ANIMALS. 
153 
(Like rats that ravin down their proper bane) 
A thirsty evil; and when we drink, we die. 
Measure for Measure, Act i. Scene 3. 
Rosalind. I was never so be-rhymed 
since Pythagoras’ time, that I was an Irish rat, which 
I can hardly remember. 
As You Like It, Act iii. Scene 2. 
\ 
Shylock . What if my house be troubled with a rat, 
And I be pleased to give ten thousand ducats 
To have it baned ? 
Merchant of Venice, Act iv. Scene 1. 
Menenius . Rome and her rats are at the point of 
battle, 
The one side must have bale.— 
Marcius. The Volsces have much corn ; take these 
rats thither 
To gnaw their garners. 
Coriolanus, Act i. Scene 1. 
Queen . Behind the arras hearing something stir, 
He whips his rapier out, and cries, A rat! a rat! 
Hamlet, Act iv. Scene 1. 
Mercutio. Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walk ? 
Tybalt. What wouldst thou have with me ? 
Mercutio. Good king of cats, nothing, but one of 
your nine lives; 
Romeo and Juliet, Act iii. Scene 1. 
Kent . Such smiling rogues as these, 
Like rats, oft bite the holy cords a-twain 
Which are too intrinse t’ unloose : 
King Lear, Act ii. Scene 2. 
