Page:Shakespeare Collection of Poems.djvu/91

Lucrece, quoth he, this night I must enjoy thee;
If thou deny, then force must worke my way:
For in thy bed I purpose to destroy thee.
That done, some worthlesse slave of thine ile slay,
To kill thine honor with thy lives decay:
And in thy dead armes do I meane to place him,
Swearing I slew him, seeing thee embrace him.

So thy surviving husband shall remain,
The scornful mark of every open eye;
Thy kinsmen hang their heads at this disdain,
Thy issue blurd with nameless bastardy:
And thou the Author of their obloquy,
Shall have thy trespasse cited up in rhimes,
And sung by children in succeeding times.

But if thou yield, I rest thy secret friend,
The fault unknown is as a thought unacted,
A little harme done to a great good end,
For lawful policy remains enacted.
The poisonous simple sometimes is compacted
In purest compounds; being so applied,
His venome in effect is purified.

Then for thy husband and thy children sake,
Tender my suit, bequeath not to their lot
The shame that from them no device can take,
The blemish that will never be forgot;
Worse than a slavish wipe, or birth-hours blot:

For