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第5章

the rape of lucrece-第5章

小说: the rape of lucrece 字数: 每页4000字

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        Nor aught obeys but his foul appetite。



      But when a black…faced cloud the world doth threat;

      In his dim mist th' aspiring mountains hiding;

      From earth's dark womb some gentle gust doth get;

      Which blows these pitchy vapours from their biding;

      Hind'ring their present fall by this dividing;

        So his unhallowed haste her words delays;

        And moody Pluto winks while Orpheus plays。



      Yet; foul night…waking cat; he doth but dally;

      While in his hold…fast foot the weak mouse panteth;

      Her sad behaviour feeds his vulture folly;

      A swallowing gulf that even in plenty wanteth;

      His ear her prayers admits; but his heart granteth

        No penetrable entrance to her plaining。

        〃Tears harden lust; though marble wear with raining。



      Her pity…pleading eyes are sadly fixed

      In the remorseless wrinkles of his face;

      Her modest eloquence with sighs is mixed;

      Which to her oratory adds more grace。

      She puts the period often from his place;

        And midst the sentence so her accent breaks

        That twice she doth begin ere once she speaks。



      She conjures him by high almighty Jove;

      By knighthood; gentry; and sweet friendship's oath;

      By her untimely tears; her husband's love;

      By holy human law and common troth;

      By heaven and earth; and all the power of both;

        That to his borrowed bed he make retire;

        And stoop to honour; not to foul desire。



      Quoth she: 'Reward not hospitality

      With such black payment as thou hast pretended;

      Mud not the fountain that gave drink to thee;

      Mar not the thing that cannot be amended;

      End thy ill aim before thy shoot be ended。

        He is no woodman that doth bend his bow

        To strike a poor unseasonable doe。



      'My husband is thy friend…for his sake spare me;

      Thyself art mighty…for thine own sake leave me;

      Myself a weakling…do not then ensnare me;

      Thou look'st not like deceit…do not deceive me。

      My sighs like whirlwinds labour hence to heave thee。

        If ever man were moved with woman's moans;

        Be moved with my tears; my sighs; my groans;



      'All which together; like a troubled ocean;

      Beat at thy rocky and wrack…threat'ning heart;

      To soften it with their continual motion;

      For stones dissolved to water do convert。

      O; if no harder than a stone thou art;

        Melt at my tears; and be compassionate!

        Soft pity enters at an iron gate。



      'In Tarquin's likeness I did entertain thee;

      Hast thou put on his shape to do him shame?

      To all the host of heaven I complain me

      Thou wrong'st his honour; wound'st his princely name。

      Thou art not what thou seem'st; and if the same;

        Thou seem'st not what thou art; a god; a king;

        For kings; like gods should govern every thing。



      'How will thy shame be seeded in thine age;

      When thus thy vices bud before thy spring?

      If in thy hope thou dar'st do such outrage;

      What dar'st thou not when once thou art a king?

      O; be rememb'red; no outrageous thing

        From vassal actors can be wiped away;

        Then kings' misdeeds cannot be hid in clay。



      'This deed will make thee only loved for fear;

      But happy monarchs still are feared for love;

      With foul offenders thou perforce must bear;

      When they in thee the like offences prove。

      If but for fear of this; thy will remove;

        For princes are the glass; the school; the book;

        Where subjects' eyes do learn; do read; do look。



      'And wilt thou be the school where Lust shall learn?

      Must he in thee read lectures of such shame?

      Wilt thou be glass wherein it shall discern

      Authority for sin; warrant for blame;

      To privilege dishonour in thy name?

        Thou back'st reproach against long…living laud;

        And mak'st fair; reputation but a bawd。



      'Hast thou command? by him that gave it thee;

      From a pure heart command thy rebel will;

      Draw not thy sword to guard iniquity;

      For it was lent thee all that brood to kill。

      Thy princely office how canst thou fulfill;

        When patterned by thy fault foul sin may say

        He learned to sin; and thou didst teach the way?



      'Think but how vile a spectacle it were

      To view thy present trespass in another。

      Men's faults do seldom to themselves appear;

      Their own transgressions partially they smother;

      This guilt would seem death…worthy in thy brother。

        O; how are they wrapped in with infamies

        That from their own misdeeds askance their eyes!



      'To thee; to thee; my heaved…up hands; appeal;

      Not to seducing lust; thy rash relier;

      I sue for exiled majesty's repeal;

      Let him return; and flatt'ring thoughts retire。

      His true respect will prison false desire;

        And wipe the dim mist from thy doting eyne;

        That thou shalt see thy state and pity mine。'



      'Have done; quoth he; 'my uncontrolled tide

      Turns not; but swells the higher by this let。

      Small lights are soon blown out; huge fires abide;

      And with the wind in greater fury fret。

      The petty streams that pay a daily debt

        To their salt sovereign; with their fresh falls' haste

        Add to his flow; but alter not his taste。'



      'Thou art'; quoth she; 'a sea; a sovereign king;

      And; lo; there falls into thy boundless flood

      Black lust; dishonour; shame; misgoverning;

      Who seek to stain the ocean of thy blood。

      If all these petty ills shall change thy good;

        Thy sea within a puddle's womb is hearsed;

        And not the puddle in thy sea dispersed。



      'So shall these slaves be king; and thou their slave;

      Thou nobly base; they basely dignified;

      Thou their fair life; and they thy fouler grave;

      Thou loathed in their shame; they in thy pride。

      The lesser thing should not the greater hide;

        The cedar stoops not to the base shrub's foot;

        But low shrubs wither at the cedar's root。



      'So let thy thoughts; low vassals to thy state…

      〃No more;' quoth he; 'by heaven; I will not hear thee。

      Yield to my love; if not; enforced hate;

      Instead of love's coy touch; shall rudely tear thee;

      That done; despitefully I mean to bear thee

        Unto the base bed of some rescal groom;

        To be thy partner in this shameful doom。'



      This said; he sets his foot upon the light;

      For light and lust are deadly enemies;

      Shame folded up in blind concealing night;

      When most unseen; then most doth tyrannize。

      The wolf hath seized his prey; the poor lamb cries;

        Till with her own white fleece her voice controlled

        Entombs her outcry in her lips' sweet fold;



      For with the nightly linen that she wears

      He pens her piteous clamours in her head;

      Cooling his hot face in the chastest tears

      That ever modest eyes with sorrow shed。

      O; that prone lust should stain so pure a bed!

        The spots whereof could weeping purify;

        Her tears should drop on them perpetually。



      But she hath lost a dearer thing than life;

      And he hath won what he would lose again。

      This forced league doth force a further strife;

      This momentary joy breeds months of pain;

      This hot desire converts to cold disdain;

        Pure Chastity is rifled of her store;

        And Lust; the thief; far poorer than before。



      Look as the full…fed hound or gorged hawk;

      Unapt for tender smell or speedy flight;

      Make slow pursuit; or altogether balk

      The prey wherein by nature they delight;

      

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