And can say nothing; no, not for a king, 604
Upon whose property and most dear life
A damn'd defeat was made. Am I a coward?
Who calls me villain? breaks my pate across?
Plucks off my beard and blows it in my face? 608
Tweaks me by the nose? gives me the lie i' the throat,
As deep as to the lungs? Who does me this?
Ha!
Swounds, I should take it, for it cannot be 612
But I am pigeon-liver'd, and lack gall
To make oppression bitter, or ere this
I should have fatted all the region kites
With this slave's offal. Bloody, bawdy villain!
Remorseless, treacherous, lecherous, kindless villain! 617
O! vengeance!
Why, what an ass am I! This is most brave
That I, the son of a dear [father] murder'd, 620
Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell,
Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words,
And fall a-cursing, like a very drab,
A scullion! 624
Fie upon 't! foh! About, my brain! I have heard,
That guilty creatures sitting at a play
Have by the very cunning of the scene
Been struck so to the soul that presently 628
They have proclaim'd their malefactions;
For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak
With most miraculous organ. I'll have these players
605 property; cf. n.
606 defeat: destruction
612 Swounds: God's wounds
613 But: but that
pigeon-liver'd: meek; cf. n.
614 make oppression bitter: make me feel the bitterness of oppression
615 region kites: kites of the air
617 kindless: unnatural
623 drab: street woman
624 scullion: kitchen servant
625 About, my brain: bestir yourself, my brain, or, my brain, on another tack
