The Tempest, Act III, Scene 3
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 — shall 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.
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 has 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.