ading flame,
As that thou canst not now so part from me
Without the fiery iterance of my heart.
Hear, hear me, love, who on the swathed tops
Of ribbed Olympus, and thy steadfast throne,
Dost sit the supreme judge of gods and men,
And bear within thy palm the living bolt,
High o'er the soiled air of this wan world;
Look on yon helot wretch, and, wheresoe'er,
Coursing what sea, or cabled in what port,
The greatness of thine eye may light on him,
Crush him with thunder!
Thou, too, great Neptune of the lower deeps,
Heave thy wet head up from the monstrous sea;
Advance thy trident high as to the clouds,
And with a not to be repeated blow,
Dash the sin-freighted ship of that rash man!
And thou, old iron-sceptred Eolus,
Shatter the bars of thine enclosed winds;
Unhinge the doors of thy great kennel house,
And 'twixt the azure and the roaring deep
Cry out thy whole inflated Strongyle--
Cry ruin on that man!
But wherefore, thus,
Do I invoke the speedy desolation
Of any mighty magisterial soul,
Whose will is weaponed with the elements!
For oh--
Let the great spies of Jove, the sun and moon,
The stars, and all the expeditious orbs
That in their motions are retributive,
Look blindly on, and seem to take no note
Of any deep and deadly stab of sin--
Let vengeance gorge a gross Cerberean sop,
Grovel and snore in swinish sluggardness,
Yea, quite forget his dagger and his cup--
It is enough, for any retribution,
That guilt retain remembrance of itself.
Guilt is a thing, however bolstered up,
That the great scale-adjusting Nemesis,
And Furies iron-eyed, will not let sleep.
Sail on unscarred--thou canst not sail so far,
But that the gorgon lash of vipers fanged
Shall scourge this howler home to thee again.
Yes, yes, rash man, Jove and myself do know
That from this wrong shall rouse an Anteros,
Fierce as an Ate, with a hot right hand,
That shall afflict thee with the touch of fire,
Till, scorpion-like, thou turn and sting thyself.
What dost thou think--that I shall perish here,
Gnawed by the tooth of hungry savageness?
Think what thou list, and go what way thou wilt.
I, that have truth and heaven on my side,
Though but a weak and solitary woman,
Forecast no fear of any violence--
But t