Titus Andronicus & Timon of Athens

by William Shakespeare

  They knock and Titus opens his study door

  Aloft or within, holding papers

  TITUS Who doth molest my contemplation?

  Is it your trick to make me ope10 the door, That so my sad decrees11 may fly away And all my study be to no effect?

  You are deceived, for what I mean to do

  See here in bloody lines14 I have set down, And what is written shall be executed.15

  TAMORA Titus, I am come to talk with thee.

  TITUS No, not a word. How can I grace17 my talk, Wanting a hand to give it action?18

  Thou hast the odds of19 me, therefore no more.

  TAMORA If thou didst know me, thou would'st talk with me.

  TITUS I am not mad, I know thee well enough: Witness this wretched stump, witness these crimson lines,

  Witness these trenches23 made by grief and care, Witness the tiring day and heavy24 night, Witness all sorrow, that I know thee well

  For our proud empress, mighty Tamora.

  Is not thy coming for my other hand?

  TAMORA Know, thou sad man, I am not Tamora: She is thy enemy and I thy friend.

  I am Revenge, sent from th'infernal kingdom

  To ease the gnawing vulture of thy mind

  By working wreakful32 vengeance on thy foes.

  Come down and welcome me to this world's light,

  Confer with me of murder and of death:

  There's not a hollow cave or lurking place,

  No vast obscurity or misty vale

  Where bloody murder or detested rape

  Can couch38 for fear, but I will find them out, And in their ears tell them my dreadful39 name, Revenge, which makes the foul offenders quake.

  TITUS Art thou Revenge? And art thou sent to me To be a torment to mine enemies?

  TAMORA I am: therefore come down and welcome me.

  TITUS Do me some service ere I come to thee.

  Lo by thy side where Rape and Murder stands:

  Now give some surance46 that thou art Revenge: Stab them or tear them on thy chariot-wheels,

  And then I'll come and be thy wagoner,

  And whirl along with thee about the globes,49

  Provide thee two proper palfreys50, as black as jet, To hale51 thy vengeful wagon swift away, And find out murder52 in their guilty caves.

  And when thy car53 is loaden with their heads, I will dismount and by the wagon wheel

  Trot like a servile footman all day long,

  Even from Hyperion's56 rising in the east Until his very downfall57 in the sea.

  And day by day I'll do this heavy task,

  So thou destroy Rapine59 and Murder there.

  TAMORA These are my ministers, and come with me.

  TITUS Are these thy ministers? What are they called?

  TAMORA Rape and Murder, therefore called so, Cause they take vengeance of63 such kind of men.

  TITUS Good Lord, how like the empress' sons they are, And you the empress! But we worldly65 men Have miserable, mad, mistaking eyes.

  O sweet Revenge, now do I come to thee,

  And if one arm's embracement will content thee,

  I will embrace thee in it by and by.

  [Exit aloft or within]

  TAMORA This closing70 with him fits his lunacy: Whate'er I forge71 to feed his brainsick 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,76

  I'll find some cunning practice out of hand77

  To scatter and disperse the giddy78 Goths, Or at the least make them his enemies.

  See, here he comes, and I must ply my theme.80

  [Enter Titus, on main stage]

  TITUS Long have I been forlorn, and all for thee.

  Welcome, dread Fury82, to my woeful house: Rapine and Murder, you are welcome too.

  How like the empress and her sons you are!

  Well are you fitted85, had you but a Moor: Could not all hell afford you such a devil?

  For well I wot the empress never wags87

  But in her company there is a Moor,

  And, would you represent our queen aright

  It were convenient90 you had such a devil.

  But welcome as you are. What shall we do?

  TAMORA What wouldst thou have us do, Andronicus?

  DEMETRIUS Show me a murderer, I'll deal with93 him.

  CHIRON Show me a villain that hath done a rape, And I am sent to be revenged on him.

  TAMORA Show me a thousand that have done thee wrong, And I'll be revenged on them all.

  To Demetrius

  TITUS Look round about the wicked streets of Rome, And when thou find'st a man that's like thyself,

  Good Murder, stab him: he's a murderer.--

  To Chiron

  Go thou with him, and when it is thy hap101

  To find another that is like to thee,

  Good Rapine, stab him: he is a ravisher.--

  To Tamora

  Go thou with them, and in the emperor's court

  There is a queen, attended by a Moor --

  Well mayst thou know her by thy own proportion,106

  For up and down107 she doth resemble thee --

  I pray thee do on them some violent death:

  They have been violent to me and mine.

  TAMORA Well hast thou lessoned 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 solemn115 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?

  Enter Marcus

  TITUS Marcus, my brother! 'Tis sad Titus calls.

  Go, gentle Marcus, to thy nephew Lucius --

  Thou shalt inquire him out among the Goths --

  Bid him repair124 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

  Feasts 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.

  MARCUS This will I do, and soon return again.

  [Exit]

  TAMORA Now will I hence about thy business, And take my ministers along with me.

  TITUS 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.136

  Aside to her sons

  TAMORA What say you, boys? Will you bide with him Whiles I go tell my lord the emperor

  How I have governed our determined jest?139

  Yield to his humour, smooth and speak him fair,140

  And tarry with him till I turn141 again.

  Aside

  TITUS I know them all, though they suppose me mad, And will o'erreach them in their own devices:

  A pair of cursed hell-hounds and their dam!

  DEMETRIUS Madam, depart at pleasure, leave us here.

  TAMORA Farewell, Andronicus: Revenge now goes To lay a complot to betray thy foes.

  TITUS I know thou dost, and, sweet Revenge, farewell.

  [Exit Tamora]

  CHIRON Tell us, old man, how shall we be employed?

  TITUS Tut, I have work enough for you to do.--

  Publius, come hither.-- Caius and Valentine!

  [Enter Publius, Caius and Valentine]

  PUBLIUS What is your will?

  TITUS Know you these two?

  PUBLIUS The empress' sons, I take
them: Chiron, Demetrius.

  TITUS 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.

  Oft have you heard me wish for such an hour,

  They seize Chiron and Demetrius

  And now I find it: therefore bind them sure,

  And stop their mouths, if they begin to cry.161

  [Exit]

  CHIRON Villains, forbear!162 We are the empress' sons.

  PUBLIUS And therefore163 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.

  Enter Titus Andronicus with a knife, and Lavinia with a basin

  TITUS Come, come, Lavinia: look, thy foes are bound.

  Sirs, stop their mouths, let them not speak to me,

  But let them hear what fearful words I utter.

  O villains, Chiron and Demetrius,

  Here stands the spring170 whom you have stained with mud, This goodly summer with your winter mixed.

  You killed her husband, and for that vile fault

  Two of her brothers were condemned 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 constrained and forced.

  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 martyr180 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,187

  And of the paste a coffin188 I will rear And make two pasties189 of your shameful heads, And bid that strumpet, your unhallowed190 dam, Like to the earth swallow her own increase.191

  This is the feast that I have bid her to,

  And this the banquet she shall surfeit193 on: For worse than Philomel you used my daughter,

  And worse than Progne195 I will be revenged.

  And now prepare your throats. Lavinia, come,

  Receive the blood, and when that they are dead,

  Let me go grind their bones to powder small

  And with this hateful liquor temper199 it, And in that paste let their vile heads be baked.

  Come, come, be everyone officious201

  To make this banquet, which I wish might prove

  More stern and bloody than the Centaurs' feast.203

  He cuts their throats

  So, now bring them in, for I'll play the cook,

  And see them ready gainst205 their mother comes.

  Exeunt [with the bodies]

  [Act 5 Scene 3]

  running scene 10 continues

  Enter Lucius, Marcus and the Goths [with Aaron prisoner and one carrying the child]

  LUCIUS Uncle Marcus, since 'tis my father's mind That I repair to Rome, I am content.

  A GOTH And ours with thine3, befall what fortune will.

  LUCIUS 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 ambush9 of our friends be strong: I fear the emperor means no good to us.

  AARON Some devil whisper curses in my ear, And prompt me, that my tongue may utter forth

  The venomous malice of my swelling heart.

  LUCIUS Away, inhuman dog, unhallowed slave!--

  Sirs, help our uncle to convey him in.

  Flourish. [Exeunt some Goths with Aaron]

  The trumpets show the emperor is at hand.

  Sound trumpets. Enter Emperor and Empress, with Tribunes and others [including Emillius]

  SATURNINUS What, hath the firmament17 more suns than one?

  LUCIUS What boots18 it thee to call thyself a sun?

  MARCUS Rome's emperor, and nephew, break the parle:19

  These quarrels must be quietly debated.

  The feast is ready which the careful21 Titus Hath ordained to an honourable end,

  For peace, for love, for league and good to Rome:

  Please you, therefore, draw nigh, and take your places.

  SATURNINUS Marcus, we will.

  Hautboys. A table brought in

  Enter Titus like a cook, placing the meat on the table, and Lavinia with a veil over her face [and Young Lucius]

  TITUS Welcome, my gracious lord.-- Welcome, dread queen.--

  Welcome, ye warlike Goths.-- Welcome, Lucius.--

  And welcome, all. Although the cheer28 be poor, 'Twill fill your stomachs. Please you eat of it.

  SATURNINUS Why art thou thus attired, Andronicus?

  TITUS Because I would be sure to have all well To entertain your highness and your empress.

  TAMORA We are beholding33 to you, good Andronicus.

  TITUS An if your highness knew my heart, you were.

  My lord the emperor, resolve me this:

  Was it well done of rash Virginius36

  To slay his daughter with his own right hand,

  Because she was enforced, stained and deflowered?

  SATURNINUS It was, Andronicus.

  TITUS Your reason, mighty lord?

  SATURNINUS Because41 the girl should not survive her shame, And by her presence still42 renew his sorrows.

  TITUS A reason mighty, strong and effectual: A pattern, precedent and lively warrant44

  Unveils Lavinia

  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!

  He kills her

  SATURNINUS What hast done? Unnatural and unkind!48

  TITUS Killed 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

  To do this outrage52: and it now is done.

  SATURNINUS What, was she ravished? Tell who did the deed.

  TITUS Will't please you eat? Will't please your highness feed?

  TAMORA Why hast thou slain thine only daughter?

  TITUS Not I, 'twas Chiron and Demetrius:

  They ravished her and cut away her tongue,

  And they, 'twas they, that did her all this wrong.

  SATURNINUS Go fetch them hither to us presently.

  TITUS Why, there they are both, baked in that pie, Whereof their mother daintily61 hath fed, Eating the flesh that she herself hath bred.

  'Tis true, 'tis true, witness my knife's sharp point.

  He stabs the Empress

  SATURNINUS Die, frantic wretch, for this accursed deed!

  Kills Titus

  LUCIUS Can the son's eye behold his father bleed?

  Kills Saturninus.

  There's meed for meed66, death for a deadly deed.

  An uproar, during which Lucius and Marcus may go aloft

  MARCUS You sad-faced men, people and sons of Rome, By uproars severed, like a flight of fowl

  Scattered by winds and high tempestuous gusts,

  O, let me teach you how to knit again

  This scattered corn into one mutual71 sheaf, These broken limbs again into one body.

  A GOTH Let Rome herself be bane73 unto herself, And she whom mighty kingdoms curtsy to,

  Like a forlorn75 and desperate castaway, Do shameful execution on herself.

  MARCUS But if my frosty signs and chaps77 of age, Grave witnesses of true experien
ce,

  Cannot induce you to attend my words,

  To Lucius

  Speak, Rome's dear friend, as erst our ancestor,80

  When with his solemn tongue he did discourse

  To lovesick Dido's sad attending ear

  The story of that baleful83 burning night When subtle Greeks surprised King Priam's Troy.84

  Tell us what Sinon85 hath bewitched our ears, Or who hath brought the fatal engine86 in That gives our Troy, our Rome, the civil wound.

  My heart is not compact88 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

  When it should move you to attend me most,

  Lending your kind hand commiseration.

  Here is a captain, let him tell the tale:

  Your hearts will throb and weep to hear him speak.

  LUCIUS This, noble auditory96, 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 fell100 faults our brothers were beheaded, Our father's tears despised and basely cozened101

  Of that true hand that fought Rome's quarrel out,102

  And sent her enemies unto the grave.

  Lastly, myself unkindly104 banished, The gates shut on me, and turned weeping out,

  To beg relief among Rome's enemies,

  Who drowned their enmity in my true tears

  And oped their arms to embrace me as a friend.

  And I am turned forth, be it known to you,

  That have preserved her welfare in my blood,

  And from her bosom took the enemy's point,

  Sheathing the steel in my advent'rous112 body.

  Alas, you know I am no vaunter113, 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,

  Citing my worthless praise: O, pardon me,

  For when no friends are by, men praise themselves.

  MARCUS Now is my turn to speak. Behold this child:

  Points to the baby

  Of this was Tamora delivered,

  The issue of an irreligious Moor,

  Chief architect and plotter of these woes.

  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 aught129 amiss? Show us wherein, And from the place where you behold us now,

  The poor remainder of Andronici131

  Will hand in hand all headlong cast us down

  And on the ragged133 stones beat forth our brains And make a mutual closure of our house.