And drew it from the sheath, and felt the edge,

And thought of you, and how I loved you, Guido,
And turned to fall upon it, when I marked

The old man sleeping, full of years and sin;
There lay he muttering curses in his sleep,

And as I looked upon his evil face
Suddenly like a flame there flashed across me,

There is the barrier which Guido spoke of:
You said there lay a barrier between us,

What barrier but he? -
I hardly know

What happened, but a steaming mist of blood
Rose up between us two.

GUIDO
Oh, horrible!

DUCHESS
And then he groaned,

And then he groaned no more! I only heard
The dripping of the blood upon the floor.

GUIDO
Enough, enough.

DUCHESS
Will you not kiss me now?

Do you remember saying that women's love
Turns men to angels? well, the love of man

Turns women into martyrs; for its sake
We do or suffer anything.

GUIDO
O God!

DUCHESS
Will you not speak?

GUIDO
I cannot speak at all.

DUCHESS
Let as not talk of this! Let us go hence:

Is not the barrier broken down between us?
What would you more? Come, it is almost morning.

[Puts her hand on GUIDO'S.]
GUIDO

[breaking from her]
O damned saint! O angel fresh from Hell!

What bloody devil tempted thee to this!
That thou hast killed thy husband, that is nothing -

Hell was already gaping for his soul -
But thou hast murdered Love, and in its place

Hast set a horrible and bloodstained thing,
Whose very breath breeds pestilence and plague,

And strangles Love.
DUCHESS

[in amazed wonder]
I did it all for you.

I would not have you do it, had you willed it,
For I would keep you without blot or stain,

A thing unblemished, unassailed, untarnished.
Men do not know what women do for love.

Have I not wrecked my soul for your dear sake,
Here and hereafter?

GUIDO
No, do not touch me,

Between us lies a thin red stream of blood;
I dare not look across it: when you stabbed him

You stabbed Love with a sharp knife to the heart.
We cannot meet again.

DUCHESS
[wringing her hands]

For you! For you!
I did it all for you: have you forgotten?

You said there was a barrier between us;
That barrier lies now i' the upper chamber

Upset, overthrown, beaten, and battered down,
And will not part us ever.

GUIDO
No, you mistook:

Sin was the barrier, you have raised it up;
Crime was the barrier, you have set it there.

The barrier was murder, and your hand
Has builded it so high it shuts out heaven,

It shuts out God.
DUCHESS

I did it all for you;
You dare not leave me now: nay, Guido, listen.

Get horses ready, we will fly to-night.
The past is a bad dream, we will forget it:

Before us lies the future: shall we not have
Sweet days of love beneath our vines and laugh? -

No, no, we will not laugh, but, when we weep,
Well, we will weep together; I will serve you;

I will be very meek and very gentle:
You do not know me.

GUIDO
Nay, I know you now;

Get hence, I say, out of my sight.
DUCHESS

[pacing up and down]
O God,

How I have loved this man!
GUIDO

You never loved me.
Had it been so, Love would have stayed your hand.

How could we sit together at Love's table?
You have poured poison in the sacred wine,

And Murder dips his fingers in the sop.
DUCHESS

[throws herself on her knees]
Then slay me now! I have spilt blood to-night,

You shall spill more, so we go hand in hand
To heaven or to hell. Draw your sword, Guido.

Quick, let your soul go chambering in my heart,
It will but find its master's image there.

Nay, if you will not slay me with your sword,
Bid me to fall upon this reeking knife,

And I will do it.
GUIDO

[wresting knife from her]
Give it to me, I say.

O God, your very hands are wet with blood!
This place is Hell, I cannot tarry here.

I pray you let me see your face no more.
DUCHESS

Better for me I had not seen your face.
[GUIDO recoils: she seizes his hands as she kneels.]

Nay, Guido, listen for a while:
Until you came to Padua I lived

Wretched indeed, but with no murderous thought,
Very submissive to a cruel Lord,

Very obedient to unjust commands,
As pure I think as any gentle girl

Who now would turn in horror from my hands -
[Stands up.]

You came: ah! Guido, the first kindly words
I ever heard since I had come from France

Were from your lips: well, well, that is no matter.
You came, and in the passion of your eyes

I read love's meaning; everything you said
Touched my dumb soul to music, so I loved you.

And yet I did not tell you of my love.
'Twas you who sought me out, knelt at my feet

As I kneel now at yours, and with sweet vows,
[Kneels.]

Whose music seems to linger in my ears,
Swore that you loved me, and I trusted you.

I think there are many women in the world
Who would have tempted you to kill the man.

I did not.
Yet I know that had I done so,

I had not been thus humbled in the dust,
[Stands up.]

But you had loved me very faithfully.
[After a pause approaches him timidly.]

I do not think you understand me, Guido:
It was for your sake that I wrought this deed

Whose horror now chills my young blood to ice,
For your sake only. [Stretching out her arm.]

Will you not speak to me?
Love me a little: in my girlish life

I have been starved for love, and kindliness
Has passed me by.

GUIDO
I dare not look at you:

You come to me with too pronounced a favour;
Get to your tirewomen.

DUCHESS
Ay, there it is!

There speaks the man! yet had you come to me
With any heavy sin upon your soul,

Some murder done for hire, not for love,
Why, I had sat and watched at your bedside

All through the night-time, lest Remorse might come
And pour his poisons in your ear, and so

Keep you from sleeping! Sure it is the guilty,
Who, being very wretched, need love most.

GUIDO
There is no love where there is any guilt.

DUCHESS
No love where there is any guilt! O God,

How differently do we love from men!
There is many a woman here in Padua,

Some workman's wife, or ruder artisan's,
Whose husband spends the wages of the week

In a coarse revel, or a tavern brawl,
And reeling home late on the Saturday night,

Finds his wife sitting by a fireless hearth,
Trying to hush the child who cries for hunger,

And then sets to and beats his wife because
The child is hungry, and the fire black.

Yet the wife loves him! and will rise next day
With some red bruise across a careworn face,

And sweep the house, and do the common service,
And try and smile, and only be too glad

If he does not beat her a second time
Before her child! - that is how women love.

[A pause: GUIDO says nothing.]
I think you will not drive me from your side.

Where have I got to go if you reject me? -
You for whose sake this hand has murdered life,

You for whose sake my soul has wrecked itself
Beyond all hope of pardon.

GUIDO
Get thee gone:

The dead man is a ghost, and our love too,
Flits like a ghost about its desolate tomb,

• sleeping [´sli:piŋ] n.&a.睡着(的) (初中英语单词)
• bloody [´blʌdi] a.(流)血的；血腥的 (初中英语单词)
• horrible [´hɔrəbəl] a.可怕的；恐怖的 (初中英语单词)
• breath [breθ] n.呼吸；气息 (初中英语单词)
• stream [stri:m] n.河 vi.流出；飘扬 (初中英语单词)
• beaten [´bi:tn] beat 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
• poison [´pɔizən] n.毒物 v.毒害 a.有毒的 (初中英语单词)
• sacred [´seikrid] a.神圣的；庄严的 (初中英语单词)
• horror [´hɔrə] n.恐怖；战栗 (初中英语单词)
• passion [´pæʃən] n.激情；激怒；恋爱 (初中英语单词)
• linger [´liŋgə] v.逗留；留恋；拖延 (初中英语单词)
• wrought [rɔ:t] work 的过去式(分词) (初中英语单词)
• wretched [´retʃid] a.可怜的；倒霉的 (初中英语单词)
• coarse [kɔ:s] a.粗(糙)的；粗鲁的 (初中英语单词)
• barrier [´bæriə] n.栅栏；屏障；障碍 (高中英语单词)
• saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
• damned [dæmd] a.该死的 ad.非常，极 (高中英语单词)
• overthrown [,əuvə´θrəun] overthrow的过去分词 (高中英语单词)
• pronounced [prə´naunst] a.发出音的；显著的 (高中英语单词)
• differently [´difrentli] ad.不同地，有差别地 (高中英语单词)
• tavern [´tævən] n.小酒馆；客栈 (高中英语单词)
• bruise [bru:z] n.伤痕 v.打(碰)伤 (高中英语单词)
• reject [ri´dʒekt] vt.拒绝；抵制；否决 (高中英语单词)
• desolate [´desəleit] a.荒凉的；孤独的 (高中英语单词)
• sheath [ʃi:θ] n.鞘，壳，套 (英语四级单词)
• murderous [´mə:dərəs] a.行凶的；势不可挡的 (英语四级单词)
• obedient [ə´bi:djənt] a.服从的，恭顺的 (英语四级单词)
• unjust [ʌn´dʒʌst] a.不公平(正)的 (英语四级单词)
• remorse [ri´mɔ:s] n.懊悔；自责；同情 (英语四级单词)
• pestilence [´pestiləns] n.瘟(鼠)疫；毒害(物) (英语六级单词)