Page 2156 - Shakespeare - Vol. 1
P. 2156

It would have madded me: what shall I do
 Now I behold thy lively body so?
 Thou hast no hands to wipe away thy tears,
 Nor tongue to tell me who hath martyr’d thee.
 Thy husband he is dead, and for his death
 Thy brothers are condemned, and dead by this.
 Look, Marcus! ah, son Lucius, look on her! [110]
 When I did name her brothers, then fresh tears
 Stood on her cheeks, as doth the honey-dew
 Upon a gathered lily almost withered.

MARCUS

 Perchance she weeps because they killed her husband;
 Perchance because she knows them innocent.

T IT US

 If they did kill thy husband, then be joyful,
 Because the law hath ta’en revenge on them.
 No, no, they would not do so foul a deed;
 Witness the sorrow that their sister makes.
 Gentle Lavinia, let me kiss thy lips, [120]
 Or make some sign how I may do thee ease:
 Shall thy good uncle, and thy brother Lucius,
 And thou, and I, sit round about some fountain
 Looking all downwards, to behold our cheeks
 How they are stained, like meadows yet not dry
 With miry slime left on them by a flood?
 And in the fountain shall we gaze so long
 Till the fresh taste be taken from that clearness,
 And made a brine-pit with our bitter tears?
 Or shall we cut away, our hands like thine? [130]
 Or shall we bite our tongues, and in dumb shows
 Pass the remainder of our hateful days?
 What shall we do? let us, that have our tongues,
 Plot some device of further misery,
 To make us wondered at in time to come.

LUCIUS

 Sweet father, cease your tears, for at your grief
 See how my wretched sister sobs and weeps.
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