University of Virginia Library

Scene IV.

—Passage leading to Lucretia's room.
Enter Sextus stealthily.
Sextus.
Say, shall I rouse her as a conqueror,
And teach how women, in beleaguered towns,
Must hurry to the door when soldiers knock?
Not so; my jealousy hath finer sense.
From Collatine I'll ravish her, from dream
Of his close, nuptial kiss. Is she asleep?
[Enter Virgilia, closing Lucretia's door.]
I'll ask the child. Virgilia, what ho!
Hast sung thy mistress to her rest? Some word
I would have spoken.

Virgilia.
Sir, she does not sleep,
But stays awake most happy; and the moon
Lies right across her; though her eyes are wide,
I scarce should dare to go to her again.
She's like a statue.

Sextus.
But she'll rest anon.
Tread softly; bring me word she's fast asleep,
And I'll determine further.
[Exit Virgilia.
What! the moon!
I'll pause till Dian's watch be passed, and take
The guard at early morning. I will put
The offer to her of a murdered slave
For bed-fellow at Collatine's return,
Or absolute compliance to my will,
And the condition—secresy. Suppose
She risk her lord's displeasure to die chaste;—
I'll stab her to the heart, and violate
Simply her reputation. She shall choose,
Consent to all: 'twixt infamy and rape
I'll learn the odds. She has a voice that creeps
Like a warm dove to one's bosom; but all's weighed,
No clamour, no entreaty,—the bare terms—
Death, or surrender!

[Re-enter Virgilia.]
Virgilia.
It had grown quite dark:
I heard the breath—

Sextus.
Begone! [Exit Virgilia.]
It is the hour.
Whom shall I call, what gods shall I invoke,
What ancestor will multiply my powers
Till I grow superhuman? Tullia,
Give me thy tiger-heart, that I may drive
The steeds of my ambition past the spot
They rear at in recoil! Let me transgress
The bounds that circumscribe humanity,
And grow indefinite and huge in crime!
My mother, come—imperial—to my aid,
Gibe me with cowardice:—“What, Lord of Rome!
And shudder at a woman's chastity?”
Thou know'st the trick; it spurred me as a boy.—
Why, now 'tis dark,—I cannot feel the door. [OMITTED]
[Sextus passes in the early light, looking back at the door of Lucretia's chamber.]
I need not lock it; there's no treasure there,
No chastity, no secret. All her maids
Lie quiet. Will she rise and bid them spin,
And bear the heavy burthen of the day?
I heard some early notes of singing birds,
And broke away from her. She's lying dumb,
And murdered, murdered at the heart. O Death,
Take her to thy corruption,—she is vile.