DEMET. Away! for thou hast stay'd 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: This is the hole where Aaron bid us hide him. [Exeunt CHIRON and DEMETRIUS, the former dragging off LAVINIA, and the latter the body of BASSIANUS. TAM. Farewell, my sons; see that you make her sure: Ne'er let my heart know merry cheer indeed, SCENE IV.-The same. Enter AARON, with QUINTUS and MARTIUS. AARON. Come on, my lords, the better foot before: Straight will I bring you to the loathsome pit QUINT. My sight is very dull, whate'er it bodes. MART. And mine, I promise you; were 't not for shame, Well could I leave our sport to sleep awhile. [Falls into the pit. QUINT. What, art thou fallen ?-What subtle hole is this, Whose mouth is cover'd with rude-growing briers, Upon whose leaves are drops of new-shed blood, As fresh as morning's dew distill'd on flowers? That ever eye with sight made heart lament! AARON. [Aside.] Now will I fetch the king to find them here, That he thereby may givet a likely guess, out From this unhallow'd and blood-stained hole? QUINT. I am surprised with an uncouth" fear; A chilling sweat o'erruns my trembling joints; My heart suspects more than my eye can see. MART. To prove thou hast a true-divining heart, Aaron and thou look down into this den, And see a fearful sight of blood and death. QUINT. Aaron is gone, and my compassionate heart Will not permit mine eyes once to behold MART. Lord Bassianus lies embrued here, MART. Upon his bloody finger he doth wear A precious ring, that lightens all the hole; (2) Which, like a taper in some monument, Doth shine upon the dead man's earthy cheeks, And shows the ragged entrails of the pit: So pale did shine 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' § misty mouth. QUINT. Reach me thy hand, that I may help thee out; Or, wanting strength to do thee so much good, QUINT. 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. (*) First folio omits, hurt. (1) First folio, earthly. Enter SATURNINUS and AARON. SAT. Along with me:-I'll see what hole is here, And what he is that now is leap'd into it.— MART. The unhappy son of old Andronicus; SAT. My brother dead! I know thou dost but jest: He and his lady both are at the lodge, Upon the north side of this pleasant chase; "Tis not an hour since I left him there. MART. We know not where you left him all alive, But out, alas! here have we found him dead. [Falls in. (†) First folio, have. (§) First folio, Ocitus. Sirs, drag them from the pit unto the prison; How easily murder is discovered! TIT. High emperor, upon my feeble knee, I beg this boon, with tears not lightly shed, That this fell fault of my accursed sons,Accursed, if the fault* be prov'd in them— SAT. If it be prov'd! you see it is apparent.— Who found this letter? Tamora, was it you? TAM. Andronicus himself did take it up. TIT. I did, my lord: yet let me be their bail; For, by my father's reverend tomb, I vow They shall be ready at your highness' will, To answer their suspicion with their lives. SAT. Thou shalt not bail them: see thou follow Cousin, a word; where is your husband ?— And might not gain so great a happiness As have thy love? Why dost not speak to me?— Ah, now thou turn'st away thy face for shame! [Exeunt. Enter Senators, Tribunes, and Officers of Justice, with MARTIUS 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, For these, tribunes,-] The metrical deficiency in this line is supplied in the second folio by a repetition of the word "these," "For these, these tribunes," &c. Malone thought it more likely some epithet of respect was given to the tribunes, and accordingly he printed, Whose souls are not corrupted, as 't is thought. [Casting himself down. My heart's deep languor and my soul's sad tears: Let my tears stanch the earth's dry appetite; My sons' sweet blood will make it shame and blush. [Exeunt Senators, Tribunes, and Prisoners. 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; (*) Old text, ruines. Corrected by Hanmer. "For these, good tribunes," &c. But query, "For these, 0, tribunes," &c.? TITUS ANDRONICUS. In winter, with warm tears I'll melt the snow, Enter LUCIUS, with his sword drawn. O, reverend tribunes! O, gentle, aged men! Luc. O, noble father, you lament in vain; TIT. Ah, Lucius, for thy brothers let me plead- TIT. Why, 'tis no matter, man; if they did hear, Therefore I tell my sorrows to the stones," A stone is silent, and offendeth not;— But wherefore stand'st thou with thy weapon Luc. To rescue my two brothers from their death: TIT. O, happy man! they have befriended thee. [SCENE I. TIT. Will it consume me? let me see it, then. MARC. This was thy daughter. TIT. Why, Marcus, so she is. Luc. Ay me! this object kills me! TIT. Faint-hearted boy, arise and look upon Speak, Lavinia, what accursed hand Luc. Speak, gentle sister, who hath martyr'd MARC. O, that delightful engine of her thoughts, Luc. O, say thou for her, who hath done this MARC. O, thus I found her, straying in the park, Seeking to hide herself, as doth the deer TIT. It was my deer; and he that wounded her b Speak, Lavinia, &c.] The second folio reads, and perhaps correctly, C "Speak, my Lavinia," &c. -lively body-1 That is, "living body." So in Massinger's "Fatal Dowry," Act II. Sc. 1, "That his dear father might interment have, |