O from thy cheeks my image thou hast torn!
And shiver'd all the beauty of my glass,
That I no more can see what once I was.

O time! cease thou thy course, and last no longer,
If thou surcease to be, that should survive:
Shall rotten death make conquest of the stronger,
And leave the fault'ring feeble souls alive?
The old bees die, the young possess their hive;
Then live, sweet Lucrece, live again and see
Thy father die, and not thy father thee.

By this starts Colatine as from a dream,
And bids Lucretius give his sorrow place:
And then in clay-cold Lucrece' bleeding stream
He falls, and bathes the pale fear in his face,
And counterfeits to die with her a space:
Till manly shame bids him possess his breath,
And live to be revenged on her death.

The deep vexation of his inward soul,
Hath serv'd a dumb arrest upon his tongue;
Who made that sorrow should his use control,
Or keep him from heart-easing words so long,
He 'gins to talk; but thro' his lips do throng
Weak words, so thick come in his poor heart's aid,
That no man could distinguish what he said.

Yet sometimes Tarquin was pronounced plain,
But through his teeth, as if his name he tore :
This windy tempest, till it blew up rain,
Held back his sorrow's tide to make it more,
At last it rains, and busy winds gives o'er:

Then son and father weep with equal strife,
Who should weep most for daughter, or for wife.

The one doth call her his, the other his ;
Yet neither may possess the claim they lay,
The father says, she's mine; O mine she is,
Replies her husband, do not take away
My sorrows interest, let no mourner say,
He weeps for her, for she was only mine,
And only must be wail'd by Colatine.

O! quoth Lucretius, I did give that life,
Which she too early and too late hath spill'd.
Woe! woe! quoth Colatine, she was my wife,
I own'd her, and 'tis mine that she hath kill'd,
My daughter and my wife with clamours fillá

The disperst air, who holding Lucrece's life,
Answer'd their cries, my daughter and my wife.

Brutus, who pluck'd the knife from Lucrece' side,
Seeing such emulation in their woe,

Began to clothe his wit in state and pride,
Burying in Lucrece' wound his folly's show;
He with the Romans was esteemed so,
As silly jeering ideots are with kings,

For sportive words, and uttering foolish things

But now he throws that shallow habit by,
Wherein deep policy did him disguise,
And arm'd his long-hid wits advisedly,
To check the tears in Colatinus' eyes.
Thou wronged lord of Rome, quoth he, arise;
Let my unsounded self, suppos'd a fool,
Now set thy long experienc'd wit to school.

Why, Colatine, is woe the cure for woe?

Do wounds help wounds, or grief help grievous deeds?
Is it revenge to give thyself a blow

For his foul act, by whom thy fair wife bleeds?
Such childish humour from weak minds proceeds:

Thy wretched wife mistook the matter so,
To slay herself, that should have slain her foe.

Courageous Roman, do not steep thy heart
In such lamenting dew of lamentations;
But kneel with me, and help to bear thy part,
To rouse our Roman gods with invocations,

That they will suffer these abominations

(Since Rome herself in them doth stand disgrac❜d) By our strong arms from forth her fair streets chas'd.

Now by the Capitol that we adore!

And by this chaste blood so unjustly stain'd!

By heaven's fair sun, that breeds the fat earth's store ! By all our country rites in Rome maintain'd!

And by chaste Lucrece' soul, that late complain'd Her wrongs to us! and by this bloody knife! We will revenge the death of this true wife.

This said, he struck his hand upon his breast,
And kiss'd the fatal knife to end his vow:
And to his protestation urg'd the rest,
Who wondering at him, did his words allow !
Then jointly to the ground their knees they bow,
And that deep vow which Brutus made before,
He doth again repeat, and that they swore.

When they had sworn to this advised doom,
They did conclude to bear dead Lucrece thence,
To show her bleeding body throughout Rome,
And so to publish Tarquin's foul offence.
Which being done with speedy diligence,
The Romans plausibly did give consent
To Tarquin's everlasting banishment.

POEMS

ON

SEVERAL OCCASIONS.