And at thy mercy shall they stoop and kneel,
And on them shalt thou ease thy angry heart.
What says Andronicus to this device? 120
TIT. Marcus, my brother! ’t is sad Titus calls.
Enter MARCUS
Go, gentle Marcus, to thy nephew Lucius;
Thou shalt inquire him out among the Goths:
Bid him repair to me and bring with him
Some of the chiefest princes of the Goths:
Bid him encamp his soldiers where they are:
Tell him the emperor and the empress too
Feast at my house, and he shall feast with them.
This do thou for my love, and so let him,
As he regards his aged father’s life. 130
MARC. This will I do, and soon return again. [Exit.
TAM. Now will I hence about thy business,
And take my ministers along with me.
TIT. Nay, nay, let Rape and Murder stay with me;
Or else I’ll call my brother back again,
And cleave to no revenge but Lucius.
TIT. Aside to her sons] What say you, boys? will you bide with him,
Whiles I go tell my lord the emperor
How I have govern’d our determined jest?140
Yield to his humour, smooth and speak him fair, 141
And tarry with him till I turn again.
TIT. [Aside] I know them all, though they suppose me mad;
And will o’er-reach them in their own devices:
A pair of cursed hell-hounds and their dam.
DEM. Madam, depart at pleasure; leave us here.
TAM. Farewell, Andronicus: Revenge now goes
To lay a complot to betray thy foes.
TIT. I know thou dost; and, sweet Revenge, farewell.
[Exit Tamora. 150
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 is your will?
TIT. Know you these two?
PUB. The empress’ sons, I take them, Chiron and Demetrius.
TIT. Fie, Publius, fie! thou art too much deceived;
The one is Murder, Rape is the other’s name;
And therefore bind them, gentle Publius:
Caius and Valentine, lay hands on them: 160
Oft have you heard me wish for such an hour,
And now I find it; therefore bind them sure;
And stop their mouths, if they begin to cry. [Exit.
[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.
Stop close their mouths, let them not speak a word.
Is he sure bound? look that you bind them fast.
Re-enter TITUS, with LAVINIA. he bearing a knife, and she a basin
TIT. Come, come, Lavinia; look, thy foes are bound.
Sirs, stop their mouths, let them not speak to me; 170
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,
My hand cut off and made a merry jest;
Both her sweet hands, her tongue, and that more dear
Than hands or tongue, her spotless chastity,
Inhuman traitors, you constrain’d and forced. 180
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 hold
The basin that receives your guilty blood.
You know your mother means to feast with me,
And calls herself Revenge, and thinks me mad:
Hark, villains! I will grind your bones to dust,
And with your blood and it I’ll make a paste; 190
And of the paste a coffin I will rear,191
And make two pasties of your shameful heads;
And bid that strumpet, your unhallow’d dam,
Like to the earth, swallow her own increase.194
This is the feast that I have bid her to,
And this the banquet she shall surfeit on;
For worse than Philomel you used my daughter,197
And worse than Progne I will be revenged:198
And now prepare your throats. Lavinia, come,
[He cuts their throats. 200
Receive the blood: and when that they are dead,
Let me go grind their bones to powder small,
And with this hateful liquor temper it;
And in that paste let their vile heads be baked.
Come, come, be every one officious205
To make this banquet; which I wish may prove
More stern and bloody than the Centaurs’ feast.
So, now bring them in, for I’ll play the cook,
And see them ready against their mother comes.
[Exeunt, bearing the dead bodies. 210
SCENE III. Court of Titus’s House. A Banquet Set Out.
Enter LUCIUS, MARCUS, and Goths, with AARON, prisoner
LUC. Uncle Marcus, since it is my father’s mind
That I repair to Rome, I am content.
FIRST GOTH. And ours with thine, befall what fortune will. 3
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:
And see the ambush of our friends be strong;
I fear the emperor means no good to us. 10
AAR. Some-devil whisper curses in mine ear,
And prompt me, that my tongue may utter forth
The venomous malice of my swelling heart!
LUC. Away, inhuman dog! unhallow’d slave!
Sirs, help our uncle to convey him in,
[Exeunt Goths, with Aaron. Flourish within.
The trumpets show the emperor is at hand.
Enter SATURNINUS. and TAMORN, with ÆMILIUS. Tribunes, Senators, and others
SAT. What, hath the firmament moe suns than one?
LUC. What boots it thee to call thyself a sun?
MARC. Rome’s emperor, and nephew, break the parle;20
These quarrels must be quietly debated.
The feast is ready, which the careful Titus
Hath ordain’d to an honourable end,
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. The Company sit down at table.
Enter TITUS, like a Cook, placing the meat on the table, and LAVINIA with a veil over her face, young LUCIUS, and others
TIT. Welcome, my gracious lord; welcome, dread queen;
Welcome, ye warlike Goths; welcome, Lucius; 30
And welcome, all: although the cheer be poor,
’T will fill your stomachs; please you eat of it.
SAT. Why art thou thus attired, Andronicus?
TIT. Because I would be sure to have all well,
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
To slay his daughter with his own right hand,
Because she was enfor
ced, stain’d, and deflower’d? 40
SAT. It was, Andronicus.
TIT. Your reason, mighty lord?
SAT. Because the girl should not survive her shame,
And by her presence still renew his sorrows.
TIT. A reason mighty, strong and effectual,
A pattern, precedent, and lively warrant,46
For me, most wretched, to perform the like.
Die, die, Lavinia, and thy shame with thee,
And with thy shame thy father’s sorrow die!
[Kills Lavinia. 50
SAT. What hast thou done, unnatural and unkind?
TIT. Kill’d her, for whom my tears have made me blind.
I am as woful as Virginius was,
And have a thousand times more cause than he
To do this outrage, and it now is done.
SAT. What, was she ravish’d? 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; ’t was Chiron and Demetrius:
They ravish’d her, and cut away her tongue; 60
And they, ’t was 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,
Eating the flesh that she herself hath bred.
’T is true, ’t is true; witness my knife’s sharp point.
[Kills Tamora.
SAT. Die, frantic wretch, for this accursed deed!
[Kills Titus.
LUC. Can the son’s eye behold his father bleed? 70
There’s meed for meed, death for a deadly deed!
[Kills Saturninus. A great tumult. Lucius, Marcus, and others go up into the balcony.
MARC. You sad-faced men, people and sons of Rome,
By uproars sever’d, as a flight of fowl
Scatter’d by winds and high tempestuous gusts,
O, let me teach you how to knit again
This scatter’d corn into one mutual sheaf,78
These broken limbs again into one body;
Lest Rome herself be bane unto herself, 80
And she whom mighty kingdoms court’sy to,
Like a forlorn and desperate castaway,
Do shameful execution on herself.
But if my frosty signs and chaps of age,84
Grave witnesses of true experience,
Cannot induce you to attend my words,—
[To Lucius] Speak, Rome’s dear friend: as erst our ancestor,87
When with his solemn tongue he did discourse
To love-sick Dido’s sad attending ear
The story of that baleful burning night, 90
When subtle Greeks surprised King Priam’s Troy;
Tell us what Sinon hath bewitch’d our ears,
Or who hath brought the fatal engine in93
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 utterance, even in the time
When it should move you to attend me most,
Lending your kind commiseration. 100
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,
That cursed Chiron and Demetrius
Were they that murdered our emperor’s brother;
And they it were that ravished our sister:
For their fell faults our brothers were beheaded,
Our father’s tears despised, and basely cozen’d
Of that true hand that fought Rome’s quarrel out,
And sent her enemies unto the grave. 110
Lastly, myself unkindly banished,
The gates shut on me, and turn’d weeping out,
To beg relief among Rome’s enemies;
Who drown’d their enmity in my true tears,
And oped their arms to embrace me as a friend.
I am the turned forth, be it known to you,116
That have preserved her welfare in my blood,
And from her bosom took the enemy’s point,
Sheathing the steel in my adventurous body.
Alas, you know I am no vaunter, I; 120
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,
Citing my worthless praise: O, pardon me;
For when no friends are by, men praise themselves.
MARC. Now is my turn to speak. Behold the child:
[Pointing to the Child in the arms of an Attendant.
Of this was Tamora delivered;
The issue of an irreligious Moor,
Chief architect and plotter of these woes: 130
The villain is alive in Titus’ house,
And as he is, to witness this is true.
Now judge what cause had Titus to revenge
These wrongs, unspeakable, past patience,
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
Will, hand in hand, all headlong cast us down, 140
And on the ragged stones beat forth our brains,141
And make a mutual closure of our house.142
Speak, Romans, speak, and if you say we shall,
Lo, hand in hand, Lucius and I will fall.
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.
ALL. Lucius, all hail, Rome’s royal emperor!
MARC. Go, go into old Titus’ sorrowful house, 150
[To Attendants.
And hither hale that misbelieving Moor,
To be adjudged some direful slaughtering death,
As punishment for his most wicked life.
[Exeunt Attendants.
LUCIUS, MARCUS, and the others descend
ALL. Lucius, all hail, Rome’s gracious governor!
LUC. Thanks, gentle Romans: may I govern so,
To heal Rome’s harms and wipe away her woe!
But, gentle people, give me aim awhile,159
For nature puts me to a heavy task; 160
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,
[Kissing Titus.
These sorrowful drops upon thy blood-stain’d face,
The last true duties of thy noble son!
MARC. 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! 170
LUC. Come hither, boy; come, come, and learn of us
To melt in showers: thy grandsire loved thee well:
Many a time he danced 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;
In that respect then, like a loving child,177
Shed yet some small drops from thy tender spring,
Because kind nature doth require it so:
Friends should associate friends in grief and woe: 180
Bid him farewell; commit him to the grave;
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.
Re-enter Attendants with AARON
A ROMAN. 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; 190
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 fasten’d in the earth.
AAR. O, why should wrath be mute, and fury dumb?
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, 200
I do repent it from my very soul
LUC. Some loving friends convey the emperor hence,
And give him burial in his father’s grave:
My father and Lavinia shall forthwith
Be closed in our household’s monument.
As for that heinous tiger, Tamora,
No funeral rite, nor man in mourning weeds,
No mournful bell shall ring her burial;
But throw her forth to beasts and birds of prey:
Her life was beastly and devoid of pity,
And, being so, shall have like want of pity.
See justice done on Aaron, that damn’d Moor,
By whom our heavy haps had their beginning:
Then, afterwards, to order well the state,214
That like events may ne’er it ruinate.215
[Exeunt.
* * *
7 scath] injury.
13 Be bold in us] Have confidence in us.
21 ruinous monastery] These words, like “popish tricks,” are curious anachronisms, considering the historical date of the play’s action.
33 villain] a term of endearment.
42 This is the pearl … eye] a proverbial phrase.
44 wall-eyed] fierce-eyed.
68 piteously perform’d] done so as to excite pity.
81 bauble] the toy-stick surmounted by a doll’s head, ordinarily carried by the professional fool.
90 luxurious] lustful.
101 codding] lecherous.
104 a dog … head] a mastiff or bull-dog, which when fighting a bull or bear was wont to rush at its head and seize its nose.
106 train’d] drew, enticed.
121 swounded] an old form of “swooned.”
124 Ay, like a black dog … is] To blush like a black dog is an old proverb, meaning that one has a brazen face, one cannot blush at all.
147 Bring down the devil] Bring Aaron down from the ladder.
Titus Andronicus (Dover Publications) Page 9