I heard a child cry underneath a wall.
I made unto the noise; when soon I heard
The crying babe controll'd with this discourse :-
Peace, tawny slave, half me and half thy dam!
Did not thy hue bewray whose brat thou art,
Had nature lent thee but thy mother's look,
Villain, thou mightst have been an emperor:
But where the bull and cow are both milk-white,
They never do beget a coal-black calf.
Peace, villain, peace!-even thus he rates the
babe,-

For I must bear thee to a trusty Goth,

Who, when he knows thou art the empress' babe,
Will hold thee dearly for thy mother's sake.
With this, my weapon drawn, I rush'd upon him,
Surpris'd him suddenly, and brought him hither,
To use as you think needful of the man.

Luc. O, worthy Goth, this is the incarnate devil

That robb'd Andronicus of his good hand;
This is the pearl that pleas'd your empress' eye!
And here's the base fruit of his burning lust.-
Say, wall-eyed slave, whither wouldst thou convey
This growing image of thy fiend-like face?
Why dost not speak? what, deaf? not a word?-

This is the pearl-] An allusion to the old proverb,-"A black man is a pearl in a fir woman's eye."

That granted, how canst thou believe an oath?
AARON. What if I do not? as, indeed, I do not:
Yet, for I know thou art religious,
And hast a thing within thee called conscience,
With twenty popish tricks and ceremonies,
Which I have seen thee careful to observe,
Therefore I urge thy oath; for that I know
An idiot holds his bauble for a god,
And keeps the oath which by that god he swears,
To that I'll urge him :-therefore thou shalt vow

By that same god, what god soe'er it be,
That thou ador'st and hast in reverence,-
To save my boy, to nourish and bring him up:
Or else I will discover nought to thee.

Luc. Even by my god I swear to thee I will.
AARON. First know thou, I begot him on the

empress.

Luc. O, most insatiate, luxurious woman! AARON. Tut, Lucius, this was but a deed of

charity

To that which thou shalt hear of me anon. 'T was her two sons that murder'd Bassianus ; They cut thy sister's tongue, and ravish'd her. And cut her hands, and trimm'd her as thou saw'st. Luc. O, détestable villain! call'st thou that trimming?

AARON. Why, she was wash'd, and cut, and trimm'd;

And 't was trim sport for them that had the doing of it.

Luc. O, barbarous, beastly villains, like thyself!

AARON. Indeed, I was their tutor to instruct them :

That codding spirit had they from their mother,
As sure a card as ever won the set:

That bloody mind, I think, they learn'd of me,
As true a dog as ever fought at head.—
Well, let my deeds be witness of my worth.
I train'd thy brethren to that guileful hole,
Where the dead corpse of Bassianus lay:
I wrote the letter that thy father found,
And hid the gold within the letter mention'd,
Confederate with the queen and her two sons:
And what not done, that thou hast cause to rue,
Wherein I had no stroke of mischief in it?
I play'd the cheater for thy father's hand;
And, when I had it, drew myself apart,
And almost broke my heart with extreme laughter.
I pry'd me through the crevice of a wall,
When, for his hand, he had his two sons' heads;
Beheld his tears, and laugh'd so heartily,
That both mine eyes were rainy like to his :
And when I told the empress of this sport,
She swooned almost at my pleasing tale,
And for my tidings gave me twenty kisses.

1 GOTH. What, canst thou say all this, and never blush?

AARON. Ay, like a black dog, as the saying is. Luc. Art thou not sorry for these heinous deeds? AARON. Ay, that I had not done a thousand

more.

Even now I curse the day,—and yet I think Few come within the* compass of my curse,

a

Wherein I did not some notorious ill:
As kill a man, or else devise his death;
Ravish a maid, or plot the way to do it;
Accuse some innocent, and forswear myself;
Set deadly enmity between two friends;
Make
poor men's cattle break their necks;
Set fire on barns and hay-stacks in the night,
And bid the owners quench them with their tears.
Oft have I digg'd up dead men from their graves,
And set them upright at their dear friends' doors,†
Even when their sorrows almost were forgot;
And on their skins, as on the bark of trees,
Have with my knife carved in Roman letters,
Let not your sorrow die, though I am dead.
Tut, I have done a thousand dreadful things
As willingly as one would kill a fly;
And nothing grieves me heartily indeed,
But that I cannot do ten thousand more.

TAM. Thus, in this strange and sad habiliment, I will encounter with Andronicus, And say I am Revenge, sent from below To join with him and right his heinous wrongs. Knock at his study, where, they say, he keeps, To ruminate strange plots of dire revenge; Tell him Revenge is come to join with him, And work confusion on his enemies.

[They knock. Enter TITUS above. TIT. Who doth molest my contemplation? Is it your trick to make me ope the door, That so my sad decrees may fly away,

by reading,-"stray and break their necks;" and Mr. Collier's annotator by,-"ofttimes break their necks."

b Enter TITUS above.] The old copies have, "They knocke and Titus opens his studie dore."

And all my study be to no effect?

You are deceiv'd; for what I mean to do
See here in bloody lines I have set down;
And what is written shall be executed.

TAM. Titus, I am come to talk with thee."
TIP. No, not a word: how can I grace my talk,
Wanting a hand to give it action?

Thou hast the odds of me; therefore no more. TAM. If thou didst know me, thou wouldst talk with me.

TIT. I am not mad; I know thee well enough: Witness this wretched stump, witness these crimson lines;

Witness these trenches made by grief and care;
Witness the tiring day and heavy night;
Witness all sorrow, that I know thee well
For our proud empress, mighty Tamora.
Is not thy coming for my other hand?

TAM. Know, thou sad man, I am not Tamora; She is thy enemy, and I thy friend.

I am Revenge; sent from the infernal kingdom,
To cease the gnawing vulture of thy mind,
By working wreakful vengeance on thy* foes.
Come down, and welcome me to this world's light;
Confer with me of murder and of death.
There's not a hollow cave or lurking place,
No vast obscurity or misty vale,
Where bloody Murder or detested Rape
Can couch for fear, but I will find them out;
And in their ears tell them my dreadful name,-
Revenge, which makes the foul offenders quake.
TIT. Art thou Revenge? and art thou sent to

me

To be a torment to mine enemies?

Trr. Do me some service, ere I come to thee. Lo, by thy side where Rape and Murder stands! Now give some surance that thou art Revenge,— Stab them, or tear them on thy chariot-wheels; And then I'll come and be thy waggoner, And whirl along with thee about the globes; Provide thee two proper palfreys,+ black as jet, To hale thy vengeful waggon swift away, And find out murderers in their guilty caves: § And when thy car is loaden with their heads, I will dismount, and by the waggon-wheel Trot, like a servile footman, all day long, Even from Hyperion's rising in the east Until his very downfall in the sea: And day by day I'll do this heavy task, So thou destroy Rapine and Murder there. TAM. These are my ministers, and come with

And you, the empress! but we worldly men
Have miserable, mad-mistaking eyes.

O, sweet Revenge, now do I come to thee;
And, if one arm's embracement will content thee,
I will embrace thee in it by and by. [Exit above.
TAM. This closing with him fits his lunacy :
Whate'er I forge to feed his brain-sick fits,
Do you uphold and maintain in your speeches ;
For now he firmly takes me for Revenge,
And, being credulous in this mad thought,
I'll make him send for Lucius, his son;
And, whilst I at a banquet hold him sure,
I'll find some cunning practice out of hand,
To scatter and disperse the giddy Goths,
Or, at the least, make them his enemies.-
See, here he comes, and I must ply my theme.

Enter TITUS.

TIT. Long have I been forlorn, and all for thee: Welcome, dread Fury, to my woeful house :Rapine and Murder, you are welcome too :How like the empress and her sons you are! Well are you fitted, had you but a Moor:Could not all hell afford you such a devil ?— For well I wot the empress never wags But in her company there is a Moor; And, would you represent our queen aright, It were convenient you had such a devil: But welcome, as you are. What shall we do? TAM. What wouldst thou have us do, Andronicus?

DEMET. Show me a murderer, I'll deal with him.

CHI. Show me a villain that hath done a rape, And I am sent to be reveng'd on him.

TAM. Show me a thousand, that have done thee wrong,

And I will be revenged on them all.

TIT. Look round about the wicked streets of

Rome,

And when thou find'st a man that's like thyself,
Good Murder, stab him; he's a murderer.--
Go thou with him; and when it is thy hap
To find another that is like to thee,
Good Rapine, stab him; he's a ravisher.—
Go thou with them; and in the emperor's court

b Hyperion's-] So the second folio; the quartos read, "Eptons, " and the first folio has, "Epeons."

Are they thy ministers?] A correction of the second folio; the previous copies having, "Are them," &c.

There is a queen attended by a Moor;
Well mayst thou know her by thy own proportion,
For up and down" she doth resemble thee.

I

pray thee, do on them some violent death: They have been violent to me and mine.

TAM. Well hast thou lesson'd us; this shall we do.

But would it please thee, good Andronicus,
To send for Lucius, thy thrice-valiant son,
Who leads towards Rome a band of warlike Goths,
And bid him come and banquet at thy house;
When he is here, even at thy solemn feast,
I will bring in the empress and her sons,
The emperor himself, and all thy foes,
And at thy mercy shall they stoop and kneel,
And on them shalt thou ease thy angry heart.
What says Andronicus to this device?

TIT. Marcus! my brother! 'tis sad Titus calls.

Enter MARCUS.

Go, gentle Marcus, to thy nephew Lucius,
Thou shalt inquire him out among the Goths,
Bid him repair to me, and bring with him
Some of the chiefest princes of the Goths;
Bid him encamp his soldiers where they are.
Tell him the emperor and the empress too,
Feast at my house, and he shall feast with them.
This do thou for my love; and so let him,
As he regards his aged father's life.

MARC. This will I do, and soon return again.

[Exit.

TAM. Now will I hence about thy business, And take my ministers along with me.

TIT. Nay, nay, let Rape and Murder stay with

me,

Or else I'll call my brother back again,

And cleave to no revenge but Lucius.

The one is Murder, Rape is the other's name ; And therefore bind them, gentle Publius :Caius and Valentine, lay hands on them.— Oft have you heard me wish for such an hour, And now I find it; therefore bind them sure, And stop their mouths, if they begin to cry." [Exit. [PUBLIUS, &c., lay hold on CHIRON and DEMETRIUS. CHI. Villains, forbear! we are the empress' sons. PUB. And therefore do we what we are commanded.

Stop close their mouths; let them not speak a

word.

Is he sure bound? look that you bind them fast.

Re-enter TITUS, with LAVINIA, he bearing a knife and she a basin.

Whiles I

will you abide with him,

go tell my lord the emperor,

How I have govern'd our determin'd jest?

Yield to his humour, smooth and speak him fair, And tarry with him till I turn again.

TIT. [Aside.] I know them all, though they suppose me mad;

And will o'erreach them in their own devices,-
A pair of cursed hell-hounds, and their dam.
DEMET. Madam, depart at pleasure; leave us
here.

TAM. Farewell, Andronicus; Revenge now goes To lay a complot to betray thy foes.

aup and down-] That is, thoroughly, exactly, altogether; see note (b), p. 13, Vol. I.

b What say you, boys? will you abide with him,-] The early copies have, will you bide with him," but the self-evident correction, "abide," though attributed by Mr. Collier to his annotator

Here stands the spring whom you have stain'd with

mud;

This goodly summer with your winter mix'd. You kill'd her husband; and for that vile fault Two of her brothers were condemn'd to death, My hand cut off, and made a merry jest,

Both her sweet hands, her tongue; and that more

dear

Than hands or tongue, her spotless chastity, Inhuman traitors, you constrain'd and forc'd. What would you say, if I should let you speak? Villains, for shame you could not beg for grace. Hark, wretches! how I mean to martyr you.

as a novelty, is found in most editions of the last century.

I take them, Chiron and Demetrius.] The conjunction, omitted

in the old copies, was first restored by Theobald.

d And stop their mouths, if they begin to cry.] A line not printed in the folio, 1623.