The Collected Works of Oscar Wilde: 250+ Titles in One Edition. Оскар Уайльд

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СКАЧАТЬ of thine oath, thou traitor, what of thine oath?

      GUIDO

       I am resolved not to keep that oath.

      MORANZONE

       What of thy murdered father?

      GUIDO

       Dost thou think

       My father would be glad to see me coming,

       This old man’s blood still hot upon mine hands?

      MORANZONE

       Ay! he would laugh for joy.

      GUIDO

       I do not think so,

       There is better knowledge in the other world;

       Vengeance is God’s, let God himself revenge.

      MORANZONE

       Thou art God’s minister of vengeance.

      GUIDO

       No!

       God hath no minister but his own hand.

       I will not kill this man.

      MORANZONE

       Why are you here,

       If not to kill him, then?

      GUIDO

       Lord Moranzone,

       I purpose to ascend to the Duke’s chamber,

       And as he lies asleep lay on his breast

       The dagger and this writing; when he awakes

       Then he will know who held him in his power

       And slew him not: this is the noblest vengeance

       Which I can take.

      MORANZONE

       You will not slay him?

      GUIDO

       No.

      MORANZONE

       Ignoble son of a noble father,

       Who sufferest this man who sold that father

       To live an hour.

      GUIDO

       ‘Twas thou that hindered me;

       I would have killed him in the open square,

       The day I saw him first.

      MORANZONE

       It was not yet time;

       Now it is time, and, like some green-faced girl,

       Thou pratest of forgiveness.

      GUIDO

       No! revenge:

       The right revenge my father’s son should take.

      MORANZONE

       You are a coward,

       Take out the knife, get to the Duke’s chamber,

       And bring me back his heart upon the blade.

       When he is dead, then you can talk to me

       Of noble vengeances.

      GUIDO

       Upon thine honour,

       And by the love thou bearest my father’s name,

       Dost thou think my father, that great gentleman,

       That generous soldier, that most chivalrous lord,

       Would have crept at night-time, like a common thief,

       And stabbed an old man sleeping in his bed,

       However he had wronged him: tell me that.

      MORANZONE

       [after some hesitation]

       You have sworn an oath, see that you keep that oath.

       Boy, do you think I do not know your secret,

       Your traffic with the Duchess?

      GUIDO

       Silence, liar!

       The very moon in heaven is not more chaste.

       Nor the white stars so pure.

      MORANZONE

       And yet, you love her;

       Weak fool, to let love in upon your life,

       Save as a plaything.

      GUIDO

       You do well to talk:

       Within your veins, old man, the pulse of youth

       Throbs with no ardour. Your eyes full of rheum

       Have against Beauty closed their filmy doors,

       And your clogged ears, losing their natural sense,

       Have shut you from the music of the world.

       You talk of love! You know not what it is.

      MORANZONE

       Oh, in my time, boy, have I walked i’ the moon,

       Swore I would live on kisses and on blisses,

       Swore I would die for love, and did not die,

       Wrote love bad verses; ay, and sung them badly,

       Like all true lovers: Oh, I have done the tricks!

       I know the partings and the chamberings;

       We are all animals at best, and love

       Is merely passion with a holy name.

      GUIDO

       Now then I know you have not loved at all.

       Love is the sacrament of life; it sets

       Virtue where virtue was not; cleanses men

       Of all the vile pollutions of this world;

       It is the fire which purges gold from dross,

       It is the fan which winnows wheat from chaff,

       СКАЧАТЬ