Guido, you shall not: it would be a thing
So terrible that the amazed stars

Would fall from heaven, and the palsied moon
Be in her sphere eclipsed, and the great sun

Refuse to shine upon the unjust earth
Which saw thee die.

GUIDO
Be sure I shall not stir.

DUCHESS
[wringing her hands]

Is one sin not enough, but must it breed
A second sin more horrible again

Than was the one that bare it? O God, God,
Seal up sin's teeming womb, and make it barren,

I will not have more blood upon my hand
Than I have now.

GUIDO
[seizing her hand]

What! am I fallen so low
That I may not have leave to die for you?

DUCHESS
[tearing her hand away]

Die for me? - no, my life is a vile thing,
Thrown to the miry highways of this world;

You shall not die for me, you shall not, Guido;
I am a guilty woman.

GUIDO
Guilty? - let those

Who know what a thing temptation is,
Let those who have not walked as we have done,

In the red fire of passion, those whose lives
Are dull and colourless, in a word let those,

If any such there be, who have not loved,
Cast stones against you. As for me -

DUCHESS
Alas!

GUIDO
[falling at her feet]

You are my lady, and you are my love!
O hair of gold, O crimson lips, O face

Made for the luring and the love of man!
Incarnate image of pure loveliness!

Worshipping thee I do forget the past,
Worshipping thee my soul comes close to thine,

Worshipping thee I seem to be a god,
And though they give my body to the block,

Yet is my love eternal!
[DUCHESS puts her hands over her face: GUIDO draws them down.]

Sweet, lift up
The trailing curtains that overhang your eyes

That I may look into those eyes, and tell you
I love you, never more than now when Death

Thrusts his cold lips between us: Beatrice,
I love you: have you no word left to say?

Oh, I can bear the executioner,
But not this silence: will you not say you love me?

Speak but that word and Death shall lose his sting,
But speak it not, and fifty thousand deaths

Are, in comparison, mercy. Oh, you are cruel,
And do not love me.

DUCHESS
Alas! I have no right

For I have stained the innocent hands of love
With spilt-out blood: there is blood on the ground;

I set it there.
GUIDO

Sweet, it was not yourself,
It was some devil tempted you.

DUCHESS
[rising suddenly]

No, no,
We are each our own devil, and we make

This world our hell.
GUIDO

Then let high Paradise
Fall into Tartarus! for I shall make

This world my heaven for a little space.
The sin was mine, if any sin there was.

'Twas I who nurtured murder in my heart,
Sweetened my meats, seasoned my wine with it,

And in my fancy slew the accursed Duke
A hundred times a day. Why, had this man

Died half so often as I wished him to,
Death had been stalking ever through the house,

And murder had not slept.
But you, fond heart,

Whose little eyes grew tender over a whipt hound,
You whom the little children laughed to see

Because you brought the sunlight where you passed,
You the white angel of God's purity,

This which men call your sin, what was it?
DUCHESS

Ay!
What was it? There are times it seems a dream,

An evil dream sent by an evil god,
And then I see the dead face in the coffin

And know it is no dream, but that my hand
Is red with blood, and that my desperate soul

Striving to find some haven for its love
From the wild tempest of this raging world,

Has wrecked its bark upon the rocks of sin.
What was it, said you? - murder merely? Nothing

But murder, horrible murder.
GUIDO

Nay, nay, nay,
'Twas but the passion-flower of your love

That in one moment leapt to terrible life,
And in one moment bare this gory fruit,

Which I had plucked in thought a thousand times.
My soul was murderous, but my hand refused;

Your hand wrought murder, but your soul was pure.
And so I love you, Beatrice, and let him

Who has no mercy for your stricken head,
Lack mercy up in heaven! Kiss me, sweet.

[Tries to kiss her.]
DUCHESS

No, no, your lips are pure, and mine are soiled,
For Guilt has been my paramour, and Sin

Lain in my bed: O Guido, if you love me
Get hence, for every moment is a worm

Which gnaws your life away: nay, sweet, get hence,
And if in after time you think of me,

Think of me as of one who loved you more
Than anything on earth; think of me, Guido,

As of a woman merely, one who tried
To make her life a sacrifice to love,

And slew love in the trial: Oh, what is that?
The bell has stopped from ringing, and I hear

The feet of armed men upon the stair.
GUIDO

[aside]
That is the signal for the guard to come.

DUCHESS
Why has the bell stopped ringing?

GUIDO
If you must know,

That stops my life on this side of the grave,
But on the other we shall meet again.

DUCHESS
No, no, 'tis not too late: you must get hence;

The horse is by the bridge, there is still time.
Away, away, you must not tarry here!

[Noise of Soldiers in the passage.]
A VOICE OUTSIDE

Room for the Lord Justice of Padua!
[The LORD JUSTICE is seen through the grated window passing down

the corridor preceded by men bearing torches.]
DUCHESS

It is too late.
A VOICE OUTSIDE

Room for the headsman.
DUCHESS

[sinks down]
Oh!

[The Headsman with his axe on his shoulder is seen passing the
corridor, followed by Monks bearing candles.]

GUIDO
Farewell, dear love, for I must drink this poison.

I do not fear the headsman, but I would die
Not on the lonely scaffold.

But here,
Here in thine arms, kissing thy mouth: farewell!

[Goes to the table and takes the goblet up.] What, art thou empty?
[Throws it to the ground.]

O thou churlish gaoler,
Even of poisons niggard!

DUCHESS
[faintly]

Blame him not.
GUIDO

O God! you have not drunk it, Beatrice?
Tell me you have not?

DUCHESS
Were I to deny it,

There is a fire eating at my heart
Which would find utterance.

GUIDO
O treacherous love,

Why have you not left a drop for me?
DUCHESS

No, no, it held but death enough for one.
GUIDO

Is there no poison still upon your lips,
That I may draw it from them?

DUCHESS
Why should you die?

You have not spilt blood, and so need not die:
I have spilt blood, and therefore I must die.

Was it not said blood should be spilt for blood?
Who said that? I forget.

GUIDO
Tarry for me,

Our souls will go together.
DUCHESS

Nay, you must live.
There are many other women in the world

Who will love you, and not murder for your sake.
GUIDO

I love you only.
DUCHESS

You need not die for that.

• horrible [´hɔrəbəl] a.可怕的；恐怖的 (初中英语单词)
• guilty [´gilti] a.有罪的；心虚的 (初中英语单词)
• passion [´pæʃən] n.激情；激怒；恋爱 (初中英语单词)
• comparison [kəm´pærisən] n.比较；对照；比喻 (初中英语单词)
• innocent [´inəsənt] a.无罪的；单纯的 (初中英语单词)
• sunlight [´sʌnlait] n.日光 (初中英语单词)
• desperate [´despərit] a.拼死的；绝望的 (初中英语单词)
• wrought [rɔ:t] work 的过去式(分词) (初中英语单词)
• lonely [´ləunli] a.孤独的；无人烟的 (初中英语单词)
• poison [´pɔizən] n.毒物 v.毒害 a.有毒的 (初中英语单词)
• therefore [´ðeəfɔ:] ad.&conj.因此；所以 (初中英语单词)
• sphere [sfiə] n.圆体；天体；范围 (高中英语单词)
• temptation [temp´teiʃən] n.引诱，诱惑(物) (高中英语单词)
• crimson [´krimzən] a.&n.深(紫)红(的) (高中英语单词)
• tempest [´tempist] n.暴风雨 (高中英语单词)
• stricken [´strikən] strike的过去分词 (高中英语单词)
• corridor [´kɔridɔ:] n.走廊；指定航路 (高中英语单词)
• bearing [´beəriŋ] n.举止；忍耐；关系 (高中英语单词)
• treacherous [´tretʃərəs] a.虚伪的；不忠的 (高中英语单词)
• unjust [ʌn´dʒʌst] a.不公平(正)的 (英语四级单词)
• accursed [ə´kə:sid] a.被诅咒的；可憎的 (英语四级单词)
• murderous [´mə:dərəs] a.行凶的；势不可挡的 (英语四级单词)
• bridge [bridʒ] n.桥(梁)；鼻梁；桥牌 (英语四级单词)
• goblet [´gɔblit] n.高脚玻璃杯 (英语四级单词)
• colourless [´kʌləlis] a.无色的；不生动的 (英语六级单词)
• overhang [,əuvə´hæŋ] vt.悬于...之上；逼近 (英语六级单词)