Yet have no token of your tenderness?
Brutus. Think that I love thee by my present passion,
By these unmanly tears, these earthquakes here,
Let these convince you that no other cause
Could force a father thus to wrong his nature.
Romans, forgive this agony of grief,—
My heart is bursting,—Nature must have way.
I will perform all that a Roman should,—
I cannot feel less than a father ought!"
The piteous look and choking accents with which he said to his son, "Think that I love thee by my present passion," were irresistible. They seemed to betoken that his heart was breaking. The sound of weeping was usually audible in the audience, and hundreds might be seen wiping the tears from their cheeks.