:58:04
First know thou...
:58:07
I begot him on the empress.
:58:09
Oh, most insatiate
and luxurious woman!
:58:17
Tut, Lucius,
this was but a deed of charity
:58:21
to that which thou
shalt hear of me anon.
:58:24
'Twas her two sons
that murdered Bassianus.
:58:27
They...
:58:29
cut thy sister's tongue
and ravished her,
:58:32
and cut her hands
and trimmed her as thou sawest.
:58:46
Detestable villain!
:58:48
Callest thou that trimming?
:58:49
Why, she was washed...
and cut...and trimmed,
:58:54
and 'twas trim sport for them
that had the doing of it.
:58:57
Oh, barbarous, beastly villains,
:58:59
like thyself!.
:59:03
I deed, I was their tutor
to instruct them.
:59:07
Ah, that codding spirit
had they from their mother.
:59:11
That bloody mind,
I think, they learned of me.
:59:16
Oh!
:59:17
Let my deeds be witness of my worth.
:59:20
I trained thy brethren
to that guileful hole
:59:23
where the dead corpse
of Bassianus lay.
:59:26
I wrote the letter
that thy father found
:59:28
and hid the bag of gold
beneath the tree.
:59:31
I played the cheater
for thy father's hand,
:59:34
and when I had it,
drew myself apart
:59:37
and almost broke my heart
with extreme laughter.
:59:40
And when I told the empress
of this sport,
:59:43
she swooned almost
at my pleasing tale,
:59:46
and for my tidings
gave me twenty kisses.
:59:49
What?
:59:52
Canst thou say all this
and never blush?
:59:55
Ay, like a black dog,
as the saying is.