71491491"I see what crosses my attempt will bring;
492492I know what thorns the growing rose defends;
493493I think the honey guarded with a sting;
494494All this beforehand counsel comprehends;
495495But will is deaf and hears no heedful friends;
496496Only he hath an eye to gaze on beauty
497497And dotes on what he looks, 'gainst law or duty."
72498498"I have debated, even in my soul,
499499What wrong, what shame, what sorrow I shall breed,
500500But nothing can affection's course control
501501Or stop the headlong fury of his speed.
502502I know repentant tears ensue the deed,
503503Reproach, disdain, and deadly enmity,
504504Yet strive I to embrace mine infamy."
73505505This said, he shakes aloft his Roman blade,
506506Which, like a falcon tow'ring in the skies,
507507Coucheth the fowl below with his wings' shade,
508508Whose crooked beak threats, if he mount, he dies.
509509So under his insulting falchion lies
510510Harmless Lucretia, marking what he tells
511511With trembling fear, as fowl hear falcons' bells.
74512512"Lucrece," quoth he, "this night I must enjoy thee.
513513If thou deny, then force must work my way,
514514For in thy bed I purpose to destroy thee;
515515That done, some worthless slave of thine I'll slay,
516516To kill thine honor with thy life's decay;
517517And in thy dead arms do I mean to place him,
518518Swearing I slew him, seeing thee embrace him."
75519519"So thy surviving husband shall remain
520520The scornful mark of every open eye,
521521Thy kinsmen hang their heads at this disdain,
522522Thy issue blurred with nameless bastardy;
523523And thou, the author of their obloquy,
524524Shalt have thy trespass cited up in rhymes
525525And sung by children in succeeding times."