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.
But to torment you with my bitter tongue!

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

more.

Enter Emilius.

Goth. My lord, there is a meffenger from Rome Defires to be admitted to your presence.

Luc. Let him come near.

Welcome, Æmilius, what's the news from Rome?
Emil. 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,
Willing you to demand your hostages,
And they fhall be immediately deliver❜d.
Goth. What fays our general?

Luc. Æmilius, let the emperor give his pledges Unto my father and my uncle Marcus,

And we will come. March away.

Changes to Titus's palace in Rome.

[Exeunt.

Enter Tamora, Chiron, and Demetrius, disguis'd.

Tam. Thus, in these strange and sad habiliments,

I will encounter with Andronicus,

And fay, I am Revenge fent from below,

To join with him, and right his heinous wrongs,

tion, and that Aaron was mounted on a ladder, as ready to be turned off.

STEEVENS.

Knock

Knock at the study, where, they fay, he keeps,
To ruminate strange plots of dire revenge;
Tell him, Revenge is come to join with him,
And work confusion on his enemies.

[They knock, and Titus appears above.
Tit. Who doth moleft my contemplation?
Is it your trick to make me ope the door,
That fo my fad 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 fet down;
And what is written fhall 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 haft the odds of me, therefore no more.
Tam. If thou did't know me, thou wouldst talk
with me.

Tit. I am not mad; I know thee well enough;
Witness this wretched ftump, these crimson lines,
Witness these trenches, made by grief and care,
Witness the tiring day and heavy night,
Witness all forrow, that I know thee well
For our proud emperefs, mighty Tamora.
Is not thy coming for my other hand?

Tam. Know thou, fad man, I am not Tamora:
She is thy enemy, and I thy friend;

I am Revenge, fent 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;
Confer with me of murder and of death;
There's not a hollow cave, nor lurking-place,

No vaft obfcurity, or mifty vale,

Where bloody murder or detefted 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 fent to me,
To be a torment to mine enemies?

Tam. I am, therefore come down and welcome me;
Tit. Do me fome service, ere I come to thee.
Lo, by thy fide, where Rape and Murder stand;
Now give fome 'furance 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 globe;
Provide two proper palfries black as jet,
To hale thy vengeful waggon fwift away,
And find out murders in their guilty caves;
And when thy car is loaden with their heads,
I will difmount, and by thy waggon-wheel
Trot like a fervile footman all day long;
Even from Hyperion's rifing in the east,
Until his very downfall in the fea.
And day by day I'll do this heavy task,
So thou destroy Rapine and Murder there.
Tam. These are my minifters, and come with me:
Tit. Are they thy minifters ? what are they call'd?
Tam. Rapine and Murder; therefore called fo,
'Cause they take vengeance on fuch kind of men.
Tit. Good lord, how like the emprefs' fons they

are,

And you the emperefs! but we worldly men
Have miferable and mistaking eyes.

O fweet Revenge, now do I come to thee,
And if one arm's embracement will content thee,

So thou deftry Rapine and Murder there.] I do not know of any inftance that can be brought to prove that rape and rapine were ever used as fynonimous terms. The word rapine has always been employed for a les fatal kind of plunder, and means the violent act of deprivation of any good, the honour here alluded to being always excepted.

STEEVENS.

I will embrace thee in it by and by.

[Exit Titus from above.

Tam. This clofing with him fits his lunacy.
Whate'er I forge to feed his brain-fick fits,
Do you uphold, and maintain in your speech,
For now he firmly takes me for Revenge;
And, being credulous in this mad thought,
I'll make him fend for Lucius, his fon:
And whilst I at a banquet hold him fure,
I'll find some cunning practice out of hand,
To scatter and difperfe the giddy Goths,
Or, at the least make them his enemies.
See, here he comes, and I must ply my theme.
Enter Titus.

Tit. Long have I been forlorn, and all for thee;
Welcome, dread fury, to my woeful houfe;
Rapine and Murder, you are welcome too:
How like the emperefs and her fons you are!
Well are you fitted, had you but a Moor;
Could not all hell afford you fuch a devil?
For, well I wot, the emperess never wags,
But in her company there is a Moor;
And would you reprefent our queen aright,
It were convenient you had fuch a devil.
But welcome, as you are, what fhall we do?
Tam. What wouldst thou have us do, Andronicus?
Dem. Shew me a murderer, I'll deal with him.
Chi. Shew me a villain, that has done a rape,

And I am fent to be reveng'd on him.

Tam. Shew me a thousand, that have done thee wrong;

And I will be revenged on them all.

Tit. Look round about the wicked streets of Rome,
And when thou find'ft a man that's like thyfelf;
Good Murder, ftab him; he's a murderer.
Go thou with him, and when it is thy hap

VOL. VIII.

I i

To

To find another that is like to thee,
Good Rapine, ftab him; he is a ravisher.
Go thou with them, and in the emperor's court
There is a queen attended by a Moor;

Well may't thou know her by thy own proportion,
For up and down fhe doth refemble thee;

I

pray thee do on them fome violent death;

They have been violent to me and mine.

Tam. Well haft thou leffon'd us, this fhall we do,
But would it pleafe thee, good Andronicus,
To fend for Lucius, thy thrice-valiant fon,
Who leads tow'rds Rome a band of warlike Goths,
And bid him come and banquet at thy house,
When he is here, even at thy folemn feast,
I will bring in the emperess and her fons,
The emperor himself, and all thy foes;
And at thy mercy fhall they stoop and kneel,
And on them fhalt thou eafe thy angry heart.
What fays Andronicus to this device?

Tit. Marcus, my brother!-'tis fad Titus calls;
Enter Marcus.

Go, gentle Marcus, to thy nephew Lucius,
Thou shalt enquire him out among the Goths,
Bid him repair to me, and bring with him
Some of the chiefeft princes of the Goths;
Bid him encamp his foldiers where they are;
Tell him, the emperor and the emperefs too
Feaft at my houfe, and he fhall fealt with them,
This do thou for my love, and fo let him,
As he regards his aged father's life.

Mar. This will I do, and foon return again. [Exit,
Tam. Now will I hence about my bufinefs,
And take my minifters along with me,

Tit. Nay, nay, let Rape and Murder stay with me; Or elfe I'll call my brother back again,

And cleave to no revenge but Lucius.

Tam.