Page:Titus Andronicus (1926) Yale.djvu/91

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Titus Andronicus, V. i
77

Luc. O detestable villain! call'st thou that trimming?

Aar. Why, she was wash'd, and cut, and trimm'd, and 'twas
Trim sport for them that had the doing of it. 96

Luc. O barbarous, beastly villains, like thyself!

Aar. Indeed, I was their tutor to instruct them.
That codding spirit had they from their mother,
As sure a card as ever won the set; 100
That bloody mind, I think, they learn'd of me,
As true a dog as ever fought at head.
Well, let my deeds be witness of my worth.
I train'd thy brethren to that guileful hole 104
Where the dead corpse of Bassianus lay;
I wrote the letter that thy father found,
And hid the gold within the letter mention'd,
Confederate with the queen and her two sons: 108
And what not done, that thou hast cause to rue,
Wherein I had no stroke of mischief in it?
I play'd the cheater for thy father's hand,
And, when I had it, drew myself apart, 112
And almost broke my heart with extreme laughter.
I pry'd me through the crevice of a wall
When, for his hand, he had his two sons' heads;
Beheld his tears, and laugh'd so heartily, 116
That both mine eyes were rainy like to his:
And when I told the empress of this sport,
She sounded almost at my pleasing tale,
And for my tidings gave me twenty kisses. 120

[1.] Goth. What! canst thou say all this, and never blush?

Aar. Ay, like a black dog, as the saying is.


99 codding: lecherous
104 train'd: enticed
109 what not done: what was not done
119 sounded: swooned
122 like a black dog; cf. n.