Шекспир. Сонет 111. Жалей меня

Ради меня ли ты бранишь Судьбу -
Виновную Богиню преступлений,
в не лучшей доле твоему рабу,
чем общество, манеры их и мненье.
От них я получаю свой ярлык,
который подчинил мою природу
и выкрасил в работах под свой стиль:
жалей меня, чтоб был я обновленным.
Как жалкий пацент, я буду пить
твое лекарство против всех инфекций.
Пусть будет оно горше всех обид,
двойная кара - ради их коррекций.
Жалей меня, мой друг, и то одно
что пожалел - исцелит все моё.

SONNET 111
O, for my sake do you with Fortune chide,
 The guilty goddess of my harmful deeds,
 That did not better for my life provide,
 Than public means which public manners breeds.
 Thence comes it that my name receives a brand,
 And almost thence my nature is subdu'd
 To what it works in, like the dyer's hand:
 Pity me then and wish I were renew'd;
 Whilst, like a willing patient, I will drink
 Potions of eysell, 'gainst my strong infection;
 No bitterness that I will bitter think,
 Nor double penance, to correct correction.
 Pity me then, dear friend, and I assure ye
 Even that your pity is enough to cure me.

NOTES

 CXI. The allusions in this Sonnet to Shakespeare's profession as an actor are not to be doubted. To this cause the poet attributes his errors. Poverty, compelling him to gain a livelihood by catering for public entertainment, was the source of his faults and of the scandal which they had occasioned. He would fain, at almost any cost, purify himself from the stain. He deserves to be pitied by his friend, rather than to be blamed.

 1. With. Q. "wish."

 4. Publick manners. Implying vulgar, low, and probably disreputable conduct.

 8. Renew' d. Thoroughly changed.

 10. Eysell. Vinegar, a well-known supposed disinfectant. But here the idea is of a medicine to arrest and neutralise disease and corruption within.

 12. To correct correction. To complete and perfect the correction of my conduct. Similarly we say, "To make assurance doubly sure."

 14. Implying probably that the cause of offence, whatever it may have been, was superficial, and not deeply seated in Shakespeare's nature.