Then pardon me for reprehending thee, Yet I do think we are not brought so low, That comes in likeness of a coal-black Moor. Mar. Alas, poor man! grief has so wrought on him, He takes false shadows for true substances. Tit. Come, take away.-Lavinia, go with me: Come, boy, and go with me; thy sight is young, [Exeunt. VOL. X. ACT IV. SCENE I. The Same. Before Titus's House. Enter TITUS and MARCUS. Then enter young LuCIUS, LAVINIA running after him. Boy. Help, grandsire, help! my aunt Lavinia Follows me every where, I know not why:Good uncle Marcus, see how swift she comes! Alas, sweet 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, she did. Mar. What means my niece Lavinia by these. signs? Tit. Fear her not, Lucius:-Somewhat doth she mean: See, Lucius, see, how much she makes of thee: Canst thou not guess wherefore she plies thee thus? Ran mad through sorrow: That made me to fear; I will most willingly attend your ladyship. [Lavinia turns over the books Tit. How now, Lavinia?-Marcus, what means this? Some book there is that she desires to see: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 so beguile thy sorrow, till the heavens Reveal the damn'd contriver of this deed. Why lifts she up her arms in sequence thus? Mar. I think, she means, that there was more than one Confederate in the fact;-Ay, more there was :- Mar. For love of her that's gone, Perhaps she cull'd it from among the rest. Tit. Soft! see, how busily she turns the leaves! Help her: What would she find?-Lavinia, shall I read? And treats of Tereus' treason, and his rape; And rape, I fear, was root of thine annoy. Mar. See, brother, see; note, how she quotes the leaves. Tit. Lavinia, wert thou thus surpriz'd, sweet girl, Ravish'd, and wrong'd, as Philomela was, Forc'd in the ruthless, vast, and gloomy woods? Ay, such a place there is, where we did hunt, Unless the gods delight in tragedies! Tit. Give signs, sweet girl,-for here are none but friends, What Roman lord it was durst do the deed: Or slunk not Saturnine, as Tarquin erst, That left the camp to sin in Lucrece' bed? Mar. Sit down, sweet niece;-brother, sit down by me. Apollo, Pallas, Jove, or Mercury, Inspire me, that I may this treason find?— Without the help of any hand at all. [He writes his name with his staff, and Curs'd be that heart, that forc'd us to this shift!- [She takes the staff in her mouth, and guides Tit. O, do you read, my lord, what she hath writ? Stuprum-Chiron-Demetrius. Mar. What, what!--the lustful sons of Tamora Performers of this heinous, bloody deed? Tit. Magne Dominator poli, Tam lentus audis scelera? tam lentus vides? |