(Three lines missing.)
The laurels and the myrtle-copses dim,The pine-encircled mountain, Maenalus,The cold crags of Lycaeus weep for him.
(Several lines missing.)
‘What madness is this, Gallus? thy heart’s care, _20Lycoris, mid rude camps and Alpine snow,With willing step pursues another there.’
(Some lines missing.)
And Sylvan, crowned with rustic coronals,Came shaking in his speed the budding wandsAnd heavy lilies which he bore: we knew _25Pan the Arcadian with….…and said,‘Wilt thou not ever cease? Love cares not.The meadows with fresh streams, the bees with thyme,The goats with the green leaves of budding spring _30Are saturated not—nor Love with tears.’
***
[Published by Locock, “Examination”, etc., 1903.]
And the cloven waters like a chasm of mountainsStood, and received him in its mighty portalAnd led him through the deep’s untrampled fountains
He went in wonder through the path immortalOf his great Mother and her humid reign _5And groves profaned not by the step of mortal
Which sounded as he passed, and lakes which rainReplenished not girt round by marble caves‘Wildered by the watery motion of the main
Half ‘wildered he beheld the bursting waves _10Of every stream beneath the mighty earthPhasis and Lycus which the … sand paves,
[And] The chasm where old Enipeus has its birthAnd father Tyber and Anienas[?] glowAnd whence Caicus, Mysian stream, comes forth _15
And rock-resounding Hypanis, and thouEridanus who bearest like empire’s signTwo golden horns upon thy taurine brow
Thou than whom none of the streams divineThrough garden-fields and meads with fiercer power, _20Burst in their tumult on the purple brine
***
[Published with “Alastor”, 1816; reprinted, “Posthumous Poems”, 1824.]
Guido, I would that Lapo, thou, and I,Led by some strong enchantment, might ascendA magic ship, whose charmed sails should flyWith winds at will where’er our thoughts might wend,So that no change, nor any evil chance _5Should mar our joyous voyage; but it might be,That even satiety should still enhanceBetween our hearts their strict community:And that the bounteous wizard then would placeVanna and Bice and my gentle love, _10Companions of our wandering, and would graceWith passionate talk, wherever we might rove,Our time, and each were as content and freeAs I believe that thou and I should be.
_5 So 1824; And 1816.
***
[Published by Garnett, “Relics of Shelley”, 1862; dated 1820.]
1.Ye who intelligent the Third Heaven move,Hear the discourse which is within my heart,Which cannot be declared, it seems so new.The Heaven whose course follows your power and art,Oh, gentle creatures that ye are! me drew, _5And therefore may I dare to speak to you,Even of the life which now I live—and yetI pray that ye will hear me when I cry,And tell of mine own heart this novelty;How the lamenting Spirit moans in it, _10And how a voice there murmurs against herWho came on the refulgence of your sphere.
2.A sweet Thought, which was once the life withinThis heavy heart, man a time and oftWent up before our Father’s feet, and there _15It saw a glorious Lady throned aloft;And its sweet talk of her my soul did win,So that I said, ‘Thither I too will fare.’That Thought is fled, and one doth now appearWhich tyrannizes me with such fierce stress, _20That my heart trembles—ye may see it leap—And on another Lady bids me keepMine eyes, and says—Who would have blessednessLet him but look upon that Lady’s eyes,Let him not fear the agony of sighs. _25
3.This lowly Thought, which once would talk with meOf a bright seraph sitting crowned on high,Found such a cruel foe it died, and soMy Spirit wept, the grief is hot even now—And said, Alas for me! how swift could flee _30That piteous Thought which did my life console!And the afflicted one … questioningMine eyes, if such a Lady saw they never,And why they would…I said: ‘Beneath those eyes might stand for ever _35He whom … regards must kill with…To have known their power stood me in little stead,Those eyes have looked on me, and I am dead.’
4.‘Thou art not dead, but thou hast wandered,Thou Soul of ours, who thyself dost fret,’ _40A Spirit of gentle Love beside me said;For that fair Lady, whom thou dost regret,Hath so transformed the life which thou hast led,Thou scornest it, so worthless art thou made.And see how meek, how pitiful, how staid, _45Yet courteous, in her majesty she is.And still call thou her Woman in thy thought;Her whom, if thou thyself deceivest not,Thou wilt behold decked with such loveliness,That thou wilt cry [Love] only Lord, lo! here _50Thy handmaiden, do what thou wilt with her.
5.My song, I fear that thou wilt find but fewWho fitly shall conceive thy reasoningOf such hard matter dost thou entertain.Whence, if by misadventure chance should bring _55Thee to base company, as chance may do,Quite unaware of what thou dost contain,I prithee comfort thy sweet self again,My last delight; tell them that they are dull,And bid them own that thou art beautiful. _60
NOTE:C5. Published with “Epispychidion”, 1821.—ED.
***
[Published in part (lines 1-8, 22-51) by Medwin, “The Angler in Wales”, 1834, “Life of Shelley”, 1847; reprinted in full by Garnett, “Relics of Shelley”, 1862.]
And earnest to explore within—around—The divine wood, whose thick green living woofTempered the young day to the sight—I wound
Up the green slope, beneath the forest’s roof,With slow, soft steps leaving the mountain’s steep, _5And sought those inmost labyrinths, motion-proof
Against the air, that in that stillness deepAnd solemn, struck upon my forehead bare,The slow, soft stroke of a continuous…
In which the … leaves tremblingly were _10All bent towards that part where earliestThe sacred hill obscures the morning air.
Yet were they not so shaken from the rest,But that the birds, perched on the utmost spray,Incessantly renewing their blithe quest, _15
With perfect joy received the early day,Singing within the glancing leaves, whose soundKept a low burden to their roundelay,
Such as from bough to bough gathers aroundThe pine forest on bleak Chiassi’s shore, _20When Aeolus Sirocco has unbound.
My slow steps had already borne me o’erSuch space within the antique wood, that IPerceived not where I entered any more,—
When, lo! a stream whose little waves went by, _25Bending towards the left through grass that grewUpon its bank, impeded suddenly
My going on. Water of purest hueOn earth, would appear turbid and impureCompared with this, whose unconcealing dew, _30
Dark, dark, yet clear, moved under the obscureEternal shades, whose interwoven loomsThe rays of moon or sunlight ne’er endure.
I moved not with my feet, but mid the gloomsPierced with my charmed eye, contemplating _35The mighty multitude of fresh May blooms
Which starred that night, when, even as a thingThat suddenly, for blank astonishment,Charms every sense, and makes all thought take wing,—
A solitary woman! and she went _40Singing and gathering flower after flower,With which her way was painted and besprent.
‘Bright lady, who, if looks had ever powerTo bear true witness of the heart within,Dost bask under the beams of love, come lower _45
Towards this bank. I prithee let me winThis much of thee, to come, that I may hearThy song: like Proserpine, in Enna’s glen,
Thou seemest to my fancy, singing hereAnd gathering flowers, as that fair maiden when _50She lost the Spring, and Ceres her, more dear.
NOTES: _2 The 1862; That 1834. _4, _5 So 1862; Up a green slope, beneath the starry roof, With slow, slow steps— 1834. _6 inmost 1862; leafy 1834. _9 So 1862; The slow, soft stroke of a continuous sleep cj. Rossetti, 1870. _9-_28 So 1862; Like the sweet breathing of a child asleep: Already I had lost myself so far Amid that tangled wilderness that I Perceived not where I ventured, but no fear Of wandering from my way disturbed, when nigh A little stream appeared; the grass that grew Thick on its banks impeded suddenly My going on. 1834. _13 the 1862; their cj. Rossetti, 1870. _26 through]the cj. Rossetti. _28 hue 1862; dew 1834. _30 dew 1862; hue 1834. _32 Eternal shades 1862; Of the close boughs 1834. _33 So 1862; No ray of moon or sunshine would endure 1834. _34, _35 So 1862; My feet were motionless, but mid the glooms Darted my charmed eyes—1834. _37 Which 1834; That 1862. _39 So 1834; Dissolves all other thought…1862. _40 So 1862; Appeared a solitary maid—she went 1834. _46 Towards 1862; Unto 1834. _47 thee, to come 1862; thee O come 1834.
***
[Published by Forman, “Poetical Works of P. B. S.”, 1876.]
What Mary is when she a little smilesI cannot even tell or call to mind,It is a miracle so new, so rare.
***
(Published by Medwin, “Life of Shelley”, 1847, with Shelley’s corrections in italics [‘‘].—ED.)
[Translated by Medwin and corrected by Shelley.]
Now had the loophole of that dungeon, stillWhich bears the name of Famine’s Tower from me,And where ’tis fit that many another will
Be doomed to linger in captivity,Shown through its narrow opening in my cell _5‘Moon after moon slow waning’, when a sleep,
‘That of the future burst the veil, in dreamVisited me. It was a slumber deepAnd evil; for I saw, or I did seem’
To see, ‘that’ tyrant Lord his revels keep _10The leader of the cruel hunt to them,Chasing the wolf and wolf-cubs up the steep
Ascent, that from ‘the Pisan is the screen’Of ‘Lucca’; with him Gualandi came,Sismondi, and Lanfranchi, ‘bloodhounds lean, _15
Trained to the sport and eager for the gameWide ranging in his front;’ but soon were seenThough by so short a course, with ‘spirits tame,’
The father and ‘his whelps’ to flag at once,And then the sharp fangs gored their bosoms deep. _20Ere morn I roused myself, and heard my sons,
For they were with me, moaning in their sleep,And begging bread. Ah, for those darling ones!Right cruel art thou, if thou dost not weep
In thinking of my soul’s sad augury; _25And if thou weepest not now, weep never more!They were already waked, as wont drew nigh
The allotted hour for food, and in that hourEach drew a presage from his dream. When I‘Heard locked beneath me of that horrible tower _30
The outlet; then into their eyes aloneI looked to read myself,’ without a signOr word. I wept not—turned within to stone.
They wept aloud, and little Anselm mine,Said—’twas my youngest, dearest little one,— _35“What ails thee, father? Why look so at thine?”
In all that day, and all the following night,I wept not, nor replied; but when to shineUpon the world, not us, came forth the light
Of the new sun, and thwart my prison thrown _40Gleamed through its narrow chink, a doleful sight,‘Three faces, each the reflex of my own,
Were imaged by its faint and ghastly ray;’Then I, of either hand unto the bone,Gnawed, in my agony; and thinking they _45
Twas done from sudden pangs, in their excess,All of a sudden raise themselves, and say,“Father! our woes, so great, were yet the less
Would you but eat of us,—twas ‘you who cladOur bodies in these weeds of wretchedness; _50Despoil them’.” Not to make their hearts more sad,
I ‘hushed’ myself. That day is at its close,—Another—still we were all mute. Oh, hadThe obdurate earth opened to end our woes!
The fourth day dawned, and when the new sun shone, _55Outstretched himself before me as it roseMy Gaddo, saying, “Help, father! hast thou none
For thine own child—is there no help from thee?”He died—there at my feet—and one by one,I saw them fall, plainly as you see me. _60
Between the fifth and sixth day, ere twas dawn,I found ‘myself blind-groping o’er the three.’Three days I called them after they were gone.
Famine of grief can get the mastery.
***
[Published by Forman (who assigns it to 1815), “Poetical Works of P. B.S.”, 1876.]
Returning from its daily quest, my SpiritChanged thoughts and vile in thee doth weep to find:It grieves me that thy mild and gentle mindThose ample virtues which it did inheritHas lost. Once thou didst loathe the multitude _5Of blind and madding men—I then loved thee—I loved thy lofty songs and that sweet moodWhen thou wert faithful to thyself and meI dare not now through thy degraded stateOwn the delight thy strains inspire—in vain _10I seek what once thou wert—we cannot meetAnd we were wont. Again and yet againPonder my words: so the false Spirit shall flyAnd leave to thee thy true integrity.
***
[Published by Mrs. Shelley, “Posthumous Poems”, 1824; dated March, 1822. There is a transcript of Scene 1 among the Hunt manuscripts, which has been collated by Mr. Buxton Forman.]
CYPRIAN:In the sweet solitude of this calm place,This intricate wild wilderness of treesAnd flowers and undergrowth of odorous plants,Leave me; the books you brought out of the houseTo me are ever best society. _5And while with glorious festival and song,Antioch now celebrates the consecrationOf a proud temple to great Jupiter,And bears his image in loud jubileeTo its new shrine, I would consume what still _10Lives of the dying day in studious thought,Far from the throng and turmoil. You, my friends,Go, and enjoy the festival; it willBe worth your pains. You may return for meWhen the sun seeks its grave among the billows _15Which, among dim gray clouds on the horizon,Dance like white plumes upon a hearse;— and hereI shall expect you.
NOTES: _14 So transcr.; Be worth the labour, and return for me 1824. _16, _17 So 1824; Hid among dim gray clouds on the horizon Which dance like plumes—transcr., Forman.
MOSCON:I cannot bring my mind,Great as my haste to see the festivalCertainly is, to leave you, Sir, without _20Just saying some three or four thousand words.How is it possible that on a dayOf such festivity, you can be contentTo come forth to a solitary countryWith three or four old books, and turn your back _25On all this mirth?
NOTES: _21 thousand transcr.; hundred 1824. _23 be content transcr.; bring your mind 1824.
CLARIN:My master’s in the right;There is not anything more tiresomeThan a procession day, with troops, and priests,And dances, and all that.
NOTE: _28 and priests transcr.; of men 1824.
MOSCON:From first to last,Clarin, you are a temporizing flatterer; _30You praise not what you feel but what he does;—Toadeater!
CLARIN:You lie—under a mistake—For this is the most civil sort of lieThat can be given to a man’s face. I nowSay what I think.
CYPRIAN:Enough, you foolish fellows! _35Puffed up with your own doting ignorance,You always take the two sides of one question.Now go; and as I said, return for meWhen night falls, veiling in its shadows wideThis glorious fabric of the universe. _40
NOTE: _36 doting ignorance transcr.; ignorance and pride 1824.
MOSCON:How happens it, although you can maintainThe folly of enjoying festivals,That yet you go there?
CLARIN:Nay, the consequenceIs clear:—who ever did what he advisesOthers to do?—
MOSCON:Would that my feet were wings, _45So would I fly to Livia.
CLARIN:To speak truth,Livia is she who has surprised my heart;But he is more than half-way there.—Soho!Livia, I come; good sport, Livia, soho!
CYPRIAN:Now, since I am alone, let me examine _50The question which has long disturbed my mindWith doubt, since first I read in PliniusThe words of mystic import and deep senseIn which he defines God. My intellectCan find no God with whom these marks and signs _55Fitly agree. It is a hidden truthWhich I must fathom.
NOTE: _57 Stage Direction: So transcr. Reads. Enter the Devil as a fine gentleman 1824.
DAEMON:Search even as thou wilt,But thou shalt never find what I can hide.
CYPRIAN:What noise is that among the boughs? Who moves?What art thou?—
DAEMON:’Tis a foreign gentleman. _60Even from this morning I have lost my wayIn this wild place; and my poor horse at last,Quite overcome, has stretched himself uponThe enamelled tapestry of this mossy mountain,And feeds and rests at the same time. I was _65Upon my way to Antioch upon businessOf some importance, but wrapped up in cares(Who is exempt from this inheritance?)I parted from my company, and lostMy way, and lost my servants and my comrades. _70
CYPRIAN:’Tis singular that even within the sightOf the high towers of Antioch you could loseYour way. Of all the avenues and green pathsOf this wild wood there is not one but leads,As to its centre, to the walls of Antioch; _75Take which you will, you cannot miss your road.
DAEMON:And such is ignorance! Even in the sightOf knowledge, it can draw no profit from it.But as it still is early, and as IHave no acquaintances in Antioch, _80Being a stranger there, I will even waitThe few surviving hours of the day,Until the night shall conquer it. I seeBoth by your dress and by the books in whichYou find delight and company, that you _85Are a great student;—for my part, I feelMuch sympathy in such pursuits.
NOTE: _87 in transcr.; with 1824.
CYPRIAN:Have youStudied much?
DAEMON:No,—and yet I know enoughNot to be wholly ignorant.
CYPRIAN:Pray, Sir,What science may you know?—
DAEMON:Many.
CYPRIAN:Alas! _90Much pains must we expend on one alone,And even then attain it not;—but youHave the presumption to assert that youKnow many without study.
DAEMON:And with truth.For in the country whence I come the sciences _95Require no learning,—they are known.
NOTE: _95 come the sciences]come sciences 1824.
CYPRIAN:Oh, wouldI were of that bright country! for in thisThe more we study, we the more discoverOur ignorance.
DAEMON:It is so true, that IHad so much arrogance as to oppose _100The chair of the most high Professorship,And obtained many votes, and, though I lost,The attempt was still more glorious, than the failureCould be dishonourable. If you believe not,Let us refer it to dispute respecting _105That which you know the best, and although IKnow not the opinion you maintain, and thoughIt be the true one, I will take the contrary.
NOTE: _106 the transcr.; wanting, 1824.
CYPRIAN:The offer gives me pleasure. I am nowDebating with myself upon a passage _110Of Plinius, and my mind is racked with doubtTo understand and know who is the GodOf whom he speaks.
DAEMON:It is a passage, ifI recollect it right, couched in these words‘God is one supreme goodness, one pure essence, _115One substance, and one sense, all sight, all hands.’
CYPRIAN:’Tis true.
DAEMON:What difficulty find you here?
CYPRIAN:I do not recognize among the GodsThe God defined by Plinius; if he mustBe supreme goodness, even Jupiter _120Is not supremely good; because we seeHis deeds are evil, and his attributesTainted with mortal weakness; in what mannerCan supreme goodness be consistent withThe passions of humanity?
DAEMON:The wisdom _125Of the old world masked with the names of GodsThe attributes of Nature and of Man;A sort of popular philosophy.
CYPRIAN:This reply will not satisfy me, forSuch awe is due to the high name of God _130That ill should never be imputed. Then,Examining the question with more care,It follows, that the Gods would always willThat which is best, were they supremely good.How then does one will one thing, one another? _135And that you may not say that I allegePoetical or philosophic learning:—Consider the ambiguous responsesOf their oracular statues; from two shrinesTwo armies shall obtain the assurance of _140One victory. Is it not indisputableThat two contending wills can never leadTo the same end? And, being opposite,If one be good, is not the other evil?Evil in God is inconceivable; _145But supreme goodness fails among the GodsWithout their union.
NOTE: _133 would transcr.; should 1824.
DAEMON:I deny your major.These responses are means towards some endUnfathomed by our intellectual beam.They are the work of Providence, and more _150The battle’s loss may profit those who lose,Than victory advantage those who win.
CYPRIAN:That I admit; and yet that God should not(Falsehood is incompatible with deity)Assure the victory; it would be enough _155To have permitted the defeat. If GodBe all sight,—God, who had beheld the truth,Would not have given assurance of an endNever to be accomplished: thus, althoughThe Deity may according to his attributes _160Be well distinguished into persons, yetEven in the minutest circumstanceHis essence must be one.
NOTE: _157 had transcr.; wanting, 1824.
DAEMON:To attain the endThe affections of the actors in the sceneMust have been thus influenced by his voice. _165
CYPRIAN:But for a purpose thus subordinateHe might have employed Genii, good or evil,—A sort of spirits called so by the learned,Who roam about inspiring good or evil,And from whose influence and existence we _170May well infer our immortality.Thus God might easily, without descentTo a gross falsehood in his proper person,Have moved the affections by this mediationTo the just point.
NOTE: _172 descent transcr.; descending 1824.
DAEMON:These trifling contradictions _175Do not suffice to impugn the unityOf the high Gods; in things of great importanceThey still appear unanimous; considerThat glorious fabric, man,—his workmanshipIs stamped with one conception.
CYPRIAN:Who made man _180Must have, methinks, the advantage of the others.If they are equal, might they not have risenIn opposition to the work, and beingAll hands, according to our author here,Have still destroyed even as the other made? _185If equal in their power, unequal onlyIn opportunity, which of the twoWill remain conqueror?
NOTE: _186 unequal only transcr.; and only unequal 1824.
DAEMON:On impossibleAnd false hypothesis there can be builtNo argument. Say, what do you infer _190From this?
CYPRIAN:That there must be a mighty GodOf supreme goodness and of highest grace,All sight, all hands, all truth, infallible,Without an equal and without a rival,The cause of all things and the effect of nothing, _195One power, one will, one substance, and one essence.And, in whatever persons, one or two,His attributes may be distinguished, oneSovereign power, one solitary essence,One cause of all cause.
NOTE: _197 And]query, Ay?
DAEMON:How can I impugn _200So clear a consequence?
NOTE: _200 all cause 1824; all things transcr.
CYPRIAN:Do you regretMy victory?
DAEMON:Who but regrets a checkIn rivalry of wit? I could replyAnd urge new difficulties, but will nowDepart, for I hear steps of men approaching, _205And it is time that I should now pursueMy journey to the city.
CYPRIAN:Go in peace!
DAEMON:Remain in peace!—Since thus it profits himTo study, I will wrap his senses upIn sweet oblivion of all thought but of _210A piece of excellent beauty; and, as IHave power given me to wage enmityAgainst Justina’s soul, I will extractFrom one effect two vengeances.
NOTE: _214 Stage direction So transcr.; Exit 1824.
CYPRIAN:I neverMet a more learned person. Let me now _215Revolve this doubt again with careful mind.
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 knowThat in the field, the silent tongue of steelSpeaks thus,—
CYPRIAN:Ha! what is this? Lelio,—Floro,Be it enough that Cyprian stands between you,Although unarmed.
LELIO:Whence comest thou, to stand _225Between me and my vengeance?
FLORO:From what rocksAnd desert cells?
MOSCON:Run! run! for where we leftMy 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 sortBut only to avoid them. Sir! Cyprian! sir! _230
CYPRIAN:Be silent, fellows! What! two friends who areIn blood and fame the eyes and hope of Antioch,One of the noble race of the Colalti,The other son o’ the Governor, adventureAnd cast away, on some slight cause no doubt, _235Two lives, the honour of their country?
NOTE: _233 race transcr.; men 1824. Colalti]Colatti 1824.
LELIO:Cyprian!Although my high respect towards your personHolds now my sword suspended, thou canst notRestore it to the slumber of the scabbard:Thou knowest more of science than the duel; _240For when two men of honour take the field,No counsel nor respect can make them friendsBut 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 prayThat you depart hence with your people, andLeave us to finish what we have begun _245Without advantage.—
CYPRIAN:Though you may imagineThat I know little of the laws of duel,Which vanity and valour instituted,You are in error. By my birth I amHeld no less than yourselves to know the limits _250Of honour and of infamy, nor has studyQuenched the free spirit which first ordered them;And thus to me, as one well experiencedIn the false quicksands of the sea of honour,You may refer the merits of the case; _255And if I should perceive in your relationThat either has the right to satisfactionFrom the other, I give you my word of honourTo leave you.
NOTE: _253 well omit, cj. Forman.
LELIO:Under this condition thenI will relate the cause, and you will cede _260And must confess the impossibilityOf compromise; for the same lady isBeloved by Floro and myself.
FLORO:It seemsMuch to me that the light of day should lookUpon that idol of my heart—but he— _265Leave us to fight, according to thy word.
CYPRIAN:Permit one question further: is the ladyImpossible to hope or not?
LELIO:She isSo excellent, that if the light of dayShould excite Floro’s jealousy, it were _270Without just cause, for even the light of dayTrembles to gaze on her.
CYPRIAN:Would you for yourPart, marry her?
FLORO:Such is my confidence.
CYPRIAN:And you?
LELIO:Oh! would that I could lift my hopeSo high, for though she is extremely poor, _275Her virtue is her dowry.
CYPRIAN:And if you bothWould marry her, is it not weak and vain,Culpable and unworthy, thus beforehandTo slur her honour? What would the world sayIf one should slay the other, and if she _280Should afterwards espouse the murderer?
CYPRIAN:O memory! permit it notThat the tyrant of my thoughtBe another soul that stillHolds dominion o’er the will,That would refuse, but can no more, _5To bend, to tremble, and adore.Vain idolatry!—I saw,And gazing, became blind with error;Weak ambition, which the aweOf her presence bound to terror! _10So 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, _15That, hear me, Hell! I now would giveTo thy most detested spiritMy soul, for ever to inherit,To suffer punishment and pine,So this woman may be mine. _20Hear’st thou, Hell! dost thou reject it?My soul is offered!
DAEMON (UNSEEN):I accept it.
CYPRIAN:What is this? ye heavens for ever pure,At once intensely radiant and obscure!Athwart the aethereal halls _25The lightning’s arrow and the thunder-ballsThe day affright,As from the horizon round,Burst with earthquake sound,In mighty torrents the electric fountains;— _30Clouds quench the sun, and thunder-smokeStrangles the air, and fire eclipses Heaven.Philosophy, thou canst not evenCompel their causes underneath thy yoke:From yonder clouds even to the waves below _35The fragments of a single ruin chokeImagination’s flight;For, on flakes of surge, like feathers light,The ashes of the desolation, castUpon the gloomy blast, _40Tell of the footsteps of the storm;And nearer, see, the melancholy formOf a great ship, the outcast of the sea,Drives miserably!And it must fly the pity of the port, _45Or perish, and its last and sole resortIs its own raging enemy.The terror of the thrilling cryWas a fatal prophecyOf coming death, who hovers now _50Upon that shattered prow,That they who die not may be dying still.And not alone the insane elementsAre populous with wild portents,But that sad ship is as a miracle _55Of sudden ruin, for it drives so fastIt seems as if it had arrayed its formWith the headlong storm.It strikes—I almost feel the shock,—It stumbles on a jagged rock,— _60Sparkles of blood on the white foam are cast.
ALL EXCLAIM [WITHIN]:We are all lost!
DAEMON [WITHIN]:Now from this plank will IPass to the land and thus fulfil my scheme.
CYPRIAN:As in contempt of the elemental rageA man comes forth in safety, while the ship’s _65Great form is in a watery eclipseObliterated from the Oceans page,And round its wreck the huge sea-monsters sit,A horrid conclave, and the whistling waveIs heaped over its carcase, like a grave. _70
DAEMON [ASIDE]:It was essential to my purposesTo wake a tumult on the sapphire ocean,That in this unknown form I might at lengthWipe out the blot of the discomfitureSustained upon the mountain, and assail _75With a new war the soul of Cyprian,Forging the instruments of his destructionEven from his love and from his wisdom.—OBeloved earth, dear mother, in thy bosomI seek a refuge from the monster who _80Precipitates itself upon me.
CYPRIAN:Friend,Collect thyself; and be the memoryOf thy late suffering, and thy greatest sorrowBut as a shadow of the past,—for nothingBeneath the circle of the moon, but flows _85And changes, and can never know repose.
DAEMON:And who art thou, before whose feet my fateHas prostrated me?
CYPRIAN:One who, moved with pity,Would soothe its stings.
DAEMON:Oh, that can never be!No solace can my lasting sorrows find. _90
CYPRIAN:Wherefore?
DAEMON:Because my happiness is lost.Yet I lament what has long ceased to beThe object of desire or memory,And my life is not life.
CYPRIAN:Now, since the furyOf this earthquaking hurricane is still, _95And the crystalline Heaven has reassumedIts windless calm so quickly, that it seemsAs if its heavy wrath had been awakenedOnly to overwhelm that vessel,—speak,Who art thou, and whence comest thou?
DAEMON:Far more _100My coming hither cost, than thou hast seenOr I can tell. Among my misadventuresThis shipwreck is the least. Wilt thou hear?
CYPRIAN:Speak.
DAEMON:Since thou desirest, I will then unveilMyself to thee;—for in myself I am _105A world of happiness and misery;This I have lost, and that I must lamentForever. In my attributes I stoodSo high and so heroically great,In lineage so supreme, and with a genius _110Which penetrated with a glance the worldBeneath my feet, that, won by my high merit,A king—whom I may call the King of kings,Because all others tremble in their prideBefore the terrors of His countenance, _115In His high palace roofed with brightest gemsOf living light—call them the stars of Heaven—Named me His counsellor. But the high praiseStung me with pride and envy, and I roseIn mighty competition, to ascend _120His seat and place my foot triumphantlyUpon His subject thrones. Chastised, I knowThe depth to which ambition falls; too madWas the attempt, and yet more mad were nowRepentance of the irrevocable deed:— _125Therefore I chose this ruin, with the gloryOf not to be subdued, before the shameOf reconciling me with Him who reignsBy coward cession.—Nor was I alone,Nor am I now, nor shall I be alone; _130And there was hope, and there may still be hope,For many suffrages among His vassalsHailed me their lord and king, and many stillAre mine, and many more, perchance shall be.Thus vanquished, though in fact victorious, _135I left His seat of empire, from mine eyeShooting forth poisonous lightning, while my wordsWith inauspicious thunderings shook Heaven,Proclaiming vengeance, public as my wrong,And imprecating on His prostrate slaves _140Rapine, and death, and outrage. Then I sailedOver the mighty fabric of the world,—A pirate ambushed in its pathless sands,A lynx crouched watchfully among its cavesAnd craggy shores; and I have wandered over _145The expanse of these wide wildernessesIn this great ship, whose bulk is now dissolvedIn the light breathings of the invisible wind,And which the sea has made a dustless ruin,Seeking ever a mountain, through whose forests _150I seek a man, whom I must now compelTo keep his word with me. I came arrayedIn tempest, and although my power could wellBridle the forest winds in their career,For other causes I forbore to soothe _155Their fury to Favonian gentleness;I could and would not;[ASIDE.](thus I wake in himA love of magic art). Let not this tempest,Nor the succeeding calm excite thy wonder;For by my art the sun would turn as pale _160As his weak sister with unwonted fear;And in my wisdom are the orbs of HeavenWritten as in a record; I have piercedThe flaming circles of their wondrous spheresAnd know them as thou knowest every corner _165Of this dim spot. Let it not seem to theeThat I boast vainly; wouldst thou that I workA charm over this waste and savage wood,This Babylon of crags and aged trees,Filling its leafy coverts with a horror _170Thrilling and strange? I am the friendless guestOf these wild oaks and pines—and as from theeI have received the hospitalityOf this rude place, I offer thee the fruitOf years of toil in recompense; whate’er _175Thy wildest dream presented to thy thoughtAs object of desire, that shall be thine.
…
And thenceforth shall so firm an amity’Twixt thee and me be, that neither Fortune,The monstrous phantom which pursues success, _180That careful miser, that free prodigal,Who ever alternates, with changeful hand,Evil and good, reproach and fame; nor Time,That lodestar of the ages, to whose beamThe winged years speed o’er the intervals _185Of their unequal revolutions; norHeaven itself, whose beautiful bright starsRule and adorn the world, can ever makeThe least division between thee and me,Since now I find a refuge in thy favour. _190
NOTES: _146 wide glassy wildernesses Rossetti. _150 Seeking forever cj. Forman. _154 forest]fiercest cj. Rossetti.
DAEMON:Abyss of Hell! I call on thee,Thou wild misrule of thine own anarchy!From thy prison-house set freeThe spirits of voluptuous death,That with their mighty breath _5They may destroy a world of virgin thoughts;Let her chaste mind with fancies thick as motesBe peopled from thy shadowy deep,Till her guiltless fantasyFull to overflowing be! _10And with sweetest harmony,Let birds, and flowers, and leaves, and all things moveTo love, only to love.Let nothing meet her eyesBut signs of Love’s soft victories; _15Let nothing meet her earBut sounds of Love’s sweet sorrow,So that from faith no succour she may borrow,But, guided by my spirit blindAnd in a magic snare entwined, _20She may now seek Cyprian.Begin, while I in silence bindMy voice, when thy sweet song thou hast began.
NOTE: _18 she may]may she 1824.
A VOICE [WITHIN]:What is the glory far aboveAll else in human life?
ALL:Love! love! _25
THE FIRST VOICE:There is no form in which the fireOf love its traces has impressed not.Man lives far more in love’s desireThan by life’s breath, soon possessed not.If all that lives must love or die, _30All shapes on earth, or sea, or sky,With one consent to Heaven cryThat the glory far aboveAll else in life is—
ALL:Love! oh, Love!
JUSTINA:Thou melancholy Thought which art _35So flattering and so sweet, to theeWhen did I give the libertyThus to afflict my heart?What is the cause of this new PowerWhich doth my fevered being move, _40Momently raging more and more?What subtle Pain is kindled nowWhich from my heart doth overflowInto my senses?—
NOTE: _36 flattering Boscombe manuscript; fluttering 1824.
ALL:Love! oh, Love!
JUSTINA:’Tis that enamoured Nightingale _45Who gives me the reply;He ever tells the same soft taleOf passion and of constancyTo his mate, who rapt and fond,Listening sits, a bough beyond. _50
Be silent, Nightingale—no moreMake me think, in hearing theeThus tenderly thy love deplore,If a bird can feel his so,What a man would feel for me. _55And, voluptuous Vine, O thouWho seekest most when least pursuing,—To the trunk thou interlacestArt the verdure which embracest,And the weight which is its ruin,— _60No more, with green embraces, Vine,Make me think on what thou lovest,—For whilst thus thy boughs entwineI fear lest thou shouldst teach me, sophist,How arms might be entangled too. _65
Light-enchanted Sunflower, thouWho gazest ever true and tenderOn the sun’s revolving splendour!Follow not his faithless glanceWith thy faded countenance, _70Nor teach my beating heart to fear,If leaves can mourn without a tear,How eyes must weep! O Nightingale,Cease from thy enamoured tale,—Leafy Vine, unwreathe thy bower, _75Restless Sunflower, cease to move,—Or tell me all, what poisonous PowerYe use against me—
NOTES: _58 To]Who to cj. Rossetti. _63 whilst thus Rossetti, Forman, Dowden; whilst thou thus 1824.
ALL:Love! Love! Love!
JUSTINA:It cannot be!—Whom have I ever loved?Trophies of my oblivion and disdain, _80Floro and Lelio did I not reject?And Cyprian?—[SHE BECOMES TROUBLED AT THE NAME OF CYPRIAN.]Did I not requite himWith such severity, that he has fledWhere none has ever heard of him again?—Alas! I now begin to fear that this _85May be the occasion whence desire grows bold,As if there were no danger. From the momentThat I pronounced to my own listening heart,‘Cyprian is absent!’—O me miserable!I know not what I feel![MORE CALMLY.]It must be pity _90To think that such a man, whom all the worldAdmired, should be forgot by all the world,And I the cause.[SHE AGAIN BECOMES TROUBLED.]And yet if it were pity,Floro and Lelio might have equal share,For they are both imprisoned for my sake. _95[CALMLY.]Alas! what reasonings are these? it isEnough I pity him, and that, in vain,Without this ceremonious subtlety.And, woe is me! I know not where to find him now,Even should I seek him through this wide world. _100
NOTE: _89 me miserable]miserable me editions 1839.
DAEMON:Follow, and I will lead thee where he is.
JUSTINA:And who art thou, who hast found entrance hither,Into my chamber through the doors and locks?Art thou a monstrous shadow which my madnessHas formed in the idle air?
DAEMON:No. I am one _105Called by the Thought which tyrannizes theeFrom his eternal dwelling; who this dayIs pledged to bear thee unto Cyprian.
JUSTINA:So shall thy promise fail. This agonyOf passion which afflicts my heart and soul _110May sweep imagination in its storm;The will is firm.
DAEMON:Already half is doneIn the imagination of an act.The sin incurred, the pleasure then remains;Let not the will stop half-way on the road. _115
JUSTINA:I will not be discouraged, nor despair,Although I thought it, and although ’tis trueThat thought is but a prelude to the deed:—Thought is not in my power, but action is:I will not move my foot to follow thee. _120
DAEMON:But a far mightier wisdom than thine ownExerts itself within thee, with such powerCompelling thee to that which it inclinesThat it shall force thy step; how wilt thou thenResist, Justina?
NOTE: _123 inclines]inclines to cj. Rossetti.
JUSTINA:By my free-will.
DAEMON:I _125Must force thy will.
JUSTINA:It is invincible;It were not free if thou hadst power upon it.
DAEMON:Come, where a pleasure waits thee.
JUSTINA:It were boughtToo dear.
DAEMON:‘Twill soothe thy heart to softest peace.
JUSTINA:’Tis dread captivity.
DAEMON:’Tis joy, ’tis glory. _130
JUSTINA:’Tis shame, ’tis torment, ’tis despair.
DAEMON:But howCanst thou defend thyself from that or me,If my power drags thee onward?
JUSTINA:My defenceConsists in God.
DAEMON:Woman, thou hast subdued me,Only by not owning thyself subdued. _135But since thou thus findest defence in God,I will assume a feigned form, and thusMake thee a victim of my baffled rage.For I will mask a spirit in thy formWho will betray thy name to infamy, _140And doubly shall I triumph in thy loss,First by dishonouring thee, and then by turningFalse pleasure to true ignominy.
JUSTINA: IAppeal to Heaven against thee; so that HeavenMay scatter thy delusions, and the blot _145Upon my fame vanish in idle thought,Even as flame dies in the envious air,And as the floweret wanes at morning frost;And thou shouldst never—But, alas! to whomDo I still speak?—Did not a man but now _150Stand here before me?—No, I am alone,And yet I saw him. Is he gone so quickly?Or can the heated mind engender shapesFrom its own fear? Some terrible and strangePeril is near. Lisander! father! lord! _155Livia!—
LISANDER:Oh, my daughter! What?
LIVIA:What!
JUSTINA:Saw youA man go forth from my apartment now?—I scarce contain myself!
LISANDER:A man here!
JUSTINA:Have you not seen him?
LIVIA:No, Lady.
JUSTINA: I saw him.
LISANDER: ’Tis impossible; the doors _160Which led to this apartment were all locked.
LIVIA [ASIDE]:I daresay it was Moscon whom she saw,For he was locked up in my room.
LISANDER:It mustHave been some image of thy fantasy.Such melancholy as thou feedest is _165Skilful in forming such in the vain airOut of the motes and atoms of the day.
LIVIA:My master’s in the right.
JUSTINA:Oh, would it wereDelusion; but I fear some greater ill.I feel as if out of my bleeding bosom _170My heart was torn in fragments; ay,Some mortal spell is wrought against my frame;So potent was the charm that, had not GodShielded my humble innocence from wrong,I should have sought my sorrow and my shame _175With willing steps.—Livia, quick, bring my cloak,For I must seek refuge from these extremesEven in the temple of the highest GodWhere secretly the faithful worship.
LIVIA:Here.
NOTE: _179 Where Rossetti; Which 1824.
JUSTINA [PUTTING ON HER CLOAK]:In this, as in a shroud of snow, may I _180Quench the consuming fire in which I burn,Wasting away!
LISANDER:And I will go with thee.
LIVIA:When I once see them safe out of the houseI shall breathe freely.
JUSTINA:So do I confideIn thy just favour, Heaven!
LISANDER:Let us go. _185
JUSTINA:Thine is the cause, great God! turn for my sake,And for Thine own, mercifully to me!
***
[Published by Medwin, “Life of Shelley”, 1847, with Shelley’s corrections in ‘‘.]
1.Hast thou not seen, officious with delight,Move through the illumined air about the flowerThe Bee, that fears to drink its purple light,Lest danger lurk within that Rose’s bower?Hast thou not marked the moth’s enamoured flight _5About the Taper’s flame at evening hour;‘Till kindle in that monumental fireHis sunflower wings their own funereal pyre?
2.My heart, its wishes trembling to unfold.Thus round the Rose and Taper hovering came, _10‘And Passion’s slave, Distrust, in ashes cold.Smothered awhile, but could not quench the flame,’—Till Love, that grows by disappointment bold,And Opportunity, had conquered Shame;And like the Bee and Moth, in act to close, _15‘I burned my wings, and settled on the Rose.’
***
[Published in part (Scene 2) in “The Liberal”, No. 1, 1822; in full, by Mrs. Shelley, “Posthumous Poems”, 1824.]
RAPHAEL:The sun makes music as of oldAmid the rival spheres of Heaven,On its predestined circle rolledWith thunder speed: the Angels evenDraw strength from gazing on its glance, _5Though none its meaning fathom may:—The world’s unwithered countenanceIs bright as at Creation’s day.
GABRIEL:And swift and swift, with rapid lightness,The adorned Earth spins silently, _10Alternating Elysian brightnessWith deep and dreadful night; the seaFoams in broad billows from the deepUp to the rocks, and rocks and Ocean,Onward, with spheres which never sleep, _15Are hurried in eternal motion.
MICHAEL:And tempests in contention roarFrom land to sea, from sea to land;And, raging, weave a chain of power,Which girds the earth, as with a band.— _20A flashing desolation there,Flames before the thunder’s way;But Thy servants, Lord, revereThe gentle changes of Thy day.
CHORUS OF THE THREE:The Angels draw strength from Thy glance, _25Though no one comprehend Thee may;—Thy world’s unwithered countenanceIs bright as on Creation’s day.
NOTE:_28 (RAPHAEL:The sun sounds, according to ancient custom,In the song of emulation of his brother-spheres.And its fore-written circleFulfils with a step of thunder.Its countenance gives the Angels strengthThough no one can fathom it.The incredible high worksAre excellent as at the first day.
GABRIEL:And swift, and inconceivably swiftThe adornment of earth winds itself round,And exchanges Paradise-clearnessWith deep dreadful night.The sea foams in broad wavesFrom its deep bottom, up to the rocks,And rocks and sea are torn on togetherIn the eternal swift course of the spheres.
MICHAEL:And storms roar in emulationFrom sea to land, from land to sea,And make, raging, a chainOf deepest operation round about.There flames a flashing destructionBefore the path of the thunderbolt.But Thy servants, Lord, revereThe gentle alternations of Thy day.
CHORUS:Thy countenance gives the Angels strength,Though none can comprehend Thee:And all Thy lofty worksAre excellent as at the first day.
Such is a literal translation of this astonishing chorus; it is impossible to represent in another language the melody of the versification; even the volatile strength and delicacy of the ideas escape in the crucible of translation, and the reader is surprised to find a caput mortuum.—[SHELLEY’S NOTE.])
MEPHISTOPHELES:As thou, O Lord, once more art kind enoughTo interest Thyself in our affairs, _30And ask, ‘How goes it with you there below?’And as indulgently at other timesThou tookest not my visits in ill part,Thou seest me here once more among Thy household.Though I should scandalize this company, _35You will excuse me if I do not talkIn the high style which they think fashionable;My pathos certainly would make You laugh too,Had You not long since given over laughing.Nothing know I to say of suns and worlds; _40I observe only how men plague themselves;—The little god o’ the world keeps the same stamp,As wonderful as on creation’s day:—A little better would he live, hadst ThouNot given him a glimpse of Heaven’s light _45Which he calls reason, and employs it onlyTo live more beastlily than any beast.With reverence to Your Lordship be it spoken,He’s like one of those long-legged grasshoppers,Who flits and jumps about, and sings for ever _50The same old song i’ the grass. There let him lie,Burying his nose in every heap of dung.
NOTES: _38 certainly would editions 1839; would certainly 1824. _47 beastlily 1824; beastily editions 1839.
THE LORD:Have you no more to say? Do you come hereAlways to scold, and cavil, and complain?Seems nothing ever right to you on earth? _55
MEPHISTOPHELES:No, Lord! I find all there, as ever, bad at best.Even I am sorry for man’s days of sorrow;I could myself almost give up the pleasureOf plaguing the poor things.
THE LORD:Knowest thou Faust?
MEPHISTOPHELES:The Doctor?
THE LORD:Ay; My servant Faust.
MEPHISTOPHELES:In truth _60He serves You in a fashion quite his own;And the fool’s meat and drink are not of earth.His aspirations bear him on so farThat he is half aware of his own folly,For he demands from Heaven its fairest star, _65And from the earth the highest joy it bears,Yet all things far, and all things near, are vainTo calm the deep emotions of his breast.
THE LORD:Though he now serves Me in a cloud of error,I will soon lead him forth to the clear day. _70When trees look green, full well the gardener knowsThat fruits and blooms will deck the coming year.