Stockdale's edition of Shakespeare, with explanatory notes

That gives fweet tidings of the fun's uprife?
With all my heart, I'll fend the emperor my hand;
Good Aaron, wilt thou help to chop it off?

Luc. Stay, father; for that noble hand of thine,
That hath thrown down fo many enemies,
Shall not be fent: my hand will serve the turn:
My youth can better spare my blood than you;
And therefore mine fhall fave my brothers' lives.
Mar. Which of your hands hath not defended
And rear'd aloft the bloody battle-ax, [Rome,
Writing deftruction on the enemies' caftle1?
O, none of both but are of high defert :
My hand hath been but idle; let it ferve
To ranfom my two nephews from their death;
Then have I kept it to a worthy end.

[along,
Aar. Nay, come, agree, whofe hand fhall go
For fear they die before their pardon come.
Mar. My hand shall go.

Luc. By heaven, it shall not go.

[thefe

Tit. Sirs, ftrive no more; fuch wither'd herbs as Are meet for plucking up, and therefore mine. Luc. Sweet father, if I fhall be thought thy fon, Let me redeem my brothers both from death.

Mar. And, for our father's fake, and mother's care,
Now let me fhew a brother's love to thee.

Tit. Agree between you; I will spare my hand.
Luc. Then I'll go fetch an axe.
Mar. But I will ufe the axe.

[Exeunt Lucius and Marcus. Tit. Come hither, Aaron; I'll deceive them both; Lend me thy hand, and I will give thee mine.

Aar. If that be call'd deceit, I will be honest, And never, whilft I live, deceive men fo:But I'll deceive you in another fort,

And that you'll fay, ere half an hour pafs. [Afide. [He cuts off Titus's band. Enter Lucius and Marcus again.

And do not break into thefe deep extremes.
Tit. Is not my forrow deep, having no bottom
Then be my paflions bottomlefs with them.
Mar. But yet let reafon govern thy lament.

Tit. If there were reafon for thefe miferies,
Then into limits could I bind my woes:
When heaven doth weep, doth not the earth
o'erflow?

If the winds rage, doth not the fea wax mad,
Threat'ning the welkin with his big-fwoln face ?
And wilt thou have a reafon for this coil?

I am the fea; hark, how her fighs do blow !
She is the weeping welkin, I the carth:
Then muft my fea be moved with her fighs;
Then muft my earth with her continual tears
Become a deluge, overflow'd and drown'd:
For why my bowels cannot hide her woes,
But like a drunkard muft I vomit them.
Then give me leave; for lofers will have leave
To ease their stomachs with their bitter tongues.
Enter a Meffenger, bringing in two heads and a band,

Mess. Worthy Andronicus, ill art thou repay'd
For that good hand, thou fent'ft the emperor.
Here are the heads of thy two noble fons ;
And here's thy hand, in fcorn to thee fent back;
Thy griefs their fports, thy refolution mock'd :
That woe is me to think upon thy woes,
More than remembrance of my father's death.

[wound,

Luc. Ah, that this fight should make fo deep a
And yet detefted life not shrink thereat!
That ever death fhould let life bear his name,

Tit. Now, ftay your ftrife; what fhall be, is Where life hath no more interest but to breathe!

difpatch'd.

Good Aaron, give his majesty my hand:
Tell him, it was a hand that warded him
From thousand dangers; bid him bury it;
More hath it merited, that let it have.
As for my fons, fay, I account of them
As jewels purchas'd at an easy price;
And yet dear too, because I bought mine own.

Aar. I go, Andronicus: and for thy hand,
Look by and by to have thy fons with thee :--
Their heads, I mean.-O, how this villainy [Afide.
Doth fat me with the very thought of it!
Let fools do good, and fair men call for grace,
Aaron will have his foul black like his face. [Exit.
Tit. O hear!--I lift this one hand up to heaven,
And bow this feeble ruin to the earth :
If any power pities wretched tears,

To that I call:-What, wilt thou kneel with me?
[To Lavinia.
Do then, dear heart; for heaven fhall hear our

prayers;

Or with our fighs we'll breathe the welkin dim,
And ftain the fun with fog, as fometime clouds,
When they do hug him in their melting bofoms.
Mar. O brother, fpeak with pollibilities,

[Lavinia kiffes him. Mar. Alas, poor heart, that kifs is comfortless, As frozen water to a starved snake.

[end!

Tit. When will this fearful flumber have an
Mar. Now, farewel, flattery: Die, Andronicus;
Thou doft not flumber: fee, thy two fons' heads
Thy warlike hand; thy mangled daughter here;
Thy other banifh'd fon, with this dear fight
Struck pale and bloodlefs; and thy brother, I,
Even like a ftony image, cold and numb.
Ah! now no more will I controul thy griefs:
Rent off thy filver hair, thy other hand
Gnawing with thy teeth; and be this difmal fight
The clofing up of your most wretched eyes!
Now is a time to storm, why art thou still ?
Tit. Ha, ha, ha!
Mar. Why doft thou laugh? it fits not with this
Tit. Why I have not another tear to shed:
Befides, this forrow is an enemy,
And would ufurp upon my watry eyes,
And make them blind with tributary tears;
Then which way fhall I find revenge's cave?
For thefe two heads do feem to speak to me;
And threat me, I fhall never come to blifs,
'Till all thefe mifchiefs be return'd again,

Cafle in this place fignifies a clofe helmet.

[hour.

Even in their throats that have committed them.
Come, let me fee what tafk I have to do.-
You heavy people, circle me about;
That I may turn me to each one of you,
And fwear unto my foul to right your wrongs.
The vow is made.-Come, brother, take a head;
And in this hand the other will I bear:
Lavinia, thou shalt be employed in thefe things;
Bear thou my hand, fweet wench, between thy teeth.
As for thee, boy, go, get thee from my fight;
Thou art an exile, and thou must not stay :
Hie to the Goths, and raife an army there;
And, if you love me, as I think you do,
Let's kifs and part, for we have much to do.

Manet Lucius.

[Excunt.

Luc. Farewel, Andronicus, my noble father;
The woful't man that ever liv'd in Rome !
Farewel, proud Rome! 'till Lucius comes again,
He leaves his pledges dearer than his life.
Farewel, Lavinia, my noble fifter;

O, 'would thou weit as thou 'tofore haft been!
But now nor Lucius, nor Lavinia lives,
Eut in oblivion, and hateful griefs.

If Lucius live, he will requite your wrongs;
And make proud Saturninus and his emperefs
Beg at the gates, like Tarquin and his queen.
Now will I to the Goths, and raife a power,
To be reveng'd on Rome and Saturnine.

SCENE II.

[Exit Lucius.

An Apartment in Titas's boufe.

To bid Æneas tell the tale twice o'er,
How Troy was burnt, and he made miferable!
O, handle not the theme, to talk of hands;
Left we remember ftill, that we have none.-
Fye, fye, how frantickly I fquare my talk!
As if we fhould forget we had no hands,
If Marcus did not name the word of hands !-
Come, let's fall to; and, gentle girl, eat this :---
Here is no drink! Hark, Marcus, what she fay's ;→
I can interpret all her martyr'd figns ;-
She fays, fhe drinks no other drink but tears,
Brew'd with her forrows, meth'd upon her cheeks:--
Speechlefs complainer, I will learn thy thought;
In thy dumb action will I be as perfect,
As begging hermits in their holy prayers:
Thou shalt not figh, nor hold thy stumps to heaven,
Nor wink, nor nod, nor kneel, nor make a fign,
But 1, of thefe, will wreft an alphabet,
And, by still practice, learn to know the meaning.
Boy. Good grandfire, leave these bitter deep la

ments;

Make my aunt merry with fome pleafing tale.
Mar. Alas, the tender boy, in paffion mov'd,
Doth weep to fee his grandfire's heaviness.
Tit. Peace, tender fapling; thou art made of tears,
And tears will quickly melt thy life away.

Marcus ftrikes the difh with a knife.
What doft thou strike at, Marcus, with thy knife?
Mar. At that that I have kill'd, my lord; a fly.
Tit. Out on thee, murderer! thou kill'st my heart;
Mine eyes are cloy'd with view of tyranny:
A deed of death, done on the innocent,
Becomes not Titus' brother; Get thee gone;

A banquet. Enter Titus, Marcus, Lavinia, and I fee, thou art not for my company.

young Lucius, a boy.

Tit. So, fo; now fit: and look, you eat no more
Than will preferve just so much strength in us
As will revenge thefe bitter woes of ours.
Marcus, unknit that forrow-wreathen knot;
Thy niece and I, poor creatures, want our hands,
And cannot paffionate our ten-fold grief
With folded arms. This poor right hand of mine
Is left to tyrannize upon my breaft;
And when my heart, all mad with misery,
Beats in this hollow prifon of my flesh,
Then thus I thump it down.--

Thou map of woe, that thus doft talk in figns!
[To Lavinia.
When thy poor heart beats with outrageous beating,
Thou canst not itrike it thus to make it ftill.
Wound it with fighing, girl, kill it with groans;
Or get fome little knife between thy teeth,
And just against thy heart make thou a hole;
That all the tears that thy poor eyes let fall,
May run into that fink, and, foaking in,
Drown the lamenting fool in fea-falt tears.

Mar. Alas, my lord, I have but kill'd a fly.
Tit. But how, if that fly had a father and mother?
How would he hang his flender gilded wings,
And buz lamenting doings in the air?
Poor harmless Ay !

[him;

That with his pretty buzzing melody,
Came here to make us merry; and thou haft kill'd
Mar. Pardon me, fir; it was a black ill-fa¬
your'd fly,

Like to the emperefs' Moor; therefore I kill'd him.
Tit. 0, 0, 0,

Then pardon me for reprehending thee,
For thou haft done a charitable deed.
Give me thy knife, I will infult on him;
Flattering myself, as if it were the Moor,
Come hither purposely to poifon me.———
There's for thyself, and that's for Tamora.
Ah, firrah!--yet I think we are not brought so low,
But that, between us, we can kill a fly,
That comes in likeness of a coal-black Moor.
Mar. Alas, poor man! grief has fo wrought
on him,

Mar. Fye, brother, fye! teach her not thus to lay He takes falfe thadows for true fubftances.
Such violent hands upon her tender life.

Tit. Come, take away.—Lavinia, go with me :

Tit. How now has forrow made thee doat I'll to thy clofet; and go read with thee

SCENE I Titus's Houfe.

ACT IV.

Enter young Lucius, and Lavinia running after bim; and the boy flies from her, with his books under his Enter Titus and Marcus.

arm.

Boy. HELP, grandfire, help! my aunt La

vinia

Follows me every where, I know not why :Good uncle Marcus, fee how fwift she comes! Alas! fweet aunt, I know not what you mean. Mar. Stand by me, Lucius; do not fear thine

aunt.

Tit. She loves thee, boy, too well to do thee harm.
Boy. Ay, when my father was in Rome, the did.
Mar. What means my niece Lavinia by thefe
figns?
[mean :-
Tit. Fear her not, Lucius :-Somewhat doth fhe
See, Lucius, fee, how much the makes of thee:
Somewhither would fhe have thee go with her.
Ah, boy, Cornelia never with more care
Read to her fons, than the hath read to thee,
Sweet poetry, and Tully's oratory.
Canft thou not guess wherefore the plies thee thus?
Boy. My lord, I know not, I, nor can I gueís,
Unless fome fit of phrenzy do poffefs her:
For I have heard my grandfire fay full oft,
Extremity of griefs would make men mad;
And I have read, that Hecuba of Troy
Ran mad through forrow; 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 downto throw my books, and fly;
Caufelefs, perhaps : But pardon me, fweet aunt :
And, madam, if my uncle Marcus go,

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

[this?

Tit. How now, Lavinia Marcus, what means Some book there is that the defires to fee :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 fo beguile thy forrow, 'till the heavens Reveal the damn'd contriver of this deed. Why lifts the up her arms in fequence thus? Mar. I think, the means, that there was more than one

Confederate in the fact ;-Ay, more there was: Or elfe to heaven the heaves them for revenge. Tit. Lucius, what book is that the toffeth fo? Boy. Grandfire, 'tis Ovid's Metamorphofis; My mother gave it me.

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

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

Help her: What would the find? Lavinia, fhall
I read ?

This is the tragic tale of Philomel,
And treats of 'Tereus' treason, and his rape;
And rape, I fear, was root of thine annoy.

Mar. See, brother, fee; note, how the quotes

the leaves.

Tit. Lavinia, wer't thou thus furpriz'd, fweet girl,
Ravifh'd, and wrong'd, as Philomela was,
Forc'd in the ruthleis, vaft, and gloomy woods ?—-—-
See, fee!

Ay, fuch 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 fhould nature build fo foul a den, Unless the gods delight in tragedies!

Tit. Give figns, fweet girl,-for here are none
but friends,-

What Roman lord it was durft do the deed:
Or flunk not Saturnine, as Tarquin erft,
That left the camp to fin in Lucrece' bed?
Mar. Sit down, fweet niece ;-brother, fit down
by me.-

Apollo, Pallas, Jove, or Mercury,
Infpire me, that I may this treafon find!-
My lord, look here ;-look here, Lavinia:

[He writes his name with his staff, and guides
it with his fect and mouth.
This fandy plot is plain; guide, if thou can'ft,
This after me, when I have writ my name
Without the help of any hand at all.
Curs'd be that heart, that fore'd us to this shift!—
Write thou, good niece; and here difplay at laft,
What God will have difcover'd for revenge:
Heaven guide thy pen to print thy forrows plain,
That we may know the traitors, and the truth!

[She takes the ftaff in her mouth, and guides it with her ftumps, and writes. Tit. O, do you read, my lord, what the hath writ? Stuprum-Chiron Demetrius.

Mar. What, what !-the luftful fons of Tamora Performers of this hateful bloody deed?

-Magne Dominator Poli,

Tam lentus audis fecera ? tam lentus vides?
Mar. O, calm thee, gentle lord! although, I

know,

There is enough written upon this earth,
To ftir a mutiny in the mildeft thoughts,
And arm the minds of infants to exclaims.
My lord, kneel down with me; Lavinia, kneel;
And kneel, fweet boy, the Roman Hector's hope;
And fwear with me,-as with the woeful feere 2,
And father, of that chafte difhonour'd dame,
Lord Junius Brutus fware for Lucrece' rape,—
That we will profecute, by good advice,

To quote is to obferve.

2 Feere fignifies a companion, and here metaphorically a luftand. Mortal

Mortal revenge upon thefe traiterous Goths,
And fee their blood, or die with this reproach.
Tit. 'Tis fure enough, an you knew how.
But if you hurt thefe bear-whelps, then beware:
The dam will wake; and, if the wind you once,
She's with the lion deeply ftill in league,
And lulls him while the playeth on her back,
And, when he fleeps, will the do what the lift.
You're a young huntsman, Marcus; let it alone;
And, come, I will go get a leaf of brass,

And with a gad of fteel will write thefe words,
And lay it by the angry northern wind
Will blow these fands, like Sybil's leaves, abroad,
And where's your leffon then?-Boy, what fay you?
Boy. I fay, my lord, that if I were a man,
Their mother's bed-chamber fhould not be fafe
For thefe bad bond-men 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, fo will I, an if I live.
Tit. Come, go with me into my armoury;
Lucius, I'll fit thee; and withal, my boy
Shall carry from me to the emperefs' fons
Prefents, that I intend to fend them both :
Come, come; thou'lt do my meffage, wilt thou

Integer vita, feelerifque purus,

Non eget Mauri jaculis nec arcu:

Chi. O, 'tis a verfe in Horace; I know it well: I read it in the grammar long ago. [have it. Aar. Ay, juft;-a verfe in Horace ;-right, you Now, what a thing it is to be an afs! Here's no fond jeft: the old man hath found their guilt;

And fends the weapons wrapp'd about with lines,

That wound, beyond their feeling, to the quick.

›[Afide,

But were our witty emperefs well a-foot, She would applaud Andronicus' conceit. But let her reft in her unreft a while. And now, young lords, was 't not a happy ftar Boy. Ay, with my dagger in their bofom, grand- Led us to Rome, strangers, and, more than fo, Tit. No, no, boy, not fo; I'll teach thee ano-Captives, to be advanced to this height ?

not?

ther course.

[fire.

Lavinia, come :-Marcus, look to my houfe;
Lucius and I'll go brave it at the court;
Ay, marry, will we, fir; and we'll be waited on.
[Exeunt.
Mar. O heavens, can you hear a good man groan,
And not relent, or not compaffionate him?
Marcus, attend him in his ecftafy;

That hath more fears of forrow in his heart,
Than foe-men's marks upon his batter'd shield:
But yet fo juft, that he will not revenge :-
Revenge the heavens for old Andronicus! [Exit.
SCENE II.
Changes to the Palace.

Enter Aaron, Chiron, and Demetrius, at one door: and at another door, young Lucius and another, with a bundle of weapons, and verfes writ upon

It did me good, before the palace gate
To brave the tribune in his brother's hearing.

Dem. But me more good, to fee fo great a lord Bafely infinuate, and fend us gifts.

Aar. Had he not reafon, lord Demetrius ?
Did you not use his daughter very friendly?
Dem. I would, we had a thousand Roman dames
At fuch a bay, by turn to ferve our luft.

Chi. A charitable wish, and full of love.
Aar. Here lacketh but your mother to say Amen.
Chi. And that would the for twenty thousand

more.

Dem. Come, let us go; and pray to all the gods For our beloved mother in her pains. Aar. Pray to the devils; the gods have given us o'er. [Afde. Flourish. Dem. Why do the emperor's trumpets flourish thus ?

Chi. Belike, for joy the emperor hath a fon.
Dem. Soft; who comes here ?

Enter Nurfe, with a Black-a-moor Child.
Nurfe. Good-morrow, lords:

O tell me, did you fee Aaron the Moor?
Aar. Well, more or lefs, or ne'er a whit at all.
Here Aaron is; and what with Aaron now ?
Nur. O gentle Aaron, we are all undone !
Now help, or woe betide thee evermore!

Aar. Why, what a caterwauling doft thou keep? What doft thou wrap and fumble in thine arms? Nur. O, that which I would hide from heaven's

eye,

Our emperefs' fhame, and stately Rome's difgrace;-
She is deliver'd, lords, fhe is deliver'd.
Aar. To whom?

ii. e. grand merci; great thanks.

Nar.

Nar. I mean, fhe is brought to bed.

Aar. Well, God

Give her good reft! What hath he fent her?

Nur. A devil.

[iffue.

Aar. Why, then he is the devil's dam; a joyful
Nur. A joylefs, difmal, black, and forrowful iffue:
Here is the babe, as loathfome as a toad
Among the fairest breeders of our clime.
The emperefs' fends it thee, thy ftamp, thy feal,
And bids thee chriften it with thy dagger's point,
Aar. Out, out, you whore! is black fo bafe a

hue ?

--Sweet blow fe, you are a beauteous bloffom, fure.
Dem. Villain, what haft thou done?
dar. That which thou

Can't not undo.

Chi. Thou haft undone our mother,

Aar. Villain, I have done thy mother.

Dem. And therein, hellish dog, thou haft undone. Woe to her chance, and damn'd her loathed choice! Accurs'd the offspring of fo foul a fiend!

Chi. It fhall not live.
Aar. It fhall not die.

Nur. Aaron, it muft; the mother wills it fo.
Aar. What, mult it, nurfe? then let no man but I,
[point:
Do execution on my flesh and blood.
Dem. I'll broach 2 the tadpole on my rapier's
Nurfe, give it me; my fword fhall foon difpatch it.
Aar. Sooner this fword fhall plough thy bowels up.
Stay, murd'rous villains! will you kill your brother?
Now, by the burning tapers of the fky,

That thone fo brightly when this boy was got,
He dies upon my fcymitar's fharp point,
That touches this my firft-born fon and heir!
I tell you, younglings, not Enceladus,
With all his threat'ning band of Typhon's brood,
Nor great Alcides, nor the god of war,
Shall feize this prey out of his father's hands.
What, what, ye fanguine, fhallow-hearted boys!
Ye white-lim'd walls! ye alehoufe painted figns!
Coal-black is better than another hue,
In that it fcorns to bear another hue:
For all the water in the ocean

Can never turn the fwan's black legs to white,
Although fhe lave them hourly in the flood.-
Tell the emperefs from me, I am of age
To keep mine own; excufe it how the can.

Dem. Wilt thou betray thy noble mistress thus ?
Aar. My miftrefs is my mittrefs; this, myfelf;
The vigour, and the picture of my youth:
This, before all the world, do I prefer;
This, maugre all the world, will I keep fafe,
Or fome of you fhall fmoke for it in Rome.
Dem. By this our mother is for ever fham'd.
Chi. Rome will defpife her for this foul escape.
Nur. The emperor, in his rage, will doom her
death.

Chi. I bluth to think upon this ignomy.

Aar. Why there's the privilege your beauty bears:
Fye, treacherous hue! that will betray with blushing
The close enacts and counfels of the heart!
Here is a young lad fram'd of another leer 3:

Look, how the black flave fmiles upon the father;
As who fhould fay, Old lad, I am thine own.
He is your brother, lords; fenfibly fed
Of that felf-blood that first gave life to you;
And, from that womb, where you imprifon'd were,
He is infranchised and come to light:
Nay, he's your brother by the furer fide,
Although iny feal is flamped in his face."
Nur. Aaron, what shall I fay unto the emperefs?
Dem. Advife thee, Aaron', what is to be done,
And we will all fubfcribe to thy advice;
Save you the child, fo we may all be safe.

dar. Then fit we down, and let us all confult.
My fon and I will have the wind of you:
Keep there: now talk at pleasure of your fafety.
[They fit on the ground.
Dem. How many women faw this child of his ?
Aar. Why, fo, brave lords; When we all join
in league,

I am a lamb: but if you brave the Moor,
The chafed boar, the mountain lioness,
The ocean fwells not fo as Aaron ftorms.
But, fay again, how many faw the child?
Nur. Cornelia the midwife, and myself,
And no one elfe, but the deliver'd emperefs.

Aar. The emperefs, the midwife, and yourfelf:-
Two may keep countel, when the third's away :
Go to the emperefs; tell her this 1 faid :-

[He kills her. Weke, weke !-fo cries a pig, prepar'd to the fpit. Dem. What mean'ft thou, Aaron? Wherefore didit thou this?

Aar. O lord, fir, 'tis a deed of policy :
Shall the live to betray this guilt of ours?
A long-tongu'd babbling goffip! no, lords, no.
And now be it known to you my full intent.
Not far, one Maliteus lives, my countryman,
His wife but yefternight was brought to-bed;
His child is like to her, fair as you are :
Go pack 4 with him, and give the mother gold,
And tell them both the circumftance of all;
And how by this their child fhall be advanc'd,
And be received for the emperor's heir,
And fubftituted in the place of mine,
To calm this tempeft whirling in the court;
And let the emperor dandle him for his own.
Hark ye, my lords; ye fee, I have given her phyfick,
[Pointing to the nurse.

And you must needs beftow her funeral ;
The fields are near, and you are gallant grooms:
This done, fee that you take no longer days,
But fend the midwife prefently to me.
The midwife, and the nurfe, well made away,
Then let the ladies tattle what they please.

Chi. Aaron, I fee, thou wilt not truft the air
With fecrets.

Dem. For this care of Tamora,
Herfelf, and hers, are highly bound to thee.

[Exeunt.
Aa. Now to the Goths, as fwift as fwallow flies;
There to difpofe this treafure in my arms,
And fecretly to greet the emperefs' friends.--

2 A broach is a fpit. I'll fpit the tadpole.
4 To pack is to contive infidiously.

1 To do is here used obfcenely. plexion or hue.

3 Leer is com

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