LiederNet logo

CONTENTS

×
  • Home | Introduction
  • Composers (20,138)
  • Text Authors (19,558)
  • Go to a Random Text
  • What’s New
  • A Small Tour
  • FAQ & Links
  • Donors
  • DONATE

UTILITIES

  • Search Everything
  • Search by Surname
  • Search by Title or First Line
  • Search by Year
  • Search by Collection

CREDITS

  • Emily Ezust
  • Contributors (1,114)
  • Contact Information
  • Bibliography

  • Copyright Statement
  • Privacy Policy

Follow us on Facebook

by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)
Translation by Andrea Maffei (1798 - 1885)

You are three men of sin, whom Destiny
Language: English 
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 such-like valour men hang and drown
Their proper selves. You fools! I and my fellows
Are ministers of fate: the elements
Of whom your swords are temper'd may as well
Wound the loud winds, or with bemock'd-at stabs
Kill the still-closing waters, as diminish
One dowle 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. But, remember --
For that's my business to you, -- that you three
From Milan did supplant good Prospero;
Expos'd unto the sea, which hath requit it,
Him, and his innocent child: for which foul deed
The powers, delaying, not forgetting, have
Incens'd the seas and shores, yea, all the creatures,
Against your peace. Thee of thy son, Alonso,
They have bereft; and do pronounce, by me
Lingering 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-sorrow,
And a clear life ensuing.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in The Tempest, Act III, Scene 3 (Ariel) [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

  • by Frank Martin (1890 - 1974), "You are three men of sin, whom Destiny", 1950, published 1968, first performed 1953 [ SATB chorus a cappella ], from Songs of Ariel from Shakespeare's Tempest, no. 4 [sung text not yet checked]

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

  • FRE French (Français) (François-Victor Hugo) , no title
  • ITA Italian (Italiano) (Andrea Maffei) , no title, first published 1869


Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website: 2008-12-10
Line count: 30
Word count: 237

Una ribalda
Language: Italian (Italiano)  after the English 
Una ribalda
Triade voi siete, e quel destin che regge
Questa umil terra e quanto in sè raguna
Fece voi ributtar su questa piaggia,
Deserta dalla ingorda onda del mare,
Che mai sazio non è, come non degni
Dell’umano consorzio. ― Io v’ho confusi!
(vedendo Alonso, Sebastiano e gli altri metter mano alle spade)
Una temerità pari alla vostra
Mena l’uomo al capestro o in mar lo affoga.
Noi del Destino (i miei compagni ed io)
Ministri siamo. O stolti! il brando vostro,
Di terrene sustanze, un’orma forse
Stampar nella sonante aria potria?
Ferir forse la voce? Impiagar l’onda
Che per propria virtù, divisa a pena, 
Si ricongiunge? Or ben, così potreste
Spiccar dall’ali mie solo una piuma.
E manco invulnerabili non sono
Gli Spirti a me compagni. E dato ancora
Che giugneste a ferirci, enorme peso
Vi sarieno le spade, e vi morrebbe
Nell’alzarle il vigor. ― Vi risovvenga
(Questo è il messaggio mio) che da Milano
Voi tre, con arti scellerate, il buono
Prospero allontanaste, ed in balìa
Lo metteste del mar colla innocente
Sua pargoletta; e il mar con pena eguale
Di quel misfatto vi punì. Le arcane
Posse del ciel che indugiano talvolta,
Ma non obbliano la vendetta, han mari
Contro voi sollevato, han rive, han tutto
L’animato universo. Il figlio, Alonso,
Già te l’hanno rapito, ed annunciando
Ti van or col mio labbro una ruina
Lenta, incessante, e peggior d’ogni morte,
Che te di passo in passo e quanto è tuo
Distruggerà. Voi tre dall’ira eterna,
A scoppiar già vicina in questo ignoto
Lido sui capi vostri, altro non salva
Che pentimento del misfatto e pura
Vita nell’avvenir.

About the headline (FAQ)

Text Authorship:

  • by Andrea Maffei (1798 - 1885), no title, first published 1869 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Based on:

  • a text in English by William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), no title, appears in The Tempest, Act III, Scene 3 (Ariel)
    • Go to the text page.

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

    [ None yet in the database ]


Researcher for this page: Andrew Schneider [Guest Editor]

This text was added to the website: 2019-05-09
Line count: 42
Word count: 273

Gentle Reminder

This website began in 1995 as a personal project by Emily Ezust, who has been working on it full-time without a salary since 2008. Our research has never had any government or institutional funding, so if you found the information here useful, please consider making a donation. Your help is greatly appreciated!
–Emily Ezust, Founder

Donate

We use cookies for internal analytics and to earn much-needed advertising revenue. (Did you know you can help support us by turning off ad-blockers?) To learn more, see our Privacy Policy. To learn how to opt out of cookies, please visit this site.

I acknowledge the use of cookies

Contact
Copyright
Privacy

Copyright © 2025 The LiederNet Archive

Site redesign by Shawn Thuris