to ANTONIO] I say, to-night: no more.

[Solemn and strange music: and PROSPERO above,
invisible. Enter several strange Shapes,
bringing in a banquet: they dance about it with
gentle actions of salutation; and inviting the
KING, &c., to eat, they depart.]

ALONSO.
What harmony is this? my good friends, hark!

GONZALO.
Marvellous sweet music!

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 them.

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