Unless some fit or frenzy do possess her:
For I have heard my grandsire say full oft,
Extremity of griefs would make men mad;
And I have read that Hecuba of Troy

Ran mad through sorrow: That made me to fear;
Although, my lord, I know, my noble aunt
Loves me as dear as e'er my mother did,
And would not, but in fury, fright my youth:
Which made me down to throw my books, and fly;
Causeless, perhaps : But pardon me, sweet aunt:
And, madam, if my uncle Marcus go,

I will most willingly attend your ladyship.
Mar. Lucius, I will.

[LAVINIA turns over the Books which LUCIUS
has let fall.

Tit. How now, Lavinia?-Marcus, what means this?

Some book there is that she desires to see:-
Which is it, girl, of these?-Open them, boy-
But thou art deeper read, and better skill'd;
Come, and take choice of all my library,
And so beguile thy sorrow, till the heavens
Reveal the damn'd contriver of this deed.-
Why lifts she up her arms in sequence thus?
Mar. I think, she means, that there was more

than one

2

Confederate in the fact:-Ay, more there was :Or else to heaven she heaves them for revenge. Tit. Lucius, what book is that she tosseth so? Boy. Grandsire, 'tis Ovid's Metamorphosis; My mother gave't me.

Mar.

For love of her that's gone, Perhaps she cull'd it from among the rest.

Tit. Soft! see, how busily she turns the leaves !

Help her :

2 Succession,

What would she find?—Lavinia, shall I read?
This is the tragick tale of Philomel,

And treats of Tereus' treason, and his rape;
And rape, I fear, was root of thine annoy.

Mar. See, brother, see; note how she quotes3 the leaves.

Tit. Lavinia, wert thou thus surpris'd, sweet girl, Ravish'd and wrong'd, as Philomela was,

Forc'd in the ruthless, vast, and gloomy woods?-
See, see!

Ay, such a place there is, where we did hunt,
(O, had we never, never, hunted there!)
Pattern'd by that the poet here describes,
By nature made for murders, and for rapes.
Mar. O, why should nature build so foul a den,
Unless the gods delight in tragedies!

Tit. Give signs, sweet girl,-for here are none
but friends,-

What Roman lord it was durst do the deed:
Or slunk not Saturnine, as Tarquin erst,
That left the camp to sin in Lucrece' bed?
Mar. Sit down, sweet niece;-brother, sit down
by me.-

Apollo, Pallas, Jove, or Mercury,

Inspire me, that I may this treason find!
My lord, look here;-Look here, Lavinia:
This sandy plot is plain; guide, if thou canst,
This after me, when I have writ
my name
Without the help of any hand at all.

[He writes his Name with his Staff, and guides
it with his Feet and Mouth.

Curs'd be that heart, that forc'd us to this shift !— Write thou, good niece: and here display, at last, What God will have discover'd for revenge!

3 To quote is to observe,

Heaven guide thy pen to print thy sorrows plain, That we may know the traitors and the truth!

[She takes the Staff in her Mouth, and guides it with her Stumps, and writes.

Tit. O, do you read, my lord, what she hath writ? Stuprum-Chiron-Demetrius.

Mar. What, what!—the lustful sons of Tamora Performers of this heinous, bloody deed?

Tit. Magne Dominator poli *,

Tam lentus audis scelera? tam lentus vides?
Mar. O, calm thee, gentle lord! although, I know,
There is enough written upon this earth,
To stir a mutiny in the mildest thoughts,
And arm the minds of infants to exclaims.
My lord, kneel down with me: Lavinia, kneel;
And kneel, sweet boy, the Roman Hector's hope;
And swear with me,- -as with the woful feere5,
And father of that chaste dishonour'd dame,
Lord Junius Brutus sware for Lucrece' rape,-
That we will prosecute, by good advice,
Mortal revenge upon these traitorous Goths,
And see their blood, or die with this reproach.
Tit. 'Tis sure enough, an you knew how,
But if you hurt these bear-whelps, then beware:
The dam will wake; and, if she wind you once,
She's with the lion deeply still in league,

And lulls him whilst she playeth on her back,
And, when he sleeps, will she do what she list.
You're a young huntsman, Marcus; let it alone;
And, come, I will go get a leaf of brass,

4 Magne Regnator Deum, &c. is the exclamation of Hippolytus when Phædra discovers the secret of her incestuous passion in Seneca's Tragedy.

5 Feere signifies a companion, and here metaphorically a husband, as in the old romance of Sir Eglamour of Artoys, sig. A 4: 'Christabele, your daughter free, When shall she have a fere?

And with a gad of steel will write these words,
And lay it by the angry northern wind
Will blow these sands, like Sibyl's leaves, abroad",
And where's your lesson then?-Boy, what say you?
Boy. I say, my lord, that if I were a man,
Their mother's bed-chamber should not be safe
For these bad bondmen to the yoke of Rome.
Mar. Ay, that's my boy! thy father hath full oft
For this ungrateful country done the like.

Boy. And, uncle, so will I, an if I live.
Tit. Come, go with me into mine armoury;
Lucius, I'll fit thee; and withal, my boy
Shall carry from me to the empress' sons
Presents, that I intend to send them both:
Come, come; thou'lt do thy message, wilt thou not?
Boy. Ay, with my dagger in their bosoms, grand-
sire.

Tit. No, boy, not so; I'll teach thee another

course.

Lavinia, come:-Marcus, look to my house;
Lucius and I'll go brave it at the court;

Ay, marry, will we, sir: and we'll be waited on.
[Exeunt TITUS, LAVINIA, and Boy.
Mar. O heavens, can you hear a good man groan,
And not relent, or not compassion him?

Marcus, attend him in his ecstasy;

That hath more scars of sorrow in his heart,
Than foemen's marks upon his batter'd shield:
But yet so just, that he will not revenge:-
Revenge the heavens for old Andronicus!

[Exit.

6 A gad, in A. S. signified the point of a spear. It is here used for a similar pointed instrument.

7

Foliis tantum ne carmina manda,
Ne turbata volent rapidis ludibria ventis.'

Æn. vi. 75.

SCENE II.

The same. A Room in the Palace.

Enter AARON, CHIRON, and DEMETRIUS, at one Door; at another Door, Young LUCIUS, and an Attendant, with a Bundle of Weapons, and Verses writ upon them.

Chi. Demetrius, here's the son of Lucius; He hath some message to deliver to us.

Aar. Ay, some mad message from his mad grandfather.

Boy. My lords, with all the humbleness I may, I greet your honours from Andronicus ;

And pray the Roman gods confound you both.

[Aside.

Dem. Gramercy1, lovely Lucius; What's the news? Boy. That you are both decipher'd, that's the news, For villains mark'd with rape. [Aside.] May it please

you,

My grandsire, well advis'd, hath sent by me
The goodliest weapons of his armoury,
To gratify your honourable youth,

The hope of Rome; for so he bade me say;
And so I do, and with his gifts present

Your lordships, that whenever you have need,
You may be armed and appointed well:

And so I leave you both, [aside] like bloody vil

lains.

[Exeunt Boy and Attendant. Dem. What's here? A scroll; and written round about?

Let's see;

Integer vitæ, scelerisque purus,

Non eget Mauri jaculis, nec arcu.

i.e. grand merci; great thanks.