ORSINO: I know two dull, fierce outlaws, Who think man's spirit as a worm's, and they Would trample out, for any slight caprice, _235 The meanest or the noblest life. This mood Is marketable here in Rome. They sell What we now want. LUCRETIA: To-morrow before dawn, Cenci will take us to that lonely rock, Petrella, in the Apulian Apennines. _240 If he arrive there... BEATRICE: He must not arrive. ORSINO: Will it be dark before you reach the tower? LUCRETIA: The sun will scarce be set. BEATRICE: But I remember Two miles on this side of the fort, the road Crosses a deep ravine; 'tis rough and narrow, _245 And winds with short turns down the precipice; And in its depth there is a mighty rock, Which has, from unimaginable years, Sustained itself with terror and with toil Over a gulf, and with the agony _250 With which it clings seems slowly coming down; Even as a wretched soul hour after hour, Clings to the mass of life; yet, clinging, leans; And leaning, makes more dark the dread abyss In which it fears to fall: beneath this crag _255 Huge as despair, as if in weariness, The melancholy mountain yawns...below, You hear but see not an impetuous torrent Raging among the caverns, and a bridge Crosses the chasm; and high above there grow, _260 With intersecting trunks, from crag to crag, Cedars, and yews, and pines; whose tangled hair Is matted in one solid roof of shade By the dark ivy's twine. At noonday here 'Tis twilight, and at sunset blackest night. _265 ORSINO: Before you reach that bridge make some excuse For spurring on your mules, or loitering Until... BEATRICE: What sound is that? LUCRETIA: Hark! No, it cannot be a servant's step It must be Cenci, unexpectedly _270 Returned...Make some excuse for being here. BEATRICE [TO ORSINO AS SHE GOES OUT]: That step we hear approach must never pass The bridge of which we spoke. [EXEUNT LUCRETIA AND BEATRICE.] ORSINO: What shall I do? Cenci must find me here, and I must bear The imperious inquisition of his looks _275 As to what brought me hither: let me mask Mine own in some inane and vacant smile. [ENTER GIACOMO, IN A HURRIED MANNER.] How! Have you ventured hither? Know you then That Cenci is from home? NOTE: _278 hither edition 1821; thither edition 1819. GIACOMO: I sought him here; And now must wait till he returns. ORSINO: Great God! _280 Weigh you the danger of this rashness?