Burying in Lucrece' wound his folly's show.
He with the Romans was esteeméd so
As silly jeering idiots are with kings,
For sportive words, and uttering foolish things.
But now he throws that shallow habit by,
Wherein deep policy did him disguise;
And armed his long-hid wits advisedly,
To check the tears in Collatinus' eyes,
"Thou wrongéd lord of Rome," quoth he, "arise ;
Let my unsounded self, supposed a fool,
Now set thy long-experienced wit to school.
"Why, Collatine, is woe the cure for woe? Do wounds help wounds, or grief help grievous deeds?
Is it revenge to give thyself a blow,
For his foul act by whom thy fair wife bleeds?
Such childish humor from weak minds proceeds:
Thy wretched wife mistook the matter so,
To slay herself, that should have slain her foe.
"Courageous Roman, do not steep thy heart
In such relenting dew of lamentations,
But kneel with me, and help to bear thy part,
To rouse our Roman gods with invocations,
That they will suffer these abominations,
(Since Rome herself in them doth stand disgraced,)
By our strong arms from forth her fair streets
chased.
"Now, by the Capitol that we adore,
And by this chaste blood so unjustly stained,
By Heaven's fair sun that breeds the fat earth's
By all our country rights in Rome maintained,
And by chaste Lucrece' soul that late complained
Her wrongs to us, and by this bloody knife,
We will revenge the death of this true wife.”
This said, he struck his hand upon his breast,
And kissed the fatal knife to end his vow;
And to his protestation urged the rest,
Who, wondering at him, did his words allow : 2
Then jointly to the ground their knees they bow;
And that deep vow which Brutus made before,
He doth again repeat, and that they swore.
When they had sworn to this adviséd doom,
They did conclude to bear dead Lucrece thence;
To show her bleeding body thorough Rome,
And so to publish Tarquin's foul offence:
Which being done with speedy diligence,
The Romans plausibly did give consent
To Tarquin's everlasting banishment.
1 Complained was formerly used without a subjoined preposition. 2 Allow, approve.
3 Plausibly, with expressions of applause; with acclamation. Plausively, applausively.
THE ONLY BEGETTER OF THESE ENSUING SONNETS,
THAT ETERNITY PROMISED BY OUR EVER-LIVING POET,
THE WELL-WISHING ADVENTURER
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