Crassus.
Wonderful, wonderful woman!
[She throws her head back, and laughs.
Acta.
Now, you think
‘You know my secret. I have given you drink,
And you are wise. But hush! to all emotion
Save this the pulse and swell of Ocean.
For at the last with mouth and fingers wried
All must proclaim the triumph of the tide.
Crassus.
An! still you mock me with your cruel laugh.
Autcta.
It is your foolish epitaph.
Crassus.
But this can be no mockery. Heave and sway
And curl and thrust—these waves are not at play.
Aurera.
You feel the ocean breaking on the shoal;
But passionless and moveless is its soul.
Crassus.
Ah! but your soul is in your breath.
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