In twain

When the masked stranger hew with his axe, the baker's head did split in twain and his body fell like a lump to the ground in turn.

And when cold Winter ſplit the Rocks in twain, And Ice the running Rivers did reſtrain, He ſtripp’d the Bears-foot of its leafy Growth,

It was an anomalous situation. Precedents, there were none. No state ever before had been rent in twain.

[…]shortly, it will rend my loins in twain, burst forth, and pull us down, down, down into the deep, dark waters of commitment.