XXVII.
“And if the honest suit he hoped to gain
“Had been at first rejected by my sire,
“’Twas, he was somedeal of a churlish vein,
“Nor ever yielded to a first desire:
“He should not therefore, restive to the rein,
“Have left his goodly task, so prompt to ire;
“Sure, passing aye from good to better deed,
“In little time to win the wished-for meed;
XXVIII.
“And if my father would not have been won,
“To him I would so earnestly have prayed,
“That he my lover should have made his son;
“Nay, had my royal sire my suit gainsayed,
“For him in secret that I would have done,
“Wherewith he should have deemed himself appaid:
“But since, it seemed, he other means designed,
“Never to love him had I fixed my mind;
XXIX.
“And, though I sought him, at my father’s hest,
“And pious love for him had been my guide,
“He might be sure, not long should be possest
“The bliss that I, in my despite, supplied;
“For the red blood should issue from my breast
“As soon as his ill will was satisfied
“On this my wretched person, which alone
“He so by brutal force should make his own.
