695

its paralyzing hand upon him, then

I would with kindness all my wrongs repay,
until the penitent should weep, and say
how injured and how faithful I had been.

PYLADES-IPHIGENIA

P. WHEREFORE, all at once,

doth anxious thought o'ercloud thy brow serene? I. Forgive me! as light clouds athwart the sun, so cares and fears float darkling o'er my soul. P. O, banish fear! with danger it hath formed a close alliance, they are constant friends. I. It is an honest scruple, which forbids

that I should cunningly deceive the king,
and plunder him who was my second sire.

P. Him thou dost fly, who would have slain thy brother.
I. To me, at least, he hath been ever kind.

P. What Fate commands is not ingratitude.
I. Alas! it still remains ingratitude;

necessity alone can justify it.

P. Thee, before gods and men it justifies.
I. But my own heart is still unsatisfied.
P. Scruples too rigid are a cloak for pride.

I. I cannot argue, I can only feel.

P. Conscious of right, thou should'st respect thyself.

696

YE

A. SWANWICK from Goethe

PROSPERO

E elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and
groves;

and ye, that on the sands with printless foot
do chase the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him
when he comes back; you demi-puppets, that
by moon-shine do the green-sour ringlets make,
whereof the ewe not bites; and you, whose pastime
is to make midnight mushrooms, that rejoice
to hear the solemn curfew; by whose aid-
weak masters though ye be-I have bedimm'd
the noontide sun, call'd forth the mutinous winds,
and 'twixt the green sea and the azur'd vault
set roaring war: to the dread rattling thunder

have I given fire, and rifted Jove's stout oak
with his own bolt: the strong-bas'd promontory
have I made shake; and by the spurs pluck'd up
the pine and cedar: graves at my command

have wak'd their sleepers, op'd and let 'em forth,
by my so potent art.

W. SHAKESPEARE

697 RICHARD III PLEADING His love for the widow

R.
E.

OF PRINCE EDWARD Before eliZABETH, QUEEN OF
KING EDWARD IV

I

NFER fair England's peace by this alliance. Which she shall purchase with still-lasting war. R. Tell her, the king, that may command, entreats. E. That at her hands which the king's King forbids. R. Say, she shall be a high and mighty queen. E. To wail the title, as her mother doth.

R. Say, I will love her everlastingly.

E. But how long shall that title 'ever' last?
R. Sweetly in force unto her fair life's end.
E. But how long fairly shall her sweet life last?
R. As long as heaven and nature lengthens it.
E. As long as hell and Richard likes of it.
R. Say, I, her sovereign, am her subject low.
E. But she, your subject, loathes such sovereignty.
R. Be eloquent in my behalf to her.

E. An honest tale speeds best being plainly told.
R. Then plainly to her tell my loving tale.
E. Plain and not honest is too harsh a style.
698 R. As I intend to prosper, and repent!
so thrive I in my dangerous attempt

of hostile arms! myself myself confound!
Heaven and fortune bar me happy hours!
day, yield me not thy light; nor, night, thy rest!
be opposite all planets of good luck

to my proceeding!-if, with pure heart's love,
immaculate devotion, holy thoughts,

I tender not thy beauteous princely daughter!
In her consists my happiness, and thine;
without her, follows to myself and thee,
herself, the land, and many a Christian soul,
death, desolation, ruin, and decay :

it cannot be avoided but by this;

699

700

it will not be avoided but by this.
Therefore, dear mother, (I must call you so),
be the attorney of my love to her,

plead what I will be, not what I have been;
not my deserts, but what I will deserve:
urge the necessity and state of times,
and be not peevish found in great designs.

W. SHAKESPEARE

OT by the justice that my father spurned,

NOT

not for the thousands whom my father slew, altars unfed, and temples overturned,

cold hearts and thankless tongues, where thanks were

due;

fell this late voice from lips that cannot lie,

stern sentence of the powers of Destiny.

I will unfold my sentence and my crime;
my crime that, rapt in reverential awe,
I sat obedient, in the fiery prime

of youth, self-governed, at the feet of Law:
ennobling this dull pomp, the life of kings,
by contemplation of diviner things.

My father loved injustice and lived long:

crowned with grey hairs he died, and full of sway: I loved the good he scorned and hated wrong;

the gods declare my recompence to-day.

I looked for life more lasting, rule more high;
and when six years are measured, lo! I die.

LOVE

M OST sacred fyre, that burnest mightily

in living brests, ykindled first above

emongst th' eternall spheres and lamping sky,
and thence pourd into men, which men call Love!
Not that same which doth base affections move

in brutish mindes, and filthy lust inflame,

but that sweete fit that doth true beautie love,

and choseth vertue for his dearest Dame,

whence spring all noble deedes and never-dying fame;

Well did Antiquity a god thee deeme,

that over mortall mindes hast so great might,
to order them as best to thee doth seeme,

and all their actions to direct aright;

701

the fatall purpose of divine foresight

thou doest effect in destinéd descents,
through deepe impression of thy secret might,
and stirredst up th' heroës high intents,

which the late world admyres for wondrous moniments.

BRUTUS-PORTIA

as are the

E. SPENSER

Br. You are to me as are the ruddy drops
OU are my true and honourable wife;

that visit my sad heart.

Por. If this were true, then should I know this secret. I grant I am a woman; but withal

Br.

a woman that Lord Brutus took to wife:

I grant, I am a woman; but, withal,

a woman well-reputed ;--Cato's daughter.
Think you I am no stronger than my sex,
being so father'd and so husbanded?

Tell me your counsels, I will not disclose 'em :
I have made strong proof of my constancy,
giving myself a voluntary wound

here, in the thigh: Can I bear that with patience,
and not my husband's secrets?

render me worthy of this
Hark! hark! one knocks.
and by and by thy bosom
the secrets of my heart.

O ye gods,
noble wife!

Portia, go in awhile;
shall partake

W. SHAKESPEARE

702

THE FEARFULNESS OF GUILT

Tam.

TAMYRA-D'AMBOIS

BEFORE I was secure 'gainst death and hell;

but now am subject to the heartless fear

of every shadow, and of every breath,

and would change firmness with an aspen-leaf;

so confident a spotless conscience is;

so weak a guilty: oh, the dangerous siege
sin lays about us! and the tyranny

he exercises when he hath expugn'd.
Like to the horror of a winter's thunder,

mix'd with a gushing storm, that suffer nothing

to stir abroad on earth, but their own rages,
is sin, when it hath gathered head above us;
no roof, no shelter, can secure us so;

but he will drown our cheeks in fear or woe. D'Amb. Sin is a coward, madam, and insults

703

704

but on our weakness, in his truest valour;
and so our ignorance tames us, that we let
his shadows fright us.

VOLUMNIA TO CORIOLANUS

AY, go not from us thus.

NA

G. CHAPMAN

If it were so, that our request did tend

to save the Romans, thereby to destroy

the Volsces whom you serve, you might condemn us, as poisonous of your honour: no; our suit

is, that you reconcile them: while the Volsces

may say, This mercy have we show'd; the Romans, This we received; and each in either side

give the all-hail to thee and cry, Be blessed

for making up this peace! Thou know'st, great son,
the end of war's uncertain; but this certain,
that, if thou conquer Rome, the benefit
which thou shalt thereby reap is such a name,
whose repetition will be dogg'd with curses:
whose chronicle thus writ,-The man was noble,
but with his last attempt he wip'd it out;
destroy'd his country; and his name remains
to th' ensuing age abhorred.

Speak to me, son:
thou hast affected the fine strains of honour,
to imitate the graces of the gods;

to tear with thunder the wide cheeks o'the air,
and yet to charge thy sulphur with a bolt

that should but rive an oak. Why dost not speak?
think'st thou it honourable for a noble man
still to remember wrongs?-Daughter, speak you:
he cares not for your weeping.-Speak thou, boy:
perhaps, thy childishness will move him more
than can our reasons.-There is no man in the world
more bound to his mother; yet here he lets me prate
like one i'the stocks.-Thou hast never in thy life
show'd thy dear mother any courtesy;