Why dost thou urge us onward, and provoke
To such a strange and lamentable freak?
Theogenes.
O valiant Numantine, if terror's yoke
Hath not unnerved thine arm and made it weak,
Take now this sword, and prove its point on me,
As if I were thy mortal enemy!
This mode of dying better pleaseth me,
Than any other in this time of woe.