PROSPERO                                         Welcome, my friends all;

[aside to Sebastian and Antonio] But you, my brace of lords, were I so minded,

I here could pluck his highness’ frown upon you

And justify you traitors! At this time

I will tell no tales.

SEBASTIAN                                        The devil speaks in him!

PROSPERO                                                                                         No.

For you, most wicked sir, whom to call brother

Would even infect my mouth, I do forgive

Thy rankest fault—all of them; and require

My dukedom of thee, which perforce I know

Thou must restore. (5.1.125-134)

Prospero is completely in control, managing the whole encounter entirely on his own terms. Having greeted the King and Gonzalo, he turns to the rest of the company: Welcome, my friends all. But you, my brace of lords: I know what you’ve been up to. And I could drop you in it at any time I choose, tell tales, bring down the wrath of the King upon you, for the treason you’ve been plotting. I can prove it. Brace is insulting, especially in the way that it undermines the courtly, noble lords; it means pair, but is a term that would be applied to dogs (which they have been, although not loyal) and especially to game once it’s been caught and killed: a brace of pheasants. But for the moment I’ll keep quiet – the ultimate power, the ultimate threat hanging over them. Sebastian continues the nastier and more defiant of the two: The devil speaks in him!(He’s mad, he’s lying, don’t listen to a word he says; the default response to accusation of the liar, confronted inescapably with the truth.) No, says Prospero, swatting him away somewhat grandly; not bothering with you, mean little man. But Antonio is tellingly silent (he will speak only one more line in the play, and not to Prospero); he knows he’s cornered, found out, and that the game is up (not least because, in a few words, the King has already deprived him of the dukedom of Milan and returned it to Prospero). Prospero addresses his brother with a fine combination of anger, reproach, bitterness, and magnanimity; his brother’s betrayal is the thing which has hurt him most, we know. He does not call him by name. And even to call him brother would be to infect his mouth. Antonio is, icily, most wicked sir; no brother of mine, in effect. But Prospero forgives him all the terrible things he has done, and it’s important here that there’s a reminder that Antonio’s crimes have been multiple: the usurpation, yes, and its accompanying cruelties, which extended to imperilling and depriving Miranda as much as her father, as well as Antonio’s part in the more recent plot to murder the king. So, give me back my dukedom, he says – but I’m only making this request as a formality, because you have no choice. Game’s up. Time’s up.