The Tragedy Of Titus Andronicus

1 Enter Lucius, Marcus and the Goths, with Aaron, prisoner.
2 LUCIUS.
3 Uncle Marcus, since ’tis my father’s mind
4 That I repair to Rome, I am content.
5 FIRST GOTH.
6 And ours with thine, befall what fortune will.
7 LUCIUS.
8 Good uncle, take you in this barbarous Moor,
9 This ravenous tiger, this accursed devil;
10 Let him receive no sust’nance, fetter him,
11 Till he be brought unto the empress’ face
12 For testimony of her foul proceedings.
13 And see the ambush of our friends be strong;
14 I fear the emperor means no good to us.
15 AARON.
16 Some devil whisper curses in my ear,
17 And prompt me that my tongue may utter forth
18 The venomous malice of my swelling heart!
19 LUCIUS.
20 Away, inhuman dog, unhallowed slave!
21 Sirs, help our uncle to convey him in.
22 [_Sound trumpets._]
23 The trumpets show the emperor is at hand.
24 [_Exeunt Goths with Aaron._]
25 Enter Emperor Saturninus and Empress Tamora with Aemilius, Tribunes and
26 others.
27 SATURNINUS.
28 What, hath the firmament more suns than one?
29 LUCIUS.
30 What boots it thee to call thyself a sun?
31 MARCUS.
32 Rome’s emperor, and nephew, break the parle;
33 These quarrels must be quietly debated.
34 The feast is ready which the careful Titus
35 Hath ordained to an honourable end,
36 For peace, for love, for league, and good to Rome.
37 Please you, therefore, draw nigh and take your places.
38 SATURNINUS.
39 Marcus, we will.
40 Trumpets sounding, enter Titus like a cook, placing the dishes, with
41 Young Lucius and others, and Lavinia with a veil over her face.
42 TITUS.
43 Welcome, my lord; welcome, dread queen;
44 Welcome, ye warlike Goths; welcome, Lucius;
45 And welcome all. Although the cheer be poor,
46 ’Twill fill your stomachs; please you eat of it.
47 SATURNINUS.
48 Why art thou thus attired, Andronicus?
49 TITUS.
50 Because I would be sure to have all well
51 To entertain your highness and your empress.
52 TAMORA.
53 We are beholden to you, good Andronicus.
54 TITUS.
55 An if your highness knew my heart, you were.
56 My lord the emperor, resolve me this:
57 Was it well done of rash Virginius
58 To slay his daughter with his own right hand,
59 Because she was enforced, stained, and deflowered?
60 SATURNINUS.
61 It was, Andronicus.
62 TITUS.
63 Your reason, mighty lord?
64 SATURNINUS.
65 Because the girl should not survive her shame,
66 And by her presence still renew his sorrows.
67 TITUS.
68 A reason mighty, strong, and effectual;
69 A pattern, precedent, and lively warrant
70 For me, most wretched, to perform the like.
71 Die, die, Lavinia, and thy shame with thee;
72 And with thy shame thy father’s sorrow die!
73 [_He kills Lavinia._]
74 SATURNINUS.
75 What hast thou done, unnatural and unkind?
76 TITUS.
77 Killed her for whom my tears have made me blind.
78 I am as woeful as Virginius was,
79 And have a thousand times more cause than he
80 To do this outrage, and it now is done.
81 SATURNINUS.
82 What, was she ravished? Tell who did the deed.
83 TITUS.
84 Will’t please you eat? Will’t please your highness feed?
85 TAMORA.
86 Why hast thou slain thine only daughter thus?
87 TITUS.
88 Not I; ’twas Chiron and Demetrius.
89 They ravished her, and cut away her tongue;
90 And they, ’twas they, that did her all this wrong.
91 SATURNINUS.
92 Go fetch them hither to us presently.
93 TITUS.
94 Why, there they are, both baked in that pie,
95 Whereof their mother daintily hath fed,
96 Eating the flesh that she herself hath bred.
97 ’Tis true, ’tis true; witness my knife’s sharp point.
98 [_He stabs the Empress._]
99 SATURNINUS.
100 Die, frantic wretch, for this accursed deed.
101 [_He kills Titus._]
102 LUCIUS.
103 Can the son’s eye behold his father bleed?
104 [_He kills Saturninus._]
105 There’s meed for meed, death for a deadly deed.
106 [_A great tumult. Lucius, Marcus, and others go aloft to the upper
107 stage._]
108 MARCUS.
109 You sad-faced men, people and sons of Rome,
110 By uproar severed, as a flight of fowl
111 Scattered by winds and high tempestuous gusts,
112 O, let me teach you how to knit again
113 This scattered corn into one mutual sheaf,
114 These broken limbs again into one body;
115 Lest Rome herself be bane unto herself,
116 And she whom mighty kingdoms curtsy to,
117 Like a forlorn and desperate castaway,
118 Do shameful execution on herself.
119 But if my frosty signs and chaps of age,
120 Grave witnesses of true experience,
121 Cannot induce you to attend my words,
122 Speak, Rome’s dear friend, [_to Lucius_] as erst our ancestor,
123 When with his solemn tongue he did discourse
124 To love-sick Dido’s sad attending ear
125 The story of that baleful burning night
126 When subtle Greeks surprised King Priam’s Troy.
127 Tell us what Sinon hath bewitched our ears,
128 Or who hath brought the fatal engine in
129 That gives our Troy, our Rome, the civil wound.
130 My heart is not compact of flint nor steel,
131 Nor can I utter all our bitter grief,
132 But floods of tears will drown my oratory
133 And break my utterance, even in the time
134 When it should move you to attend me most,
135 And force you to commiseration.
136 Here’s Rome’s young captain, let him tell the tale,
137 While I stand by and weep to hear him speak.
138 LUCIUS.
139 Then, noble auditory, be it known to you
140 That Chiron and the damned Demetrius
141 Were they that murdered our emperor’s brother;
142 And they it were that ravished our sister.
143 For their fell faults our brothers were beheaded,
144 Our father’s tears despised, and basely cozened
145 Of that true hand that fought Rome’s quarrel out
146 And sent her enemies unto the grave.
147 Lastly, myself unkindly banished,
148 The gates shut on me, and turned weeping out,
149 To beg relief among Rome’s enemies;
150 Who drowned their enmity in my true tears,
151 And oped their arms to embrace me as a friend.
152 I am the turned-forth, be it known to you,
153 That have preserved her welfare in my blood
154 And from her bosom took the enemy’s point,
155 Sheathing the steel in my advent’rous body.
156 Alas, you know I am no vaunter, I;
157 My scars can witness, dumb although they are,
158 That my report is just and full of truth.
159 But soft, methinks I do digress too much,
160 Citing my worthless praise. O, pardon me;
161 For when no friends are by, men praise themselves.
162 MARCUS.
163 Now is my turn to speak. Behold the child.
164 Of this was Tamora delivered,
165 The issue of an irreligious Moor,
166 Chief architect and plotter of these woes.
167 The villain is alive in Titus’ house,
168 And as he is to witness, this is true.
169 Now judge what cause had Titus to revenge
170 These wrongs unspeakable, past patience,
171 Or more than any living man could bear.
172 Now have you heard the truth. What say you, Romans?
173 Have we done aught amiss? Show us wherein,
174 And, from the place where you behold us pleading,
175 The poor remainder of Andronici
176 Will, hand in hand, all headlong hurl ourselves,
177 And on the ragged stones beat forth our souls,
178 And make a mutual closure of our house.
179 Speak, Romans, speak, and if you say we shall,
180 Lo, hand in hand, Lucius and I will fall.
181 AEMILIUS.
182 Come, come, thou reverend man of Rome,
183 And bring our emperor gently in thy hand,
184 Lucius our emperor; for well I know
185 The common voice do cry it shall be so.
186 ROMANS.
187 Lucius, all hail, Rome’s royal emperor!
188 MARCUS.
189 Go, go into old Titus’ sorrowful house,
190 And hither hale that misbelieving Moor
191 To be adjudged some direful slaught’ring death,
192 As punishment for his most wicked life.
193 [_Exeunt Attendants. Lucius and Marcus come down from the upper
194 stage._]
195 ROMANS.
196 Lucius, all hail, Rome’s gracious governor!
197 LUCIUS.
198 Thanks, gentle Romans. May I govern so
199 To heal Rome’s harms and wipe away her woe!
200 But, gentle people, give me aim awhile,
201 For nature puts me to a heavy task.
202 Stand all aloof; but, uncle, draw you near
203 To shed obsequious tears upon this trunk.
204 [_He kisses Titus._]
205 O, take this warm kiss on thy pale cold lips.
206 These sorrowful drops upon thy blood-stained face,
207 The last true duties of thy noble son.
208 MARCUS.
209 Tear for tear and loving kiss for kiss
210 Thy brother Marcus tenders on thy lips.
211 O, were the sum of these that I should pay
212 Countless and infinite, yet would I pay them.
213 LUCIUS.
214 Come hither, boy; come, come, and learn of us
215 To melt in showers. Thy grandsire loved thee well.
216 Many a time he danced thee on his knee,
217 Sung thee asleep, his loving breast thy pillow;
218 Many a story hath he told to thee,
219 And bid thee bear his pretty tales in mind
220 And talk of them when he was dead and gone.
221 MARCUS.
222 How many thousand times hath these poor lips,
223 When they were living, warmed themselves on thine!
224 O, now, sweet boy, give them their latest kiss.
225 Bid him farewell; commit him to the grave.
226 Do them that kindness, and take leave of them.
227 YOUNG LUCIUS.
228 O grandsire, grandsire, e’en with all my heart
229 Would I were dead, so you did live again!
230 O Lord, I cannot speak to him for weeping;
231 My tears will choke me if I ope my mouth.
232 Re-enter Attendants with Aaron.
233 AEMILIUS.
234 You sad Andronici, have done with woes.
235 Give sentence on the execrable wretch
236 That hath been breeder of these dire events.
237 LUCIUS.
238 Set him breast-deep in earth and famish him;
239 There let him stand and rave and cry for food.
240 If anyone relieves or pities him,
241 For the offence he dies. This is our doom.
242 Some stay to see him fastened in the earth.
243 AARON.
244 Ah, why should wrath be mute and fury dumb?
245 I am no baby, I, that with base prayers
246 I should repent the evils I have done.
247 Ten thousand worse than ever yet I did
248 Would I perform, if I might have my will.
249 If one good deed in all my life I did,
250 I do repent it from my very soul.
251 LUCIUS.
252 Some loving friends convey the emperor hence,
253 And give him burial in his father’s grave.
254 My father and Lavinia shall forthwith
255 Be closed in our household’s monument.
256 As for that ravenous tiger, Tamora,
257 No funeral rite, nor man in mournful weed,
258 No mournful bell shall ring her burial;
259 But throw her forth to beasts and birds of prey.
260 Her life was beastly and devoid of pity;
261 And being dead, let birds on her take pity.
262 [_Exeunt._]