Had I the power, that, some say, Dian had, Lav. Under your patience, gentle emperess, Jove shield your husband from his hounds to-day! 'Tis pity, they should take him for a stag. Bas. Believe me, queen, your swarth Cimmerian Why are you sequester'd from all your train? Lav. And, being intercepted in your sport, 6 Bas. The king, my brother, shall have note of this. Lav. Ay, for these slips have made him noted long?: Good king! to be so mightily abus'd! Tam. Why have I patience to endure all this? Enter CHIRON and DEMETRIUS. Dem. How now, dear sovereign, and our gracious mother, Why doth your highness look so pale and wan? 6 Swarth is dusky. The Moor is called Cimmerian, from the affinity of blackness to darkness. 7 He had yet been married but one night. The true reading may be made her,' i. e. Tamora. Tam. Have I not reason, think you, to look pale? The trees, though summer, yet forlorn and lean, And, when they show'd me this abhorred pit, Should straight fall mad, or else die suddenly 10. But straight they told me, they would bind me here And leave me to this miserable death. And then they call'd me, foul adulteress, And, had you not by wondrous fortune come, [Stabs BASSIANUS. Rowe seems to have thought on this passage in his Jane Shore : 'This is the house where the sun never dawns, The bird of night sits screaming o'er its roof, And nought is heard but wailings and lamentings.' 9 Hedgehogs. 10 This is said in fabulous physiology of those that hear the groan of the mandrake when torn up. The same thought, and almost the same expression, occur in Romeo and Juliet. Chi. And this for me, struck home to show my strength. [Stabbing him likewise. Lav. Ay come, Semiramis 11,-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 shall 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 stood upon her chastity, Upon her nuptial vow, her loyalty, And with that painted hope 12 braves your mightiness: And shall she carry this unto her grave? Chi. An if she do, I would I were an eunuch. Drag hence her husband to some secret hole, And make his dead trunk pillow to our lust. Tam. But when you have the honey you desire, Let not this wasp outlive, us both to sting. Chi. I warrant you, madam; we will make that sure. Come, mistress, now perforce, we will enjoy Lav. O Tamora! thou bear'st a woman's face,- 11 The propriety of this address will be best understood by consulting Pliny's Nat. Hist. ch. 42. The incontinence of Semiramis has been already alluded to in the Induction to The Taming of the Shrew, Sc. ii. 12 Painted hope is only specious hope, or ground of confidence more plausible than solid. Steevens thought that the word hope was interpolated, the sense being complete and the line more harmonious without it. Lav. When did the tiger's young ones teach the dam? O, do not learn her wrath; she taught it thee: [To CHIRON. Chi. What! would'st thou have me prove myself a bastard? 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 say that ravens foster forlorn children, The whilst their own birds famish in their nests: O, be to me, though thy hard heart say no, Nothing so kind, but something pitiful! Tam. I know not what it means; away with her. Lav. O, let me teach thee: for my father's sake, That gave thee life, when well he might have slain thee, Be not obdurate, open thy deaf ears. Tam. Had thou in Remember, boys, I pour'd forth tears in vain, But fierce Andronicus would not relent. Lav. O Tamora, be call'd a gentle queen, Tam. What begg'st thou then; fond woman, let me go. Lav. 'Tis present death I beg; and one thing more, That womanhood denies my tongue to tell: O, keep me from their worse than killing lust, Tam. So should I rob my sweet sons of their fee: No, let them satisfy their lust on thee. Dem. Away, for thou hast staid us here too long. Lav. No grace? no womanhood? Ah, beastly creature! The blot and enemy to our general name! Chi. Nay, then I'll stop your mouth :-Bring thou her husband: [Dragging off LAVINIA. This is the hole where Aaron bid us hide him. Tam. Farewell, my sons; see that you sure: [Exeunt. make her Ne'er let my heart know merry cheer indeed, Now will I hence to seek my lovely Moor, SCENE IV. The same. Enter AARON, with QUINTUS and MARTIUS. Aar. Come on, my lords; the better foot before: Straight will I bring you to the loathsome pit, Where I espy'd the panther fast asleep. Quin. My sight 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 sleep awhile. [MARTIUS falls into the Pit. |