Page:Titus Andronicus (1926) Yale.djvu/45

Titus Andronicus, II. iii

Come, mistress, now perforce we will enjoy

That nice-preserved honesty of yours.

Lav. O Tamora! thou bear'st a woman's face,—

Tam. I will not hear her speak; away with her!

Lav. Sweet lords, entreat her hear me but a word.

Dem. Listen, fair madam: let it be your glory

To see her tears; but be your heart to them

As unrelenting flint to drops of rain.

Lav. When did the tiger's young ones teach the dam?

O! do not learn her wrath; she taught it thee;

The milk thou suck'dst from her did turn to marble;

Even at thy teat thou hadst thy tyranny.

Yet every mother breeds not sons alike:

[To Chiron.] Do thou entreat her show a woman pity.

Chi. What! wouldst thou have me prove myself a bastard?

Lav. 'Tis true! the raven doth not hatch a lark:

Yet have I heard—O could I find it now!—

The lion mov'd with pity did endure

To have his princely paws par'd all away.

Some say that ravens foster forlorn children,

The whilst their own birds famish in their nests:

O, be to me, though thy hard heart say no,

Nothing so kind, but something pitiful!

Tam. I know not what it means; away with her!

Lav. O, let me teach thee! for my father's sake,

That gave thee life when well he might have slain thee,

Be not obdurate, open thy deaf ears.

Tam. Hadst thou in person ne'er offended me,

 135 nice-preserved: prudishly preserved

143 learn: teach

152 paws: i.e. claws; cf. n.

153 ravens children; cf. n.

