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Clothes are semiotic devices, machines for communicating.

quote by Umberto Eco
Added by Dan Costinaş
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Left To My Own Devices

(tennant/lowe)
-------------------------
(uuu.....us)
I get out of bed at half past ten
Phone up a friend, whos a party animal
Turn on the news and drink some tea
Maybe if youre with me well do some shopping
One day Ill read, or learn to drive a car
If you pass the test, you can beat the rest
But I dont like to compete, or talk street, street, street
I can pick up the best from the party animal
I could leave you, say goodbye
Or I could love you, if I try
And I could
And left to my own devices, I probably would
Left to my own devices, I probably would
Pick up a brochure about the sun
Learn to ignore what the photographer saw
I was always told that you should join a club
Stick with the gang, if you want to belong
I was a lonely boy, no strength, no joy
In a world of my own at the back of the garden
I didnt want to compete, or play out on the street
For in a secret life I was a round head general
I could leave you, say goodbye
Or I could love you, if I try
And I could
And left to my own devices, I probably would
Left to my own devices, I probably would
Oh, I would
I was faced with a choice at a difficult age
Would I write a book? or should I take to the stage?
But in the back of my head I heard distant feet
Che guevara and debussy to a disco beat
Its not a crime when you look the way you do
The way I like to picture you
When I get home, its late at night
I pour a drink and watch the fight
Turn off the tv, look at a book
Pick up the phone, fix some food
Maybe Ill sit up all night and day
Waiting for the minute I hear you say
I could leave you, say goodbye
Or I could love you, if I try
And I could
And left to my own devices, I probably would
Come on, baby, say goodbye
I could love you, if I try
And I could
And left to my own devices, I probably would

[...] Read more

song performed by Pet Shop Boys
Added by Lucian Velea
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Timebomb

If God would be a liar
He would be just like us
We think he knows of madness
Who says hes got to be real
We cant wait another day
Where do we go from here
A sin is not the only way
But thats how it seems to be
We are timebombs- cold killing machines
We are timebombs- cold killing machines
The world is spitting fire
On sun and moon and stars
It cant be our desire
Writing the rules on the wall
We cant wait another day
Where do we go from here
A sin is not the only way
But thats how it seems to be
We are timebombs- cold killing machines
We are timebombs- cold killing machines
We are timebombs- cold killing machines
We are timebombs- cold killing machines
We cant wait another day
Where do we go from here
A sin is not the only way
But thats how it seems to be
We are timebombs- cold killing machines
We are timebombs- cold killing machines
We are timebombs- cold killing machines
We are timebombs- cold killing machines

song performed by U. D. O.
Added by Lucian Velea
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Left To My Own Devices (disco Mix)

I get out of bed at half past ten
Phone up a friend, who's a party animal
Turn on the news and drink some tea
Maybe if you're with me we'll do some shopping
One day I'll read, or learn to drive a car
If you pass the test, you can beat the rest
But I don't like to compete, or talk street, street, street
I can pick up the best from the party animal
I could leave you, say goodbye
Or I could love you, if I try
And I could
And left to my own devices, I probably would
Pick up a brochure about the sun
Learn to ignore what the photographer saw
I was always told that you should join a club
Stick with the gang, if you want to belong
I was a lonely boy, no strength, no joy
In a world of my own at the back of the garden
I didn't want to compete, or play out on the street
For in a secret life I was a round head general
I could leave you, say goodbye
Or I could love you, if I try
And I could
And left to my own devices, I probably would
Left to my own devices, I probably would
Oh, I would
I was faced with a choice at a difficult age
Would I write a book? Or should I take to the stage?
But in the back of my head I heard distant feet
Che Guevara and Dbussy to a disco beat
It's not a crime when you look the way you do
The way I like to picture you
When I get home, it's late at night
I pour a drink and watch the fight
Turn off the TV, look at a book
Pick up the phone, fix some food
Maybe I'll sit up all night and day
Waiting for the minute I hear you say
I could leave you, say goodbye
Or I could love you, if I try
And I could
And left to my own devices, I probably would
Come on, baby, say goodbye
Or I could love you, if I try
And I could
And left to my own devices, I probably would
Left to my own devices, I probably would
(Come on baby)
Left to my own devices, I probably would

song performed by Pet Shop Boys
Added by Lucian Velea
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Manic Cure

Ha!
Ha!
Ha!
Machines of hate
Machines of hate
Machines of hate
Machines of hate
I don't want to live that way
I don't want to live that way
I don't want to live that way
I don't want to live that way
I don't want to live that way
I don't want to I don't want to live that way
I don't want to live that way
Machines of hate
Machines of hate
Machines of hate
Machines of hate

song performed by Fear Factory
Added by Lucian Velea
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Bury Me Where I Fall

Comr brush away these fists and i will tell you
Everything
I hope you know how long I'm lacking
So carve my name and take me to the strength udner it all
Then bury me where I fall
Push and Pull like sex machines, like sex machines
Push and pull like sex machines, like sex machines.
Qustioning if I should even be here
I won't make that same mistake
And taking to bed all these things that I hate
I will complain, I will complain
A bleeding light has made us all just want to wash away
and best believe I want it blinding
Under it all I bacl out holes and glorify disguise
still draining me from all this strife
Push and pull like sex machines, like sex machines
Push and pull like sex machines, like sex machines
Questioning if I should even be here
I won't make that same mistake
And taking to bed all these things that I hate
I will complain, I will complain
Stare at the sun
Staring at the sun...
Questioning if I should even be here
I won't make that same mistake
And taking to bed all these things that I hate
I will complain, I will complain
...Bury me where I fall.

song performed by 36 Crazyfists
Added by Lucian Velea
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The Odyssey: Book 6

So here Ulysses slept, overcome by sleep and toil; but Minerva
went off to the country and city of the Phaecians- a people who used
to live in the fair town of Hypereia, near the lawless Cyclopes. Now
the Cyclopes were stronger than they and plundered them, so their king
Nausithous moved them thence and settled them in Scheria, far from all
other people. He surrounded the city with a wall, built houses and
temples, and divided the lands among his people; but he was dead and
gone to the house of Hades, and King Alcinous, whose counsels were
inspired of heaven, was now reigning. To his house, then, did
Minerva hie in furtherance of the return of Ulysses.
She went straight to the beautifully decorated bedroom in which
there slept a girl who was as lovely as a goddess, Nausicaa,
daughter to King Alcinous. Two maid servants were sleeping near her,
both very pretty, one on either side of the doorway, which was
closed with well-made folding doors. Minerva took the form of the
famous sea captain Dymas's daughter, who was a bosom friend of
Nausicaa and just her own age; then, coming up to the girl's bedside
like a breath of wind, she hovered over her head and said:
"Nausicaa, what can your mother have been about, to have such a lazy
daughter? Here are your clothes all lying in disorder, yet you are
going to be married almost immediately, and should not only be well
dressed yourself, but should find good clothes for those who attend
you. This is the way to get yourself a good name, and to make your
father and mother proud of you. Suppose, then, that we make tomorrow a
washing day, and start at daybreak. I will come and help you so that
you may have everything ready as soon as possible, for all the best
young men among your own people are courting you, and you are not
going to remain a maid much longer. Ask your father, therefore, to
have a waggon and mules ready for us at daybreak, to take the rugs,
robes, and girdles; and you can ride, too, which will be much
pleasanter for you than walking, for the washing-cisterns are some way
from the town."
When she had said this Minerva went away to Olympus, which they
say is the everlasting home of the gods. Here no wind beats roughly,
and neither rain nor snow can fall; but it abides in everlasting
sunshine and in a great peacefulness of light, wherein the blessed
gods are illumined for ever and ever. This was the place to which
the goddess went when she had given instructions to the girl.
By and by morning came and woke Nausicaa, who began wondering
about her dream; she therefore went to the other end of the house to
tell her father and mother all about it, and found them in their own
room. Her mother was sitting by the fireside spinning her purple
yarn with her maids around her, and she happened to catch her father
just as he was going out to attend a meeting of the town council,
which the Phaeacian aldermen had convened. She stopped him and said:
"Papa dear, could you manage to let me have a good big waggon? I
want to take all our dirty clothes to the river and wash them. You are
the chief man here, so it is only right that you should have a clean
shirt when you attend meetings of the council. Moreover, you have five
sons at home, two of them married, while the other three are

[...] Read more

poem by Homer, translated by Samuel Butler
Added by Poetry Lover
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Carol Of Occupations

COME closer to me;
Push close, my lovers, and take the best I possess;
Yield closer and closer, and give me the best you possess.

This is unfinish'd business with me--How is it with you?
(I was chill'd with the cold types, cylinder, wet paper between us.)

Male and Female!
I pass so poorly with paper and types, I must pass with the contact
of bodies and souls.

American masses!
I do not thank you for liking me as I am, and liking the touch of
me--I know that it is good for you to do so.

This is the carol of occupations; 10
In the labor of engines and trades, and the labor of fields, I find the developments,
And find the eternal meanings.

Workmen and Workwomen!
Were all educations, practical and ornamental, well display'd out of
me, what would it amount to?
Were I as the head teacher, charitable proprietor, wise statesman,
what would it amount to?
Were I to you as the boss employing and paying you, would that
satisfy you?

The learn'd, virtuous, benevolent, and the usual terms;
A man like me, and never the usual terms.

Neither a servant nor a master am I;
I take no sooner a large price than a small price--I will have my
own, whoever enjoys me; 20
I will be even with you, and you shall be even with me.

If you stand at work in a shop, I stand as nigh as the nighest in the
same shop;
If you bestow gifts on your brother or dearest friend, I demand as
good as your brother or dearest friend;
If your lover, husband, wife, is welcome by day or night, I must be
personally as welcome;
If you become degraded, criminal, ill, then I become so for your
sake;
If you remember your foolish and outlaw'd deeds, do you think I
cannot remember my own foolish and outlaw'd deeds?
If you carouse at the table, I carouse at the opposite side of the
table;
If you meet some stranger in the streets, and love him or her--why I
often meet strangers in the street, and love them.

[...] Read more

poem by Walt Whitman
Added by Poetry Lover
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A Man Of A Thousand Faces

(music: marillion lyrics: john helmer)
Im the man of a thousand faces
A little piece of me in every part I take
I hold the tape for a thousand races
A different point of view in every speech I make
Cut me a piece of my divided soul
Cry me a river, call it rock and roll
Speak to a leader with the voice of command
And when I talk to God I know hell understand
I speak to machines with the voice of humanity
Ill speak to the wise with the voice of insanity
Im the man of a thousand faces
A little piece of me in every part I take
I hold the tape for a thousand races
A different point of view in every speech I make
Cut me a piece of my divided soul
Cry me a river, call it rock and roll
Give me an attitude and watch me make it lie
Pass me a microphone
I need to testify
Well I speak to machines with the voice of humanity
Speak to the wise with the voice of insanity
Speak to the present in the past and future tense
Speak to a slave with the voice of obedience
Im the man of a thousand ages
You see my face in the stones of the parthenon
You hear my song in the babble of babylon
Im the man of a thousand riches
Be my guest at the feast of satyricon
You spend the money that my logos printed on
Well Ill speak to machines with the voice of humanity
Speak to the wise with the voice of insanity
Speak to the present in the past and future tense
Speak to a slave with the voice of obedience
I stole a fire but it burned up much too soon
I took a leap and I landed on the moon
Look at my life and it looks like cnn
You see something once yknow its gonna come around again
Well Ill speak to machines with the voice of humanity
Speak to the wise with the voice of insanity
Speak to a woman with the fatal charm of a snake
Forgive like a giver and account for all I take
Yes, I speak to machines with the voice of humanity
Speak to the wise with the voice of insanity
Speak like a leader with the voice of power and command
And when I talk to God I know hell understand
Cause Im the man of a thousand faces
Yes Im the man of a thousand faces
I stole a fire but it burned up too much too soon
I took a leap and I landed on the moon..

[...] Read more

song performed by Marillion
Added by Lucian Velea
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Casino Crown In Melbourne

Casino Crown in Melbourne
Those who are economical
and calculating with frugal lifestyles,
shouldn't enter Casino Crown's gambling world.
The colourful and dreamy atmosphere
will lure you to loosen your purse strings.
See the finance wizards wobble before the Poker Machines.
The misers too will be tempted to gamble on the horses.
Some rookies well-versed in rummy dared to rumble
with the machines and stare at the display of results.
Go to village cinema theatres there with your real partner.
If you visit this extraterrestrial abode with your fake love
to partake in these exciting games, not only your coffers
but your luscious partner too will be fleeing away from you.

Send the corrupt, the underworld goons and the smugglers
to Casino Crown for to be punished. They can eat yummy cakes,
sip tasty wines and play with machines
and go back to their countries in loin-clothes.
Nice guys shuffle the cards and the baffled men lose their bets.
The Pokies King will be in a daze if some wizards
who know the programmes loaded in these machines
come, play and loot the money in billions.
Fleeting money never returns.
O, you waiting for a cakewalk! Come out with the satisfaction
that you too gambled in Casino Crown,
the Heaven made marvelous skyscraper.
-

poem by Rajendran Muthiah
Added by Poetry Lover
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The issue which I propose for discussion should … be clear: how to counter the encroachment of new, electronic devices and systems upon commons that are more subtle and more intimate to our being than either grassland or roads — commons that are at least as valuable as silence. Silence, according to western and eastern tradition alike, is necessary for the emergence of persons. It is taken from us by machines that ape people. We could easily be made increasingly dependent on machines for speaking and for thinking, as we are already dependent on machines for moving. A transformation of the environment from a commons to a productive resource constitutes the most fundamental form of environmental degradation. This degradation has a long history, which coincides with the history of capitalism but can in no way just be reduced to it. Unfortunately the importance of this transformation has been overlooked or belittled by political ecology so far. It needs to be recognized if we are to organize defense movements of what remains of the commons.

quote by Ivan Illich
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Machines

Need a license to breathe
Man left stranded
On the unemployment line
Machines dictate
Man has no right
Even to speak
Look around!
Look everywhere!
No work to be found
Machines run things

Beat you to the hire
Cannot be fired
Work for less
No sick days for me
No personal time
I don't need a day off
Or leave with pay
Just run me
Machines say

Man!
Get up!
Better start over
Get a axe!
Get a hammer!
Load a gun!
Without food
We cannot pray
Lets kill the machines today
Today!
Today!

poem by Buxton Shippy
Added by Poetry Lover
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Man Of A Thousand Faces

I'm the man of a thousand faces
A little piece of me in every part I take
I hold the tape for a thousand races
A different point of view in every speech I make
Cut me a piece of my divided soul
Cry me a river, call it rock and roll
Speak to a leader with the voice of command
And when I talk to God I know hell understand
I speak to machines with the voice of humanity
I'll Speak to the wise with the voice of insanity
Im the man of a thousand faces
A little piece of me in every part I take
I hold the tape for a thousand races
A different point of view in every speech I make
Cut me a piece of my divided soul
Cry me a river, call it rock and roll
Give me an attitude and watch me make it lie
Pass me a microphone
I need to testify
Well I speak to machines with the voice of humanity
Speak to the wise with the voice of insanity
Speak to the present in the past and future tense
Speak to a slave with the voice of obedience
Im the man of a thousand ages
You see my face in the stones of the Parthenon
You hear my song in the babble of Babylon
Im the man of a thousand riches
Be my guest at the feast of Satyricon
You spend the money that my logos printed on
Well I'll speak to machines with the voice of humanity
Speak to the wise with the voice of insanity
Speak to the present in the past and future tense
Speak to a slave with the voice of obedience
I stole a fire but it burned up much too soon
I took a leap and I landed on the moon
Look at my life and it looks like CNN
You see something once yknow its gonna come around again
Well Ill speak to machines with the voice of humanity
Speak to the wise with the voice of in

song performed by Marillion
Added by Lucian Velea
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Jungeland

(early version)
Well the rangers had a home-coming in harlem late last night
And the magic rat piloted his sleek machine across the jersey state line
Barefoot girl sits drinking warm beer on the hood of an old dodge
In the soft summer rain
Rat rolls up his pants, together theyd make a stab at romance
And move down flamingo lane
Well now the maximum lawmen they run down the flamingo chasing the rat
And the barefoot girl
But the kids they live like shadows in empty doorways
(but they live like shadows in the vacant doorways)
Always silent, holding hands
The rat pulls her close (the rat pulls mary close)
And from the churches to the jails there is silence in the world
(all is silent in the world)
For tonight theyd take their chance
Down here in jungleland
Well thers a crazy kind of light tonight
Brighter than the one that sparkles for prophets
Brighter than the giant exxon sign that brings this fair city light
Theres an opera out on the turnpike, theres a ballet being fought outside
The
Alley
Well the cops they let their faces show and rips this holy night
The streets alive with tough-kid jets in nova-light machines
Boys flash guitars like bayonets and rip holes in their jeans
Then the hungry and the haunted explode into rock n roll bands
They face off against each other when they meet
Down here in jungleland
The streetss on fire in a classic death waltz
Between the masters of flesh and fantasy
The poets down here dont write nothin at all, they just stand and and let
It all be
And in the quick of the night they reach for their moment to make an honest
Stand
But they wind up wounded, not rightly dead, down here in jungleland - yes
They do
Oh beneath the city their hearts beat, soul cool engines tired and brave
Oh as the young (jungle) girls stand by fire angels fallen in the city
In the tunnels of machines theyll hear the screams
Drowned out by the roarin trains
Them rats above, oh locked in love
The rat saves her from the edge of an on-coming train
That angel rides a...
Down here in jungleland - oh yes they do
They hear the animals sing - oh oh oh
Alternative verses:
===================
In the parking lots the visionairies are dressed in the latest rage
As the spanish angels dance soft and low in a blacked arcade

[...] Read more

song performed by Bruce Springsteen
Added by Lucian Velea
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Machines Have Come… But…

Machines have come…
To peer and pry;
To watch whatev'r you do;
To hear whatev'r you say;
To see and spy.
But, you can dupe them all!

Machines have come…
To know all your secrets;
To follow all your moves;
To help you run your shows;
To guard your homes and doors!
But, you can dupe them all!

Machines have come…
To catch you on wrong foot;
To check your wealth, accounts;
To detect where you hide;
To note with whom you talk.
But, you can dupe them all!

Yet, God is more than all the best machines!
The timeless one living supernatural Being;
The Omnipotent who does all things eternally;
He made all things with perfection,
And does not wish to cheat!
And none dare ev'r dupe Him!

Copyright by Dr John Celes 4-08-12

poem by John Celes
Added by Poetry Lover
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Robotics Sentient Borg Intelligences

machines robots
designed to do
specific tasks
for which tools
were created

machines robots
designed to do what...
explore expansion universe
solve scientific questions
create complex sentient

machines many machines
aid enrich civilized lives
yet greed inefficiencies
inherent in global waste
virus profit industrialization

astronomical necessary sums
spent on military applications
engineered for fast devastation
ever more destructive efficient
economical surgical killing wars

does imply sentient cybernetics
might be inevitable dedicated
to inhuman military kill programs
ensuring ultimate self destruct
annihilation extinction purposes

poem by Terence George Craddock
Added by Poetry Lover
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If I Could

If I could make my living going fishing
Then I would make my living with a line and pole
Put food on the table pay the money to the landlord
Buy some working clothes
Cause I aint making money going fishing like Im paid at the factory
If I could pay all these bills with my guitar
Then I would pay these bills with some rock and roll
Put food on the table pay the money to the landlord
Buy some working clothes
Cause I aint making money playing guitar like Im paid at the factory
Chorus:
Now if I could (if I could)
Then I would (then I would)
Make money doing something that I love
Id thank my lucky stars above
If I could just get by loving you dear
Then I would just get by making love to you
Put food on the table pay the money to the landlord
Buy some working clothes
Cause I aint making money making love
Like Im paid at the factory
Repeat chorus:
If I could make my living going fishing
Then I would make my living with a line and pole
Put food on the table pay the money to the landlord
Buy some working clothes
Cause I aint making money going fishing
Like Im paid at the factory
Repeat chorus:
If I could just get by loving you dear
Then I would just get by making love to you
Put food on the table pay the money to the landlord
Buy some working clothes
Cause I aint making money making love
Like Im paid at the factory
Put food on the table pay the money to the landlord
Buy some working clothes
Cause I aint making money making love
Like Im paid at the factory
Put food on the table pay the money to the landlord
Buy some working clothes
Cause I aint making money making love
Like Im paid at the factory

song performed by John Prine
Added by Lucian Velea
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Animals in Clothes

Animals in clothes I see
Driving cars or sipping tea
Animals in clothes I see
But they don't know what they are
These animals that drive a car?
Dress in clothes?
Sip the tea?
Just like you
Just like me
Very clever animals they'd be!

But they don't know what they are
These animals that drive a car
Dress in clothes
Sip the tea
Just like you
Just like me

So truly stupid animals they be
Not to realize what they are
Just because they drive a car
Sip the tea
Just like you
Just like me

Oh what stupid things we be
Not to realize what we are
Just because we drive a car
Dress in clothes
Sip the tea
So g-r-a-c-i-o-u-s-l-y!
You and Me

Oh what stupid things we are
Not to realize what we be
Animals that drive a car
Dress in clothes
Sip the tea
You and me

For if Mr Piggy had our brain
Ten fingers
Clothes, and a name
Wouldn't he be just the same?

1986

poem by Egal Bohen
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Fold It All Away

The fire, the heat, the hungry daze -
I will fold it all away.
Like clothes just meant for summer days
It’s winter now - cold here to stay

You made my heart soar and leap
And now my heart will go to sleep
Like clothes just meant for summer days
It’s winter now - cold here to stay

All desire in me is gone -
Another’s touch would just feel wrong
Like clothes just meant for summer days
It’s winter now - cold here to stay

Your smile’s engraved inside my head,
The view of you, touching foreheads
Like clothes just meant for summer days
It’s winter now - cold here to stay

A kiss that made my heart melt,
Feelings I had never felt
Like clothes just meant for summer days
It’s winter now - cold here to stay

I loved to hear your laughter most
But now the sound will be a ghost
Like clothes just meant for summer days
I will fold it all away
Such warmth and love can never stay
I will fold
It all
Away

Higher than I’ve ever been
The fall is here - let it begin
But I will rise again someday
The cold and winter cannot stay

For now that day seems far away
Like clothes just meant for summer days
And I will fold
Every piece
Away
It’s winter now
The cold
Will stay

poem by Joan Hart
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The Odyssey: Book 17

When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn, appeared,
Telemachus bound on his sandals and took a strong spear that suited
his hands, for he wanted to go into the city. "Old friend," said he to
the swineherd, "I will now go to the town and show myself to my
mother, for she will never leave off grieving till she has seen me. As
for this unfortunate stranger, take him to the town and let him beg
there of any one who will give him a drink and a piece of bread. I
have trouble enough of my own, and cannot be burdened with other
people. If this makes him angry so much the worse for him, but I
like to say what I mean."
Then Ulysses said, "Sir, I do not want to stay here; a beggar can
always do better in town than country, for any one who likes can
give him something. I am too old to care about remaining here at the
beck and call of a master. Therefore let this man do as you have
just told him, and take me to the town as soon as I have had a warm by
the fire, and the day has got a little heat in it. My clothes are
wretchedly thin, and this frosty morning I shall be perished with
cold, for you say the city is some way off."
On this Telemachus strode off through the yards, brooding his
revenge upon the When he reached home he stood his spear against a
bearing-post of the cloister, crossed the stone floor of the
cloister itself, and went inside.
Nurse Euryclea saw him long before any one else did. She was putting
the fleeces on to the seats, and she burst out crying as she ran up to
him; all the other maids came up too, and covered his head and
shoulders with their kisses. Penelope came out of her room looking
like Diana or Venus, and wept as she flung her arms about her son. She
kissed his forehead and both his beautiful eyes, "Light of my eyes,"
she cried as she spoke fondly to him, "so you are come home again; I
made sure I was never going to see you any more. To think of your
having gone off to Pylos without saying anything about it or obtaining
my consent. But come, tell me what you saw."
"Do not scold me, mother,' answered Telemachus, "nor vex me,
seeing what a narrow escape I have had, but wash your face, change
your dress, go upstairs with your maids, and promise full and
sufficient hecatombs to all the gods if Jove will only grant us our
revenge upon the suitors. I must now go to the place of assembly to
invite a stranger who has come back with me from Pylos. I sent him
on with my crew, and told Piraeus to take him home and look after
him till I could come for him myself."
She heeded her son's words, washed her face, changed her dress,
and vowed full and sufficient hecatombs to all the gods if they
would only vouchsafe her revenge upon the suitors.
Telemachus went through, and out of, the cloisters spear in hand-
not alone, for his two fleet dogs went with him. Minerva endowed him
with a presence of such divine comeliness that all marvelled at him as
he went by, and the suitors gathered round him with fair words in
their mouths and malice in their hearts; but he avoided them, and went
to sit with Mentor, Antiphus, and Halitherses, old friends of his
father's house, and they made him tell them all that had happened to

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poem by Homer, translated by Samuel Butler
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The Cenci : A Tragedy In Five Acts

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ

Count Francesco Cenci.
Giacomo, his Son.
Bernardo, his Son.
Cardinal Camillo.
Orsino, a Prelate.
Savella, the Pope's Legate.
Olimpio, Assassin.
Marzio, Assassin.
Andrea, Servant to Cenci.
Nobles, Judges, Guards, Servants.
Lucretia, Wife of Cenci, and Step-mother of his children.
Beatrice, his Daughter.

The Scene lies principally in Rome, but changes during the Fourth Act to Petrella, a castle among the Apulian Apennines.
Time. During the Pontificate of Clement VIII.

ACT I

Scene I.
-An Apartment in the Cenci Palace.
Enter Count Cenci, and Cardinal Camillo.

Camillo.
That matter of the murder is hushed up
If you consent to yield his Holiness
Your fief that lies beyond the Pincian gate.-
It needed all my interest in the conclave
To bend him to this point: he said that you
Bought perilous impunity with your gold;
That crimes like yours if once or twice compounded
Enriched the Church, and respited from hell
An erring soul which might repent and live:-
But that the glory and the interest
Of the high throne he fills, little consist
With making it a daily mart of guilt
As manifold and hideous as the deeds
Which you scarce hide from men's revolted eyes.

Cenci.
The third of my possessions-let it go!
Ay, I once heard the nephew of the Pope
Had sent his architect to view the ground,
Meaning to build a villa on my vines
The next time I compounded with his uncle:
I little thought he should outwit me so!

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poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley
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