The Battle of Darkness and Light . Джон Мильтон

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ Whence have the rivers that which goes with them,

      Virtue is like an enemy avoided

       By all, as is a serpent, through misfortune

       Of place, or through bad habit that impels them;

      On which account have so transformed their nature

       The dwellers in that miserable valley,

       It seems that Circe had them in her pasture.

      'Mid ugly swine, of acorns worthier

       Than other food for human use created,

       It first directeth its impoverished way.

      Curs findeth it thereafter, coming downward,

       More snarling than their puissance demands,

       And turns from them disdainfully its muzzle.

      It goes on falling, and the more it grows,

       The more it finds the dogs becoming wolves,

       This maledict and misadventurous ditch.

      Descended then through many a hollow gulf,

       It finds the foxes so replete with fraud,

       They fear no cunning that may master them.

      Nor will I cease because another hears me;

       And well 'twill be for him, if still he mind him

       Of what a truthful spirit to me unravels.

      Thy grandson I behold, who doth become

       A hunter of those wolves upon the bank

       Of the wild stream, and terrifies them all.

      He sells their flesh, it being yet alive;

       Thereafter slaughters them like ancient beeves;

       Many of life, himself of praise, deprives.

      Blood-stained he issues from the dismal forest;

       He leaves it such, a thousand years from now

       In its primeval state 'tis not re-wooded."

      As at the announcement of impending ills

       The face of him who listens is disturbed,

       From whate'er side the peril seize upon him;

      So I beheld that other soul, which stood

       Turned round to listen, grow disturbed and sad,

       When it had gathered to itself the word.

      The speech of one and aspect of the other

       Had me desirous made to know their names,

       And question mixed with prayers I made thereof,

      Whereat the spirit which first spake to me

       Began again: "Thou wishest I should bring me

       To do for thee what thou'lt not do for me;

      But since God willeth that in thee shine forth

       Such grace of his, I'll not be chary with thee;

       Know, then, that I Guido del Duca am.

      My blood was so with envy set on fire,

       That if I had beheld a man make merry,

       Thou wouldst have seen me sprinkled o'er with pallor.

      From my own sowing such the straw I reap!

       O human race! why dost thou set thy heart

       Where interdict of partnership must be?

      This is Renier; this is the boast and honour

       Of the house of Calboli, where no one since

       Has made himself the heir of his desert.

      And not alone his blood is made devoid,

       'Twixt Po and mount, and sea-shore and the Reno,

       Of good required for truth and for diversion;

      For all within these boundaries is full

       Of venomous roots, so that too tardily

       By cultivation now would they diminish.

      Where is good Lizio, and Arrigo Manardi,

       Pier Traversaro, and Guido di Carpigna,

       O Romagnuoli into bastards turned?

      When in Bologna will a Fabbro rise?

       When in Faenza a Bernardin di Fosco,

       The noble scion of ignoble seed?

      Be not astonished, Tuscan, if I weep,

       When I remember, with Guido da Prata,

       Ugolin d' Azzo, who was living with us,

      Frederick Tignoso and his company,

       The house of Traversara, and th' Anastagi,

       And one race and the other is extinct;

      The dames and cavaliers, the toils and ease

       That filled our souls with love and courtesy,

       There where the hearts have so malicious grown!

      O Brettinoro! why dost thou not flee,

       Seeing that all thy family is gone,

       And many people, not to be corrupted?

      Bagnacaval does well in not begetting

       And ill does Castrocaro, and Conio worse,

       In taking trouble to beget such Counts.

      Will do well the Pagani, when their Devil

       Shall have departed; but not therefore pure

       Will testimony of them e'er remain.

      O Ugolin de' Fantoli, secure

       Thy name is, since no longer is awaited

       One who, degenerating, can obscure it!

      But go now, Tuscan, for it now delights me

       To weep far better than it does to speak,

       So much has our discourse my mind distressed."

СКАЧАТЬ