The Cenci: A Tragedy in Five Acts

Percy Bysshe Shelley

18 chapters · about 2 h

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The opening

SCENE I.

An Apartment in the Cenci Palace. Enter COUNT CENCI, AND CARDINAL CAMILLO.

Camillo. That matter of the murder is hushed up If you consent to yield his Holiness Your fief that lies beyond the Pincian gate. — It needed all my interest in the conclave To bend him to this point: he said that you Bought perilous impunity with your gold; That crimes like yours if once or twice compounded Enriched the Church, and respited from hell An erring soul which might repent and live: — But that the glory and the interest Of the high throne he fills, little consist With making it a daily mart of guilt As manifold and hideous as the deeds Which you scarce hide from men’s revolted eyes.

Cenci. The third of my possessions — let it go! Aye, I once heard the nephew of the Pope Had sent his architect to view the ground, Meaning to build a villa on my vines The next time I compounded with his uncle: I little thought he should outwit me so! Henceforth no witness — not the lamp — shall see That which the vassal threatened to divulge Whose throat is choked with dust for his reward. The deed he saw could not have rated higher Than his most worthless life: — it angers me! pespited me from Hell! — So may the Devil Pespite their souls from Heaven. No doubt Pope Clement, And his most charitable nephews, pray That the Apostle Peter and the saints Will grant for their sake that I long enjoy Strength, wealth, and pride, and lust, and length of days Wherein to act the deeds which are the stewards Of their revenue. — But much yet remains To which they shew no title.

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About this edition

The words
The author's text, copied word for word.
Left out
  • Page numbers and running heads from the printed pages, in 6 places
  • The library's bookplate (“LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA”) and specks on the first scanned pages (10 blocks)
  • Other material that isn't the author's, in 4 places
  • The library's bookplate again, and specks (7 blocks)
  • The title page and opening pages before chapter 1, in 3 places
  • The printed table of contents (the app makes its own)
  • Notes about a stage production, in 6 places
  • Marks with no letter beside the brace (“^''”), the OCR's reading of the spot where the braced label stands
  • Marks with no letter beside the brace (“^^"«-”), the OCR's reading of the spot where the braced label stands
  • A speck at the top of the page, read as “f-”
  • Closing line (“END OF THE FIRST ACT.”, “TUE END.” for “THE END.”) (5 blocks)
  • A smudge between two verse lines read as characters (“O ' DO”)
  • A mark between “ACT V.” and “SCENE I.” read as characters (“57L”)
  • A speck between two lines read as “o”
  • Notes and pages added by translators, editors or publishers, in 3 places
  • Specks on the blank end pages of the scan (7 blocks)