the rape of lucrece-第5章
按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!
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;