d) to avenge the father, none
to punish the fratricide. And in this I found a secret testimony of your
love; for I saw that the memory of the King's murder had not yet faded
from your minds.

"Whose breast is so hard that it can be softened by no fellow-feeling
for what I have felt? Who is so stiff and stony, that he is swayed by
no compassion for my griefs? Ye whose hands are clean of the blood of
Horwendil, pity your fosterling, be moved by my calamities. Pity also my
stricken mother, and rejoice with me that the infamy of her who was once
your queen is quenched. For this weak woman had to bear a twofold weight
of ignominy, embracing one who was her husband's brother and murderer.
Therefore, to hide my purpose of revenge and to veil my wit, I
counterfeited a listless bearing; I feigned dulness; I planned a
stratagem; and now you can see with your own eyes whether it has
succeeded, whether it has achieved its purpose to the full; I am content
to leave you to judge so great a matter. It is your turn; trample under
foot the ashes of the murderer! Disdain the dust of him who slew his
brother, and defiled his brother's queen with infamous desecration, who
outraged his sovereign and treasonably assailed his majesty, who
brought the sharpest tyranny upon you, stole your freedom, and crowned
fratricide with incest. I have been the agent of this just vengeance; I
have burned for this righteous retribution; uphold me with a high-born
spirit; pay me the homage that you owe; warm me with your kindly looks.
It is I who have wiped off my country's shame; I who have quenched my
mother's dishonour; I who have beaten back oppression; I who have put to
death the murderer; I who have baffled the artful hand of my uncle with
retorted arts. Were he living, each new day would have multiplied his
crimes. I resented the wrong done to father and to fatherland: I slew
him who was governing you outrageously and more hardly than it beseemed
men. Acknowledge my service, honour my wit, give me the throne if I have
earned it; for you have in me one who has done you a mighty service, and
who is no degenerate heir to his father's power; no fratricide, but the
lawful successor to the throne; and a dutiful avenger of the crime of
murder. It is I who have stripped you of slavery, and clothed you with
freedom; I have restored your height of fortune, and given you your
glory back; I have deposed the despot and triumphed over the butcher.
In your hands is