There is a queen, attended by a Moor;
Well may'st thou know her by thy own proportion,
For up and down she doth resemble thee;
I pray thee, do on them some violent death,
They have been violent to me and mine.

TAM. Well hast thou lesson'd us; this shall we do. But would it please thee, good Andronicus, To send for Lucius, thy thrice valiant son, Who leads towards Rome a band of warlike Goths, And bid him come and banquet at thy house: When he is here, even at thy solemn feast, I will bring in the empress and her sons, The emperor himself, and all thy foes; And at thy mercy shall they stoop and kneel, And on them shalt thou ease thy angry heart. What says Andronicus to this device?

TIT. Marcus, my brother!-'tis sad Titus calls.

Enter MARCUS.

Go, gentle Marcus, to thy nephew Lucius;
Thou shalt inquire him out among the Goths:
Bid him repair to me, and bring with him
Some of the chiefest princes of the Goths;
Bid him encamp his soldiers where they are:
Tell him, the emperor and the empress too
Feast at my house: and he shall feast with them.
This do thou for my love; and so let him,
As he regards his aged father's life.

MAR. This will I do, and soon return again.
[Exit.

TAM. Now will I hence about thy business, And take my ministers along with me.

TIT. Nay, nay, let Rape and Murder stay with

me;

Or else I'll call my brother back again,
And cleave to no revenge but Lucius.

TAM. What say you, boys? will you abide with him,

7178

Whiles I go tell my lord the emperor,
How I have govern'd our determin'd jest?
Yield to his humour, smooth and speak him fair,

[Aside.

And tarry with him, till I come again.

TIT. I know them all, though they suppose me mad;

And will o'er-reach them in their own devices,
A pair of cursed hell-hounds, and their dam.

[Aside. DEM. Madam, depart at pleasure, leave us here. TAM. Farewell, Andronicus: Revenge now goes To lay a complot to betray thy foes.

[Exit TAMORA. TIT. I know, thou dost; and, sweet Revenge, farewell.

CHI. Tell us, old man, how shall we be employ'd?

TIT. Tut, I have work enough for you to do.Publius, come hither, Caius, and Valentine!

Enter PUBLIUS, and Others.

PUB. What's your will?

TIT.

PUB.

I take them, Chiron and Demetrius.5

TIT. Fye, Publius, fye! thou art too much de

ceiv'd;

Know you these two?

Th' empress' sons,

and Demetrius.] And was inserted by Mr. Theobald.

MALONE.

The one is Murder, Rape is the other's name:
And therefore bind them, gentle Publius;
Caius, and Valentine, lay hands on them: ..
Oft have you heard me wish for such an hour,
And now I find it; therefore bind them sure;
And stop their mouths, if they begin to cry.
[Exit TITUS.-PUBLIUS, &c. lay hold on
CHIRON and DEMETRIUS.

CHI. Villains, forbear; we are the empress' sons. PUB. And therefore do we what we are commanded.

Stop close their mouths, let them not speak a word: Is he sure bound? look, that you bind them fast.

Re-enter TITUS ANDRONICUS, with LAVINIA; she bearing a Bason, and he a Knife.

TIT. Come, come, Lavinia; look, thy foes are bound ;

Sirs, stop their mouths, let them not speak to me;
But let them hear what fearful words I utter.-
O villains, Chiron and Demetrius!

Here stands the spring whom you have stain'd with mud;

This goodly summer with your winter mix'd.
You kill'd her husband; and, for that vile fault,
Two of her brothers were condemn'd to death:
My hand cut off, and made a merry jest:
Both her sweet hands, her tongue, and that, more
dear

Than hands or tongue, her spotless chastity, Inhuman traitors, you constrain'd and forc'd. What would you say, if I should let you speak? Villains, for shame you could not beg for grace. Hark, wretches, how I mean to martyr you. This one hand yet is left to cut your throats;

Whilst that Lavinia 'tween her stumps doth hold
The bason, that receives your guilty blood.
You know, your mother means to feast with me,
And calls herself, Revenge, and thinks me mad,-
Hark, villains; I will grind your bones to dust,
And with your blood and it, I'll make a paste;
And of the paste a coffin I will rear,
And make two pasties of your shameful heads;
And bid that strumpet, your unhallow'd dam,
Like to the earth, swallow her own increase."
This is the feast that I have bid her to,
And this the banquet she shall surfeit on;
For worse than Philomel you us'd my daughter,
And worse than Progne I will be reveng'd:
And now prepare your throats.-Lavinia, come,
[He cuts their Throats.
Receive the blood: and, when that they are dead,
Let me go grind their bones to powder small,
And with this hateful liquor temper it;

And in that paste let their vile heads be bak'd. Come, come, be every one officious

To make this banquet; which I wish may prove
More stern and bloody than the Centaurs' feast.
So, now bring them in, for I will play the cook,
And see them ready 'gainst their mother comes.
[Exeunt, bearing the dead Bodies.

And of the paste a coffin-] A coffin is the term of art for the cavity of a raised pye. JOHNSON.

So, in the Seventh Book of Gawin Douglas's translation of the Eneid, v. 50:

gnaw

"And with thare handis brek and chaftis "The crustis, and the coffingis all on raw.' Again, in the Boke of Kerving: "All bake metes that ben hot, open them above the coffyn." STEEVENS.

7

her own increase.] i. e. her own produce. See Vol. IV. p. 366, n. 3. STEEVENS.

SCENE III.

The same. A Pavilion, with Tables, &c.

Enter LUCIUS, MARCUS, and Goths, with AARon, Prisoner.

Luc. Uncle Marcus, since 'tis my father's mind, That I repair to Rome, I am content.

1 GOTH. And ours, with thine, befall what fortune will.

Luc. Good uncle, take you in this barbarous
Moor,

This ravenous tiger, this accursed devil;
Let him receive no sustenance, fetter him,
Till he be brought unto the empress' face,"
For testimony of her foul proceedings:
And see the ambush of our friends be strong:
I fear, the emperor means no good to us.

-AAR. Some devil whisper curses in mine ear, And prompt me, that my tongue may utter forth The venomous malice of my swelling heart!

And ours with thine,] And our content runs parallel with thine, be the consequence of our coming to Rome what it may. MALONE. 9the empress' face,] The quarto has-emperours; the folio emperous. For the emendation I am answerable. MALONE. Mr. Malone says, the quarto of 1611 has-emperours; and that he is answerable for the emendation-empress. The quarto of 1600 reads exactly thus:

Te [i]ll he be brought unto the Empresse face. TODD.