Lucrece

“ Retire again, till meeting greater ranks
⁠They join, and shoote their fome at Simois banks.
To this well painted piece is Lucrece come,
To find a face where all distress is steld;
Many she sees, where cares have carved some,
But none where all distresse and dolor dweld,
Till she despairing Hecuba beheld,
⁠Staring on Priams wounds with her old eyes,
⁠Which bleeding under Pyrrhus proud foot lies. ”

“ So should my shame still rest upon record,
And never be forgot in mighty Rome
Th' adulterate death of Lucrece and her groom.
'Mine enemy was strong, my poor self weak,
And far the weaker with so strong a fear:
My bloody judge forbade my tongue to speak ”

“ Sextus.
Gramercy, Lucrece, no; we must this night sleep by Ardea walls.
Lucrece.
But, my lords, I hope my Collatine will not so leave his Lucrece.
Sextus.
He must: we have but idled from the camp, to try a merry wager about their wives, and this at the hazard of the King’s displeasure, should any man be missing from his charge. The powers that govern Rome make divine Lucrece for ever happy! Good-night.
Scevola.
But, Valerius, what thinkest thou of the country girls from whence we came, compared with our city wives whom we this night have tried? ”

“ With modest Lucrece, and wore out the night:
Now leaden slumber with lives strength doth fight,
⁠And every one to rest themselves betake,
⁠Save thieves, and cares, and troubled minds that wake.
As one of which doth Tarquin lie revolving
The sundry dangers of his will's obtaining;
Yet ever to obtain his will resolving,
Tho weak-built hopes perswade him to abstaining,
Despair to gain doth traffique oft for gaining,
⁠And when great treasure is the meed proposed,
⁠Though death be adjunct, there's no death supposed. ”

“ Their silver cheeks, and called it then their shield;
Teaching them thus to use it in the fight,
When shame assailed, the red should fence the white.
This heraldry in Lucrece’ face was seen,
Argued by beauty’s red and virtue’s white.
Of either’s colour was the other queen,
Proving from world’s minority their right.
Yet their ambition makes them still to fight;
The sovereignty of either being so great,
That oft they interchange each other’s seat.
Their silent war of lilies and of roses,
Which Tarquin viewed in her fair face’s field,
In their pure ranks his traitor eye encloses ”

“ And both she thinks too long with her remaining.
Short time seems long in sorrows sharp sustaining.
⁠Though woe be heavy, yet it seldom sleeps,
⁠And they that watch see time how slow it creeps.
Which all this time hath overslipt her thought,
That she with painted Images hath spent,
Being from the feeling of her own grief brought
By deep surmise of others detriment,
Losing her woes in shews of discontent:
⁠It easeth some, though none it ever cured,
⁠To think their dolour others have endured.
Upon Lucrece sending for Colatine in such haste, he with divers of his Allies and Friends returns home. ”

“ Yet with the fault I thus far can dispense,
⁠My self was stirring ere the break of day,
⁠And ere I rose was Tarquin gone away.
But Lady, if your maid may be so bold,
She would request to know your heaviness.
O peace (quoth Lucrece) 'if it should be told,
The repetition cannot make it lesse:
For more it is than I can well expresse,
⁠And that deep torture may be call'd a Hell,
⁠When more is felt than one hath power to tell. ”

“ In 1568, occurs a Ballett called, 'The grevious complaynt of Lucrece.' And afterwards, in the year 1569, is licenced to James Robertes, 'A ballet of the death of Lucryssia.' There is also a ballad of the legend of Lucrece, printed in 1576. These publications might give rise to Shakspeare's Rape of Lucrece, which appeared in 1594. At this period of our poetry, we find the same subject occupying the attention [34] of the public for many years, and successively presented in new and various forms by different poets. Lucretia was the grand example of conjugal fidelity throughout the Gothic ages. ”

“ Borne by the trustless wings of false desire,
Lust-breathed Tarquin leaves the Roman host,
And to Collatium bears the lightless fire
Which, in pale embers hid, lurks to aspire
And girdle with embracing flames the waist
Of Collatine's fair love, Lucrece the chaste. ”

“ Like so many of the works of Shakespeare, it describes at length the prompting, acting, and results of a treachery inspired by an obsession. Tarquin, hearing of Lucrece's chastity, longs to attempt her. Coming stealthily to her home, in her lord's absence, he foully ravishes her. She kills herself and he is banished from Rome. The subject is not unlike that of Venus and Adonis, with the sexes reversed. In both poems the subject is sexual obsession and its results.
Lucrece is a wiser and a finer poem than Venus and Adonis. It is constructed with the art of a man familiar with the theatre. ”

“ If that were the criterion, Rachel proved a prophet One and all did say ay. Lady Enville was enchanted with both schemes. Jack averred that life at home was a very humdrum kind of thing, and life might be worth having in London, and at Court. And Lucrece, in her demure style, softly declared that she was thankful for Sir Piers’ goodness, and would gladly accept his offer, though she felt that her merits were not equal to the kind estimate which he had formed of her.
“But, Lucrece,” said her father gravely, “one told me that Arthur Tremayne had made suit unto thee.” ”

“ Tarquin welcomed by Lucrece. Tarquin overthrows all disputing with wilfulness. He puts bis resolution in practice. Lucrece awakes, and is amazed to he so surprized. She pleads in defence of Chastity. Tarquin all impatient, interrupteth her, and ravisheth her by force. Lucrece complains on her abuse. She disputeth whether she should kill her self or no. She is resolved on her self-murther, yet sendeth first for her Husband. Colatinus with his friends return home. Lucrece relateth the mischief; they swear revenge, and she to exasperate the matter, killeth her self. ”

“ Sits Sin, to seize the souls that wander by him."
We have already seen, that, in the passages quoted from contemporary writers in favour of Venus and Adonis, the Rape of Lucrece has, with the exception of two instances, been honoured with equal notice and equal approbation. Here, therefore, it will only be necessary to add those notices in which the latter production is the exclusive object of praise. ”

“ He found Lucrece rather averse to this scheme.
“It should but trouble the poor lad,” she said. “Why not leave him discover the same as matters shall unfold them?”
“Tom!” said Rachel to her brother apart, “go thou down, and tell Arthur the news. I am afeared Lucrece hath some cause, not over good, for wishing silence kept.”
“Good lack!” cried the worried Squire. “Wellnigh would I that every one of my childre had been a lad! These maidens be such changeable and chargeable gear, I verily wis not what to do withal.”
“Bide a while, Tom, till Jack hath been in the Court a year or twain ”

“ The gods no longer existed, and the Christ had not yet come; and the ancients, from Cicero to Marcus Aurelius, lived at a unique epoch when man alone was all-powerful. I do not find anything like such grandeur as this; but that which renders Lucrece intolerable is its philosophy, which the author presents as positive. It is because he does not suspect that it is weak ”

“ And forth with bashful innocence doth flie:
But they whose guilt within their bosomes lie,
⁠Imagine every eye beholds their blame;
⁠For Lucrece thought he blush'd to see her shame:
When silly Groome (God wot) it was defect
Of spirit, life, and bold audacity,
Such harmlesse creatures have a true respect
To talk in deeds, while others sawcily
Promise more speed, but do it leasurely.
⁠Even so this pattern of the worne out age,
⁠Pawn'd honest lookes, but layd no words to gage. ”

“ He is well-nigh as ill to fathom as Mistress Lucrece herself. Lo’ you, o’ Sunday morrow, Sir Thomas told him that the law of the land was for every man and woman in the Queen’s dominions to attend the parish church twice of the Sunday, under twenty pound charge by the month if they tarried at home, not being let by sickness: and I had heard him say himself that he looked Don John should kick thereat. But what doth Don John but to take up his hat, and walk off to the church, handing of Mistress Rachel, as smiling as any man ”

“ It shows an advance in metrical accomplishment. To the six-line stanza of Venus and Adonis a seventh line is added, which heightens its beauty and its dignity. The strength of Lucrece lies in its graphic and gorgeous descriptions, and in its sometimes microscopic psychological analysis. For the rest, its pathos consists of elaborate and far-fetched rhetoric.
The lament of the heroine after the crime has been committed is pure declamation, extremely eloquent no doubt, but copious and artificial as an oration of Cicero's, rich in apostrophes and antitheses. ”

“ In English, by Thomas Heywood, in a tragedy entitled The Rape of Lucrece (1630) ; by Nathaniel Lee, entitled Lucius Junius Brutus (seventeenth century) ; and by John H. Payne, entitled Brutus or the Fall of Tarquin (1820) . Shakespeare selected the same subject for his poem entitled The Rape of Lucrece (1594) .
Lucrezia di Borgia, daughter of Pope Alexander VI. She was thrice married, her last husband being Alfonso, duke of Ferra ́ra. Before this marriage, she had a natural son, named Genna ́ro, who was brought up by a Neapolitan fisherman. ”

“ Here Lucrece says she will 'bear the diapason' with deep groans, i.e., 'hum' a 'burden' or drone an octave lower than the nightingale's 'descant.' The earliest 'burden' known is that in the ancient Round 'Sumer is icumen in,' of the 13th century. ”

“ It contains the whole story of Tullia’s ambition and the death of Servius, the journey of Brutus to Delphi, the fulfilment of the oracle, the betrayal of Gabii, the camp at Ardea, the crime of Tarquin, the rising of the Roman nobles, the war with Porsena, and the stories of Horatius and Scevola. The characters are devoid of personal reality. Lucrece herself is more a type of innocence than a true woman. Of the minor characters which fill out the play, by far the most original is Valerius. ”

“ He spoke to himself.
“I could tell you of other gear, Father,” said the low voice of the avenger. “As, a little image of Mary and John, which she keepeth in her jewel-closet; and a book wherein be prayers unto the angels and the saints. These he hath given her.”
Lucrece was making the worst of a matter in which Don Juan was undoubtedly to blame, but Blanche was much more innocent than her sister chose to represent her. On the rosary Blanche looked as a long necklace, such as were in fashion at the time ”

“ Which speechless woe of his poor she attendeth,
And his untimely frenzy thus awaketh:
'Dear lord, thy sorrow to my sorrow lendeth
Another power; no flood by raining slaketh.
My woe too sensible thy passion maketh
More feeling-painful: let it then suffice
To drown one woe, one pair of weeping eyes.
'And for my sake, when I might charm thee so,
For she that was thy Lucrece, now attend me:
Be suddenly revenged on my foe,
Thine, mine, his own: suppose thou dost defend me
From what is past: the help that thou shalt lend me
Comes all too late, yet let the traitor die ”

“ TITUS. Lavinia, wert thou thus surpris'd, sweet girl, Ravish'd and wrong'd as Philomela was, Forc'd in the ruthless, vast, and gloomy woods? See, see! Ay, such a place there is where we did hunt- O, had we never, never hunted there!- Pattern'd by that the poet here describes, By nature made for murders and for rapes. MARCUS. O, why should nature build so foul a den, Unless the gods delight in tragedies? TITUS. Give signs, sweet girl, for here are none but friends, What Roman lord it was durst do the deed. Or slunk not Saturnine, as Tarquin erst, That left the camp to sin in Lucrece' bed? ”

“ Stung, maddened by the scorn of himself, his blood fired into juster indignation by her scoff at his creed, he lost all self-possession and struck her to the ground. In the midst of shame and dread at disclosure of his violence, which succeeded the act so provoked, he was not less relieved than amazed when Lucretia, rising slowly, laid her hand gently on his arm and said, "Repent not, it is passed; fear not, I will be silent! Come, you are the stronger,—you prevail. ”

“ The next morning, Sir Miles took the priest's arm and walked with him into the gardens.
"Mr. Fielden," he said, with the air of a man who has chosen his course, and deprecates all attempt to make him swerve from it, "if I followed my own selfish wishes, I should take home this poor child. Stay, sir, and hear me,—I am no hypocrite, and I speak honestly. I like young faces; I have no family of my own. I love Lucretia, and I am proud of her; but a girl brought up in adversity might be a better nurse and a more docile companion,—let that pass. ”

“ Absorbed in the egotism of her passion (increased, as is ever the case with women, even the worst, by the sacrifices it had cost her) , and if that passion paused, by the energy of her ambition, which already began to scheme and reconstruct new scaffolds to repair the ruined walls of the past,—Lucretia as yet had not detected what was so apparent to the simple sense of Mr. Fielden. That Mainwaring was grave and thoughtful and abstracted, she ascribed only to his grief at the thought of her loss, and his anxieties for her altered future ”

“ With an inexpressible pity and softness in his tone, this man, whose career had given him such profound experience in the frailties of the human heart, continued: “I do not ask you to believe me, Lucretia; I would not now speak, if you had not the opportunity to convince yourself. Even those with whom you live are false to you; at this moment they have arranged all, for Mainwaring to steal, in your absence, to your sister. In a few moments more he will be with her; if you yourself would learn what passes between them, you have the power.” ”