And overlooks the highest peering hills; So Tamora.

Upon her wit doth earthly honour wait,
And virtue stoops and trembles at her frown.
Then, Aaron, arm thy heart, and fit thy thoughts,
To mount aloft with thy imperial mistress,

And mount her pitch, whom thou in triumph long

Hast prisoner held, fetter'd in amorous chains,
And faster bound to Aaron's charming eyes
Than is Prometheus tied to Caucasus.

Away with slavish weeds and servile* thoughts!
I will be bright, and shine in pearl and gold,
To wait this new-made empress.

upon

To wait, said I? to wanton with this queen, This goddess, this Semiramis, this nymph,t This siren, that will charm Rome's Saturnine, And see his shipwreck, and his commonweal's.Holla! what storm is this?

Enter DEMETRIUS and CHIRON, braving.

DEMET. Chiron, thy years want wit, thy wit wants edge,

And manners, to intrude where I am grac'd;
And may, for aught thou know'st, affected be.

CHI. Demetrius, thou dost over-ween in all;
And so in this, to bear me down with braves.
"T is not the difference of a year or two
Makes me less gracious, or thee more fortunate:
I am as able and as fit as thou,
To serve, and to deserve
my mistress' grace;
And that my sword upon thee shall approve,
And plead my passions for Lavinia's love.

AARON. [Aside.] Clubs, clubs!d these lovers will not keep the peace.

DEMET. Why, boy, although our mother, unadvis'd,

Gave you a dancing rapier by your side,
Are you so desperate grown, to threat your friends?
Go to; have your lath glu'd within your sheath,
Till you know better how to handle it.

CHI. Meanwhile, sir, with the little skill I have,

Full well shalt thou perceive how much I dare.
DEMET. Ay, boy, grow ye so brave?

(*) First folio, idle.

[They draw. (†) First folio, queen.

Why, lords, and think you not how dangerous
It is to jet upon a prince's right?

What, is Lavinia, then, become so loose,
Or Bassianus so degenerate,

That for her love such quarrels may be broach'd
Without controlment, justice, or revenge?
Young lords, beware! an should the empress
know

This discord's ground, the music would not please.
CHI. I care not, I, knew she and all the world:

I love Lavinia more than all the world. DEMET. Youngling, learn thou to make some meaner choice:

Lavinia is thine elder brother's hope.

AARON. Why, are ye mad? or know ye not, in Rome,

How furious and impatient they be,

And cannot brook competitors in love?
I tell you, lords, you do but plot your deaths
By this device.

CHI. Aaron, a thousand deaths would I propose,

To achieve her whom I love.
AARON.
To achieve her!-how?
DEMET. Why mak'st thou it so strange?
She is a woman, therefore may be woo'd;
She is a woman, therefore may be won;
She is Lavinia, therefore must be lov'd.
What, man! more water glideth by the mill
Than wots the miller of; and easy it is
(†) First folio, set.
(1) First folio inserts, do.

(*) First folio, pretty.

f

AARON. For shame, be friends, and join for that you jar.

'Tis policy and stratagem must do
That you affect; and so must you resolve
That what you cannot as you would achieve
You must perforce accomplish as you may.
Take this of me,-Lucrece was not more chaste
Than this Lavinia, Bassianus' love.

*

A speedier course than lingering languishment
Must we pursue, and I have found the path.
My lords, a solemn hunting is in hand;
There will the lovely Roman ladies troop:
The forest walks are wide and spacious;
And many unfrequented plots there are,
Fitted by kind for rape and villany:
Single you thither, then, this dainty doe,
And strike her home by force, if not by words:
This way, or not at all, stand you in hope.
Come, come, our empress, with her sacred wit,
To villany and vengeance consecrate,
Will we acquaint with all that we intend;
And she shall file our engines with advice,
That will not suffer you to square yourselves,
But to your wishes' height advance you both.
The emperor's court is like the house of Fame,

TIT. Many good morrows to your majesty ;— Madam, to you as many and as good:

I promised your grace a hunter's peal.

SAT. And you have rung it lustily, my lords; Somewhat too early for new-married ladies. BASS. Lavinia, how say you? LAV. I say no;

I have been broad‡ awake two hours and more. SAT. Come on, then; horse and chariots let us have,

And to our sport. Madam, now shall ye see
Our Roman hunting.

(*) First folio, streames.

[TO TAMORA.

(†) First folio, their.

(1) First folio omits, broad.

Collier's annotator, not content with borrowing this suggestion, turns the whole speech into rhyme, thus,

"The hunt is up, the morn is bright and gay,
The fields are fragrant, and the woods are wide;
Uncouple here and let us make a bay,

And wake the emperor and his lovely bride,
And rouse the prince, and ring a hunter's round,
That all the court may echo with the sound.
Sons, let it be your charge, and so will I,
To attend the emperor's person carefully:

I have been troubled in my sleep this night,
But dawning day brought comfort and delight."

The snake lies rolled in the cheerful sun;
The
green leaves quiver with the cooling wind,
And make a chequer'd shadow on the ground:
Under their sweet shade, Aaron, let us sit,
And, whilst the babbling echo mocks the hounds,
Replying shrilly to the well-tun'd horns,
As if a double hunt were heard at once,
Let us sit down and mark their yelping noise;
And, after conflict such as was suppos'd
The wand'ring prince and Dido once enjoy'd,
When with a happy storm they were surpris'd,
And curtain'd with a counsel-keeping cave,-
We may, each wreathed in the other's arms,
Our pastimes done, possess a golden slumber
While hounds and horns and sweet melodious birds
Be unto us as is a nurse's song

Of lullaby,(1) to bring her babe asleep.

AARON. Madam, though Venus govern your
desires,

Saturn is dominator over mine:
What signifies my deadly-standing eye,
My silence and my cloudy melancholy,

My fleece of woolly hair, that now uncurls
Even as an adder when she doth unroll
To do some fatal execution?

No, madam, these are no venereal signs:
Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand,
Blood and revenge are hammering in my head.
Hark, Tamora, the empress of my soul,
Which never hopes more heaven than rests in
thee,-

This is the day of doom for Bassianus ;
His Philomel must lose her tongue to-day;
Thy sons make pillage of her chastity,
And wash their hands in Bassianus' blood.
Seest thou this letter? take it up, I
pray thee,
And give the king this fatal-plotted scroll.-
Now question me no more, we are espied;
Here comes a parcel of our hopeful booty,
Which dreads not yet their lives' destruction.

TAM. Ah, my sweet Moor, sweeter to me than
life!

AARON. No more, great empress,-Bassianus

Or is it Dian, habited like her,
Who hath abandoned her holy groves,
To see the general hunting in this forest?
TAM. Saucy controller of our private steps!
Had I the power that some say Dian had,
Thy temples should be planted presently
With horns, as was Actæon's; and the hounds
Should drive upon thy new-transformed limbs,
Unmannerly intruder as thou art !

LAV. Under your patience, gentle empress. "T is thought you have a goodly gift in horning; And to be doubted that your Moor and you Are singled forth to try experiments: Jove shield your husband from his hounds to-day! "T is pity they should take him for a stag.

BASS. Believe me, queen, your swarth Cimme-
rian

Doth make your honour of his body's hue,
Spotted, detested, and abominable.
Why are you sequester'd from all your train,
Dismounted from your snow-white goodly steed,
And wander'd hither to an obscure plot,
Accompanied but* with a barbarous Moor,
If foul desire had not conducted you?

LAV. And, being intercepted in your sport,
Great reason that my noble lord be rated
For sauciness.-I pray you, let us hence,
And let her 'joy her raven-colour'd love;
This valley fits the purpose passing well.

BASS. The king, my brother, shall have note+ of this.

LAV. Ay, for these slips have made him noted long;

Good king, to be so mightily abus'd!

TAM. Why have I patience to endure all this?