The Ring and the Book

Robert Browning (1812 - 1889)

"Better translate--"A Roman murder-case:
"Position of the entire criminal cause
"Of Guido Franceschini, nobleman,
"With certain Four the cutthroats in his pay,
"Tried, all five, and found guilty and put to death
"By heading or hanging as befitted ranks,
"At Rome on February Twenty-Two,
"Since our salvation Sixteen Ninety Eight:
"Wherein it is disputed if, and when,
"Husbands may kill adulterous wives, yet 'scape
'The customary forfeit.'"
(Excerpt from first chapter of The Ring and the Book.)

Note from reader: The main text I have read from follows the first edition; but there are some words or lines that do not make sense, either through copying mistakes or because they are difficult if not impossible to make sense of in the first edition. In such cases, I have relied upon an alternate text, found at archive.org and also in the public domain, that contains the wording of the later editions. --Tony Oliva

Genre(s): Single author, Narratives

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 01 Chapter 1 - The Ring and the Book: "Do you see this ring?" Tony Oliva
00:09:31
Play 02 Chapter 1. "Word for word, So ran the title-page" Tony Oliva
00:07:32
Play 03 Chapter 1. "So was the trial at end, do you suppose?" Tony Oliva
00:11:47
Play 04 Chapter 1. "Well, British Public, ye who like me not," Tony Oliva
00:19:56
Play 05 Chapter 1. "This was it from, my fancy with those facts," Tony Oliva
00:07:45
Play 06 Chapter 1. "Enough of me!" Tony Oliva
00:09:41
Play 07 Chapter 1. "Then, yet another day let come and go," Tony Oliva
00:07:56
Play 08 Chapter 1. "Also hear Caponsacchi who comes next," Tony Oliva
00:06:45
Play 09 Chapter 1. "Then, since a Trial ensued, a touch o' the same" Tony Oliva
00:12:27
Play 10 Chapter 1. "Then must speak Guido yet a second time," Tony Oliva
00:08:10
Play 11 Chapter 1. "Such, British Public, ye who like me not," Tony Oliva
00:03:05
Play 12 Chapter 2 - Half-Rome: "What, you, Sir, come too? (Just the man I'd meet.)" Tony Oliva
00:05:48
Play 13 Chapter 2. "From dawn till now that it is growing dusk," Tony Oliva
00:07:01
Play 14 Chapter 2. "These wretched Comparini were once gay" Tony Oliva
00:07:31
Play 15 Chapter 2. "He waited and learned waiting, thirty years;" Tony Oliva
00:08:09
Play 16 Chapter 2. "They went to Arezzo,--Pietro and his spouse," Tony Oliva
00:06:40
Play 17 Chapter 2. "I see the comment ready on your lip," Tony Oliva
00:06:25
Play 18 Chapter 2. "This makes the first act of the farce" Tony Oliva
00:09:23
Play 19 Chapter 2. "Leave it thus, and now revert" Tony Oliva
00:08:42
Play 20 Chapter 2. "So it went on and on till--who was right?" Tony Oliva
00:06:32
Play 21 Chapter 2. "Sir, what's the sequel?" Tony Oliva
00:07:13
Play 22 Chapter 2. "Therefore to Rome with the clear case" Tony Oliva
00:10:07
Play 23 Chapter 2. "The Canon Caponsacchi, then, was sent" Tony Oliva
00:10:57
Play 24 Chapter 2. "Come, here's the last drop does its worst to wound," Tony Oliva
00:07:23
Play 25 Chapter 2. "But with a certain issue: no dispute" Tony Oliva
00:05:52
Play 26 Chapter 3 - The Other Half-Rome: "Another day that finds her living yet" Tony Oliva
00:06:21
Play 27 Chapter 3. "Truth lies between: there's anyhow a child" Tony Oliva
00:06:19
Play 28 Chapter 3. "Adam-like, Pietro sighed and said no more" Tony Oliva
00:07:12
Play 29 Chapter 3. "So--giving now his great flap-hat a gloss" Tony Oliva
00:08:04
Play 30 Chapter 3. "Then with the great air did he kiss" Tony Oliva
00:08:08
Play 31 Chapter 3. "And faith here made the mountains move." Tony Oliva
00:07:48
Play 32 Chapter 3. "Who could gainsay this just and right award?" Tony Oliva
00:07:41
Play 33 Chapter 3. "In short, he also took the middle course" Tony Oliva
00:12:52
Play 34 Chapter 3. "This is why;" Tony Oliva
00:06:05
Play 35 Chapter 3. "When first, pursuant to his plan, there sprung" Tony Oliva
00:07:36
Play 36 Chapter 3. "All was determined and performed at once" Tony Oliva
00:09:20
Play 37 Chapter 3. "Guido's tale begins--" Tony Oliva
00:08:16
Play 38 Chapter 3. "So was the case concluded then and there" Tony Oliva
00:07:26
Play 39 Chapter 3. "The priest went to his relegation-place" Tony Oliva
00:07:16
Play 40 Chapter 3. "You, What would you answer?" Tony Oliva
00:07:39
Play 41 Chapter 3. ""Come in," bade poor Violante cheerfully" Tony Oliva
00:05:11
Play 42 Chapter 4 - Tertium Quid: "True, Excellency--as his Highness says" Tony Oliva
00:07:30
Play 43 Chapter 4. "What's his resource? He asks and straight obtains" Tony Oliva
00:07:22
Play 44 Chapter 4. "Accordingly, when time was come about" Tony Oliva
00:09:21
Play 45 Chapter 4. "Indeed the prize was simply full to a fault" Tony Oliva
00:09:54
Play 46 Chapter 4. "Said and done." Tony Oliva
00:07:36
Play 47 Chapter 4. "On the other hand "Not so!" Guido retorts" Tony Oliva
00:08:47
Play 48 Chapter 4. "On the other hand, so much is easily said" Tony Oliva
00:11:28
Play 49 Chapter 4. "But then this is the wife's--Pompilia's tale" Tony Oliva
00:07:59
Play 50 Chapter 4. "Then, look into his own account o' the case!" Tony Oliva
00:06:36
Play 51 Chapter 4. "Guido rejoins--"Did the other end o' the tale" Tony Oliva
00:15:41
Play 52 Chapter 4. "Is it settled so far?" Tony Oliva
00:08:31
Play 53 Chapter 4. "And, as they left by one door," Tony Oliva
00:09:06
Play 54 Chapter 4. "At this discrepancy of judgments--mad" Tony Oliva
00:08:44
Play 55 Chapter 5 - Count Guido Franceschini: "Thanks, Sir, but, should it please the reverend Court" Tony Oliva
00:10:26
Play 56 Chapter 5. "I am representative of a great line" Tony Oliva
00:07:38
Play 57 Chapter 5. "So I was." Tony Oliva
00:14:17
Play 58 Chapter 5. "Now, Paul's advice was weighty: priests should know:" Tony Oliva
00:12:36
Play 59 Chapter 5. "So much for them so far: now for myself" Tony Oliva
00:15:42
Play 60 Chapter 5. "Such was the starting; now of the further step." Tony Oliva
00:13:39
Play 61 Chapter 5. ""Far from that! No, you took the opposite course," Tony Oliva
00:08:59
Play 62 Chapter 5. "So much For the terrible effect of threatening, Sirs!" Tony Oliva
00:09:51
Play 63 Chapter 5. "Oh, but we did not write a single word!" Tony Oliva
00:11:10
Play 64 Chapter 5. "I played the man as I best might, bade friends" Tony Oliva
00:08:11
Play 65 Chapter 5. "Now,--I see my lords Shift in their seat" Tony Oliva
00:08:33
Play 66 Chapter 5. ""Nay," said the letter, "but you have just that!" Tony Oliva
00:08:50
Play 67 Chapter 5. "Festive bells--everywhere the Feast o' the Babe" Tony Oliva
00:13:40
Play 68 Chapter 5. "But now Health is returned, and sanity of soul" Tony Oliva
00:09:34
Play 69 Chapter 5. "Then I proceed a step, come with clean hands" Tony Oliva
00:15:00
Play 70 Chapter 6 - Giuseppe Caponsacchi: "Answer you, Sirs? Do I understand aright?" Tony Oliva
00:07:28
Play 71 Chapter 6. "Men, for the last time, what do you want with me?" Tony Oliva
00:08:37
Play 72 Chapter 6. "I begin." Tony Oliva
00:08:20
Play 73 Chapter 6. "So I became a priest: those terms changed all" Tony Oliva
00:08:16
Play 74 Chapter 6. "Sirs, ere the week was out," Tony Oliva
00:08:27
Play 75 Chapter 6. "I questioned--lifting half the woman's mask" Tony Oliva
00:07:37
Play 76 Chapter 6. "So, I went: crossed street and street: "The next street's turn," Tony Oliva
00:12:34
Play 77 Chapter 6. "I answered, "It shall be when it can be." Tony Oliva
00:06:29
Play 78 Chapter 6. "I' the grey of dawn it was I found myself" Tony Oliva
00:06:42
Play 79 Chapter 6. "There she stood--leaned there, for the second time," Tony Oliva
00:07:41
Play 80 Chapter 6. "For the first hour We both were silent in the night, I know" Tony Oliva
00:07:18
Play 81 Chapter 6. "We did go on all night; but at its close" Tony Oliva
00:07:00
Play 82 Chapter 6. "Suddenly I saw The old tower" Tony Oliva
00:08:14
Play 83 Chapter 6. "She started up, stood erect, face to face" Tony Oliva
00:07:41
Play 84 Chapter 6. "When we were parted,--shall I go on there?" Tony Oliva
00:07:49
Play 85 Chapter 6. "And I was just set down to study these" Tony Oliva
00:07:43
Play 86 Chapter 6. "I have done with being judged." Tony Oliva
00:07:06
Play 87 Chapter 6. "Why, Sirs, what's this? Why, this is sorry and strange!" Tony Oliva
00:08:15
Play 88 Chapter 6. "Sirs, I am quiet again. You see, we are" Tony Oliva
00:03:28
Play 89 Chapter 7 - Pompilia: "I am just seventeen years and five months old" Tony Oliva
00:08:20
Play 90 Chapter 7. "On second thoughts, I hope he will regard" Tony Oliva
00:08:27
Play 91 Chapter 7. "Six days ago when it was New Year's-day" Tony Oliva
00:11:04
Play 92 Chapter 7. "There was a fancy came" Tony Oliva
00:07:51
Play 93 Chapter 7. "When I saw nothing more, the next three weeks" Tony Oliva
00:07:32
Play 94 Chapter 7. "All since is one blank" Tony Oliva
00:10:39
Play 95 Chapter 7. "I felt there was just one thing Guido claimed" Tony Oliva
00:09:19
Play 96 Chapter 7. "So, home I did go; so, the worst befell" Tony Oliva
00:07:40
Play 97 Chapter 7. "I had been miserable three drear years" Tony Oliva
00:07:44
Play 98 Chapter 7. "There may have elapsed a week" Tony Oliva
00:07:16
Play 99 Chapter 7. "I returned," Tony Oliva
00:06:49
Play 100 Chapter 7. "Now, understand here, by no means mistake!" Tony Oliva
00:08:14
Play 101 Chapter 7. "Off she went--"May he not refuse, that's all" Tony Oliva
00:07:24
Play 102 Chapter 7. "And this man, men call sinner? Jesus Christ!" Tony Oliva
00:11:38
Play 103 Chapter 7. "You see, I will not have the service fail!" Tony Oliva
00:09:35
Play 104 Chapter 7. "Well, and there is more! Yes, my end of breath" Tony Oliva
00:06:11
Play 105 Chapter 8 - Dominus Hyacinthus de Archangelis Pauperum Procurator: "Ah, my Giacinto, he's no ruddy rogue," Tony Oliva
00:09:27
Play 106 Chapter 8. "Whew!" Tony Oliva
00:13:13
Play 107 Chapter 8. "Yet what do I name "little and a leak?" Tony Oliva
00:10:05
Play 108 Chapter 8. "So, doubtless, had I needed argue here" Tony Oliva
00:11:58
Play 109 Chapter 8. "May Gigia have remembered, nothing stings" Tony Oliva
00:11:33
Play 110 Chapter 8. "Have I proved" Tony Oliva
00:13:37
Play 111 Chapter 8. "Pause and breathe!" Tony Oliva
00:10:12
Play 112 Chapter 8. "And now, sea widens and the coast is clear." Tony Oliva
00:09:19
Play 113 Chapter 8. "Here fall to be considered those same six" Tony Oliva
00:09:26
Play 114 Chapter 8. "Third aggravation: that our act was done--" Tony Oliva
00:08:32
Play 115 Chapter 8. "But wait awhile!" Tony Oliva
00:10:48
Play 116 Chapter 8. "Talking of which flea" Tony Oliva
00:08:35
Play 117 Chapter 8. "And now, thou excellent the Governor!" Tony Oliva
00:13:04
Play 118 Chapter 9 - Juris Doctor Johannes-Baptista Bottinius: "Had I God's leave, how I would alter things!" Tony Oliva
00:08:28
Play 119 Chapter 9. "End we exordium, Phaebus plucks my ear!" Tony Oliva
00:09:35
Play 120 Chapter 9. "For lo, advancing Hymen and his pomp!" Tony Oliva
00:12:08
Play 121 Chapter 9. "Enough! Prepare," Tony Oliva
00:07:53
Play 122 Chapter 9. "From all which, I deduce--the lady here" Tony Oliva
00:09:29
Play 123 Chapter 9. "Thus Would I defend the step,--were the thing true" Tony Oliva
00:09:06
Play 124 Chapter 9. "Fit place, methinks," Tony Oliva
00:10:56
Play 125 Chapter 9. "And so he was contented--one must do" Tony Oliva
00:08:01
Play 126 Chapter 9. "It happened once,--begins this foolish Jew," Tony Oliva
00:09:40
Play 127 Chapter 9. "Forgive me this digression--that I stand" Tony Oliva
00:10:51
Play 128 Chapter 9. "Yet doubt he dares!" Tony Oliva
00:08:40
Play 129 Chapter 9. "Your "this," friend, is extraneous to the law," Tony Oliva
00:09:51
Play 130 Chapter 10 - The Pope: "Like to Ahasuerus, that shrewd prince," Tony Oliva
00:11:19
Play 131 Chapter 10. "But, after John, came Sergius, reaffirmed" Tony Oliva
00:12:10
Play 132 Chapter 10. "O pale departure, dim disgrace of day!" Tony Oliva
00:10:24
Play 133 Chapter 10. "This is why Guido is found reprobate." Tony Oliva
00:10:34
Play 134 Chapter 10. "He purposes this marriage, I remark," Tony Oliva
00:10:28
Play 135 Chapter 10. "Whereby the man so far attains his end" Tony Oliva
00:10:58
Play 136 Chapter 10. "So is the murder managed, sin conceived" Tony Oliva
00:13:25
Play 137 Chapter 10. "Nay, more i' the background, yet? Unnoticed forms" Tony Oliva
00:09:25
Play 138 Chapter 10. "And surely not so very much apart" Tony Oliva
00:10:40
Play 139 Chapter 10. "So do I see, pronounce on all and some" Tony Oliva
00:06:14
Play 140 Chapter 10. "O Thou,--as represented here to me" Tony Oliva
00:09:02
Play 141 Chapter 10. "Neither does this astonish at the end," Tony Oliva
00:14:23
Play 142 Chapter 10. "And is this little all that was to be?" Tony Oliva
00:12:31
Play 143 Chapter 10. "How should I answer this Euripides?" Tony Oliva
00:12:50
Play 144 Chapter 10. "Still, I stand here, not off the stage though close" Tony Oliva
00:13:45
Play 145 Chapter 11 - Guido: "You are the Cardinal Acciaiuoli, and you," Tony Oliva
00:10:37
Play 146 Chapter 11. "Life!" Tony Oliva
00:13:06
Play 147 Chapter 11. "That's Nature's way of loosing cord!--but Art," Tony Oliva
00:15:44
Play 148 Chapter 11. "I say that, long ago, when things began," Tony Oliva
00:09:23
Play 149 Chapter 11. "And the Pope breaks talk with ambassador," Tony Oliva
00:09:22
Play 150 Chapter 11. "Enough of the hypocrites. But you, Sirs, you--" Tony Oliva
00:10:48
Play 151 Chapter 11. "Yes, presently...what hour is fleeting now?" Tony Oliva
00:13:52
Play 152 Chapter 11. "Why must your nephews begin breathing spice" Tony Oliva
00:10:28
Play 153 Chapter 11. "Panciatichi!" Tony Oliva
00:10:13
Play 154 Chapter 11. "All which just means," Tony Oliva
00:09:54
Play 155 Chapter 11. "'Tis I preach while the hour-glass runs and runs!" Tony Oliva
00:09:01
Play 156 Chapter 11. "Just this immaculate official stares," Tony Oliva
00:08:43
Play 157 Chapter 11. "And then my Trial,--'tis my Trial that bites" Tony Oliva
00:11:30
Play 158 Chapter 11. "Thus The time's arrived when, ancient Roman-like," Tony Oliva
00:09:56
Play 159 Chapter 11. "So, let death atone!" Tony Oliva
00:13:13
Play 160 Chapter 11. "You too are petrifactions of a kind:" Tony Oliva
00:15:05
Play 161 Chapter 12 - The Book and the Ring: "Here were the end, had anything an end:" Tony Oliva
00:07:34
Play 162 Chapter 12. "Now for the thing; no sooner the decree" Tony Oliva
00:10:54
Play 163 Chapter 12. "And so forth,--follow name and place and date:" Tony Oliva
00:10:29
Play 164 Chapter 12. "I looked that Rome should have the natural gird" Tony Oliva
00:11:53
Play 165 Chapter 12. "For me, the weary and the worn, who prompt" Tony Oliva
00:10:05
Play 166 Chapter 12. "Alack, Bottini, what is my next word" Tony Oliva
00:08:42