Bas. Believe me, queen, your swarth Cimmerian Doth make your honour of his body's hue. Why are you sequester'd from all your train? Dismounted from your snow-white goodly steed, And wander'd hither to an obscure plot, Accompanied with a barbarous Moor?

Lav. My noble lord, I pray you let us hence, And let her 'joy her raven-colour'd love.

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?
Tam. Have I not reason, think you, to look pale?
These two have 'tic'd me hither to this place,
A barren detested vale, you see, it is:

The trees, though summer, yet forlorn and lean,
O'ercome with moss, and baneful misletoe..
Here never shines the sun; here nothing breeds,
Unless the nightly owl, or fatal raven.
And, when they show'd me this abhorred pit,
They told me, here, at dead time of the night,
A thousand fiends, a thousand hissing snakes,
Ten thousand swelling toads, as many urchins.",
Would make such fearful and confused cries,
As any mortal body, hearing it,

Should straight fall mad, or else die suddenly.
No sooner had they told this hellish tale,

But straight they told me, they would bind me here
Unto the body of a dismal yew;

And leave me to this miserable death.
And then they call'd me, foul adulteress,
Lascivious Goth, and all the bitterest terms
That ever ear did hear to such effect.

And, had you not by wondrous fortune come,
This vengeance on me had they executed :
Revenge it, as you love your mother's life,
Or be ye not henceforth call'd
my children.
Dem. This is a witness that I am thy son.

[Stabs BASSIANUS. Chi. And this for me, struck home to show my strength. [Stabbing him likewise. Lav. Ay come, Semiramis, 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 braves your mightiness: And shall she carry this unto her grave?

Chi. Drag hence her husband to some secret hole,

And make his dead trunk pillow to our lust.

Tam. Let not this wasp outlive, us both to sting. Chi. I warrant you, madam; we will make that

sure.

Lav. O Tamora! thou bear'st a woman's face,Fam.. I will not hear her speak; away with her. Lav. Sweet lords, entreat her hear me but a

word.

Dem. Listen, fair madam: Let it be your glory To see her tears: but be your heart to them, As unrelenting flint to drops of rain.

Lav. When did the tiger's young one's teach the

dam?

O, do not learn her wrath; she taught it thee:
The milk thou suck'dst from her, did turn to mar-

ble;

-

Even at thy teat thou hadst thy tyranný.-
Yet every mother breeds not sons alike;
Do thou entreat her shew a woman pity.

[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. Hadst thou in person ne'er offended me,
Even for his sake am I pitiless :

Remember, boys, I pour'd forth tears in vain,
To save your brother from the sacrifice;
But fierce Andronicus would not relent.
Therefore away with her, and use her as you will;
The worse to her, the better lov'd of me.

Lav. O Tamora, be call'd a gentle queen,
And with thine own hands kill me in this place :
For 'tis not life, that I have begg'd so long;
Poor I was slain, when Bassianus died.

Tam. What begg'st thou then? fond woman, let me go.

Lav. 'Tis death I beg; O, keep me from what's

worse!

my body:

And tumble me into some loathsome pit;
Where never man's eye may behold
Do this, and be a charitable murderer.
Tam. So should I rob my sweet sons of their fee.
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!

Confusion fall.

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.

[Exeunt. Tam. Farewell, my sons: see that you make her

sure:

Ne'er let my heart know merry cheer indeed,
Till all the Andronici be made away.

Now will I hence to seek my lovely Moor.

SCENE IV.

[Exit.

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. Quin. What art thou fallen? What subtile hole

is this,

Whose mouth is cover'd with rude-growing briars; Upon whose leaves are drops of new-shed blood,

As fresh as morning's dew distill'd on flowers? very fatal place it seems to me :

A

Speak, brother, hast thou hurt thee with the fall?
Mart. O, brother, with the dismallest object
That ever eye, with sight, made heart lament.
Aar. [Aside.] Now will I fetch the king to find
them here;

That he thereby may give a likely guess,
How these were they that made away his brother.
[Exit AARON.
Mart. Why dost not comfort me, and help me out
From this unhallow'd and blood-stained hole?

Quin. I am surprised with an uncouth fear:
A chilling sweat o'er-runs my trembling joints;
My heart suspects more than mine 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.

Quin. Aaron is gone; and my compassionate heart

Will not permit mine eyes once to behold
The thing whereat it trembles by surmise:
O, tell me how it is; for ne'er till now
Was I a child, to fear I know not what.

Mart. Lord Bassianus lies embrewed here,
All on a heap, like to a slaughter'd lamb,
In this detested, dark, blood-drinking pit.
Quin. If it be dark, how dost thou know 'tis he?
Mart. Upon his bloody finger he doth wear
A precious ring, that lightens all the hole,
Which, like a taper in some monument,
Doth shine upon the dead man's earthy cheeks,
And shows the ragged entrails of this 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.