Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, VIRGINIUS: VIRGINIUS IN THE FORUM, by JAMES SHERIDAN KNOWLES


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

VIRGINIUS: VIRGINIUS IN THE FORUM, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Your answer now, virginus?
Last Line: Have I not spoke the truth?
Subject(s): Paternity


IN REPLY TO A SLAVE WHO CLAIMED TO BE THE FATHER OF VIRGINIA.

-- YOUR answer now, Virginius?
-- Here it is!
Is this the daughter of a slave? I know
'Tis not with men, as shrubs and trees, that by
The shoot you know the rank and order of
The stem. Yet who from such a stem would look
For such a shoot? My witnesses are these --
The relatives and friends of Numitoria,
Who saw her, ere Virginia's birth, sustain
The burden which a mother bears, nor feels
The weight, with longing for the sight of it.
Here are the ears that listen'd to her sighs
In nature's hour of labour, which subsides
In the embrace of joy -- the hands, that when
The day first look'd upon the infant's face,
And never look'd so pleased, help'd them up to it
And bless'd her for a blessing -- Here, the eyes
That saw her lying at the generous
And sympathetic fount, that at her cry
Sent forth a stream of liquid living pearl
To cherish her enamell'd veins. The lie
Is most unfruitful then, that takes the flower --
The very flower our bed connubial grew,
To prove its barrenness!
Speak for me, friends!
Have I not spoke the truth?





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