Aar. Why, are ye mad? or know ye not in Rome
How furious and impatient they be,

Chi.

And cannot brook competitors in love?

I tell you, lords, you do but plot your deaths
By this device.

Aaron, a thousand deaths
Would I propose, to achieve her whom I love.
Aar. To achieve her! how?
Dem.

75

80

Why mak'st thou it so strange?
She is a woman, therefore may be woo'd;
She is a woman, therefore may be won;
She is Lavinia, therefore must be lov'd.

What, man! more water glideth by the mill
Than wots the miller of; and easy it is
Of a cut loaf to steal a shive, we know:
Though Bassianus be the emperor's brother,
Better than he have worn Vulcan's badge.

Aar. [Aside.] Ay, and as good as Saturninus may.
Dem. Then why should he despair that knows to court it

85

90

does not say where he got it. See Heywood's Proverbs, ed. Sharman (1546), p. 128. Burton (Anatomy of Melancholy) quotes the Latin, "Non omnem molitor quæ fluit unda videt." Did a similar proverb suggest to Chaucer making a miller the victim in the Reeve's Tale?

86. and easy it is, etc.] Also a proverbial expression. See Rae (1768), p. 481.

87. shive] slice, and is connected with "shiver" to break in pieces. Chaucer has the form "shivere" in the same sense of slice-Somnour's Tale.

89. Vulcan's] a trisyllable. The possessive in "'s" was still sounded as a syllable, hence the form "Vulcan his ""Vulcan's."

With words, fair looks, and liberality?

What! hast thou not full often struck a doe,
And borne her cleanly by the keeper's nose?
Aar. Why, then, it seems, some certain snatch or so
Would serve your turns.

Chi.
Dem. Aaron, thou hast hit it.
Aar.

Chi.

95

Ay, so the turn were serv'd.

Would you had hit it too!

Then should not we be tir'd with this ado.
Why, hark ye, hark ye! and are you such fools
To square for this? would it offend you then
That both should speed?

Dem. Nor me, so I were one.

Faith, not me.

Aar. For shame, be friends, and join for that you jar: 'Tis policy and stratagem must do

100

105

That you affect; and so must you resolve,
That what you cannot, as you would, achieve,
You must perforce accomplish as you may.
Take this of me: Lucrece was not more chaste

young nobles of the day. Malone thinks that the remark is addressed to Aaron. 94. cleanly] clean away.

100. To square] to put oneself in a boxing attitude; hence, to fight, as Midsummer-Night's Dream, II. i. 30. Cotgrave's French Dictionary, under desaccorder, gives "to discord... differ, dissent, square," etc.

101. Faith, not me] This seems to come ill from Chiron, who has been protesting so much about his love for Lavinia. But see Introduction, p.

Than this Lavinia, Bassianus' love.

A speedier course than lingering languishment
Must we pursue, and I have found the path.
My lords, a solemn hunting is in hand;
There will the lovely Roman ladies troop:
The forest walks are wide and spacious,
And many unfrequented plots there are
Fitted by kind for rape and villany:
Single you thither then this dainty doe,

And strike her home by force, if not by words:
This way, or not at all, stand you in hope.
Come, come; our empress, with her sacred wit
To villany and vengeance consecrate,
Will we acquaint with all that we intend;
And she shall file our engines with advice,
That will not suffer you to square yourselves,
But to your wishes' height advance you both.
The emperor's court is like the house of Fame,

110. lingering languishment] a long sentimental courtship. Lucrece, 1147.

112. solemn] grand, as being held in honour of the Emperor, like a state ball or other royal function. Cf. Sonnets, lii. 5; Taming of the Shrew, III. ii. 103, etc.

116. by kind] by nature. See Chaucer, House of Fame, ii. 241.

117. Single] single out, separate; a hunting term. "When he (the hart) is hunted, or doth first leave the hearde, we say he is singled or empryned,' Turberville, The Noble Art of Venerie.

117. dainty doe] This confirms my notion of the symbolism of "panther and hart." Dainty" here means "delicate," "enticing," "lovely." Tempest, v. 85; Midsummer-Night's Dream, v, 286.

IIO

115

120

125

120. sacred] devoted to, in the true classic sense. The author often uses words thus, but so does Shakespeare in his acknowledged plays, as already pointed out.

123. file] to refine or perfect, as a file finishes off a machine or a tool. Love's Labour's Lost, v. i. 12; Sonnets, lxxxv. 4.

124. square yourselves] settle it between you, or manage for yourselves. The meaning is that Tamora's "sacred wit" will manage things much better for them than they could do for themselves.

126. house of Fame] Apparently in allusion to Chaucer's poem of that name, which Shakespeare would doubtless know and appreciate. See also Peele's Honour of the Garter, 172, 173, 233-239 (Crawford).

The palace full of tongues, of eyes, of ears:

The woods are ruthless, dreadful, deaf, and dull;

There speak, and strike, brave boys, and take your turns;
There serve your lusts, shadow'd from heaven's eye, 130

And revel in Lavinia's treasury.

Chi. Thy counsel, lad, smells of no cowardice.

Dem. Sit fas aut nefas, till I find the stream

To cool this heat, a charm to calm these fits,

Per Styga, per manes vehor.

[Exeunt. 135

SCENE II.-A Forest.

Horns and cry of hounds heard.

Enter TITUS ANDRONICUS, with Hunters, etc., MARCUS,
LUCIUS, QUINTUS, and MARTIUS.

Tit. The hunt is up, the morn is bright and grey,
The fields are fragrant and the woods are green.

132. smells of no cowardice] i.e. is bold and requires some nerve to carry Measure for Measure, II. iv.

out. 151.

133. Sit fas aut nefas] be it right or wrong. "Nefas" is stronger than our word "wrong, meaning something impious and forbidden.

"

135. Per Styga, per manes vehor] I am borne across the Styx and among the shades of the dead; meaning that nothing will turn him back. Both these tags are from Seneca's Hippolitus, 1180-1. But "vehor" should be segnor."

66

Scene II.

Scene 11.] Johnson suggests beginning the Second Act here. But this would never do, as these two scenes must follow close on each other, and the

only solution of the time-difficulty is to suppose an interval between the Acts and take the hunting in this Act to be a different one from that mentioned in Act I.; but see Introduction, p. lxxix.

1. The hunt is up] is begun or ready. Romeo, III. v. 34. So Henryson's Works (Laing), p. 186.

1. bright and grey] Steevens and others are much exercised over this combination, which only shows how pedantry can blind one's natural powers of observation. I should think that every second or third morning, after the flush of dawn is gone, has a stage when it is "bright and grey." Cotgrave's French Dictionary gives under bluard, " grey, skie-coloured, blewish." See Sonnets, cxxxii., where "grey" means "bright."

Uncouple here and let us make a bay,
And wake the emperor and his lovely bride,
And rouse the prince and ring a hunter's peal,
That all the court may echo with the noise.
Sons, let it be your charge, as it is ours,
To attend the emperor's person carefully:

I have been troubled in my sleep this night,

But dawning day new comfort hath inspir'd.

5

10

[A cry of hounds, and horns winded in a peal.

Enter SATURNINUS, TAMORA, BASSIANUS, LAVINIA,
DEMETRIUS, CHIRON, and Attendants.

Many good morrows to your majesty ;
Madam, to you as many and as good:
I promised your grace a hunter's peal.
Sat. And you have rung it lustily, my lords;
Somewhat too early for new-married ladies.
Bass. Lavinia, how say you?

Lav.

I say, no;

I have been broad awake two hours and more. Sat. Come on then; horse and chariots let us have,

And to our sport.

ye see

Our Roman hunting.

15

[To Tamora.] Madam, now shall