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Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind

Cold fort worth beer just aint no good for jealous
Ive tried it night after night
Youre in someone elses arms in dallas
Does fort worth ever cross your mind
Darlin while youre busy burnin bridges
Burn one for me if you get time
Cause good memories dont fade so easy
Does fort worth ever cross your mind
You left me here to be with him in dallas
And I know ithurt you at the time
Well I wonder now if it makes a difference
Does fort worth ever cross your mind
You left me here to be with him in dallas
And I know it hurt you at the time
Well I wonder now if it makes a difference
Does fort worth ever cross your mind
Does fort worth ever, does fort worth ever
Does fort worth ever cross your mind

song performed by George Strait
Added by Lucian Velea
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Burning Alive

[oooh yeah]
Burnin alive, set my soul on fire
Runnin with a gun, this place is gonna burn
No firewater, or novacaine
No thunderstorm, no john wayne
No kids to rock, nowhere to run
So watch out cause this place is gonna burn
Burnin alive, burnin alive
Burnin alive, burnin alive
[burnin alive, burnin alive]
They be smokin your hide, come runnin wild
Tell you nothin to fear, cause the buck stops here!
He came from a little town called hope
And someday, maybe, itll go up in smoke
[i say]
No firewater, or novacaine,
No thunderstorm, and no john wayne
No kids to rock, nowhere to run
So watch out, cause this place is gonna burn
Burnin alive, burnin alive
Burnin alive, burnin alive
Its an all out war, an all out war
Burnin alive, burnin alive
Somewhere, theres a little town called hope
And someday, maybe baby, hell inhale that smoke!
[yeah, were] burnin alive, burnin alive
[burnin alive, burnin alive
Burnin alive, burnin alive
Burnin alive, burnin alive]
Its an all out war, an all out war
Hear the battle roar, its an all out war
[yeah were] burnin alive, burnin alive
[burnin alive, burnin alive]
[yeah] watch the place burn down

song performed by AC-DC
Added by Lucian Velea
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Burning Up

Im burnin up, Im burnin up, Im burnin up for your love
Im burnin up, Im burnin up, Im burnin up for your love
You let me down, turned me round, you messed around with my heart
What kind of woman with a smile on her face
Can tear your whole world apart, hey
Im on fire, I feel it burnin up, Im on fire
Im burnin up, burnin up, Im burnin up every night
Im burnin up, burnin up, and burnin up can feel so right
I see the smoke, I feel the heat, my life is going up in flames
How could you be so indiscrete, and still be so unashamed, hey
Im on fire, I feel it burnin up, Im on fire
Hey you said youd never leave me, you said wed never be apart
You turned out to be a liar, and left me with a broken heart
Why did you do it babe, yeah
(solo)
Im on fire, Im burnin inside, Im on fire, why did you do it baby
Ooh Im burnin up, Im burnin up, Im burnin up for your love
Ooh Im burnin up, see Im burnin up, Im burnin up for your love
Watch me burn, see me burnin, cause my hearts on fire
Watch me burn, see me burnin up for your love
Watch me burn, see me burnin up for your love
Watch me burn...

song performed by Bad Company
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Burnin Up

Burning up! my heart is like burnin up!
Burning up! my heart is like burnin up!
Burning up! my heart is like burnin up!
Burning up! my heart is like burnin up!
Sometimes you can be in love and having fun
And still not know whats goin on
Or on the other hand you separate, thinking that the feelins gone
Feels like forever when were together
I knew that we are destinied
So heres the last chance for the last dance
For us to bring back the dream
So baby come and rescue me
Im burnin up!
I got somethin for you to see
Im burnin up!
Baby come and take me there
Im burnin up!
Trust me you should
Hurry up!
Baby Im just burnin up!
Im burnin up!
Rap:
In the midnite
Wait a minute
I can be in a lonely place
Then along you come with the sweetest thing to say
And put the sun in my day
So baby come and rescue me
Im burnin up!
I got somethin for you to see
Im burnin up!
Baby come and take me there
Im burnin up!
Trust me you should
Hurry up!
Baby Im just burnin up!
Im burnin up!
So baby come and rescue me
Im burnin up!
I got somethin for you to see
Im burnin up!
Baby come and take me there
Im burnin up!
Trust me you should
Hurry up!
Baby Im just burnin up!
Im burnin up!
Burning up! my heart is like burnin up!
Burning up! my heart is like burnin up!
Burning up! my heart is like burnin up!

[...] Read more

song performed by Faith Evans
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Mellow Mood

[Bob Marley]
I'll play your fav'rite song, darlin'.
We can rock it all night long, darlin'.
'Cause I've got love, darlin':
Love, sweet love, darlin'.
Mellow mood has got me,
So let the music rock me.
'Cause I've got love, darlin':
Love, sweet love, darlin'.
Quiet is the night,
Please turn off your light.
I'll play your fav'rite song, darlin'.
We can rock it all night long, darlin'.
'Cause I've got love, darlin':
Love, sweet love, darlin'.
Strike the hammer while iron is hot;
Strike the hammer while iron is hot;
Strike the hammer while iron is 'ot now.
Open up your heart;
Open up your heart.
Love love come running in, darlin':
Love, sweet love, darlin';
Love, sweet ma love, darlin'.
I'll play your fav'rite song, darlin'.
We can rock it all night long, darlin'.
'Cause I've got love, darlin':
Love, sweet love, darlin'.
Mellow mood has got me, darlin',
So let the music rock me, darlin',
'Cause I got your love, darlin':
Love, sweet love, darlin'.
I'll play your fav'rite song, darlin'.
We can rock it all night long, darlin'.
'Cause I've got love, darlin':
Ma love, ma sweet, ma love, darlin'.
/fadeout/

song performed by Bob Marley
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Jealous

Yeah.. youknowhatimsayin? eh-heh
Its real funny youknowhatimean?
I like cant believe this yknow
Jealousy like tried to move on me youknowhatimsayin?
So I said nah I aint gonna, yknow
Make no energetic hyped up yellin, type joint, knowhatimean?
Im just gon cool back, youknowhatimsayin?
Word up to this slow gangster beat type thing
Check it out yo..
Jealousy - I wanna kill him and shoot him
Hes a sucker - Id like to execute him
Recruit him - put him in my school and school him
I said somethin simple, and I knew that Id fool him
Hes only mediocre, jealousy cant get with me
Hang up your clothes, cause jealousy aint spent to me
Hes just a monkey, ridin my back
In fact I kidnap, ramsack, hijack and backslap the fool..
.. see my name is cool j
I play for keeps, the microphones my tool
Ive been holdin back long enough I had to bring it
Jealousy is in the house yall, fellas sing it
Jealous.. jealous..
Theres no need to be
Jealous.. jealous..
Bih mellow, youknowhatimsayin?
Jealous.. jealous..
Gangster groove, word up knowhatimsayin?
Jealous.. jealous..
Check it out yall
Im not lackadaisical or lazy on the microphone
I bring the bacon home so jealousy go home
Or play the wall and pout about the way the prince is rollin
So when they give it up, stand back and start foldin
All your jealous show clothes, I think you need to grab a
Half-pint of cisco and hang out with backstabber
Cause ima break down all walls jealousy built
And then walk tall, like Im standin on stilts yeah
Jealousy the jam is mean youll have to rewind it
If you didnt know about him, you must have been blinded
Ask him if Im right, hell tell you he sure is
Excuse me for a moment, fellas sing a smooth chorus
Jealous.. jealous..
Knowhatimsayin? smooth, word up
Jealous.. jealous..
Huh, crazy gangster beat, youknowhatimsayin?
Its like a gangster lean
Jealous.. jealous..
Yeah yeah youknowhatimsayin?
Its cool j in the house, youknowhatimsayin?
Jealous.. jealous..

[...] Read more

song performed by LL Cool J
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Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau, Saviour of Society

Epigraph

Υδραν φονεύσας, μυρίων τ᾽ ἄλλων πόνων
διῆλθον ἀγέλας . . .
τὸ λοίσθιον δὲ τόνδ᾽ ἔτλην τάλας πόνον,
. . . δῶμα θριγκῶσαι κακοῖς.

I slew the Hydra, and from labour pass'd
To labour — tribes of labours! Till, at last,
Attempting one more labour, in a trice,
Alack, with ills I crowned the edifice.

You have seen better days, dear? So have I —
And worse too, for they brought no such bud-mouth
As yours to lisp "You wish you knew me!" Well,
Wise men, 't is said, have sometimes wished the same,
And wished and had their trouble for their pains.
Suppose my Œdipus should lurk at last
Under a pork-pie hat and crinoline,
And, latish, pounce on Sphynx in Leicester Square?
Or likelier, what if Sphynx in wise old age,
Grown sick of snapping foolish people's heads,
And jealous for her riddle's proper rede, —
Jealous that the good trick which served the turn
Have justice rendered it, nor class one day
With friend Home's stilts and tongs and medium-ware,—
What if the once redoubted Sphynx, I say,
(Because night draws on, and the sands increase,
And desert-whispers grow a prophecy)
Tell all to Corinth of her own accord.
Bright Corinth, not dull Thebes, for Lais' sake,
Who finds me hardly grey, and likes my nose,
And thinks a man of sixty at the prime?
Good! It shall be! Revealment of myself!
But listen, for we must co-operate;
I don't drink tea: permit me the cigar!
First, how to make the matter plain, of course —
What was the law by which I lived. Let 's see:
Ay, we must take one instant of my life
Spent sitting by your side in this neat room:
Watch well the way I use it, and don't laugh!
Here's paper on the table, pen and ink:
Give me the soiled bit — not the pretty rose!
See! having sat an hour, I'm rested now,
Therefore want work: and spy no better work
For eye and hand and mind that guides them both,
During this instant, than to draw my pen
From blot One — thus — up, up to blot Two — thus —
Which I at last reach, thus, and here's my line
Five inches long and tolerably straight:

[...] Read more

poem by Robert Browning (1871)
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Jealous

(jo allen)
Jealous, jealous, jealous, jealous,
Jealous, jealous,
When I see you with that guy
And he catches your pretty eye
You know it makes we want to die
And Im left out to dry
You know it makes me want to feel
Jealous, jealous,
Jealous, jealous,
Dont you know that it makes me green
When I think about you and him
Im just an end to all your means
And Im torn apart at the seams
You know it makes me want to feel
Jealous, jealous,
Jealous, jealous,
When I see you with that guy
And he catches your pretty eye
You know it makes we want to die
Oh, and Im left out to dry
You know it makes me want to feel
You know it makes me want to feel jealous, jealous,
Jealous, jealous,
Jealous, jealous,
Jealous, jealous,
Jealous, jealous,
Jealous, jealous,
Jealous, jealous,
Jealous, jealous,

song performed by Robert Palmer
Added by Lucian Velea
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Dallas

[ jimmie dale gilmore ]
Chorus:
Did you ever see dallas from a dc-9 at night?
Dallas is a jewel
Yeah, dallas is a beautiful sight
Dallas is a jungle
But dallas gives a beautiful light
Did you ever see dallas from a dc-9 at night?
Now dallas is a woman who will walk on you when youre down
But when you are up shes the kind you wanna take around
Now dallas aint a woman to help you get your feet on the ground
And dallas is a woman who will walk on you when youre down
Oh, I came into dallas with the bright lights on my mind
I came into dallas with a dollar and a dime
Dallas is a rich man with a death wish in his eyes
A steel concrete soul with a warm-hearted love in disguise
A rich man who tends to believe in his own lies
I say, dallas is a rich man with a death wish in his yes
Oh, I came into dallas with the brights lights on my mind
I came into dallas with a dollar and a dime
Chorus

song performed by 10000 Maniacs
Added by Lucian Velea
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Burning Down

If it takes them so long, so long to say yes, why dont they just say no
We dont need anyone to be put to the test, why dont they let us be
Chorus:
Livin for the right to be, livin for the right
Livin for the right to be, livin for the right
Livin for the right to be free
We needed a plan, we needed defences, they couldnt raise a smile
As the world looked down, they raided our senses, there can be no reconcile
(chorus)
Burnin down, burnin down, burnin down, burnin down
There was a time in our life was taken for granted, itll never come again
Our flower is dead, the seed is unplanted, they put it all to the flame
Burnin down, burnin down, burnin down, burnin down
Burnin down, burnin down, burnin down, burnin down
(chorus)
Burnin down, burnin down
Burnin down, burnin down, burnin down, burnin down...
(to fade)

song performed by Meat Loaf
Added by Lucian Velea
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Dont Bring Me Down

When you complain and criticize
I feel like nothing in your eyes
It makes me feel like givin up
Because my best just aint good enough
Girl I want to provide for you
And do the things you want me to
But oh, oh no
Dont bring me down
Said darlin, darlin, darlin, darlin
Oh, oh, no
Dont bring me down
The sacrifices I will make
Im ready to give as well as take
Something I need is your respect
Something I cant take is your neglect
And more than anything I need your love
Until its easy to rise above
And oh, oh, no
Dont bring me down
Said darlin, darlin, darlin, dont hurt me
Oh, oh, no
Dont bring me down
When you complain and criticize
I feel like nothing in your eyes
It makes me feel like givin up
Because my best just aint good enough
Girl I want to provide for you
Do the things that you want me to
But oh, oh, no
Dont bring me down
Said darlin, darlin, darlin, Im beggin you
Oh, oh, no
Dont bring me down
Said darlin, darlin, darlin, darlin
Oh, please, oh, no
Dont bring me down
Darlin, darlin, stop it, darlin
Oh, oh, no
Dont bring me down

song performed by Tom Petty
Added by Lucian Velea
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Burn The School Down

She said
I lost my best friend last week at school
He got shot
Someone thought that he was part of something that
He was not
Now I'm watching all the cheerleaders show just how sad they are
When my friend used to come 'round
They used to laugh and egg his car
Now I'm gonna do my part as a concerned citizen
I think we should burn the school down
And start again
Burn it
'Till there's nothing left
Burn it
Just like all the rest
Burn it
Clear up all this mess
Burn it down
Education for the nation
Kids retaliate on each station
Expectation, violation
Pressure increased in each generation
Burn the school down
Burn the school down
Burn the school down, she said
Burn the school down
Burn the school down
Burn the school down, start again
'Cause now what I want to know
Will the eyes inside the back of your mind let it go?
Now all I want to know
Will the eyes inside the back of your mind let it go?
She says
I want to feel more comfort in my own skin
But everyone around me makes me feel like
I'm worth less than them
Burn the school down
Burn the school down
Burn the school down, she said
Burn the school down
Burn the school down
Burn the school down, start again
Burn it
'Till there's nothing left
Burn it
Just like all the rest
Burn it
Clear up all this mess
Burn it down
'Cause now what I want to know

[...] Read more

song performed by Zebrahead
Added by Lucian Velea
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Jealous Lover

To all of those who had their doubts
Now those doubts... I forgive them
To everyone whos led one life
Then love life... its humble rhythm
To all of those who harbour dreams
All you get... is what youre given
Meanwhile the maximum... maximum goes down
Right from the start
I knew youd break my heart
Jealous lover... jealous lover
Rope tied and bound
I been lost and found
Jealous lover... jealous lover
Jealous of my loving
Jealous of my leaving...jealous
Jealous of my living
Jealous of my breathing
Jealous lover... jealous lover
If all they say and do were true
Just like you... Id be with em
But lies survive... and cut right through
While the truth... remains forbidden
For every single point of view
Then theres two... that must be hidden
Meantime the maximum... maximum goes down
Right from the start
I knew youd break my heart
Jealous lover... jealous lover
Rope tied and bound
I been lost and found
Jealous lover... jealous lover
Jealous of my loving
Jealous of my leaving...jealous
Jealous of my living
Jealous of my breathing
Jealous lover... theres no other
Meantime - the maximum... maximum
Nothing more and nothing less
Grip tight - the maximum... the maximum
You say no... I say yes
Dont be... dont be... dont be
Jealous lover - jealous lover

song performed by Abc
Added by Lucian Velea
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VI. Giuseppe Caponsacchi

Answer you, Sirs? Do I understand aright?
Have patience! In this sudden smoke from hell,—
So things disguise themselves,—I cannot see
My own hand held thus broad before my face
And know it again. Answer you? Then that means
Tell over twice what I, the first time, told
Six months ago: 't was here, I do believe,
Fronting you same three in this very room,
I stood and told you: yet now no one laughs,
Who then … nay, dear my lords, but laugh you did,
As good as laugh, what in a judge we style
Laughter—no levity, nothing indecorous, lords!
Only,—I think I apprehend the mood:
There was the blameless shrug, permissible smirk,
The pen's pretence at play with the pursed mouth,
The titter stifled in the hollow palm
Which rubbed the eyebrow and caressed the nose,
When I first told my tale: they meant, you know,
"The sly one, all this we are bound believe!
"Well, he can say no other than what he says.
"We have been young, too,—come, there's greater guilt!
"Let him but decently disembroil himself,
"Scramble from out the scrape nor move the mud,—
"We solid ones may risk a finger-stretch!
And now you sit as grave, stare as aghast
As if I were a phantom: now 't is—"Friend,
"Collect yourself!"—no laughing matter more—
"Counsel the Court in this extremity,
"Tell us again!"—tell that, for telling which,
I got the jocular piece of punishment,
Was sent to lounge a little in the place
Whence now of a sudden here you summon me
To take the intelligence from just—your lips!
You, Judge Tommati, who then tittered most,—
That she I helped eight months since to escape
Her husband, was retaken by the same,
Three days ago, if I have seized your sense,—
(I being disallowed to interfere,
Meddle or make in a matter none of mine,
For you and law were guardians quite enough
O' the innocent, without a pert priest's help)—
And that he has butchered her accordingly,
As she foretold and as myself believed,—
And, so foretelling and believing so,
We were punished, both of us, the merry way:
Therefore, tell once again the tale! For what?
Pompilia is only dying while I speak!
Why does the mirth hang fire and miss the smile?
My masters, there's an old book, you should con
For strange adventures, applicable yet,

[...] Read more

poem by Robert Browning from The Ring and the Book
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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Wildfire

How many hearts can
Have everything
Never ever found the one and all
The fire it brings
I wanna try more now than i
Dared before
Ive got to know what passion is
Girl Ive got to find the love
Day to day nothing there
I had to let go
Heard a call that I resisted cos it
Had no soul
When you get and never give it
Its so cold
Youre something else, oh I know
Ive got this wildfire that only grows
Every day its in my soul
This wildfire, its burnin deep
Its burnin deep - burnin burnin
Wildfire
It didnt take long
All my life is not too long
This wildfire is burning bright
Burnin bright, burnin, burnin
All around me
Theres a fire thats catching on
Make a burning field of dreams
Little spark of light touched
And grew
Fed by all the love
That Im feeling here with you
No one can believe it, but
They can see
That since weve been together
Youve made a change in me
Being alone is so wrong, its so cold
When somethings right, ooh I know
Ive got this wildfire that only grows
Every day its in my soul
This wildfire, its burnin deep
Its burnin deep - burnin burnin
Wildfire
It didnt take long
All my life is not too long
This wildfire is burning bright
Burnin bright, burnin, burnin
We gotta live to give - live and
Let love
Be here in the moment with the
One I want

[...] Read more

song performed by Hall & Oates
Added by Lucian Velea
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XI. Guido

You are the Cardinal Acciaiuoli, and you,
Abate Panciatichi—two good Tuscan names:
Acciaiuoli—ah, your ancestor it was
Built the huge battlemented convent-block
Over the little forky flashing Greve
That takes the quick turn at the foot o' the hill
Just as one first sees Florence: oh those days!
'T is Ema, though, the other rivulet,
The one-arched brown brick bridge yawns over,—yes,
Gallop and go five minutes, and you gain
The Roman Gate from where the Ema's bridged:
Kingfishers fly there: how I see the bend
O'erturreted by Certosa which he built,
That Senescal (we styled him) of your House!
I do adjure you, help me, Sirs! My blood
Comes from as far a source: ought it to end
This way, by leakage through their scaffold-planks
Into Rome's sink where her red refuse runs?
Sirs, I beseech you by blood-sympathy,
If there be any vile experiment
In the air,—if this your visit simply prove,
When all's done, just a well-intentioned trick,
That tries for truth truer than truth itself,
By startling up a man, ere break of day,
To tell him he must die at sunset,—pshaw!
That man's a Franceschini; feel his pulse,
Laugh at your folly, and let's all go sleep!
You have my last word,—innocent am I
As Innocent my Pope and murderer,
Innocent as a babe, as Mary's own,
As Mary's self,—I said, say and repeat,—
And why, then, should I die twelve hours hence? I—
Whom, not twelve hours ago, the gaoler bade
Turn to my straw-truss, settle and sleep sound
That I might wake the sooner, promptlier pay
His due of meat-and-drink-indulgence, cross
His palm with fee of the good-hand, beside,
As gallants use who go at large again!
For why? All honest Rome approved my part;
Whoever owned wife, sister, daughter,—nay,
Mistress,—had any shadow of any right
That looks like right, and, all the more resolved,
Held it with tooth and nail,—these manly men
Approved! I being for Rome, Rome was for me.
Then, there's the point reserved, the subterfuge
My lawyers held by, kept for last resource,
Firm should all else,—the impossible fancy!—fail,
And sneaking burgess-spirit win the day.
The knaves! One plea at least would hold,—they laughed,—
One grappling-iron scratch the bottom-rock

[...] Read more

poem by Robert Browning from The Ring and the Book
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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If Youre Not Gonna Love Me Right

(m.seward)
Hey, oh
Hey yeah
Hey baby, hey baby
The phone is ringing
And Im running late
Ive no time to get it
coz Im expecting you at eight
Heard your voice on the message
Im surprised you called
Said youre all tied up
And you aint comin at all
If youre not gonna love me right
Baby dont love me at all
Youre just gonna make me crazy
If youre not gonna love me right
Baby dont love me at all
If youre not gonna love me right, oh
(baby dont love, baby dont love me)
At all
(baby dont love, baby dont love me)
At all
Another box of roses outside on my porch
Twelve long excuses none of them stop the hurt
Wheres this going, do you really care?
Is this real love, I dont know anymore I swear
If youre not gonna love me right
Baby dont love me at all
Baby dont make me crazy
If youre not gonna love me right
Baby dont love me at all
If youre not gonna love me right, yeah
(baby dont love, baby dont love me)
Oh baby
(baby dont love, baby dont love me)
I really want you, oh baby
(baby dont love, baby dont love me)
If youre not gonna love me right
(baby dont love, baby dont love me)
Baby just make me crazy
Baby, I want you here
If youre not here it makes me feel like
I cant trust you
You make me crazy if you really love me
You see
Oh, I get confused when you hold me next to you
I wanna go further, oh baby yes I do
I just cant hold on to something that wont last
So wed better slow down, and maybe not go so fast
Maybe not go so fast

[...] Read more

song performed by Diana Ross
Added by Lucian Velea
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The Aeneid of Virgil: Book 12

WHEN Turnus saw the Latins leave the field,
Their armies broken, and their courage quell’d,
Himself become the mark of public spite,
His honor question’d for the promis’d fight;
The more he was with vulgar hate oppress’d, 5
The more his fury boil’d within his breast:
He rous’d his vigor for the last debate,
And rais’d his haughty soul to meet his fate.
As, when the swains the Libyan lion chase,
He makes a sour retreat, nor mends his pace; 10
But, if the pointed jav’lin pierce his side,
The lordly beast returns with double pride:
He wrenches out the steel, he roars for pain;
His sides he lashes, and erects his mane:
So Turnus fares; his eyeballs flash with fire, 15
Thro’ his wide nostrils clouds of smoke expire.
Trembling with rage, around the court he ran,
At length approach’d the king, and thus began:
“No more excuses or delays: I stand
In arms prepar’d to combat, hand to hand, 20
This base deserter of his native land.
The Trojan, by his word, is bound to take
The same conditions which himself did make.
Renew the truce; the solemn rites prepare,
And to my single virtue trust the war. 25
The Latians unconcern’d shall see the fight;
This arm unaided shall assert your right:
Then, if my prostrate body press the plain,
To him the crown and beauteous bride remain.”
To whom the king sedately thus replied: 30
“Brave youth, the more your valor has been tried,
The more becomes it us, with due respect,
To weigh the chance of war, which you neglect.
You want not wealth, or a successive throne,
Or cities which your arms have made your own: 35
My towns and treasures are at your command,
And stor’d with blooming beauties is my land;
Laurentum more than one Lavinia sees,
Unmarried, fair, of noble families.
Now let me speak, and you with patience hear, 40
Things which perhaps may grate a lover’s ear,
But sound advice, proceeding from a heart
Sincerely yours, and free from fraudful art.
The gods, by signs, have manifestly shown,
No prince Italian born should heir my throne: 45
Oft have our augurs, in prediction skill’d,
And oft our priests, a foreign son reveal’d.
Yet, won by worth that cannot be withstood,
Brib’d by my kindness to my kindred blood,
Urg’d by my wife, who would not be denied, 50

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poem by Publius Vergilius Maro
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The Aeneid of Virgil: Book 11

SCARCE had the rosy Morning rais’d her head
Above the waves, and left her wat’ry bed;
The pious chief, whom double cares attend
For his unburied soldiers and his friend,
Yet first to Heav’n perform’d a victor’s vows: 5
He bar’d an ancient oak of all her boughs;
Then on a rising ground the trunk he plac’d,
Which with the spoils of his dead foe he grac’d.
The coat of arms by proud Mezentius worn,
Now on a naked snag in triumph borne, 10
Was hung on high, and glitter’d from afar,
A trophy sacred to the God of War.
Above his arms, fix’d on the leafless wood,
Appear’d his plumy crest, besmear’d with blood:
His brazen buckler on the left was seen; 15
Truncheons of shiver’d lances hung between;
And on the right was placed his corslet, bor’d;
And to the neck was tied his unavailing sword.
A crowd of chiefs inclose the godlike man,
Who thus, conspicuous in the midst, began: 20
“Our toils, my friends, are crown’d with sure success;
The greater part perform’d, achieve the less.
Now follow cheerful to the trembling town;
Press but an entrance, and presume it won.
Fear is no more, for fierce Mezentius lies, 25
As the first fruits of war, a sacrifice.
Turnus shall fall extended on the plain,
And, in this omen, is already slain.
Prepar’d in arms, pursue your happy chance;
That none unwarn’d may plead his ignorance, 30
And I, at Heav’n’s appointed hour, may find
Your warlike ensigns waving in the wind.
Meantime the rites and fun’ral pomps prepare,
Due to your dead companions of the war:
The last respect the living can bestow, 35
To shield their shadows from contempt below.
That conquer’d earth be theirs, for which they fought,
And which for us with their own blood they bought;
But first the corpse of our unhappy friend
To the sad city of Evander send, 40
Who, not inglorious, in his age’s bloom,
Was hurried hence by too severe a doom.”
Thus, weeping while he spoke, he took his way,
Where, new in death, lamented Pallas lay.
Acoetes watch’d the corpse; whose youth deserv’d 45
The father’s trust; and now the son he serv’d
With equal faith, but less auspicious care.
Th’ attendants of the slain his sorrow share.
A troop of Trojans mix’d with these appear,
And mourning matrons with dishevel’d hair. 50

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poem by Publius Vergilius Maro
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Orlando Furioso Canto 18

ARGUMENT
Gryphon is venged. Sir Mandricardo goes
In search of Argier's king. Charles wins the fight.
Marphisa Norandino's men o'erthrows.
Due pains Martano's cowardice requite.
A favouring wind Marphisa's gallery blows,
For France with Gryphon bound and many a knight.
The field Medoro and Cloridano tread,
And find their monarch Dardinello dead.

I
High minded lord! your actions evermore
I have with reason lauded, and still laud;
Though I with style inapt, and rustic lore,
You of large portion of your praise defraud:
But, of your many virtues, one before
All others I with heart and tongue applaud,
- That, if each man a gracious audience finds,
No easy faith your equal judgment blinds.

II
Often, to shield the absent one from blame,
I hear you this, or other, thing adduce;
Or him you let, at least, an audience claim,
Where still one ear is open to excuse:
And before dooming men to scaith and shame,
To see and hear them ever is your use;
And ere you judge another, many a day,
And month, and year, your sentence to delay.

III
Had Norandine been with your care endued,
What he by Gryphon did, he had not done.
Profit and fame have from your rule accrued:
A stain more black than pitch he cast upon
His name: through him, his people were pursued
And put to death by Olivero's son;
Who at ten cuts or thrusts, in fury made,
Some thirty dead about the waggon laid.

IV
Whither fear drives, in rout, the others all,
Some scattered here, some there, on every side,
Fill road and field; to gain the city-wall
Some strive, and smothered in the mighty tide,
One on another, in the gateway fall.
Gryphon, all thought of pity laid aside,
Threats not nor speaks, but whirls his sword about,
Well venging on the crowd their every flout.

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poem by Ludovico Ariosto
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V. Count Guido Franceschini

Thanks, Sir, but, should it please the reverend Court,
I feel I can stand somehow, half sit down
Without help, make shift to even speak, you see,
Fortified by the sip of … why, 't is wine,
Velletri,—and not vinegar and gall,
So changed and good the times grow! Thanks, kind Sir!
Oh, but one sip's enough! I want my head
To save my neck, there's work awaits me still.
How cautious and considerate … aie, aie, aie,
Nor your fault, sweet Sir! Come, you take to heart
An ordinary matter. Law is law.
Noblemen were exempt, the vulgar thought,
From racking; but, since law thinks otherwise,
I have been put to the rack: all's over now,
And neither wrist—what men style, out of joint:
If any harm be, 't is the shoulder-blade,
The left one, that seems wrong i' the socket,—Sirs,
Much could not happen, I was quick to faint,
Being past my prime of life, and out of health.
In short, I thank you,—yes, and mean the word.
Needs must the Court be slow to understand
How this quite novel form of taking pain,
This getting tortured merely in the flesh,
Amounts to almost an agreeable change
In my case, me fastidious, plied too much
With opposite treatment, used (forgive the joke)
To the rasp-tooth toying with this brain of mine,
And, in and out my heart, the play o' the probe.
Four years have I been operated on
I' the soul, do you see—its tense or tremulous part—
My self-respect, my care for a good name,
Pride in an old one, love of kindred—just
A mother, brothers, sisters, and the like,
That looked up to my face when days were dim,
And fancied they found light there—no one spot,
Foppishly sensitive, but has paid its pang.
That, and not this you now oblige me with,
That was the Vigil-torment, if you please!
The poor old noble House that drew the rags
O' the Franceschini's once superb array
Close round her, hoped to slink unchallenged by,—
Pluck off these! Turn the drapery inside out
And teach the tittering town how scarlet wears!
Show men the lucklessness, the improvidence
Of the easy-natured Count before this Count,
The father I have some slight feeling for,
Who let the world slide, nor foresaw that friends
Then proud to cap and kiss their patron's shoe,
Would, when the purse he left held spider-webs,
Properly push his child to wall one day!

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poem by Robert Browning from The Ring and the Book
Added by Veronica Serbanoiu
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