You
Deem yourself safe, as young and brave; but learn
None are secure from desperation, few
From subtilty.
Deem yourself safe, as young and brave; but learn
None are secure from desperation, few
From subtilty.
Byron
_ (_starts, looks earnestly at_ WERNER
_and then says slowly_) And you avow it?
_Wer. _ Ulric, before you dare despise your father, 100
Learn to divine and judge his actions. Young,
Rash, new to life, and reared in Luxury's lap,
Is it for you to measure Passion's force,
Or Misery's temptation? Wait--(not long,
It cometh like the night, and quickly)--Wait! --
Wait till, like me, your hopes are blighted[178] till
Sorrow and Shame are handmaids of your cabin--
Famine and Poverty your guests at table;
Despair your bed-fellow--then rise, but not
From sleep, and judge! Should that day e'er arrive-- 110
Should you see then the Serpent, who hath coiled
Himself around all that is dear and noble
Of you and yours, lie slumbering in your path,
With but _his_ folds between your steps and happiness,
When _he_, who lives but to tear from you name,
Lands, life itself, lies at your mercy, with
Chance your conductor--midnight for your mantle--
The bare knife in your hand, and earth asleep,
Even to your deadliest foe; and he as 'twere
Inviting death, by looking like it, while 120
His death alone can save you:--Thank your God!
If then, like me, content with petty plunder,
You turn aside----I did so.
_Ulr. _ But----
_Wer. _ (_abruptly_). Hear me!
I will not brook a human voice--scarce dare
Listen to my own (if that be human still)--
Hear me! you do not know this man--I do. [179]
He's mean, deceitful, avaricious.
You
Deem yourself safe, as young and brave; but learn
None are secure from desperation, few
From subtilty. My worst foe, Stralenheim, 130
Housed in a Prince's palace, couched within
A Prince's chamber, lay below my knife!
An instant--a mere motion--the least impulse--
Had swept him and all fears of mine from earth.
He was within my power--my knife was raised--
Withdrawn--and I'm in his:--are you not so?
Who tells you that he knows you _not? _ Who says
He hath not lured you here to end you? or
To plunge you, with your parents, in a dungeon?
[_He pauses_.
_Ulr. _ Proceed--proceed!
_Wer. _ _Me_ he hath ever known, 140
And hunted through each change of time--name--fortune--
And why not _you? _ Are you more versed in men?
He wound snares round me; flung along my path
Reptiles, whom, in my youth, I would have spurned
Even from my presence; but, in spurning now,
Fill only with fresh venom. Will you be
More patient? Ulric!
_and then says slowly_) And you avow it?
_Wer. _ Ulric, before you dare despise your father, 100
Learn to divine and judge his actions. Young,
Rash, new to life, and reared in Luxury's lap,
Is it for you to measure Passion's force,
Or Misery's temptation? Wait--(not long,
It cometh like the night, and quickly)--Wait! --
Wait till, like me, your hopes are blighted[178] till
Sorrow and Shame are handmaids of your cabin--
Famine and Poverty your guests at table;
Despair your bed-fellow--then rise, but not
From sleep, and judge! Should that day e'er arrive-- 110
Should you see then the Serpent, who hath coiled
Himself around all that is dear and noble
Of you and yours, lie slumbering in your path,
With but _his_ folds between your steps and happiness,
When _he_, who lives but to tear from you name,
Lands, life itself, lies at your mercy, with
Chance your conductor--midnight for your mantle--
The bare knife in your hand, and earth asleep,
Even to your deadliest foe; and he as 'twere
Inviting death, by looking like it, while 120
His death alone can save you:--Thank your God!
If then, like me, content with petty plunder,
You turn aside----I did so.
_Ulr. _ But----
_Wer. _ (_abruptly_). Hear me!
I will not brook a human voice--scarce dare
Listen to my own (if that be human still)--
Hear me! you do not know this man--I do. [179]
He's mean, deceitful, avaricious.
You
Deem yourself safe, as young and brave; but learn
None are secure from desperation, few
From subtilty. My worst foe, Stralenheim, 130
Housed in a Prince's palace, couched within
A Prince's chamber, lay below my knife!
An instant--a mere motion--the least impulse--
Had swept him and all fears of mine from earth.
He was within my power--my knife was raised--
Withdrawn--and I'm in his:--are you not so?
Who tells you that he knows you _not? _ Who says
He hath not lured you here to end you? or
To plunge you, with your parents, in a dungeon?
[_He pauses_.
_Ulr. _ Proceed--proceed!
_Wer. _ _Me_ he hath ever known, 140
And hunted through each change of time--name--fortune--
And why not _you? _ Are you more versed in men?
He wound snares round me; flung along my path
Reptiles, whom, in my youth, I would have spurned
Even from my presence; but, in spurning now,
Fill only with fresh venom. Will you be
More patient? Ulric!
