SCENE IV

Another part of the forest.

Enter Demetrius and Chiron, with Lavinia, ravished; her hands cut off, and her tongue cut out.

Dem. So, now go tell, an if thy tongue can speak, Who 'twas that cut thy tongue and ravish'd

thee.

Chi. Write down thy mind, bewray thy meaning

So,

An if thy stumps will let thee play the scribe. Dem. See, how with signs and tokens she can

scrowl.

Chi. Go home, call for sweet water, wash thy

hands.

Dem. She hath no tongue to call, nor hands

wash;

And so let's leave her to her silent walks. Chi. An 'twere my case, I should go hang myself. Dem. If thou hadst hands to help thee knit the [Exeunt Demetrius and Chiron.

cord.

Horns winded within. Enter Marcus, from

hunting.

Mar. Who is this? my niece, that flies away so fast! Cousin, a word; where is

your husband?

12

5. "scrowl"; Qq., "scrowle"; Ff. 1, 2, "scowle"; Ff. 3, 4, "scowl"; Delius, "scrawl.”—I. G.

9. "case"; Pope's emendation of Qq., Ff., "cause.”—I. G.

If I do dream, would all my wealth would wake
me!

If I do wake, some planet strike me down,
That I may slumber in eternal sleep!
Speak, gentle niece, what stern ungentle hands
Have lopp'd and hew'd and made thy body bare
Of her two branches, those sweet ornaments,
Whose circling shadows kings have sought to
sleep in,

20

And might not gain so great a happiness
As have thy love? Why dost not speak to me?
Alas, a crimson river of warm blood,
Like to a bubbling fountain stirr'd with wind,
Doth rise and fall between thy rosed lips,
Coming and going with thy honey breath.
But, sure, some Tereus hath deflowered thee,
And, lest thou shouldst detect him, cut thy
tongue.

Ah, now thou turn'st away thy face for shame!
And, notwithstanding all this loss of blood,
As from a conduit with three issuing spouts, 30
Yet do thy cheeks look red as Titan's face
Blushing to be encounter'd with a cloud.
Shall I speak for thee? shall I say 'tis so?
O, that I knew thy heart; and knew the beast,
That I might rail at him, to ease my mind!
Sorrow concealed, like an oven stopp'd,
Doth burn the heart to cinders where it is.

13. "If I do dream"; if this be a dream, I would give all my possessions to be delivered from it by waking.-H. N. H.

26. "Tereus"; the husband of Procne, violated her sister Philomela, and then cut her tongue out.-C. H. H.

41

Fair Philomel, why she but lost her tongue,
And in a tedious sampler sew'd her mind:
But, lovely niece, that mean is cut from thee;
A craftier Tereus, cousin, hast thou met,
And he hath cut those pretty fingers off,
That could have better sew'd than Philomel.
O, had the monster seen those lily hands
Tremble, like aspen-leaves, upon a lute,
And make the silken strings delight to kiss
them,

He would not then have touch'd them for his
life!

Or, had he heard the heavenly harmony

Which that sweet tongue hath made,

He would have dropp'd his knife, and fell asleep

50

As Cerberus at the Thracian poet's feet.
Come, let us go and make thy father blind;
For such a sight will blind a father's eye:
One hour's storm will drown the fragrant
meads;

What will whole months of tears thy father's
eyes?

Do not draw back, for we will mourn with thee:

O, could our mourning ease thy misery!

[Exeunt.

38, 39. "Philomela," after losing her tongue, made her sister Procne aware of her husband's crime by working a representation of it in a sampler.-C. H. H.

49. "Which that sweet tongue hath made"; so Qq., Ff.; Hanmer, "Which that sweet tongue of thine hath often made"; Collier MS., "Which that sweet tongue hath made in minstrelsy,” etc.-I. G. 51. "the Thracian poet"; Orpheus.-C. H. H.

ACT THIRD

SCENE I

Rome. A street.

Enter Judges, Senators, and Tribunes, with Mar-
tius and Quintus, bound, passing on to the place
of execution; Titus going before, pleading.
Tit. Hear me, grave fathers! noble tribunes, stay!
For pity of mine age, whose youth was spent
In dangerous wars, whilst you securely slept;
For all my blood in Rome's great quarrel shed;
For all the frosty nights that I have watch'd;
And for these bitter tears, which now you see
Filling the aged wrinkles in my cheeks;
Be pitiful to my condemned sons,
Whose souls are not corrupted as 'tis thought.
For two and twenty sons I never wept,
Because they died in honor's lofty bed.
[Lieth down; the Judges, Etc., pass by him, and
Exeunt.

For these, tribunes, in the dust I write

10

My heart's deep languor and my soul's sad tears:

12. "For these, tribunes"; so Qq., F. 1; F. 4, "For these, these, Tribunes"; Malone, “For these, good tribunes"; Jackson conj. “For these two tribunes"; Collier conj. "For these, O tribunes."—I. G.

Let my tears stanch the earth's dry appetite;
My sons' sweet blood will make it shame and
blush.

O earth, I will befriend thee more with rain,
That shall distil from these two ancient urns,
Than youthful April shall with all his showers:
In summer's drought I'll drop upon thee still;
In winter with warm tears I'll melt the snow, 20
And keep eternal spring-time on thy face,
So thou refuse to drink my dear sons' blood.

Enter Lucius, with his weapon drawn.
O reverend tribunes! O gentle, aged men!
Unbind my sons, reverse the doom of death;
And let me say, that never wept before,
My tears are now prevailing orators.
Luc. A noble father, you lament in vain:

The tribunes hear you not; no man is by;
And you recount your sorrows to a stone.
Tit. Ah, Lucius, for thy brothers let me plead. 30
Grave tribunes, once more I entreat of you,——
Luc. My gracious lord, no tribune hears you speak.
Tit. Why, 'tis no matter, man: if they did hear,

They would not mark me; or if they did mark,
They would not pity me; yet plead I must,
And bootless unto them

Therefore I tell my sorrows to the stones;

17. "urns"; Hanmer's emendation of Qq., Ff. 1, 2, 3, "ruines”; F. 4, "ruins."-I. G.

34-36. Q. 2 reads “or if they did marke, All bootlesse unto them”; Ff., "oh if they did heare They would not pitty me"; Capell, "or, if they did mark, All bootless unto them, they would not pity_me,” etc.-I. G.