Page 2143 - Shakespeare - Vol. 1

’Tis true the raven doth not hatch a lark;
Yet I have heard - O could I find it now! - [150]
The lion, moved with pity, did endure
To have his princely paws pared 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.

T AMORA

I know not what it means; away with her!

LAVINIA

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. [160]

T AMORA

Hadst thou in person ne’er offended me,
Even for his sake am I pitiless.
Remember, boys, I poured forth tears in vain
To save your brother from the sacrifice,
But fierce Andronicus would not relent.
Therefore away with her, and use her as you will:
The worse to her, the better loved of me.

LAVINIA

O Tamora, be called a gentle queen,
And with thine own hands kill me in this place,
For ’tis not life that I have begged so long: [170]
Poor I was slain when Bassianus died.

T AMORA

What begg’st thou then? fond woman, let me go.

LAVINIA

’Tis present death I beg; and one thing more
That womanhood denies my tongue to tell.
O, keep me from their worse than killing lust,
And tumble me into some loathsome pit,