Why should I come to tell you this caprice?
Forgive me! for my mind has lost its peace.
I blame myself, and ne’er shall cease to blame,
That my insane ambition for the name
Of brother to Theodric, founded all
Those high-built hopes that crushed her by their fall.
I made her slight a mother’s counsel sage,
But now my parents droop with grief and age;
And though my sister’s eyes mean no rebuke,
They overwhelm me with their dying look.