Page 2303 - Shakespeare - Vol. 4

Wrath, envy, treason, rape, and murder’s rages,
Thy heinous hours wait on them as their pages. [910]

«When truth and virtue have to do with thee,
A thousand crosses keep them from thy aid;
They buy thy help, but sin ne’er gives a fee:

He gratis comes, and thou art well appaid,
As well to hear as grant what he hath said. [915]
My Collatine would else have come to me

When Tarquin did, but he was stay’d by thee.

«Guilty thou art of murder and of theft,

Guilty of perjury and subornation,
Guilty of treason, forgery and shift, [920]
Guilty of incest, that abomination:

An accessory by thine inclination
To all sins past and all that are to come
From the creation to the general doom.

«Mis-shapen time, copesmate of ugly night, [925]
Swift subtle post, carrier of grisly care,

Eater of youth, false slave to false delight,
Base watch of woes, sin’s pack-horse, virtue’s snare!
Thou nursest all, and murder’st all that are:
O hear me then, injurious shifting time! [930]

Be guilty of my death, since of my crime.

«Why hath thy servant opportunity
Betray’d the hours thou gav’st me to repose,
Cancell’d my fortunes and enchained me
To endless date of never-ending woes? [935]

Time’s office is to fine the hate of foes,
To eat up errors by opinion bred,
Not spend the dowry of a lawful bed.

«Time’s glory is to calm contending kings,
To unmask falsehood and bring truth to light, [940]