Auris.
Why, did I say I loved you? I say no.
Crassus.
Why do you make love?
Aurcta.
To beguile the hour;
To crown my rose-wreath with a greener flower;
To do my master's bidding, that’s to give
Life to yourself, who only think you live.
But listen! Have you seen the nine waves roll
Monotonous upon the shoal,
Rising and falling like a maiden asleep;
‘Then with a lift and a leap
The ninth wave curls, and breaks upon the beach,
And rushes up it, swallowing the sand?
Lam that ocean. . . . Now, you understand?
Crassus.
Alicial O! this is unbearable.
Surely this wave washes the shore of hell!
Aurcta,
Each follows each
Remorseless and indifferent as Nature
Is to each creature.
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