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.
TAMORA.
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;
Poor I was slain when Bassianus died.
TAMORA.
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,
Where never man’s eye may behold my body.
Do this, and be a charitable murderer.
TAMORA.
So should I rob my sweet sons of their fee.
No, let them satisfy their lust on thee.
DEMETRIUS.
Away, for thou hast stayed us here too long.
LAVINIA.
No grace, no womanhood? Ah, beastly creature,
The blot and enemy to our general name!
Confusion fall—
CHIRON.
Nay, then I’ll stop your mouth. Bring thou her husband.
This is the hole where Aaron bid us hide him.
[They put Bassianus’s body in the pit and exit, carrying off Lavinia.]