LITMIR.BIZ

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       I love Lavinia more than all the world.

       DEMETRIUS.

       Youngling, learn thou to make some meaner choice:

       Lavina is thine elder brother’s hope.

       AARON.

       Why, are ye mad? or know ye not in Rome

       How furious and impatient they be,

       And cannot brook competitors in love?

       I tell you, lords, you do but plot your deaths

       By this device.

       CHIRON.

       Aaron, a thousand deaths

       Would I propose to achieve her whom I love.

       AARON.

       To achieve her!—How?

       DEMETRIUS.

       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.

       AARON.

       [Aside.] Ay, and as good as Saturninus may.

       DEMETRIUS.

       Then why should he despair that knows to court it

       With words, fair looks, and liberality?

       What, hast not thou full often struck a doe,

       And borne her cleanly by the keeper’s nose?

       AARON.

       Why, then, it seems some certain snatch or so

       Would serve your turns.

       CHIRON.

       Ay, so the turn were serv’d.

       DEMETRIUS.

       Aaron, thou hast hit it.

       AARON.

       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?

       CHIRON.

       Faith, not me.

       DEMETRIUS.

       Nor me, so I were one.

       AARON.

       For shame, be friends, and join for that you jar:

       ‘Tis policy and stratagem must do

       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

       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 villainy:

       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 villainy and vengeance consecrate,

       Will we acquaint with all what 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,

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

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

       There speak and strike, brave boys, and take your turns;

       There serve your lust, shadowed from heaven’s eye,

       And revel in Lavinia’s treasury.

       CHIRON.

       Thy counsel, lad, smells of no cowardice.

       DEMETRIUS.

       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.]

       SCENE II. A Forest near Rome; a Lodge seen at a distance. Horns and cry of hounds heard.

       [Enter TITUS ANDRONICUS, with hunters, &c., MARCUS, LUCIUS,

       QUINTUS, and MARTIUS.]

       TITUS.

       The hunt is up, the morn is bright and gay,

       The fields are fragrant, and the woods are green.

       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.

       [Horns 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.

       SATURNINUS.

       And you have rung it lustily, my lord;

       Somewhat too early for new-married ladies.

       BASSIANUS.

       Lavinia, how say you?

       LAVINIA.

       I say no; I have been broad awake two hours and more.

       SATURNINUS.

       Come on then, horse and chariots let us have,

       And to our sport.—[To TAMORA.] Madam, now shall ye see

       Our Roman hunting.

       MARCUS.

       I have dogs, my lord,

       Will rouse the proudest panther in the chase,

       And climb the highest promontory top.

       TITUS.

       And I have horse will follow where the game

       Makes way, and run like swallows o’er the plain.

       DEMETRIUS.

       Chiron, we hunt not, we, with horse nor hound,

       But hope to pluck a dainty doe to ground.

       [Exeunt.]

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