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.]
SCENE III
A lonely part of the Forest.
[Enter AARON with a bag of gold.]
AARON.
He that had wit would think that I had none,
To bury so much gold under a tree,
And never after to inherit it.
Let him that thinks of me so abjectly
Know that this gold must coin a stratagem,
Which, cunningly effected, will beget
A very excellent piece of villainy:
And so repose, sweet gold, for their unrest
[Hides