Laurel · Percy Bysshe Shelley · The Complete Poetical Works, Volume I

Act 5

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) · 1813–1820

iambic pentameter · unrhymed · 567 lines · from The Complete Poetical Works, Volume I

SCENE 5.1:

GIACOMO:Do evil deeds thus quickly come to end?O, that the vain remorse which must chastiseCrimes done, had but as loud a voice to warnAs its keen sting is mortal to avenge!O, that the hour when present had cast offThe mantle of its mystery, and shownThe ghastly form with which it now returnsWhen its scared game is roused, cheering the houndsOf conscience to their prey! Alas! Alas!It was a wicked thought, a piteous deed,To kill an old and hoary-headed father.

ORSINO:It has turned out unluckily, in truth.

GIACOMO:To violate the sacred doors of sleep;To cheat kind Nature of the placid deathWhich she prepares for overwearied age;To drag from Heaven an unrepentant soulWhich might have quenched in reconciling prayersA life of burning crimes...

ORSINO:You cannot sayI urged you to the deed.

GIACOMO:O, had I neverFound in thy smooth and ready countenanceThe mirror of my darkest thoughts; hadst thouNever with hints and questions made me lookUpon the monster of my thought, untilIt grew familiar to desire...

ORSINO:'Tis thusMen cast the blame of their unprosperous actsUpon the abettors of their own resolve;Or anything but their weak, guilty selves.And yet, confess the truth, it is the perilIn which you stand that gives you this pale sicknessOf penitence; confess 'tis fear disguisedFrom its own shame that takes the mantle nowOf thin remorse. What if we yet were safe?

GIACOMO:How can that be? Already Beatrice,Lucretia and the murderer are in prison.I doubt not officers are, whilst we speak,Sent to arrest us.

ORSINO:I have all preparedFor instant flight. We can escape even now,So we take fleet occasion by the hair.

GIACOMO:Rather expire in tortures, as I may.What! will you cast by self-accusing flightAssured conviction upon Beatrice?She, who alone in this unnatural work,Stands like God's angel ministered uponBy fiends; avenging such a nameless wrongAs turns black parricide to piety;Whilst we for basest ends...I fear, Orsino,While I consider all your words and looks,Comparing them with your proposal now,That you must be a villain. For what endCould you engage in such a perilous crime,Training me on with hints, and signs, and smiles,Even to this gulf? Thou art no liar? No,Thou art a lie! Traitor and murderer!Coward and slave! But no, defend thyself;Let the sword speak what the indignant tongueDisdains to brand thee with.

ORSINO:Put up your weapon.Is it the desperation of your fearMakes you thus rash and sudden with a friend,Now ruined for your sake? If honest angerHave moved you, know, that what I just proposedWas but to try you. As for me, I think,Thankless affection led me to this point,From which, if my firm temper could repent,I cannot now recede. Even whilst we speakThe ministers of justice wait below:They grant me these brief moments. Now if youHave any word of melancholy comfortTo speak to your pale wife, 'twere best to passOut at the postern, and avoid them so.

GIACOMO:O, generous friend! How canst thou pardon me?Would that my life could purchase thine!

ORSINO:That wishNow comes a day too late. Haste; fare thee well!Hear'st thou not steps along the corridor?I'm sorry for it; but the guards are waitingAt his own gate, and such was my contrivanceThat I might rid me both of him and them.I thought to act a solemn comedyUpon the painted scene of this new world,And to attain my own peculiar endsBy some such plot of mingled good and illAs others weave; but there arose a PowerWhich grasped and snapped the threads of my deviceAnd turned it to a net of ruin...Ha!Is that my name I hear proclaimed abroad?But I will pass, wrapped in a vile disguise;Rags on my back, and a false innocenceUpon my face, through the misdeeming crowdWhich judges by what seems. 'Tis easy thenFor a new name and for a country new,And a new life, fashioned on old desires,To change the honours of abandoned Rome.And these must be the masks of that within,Which must remain unaltered...Oh, I fearThat what is past will never let me rest!Why, when none else is conscious, but myself,Of my misdeeds, should my own heart's contemptTrouble me? Have I not the power to flyMy own reproaches? Shall I be the slaveOf...what? A word? which those of this false worldEmploy against each other, not themselves;As men wear daggers not for self-offence.But if I am mistaken, where shall IFind the disguise to hide me from myself,As now I skulk from every other eye?

SCENE 5.2:

FIRST JUDGE:Accused, do you persist in your denial?I ask you, are you innocent, or guilty?I demand who were the participatorsIn your offence? Speak truth, and the whole truth.

MARZIO:My God! I did not kill him; I know nothing;Olimpio sold the robe to me from whichYou would infer my guilt.

Away with him!

FIRST JUDGE:Dare you, with lips yet white from the rack's kissSpeak false? Is it so soft a questioner,That you would bandy lover's talk with itTill it wind out your life and soul? Away!

MARZIO:Spare me! O, spare! I will confess.

FIRST JUDGE:Then speak.

MARZIO:I strangled him in his sleep.

FIRST JUDGE:Who urged you to it?

MARZIO:His own son Giacomo, and the young prelateOrsino sent me to Petrella; thereThe ladies Beatrice and LucretiaTempted me with a thousand crowns, and IAnd my companion forthwith murdered him.Now let me die.

FIRST JUDGE:This sounds as bad as truth. Guards, there,Lead forth the prisoner!Look upon this man;When did you see him last?

BEATRICE:We never saw him.

MARZIO:You know me too well, Lady Beatrice.

BEATRICE:I know thee! How? where? when?

MARZIO:You know 'twas IWhom you did urge with menaces and bribesTo kill your father. When the thing was doneYou clothed me in a robe of woven goldAnd bade me thrive: how I have thriven, you see.You, my Lord Giacomo, Lady Lucretia,You know that what I speak is true.Oh, dartThe terrible resentment of those eyesOn the dead earth! Turn them away from me!They wound: 'twas torture forced the truth. My Lords,Having said this let me be led to death.

BEATRICE:Poor wretch, I pity thee: yet stay awhile.

CAMILLO:Guards, lead him not away.

BEATRICE:Cardinal Camillo,You have a good repute for gentlenessAnd wisdom: can it be that you sit hereTo countenance a wicked farce like this?When some obscure and trembling slave is draggedFrom sufferings which might shake the sternest heartAnd bade to answer, not as he believes,But as those may suspect or do desireWhose questions thence suggest their own reply:And that in peril of such hideous tormentsAs merciful God spares even the damned. Speak nowThe thing you surely know, which is that you,If your fine frame were stretched upon that wheel,And you were told: 'Confess that you did poisonYour little nephew; that fair blue-eyed childWho was the lodestar of your life:'--and thoughAll see, since his most swift and piteous death,That day and night, and heaven and earth, and time,And all the things hoped for or done thereinAre changed to you, through your exceeding grief,Yet you would say, 'I confess anything:'And beg from your tormentors, like that slave,The refuge of dishonourable death.I pray thee, Cardinal, that thou assertMy innocence.

What shall we think, my Lords?Shame on these tears! I thought the heart was frozenWhich is their fountain. I would pledge my soulThat she is guiltless.

JUDGE:Yet she must be tortured.

CAMILLO:I would as soon have tortured mine own nephew(If he now lived he would be just her age;His hair, too, was her colour, and his eyesLike hers in shape, but blue and not so deep)As that most perfect image of God's loveThat ever came sorrowing upon the earth.She is as pure as speechless infancy!

JUDGE:Well, be her purity on your head, my Lord,If you forbid the rack. His HolinessEnjoined us to pursue this monstrous crimeBy the severest forms of law; nay evenTo stretch a point against the criminals.The prisoners stand accused of parricideUpon such evidence as justifiesTorture.

BEATRICE:What evidence? This man's?

JUDGE:Even so.

Come near. And who art thou thus chosen forthOut of the multitude of living menTo kill the innocent?

MARZIO:I am Marzio,Thy father's vassal.

BEATRICE:Fix thine eyes on mine;Answer to what I ask.I prithee markHis countenance: unlike bold calumnyWhich sometimes dares not speak the thing it looks,He dares not look the thing he speaks, but bendsHis gaze on the blind earth.What! wilt thou sayThat I did murder my own father?

MARZIO:Oh!Spare me! My brain swims round...I cannot speak...It was that horrid torture forced the truth.Take me away! Let her not look on me!I am a guilty miserable wretch;I have said all I know; now, let me die!

BEATRICE:My Lords, if by my nature I had beenSo stern, as to have planned the crime alleged,Which your suspicions dictate to this slave,And the rack makes him utter, do you thinkI should have left this two-edged instrumentOf my misdeed; this man, this bloody knifeWith my own name engraven on the heft,Lying unsheathed amid a world of foes,For my own death? That with such horrible needFor deepest silence, I should have neglectedSo trivial a precaution, as the makingHis tomb the keeper of a secret writtenOn a thief's memory? What is his poor life?What are a thousand lives? A parricideHad trampled them like dust; and, see, he lives!And thou...

MARZIO:Oh, spare me! Speak to me no more!That stern yet piteous look, those solemn tones,Wound worse than torture.I have told it all;For pity's sake lead me away to death.

CAMILLO:Guards, lead him nearer the Lady Beatrice;He shrinks from her regard like autumn's leafFrom the keen breath of the serenest north.

BEATRICE:O thou who tremblest on the giddy vergeOf life and death, pause ere thou answerest me;So mayst thou answer God with less dismay:What evil have we done thee? I, alas!Have lived but on this earth a few sad years,And so my lot was ordered, that a fatherFirst turned the moments of awakening lifeTo drops, each poisoning youth's sweet hope; and thenStabbed with one blow my everlasting soul;And my untainted fame; and even that peaceWhich sleeps within the core of the heart's heart;But the wound was not mortal; so my hateBecame the only worship I could liftTo our great father, who in pity and love,Armed thee, as thou dost say, to cut him off;And thus his wrong becomes my accusation;And art thou the accuser? If thou hopestMercy in heaven, show justice upon earth:Worse than a bloody hand is a hard heart.If thou hast done murders, made thy life's pathOver the trampled laws of God and man,Rush not before thy Judge, and say: 'My maker,I have done this and more; for there was oneWho was most pure and innocent on earth;And because she endured what never anyGuilty or innocent endured before:Because her wrongs could not be told, not thought;Because thy hand at length did rescue her;I with my words killed her and all her kin.'Think, I adjure you, what it is to slayThe reverence living in the minds of menTowards our ancient house, and stainless fame!Think what it is to strangle infant pity,Cradled in the belief of guileless looks,Till it become a crime to suffer. ThinkWhat 'tis to blot with infamy and bloodAll that which shows like innocence, and is,Hear me, great God! I swear, most innocent,So that the world lose all discriminationBetween the sly, fierce, wild regard of guilt,And that which now compels thee to replyTo what I ask: Am I, or am I notA parricide?

MARZIO:Thou art not!

JUDGE:What is this?

MARZIO:I here declare those whom I did accuseAre innocent. 'Tis I alone am guilty.

JUDGE:Drag him away to torments; let them beSubtle and long drawn out, to tear the foldsOf the heart's inmost cell. Unbind him notTill he confess.

MARZIO:Torture me as ye will:A keener pang has wrung a higher truthFrom my last breath. She is most innocent!Bloodhounds, not men, glut yourselves well with me;I will not give you that fine piece of natureTo rend and ruin.

CAMILLO:What say ye now, my Lords?

JUDGE:Let tortures strain the truth till it be whiteAs snow thrice sifted by the frozen wind.

CAMILLO:Yet stained with blood.

Know you this paper, Lady?

BEATRICE:Entrap me not with questions. Who stands hereAs my accuser? Ha! wilt thou be he,Who art my judge? Accuser, witness, judge,What, all in one? Here is Orsino's name;Where is Orsino? Let his eye meet mine.What means this scrawl? Alas! ye know not what,And therefore on the chance that it may beSome evil, will ye kill us?

OFFICER:Marzio's dead.

JUDGE:What did he say?

OFFICER:Nothing. As soon as weHad bound him on the wheel, he smiled on us,As one who baffles a deep adversary;And holding his breath, died.

JUDGE:There remains nothingBut to apply the question to those prisoners,Who yet remain stubborn.

CAMILLO:I overruleFurther proceedings, and in the behalfOf these most innocent and noble personsWill use my interest with the Holy Father.

JUDGE:Let the Pope's pleasure then be done. MeanwhileConduct these culprits each to separate cells;And be the engines ready; for this nightIf the Pope's resolution be as grave,Pious, and just as once, I'll wring the truthOut of those nerves and sinews, groan by groan.

SCENE 5.3:

BERNARDO:How gently slumber rests upon her face,Like the last thoughts of some day sweetly spentClosing in night and dreams, and so prolonged.After such torments as she bore last night,How light and soft her breathing comes. Ay me!Methinks that I shall never sleep again.But I must shake the heavenly dew of restFrom this sweet folded flower, thus...wake, awake!What, sister, canst thou sleep?

I was just dreamingThat we were all in Paradise. Thou knowestThis cell seems like a kind of ParadiseAfter our father's presence.

BERNARDO:Dear, dear sister,Would that thy dream were not a dream! O God!How shall I tell?

BEATRICE:What wouldst thou tell, sweet brother?

BERNARDO:Look not so calm and happy, or even whilstI stand considering what I have to sayMy heart will break.

BEATRICE:See now, thou mak'st me weep:How very friendless thou wouldst be, dear child,If I were dead. Say what thou hast to say.

BERNARDO:They have confessed; they could endure no moreThe tortures...

BEATRICE:Ha! What was there to confess?They must have told some weak and wicked lieTo flatter their tormentors. Have they saidThat they were guilty? O white innocence,That thou shouldst wear the mask of guilt to hideThine awful and serenest countenanceFrom those who know thee not!Ignoble hearts!For some brief spasms of pain, which are at leastAs mortal as the limbs through which they pass,Are centuries of high splendour laid in dust?And that eternal honour which should liveSunlike, above the reek of mortal fame,Changed to a mockery and a byword? What!Will you give up these bodies to be draggedAt horses' heels, so that our hair should sweepThe footsteps of the vain and senseless crowd,Who, that they may make our calamityTheir worship and their spectacle, will leaveThe churches and the theatres as voidAs their own hearts? Shall the light multitudeFling, at their choice, curses or faded pity,Sad funeral flowers to deck a living corpse,Upon us as we pass to pass away,And leave...what memory of our having been?Infamy, blood, terror, despair? O thou,Who wert a mother to the parentless,Kill not thy child! Let not her wrongs kill thee!Brother, lie down with me upon the rack,And let us each be silent as a corpse;It soon will be as soft as any grave.'Tis but the falsehood it can wring from fearMakes the rack cruel.

GIACOMO:They will tear the truthEven from thee at last, those cruel pains:For pity's sake say thou art guilty now.

LUCRETIA:Oh, speak the truth! Let us all quickly die;And after death, God is our judge, not they;He will have mercy on us.

BERNARDO:If indeedIt can be true, say so, dear sister mine;And then the Pope will surely pardon you,And all be well.

JUDGE:Confess, or I will warpYour limbs with such keen tortures...

BEATRICE:Tortures! TurnThe rack henceforth into a spinning-wheel!Torture your dog, that he may tell when lastHe lapped the blood his master shed...not me!My pangs are of the mind, and of the heart,And of the soul; ay, of the inmost soul,Which weeps within tears as of burning gallTo see, in this ill world where none are true,My kindred false to their deserted selves.And with considering all the wretched lifeWhich I have lived, and its now wretched end,And the small justice shown by Heaven and EarthTo me or mine; and what a tyrant thou art,And what slaves these; and what a world we make,The oppressor and the oppressed...such pangs compelMy answer. What is it thou wouldst with me?

JUDGE:Art thou not guilty of thy father's death?

BEATRICE:Or wilt thou rather tax high-judging GodThat He permitted such an act as thatWhich I have suffered, and which He beheld;Made it unutterable, and took from itAll refuge, all revenge, all consequence,But that which thou hast called my father's death?Which is or is not what men call a crime,Which either I have done, or have not done;Say what ye will. I shall deny no more.If ye desire it thus, thus let it be,And so an end of all. Now do your will;No other pains shall force another word.

JUDGE:She is convicted, but has not confessed.Be it enough. Until their final sentenceLet none have converse with them. You, young Lord,Linger not here!

BEATRICE:Oh, tear him not away!

JUDGE:Guards! do your duty.

Oh! would ye divideBody from soul?

OFFICER:That is the headsman's business.

CAMILLO:The Pope is stern; not to be moved or bent.He looked as calm and keen as is the engineWhich tortures and which kills, exempt itselfFrom aught that it inflicts; a marble form,A rite, a law, a custom: not a man.He frowned, as if to frown had been the trickOf his machinery, on the advocatesPresenting the defences, which he toreAnd threw behind, muttering with hoarse, harsh voice:'Which among ye defended their old fatherKilled in his sleep?' Then to another: 'ThouDost this in virtue of thy place; 'tis well.'He turned to me then, looking deprecation,And said these three words, coldly: 'They must die.'

BERNARDO:And yet you left him not?

CAMILLO:I urged him still;Pleading, as I could guess, the devilish wrongWhich prompted your unnatural parent's death.And he replied: 'Paolo Santa CroceMurdered his mother yester evening,And he is fled. Parricide grows so rifeThat soon, for some just cause no doubt, the youngWill strangle us all, dozing in our chairs.Authority, and power, and hoary hairAre grown crimes capital. You are my nephew,You come to ask their pardon; stay a moment;Here is their sentence; never see me moreTill, to the letter, it be all fulfilled.'

BERNARDO:O God, not so! I did believe indeedThat all you said was but sad preparationFor happy news. Oh, there are words and looksTo bend the sternest purpose! Once I knew them,Now I forget them at my dearest need.What think you if I seek him out, and batheHis feet and robe with hot and bitter tears?Importune him with prayers, vexing his brainWith my perpetual cries, until in rageHe strike me with his pastoral cross, and trampleUpon my prostrate head, so that my bloodMay stain the senseless dust on which he treads,And remorse waken mercy? I will do it!Oh, wait till I return!

CAMILLO:Alas, poor boy!A wreck-devoted seaman thus might prayTo the deaf sea.

Words in this poem 62

conscience n.: Knowledge of one's own thoughts or actions; consciousness. [F. conscience, fr. L. conscientia, fr. consciens, p.pr. of conscire to know, to be conscious; con- + scire to know. See Science.]
hoary a.: White or whitish."The hoary willows."
placid a.: Pleased; contented; unruffied; undisturbed; serene; peaceful; tranquil; quiet; gentle. [L. placidus, originally, pleasing, mild, from placere to please: cf. F. placide. See Please.]
nameless a.: Without a name; not having been given a name; as, a nameless star.
parricide n.: Properly, one who murders one's own father; in a wider sense, one who murders one's father or mother or any ancestor. [F., fr. L. parricida; pater father + caedere to kill. See Father, Homicide, and cf. Patricide.]
liar n.: A person who knowingly utters falsehood; one who lies. [OE. liere. See Lie to falsify.]
indignant a.: Affected with indignation; wrathful; passionate; irate; feeling wrath, as when a person is exasperated by unworthy or unjust treatment, by a mean action, or by a degrading accusation. [L. indignans, -antis, p. pr. of indignari to be indignant, disdain. See Indign.]
desperation n.: The act of despairing or becoming desperate; a giving up of hope. [L. desperatio: cf. OF. desperation.]
thankless a.: Not acknowledging favors; not expressing thankfulness; unthankful; ungrateful.
repent a.: Prostrate and rooting; -- said of stems. Gray. [L. repens, -entis, creeping, p. pr. of repere to creep.]
postern n.: Originally, a back door or gate; a private entrance; hence, any small door or gate. [OF. posterne, posterle, F. poterne, fr. L. posterula, fr. posterus coming after. See Posterior.]
avoid v. t.: To empty. Wyclif. [OF. esvuidier, es (L. ex) + vuidier, voidier, to empty. See Void, a.]
generous a.: Of honorable birth or origin; highborn. [F. généreux, fr. L. generous of noble birth, noble, excellent, magnanimous, fr. genus birth, race: cf. It. generoso. See 2d Gender.]
corridor n.: A gallery or passageway leading to several apartments of a house. [F., fr. Itt. corridpore, or Sp. corredor; prop., a runner, hence, a running or long line, a gallery, fr. L. currere to run. See Course.]
shall v. i.: To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
offence n.: The act of offending in any sense; esp., a crime or a sin, an affront or an injury. [F., fr. L. offensa. See Offend.]
infer v. t.: To bring on; to induce; to occasion. Harvey. [L. inferre to bring into, bring forward, occasion, infer; pref. in- in + ferre to carry, bring: cf. F. inférer. See 1 st Bear.]
questioner n.: One who asks questions; an inquirer.
bandy n.: A carriage or cart used in India, esp. one drawn by bullocks. [Telugu bandi.]
forthwith adv.: Immediately; without delay; directly.
bade: A form of the pat tense of Bid.
awhile adv.: For a while; for some time; for a short time. [Adj. a + while time, interval.]
damned a.: Sentenced to punishment in a future state; condemned; consigned to perdition.
nephew n.: A grandson or grandchild, or remoter lineal descendant. [OE. neveu, nevou, nevu, fr. F. neveu, OF. also, nevou, L. nepos; akin to AS. nefa, D. neef, G. neffe, OHG. nevo, Icel. nefi a kinsman, gr. nepat grandson, desce]
lodestar n.: A star that leads; a guiding star; esp., the polestar; the cynosure. [Load, lode + star. See Lode.]
guiltless a.: Free from guilt; innocent.
speechless a.: Destitute or deprived of the faculty of speech.
prithee interj.: A corruption of pray thee; as, I prithee; generally used without I.
horrid a.: Rough; rugged; bristling. [L. horridus. See Horror, and cf. Ordure.]
misdeed n.: An evil deed; a wicked action. [AS. misd. See Deed, n.]
heft n.: The act or effort of heaving [From Heave: cf. hefe weight. Cf. Haft.]
amid prep.: In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
trivial a.: Found anywhere; common. [L. trivialis, properly, that is in, or belongs to, the crossroads or public streets; hence, that may be found everywhere, common, fr. trivium a place where thre]
precaution n.: Previous caution or care; caution previously employed to prevent mischief or secure good; as, his life was saved by precaution. [F. précation, L. praecautio, fr. praecavere, praecautum, to guard against beforehand; prae before + cavere be on one's guard. See Pre-, and Caution.]
hast: , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
adjure v. t.: To charge, bind, or command, solemnly, as if under oath, or under the penalty of a curse; to appeal to in the most solemn or impressive manner; to entreat earnestly. [L. adjurare, adjurdium, to swear to; later, to adjure: cf. F. adjurer. See Jury.]
stainless a.: Free from stain; immaculate.
guileless a.: Free from guile; artless.
inmost a.: Deepest within; farthest from the surface or external part; innermost. [OE. innemest, AS. innemest, a double superlative form fr. inne within, fr. in in. The modern form is due to confusion with most. See In, and cf. Aftermost, Fore]
keener n.: A professional mourner who wails at a funeral. [Ireland]
scrawl v. t.: To draw or mark awkwardly and irregularly; to write hastily and carelessly; to scratch; to scribble; as, to scrawl a letter. [Probably corrupted from scrabble.]
overrule v. t.: To rule over; to govern or determine by superior authority.
meanwhile n.: The intervening time; as, in the meantime (or mean time).
methinks v.: It seems to me; I think. See Me. [AS. þyncan to seem, me þynceedh, me þuhte, OE. me thinketh, me thoughte; akin to G. dünken to seem, denken to think, and E. think. See Me, and Think.]
friendless a.: Destitute of friends; forsaken. [AS. freóndleás.]
splendour n.: Great brightness; brilliant luster; brilliancy; as, the splendor ot the sun. B. Jonson. [L. fr. splendere to shine: cf. F. splendeur.]
honour n.: Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
sunlike a.: Like or resembling the sun.
reek n.: A rick. B. Jonson.
byword n.: A common saying; a proverb; a saying that has a general currency. [AS.bïword; bï, E.by+word.]
corpse n.: A human body in general, whether living or dead; -- sometimes contemptuosly. [OF. cors (sometimes written corps), F. corps, L. corpus; akin to AS. hrif womb. See Midriff, and cf. Corse, Corselet, Corps, Cuerpo.]
parentless a.: Deprived of parents.
henceforth adv.: From this time forward; henceforward.
oppressor n.: One who oppresses; one who imposes unjust burdens on others; one who harasses others with unjust laws or unreasonable severity. [L.]
aught n.: Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
tore n.: The dead grass that remains on mowing land in winter and spring. Mortimer. [Probably from the root of tear; cf. W. tór a break, cut, tóri to break, cut.]
deprecation n.: The act of deprecating; a praying against evil; prayer that an evil may be removed or prevented; strong expression of disapprobation. [L. deprecatio; cf. F. déprécation.]
coldly adv.: In a cold manner; without warmth, animation, or feeling; with indifference; calmly.
yester a.: Last; last past; next before; of or pertaining to yesterday. [See Yesterday.]
rife a.: Prevailing; prevalent; abounding. [AS. rif abundant, or Icel. rifr munificent; akin to OD. riff, rijve, abundant.]
importune a.: Inopportune; unseasonable. [F. importun, L. importunus; pref. im- not + a derivative from the root of portus harbor, importunus therefore orig. meaning, hard of access. See Port harbor, an]
waken v. i.: To wake; to cease to sleep; to be awakened. [OE. waknen, AS. wæcnan; akin to Goth. gawaknan. See Wake, v. i.]

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

Act 5 is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley — Volume 1, Project Gutenberg ebook #4797; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.

Cite as: Percy Bysshe Shelley, Act 5, in The Complete Poetical Works, Volume I (1813–1820), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #4797, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/shelley-poems/act-5.html, id L00251.

Form and metre

Act 5 is 567 lines in 87 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 150 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 34% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.

See other poems in iambic pentameter, other poems in blank verse.

Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.

Rhyme words, stanza by stanza

The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.

8 -A--A giacomo · beatrice^A · prison · speak · us^A
11 ----------A---A orsino · weapon · fear · friend · anger · proposed · think · point · repent · speak · below^A · you · comfort · pass · so^A
13 --------------------------------A-A orsino · wish · well · corridor · waiting · contrivance · them · comedy · world · ends · ill · power · device · ruin...ha · abroad · disguise · innocence · crowd · then · new · desires · rome · within · fear · rest · myself · contempt · fly · slave · world · themselves · offence · i^A · myself · eye^A
23 ----A-A marzio · prelate · there · lucretia · i^A · him · die^A
28 -A---A----A-- marzio · i^A · bribes · done · gold · see^A · lucretia · true · dart · eyes · me^A · lords · death
31 A-A-A------------B-----B-- beatrice^A · camillo · gentleness^A · here · this^A · dragged · heart · believes · desire · reply · torments · now · you · wheel · poison · child · though · death^B · time · therein · grief · anything · slave · death^B · assert · innocence
39 AA- marzio^A · marzio^A · vassal
41 ----A-A marzio · oh · speak · truth · me^A · wretch · die^A
42 ------A--BB--A--- beatrice · been · alleged · slave · think · instrument · knife^A · heft · foes · need^B · neglected^B · making · written · life^A · parricide · lives · thou
45 A---A--------------------------------------- beatrice^A · verge · me · dismay · alas^A · years · father · life · then · soul · peace · heart · hate · lift · love · off · accusation · hopest · earth · heart · path · man · maker · one · earth · any · before · thought · her · kin · slay · men · fame · pity · looks · think · blood · is · innocent · discrimination · guilt · reply · not · parricide
55 --A----A- beatrice · here · he^A · judge · name · mine · what · be^A · us
70 AA-------------------------------- beatrice^A · confess^A · lie · said · innocence · hide · countenance · not · hearts · least · pass · dust · live · fame · what · dragged · sweep · crowd · calamity · leave · void · multitude · pity · corpse · away · been · thou · parentless · thee · rack · corpse · grave · fear · cruel
75 ----AB-------B--A beatrice · turn · wheel · last · me^A · heart^B · soul · gall · true · selves · life · end · earth · art^B · make · compel · me^A
83 --A--A--------- camillo · bent · engine^A · itself · form · man^A · trick · advocates · tore · voice · father · thou · well · deprecation · die
85 --A--A-A------ camillo · still · wrong^A · death · croce · evening^A · rife · young^A · chairs · hair · nephew · moment · more · fulfilled
86 -A---A--------- bernardo · indeed^A · preparation · looks · them · need^A · bathe · tears · brain · rage · trample · blood · treads · it · return

Scansion, line by line

Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.

Line	Syl.	Stress
SCENE 5.1:	1	·
GIACOMO:	3	/˘˘
Do evil deeds thus quickly come to end?	10	·/˘··/˘···
O, that the vain remorse which must chastise	10	····˘/··˘/
Crimes done, had but as loud a voice to warn	10	··········
As its keen sting is mortal to avenge!	10	·····/˘·˘/
O, that the hour when present had cast off	10	···/·/˘···
The mantle of its mystery, and shown	10	·/˘··/˘˘··
The ghastly form with which it now returns	10	·/˘·····˘/
When its scared game is roused, cheering the hounds	10	······/˘··
Of conscience to their prey! Alas! Alas!	10	·/˘···˘/˘/
It was a wicked thought, a piteous deed,	11	···/˘··/˘˘·
To kill an old and hoary-headed father.	11	·····/˘/˘/˘
ORSINO:	3	˘/˘
It has turned out unluckily, in truth.	10	····˘/˘˘··
GIACOMO:	3	/˘˘
To violate the sacred doors of sleep;	10	·/˘˘·/˘···
To cheat kind Nature of the placid death	10	···/˘··/˘·
Which she prepares for overwearied age;	9	··˘/·····
To drag from Heaven an unrepentant soul	10	···/··˘/˘·
Which might have quenched in reconciling prayers	10	·····/˘·˘·
A life of burning crimes...	6	···/˘·
ORSINO:	3	˘/˘
You cannot say	4	·/˘·
I urged you to the deed.	6	······
GIACOMO:	3	/˘˘
O, had I never	5	···/˘
Found in thy smooth and ready countenance	10	·····/˘/˘˘
The mirror of my darkest thoughts; hadst thou	10	·/˘··/˘···
Never with hints and questions made me look	10	/˘···/˘···
Upon the monster of my thought, until	10	···/˘·····
It grew familiar to desire...	9	··˘/˘·˘/˘
ORSINO:	3	˘/˘
'Tis thus	2	··
Men cast the blame of their unprosperous acts	11	···········
Upon the abettors of their own resolve;	11	·········˘/
Or anything but their weak, guilty selves.	10	·/˘····/˘·
And yet, confess the truth, it is the peril	11	··˘/·····/˘
In which you stand that gives you this pale sickness	11	·········/˘
Of penitence; confess 'tis fear disguised	10	·/˘˘˘/··˘/
From its own shame that takes the mantle now	10	·······/˘·
Of thin remorse. What if we yet were safe?	10	··˘/······
GIACOMO:	3	/˘˘
How can that be? Already Beatrice,	10	····˘/˘/˘˘
Lucretia and the murderer are in prison.	11	˘/˘··/˘··/˘
I doubt not officers are, whilst we speak,	10	···/˘˘····
Sent to arrest us.	5	··˘/·
ORSINO:	3	˘/˘
I have all prepared	5	···˘/
For instant flight. We can escape even now,	10	·/˘···˘//·
So we take fleet occasion by the hair.	10	····˘/˘···
GIACOMO:	3	/˘˘
Rather expire in tortures, as I may.	10	/˘˘/·/˘···
What! will you cast by self-accusing flight	10	······˘/˘·
Assured conviction upon Beatrice?	10	˘/˘/˘··/˘˘
She, who alone in this unnatural work,	10	··˘/··˘/˘·
Stands like God's angel ministered upon	10	···/˘/˘˘··
By fiends; avenging such a nameless wrong	10	··˘/˘··/˘·
As turns black parricide to piety;	10	···/˘˘·/˘˘
Whilst we for basest ends...I fear, Orsino,	11	········˘/˘
While I consider all your words and looks,	10	··˘/˘·····
Comparing them with your proposal now,	10	˘/˘···˘/˘·
That you must be a villain. For what end	10	·····/˘···
Could you engage in such a perilous crime,	10	··˘/···/˘·
Training me on with hints, and signs, and smiles,	10	/˘········
Even to this gulf? Thou art no liar? No,	10	/······/˘·
Thou art a lie! Traitor and murderer!	10	····/˘·/˘˘
Coward and slave! But no, defend thyself;	10	/˘····˘/˘/
Let the sword speak what the indignant tongue	10	······˘/˘·
Disdains to brand thee with.	6	˘/····
ORSINO:	3	˘/˘
Put up your weapon.	5	···/˘
Is it the desperation of your fear	10	····˘/˘···
Makes you thus rash and sudden with a friend,	10	·····/˘···
Now ruined for your sake? If honest anger	11	·/˘····/˘/˘
Have moved you, know, that what I just proposed	10	········˘/
Was but to try you. As for me, I think,	10	··········
Thankless affection led me to this point,	10	/˘˘/˘·····
From which, if my firm temper could repent,	10	·····/˘·˘/
I cannot now recede. Even whilst we speak	10	·/˘·˘//···
The ministers of justice wait below:	10	·/˘˘·/˘···
They grant me these brief moments. Now if you	10	·····/˘···
Have any word of melancholy comfort	11	·/˘··/˘·˘/˘
To speak to your pale wife, 'twere best to pass	10	··········
Out at the postern, and avoid them so.	10	···/˘·˘/··
GIACOMO:	3	/˘˘
O, generous friend! How canst thou pardon me?	10	·/˘····/˘·
Would that my life could purchase thine!	8	·····/˘·
ORSINO:	3	˘/˘
That wish	2	··
Now comes a day too late. Haste; fare thee well!	10	··········
Hear'st thou not steps along the corridor?	10	····˘/·/˘˘
I'm sorry for it; but the guards are waiting	11	·/˘······/˘
At his own gate, and such was my contrivance	11	········˘/˘
That I might rid me both of him and them.	10	··········
I thought to act a solemn comedy	10	·····/˘/˘˘
Upon the painted scene of this new world,	10	···/˘·····
And to attain my own peculiar ends	10	··˘/··˘/˘·
By some such plot of mingled good and ill	10	·····/˘···
As others weave; but there arose a Power	11	·/˘···˘/·/˘
Which grasped and snapped the threads of my device	10	········˘/
And turned it to a net of ruin...Ha!	10	·······/˘·
Is that my name I hear proclaimed abroad?	10	······˘/˘/
But I will pass, wrapped in a vile disguise;	10	········˘/
Rags on my back, and a false innocence	10	·······/˘˘
Upon my face, through the misdeeming crowd	10	··········
Which judges by what seems. 'Tis easy then	10	·/˘····/˘·
For a new name and for a country new,	10	·······/˘·
And a new life, fashioned on old desires,	11	····/˘··˘/˘
To change the honours of abandoned Rome.	10	···/˘·˘/˘·
And these must be the masks of that within,	10	··········
Which must remain unaltered...Oh, I fear	10	··˘/˘/˘···
That what is past will never let me rest!	10	·····/˘···
Why, when none else is conscious, but myself,	10	·····/˘··/
Of my misdeeds, should my own heart's contempt	10	··˘/····˘/
Trouble me? Have I not the power to fly	10	/˘·····/··
My own reproaches? Shall I be the slave	10	··˘/˘·····
Of...what? A word? which those of this false world	10	··········
Employ against each other, not themselves;	10	˘/···/˘·˘/
As men wear daggers not for self-offence.	10	···/˘···˘/
But if I am mistaken, where shall I	10	····˘/˘···
Find the disguise to hide me from myself,	10	··˘/·····/
As now I skulk from every other eye?	10	·····/˘/˘·
SCENE 5.2:	1	·
FIRST JUDGE:	2	··
Accused, do you persist in your denial?	11	˘/··˘/··˘/˘
I ask you, are you innocent, or guilty?	11	·····/˘˘·/˘
I demand who were the participators	11	·˘/········
In your offence? Speak truth, and the whole truth.	10	··˘/······
MARZIO:	2	··
My God! I did not kill him; I know nothing;	11	·········/˘
Olimpio sold the robe to me from which	10	··········
You would infer my guilt.	6	··˘/··
Away with him!	4	˘/··
FIRST JUDGE:	2	··
Dare you, with lips yet white from the rack's kiss	10	··········
Speak false? Is it so soft a questioner,	10	·······/˘˘
That you would bandy lover's talk with it	10	···/˘/˘···
Till it wind out your life and soul? Away!	10	········˘/
MARZIO:	2	··
Spare me! O, spare! I will confess.	8	······˘/
FIRST JUDGE:	2	··
Then speak.	2	··
MARZIO:	2	··
I strangled him in his sleep.	7	·/˘····
FIRST JUDGE:	2	··
Who urged you to it?	5	·····
MARZIO:	2	··
His own son Giacomo, and the young prelate	11	···/˘˘···/˘
Orsino sent me to Petrella; there	10	˘/˘····/˘·
The ladies Beatrice and Lucretia	10	·/˘/˘˘·˘/˘
Tempted me with a thousand crowns, and I	10	/˘···/˘···
And my companion forthwith murdered him.	10	··˘/˘///˘·
Now let me die.	4	····
FIRST JUDGE:	2	··
This sounds as bad as truth. Guards, there,	8	········
Lead forth the prisoner!	6	···/˘˘
Look upon this man;	5	·····
When did you see him last?	6	······
BEATRICE:	3	/˘˘
We never saw him.	5	·/˘··
MARZIO:	2	··
You know me too well, Lady Beatrice.	10	·····/˘/˘˘
BEATRICE:	3	/˘˘
I know thee! How? where? when?	6	······
MARZIO:	2	··
You know 'twas I	4	····
Whom you did urge with menaces and bribes	10	·····/˘˘··
To kill your father. When the thing was done	10	···/˘·····
You clothed me in a robe of woven gold	10	·······/˘·
And bade me thrive: how I have thriven, you see.	11	·······/˘··
You, my Lord Giacomo, Lady Lucretia,	11	···/˘˘/˘˘/˘
You know that what I speak is true.	8	········
Oh, dart	2	··
The terrible resentment of those eyes	10	·/˘˘˘/˘···
On the dead earth! Turn them away from me!	10	······˘/··
They wound: 'twas torture forced the truth. My Lords,	10	···/˘·····
Having said this let me be led to death.	10	/˘········
BEATRICE:	3	/˘˘
Poor wretch, I pity thee: yet stay awhile.	10	···/˘···˘/
CAMILLO:	3	˘/˘
Guards, lead him not away.	6	····˘/
BEATRICE:	3	/˘˘
Cardinal Camillo,	6	/˘˘˘/˘
You have a good repute for gentleness	10	····˘/·/˘˘
And wisdom: can it be that you sit here	10	·/˘·······
To countenance a wicked farce like this?	10	·/˘˘·/˘···
When some obscure and trembling slave is dragged	10	··˘/·/˘···
From sufferings which might shake the sternest heart	10	·/˘····/˘·
And bade to answer, not as he believes,	10	···/˘···˘/
But as those may suspect or do desire	11	····˘/··˘/˘
Whose questions thence suggest their own reply:	10	·/˘·˘/··˘/
And that in peril of such hideous torments	11	···/˘··/˘/·
As merciful God spares even the damned. Speak now	10	·/˘··/····
The thing you surely know, which is that you,	10	···/˘·····
If your fine frame were stretched upon that wheel,	10	··········
And you were told: 'Confess that you did poison	11	····˘/···/˘
Your little nephew; that fair blue-eyed child	10	·/˘/˘·····
Who was the lodestar of your life:'--and though	10	···/······
All see, since his most swift and piteous death,	11	·······/˘˘·
That day and night, and heaven and earth, and time,	10	·····/····
And all the things hoped for or done therein	10	··········
Are changed to you, through your exceeding grief,	10	······˘/˘·
Yet you would say, 'I confess anything:'	10	·····˘//˘·
And beg from your tormentors, like that slave,	10	····/·˘···
The refuge of dishonourable death.	10	·/˘·······
I pray thee, Cardinal, that thou assert	10	···/˘˘··˘/
My innocence.	4	·/˘˘
What shall we think, my Lords?	6	······
Shame on these tears! I thought the heart was frozen	11	·········/˘
Which is their fountain. I would pledge my soul	10	···/˘·····
That she is guiltless.	5	···/˘
JUDGE:	1	·
Yet she must be tortured.	6	····/˘
CAMILLO:	3	˘/˘
I would as soon have tortured mine own nephew	11	·····/˘··/˘
(If he now lived he would be just her age;	10	··········
His hair, too, was her colour, and his eyes	10	·····/˘···
Like hers in shape, but blue and not so deep)	10	··········
As that most perfect image of God's love	10	···/·/˘···
That ever came sorrowing upon the earth.	10	·/·/˘˘····
She is as pure as speechless infancy!	10	·····/˘/˘˘
JUDGE:	1	·
Well, be her purity on your head, my Lord,	10	···/˘·····
If you forbid the rack. His Holiness	10	··˘/···/˘˘
Enjoined us to pursue this monstrous crime	10	˘/··˘/·/˘·
By the severest forms of law; nay even	11	··˘/˘····/˘
To stretch a point against the criminals.	10	·······/˘˘
The prisoners stand accused of parricide	11	·/˘˘·˘/·/˘˘
Upon such evidence as justifies	10	···/˘˘·/˘·
Torture.	2	/˘
BEATRICE:	3	/˘˘
What evidence? This man's?	6	·/˘˘··
JUDGE:	1	·
Even so.	3	/˘·
Come near. And who art thou thus chosen forth	10	·······/˘·
Out of the multitude of living men	10	···/˘··/˘·
To kill the innocent?	6	···/˘˘
MARZIO:	2	··
I am Marzio,	4	····
Thy father's vassal.	5	·/˘/˘
BEATRICE:	3	/˘˘
Fix thine eyes on mine;	5	·····
Answer to what I ask.	6	/˘····
I prithee mark	4	·/˘·
His countenance: unlike bold calumny	10	·/˘˘˘/·/˘˘
Which sometimes dares not speak the thing it looks,	10	·˘/·······
He dares not look the thing he speaks, but bends	10	··········
His gaze on the blind earth.	6	······
What! wilt thou say	4	····
That I did murder my own father?	9	···/˘··/˘
MARZIO:	2	··
Oh!	1	·
Spare me! My brain swims round...I cannot speak...	10	·······/˘·
It was that horrid torture forced the truth.	10	···/˘/˘···
Take me away! Let her not look on me!	10	··˘/······
I am a guilty miserable wretch;	10	···/˘/˘˘˘·
I have said all I know; now, let me die!	10	··········
BEATRICE:	3	/˘˘
My Lords, if by my nature I had been	10	·····/˘···
So stern, as to have planned the crime alleged,	10	········˘/
Which your suspicions dictate to this slave,	10	··˘/˘/····
And the rack makes him utter, do you think	10	·····/˘···
I should have left this two-edged instrument	10	·······/˘˘
Of my misdeed; this man, this bloody knife	10	··//···/˘·
With my own name engraven on the heft,	10	··········
Lying unsheathed amid a world of foes,	10	/˘··˘/····
For my own death? That with such horrible need	10	·······/˘·
For deepest silence, I should have neglected	11	·/˘/˘···˘/˘
So trivial a precaution, as the making	11	·/˘·˘/˘··/˘
His tomb the keeper of a secret written	11	···/˘··/˘/˘
On a thief's memory? What is his poor life?	10	···/˘·····
What are a thousand lives? A parricide	10	···/˘··/˘˘
Had trampled them like dust; and, see, he lives!	10	·/˘·······
And thou...	2	··
MARZIO:	2	··
Oh, spare me! Speak to me no more!	8	········
That stern yet piteous look, those solemn tones,	11	···/˘˘··/˘·
Wound worse than torture.	5	···/˘
I have told it all;	5	·····
For pity's sake lead me away to death.	10	·/˘···˘/··
CAMILLO:	3	˘/˘
Guards, lead him nearer the Lady Beatrice;	11	···/˘·/˘/˘˘
He shrinks from her regard like autumn's leaf	10	····˘/·/˘·
From the keen breath of the serenest north.	10	······˘/˘·
BEATRICE:	3	/˘˘
O thou who tremblest on the giddy verge	10	···/˘··/˘·
Of life and death, pause ere thou answerest me;	10	·······/˘·
So mayst thou answer God with less dismay:	10	···/˘···˘/
What evil have we done thee? I, alas!	10	·/˘·····˘/
Have lived but on this earth a few sad years,	10	··········
And so my lot was ordered, that a father	11	·····/˘··/˘
First turned the moments of awakening life	10	···/˘·˘/˘·
To drops, each poisoning youth's sweet hope; and then	10	···/˘·····
Stabbed with one blow my everlasting soul;	10	······˘/˘·
And my untainted fame; and even that peace	10	··˘/˘··/··
Which sleeps within the core of the heart's heart;	10	··········
But the wound was not mortal; so my hate	10	·····/˘···
Became the only worship I could lift	10	˘/·/˘/˘···
To our great father, who in pity and love,	11	·/·/˘··/˘··
Armed thee, as thou dost say, to cut him off;	10	··········
And thus his wrong becomes my accusation;	11	····˘/··˘/˘
And art thou the accuser? If thou hopest	11	····˘/˘····
Mercy in heaven, show justice upon earth:	10	/˘·/·/˘···
Worse than a bloody hand is a hard heart.	10	···/˘·····
If thou hast done murders, made thy life's path	10	····/˘····
Over the trampled laws of God and man,	10	···/˘·····
Rush not before thy Judge, and say: 'My maker,	11	·········/˘
I have done this and more; for there was one	10	··········
Who was most pure and innocent on earth;	10	·····/˘˘··
And because she endured what never any	11	····˘/·/˘/˘
Guilty or innocent endured before:	10	/˘·/˘˘˘/··
Because her wrongs could not be told, not thought;	10	··········
Because thy hand at length did rescue her;	10	·······/˘·
I with my words killed her and all her kin.'	10	··········
Think, I adjure you, what it is to slay	10	··˘/······
The reverence living in the minds of men	10	·/˘/˘·····
Towards our ancient house, and stainless fame!	10	·/˘/˘··/˘·
Think what it is to strangle infant pity,	11	·····/˘/˘/˘
Cradled in the belief of guileless looks,	10	/˘··˘/·/˘·
Till it become a crime to suffer. Think	10	··˘/···/˘·
What 'tis to blot with infamy and blood	10	·····/˘˘··
All that which shows like innocence, and is,	10	·····/˘˘··
Hear me, great God! I swear, most innocent,	10	·······/˘˘
So that the world lose all discrimination	11	······˘·˘/˘
Between the sly, fierce, wild regard of guilt,	10	······˘/··
And that which now compels thee to reply	10	····˘/··˘/
To what I ask: Am I, or am I not	10	··········
A parricide?	4	·/˘˘
MARZIO:	2	··
Thou art not!	3	···
JUDGE:	1	·
What is this?	3	···
MARZIO:	2	··
I here declare those whom I did accuse	10	··˘/····˘/
Are innocent. 'Tis I alone am guilty.	11	·/˘˘··˘/·/˘
JUDGE:	1	·
Drag him away to torments; let them be	10	··˘/·/····
Subtle and long drawn out, to tear the folds	10	/˘········
Of the heart's inmost cell. Unbind him not	10	···/˘·˘/··
Till he confess.	4	··˘/
MARZIO:	2	··
Torture me as ye will:	6	/˘····
A keener pang has wrung a higher truth	10	·/˘····/˘·
From my last breath. She is most innocent!	10	·······/˘˘
Bloodhounds, not men, glut yourselves well with me;	10	/˘···˘/···
I will not give you that fine piece of nature	11	·········/˘
To rend and ruin.	5	···/˘
CAMILLO:	3	˘/˘
What say ye now, my Lords?	6	······
JUDGE:	1	·
Let tortures strain the truth till it be white	10	·/˘·······
As snow thrice sifted by the frozen wind.	10	···/˘··/˘·
CAMILLO:	3	˘/˘
Yet stained with blood.	4	····
Know you this paper, Lady?	7	···/˘/˘
BEATRICE:	3	/˘˘
Entrap me not with questions. Who stands here	10	˘/···/˘···
As my accuser? Ha! wilt thou be he,	10	··˘/˘·····
Who art my judge? Accuser, witness, judge,	10	····˘/˘/˘·
What, all in one? Here is Orsino's name;	10	······˘/˘·
Where is Orsino? Let his eye meet mine.	10	··˘/˘·····
What means this scrawl? Alas! ye know not what,	10	····˘/····
And therefore on the chance that it may be	10	··········
Some evil, will ye kill us?	7	·/˘····
OFFICER:	3	/˘˘
Marzio's dead.	3	···
JUDGE:	1	·
What did he say?	4	····
OFFICER:	3	/˘˘
Nothing. As soon as we	6	/˘····
Had bound him on the wheel, he smiled on us,	10	··········
As one who baffles a deep adversary;	11	···/˘··/˘·˘
And holding his breath, died.	6	·/˘···
JUDGE:	1	·
There remains nothing	5	·˘//˘
But to apply the question to those prisoners,	11	··˘/·/˘··/˘
Who yet remain stubborn.	6	··˘//˘
CAMILLO:	3	˘/˘
I overrule	4	·/˘·
Further proceedings, and in the behalf	10	/˘˘/˘···˘/
Of these most innocent and noble persons	11	···/˘˘·/˘/˘
Will use my interest with the Holy Father.	11	···/˘··/˘/˘
JUDGE:	1	·
Let the Pope's pleasure then be done. Meanwhile	10	···/˘···/·
Conduct these culprits each to separate cells;	11	˘/·/˘··/˘··
And be the engines ready; for this night	10	···/˘/˘···
If the Pope's resolution be as grave,	10	····˘/˘···
Pious, and just as once, I'll wring the truth	10	/˘········
Out of those nerves and sinews, groan by groan.	10	··········
SCENE 5.3:	1	·
BERNARDO:	3	˘/˘
How gently slumber rests upon her face,	10	·/˘/˘·····
Like the last thoughts of some day sweetly spent	10	·······/˘·
Closing in night and dreams, and so prolonged.	10	/˘······˘/
After such torments as she bore last night,	10	···/······
How light and soft her breathing comes. Ay me!	10	·····/˘···
Methinks that I shall never sleep again.	10	˘/···/˘·˘/
But I must shake the heavenly dew of rest	10	·····/˘···
From this sweet folded flower, thus...wake, awake!	10	···/˘/··˘/

The first 400 of 567 lines; the reader marks them all.

The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.

More by Percy Bysshe Shelley

The Complete Poetical Works, Volume I The Complete Poetical Works, Volume II