The Tower of Babel A Poetical Drama Author:Alfred Austin General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1874 Original Publisher: W. Blackwood Subjects: Drama / General Drama / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh Drama / Shakespeare Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the Gener... more »al Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: ACT III. SCENE I. -- Night of the same day. Interior of the chief tent Noema, Irad asleep. NOEMA (sol.) WHY should I tell him more? When last I raised The veil behind which lies my sanctuary Of inner life, he barely deigned to look, But bade me share my superstitious realm With Spirit consorts, -- fit companions ! Why should this superciliousness wound, When 'tis the low that at the lofty strikes, And they who soar be ruffled in their flight By them who grovel? 'Tis the feeble side Of that in mortals which alone is strong, To keep them feeble still : that sense of shame, Which dreads to let the unfamiliar look Upon our naked selves familiarly, Even when noble in our nakedness. Thus when to Aran's misconceiving mind I bare my heavenly secret, 'twere as though I unto stranger gaze should bare myself, And violate my instinct's modesty. 0 no! I cannot speak of it again! Yet secrecy, like woodmite when it gnaws A fruit upon the side that's next the tree, Though marring not rotundity and bloom, Eats out the heart withal. Secretiveness Is selfs most subtle poison, and demands The antidote of trust. I'll trust my husband. 1 hear him coming. [ARAN enters through a curtain in the tent. Must thou go to-night ? ARAN. There is no must where a firm will presides, And ordered Forethought, with its crown on top And active sceptre in its hand, drives back The rabble urgings of Necessity. Must is a fiction of the Gods to fool Their mortal serfs wit...« less