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This vengeance on me had they executed :
Revenge it, as you love your mother's life,
Or be ye not henceforth call'd my children.

DEM. This is a witness that I am thy fon. [Stabs Bas. CHI. And this for me, ftruck home to fhow my ftrength. [Stabbing him likewife. Lar. Ay come, Semiramis,-nay, barbarous Tamora! For no name fits thy nature but thy own!

TAM. Give me thy poniard; you shall know, my boys, Your mother's hand fhall right your mother's wrong.

DEM. Stay, madam, here is more belongs to her ; First, thrash the corn, then after burn the straw: This minion ftood upon her chastity,

Upon her nuptial vow, her loyalty,

And with that painted hope braves your mightiness :
And shall she carry this unto her grave?

CHI. And if the do, I would I were an eunuch.
Drag hence her husband to fome fecret hole,

And make his dead trunk pillow to our luft.

TAM. But when you have the honey you defire,

Let not this wafp outlive, us both to fting.

CHI. I warrant you, madam; we will make that fure.Come, mistress, now perforce we will enjoy

That nice-preferved honesty of yours.

LAV. O Tamora! Thou bear'ft a woman's face,-
TAM. I will not hear her speak; away with her.
LAV. Sweet lords, entreat her hear me but a word.
DEM. Liften, fair madam: Let it be your glory,
To fee her tears; but be your heart to them,
As unrelenting flint to drops of rain.

LAV. When did the tiger's young ones teach the dam? O, do not learn her wrath; fhe taught it thee:

The milk, thou fuck'ft from her, did turn to marble;

Even at thy teat thou hadst thy tyranny.—
Yet every mother breeds not fons alike;

Do thou entreat her show a woman pity. [To CHIRON.
CHI. What! would'st thou have me prove myself a

baftard?

LAV. 'Tis true; the raven doth not hatch a lark :
Yet I have heard, (O could I find it now!)
The lion, mov'd with pity, did endure
To have his princely paws par'd all away.
Some fay, that ravens fofter forlorn children,
The whilft their own birds famifh in their nefts:
O, be to me, though thy hard heart fay no,
Nothing fo kind, but fomething pitiful!

TAM. I know not what it means; away with her. LAV. O, let me teach thee: for my father's fake, That gave thee life, when well he might have flain thee, Be not obdurate, open thy deaf ears.

TAM. Hadft thou in perfon ne'er offended me,
Even for his fake am I pitilefs:

Remember, boys, I pour'd forth tears in vain,
To fave your brother from the facrifice;
But fierce Andronicus would not relent;
Therefore away with her, and use her as you will;
The worse to her, the better lov'd of me.

LAV. O Tamora, be call'd a gentle queen,
And with thine own hands kill me in this place:
For 'tis not life, that I have begg'd fo long;
Poor I was flain, when Baffianus died.

TAM. What begg'ft thou then? fond woman, let me go.
LAV. 'Tis prefent death I beg; and one thing more,
That womanhood denies my tongue to tell :
O, keep me from their worse than killing luft,
And tumble me into fome loathsome pit ;

Where never man's eye may behold my body:
Do this, and be a charitable murderer.

TAM. So fhould I rob my fweet fons of their fee:
No, let them fatisfy their luft on thee.

DEM. Away; for thou haft staid us here too long. LAV. No grace? no womanhood? Ah beaftly creature! The blot and enemy to our general name!

Confufion fall.

husband;

CHI. Nay, then I'll ftop your mouth :-Bring thou her [Dragging off LAVINIA. This is the hole where Aaron bid us hide him. [Exeunt. TAM. Farewell, my fons: fee, that you make her fure: Ne'er let my heart know merry cheer indeed,

Till all the Andronici be made away.

Now will I hence to feek my lovely Moor,

And let my fpleenful fons this trull deflour.

[Exit.

SCENE IV. The fame.

Enter AARON, with QUINTUS and MARTIUS. AAR. Come on, my lords; the better foot before: Straight will I bring you to the loathfome pit, Where I efpy'd the panther fast asleep.

QUIN. My fight is very dull, whate'er it bodes.

MART. And mine, I promise you; wer't not for shame, Well could I leave our sport to fleep awhile.

[MARTIUS falls into the pit.

QUIN. What, art thou fallen? What fubtle hole is this,
Whose mouth is cover'd with rude-growing briars;
Upon whofe leaves are drops of new-fhed blood,
As fresh as morning's dew diftill'd on flowers?
A very fatal place it feems to me:

Speak, brother, haft thou hurt thee with the fall?
MART. O, brother, with the difmallest object

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That ever eye, with fight, made heart lament.

[here; AAR. [Afide.] Now will I fetch the king to find them That he thereby may give a likely guess,

How these were they, that made away his brother.

[Exit AARON.

MART. Why doft not comfort me, and help me out From this unhallow'd and blood-ftain'd hole?

QUIN. I am furprized with an uncouth fear:
A chilling fweat o'er-runs my trembling joints;
My heart fufpects more than mine eye can fee.
MART. TO prove thou haft a true-divining heart,
Aaron and thou look down into this den,
And fee a fearful fight of blood and death,

QUIN. Aaron is gone; and my compaffionate heart
Will not permit mine eyes once to behold
The thing, whereat it trembles by furmise:
O, tell me how it is; for ne'er till now
Was I a child, to fear I know not what.
MART. Lord Baffianus lies embrewed here,
All on a heap, like to a slaughter'd lamb,
In this detefted, dark, blood-drinking pit.
QUIN. If it be dark, how doft thou know 'tis he?
MART. Upon his bloody finger he doth wear
A precious ring, that lightens all the hole,
Which, like a taper in fome monument,
Doth fhine upon the dead man's earthy cheeks,
And fhows the ragged entrails of this pit :
So pale did fhine the moon on Pyramus,
When he by night lay bath'd in maiden blood.
O brother, help me with thy fainting hand,-
If fear hath made thee faint, as me it hath,---
Out of this fell devouring receptacle,
As hateful as Cocytus' mifty mouth.

QUIN. Reach me thy hand, that I may help thee out; Or, wanting ftrength to do thee fo much good,

I may be pluck'd into the swallowing womb

Of this deep pit, poor Baffianus' grave.

I have no ftrength to pluck thee to the brink.

MART. Nor I no strength to climb without thy help. QUIN. Thy hand once more; I will not loose again, Till thou art here aloft, or I below:

Thou canst not come to me, I come to thee.

[Falls in. SAT. Along with me:I'll fee what hole is here, And what he is, that now is leap'd into it.Say, who art thou, that lately didst descend Into this gaping hollow of the earth?

Enter SATURNINUS and AARON.

--

MART. The unhappy fon of old Andronicus; Brought hither in a most unlucky hour,

To find thy brother Baffianus dead.

SAT. My brother dead? I know, thou doft but jeft: He and his lady both are at the lodge,

Upon the north fide of this pleasant chase;

'Tis not an hour fince I left him there.

MART. We know not where you left him all alive, But, out alas! here have we found him dead.

Enter TAMORA, with Attendants; TITUS ANDRONICUS, and LUCIUS.

TAM. Where is my lord, the king?

SAT. Here, Tamora; though griev'd with killing grief.

TAM. Where is thy brother Baffianus?

SAT. Now to the bottom doft thou fearch my wound; Poor Baffianus here lies murdered.

TAM. Then all too late I bring this fatal writ,

The complot of this timeless tragedy;

[Giving a letter.

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