The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Part 168

NOTE: _200 all cause 1824; all things transcr.

CYPRIAN: Do you regret My victory?

DAEMON: Who but regrets a check In rivalry of wit? I could reply And urge new difficulties, but will now Depart, for I hear steps of men approaching, _205 And it is time that I should now pursue My journey to the city.

CYPRIAN: Go in peace!

DAEMON: Remain in peace!--Since thus it profits him To study, I will wrap his senses up In sweet oblivion of all thought but of _210 A piece of excellent beauty; and, as I Have power given me to wage enmity Against Justina's soul, I will extract From one effect two vengeances.

[ASIDE AND EXIT.]

NOTE: _214 Stage direction So transcr.; Exit 1824.

CYPRIAN: I never Met a more learned person. Let me now _215 Revolve this doubt again with careful mind.

[HE READS.]

[FLORO AND LELIO ENTER.]

LELIO: Here stop. These toppling rocks and tangled boughs, Impenetrable by the noonday beam, Shall be sole witnesses of what we--

FLORO: Draw!

If there were words, here is the place for deeds. _220

LELIO: Thou needest not instruct me; well I know That in the field, the silent tongue of steel Speaks thus,--

[THEY FIGHT.]

CYPRIAN: Ha! what is this? Lelio,--Floro, Be it enough that Cyprian stands between you, Although unarmed.

LELIO: Whence comest thou, to stand _225 Between me and my vengeance?

FLORO: From what rocks And desert cells?

[ENTER MOSCON AND CLARIN.]

MOSCON: Run! run! for where we left My master. I now hear the clash of swords.

NOTES: _228 I now hear transcr.; we hear 1824.

_227-_229 lines of otherwise arranged, 1824.

CLARIN: I never run to approach things of this sort But only to avoid them. Sir! Cyprian! sir! _230

CYPRIAN: Be silent, fellows! What! two friends who are In blood and fame the eyes and hope of Antioch, One of the n.o.ble race of the Colalti, The other son o' the Governor, adventure And cast away, on some slight cause no doubt, _235 Two lives, the honour of their country?

NOTE: _233 race transcr.; men 1824. Colalti]Colatti 1824.

LELIO: Cyprian!

Although my high respect towards your person Holds now my sword suspended, thou canst not Restore it to the slumber of the scabbard: Thou knowest more of science than the duel; _240 For when two men of honour take the field, No counsel nor respect can make them friends But one must die in the dispute.

NOTE: _239 of the transcr.; of its 1824.

_242 No counsel nor 1839, 1st edition; No [...] or 1824; No reasoning or transcr.

_243 dispute transcr. pursuit 1824.

FLORO: I pray That you depart hence with your people, and Leave us to finish what we have begun _245 Without advantage.--

CYPRIAN: Though you may imagine That I know little of the laws of duel, Which vanity and valour inst.i.tuted, You are in error. By my birth I am Held no less than yourselves to know the limits _250 Of honour and of infamy, nor has study Quenched the free spirit which first ordered them; And thus to me, as one well experienced In the false quicksands of the sea of honour, You may refer the merits of the case; _255 And if I should perceive in your relation That either has the right to satisfaction From the other, I give you my word of honour To leave you.

NOTE: _253 well omit, cj. Forman.

LELIO: Under this condition then I will relate the cause, and you will cede _260 And must confess the impossibility Of compromise; for the same lady is Beloved by Floro and myself.

FLORO: It seems Much to me that the light of day should look Upon that idol of my heart--but he-- _265 Leave us to fight, according to thy word.

CYPRIAN: Permit one question further: is the lady Impossible to hope or not?

LELIO: She is So excellent, that if the light of day Should excite Floro's jealousy, it were _270 Without just cause, for even the light of day Trembles to gaze on her.

CYPRIAN: Would you for your Part, marry her?

FLORO: Such is my confidence.

CYPRIAN: And you?

LELIO: Oh! would that I could lift my hope So high, for though she is extremely poor, _275 Her virtue is her dowry.

CYPRIAN: And if you both Would marry her, is it not weak and vain, Culpable and unworthy, thus beforehand To slur her honour? What would the world say If one should slay the other, and if she _280 Should afterwards espouse the murderer?

[THE RIVALS AGREE TO REFER THEIR QUARREL TO CYPRIAN; WHO IN CONSEQUENCE VISITS JUSTINA, AND BECOMES ENAMOURED OF HER; SHE DISDAINS HIM, AND HE RETIRES TO A SOLITARY SEA-Sh.o.r.e.]

SCENE 2.

CYPRIAN: O memory! permit it not That the tyrant of my thought Be another soul that still Holds dominion o'er the will, That would refuse, but can no more, _5 To bend, to tremble, and adore.

Vain idolatry!--I saw, And gazing, became blind with error; Weak ambition, which the awe Of her presence bound to terror! _10 So beautiful she was--and I, Between my love and jealousy, Am so convulsed with hope and fear, Unworthy as it may appear;-- So bitter is the life I live, _15 That, hear me, h.e.l.l! I now would give To thy most detested spirit My soul, for ever to inherit, To suffer punishment and pine, So this woman may be mine. _20 Hear'st thou, h.e.l.l! dost thou reject it?

My soul is offered!

DAEMON (UNSEEN): I accept it.

[TEMPEST, WITH THUNDER AND LIGHTNING.]

CYPRIAN: What is this? ye heavens for ever pure, At once intensely radiant and obscure!

Athwart the aethereal halls _25 The lightning's arrow and the thunder-b.a.l.l.s The day affright, As from the horizon round, Burst with earthquake sound, In mighty torrents the electric fountains;-- _30 Clouds quench the sun, and thunder-smoke Strangles the air, and fire eclipses Heaven.

Philosophy, thou canst not even Compel their causes underneath thy yoke: From yonder clouds even to the waves below _35 The fragments of a single ruin choke Imagination's flight; For, on flakes of surge, like feathers light, The ashes of the desolation, cast Upon the gloomy blast, _40 Tell of the footsteps of the storm; And nearer, see, the melancholy form Of a great ship, the outcast of the sea, Drives miserably!

And it must fly the pity of the port, _45 Or perish, and its last and sole resort Is its own raging enemy.

The terror of the thrilling cry Was a fatal prophecy Of coming death, who hovers now _50 Upon that shattered prow, That they who die not may be dying still.

And not alone the insane elements Are populous with wild portents, But that sad ship is as a miracle _55 Of sudden ruin, for it drives so fast It seems as if it had arrayed its form With the headlong storm.

It strikes--I almost feel the shock,-- It stumbles on a jagged rock,-- _60 Sparkles of blood on the white foam are cast.