Page 804 - Shakespeare - Vol. 1
P. 804
T UT OR
And I, my lord, will bear him company.
CLIFFORD
Soldiers, away with him!
T UT OR
Ah, Clifford, murder not this innocent child,
Lest thou be hated both of God and man!
Exit [, dragged off by soldiers].
CLIFFORD
How now, is he dead already? Or is it fear [10]
That makes him close his eyes? I’ll open them.
RUT LAND
So looks the pent-up lion o’er the wretch
That trembles under his devouring paws;
And so he walks, insulting o’er his prey,
And so he comes, to rend his limbs asunder. [15]
Ah, gentle Clifford, kill me with thy sword
And not with such a cruel threat’ning look.
Sweet Clifford, hear me speak before I die:
I am too mean a subject for thy wrath:
Be thou revenged on men, and let me live. [20]
CLIFFORD
In vain thou speak’st, poor boy: my father’s blood
Hath stopped the passage where thy words should enter.
RUT LAND
Then let my father’s blood open it again:
He is a man and, Clifford, cope with him.
CLIFFORD
Had I thy brethren here, their lives and thine [25]
Were not revenge sufficient for me;
No, if I digged up thy forefathers’ graves
And hung their rotten coffins up in chains,
It could not slake mine ire nor ease my heart.
