Click in the field, then press CTRL+C to copy the HTML code
Copy
<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=393401" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>The Hostage</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">The tyrant Dionys to seek,<br> Stern Moerus with his poniard crept;<br> The watchful guard upon him swept;<br>The grim king marked his changeless cheek:<br>"What wouldst thou with thy poniard? Speak!"<br>"The city from the tyrant free!"<br>"The death-cross shall thy guerdon be."</div><div style="margin:10px 0">"I am prepared for death, nor pray,"<br> Replied that haughty man, "I to live;<br> Enough, if thou one grace wilt give<br>For three brief suns the death delay<br>To wed my sister--leagues away;<br>I boast one friend whose life for mine,<br>If I should fail the cross, is thine."</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The tyrant mused,--and smiled,--and said<br> With gloomy craft, "So let it be;<br> Three days I will vouchsafe to thee.<br>But mark--if, when the time be sped,<br>Thou fail'st--thy surety dies instead.<br>His life shall buy thine own release;<br>Thy guilt atoned, my wrath shall cease."</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He sought his friend--"The king's decree<br> Ordains my life the cross upon<br> Shall pay the deed I would have done;<br>Yet grants three days' delay to me,<br>My sister's marriage-rites to see;<br>If thou, the hostage, wilt remain<br>Till I--set free--return again!"</div><div style="margin:10px 0">His friend embraced--No word he said,<br> But silent to the tyrant strode--<br> The other went upon his road.<br>Ere the third sun in heaven was red,<br>The rite was o'er, the sister wed;<br>And back, with anxious heart unquailing,<br>He hastes to hold the pledge unfailing.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Down the great rains unending bore,<br> Down from the hills the torrents rushed,<br> In one broad stream the brooklets gushed.<br>The wanderer halts beside the shore,<br>The bridge was swept the tides before--<br>The shattered arches o'er and under<br>Went the tumultuous waves in thunder.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Dismayed he takes his idle stand--<br> Dismayed, he strays and shouts around;<br> His voice awakes no answering sound.<br>No boat will leave the sheltering strand,<br>To bear him to the wished-for land;<br>No boatman will Death's pilot be;<br>The wild stream gathers to a sea!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Sunk by the banks, awhile he weeps,<br> Then raised his arms to Jove, and cried,<br> "Stay thou, oh stay the maddening tide;<br>Midway behold the swift sun sweeps,<br>And, ere he sinks adown the deeps,<br>If I should fail, his beams will see<br>My friend's last anguish--slain for me!"</div><div style="margin:10px 0">More fierce it runs, more broad it flows,<br> And wave on wave succeeds and dies<br> And hour on hour remorseless flies;<br>Despair at last to daring grows--<br>Amidst the flood his form he throws;<br>With vigorous arms the roaring waves<br>Cleaves--and a God that pities, saves.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He wins the bank--he scours the strand,<br> He thanks the God in breathless prayer;<br> When from the forest's gloomy lair,<br>With ragged club in ruthless hand,<br>And breathing murder--rushed the band<br>That find, in woods, their savage den,<br>And savage prey in wandering men.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">"What," cried he, pale with generous fear;<br> "What think to gain ye by the strife?<br> All I bear with me is my life--<br>I take it to the king!"--and here<br>He snatched the club from him most near:<br>And thrice he smote, and thrice his blows<br>Dealt death--before him fly the foes!</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The sun is glowing as a brand;<br> And faint before the parching heat,<br> The strength forsakes the feeble feet:<br>"Thou hast saved me from the robbers' hand,<br>Through wild floods given the blessed land;<br>And shall the weak limbs fail me now?<br>And he!--Divine one, nerve me, thou!"</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>Hark! like some gracious murmur by,<br> Babbles low music, silver-clear--<br> The wanderer holds his breath to hear;<br>And from the rock, before his eye,<br>Laughs forth the spring delightedly;<br>Now the sweet waves he bends him o'er,<br>And the sweet waves his strength restore.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Through the green boughs the sun gleams dying,<br> O'er fields that drink the rosy beam,<br> The trees' huge shadows giant seem.<br>Two strangers on the road are hieing;<br>And as they fleet beside him flying,<br>These muttered words his ear dismay:<br>"Now--now the cross has claimed its prey!"</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Despair his winged path pursues,<br> The anxious terrors hound him on--<br> There, reddening in the evening sun,<br>From far, the domes of Syracuse!--<br>When towards him comes Philostratus<br>(His leal and trusty herdsman he),<br>And to the master bends his knee.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">"Back--thou canst aid thy friend no more,<br> The niggard time already flown--<br> His life is forfeit--save thine own!<br>Hour after hour in hope he bore,<br>Nor might his soul its faith give o'er;<br>Nor could the tyrant's scorn deriding,<br>Steal from that faith one thought confiding!"</div><div style="margin:10px 0">"Too late! what horror hast thou spoken!<br> Vain life, since it cannot requite him!<br> But death with me can yet unite him;<br>No boast the tyrant's scorn shall make--<br>How friend to friend can faith forsake.<br>But from the double death shall know,<br>That truth and love yet live below!"</div><div style="margin:10px 0">The sun sinks down--the gate's in view,<br> The cross looms dismal on the ground--<br> The eager crowd gape murmuring round.<br>His friend is bound the cross unto. . . .<br>Crowd--guards--all bursts he breathless through:<br>"Me! Doomsman, me!" he shouts, "alone!<br>His life is rescued--lo, mine own!"</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Amazement seized the circling ring!<br> Linked in each other's arms the pair--<br> Weeping for joy--yet anguish there!<br>Moist every eye that gazed;--they bring<br>The wondrous tidings to the king--<br>His breast man's heart at last hath known,<br>And the friends stand before his throne.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Long silent, he, and wondering long,<br> Gazed on the pair--"In peace depart,<br> Victors, ye have subdued my heart!<br>Truth is no dream!--its power is strong.<br>Give grace to him who owns his wrong!<br>'Tis mine your suppliant now to be,<br>Ah, let the band of love--be three!"</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Friedrich+Schiller">Friedrich Schiller</a><div class=q> <img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share"> <script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=393401" data-title="The Hostage de Friedrich Schiller" data-description="The tyrant Dionys to seek, Stern Moerus with his poniard crept; The watchful guard upon him swept; The grim king marked his changeless cheek: "What wouldst thou with thy poniard? Speak!" "The city from the tyrant free!" "..."></div> </div> </div>
solid border
dashed border
dotted border
double border
groove border
ridge border
inset border
outset border
no border
blue
green
red
purple
cyan
gold
silver
black