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The Same. Court of Titus House. A banquet set out. | |
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Enter LUCIUS, MARCUS and Goths, with AARON prisoner. | |
Luc. Uncle Marcus, since it is my fathers mind | |
That I repair to Rome, I am content. | |
First Goth. And ours with thine, befall what fortune will. | 5 |
Luc. Good uncle, take you in this barbarous Moor, | |
This ravenous tiger, this accursed devil; | |
Let him receive no sustenance, fetter him, | |
Till he be brought unto the empress face, | |
For testimony of her foul proceedings: | 10 |
And see the ambush of our friends be strong; | |
I fear the emperor means no good to us. | |
Aar. Some devil whisper curses in mine ear, | |
And prompt me, that my tongue may utter forth | |
The venomous malice of my swelling heart! | 15 |
Luc. Away, inhuman dog! unhallowd slave! | |
Sirs, help our uncle to convey him in. [Exeunt Goths, with AARON. Trumpets sound. | |
The trumpets show the emperor is at hand. | |
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Enter SATURNINUS and TAMORA, with ÆMILIUS, Senators, Tribunes, and Others. | |
Sat. What! hath the firmament more suns than one? | 20 |
Luc. What boots it thee, to call thyself a sun? | |
Mar. Romes emperor, and nephew, break the parle; | |
These quarrels must be quietly debated. | |
The feast is ready which the careful Titus | |
Hath ordaind to an honourable end, | 25 |
For peace, for love, for league, and good to Rome: | |
Please you, therefore, draw nigh, and take your places. | |
Sat. Marcus, we will. [Hautboys sound. | |
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Enter TITUS, dressed like a cook, LAVINIA, veiled, young LUCIUS, and Others. TITUS places the dishes on the table. | |
Tit. Welcome, my gracious lord; welcome, dread queen; | 30 |
Welcome, ye war-like Goths; welcome, Lucius; | |
And welcome, all. Although the cheer be poor, | |
Twill fill your stomachs; please you eat of it. | |
Sat. Why art thou thus attird, Andronicus? | |
Tit. Because I would be sure to have all well | 35 |
To entertain your highness, and your empress. | |
Tam. We are beholding to you, good Andronicus. | |
Tit. An if your highness knew my heart, you were. | |
My lord the emperor, resolve me this: | |
Was it well done of rash Virginius | 40 |
To slay his daughter with his own right hand, | |
Because she was enforced, staind, and deflowerd? | |
Sat. It was, Andronicus. | |
Tit. Your reason, mighty lord? | |
Sat. Because the girl should not survive her shame, | 45 |
And by her presence still renew his sorrows. | |
Tit. A reason mighty, strong, and effectual; | |
A pattern, precedent, and lively warrant, | |
For me most wretched, to perform the like. | |
Die, die, Lavinia, and thy shame with thee; | 50 |
And with thy shame thy fathers sorrow die! [Kills LAVINIA. | |
Sat. What hast thou done, unnatural and unkind? | |
Tit. Killd her, for whom my tears have made me blind. | |
I am as woeful as Virginius was, | |
And have a thousand times more cause than he | 55 |
To do this outrage: and it is now done. | |
Sat. What! was she ravishd? tell who did the deed. | |
Tit. Will t please you eat? will t please your highness feed? | |
Tam. Why hast thou slain thine only daughter thus? | |
Tit. Not I; twas Chiron and Demetrius: | 60 |
They ravishd her, and cut away her tongue: | |
And they, twas they, that did her all this wrong. | |
Sat. Go fetch them hither to us presently. | |
Tit. Why, there they are both, baked in that pie; | |
Whereof their mother daintily hath fed, | 65 |
Eating the flesh that she herself hath bred. | |
Tis true, tis true; witness my knifes sharp point. [Kills TAMORA. | |
Sat. Die, frantic wretch, for this accursed deed! [Kills TITUS. | |
Luc. Can the sons eye behold his father bleed? | |
Theres meed for meed, death for a deadly deed! [Kills SATURNINUS. A great tumult. The people in confusion disperse. MARCUS, LUCIUS, and their partisans, go up into the balcony. | 70 |
Mar. You sad-facd men, people and sons of Rome, | |
By uproar severd, like a flight of fowl | |
Scatterd by winds and high tempestuous gusts, | |
O! let me teach you how to knit again | |
This scatterd corn into one mutual sheaf, | 75 |
These broken limbs again into one body; | |
Lest Rome herself be bane unto herself, | |
And she whom mighty kingdoms curtsy to, | |
Like a forlorn and desperate castaway, | |
Do shameful execution on herself. | 80 |
But if my frosty signs and chaps of age, | |
Grave witnesses of true experience, | |
Cannot induce you to attend my words, | |
[To LUCIUS.] Speak, Romes dear friend, as erst our ancestor, | |
When with his solemn tongue he did discourse | 85 |
To love-sick Didos sad attending ear | |
The story of that baleful burning night | |
When subtle Greeks surprisd King Priams Troy; | |
Tell us what Sinon hath bewitchd our ears, | |
Or who hath brought the fatal engine in | 90 |
That gives our Troy, our Rome, the civil wound. | |
My heart is not compact of flint nor steel, | |
Nor can I utter all our bitter grief, | |
But floods of tears will drown my oratory, | |
And break my very utterance, even in the time | 95 |
When it should move you to attend me most, | |
Lending your kind commiseration. | |
Here is a captain, let him tell the tale; | |
Your hearts will throb and weep to hear him speak. | |
Luc. Then, noble auditory, be it known to you, | 100 |
That cursed Chiron and Demetrius | |
Were they that murdered our emperors brother; | |
And they it was that ravished our sister. | |
For their fell faults our brothers were beheaded, | |
Our fathers tears despisd, and basely cozend | 105 |
Of that true hand that fought Romes quarrel out, | |
And sent her enemies unto the grave: | |
Lastly, myself unkindly banished, | |
The gates shut on me, and turnd weeping out, | |
To beg relief among Romes enemies; | 110 |
Who drownd their enmity in my true tears, | |
And opd their arms to embrace me as a friend: | |
And I am the turnd forth, be it known to you, | |
That have preservd her welfare in my blood, | |
And from her bosom took the enemys point, | 115 |
Sheathing the steel in my adventurous body. | |
Alas! you know I am no vaunter, I; | |
My scars can witness, dumb although they are, | |
That my report is just and full of truth. | |
But, soft! methinks I do digress too much, | 120 |
Citing my worthless praise: O! pardon me; | |
For when no friends are by, men praise themselves. | |
Mar. Now is my turn to speak. Behold this child; | |
Of this was Tamora delivered, | |
The issue of an irreligious Moor, | 125 |
Chief architect and plotter of these woes. | |
The villain is alive in Titus house, | |
Damnd as he is, to witness this is true. | |
Now judge what cause had Titus to revenge | |
These wrongs, unspeakable, past patience, | 130 |
Or more than any living man could bear. | |
Now you have heard the truth, what say you Romans? | |
Have we done aught amiss, show us wherein, | |
And, from the place where you behold us now, | |
The poor remainder of Andronici | 135 |
Will, hand in hand, all headlong cast us down, | |
And on the ragged stones beat forth our brains, | |
And make a mutual closure of our house. | |
Speak, Romans, speak! and if you say we shall, | |
Lo! hand in hand, Lucius and I will fall. | 140 |
Æmil. Come, come, thou reverend man of Rome, | |
And bring our emperor gently in thy hand, | |
Lucius, our emperor; for well I know | |
The common voice do cry it shall be so. | |
Romans. Lucius, all hail! Romes royal emperor! | 145 |
Mar. [To Attendants.] Go, go into old Titus sorrowful house, | |
And hither hale that misbelieving Moor, | |
To be adjudgd some direful slaughtering death, | |
As punishment for his most wicked life. [Exeunt Attendants. | |
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LUCIUS, MARCUS, and the Others descend. | 150 |
Romans. Lucius, all hail! Romes gracious governor! | |
Luc. Thanks, gentle Romans: may I govern so, | |
To heal Romes harms, and wipe away her woe! | |
But, gentle people, give me aim awhile, | |
For nature puts me to a heavy task. | 155 |
Stand all aloof; but, uncle, draw you near, | |
To shed obsequious tears upon this trunk. | |
O! take this warm kiss on thy pale cold lips, [Kisses TITUS. | |
These sorrowful drops upon thy blood-staind face, | |
The last true duties of thy noble son! | 160 |
Mar. Tear for tear, and loving kiss for kiss, | |
Thy brother Marcus tenders on thy lips: | |
O! were the sum of these that I should pay | |
Countless and infinite, yet would I pay them. | |
Luc. Come hither, boy; come, come, and learn of us | 165 |
To melt in showers: thy grandsire lovd thee well: | |
Many a time he dancd thee on his knee, | |
Sung thee asleep, his loving breast thy pillow; | |
Many a matter hath he told to thee, | |
Meet and agreeing with thine infancy; | 170 |
In that respect, then, like a loving child, | |
Shed yet some small drops from thy tender spring, | |
Because kind nature doth require it so: | |
Friends should associate friends in grief and woe. | |
Bid him farewell; commit him to the grave; | 175 |
Do him that kindness, and take leave of him. | |
Boy. O grandsire, grandsire! even with all my heart | |
Would I were dead, so you did live again. | |
O Lord! I cannot speak to him for weeping; | |
My tears will choke me if I ope my mouth. | 180 |
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Re-enter Attendants, with AARON.
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First Rom. You sad Andronici, have done with woes: | |
Give sentence on this execrable wretch, | |
That hath been breeder of these dire events. | |
Luc. Set him breast-deep in earth, and famish him; | 185 |
There let him stand, and rave, and cry for food: | |
If any one relieves or pities him, | |
For the offence he dies. This is our doom: | |
Some stay to see him fastend in the earth. | |
Aar. O! why should wrath be mute, and fury dumb? | 190 |
I am no baby, I, that with base prayers | |
I should repent the evils I have done. | |
Ten thousand worse than ever yet I did | |
Would I perform, if I might have my will: | |
If one good deed in all my life I did, | 195 |
I do repent it from my very soul. | |
Luc. Some loving friends convey the emperor hence, | |
And give him burial in his fathers grave. | |
My father and Lavinia shall forthwith | |
Be closed in our households monument. | 200 |
As for that heinous tiger, Tamora, | |
No funeral rite, nor man in mournful weeds, | |
No mournful bell shall ring her burial; | |
But throw her forth to beasts and birds of prey. | |
Her life was beast-like, and devoid of pity; | 205 |
And, being so, shall have like want of pity. | |
See justice done on Aaron, that damnd Moor, | |
By whom our heavy haps had their beginning: | |
Then, afterwards, to order well the state, | |
That like events may neer it ruinate. [Exeunt. | 210 |
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