Act 2 — SCENE IV.
Reading edition
The same. The Citadel of Sienna.
Enter Ferdinand, Druso, and Livio, on the Walls.
Fer. No aids from Sicily! Hath hope forsook us; And that vain comfort to affliction, pity, By our vow'd friend denied us? we can nor live Nor die with honour: like beasts in a toil, We wait the leisure of the bloody hunter, Who is not so far reconciled unto us, As in one death to give a period To our calamities; but in delaying The fate we cannot fly from, starved with wants, We die this night, to live again to-morrow, And suffer greater torments.
Dru. There is not Three days' provision for every soldier, At an ounce of bread a day, left in the city.
Liv. To die the beggar's death, with hunger made Anatomies while we live, cannot but crack Our heart-strings with vexation.
Fer. Would they would break, Break altogether! How willingly, like Cato, Could I tear out my bowels, rather than Look on the conqueror's insulting face; But that religion, and the horrid dream To be suffer'd in the other world, denies it!
Enter a Soldier.
What news with thee?
Sold. From the turret of the fort, By the rising clouds of dust, through which, like lightning, The splendour of bright arms sometimes brake through, I did descry some forces making towards us; And, from the camp, as emulous of their glory, The general, (for I know him by his horse,) And bravely seconded, encounter'd them. Their greetings were too rough for friends; their swords, And not their tongues, exchanging courtesies. By this the main battalias are join'd; And, if you please to be spectators of The horrid issue, I will bring you where, As in a theatre, you may see their fates In purple gore presented.
Fer. Heaven, if yet thou art Appeased for my wrong done to Aurelia, Take pity of my miseries! Lead the way, friend. [Exeunt.