Page images
PDF
EPUB

High-witted Tamora to gloze with all:

[Aside.

But, Titus, I have touch'd thee to the quick,
Thy life-blood out: if Aaron now be wise,
Then is all safe, the anchor's in the port.—
Enter CLOWN.

How now, good fellow? would'st thou speak
with us?

Clo. Yes, forsooth, an your mistership be imperial.

Tam. Empress I am, but yonder sits the emperor.

Clo. 'Tis he.-God, and saint Stephen, give you good den:-I have brought you a letter, and a couple of pigeons here.

[SATURNINUS reads the Letter. Sat. Go, take him away, and hang him presently.

Clo. How much money must I have?
Tam. Come, Sirrah, you must be hang'd.
Clo. Hang'd! By'r lady, then I have brought
up a neck to a fair end. [Exit, guarded.
Sat. Despiteful and intolerable wrongs!
Shall I endure this monstrous villany?
I know from whence this same device proceeds;
May this be borne?-as if his traitorous sons,
That died by law for murder of our brother,
Have by my means been butcher'd wrong-
fully.-

man;

Go, drag the villain hither by the hair;
Nor age, nor honour, shall shape privilege :-
For this proud mock, I'll be thy slaughter-
[great,
Sly frantic wretch, that holp'st to make me
In hope thyself should govern Rome and me.
Enter EMILIUS.

more cause!

What news with thee, Æmilius?
Emil. Arm, arm, my lords; Rome never had
[power
The Goths have gather'd head; and with a
Of high-resolved men, bent to the spoil,
They hither march amain, under the conduct
Of Lucius, son to old Andronicus;
Who threats, in course of this revenge, to do
As much as ever Coriolanus did.

Sat. Is warlike Lucius general of the Goths?
These tidings nip me; and I hang the head
As flowers with frost, or grass beat down with

storms.

Ay, now begin our sorrows to approach:
"Tis he the common people love so much;
Myself hath often over-heard them say,
(When I have walked like a private man,)
That Lucius' banishment was wrongfully,
And they have wish'd that Lucius were their

emperor.

Tum. Why should you fear? is not your city
strong?

Sat. Ay, but the citizens favour Lucius;
And will revolt from me, to succour him.
Tam. King, be thy thoughts imperious, like
thy name.

Is the sun dimm'd, that gnats do fly in it?
The eagle suffers little birds to sing,
And is not careful what they mean thereby;
Knowing that with the shadow of his wings,
He can at pleasure stint their melody:
Even so may'st thou the giddy men of Rome.
Then cheer thy spirit: for know thou, emperor,
I will enchant the old Andronicus, [ous,
With words more sweet, and yet more danger.
Than baits to fish, or honey-stalks to sheep;
When as the one is wounded with the bait,
The other rotted with delicious feed.
+ Imperial.

*Flatter.

[blocks in formation]

lead'st,

Led by their master to the flower'd fields,—
Like stinging bees in hottest summer's day,
And be aveng'd on cursed Tamora.

Goths. And, as he saith, so say we all with
him.

Luc. I humbly thank him, and I thank you all.

But who comes here, led by a lusty Goth?
Enter a GOTH, leading AARON, with his Child
in his Arms.

2 Goth. Renowned Lucius, from your troops
I stray'd,
To gaze upon a ruinous monastery;
And as I earnestly did fix mine eye
Upon the wasted building, suddenly
I heard a child cry underneath a wall:
I made unto the noise; when soon I heard
The crying babe controll'd with this discourse:
Peace, tawny slave; half me, and half thy dam!
Did not thy hue bewray whose brat thou art,
Villain, thou might'st have been an emperor:
Hud nature lent thee but thy mother's look,
But where the bull and cow are both milk-white,
They never do beget a coal-black calf.
Peace, villain, peace!-even thus he rates the
babe,-

+ Stop.

* Harm.

For I must bear thee to a trusty Goth;
Who, when he knows thou art the empress' babe,
Will hold thee dearly for thy mother's sake.
With this my weapon drawn, I rush'd upon
him,
[hither,
Surpris'd him suddenly; and brought him
To use as you think needful of the man.

Luc. O worthy Goth! this is the incarnate devil,

That robb'd Andronicus of his good hand: This is the pearl that pleas'd your empress' eye

And here's the base fruit of his burning lust.Say, wall-ey'd slave, whither would'st thou

[blocks in formation]

A halter, soldiers; hang him on this tree,
And by his side his fruit of bastardy.

Aur. Touch not the boy, he is of royal blood.
Luc. Too like the sire for ever being good.
First, hang the child, that he may see it sprawl;
A sight to vex the father's soul withal.
Get me a ladder.

[A Ladder brought, which AARON is obliged to ascend.

Aar. Lucius, save the child; And bear it from me to the emperess. If thou do this, I'll show thee wondrous things, That highly may advantage thee to hear: If thou wilt not, befall what may befall, I'll speak no more; But vengeance rot you all! Luc. Say on; and, if it please me which thou speak'st,

Thy child shall live, and I will see it nourish'd. Aar. An if it please thee? why, assure thee, Lucius,

"Twill vex thy soul to hear what I shall speak; For I must talk of murders, rapes, and mas

sacres,

Acts of black night, abominable deeds,
Complots of mischief, treason; villanies
Ruthful to hear, yet piteously perform'd:
And this shall all be buried by my death,
Unless thou swear to me, my child shall live.
Luc Tell on thy mind; I say, thy child

shall live.

Aar. Swear, that he shall, and then I will begin.

Luc. Who should I swear by? thou believ'st no god;

That granted, how canst thou believe an oath? Aar. What if I do not? as indeed, I do not: Yet, for I know thou art religious, [science, And hast a thing within thee, called conWith twenty popish tricks and ceremonies, Which I have seen thee careful to observe,Therefore I urge thy oath;-For that, I know, An idiot holds his bauble for a god, [swears; And keeps the oath, which by that god he To that I'll urge him:-Therefore, thou shalt

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

them;

That codding spirit had they from their mother,
As sure a card as ever won the set:
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 guiletul hole,
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;
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,
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, That both mine eyes were rainy like to his; And when I told the empress of this sport, She swounded almost at my pleasing tale, And, for my tidings, gave me twenty kisses. Goth. What! canst thou say all this, and

never blush?

[blocks in formation]

Even now I curse the day, (and yet, I think,
Few come within the compass of my curse,)
Wherein I did not some notorious ill :
As kill a man, or else devise his death;
Ravish a maid, or plot the way to do it;
Accuse some innocent, and forswear myself;
Set deadly enmity between two friends;
Make poor men's cattle break their necks;
Set fire on barns and hay-stacks in the night,
And bid the owners quench them with their
tears.
[graves,
Oft have I digg'd up dead men from their
And set them upright at their dear friends'
doors,

Even when their sorrows almost were forgot;
And on their skins, as on the bark of trees,
Have with my knife carved in Roman letters,
Let not your sorrow die, though 1 am dead.
Tut, I have done a thousand dreadful things,
As willingly as one would kill a fly;
And nothing grieves me heartily indeed,
But that I cannot do ten thousand more.
Luc. Bring down the devil; for he must
not die

So sweet a death, as hanging presently.

Aar. If there be devils, 'would I were a devil, To live and burn in everlasting fire; So I might have your company in hell, But to torment you with my bitter tongue! Luc. Sirs, stop his mouth, and let him speak

no more.

[blocks in formation]

Emil. Lord Lucius, and you princes of the
Goths,

The Roman emperor greets you all by me:
And, for he understands you are in arms,
He craves a parley at your father's house,
Willing you to demand your hostages,
And they shall be immediately deliver'd.
1 Goth. What says our general?
Luc. Æmilius, let the emperor give
pledges

his

Unto my father and my uncle Marcus,
And we will come.-March away.* [Exeunt.
SCENE II.-Rome.-Before TITUS' House.
Enter TAMORA, CHIRON, and DEMETRIUS,
disguised.

Tam. Thus, in this strange and sad habili-
I will encounter with Andronicus; [ment,
And say, I am Revenge, come from below,
To join with him, and right his heinous wrongs.
Knock at his study, where, they say, he keeps,
To ruminate strange plots of dire revenge;
Tell him, Revenge is come to join with him,
And work confusion on his enemies.

Enter TITUS, above.

[They knock.

Tit. Who doth molest my contemplation?
Is it your trick to make me ope the door;
That so my sad decrees may fly away,
And all my study be to no effect?
You are deceiv'd: for what I mean to do,
See here, in bloody lines I have set down;
And what is written shall be executed.

Tum. Titus, I am come to talk with thee. Tit. No; not a word: How can I grace my Wanting a hand to give it action? [talk, Thou hast the odds of me, therefore no more. Tam. If thou didst know me, thou would'st talk with me.

Tit. I am not mad; I know thee well enough: [lines; Witness this wretched stump, these crimson Witness these trenches, made by grief and

[blocks in formation]

Tam. I am; therefore come down, and wel

come me.

Tit. Do me some service, ere I come to thec. Lo, by thy side where Rape, and Murder, stands;

Now give some 'surance that thou art Revenge,
Stab them, or tear them on thy chariot wheels;
And then I'll come, and be thy waggoner,
And whirl along with thee about the globes.
Provide thee proper palfries, black as jet,
To hale thy vengeful waggon swift away,
And find out murderers in their guilty caves:
And, when thy car is loaden with their heads,
I will dismount, and by the waggon wheel
Trot, like a servile footman, all day long;
Even from Hyperion's rising in the east,
Until his very downfal in the sea.

And day by day I'll do this heavy task,
So thou destroy Rapine and Murder there.
Tam. These are my ministers, and come with

me.

Tit. Are they thy ministers? what are they call'd?

Tum. Rapine, and Murder; therefore called So, [men. 'Cause they take vengeance of such kind of Tit. Good lord, how like the empress' sons they are!

And you the empress! But we worldly men
O sweet Revenge, now do I come to thee:
Have miserable, mad, mistaking eyes.
And, if one arm's embracement will content
[thee,

I will embrace thee in it by and by.

[Exit TITUS, from above. Tam. This closing with him fits his lunacy: Whate'er I forge, to feed his brain-sick fits, Do you uphold and maintain in your speeches. For now he firmly takes me for Revenge; And, being credulous in this mad thought, I'll make him send for Lucius, his son; And, whilst I at a banquet hold him sure, I'll find some cunning practice out of hand, To scatter and disperse the giddy Goths, Or, at the least, make them his enemies. See, here he comes, and I must ply my theme.

Enter TITUS.

Tit. Long have I been forlorn, and all for

thee:

Welcome, dread fury, to my woful house;-
Rapine, and Murder, you are welcome too:-
How like the empress and her sons you are!
Well are you fitted, had you but a Moor:-
Could not all hell afford you such a devil?—
For, well I wot, the empress never wags,
But in her company there is a Moor;

And, would you represent our queen aright,
It were convenient you had such a devil:
But welcome, as you are. What shall we do?
Tam. What would'st thou have us do, An-

dronicus?

[blocks in formation]

Well may'st thou know her by thy own pro- And stop their mouths, if they begin to cry.

portion,

For up and down she doth resemble thee;
I pray thee, do on them some violent death,
They have been violent to me and mine.

Tam. Well hast thou lesson'd us; this shall we do.

But would it please thee, good Andronicus,
To send for Lucius, thy thrice valiant son,
Who leads towards Rome a band of warlike
Goths,

And bid him come and banquet at thy house:
When he is here, even at thy solemn feast,
I will bring in the empress and her sons,
The emperor himself, and all thy foes;
And at thy mercy shall they stoop and kneel,
And on them shalt thou ease thy angry heart.
What says Andronicus to this device?

Tit. Marcus, my brother!-'tis sad Titus calls.

[blocks in formation]

Tam. Farewell, Andronicus: Revenge now To lay a complot to betray thy foes. [goes [Exit TAMORA. Tit. I know thou dost; and, sweet Revenge, farewell.

Chi. Tell us, old man, how shall we be employ'd?

Tit. Tut, I have work enough for you to do.Publius, come hither, Caius, and Valentine! Enter PUBLIUS, and others.

Pub. What's your will?
Tit. Know you these two?
Pub. Th' empress' sons,

I take them, Chiron and Demetrius.

Tit. Fie, Publius, fie! thou art too much deceiv'd;

The one is Murder, Rape is the other's name: And therefore bind them, gentle Publius; Caius, and Valentine, lay hands on them:

[ocr errors]

Exit TITUS.-PUBLIUS, &c. lay hold on
CHIRON and DEMETRIUS.

Chi. Villains, forbear: we are the empress'

sons.

Pub. And therefore do we what we are commanded.

[word : Stop close their mouths, let them not speak a Is he sure bound? look, that you bind them fast.

Re-enter TITUS ANDRONICUS, with LAVINIA; she bearing a Basin, and he a Knife.

Tit. Come, come, Lavinia; look, thy foes are bound ;

[me; Sirs, stop their mouths, let them not speak to But let them hear what fearful words I utter.O villains, Chiron and Demetrius! Here stands the spring whom you have stain'd with mud;

This goodly summer with your winter mix'd. You kill'd her husband; and, for that vile fault, Two of her brothers were condemn'd to death: Both her sweet hands, her tongue, and that, My hand cut off, and made a merry jest:

more dear

Than hands or tongue, her spotless chastity,
Inhuman traitors, you constrain'd and fore'd.
What would you say, if I should let you speak?
Villains, for shame you could not beg for grace.
Hark, wretches, how I mean to martyr you.
This one hand yet is left to cut your throats;
Whilst that Lavinia 'tween her stumps doth
You know, your mother means to feast with me,
The basin, that receives your guilty blood.
And calls herself, Revenge, and thinks me

hold

mad,

Hark, villains; I will grind your bones to dust,
And with your blood and it, I'll make a paste;
And of the paste a coffin I will rear,

And make two pasties of your shameful heads;
And bid that strumpet, your unhallow'd dam,
Like to the earth, swallow her own increase.
This is the feast that I have bid her to,
And this the banquet she shall surfeit on;
For worse than Philomel you us'd my daughter,
And now prepare your throats, -Lavinia,
And worse than Progne I will be reveng'd:

come,

Receive the blood: and, when that they are [He cuts their Throats. dead,

And with this hateful liquor temper it;
Let me go grind their bones to powder small,
And in that paste let their vile heads be bak'd.
Come, come, be every one officious
To make this banquet; which I wish may
[prove
More stern and bloody than the Centaur's

feast.

[blocks in formation]

Luc. Good uncle, take you in this barbarous Moor,

This ravenous tiger, this accursed devil;

Oft have you heard me wish for such an hour, Let him receive no sustenance, fetter him,

And now I find it; therefore bind them sure;

* Crust of a raised pye.

[ocr errors][merged small]
[blocks in formation]

Sirs, help our uncle to convey him in.—

[Exeunt GOTHS, with AARON. Flourish. The trumpets show, the emperor is at hand.

Enter SATURNINUS and TAMORA, with Tribunes, Senators, and others.

Sat. What, hath the firmament more suns than one?

Luc. What boots it thee, to call thyself a sun?

Mar. Rome's emperor, and nephew, breakt the parle;

These quarrels must be quietly debated.
The feast is ready, which the careful Titus
Hath ordain'd to an honourable end,, [Rome:
For peace, for love, for league, and good to
Please you, therefore, draw nigh, and take
your places.

The Company sit down

Sat. Marcus, we will. [Hautboys sound. at Table. 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;

Welcome, ye warlike 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 attir'd, Andronicus? Tit. Because I would be sure to have all well,

To entertain your highness, and your empress. Tam. We are beholden to you, good An

dronicus.

Tit. An if your highness knew my heart,

you were.

My lord the emperor, resolve me this;
Was it well done of rash Virginius,
To slay his daughter with his own right hand,
Because she was enforc'd, stain'd, and de-
flower'd?

Sat. It was, Andronicus.

Tit. Your reason, mighty lord!

Tam. Why hast thou slain thine only daugh ter thus?

Tit. Not I; 'twas Chiron, and Demetrius : They ravish'd 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 pye;

Whereof their mother daintily hath fed, Eating the flesh that she herself hath bred. 'Tis true, 'tis true; witness my knife's sharp point. [Killing TAMORA. Sat. Die, frantic wretch, for this accursed deed. [Killing TITUS. Luc. Can the son's eye behold his father bleed? [deed. There's meed for meed, death for a deadly [Kills SATURNINUS. A great Tumult. The People in confusion disperse. MARCUS, LUCIUS, and their Partisans ascend the Steps before TITUS' House.

Mar. You sad-fac'd men, people and sons of
Rome,

Scatter'd by winds and high tempestuous gusts,
By uproar sever'd, like a flight of fowl
This scatter'd corn into one mutual sheaf,
O, let me teach you how to knit again
These broken limbs again into one body.

Sen. Lest Rome herself be bane unto herself;

And she, whom mighty kingdoms court'sy to,
Like a forlorn and desperate cast-away,
Do shameful execution on herself.
But if my frosty signs and chaps of age,
Cannot induce you to attend my words,-
Grave witnesses of true experience,
Speak, Rome's dear friend; [To LUCIUS.] as
When with his solemn tongue he did discourse,
erst our ancestor,
The story of that baleful burning night,
To love-sick Dido's sad attending ear,
When subtle Greeks surpris'd king Priam's
Troy;

Tell us, what Sinon hath bewitch'd our ears,
Or who hath brought the fatal engine in,
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,

And break my very utterance; even i'the time
But floods of tears will drown my oratory,
When it should move you to attend me most,
Lending your kind commiseration:
Here is a captain, let him tell the tale;

Sat. Because the girl should not survive her Your hearts will throb and weep to hear him

shame,

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;
[He kills LAVINIA.
And, with thy shame, thy father's sorrow die!
Sat. What hast thou done, unnatural, and

unkind?

Tit. Kill'd her, for whom my tears have

made me blind.

[blocks in formation]

speak.

Luc. Then, noble auditory, be it known to Were they that murdered our emperor's broThat cursed Chiron and Demetrius [you,

ther;

[out,

And they it were that ravished our sister:
For their fell faults our brothers were be-
Our father's tears despis'd; and basely cozen'd
headed;
Of that true hand, that fought Rome's quarrel
And sent her enemies unto the grave. [out,
Lastly, myself unkindly banished,
The gates shut on me, and turn'd weeping
Who drown'd their enmity in my true tears,
To beg relief among Rome's enemies;
And op'd their arms to embrace me as a friend :
And I am the turn'd-forth, be it known to you,
And from her bosom took the enemy's point,
That have preserv'd her welfare in my blood;
Sheathing the steel in my advent'rous body.
Alas! you know, I am no vaunter, I;

« PreviousContinue »