TIT. Fear her not, Lucius :-somewhat doth she

mean:

See, Lucius, see how much she makes of thee:
Somewhither would she have thee go with her.
Ay, boy, Cornelia never with more care
Read to her sons than she hath read to thee,
Sweet poetry and Tully's Orator.

MAR. Canst thou not guess wherefore she plies
thee thus?

Boy. My lord, I know not, I, nor can I guess,
Unless some fit or frenzy do possess her:
For I have heard my grandsire say full oft,
Extremity of griefs would make men mad;
And I have read that Hecuba of Troy

Ran mad through sorrow: that made me to fear;
Although, my lord, I know my noble aunt
Loves me as dear as e'er my mother did,
And would not, but in fury, fright my youth:
Which made me down to throw my books, and fly,-
Causeless, perhaps.-But pardon me, sweet aunt:
And, madam, if my uncle Marcus go,

I will most willingly attend your ladyship.
MARC. Lucius, I will.

[LAVINIA turns over the books which LUCIUS
has let fall.

TIT. How now, Lavinia !-Marcus, what means
this?

Some book there is that she desires to see.-
Which is it, girl, of these ?-Open them, boy.
But thou art deeper read, and better skill'd:
Come, and take choice of all my library,
And so beguile thy sorrow, till the heavens
Reveal the damn'd contriver of this deed.-
What book? b
Why lifts she up her arms in sequence thus?
MARC. I think she means that there was more
than one

Confederate in the fact ;-ay, more there was;
Or else to heaven she heaves them for revenge.
TIT. Lucius, what book is that she tosseth so?
Boy. Grandsire, 't is Ovid's Metamorphoses;
My mother gave it me.

MARC.
For love of her that 's gone,
Perhaps, she cull'd it from among the rest.

TIT. Soft! see how busily she turns the leaves ! Help her what would she find ?-Lavinia, shall I read?

This is the tragic tale of Philomel, And treats of Tereus' treason and his rape; And rape, I fear, was root of thine annoy. MARC. See, brother, see! note how she quotes d the leaves.

TIT. Lavinia, wert thou thus surpris'd, sweet girl,

MAR.] In the old editions, the prefix having been omitted, this reads as a part of the foregoing speech.

b What book?] The words, "What book?" are not found in the quartos.

c Soft! see how busily-] So Rowe; the ancient copies reading,

Ravish'd and wrong'd, as Philomela was?
Forc'd in the ruthless, vast, and gloomy woods?-
See, see!—Ay, such a place there is where we
did hunt,

(O, had we never, never hunted there!)
Pattern'd by that the poet here describes,
By nature made for murders and for rapes.

MARC. O, why should nature build so foul a den,

Unless the gods delight in tragedies?

TIT. Give signs, sweet girl,-for here are none but friends,

What Roman lord it was durst do the deed:
Or slunk not Saturnine, as Tarquin erst,
That left the camp to sin in Lucrece' bed?
MARC. Sit down, sweet niece ;-brother, sit
down by me.-

Apollo, Pallas, Jove, or Mercury,
Inspire me that I may this treason find!—
My lord, look here; look here, Lavinia.
This sandy plot is plain; guide, if thou canst,
This, after me, when I have writ my name,
Without the help of any hand at all.

[He writes his name with his staff, and guides it with his feet and mouth.

Curs'd be that heart that forc'd us to this shift!Write thou, good niece, and here display, at last, What God will have discover'd for revenge. Heaven guide thy pen to print thy sorrows plain, That we may know the traitors and the truth! [She takes the staff in her mouth, and, guiding it with her stumps, writes.

TIT. Oh, do ye read, my lord, what she hath writ ?

Stuprum-Chiron-Demetrius.

MARC. What, what!—the lustful sons of Tamora Performers of this heinous, bloody deed?

TIT. Magni Dominator poli,

Tam lentus audis scelera? tam lentus vides? MARC. Oh, calm thee, gentle lord; although I know

There is enough written upon this earth
To stir a mutiny in the mildest thoughts,
And arm the minds of infants to exclaims.
My lord, kneel down with me; Lavinia, kneel;
And kneel, sweet boy, the Roman Hector's hope;
And swear with me,-as with the woeful fere,f
And father of that chaste dishonour'd dame,
Lord Junius Brutus sware for Lucrece' rape,—
That we will prosecute, by good advice,
Mortal revenge upon these traitorous Goths,
And see their blood, or die with this reproach.
TIT. 'Tis sure enough, an you knew how;
But if
you hunt these bear-whelps, then beware;

The dam will wake, an if she wind you once:
She's with the lion deeply still in league,
And lulls him whilst she playeth on her back,
And when he sleeps will she do what she list.
You are a young huntsman, Marcus; let it alone;
And, come, I will go get a leaf of brass,

:

And with a gad of steel will write these words,
And lay it by the angry northern wind
Will blow these sands like Sibyls' leaves abroad,
And where's your lesson then?-Boy, what say
you?

Boy. I say, my lord, that if were a man,
Their mother's bed chamber should not be safe,
For these bad bondmen to the yoke of Rome.
MARC. Ay, that's my boy! thy father hath
full oft

For his ungrateful country done the like.

Boy. And, uncle, so will I, an if I live. TIT. Come, go with me into mine armoury; Lucius, I'll fit thee; and withal, my boy Shall carry from me to the empress' sons Presents that I intend to send them both: Come, come; thou 'lt do thy message, wilt thou not?

Boy. Ay, with my dagger in their bosoms, grandsire.

TIT. No, boy, not so; I'll teach thee another

course.

Lavinia, come.-Marcus, look to my house
Lucius and I'll go brave it at the court;
Ay, marry, will we, sir; and we 'll be waited on.
[Exeunt TITUS, LAVINIA, and Boy.
MARC. O, heavens, can you hear a good man
groan,

And not relent, or not compassion him?—
Marcus, attend him in his ecstasy,

That hath more scars of sorrow in his heart,
Than foemen's marks upon his batter'd shield;
But yet so just, that he will not revenge:-
Revenge, ye heavens, for old Andronicus! [Exit.

SCENE II.-The same. A Room in the Palace.

Enter AARON, CHIRON, and DEMETRIUS from one side; from the other YOUNG LUCIUS and an Attendant, with a bundle of weapons, and verses written upon them.

CHI. Demetrius, here's the son of Lucius; He hath some message to deliver us.

(*) Old text, the.

- if she wind you once:] Scent you. The ordinary printing of this,

"The dam will wake, and if she wind you once,
She's with the lion," &c.

appears to be destructive of the sense.

AARON. Ay, some mad message from his mad grandfather.

Boy. My lords, with all the humbleness I may, I greet your honours from Andronicus ;— [Aside.] And pray the Roman gods confound you both!

DEMET. Gramercy, lovely Lucius: what's the

news?

Box. [Aside.] That you are both decipher'd, that's the news,

For villains mark'd with rape.-May it please

you,

My grandsire, well advis'd, hath sent by me.
The goodliest weapons of his armoury,
To gratify your honourable youth,

The hope of Rome; for so he bade me say;
And so I do, and with his gifts present
Your lordships, that, whenever you have need,
You may be armed and appointed well :
And so I leave you both:-[Aside.] like bloody
villains. [Exeunt Boy and Attendant.
DEMET. What 's here? A scroll; and writter
round about?—

Let's see:

[Reads.] Integer vitæ scelerisque purus,

Non eget Mauri jaculis, nec arcu. CHI. O, 't is a verse in Horace; I know it well: I read it in the grammar long ago.

AARON. Ay, just-a verse in Horace ;—right, you have it.

[Aside.] Now, what a thing it is to be an ass! Here's no sound jest! the old man hath found their guilt,

And sends them* weapons wrapp'd about with lines,
That wound, beyond their feeling, to the quick.
But were our witty empress well a-foot,
She would applaud Andronicus' conceit.
But let her rest in her unrest awhile.-
And now, young lords, was 't not a happy star
Led us to Rome, strangers, and more than so,
Captives, to be advanced to this height?
It did me good, before the palace gate,
To brave the tribune in his brother's hearing.
DEMET. But me more good, to see so great a
lord

Basely insinuate and send us gifts.

AARON. Here lacks but your mother for to say Amen.

CHI. And that would she for twenty thousand

more.

DEMET. Come, let us go, and pray to all the

gods

For our beloved mother in her pains.

AARON. [Aside.] Pray to the devils; the gods have given us over. [Trumpets sound. DEMET. Why do the emperor's trumpets flourish thus?

CHI. Belike, for joy the emperor hath a son. DEMET. Soft! who comes here?

Enter a Nurse with a blackamoor Child in her

NURSE.

arms.

Good morrow, lords; O, tell me, did you see Aaron the Moor? AARON. Well, more or less," or ne'er a whit at all, Here Aaron is; and what with Aaron now? NURSE. O, gentle Aaron, we are all undone ! Now help, or woe betide thee evermore!

AARON. Why, what a caterwauling dost thou keep!

What dost thou wrap and fumble in thine arms? NURSE. O, that which I would hide from heaven's eye,

Our empress' shame, and stately Rome's disgrace!
She is deliver'd, lords,—she is deliver❜d.
AARON. To whom?
NURSE.
I mean, she is brought a-bed.
AARON. Well, God give her good rest! What
hath he sent her?

Sweet blowse, you are a beauteous blossom, sure.

DEMET. Villain, what hast thou done?
AARON. That which thou canst not undo.
CHI. Thou hast undone our mother.
AARON. Villain, I have done thy mother.
DEMET. And therein, hellish dog, thou hast
undone.

Woe to her chance, and damn'd her loathed choice!
Accurs'd the offspring of so foul a fiend!

a Well, more or less,-] See note (a), p. 423, Vol. I.

b Zounds,-] The folio 1623 has, "Out," &c.

point :

Nurse, give it me; my sword shall soon despatch it. AARON. Sooner this sword shall plough thy bowels up.

[Takes the Child from the Nurse, and draws
his sword.

Stay, murderous villains! will you kill your brother?
Now, by the burning tapers of the sky,
That shone so brightly when this boy was got,
He dies upon my scimitar's sharp point
That touches this my first-born son and heir!
I tell you, younglings, not Enceladus,
With all his threat'ning band of Typhon's brood,
Nor great Alcides, nor the god of war,
Shall seize this prey out of his father's hands.
What, what! ye sanguine, shallow-hearted boys!
Ye white-lim'd* walls! ye ale-house painted signs!
Coal-black is better than another hue,

In that it scorns to bear another hue:
For all the water in the ocean

Can never turn the swan's black legs to white,
Although she lave them hourly in the flood.
Tell the empress from me, I am of age
To keep mine own,-excuse it how she can.
DEMET. Wilt thou betray thy noble mistress
thus?

AARON. My mistress is my mistress; this, my-
self,—

The vigour and the picture of my youth:
This before all the world do I prefer ;
This, maugre all the world, will I keep safe,
Or some of you shall smoke for it in Rome.

DEMET. By this our mother is for ever sham'd.
CHI. Rome will despise her for this foul escape.
NURSE. The emperor, in his rage, will doom her
death.

CHI. I blush to think upon this ignomy.t AARON. Why, there's the privilege your beauty

bears:

Fie, treacherous hue, that will betray with blushing
The close enacts and counsels of the heart!
Here's a young lad fram'd of another leer:"
Look, how the black slave smiles upon the father,
As who should say, Old lad, I am thine own.
He is your brother, lords; sensibly fed
Of that self-blood that first gave life to you;
And from that womb where you imprison'd were,
He is enfranchised and come to light:

c1

thy mother.] This line is not found in the folio.

Nay, he is your brother by the surer side,
Although my seal be stamped in his face.
NURSE. Aaron, what shall I say unto the
empress ?

DEMET. Advise thee, Aaron, what is to be done,
And we will all subscribe to thy advice:
Save thou the child, so we may all be safe.

AARON. Then sit we down, and let us all consult. My son and I will have the wind of you: Keep there; now talk at pleasure of your safety. [They sit. DEMET. How many women saw this child of his?

AARON. Why, so, brave lords! when we join in league,

I am a lamb; but if you brave the Moor,
The chafed boar, the mountain lioness,
The ocean swells not so as Aaron storms.-
But say, again, how many saw the child?
NURSE. Cornelia the midwife and myself,
And no one else but the deliver'd empress.

AARON. The empress, the midwife, and yourself:

Two may keep counsel when the third's away :— Go to the empress, tell her this I said :

[He stabs her. She screams and dies. Weke, weke !-so cries a pig prepared to the spit.

DEMET. What mean'st thou, Aaron? wherefore

didst thou this?

AARON. O, lord, sir, 't is a deed of policy; Shall she live to betray this guilt of ours,A long-tongued babbling gossip? No, lords, no: And now be it known to you my full intent. Not far, one Muliteus, my countryman, His wife but yesternight was brought to bed; His child is like to her, fair as you are:

b

Go pack with him, and give the mother gold,
And tell them both the circumstance of all,
And how by this their child shall be advanc'd,
And be received for the emperor's heir,
And substituted in the place of mine,
To calm this tempest whirling in the court;
And let the emperor dandle him for his own.
Hark ye, lords; ye see I have given her physic,
[Pointing to the Nurse.
And you must needs bestow her funeral;
The fields are near, and you are gallant grooms:
This done, see that you take no longer days,
But send the midwife presently to me.
The midwife and the nurse well made away,
Then let the ladies tattle what they please.

CHI. Aaron, I see thou wilt not trust the air with secrets.

a Not far, one Muliteus, &c.] Rowe reads,-" Not far one Muliteus lives," &c., and Mr. Steevens proposed,-" Not far one Muley lives," &c.; but, as Mr. Dyce remarks, "Muliteus his wife " may be equivalent to "Muliteus's wife."

b Go pack with him,-] Go scheme, complot, conspire with him.

DEMET. For this care of Tamora, Herself and hers are highly bound to thee.

[Exeunt DEMETRIUS and CHIRON, bearing off the dead Nurse.

AARON. Now to the Goths, as swift as swallow flies;

There to dispose this treasure in mine arms,
And secretly to greet the empress' friends.—
Come on, you thick-lipp'd slave, I'll bear you
hence;

For it is you that puts us to our shifts:
I'll make you feed on berries, and on roots,
And feed on curds and whey, and suck the goat,
And cabin in a cave, and bring you up
To be a warrior, and command a camp.

[Exit.

You, cousins, shall go sound the ocean,

And cast your nets. Haply, you may catch* her in the sea;

Yet there's as little justice as at land :—
No; Publius and Sempronius, you must do 't;
'Tis you must dig with mattock and with spade,
And pierce the inmost centre of the earth;
Then, when you come to Pluto's region,
I pray you, deliver him this petition;
Tell him it is for justice and for aid,
And that it comes from old Andronicus,
Shaken with sorrows in ungrateful Rome.—
Ah, Rome!-Well, well; I made thee miserable
What time I threw the people's suffrages
On him that thus doth tyrannize o'er me.-
Go, get you gone, and pray be careful all,
And leave you not a man-of-war unsearch'd;
This wicked emperor may have shipp'd her
hence;

And, kinsmen, then we may go pipe for justice.
MARC. O, Publius, is not this a heavy case,

To see thy noble uncle thus distract?

(*) First folio, find.

c And feed-] Hanmer prints, "And feast," &c.

d Sir boy, now-] "Now," omitted in all the earlier copies, was first added in the folio of 1632.