121

Come, come, our empress, with her sacred wit
To villainy 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,
The palace full of tongues, of eyes and ears:
The woods are ruthless, dreadful, deaf and
dull;

There speak, and strike, brave boys, and take
your turns;

There serve your lust, shadow'd from heaven's

eye,

And revel in Lavinia's treasury.

Chi. Thy counsel, lad, smells of no cowardice.
Dem. Sit fas aut nefas, till I find the stream
To cool this heat, a charm to calm these fits,
Per Styga, per manes vehor.

130

[Exeunt.

SCENE II

A forest near Rome. Horns and cry of hounds

heard.

Enter Titus Andronicus, with Hunters, &c., Marcus, Lucius, Quintus, and Martius.

Tit. The hunt is up, the morn is bright and gray,

123. "file our engines"; the allusion is to the operation of the file, which, by giving smoothness, facilitates the motion of the parts of an engine or piece of machinery.-H. N. H.

The fields are fragrant, and the woods are

green:

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 peal,
That all the court may echo with the noise.
Sons, let it be your charge, as it is ours,
To attend the emperor's person carefully.
I have been troubled in my sleep this night,
But dawning day new comfort hath inspired. 10
A cry of hounds, and horns winded in a peal. En-
ter Saturninus, Tamora, Bassianus, Lavinia,
Demetrius, Chiron, and their Attendants.

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 wrung it lustily, my lords;
Somewhat too early for new-married ladies.
Bas. 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. [To Tamora] Madam, now

shall ye see

Our Roman hunting.

Marc.

I have dogs, my lord,

20

Will rouse the proudest panther in the chase, And climb the highest promontory top. Tit. And I have horse will follow where the game Makes way, and run like swallows o'er the

plain.

Dem. Chiron, we hunt not, we, with horse nor

hound,

But hope to pluck a dainty doe to ground.

SCENE III

A lonely part of the forest.

Enter Aaron, with a bag of gold.

[Exeunt.

Aar. He that had wit would think that I had none,
To bury so much gold under a tree,
And never after to inherit it.

Let him that thinks of me so abjectly
Know that this gold must coin a stratagem,
Which, cunningly effected, will beget
A very excellent piece of villainy:

And so repose, sweet gold, for their unrest

[Hides the gold. That have their alms out of the empress' chest.

Enter Tamora.

Tam. My lovely Aaron, wherefore look'st thou

sad,

10

When every thing doth make a gleeful boast?
The birds chant melody on every bush;
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:

9. "empress chest"; this is obscure. It seems to mean only, that they who are to come at this gold of the empress are to suffer by it. -H. N. H.

11. “make a gleeful boast"; vies in glee.-C. H. H.

Under their sweet shade, Aaron, let us sit,
And, whilst the babbling echo mocks the
hounds,

Replying shrilly to the well-tuned horns,

As if a double hunt were heard at once,

Let us sit down and mark their yellowing noise;

20

And, after conflict such as was supposed
The wandering prince and Dido once enjoy'd,
When with a happy storm they were surprised,
And curtain'd with a counsel-keeping cave,
We may, each wreathed in the other's arms,
Our pastimes done, possess a golden slumber;
Whiles hounds and horns and sweet melodious
birds

Be unto us as is a nurse's song

Of lullaby to bring her babe asleep.

Aar. 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?

31

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,

40

20. "yellowing"; so Qq.; Ff. read "yelping"; Pope, "yelling."I. G.

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. 50 Tam. Ah, my sweet Moor, sweeter to me than life! Aar. No more, great empress; Bassianus comes: Be cross with him, and I 'll go fetch thy sons To back thy quarrels, whatsoe'er they be.

Enter Bassianus and Lavinia.

[Exit.

Bas. Who have we here? Rome's royal empress,
Unfurnish'd of her well-beseeming troop?
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 my private steps! 60
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,

"Tis thought you have a goodly gift in horning; And to be doubted that your Moor and you Are singled forth to try experiments:

69. "Are singled forth"; have stolen out.-C. H. H.