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Crassus. Thou art as filthy a creature as she! Auicia. Fat fool! All your emotions vary with your— Crassus. What? Aurcta. ‘Your state of health. Crassus. Be off with you, foul — Aurcta. ‘Well? Crassus. I'll swim and stab them. The black mouth ofhell ‘Yawns for their murder. Autcta. Tl be at the death. Dive then; but softly. Scarcely draw your breath. 39
Auris. Why, did I say I loved you? I say no. Crassus. Why do you make love? Aurcta. To beguile the hour; To crown my rose-wreath with a greener flower; To do my master's bidding, that’s to give Life to yourself, who only think you live. But listen! Have you seen the nine waves roll Monotonous upon the shoal, Rising and falling like a maiden asleep; ‘Then with a lift and a leap The ninth wave curls, and breaks upon the beach, And rushes up it, swallowing the sand? Lam that ocean. . . . Now, you understand? Crassus. Alicial O! this is unbearable.…
… am weary of Adela grown chaste and chill. Antcia. ‘The hunter fags; how heavy is the hill! But you are bound to Adela. Crassus. To yout Aurcta. But you have given me freedom. I will leave you. ‘Crassus. What have I done to grieve you? Aurcia. ‘You have been the solemn fool with fece awry ‘That I have gathered in my ecstasy. You ace only a vulgar primrose I have plucked. Crassus. At Ieast, she-devil, you have been well—treated. Aucta. O teagie farce—not even rimes completed! Nay, darling! no rebellion. When you know 32
…s. This road leads to hell. Anicta. The way to heaven is shorter. Crassus. Who can tell? ALICIA. I have measured it. Crassus. You, girl? Aurcta. It is not hard. Crassvs. ‘What did you make the height of it? 33 c
…rs play like summer lightning on the shaft. It is like a storm on the mountains when it shrills; Like the angry sea when it booms. Hark! Aurcta. Some god laughed. Crassus. ‘Your mouth is like some god’s. It burns and blooms With fire unheard of, with unguessed perfumes. O let me kiss you! Aticia. So you stop my songt [She ceases the tune. Crassus. There is another song. Auicia. You do me wrong. For you love Adela! Crassus. By God, girl, not I love Alicia, Aurcia. Ah! you love her sol [Ske daughs. 23
… cannot see Through to the Bacchanal spirit, this should suit. Here is the blacksmith hammeringa flute. Crassus. Oh love, love, kiss me! Aurcta. I will forge a ring Of bloom of blood-kisses upon your neck, Till it is like a garden of roses in late spring. Crassus. “Soft, and stung softly, fairer for a fleck.” Auicra. O marvellous nation! Vanity, dullness, slobber, and quotation! Crassus. Why do you love me if you scorn me so? 26
…ndifference. Who knows what god—or demon—she adores? Or in what wood she shelters, or what grove Sees her profane our sacrament of love? Aurcta. I saw her follow ‘The stream in the hollow Where never Apollo Abides. So thick are the trees That never the breeze Stirs them, or sees ‘What satyr inhabits the glen, what nymph in the pools of it hides. Lighter of foot Than a syiph or a fairy, Sinuous, wary, T passed from the airy Lawns, where the flute Of the winds made tremulous music for man. 13
Aurcta. The secret’s in a kiss. Here are no kisses. Here great Artemis Rules; only in the woodland may a man Hide his eyes from her, pledge himself to Pan. Come! through the tangled arches Of cypresses and larches, Stoop; under Artemis we walked upright; But this is Pan’s home, and the House of Night. (They enter the wood. Crassus. So when I stoop, my cheek comes close to yours. Give mea kiss. Autcta. The poisonous apple lures ‘Thus the boy’s mouth. Beware! Crassus. O you ate fairl Fairer than ever! In this tangle of trees, ‘Your hot breath wra…
Crassus. ‘What will you then? Aurcta. No gift from men. Of my own free will I give you wit, (O man so sorely in need of it!) And happiness; and the flame that hath dwindled On this dull hearth shall be rekindled. But this you must swear: To will, and to dare, To seck the spirit and slay the sense; And for this hour To give me power To lead you in silent obedience, ‘Though I bade you fall on your sword. . . . Crassus. Enough! I give my life as I gave my love. Aucu. 1! love you have not understood. ‘You have not guessed its secret food. ‘You have…
Aurcta. Fool! Now all my pain Must be gone through again. Iris sure your chastity's unstained by crime; ‘You do the wrong thing just at the right time! Crassus. Why do you taunt me? All the wood is spring's, And love is hovering o'er us with his wings. Aurcia. Sub pennis, penis! Crassus. Hush! you break the spell. Aticta. Oh! you great fools of men, I know you well. But nothing is so detrimental To love as to be sentimental. I will yet make you wise. Know that I have the magic to disguise Myself in many ways. Do you feel this? (Lie still, this …