Manfred (With Byron's Biography). Lord Byron
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Название: Manfred (With Byron's Biography)

Автор: Lord Byron

Издательство: Bookwire

Жанр: Языкознание

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isbn: 4064066385415

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      Man. To do this thy power Must wake the dead, or lay me low with them. Do so—in any shape—in any hour— With any torture—so it be the last.

      Witch. That is not in my province; but if thou Wilt swear obedience to my will, and do My bidding, it may help thee to thy wishes.

      Man. I will not swear—Obey! and whom? the Spirits Whose presence I command, and be the slave Of those who served me—Never!

      Witch. Is this all?160 Hast thou no gentler answer?—Yet bethink thee, And pause ere thou rejectest.

      Man. I have said it.

      Witch. Enough! I may retire then—say!

      Man. Retire! The Witch disappears.

      Enter First Destiny.

      The Moon is rising broad, and round, and bright;

      A Voice without, singing.

      The Captive Usurper,

       Hurled down from the throne,

       Lay buried in torpor,

       Forgotten and lone;

       I broke through his slumbers,20

       I shivered his chain,

       I leagued him with numbers—

       He's Tyrant again!

       With the blood of a million he'll answer my care,

      Second Voice, without.

      The Ship sailed on, the Ship sailed fast,

       But I left not a sail, and I left not a mast;

       There is not a plank of the hull or the deck,

       And there is not a wretch to lament o'er his wreck;

       Save one, whom I held, as he swam, by the hair,30

       And he was a subject well worthy my care;

      First Destiny, answering.

      The City lies sleeping;

       The morn, to deplore it,

       May dawn on it weeping:

       Sullenly, slowly,

       The black plague flew o'er it—

       Thousands lie lowly;

       Tens of thousands shall perish;40

       The living shall fly from

       The sick they should cherish;

       But nothing can vanquish

       The touch that they die from.

       Sorrow and anguish,

       And evil and dread,

       Envelope a nation;

       The blest are the dead,

       Who see not the sight

       Of their own desolation;50

       This work of a night—

       This wreck of a realm—this deed of my doing—

       For ages I've done, and shall still be renewing!

      Enter the Second and Third Destinies.

      The Three.

      Our hands contain the hearts of men,

       Our footsteps are their graves;

       We only give to take again

       The Spirits of our slaves!

      First Des. Welcome!—Where's Nemesis?

      Second Des. At some great work; But what I know not, for my hands were full.

      Third Des. Behold she cometh.

      Enter СКАЧАТЬ