Читать книгу The Greatest German Classics (Vol. 1-14) - Various - Страница 299

THOAS (alone)

Fierce anger rages in my riven breast,

First against her, whom I esteemed so pure;

Then 'gainst myself, whose foolish lenity

Hath fashion'd her for treason. Man is soon

Inur'd to slavery, and quickly learns

Submission, when of freedom quite depriv'd.

If she had fallen in the savage hands

Of my rude sires, and had their holy rage

Forborne to slay her, grateful for her life,

She would have recogniz'd her destiny,

Have shed before the shrine the stranger's blood,

And duty nam'd what was necessity.

Now my forbearance in her breast allures

Audacious wishes. Vainly I had hoped

To bind her to me; rather she contrives

To shape an independent destiny.

She won my heart through flattery; and now

That I oppose her, seeks to gain her ends

By fraud and cunning, and my kindness deems

A worthless and prescriptive property.