Page:Shakespeare Collection of Poems.djvu/87

Save of their Lord no bearing yoke they knew,
And him by oath they truly honoured.
These worlds in Tarquin new ambition bred;
Who like a foul usurper went about
From this fair throne to have the owner out.

What could he see, but mightily he noted?
What did he note, but strongly he desired?
What he beheld, on that he firmly doted,
And in his will his wilful eye he tyred.
With more than admiration he admired
Her azure veins, her alabaster skin,
Her coral lips, her snow-white dimpled chin.

As the grim Lion fawneth ore his prey,
Sharpe hunger by the conquest satisfied:
So ore this sleeping soul doth Tarquin stay,
His rage of lust by grazing qualified;
Slackt, not supprest, for standing by her side,
His eye which late this mutiny restrains,
Unto a greater uproar tempts his veins.

And they like stragling slaves for pillage fighting,
Obdurate vassals fell exploits effecting;
In bloody death and ravishment delighting,
Nor childrens tears, nor mothers groans respecting,
Swell in their pride the onset still expecting,
Anon his beating heart alarum striking,
Gives the hot charge, and bids them do their liking.

His