Aar. Why, she was wash'd, and out, and trimm'd;

and 'twas
Trim sport for them that had the doing of it.

Luc. 0, barbarous beastly villains, like thyself!

Aar. Indeed, I was the tutor to instruct them :
That codding spirit had they from their mother, 100
As sure a card as ever won the set;
That bloody mind, I think, they learn'd of me,
As true a dog as ever fought at head.
Well, let my deeds be witness of my worth.
I train’d thy brethren to that guileful hole,
Where the dead corps of Bassianus lay :
I wrote the letter that thy father found,
And hid the gold within the letter mention'd,
Confederate with the queen, and her two sons:
And what not done, that thou hast cause to rue, 110
Wherein I had no stroke of mischief in it?
I play'd the cheater for thy father's hand;
And, when I had it, drew myself apart,
And almost broke my heart with extreme laughter,
I pry'd me through the crevice of a wall,
When, for his hạnd, he had his two son's heads;
Beheld his tears, and laugh’d so heartily,
That both mine eyes were rainy like to his;
And when I told the emperess of this sport,
She swaoned almost at my pleasing tale,
And, for my tidings, gave me twenty kisses.
Goth. What! canst thou say all this, and never

blush ?
Aar. Ay, like a black dog, as the saying is.
Hiij

Luce

120

Luc. Art thou not sorry for these heinous deeds ?

Aar. Ay, that I had not done a thousand more.
Even now I curse the day (and yet, I think,
Few come within the compass of my curse),
Wherein I did not some notorious ill :
As kill a man, or else devise his death;
Ravish a maid, or plot the way to do it;

130
Accuse some innocent, and forswear myself :
Set deadly enmity between two friends;
Make poor men's cattle break their necks;
Set fire on barns and hay-stacks in the night,
And bid the owners quench them with their tears.
Oft have I digg'd up dead men from their graves,
And set them upright at their dear friends' doors
Even when the sorrow almost was forgot;
And on their skins, as on the bark of trees,
Have with my knife carved in Roman letters, 140
Let not your sorrow die, though I am dead.
Tut, I have done a thousand dreadful things,
As willingly as one would kill a fly;
And nothing grieves me heartily indeed,
But that I cannot do ten thousand more.

Luc. Bring down the devil ; for he must not die
So sweet a death, as hanging presently.

Aar. If there be devils, 'would I were a devil,
To live and burn in everlasting fire ;
So I might have your company in hell,

150 "But to torment you with my bitter tongue !

Luc. Sirs, stop his mouth, and let him speak no

Enter ÆMILIUS.

Guth. My lord, there is a messenger from Rome,
Desires to be admitted to your presence.

Luc. Let him come near.
Welcome, Æmilius, what's the news from Rome?

Æmil. Lord Lucius, and you princes of the Goths,
The Roman emperor greets you all by me:
And, for he understands you are in arms,
He craves a parley at your father's house ; 160
Willing you to demand your hostages,
And they shall be immediately deliver'd.
Goth. What says our general ?

Luc. Æmilius, let the emperor give his pledges
Unto my father and my uncle Marcus,
And we will come.
March away.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.

Titus's Palace in Rome. Enter TAMORA, CHIRON,

and DEMETRIUS, disguised.

Tam. Thus, in this strange and sad habiliment,
I will encounter with Andronicus ;
And say, I am Revenge, sent from below,
To join with him, and right his heinous wrongs. 170
Knock at his study, where, they say, he keeps,
To ruminate strange plots of dire revenge;

Tell

>

Tell him, Revenge is come to join with him,
And work confusion on his enemies.

[They knock, and Titus opens his Study Door,
Tit. Who doth molest my contemplation ?
Is it your trick to make me ope the door;
That so my sad decrees may fly away,
And all my study be to no effect ?
You are deceiv'd: for what I mean to do,
See here in bloody lines I have set down ;
And what is written shall be executed.

Tam. Titus, I am come to talk with thee.

Tit. No; not a word : How can I grace my talk, Wanting a hand to give it that accord ? Thou hast the odds of me, therefore no more. Tum. If thou did'st know me, thou would'st talk

with me. Tit. I am not mad ; I know thee well enough : Witness this wretched stup, these crimson lines; Witness these trenches, made by grief and care; Witness the tiring day, and heavy night; 19 Witness all sorrow, that I know thee well For our proad emperess, mighty Tamora : Is not thy coming for my other hand ?

Tam. Know thou, sad man, I am not Tamora ; She is thy enemy, and I thy friend : I ain Revenge; sent from the infernal kingdom, To ease the gnawing vulture of thy mind. By working wreakful vengeance on thy foes. Come down, and welcome me to this world's light; conter wish me of murder and of death :

There's

200

There's not a hollow cave, nor lurking-place,
No vast obscurity, or misty vale,
Where bloody murder, or detested rape,
Can couch for fear, but I will find them out;
And in their ears tell them my dreadful name,
Revenge, which makes the foul offenders quake.

Tit. Art thou Revenge? and art thou sent to me,
To be a torment to mine enemies ?

Tam. I am; therefore come down, and welcome

me.

Tit. Do me some service, ere I come to thee. 210
Lo, by thy side where Rape, and Murder, stands ;
Now give some 'surance that thou art Revenge,
Stab them, or tear them on thy chariot wheels;
And then I'll come, and be thy waggoner,
And whirl along with thee about the globes.
Provide two proper palfries, black as jet,
To hale thy vengeful waggon swift away,
And find out murderers in their guilty caves :
And, when thy car is loaden with their heads,
I will dismount, and by the waggon wheel
Trot, like a servile footman, all day long ;
Even from Hyperion's rising in the east,
Until his very downfal in the sea.
And day by day I'll do this heavy task,
So thou destroy Rapine and Murder there.

Tam. These are my ministers, and come with me.
Tit. Are they thy ministers ? what are they callid?

Tam. Rapine, and Murder: therefore called so,
'Cause they take vengeance on such kind of men.

220

a