Therefore I urge thy oath. For that I know
An idiot holds his bauble for a god,
And keeps the oath which by that god he swears,
To that I'll urge him.-Therefore, thou shalt vow
By that same god, what god soe'er it be,
That thou ador'st and hast in reverence,
To save my boy, to nourish and bring him up,
Or else I will discover nought to thee.

Luc. Even by my God I swear to thee I will.
Aar. First, know thou, I begot him on the

empress.

Luc. O most insatiate, luxurious woman! Aar. Tut, Lucius! this was but a deed of charity

To that which thou shalt hear of me anon. 'Twas her two sons that murdered Bassianus: They cut thy sister's tongue, and ravished her, And cut her hands, and trimmed her as thou saw'st.

Luc. O detestable villain! call'st thou that trimming?

Aar. Why, she was washed, and cut, and trimmed; and 't was

Trim sport for them that had the doing of it.
Luc. O barbarous, beastly villains, like thyself!
Aar. Indeed I was their tutor to instruct them;
That codding spirit had they from their mother,
As sure a card as ever won the set:

That bloody mind, I think they learned of me,
As true a dog as ever fought at head.
Well, let my deeds be witness of my worth.—
I trained thy brethren to that guileful hole,
Where the dead corpse of Bassianus lay :
I wrote the letter that thy father found,
And hid the gold within the letter mentioned,
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 played the cheater for thy father's hand;
And when I had it drew myself apart,
And almost broke my heart with extreme laughter.
I pryed me through the crevice of a wall,
When, for his hand, he had his two sons' heads;
Beheld his tears, and laughed 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?

Aar. Ay, like a black dog, as the saying is.
Luc. Art thou not sorry for these heinous deeds?
Aar. Ay, that I had not done a thousand more.
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;

Ravished 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.

Oft have I digged up dead men from their graves, 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 I 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

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 deceived: for what I mean to do,
See here in bloody lines I have set down;
And what is written shall be executed.

Tam. Titus, I am come to talk with thee.
Tit. No, not a word. How can I grace my talk,
Wanting a hand to give it action?

Thou hast the odds of me, therefore no more. Tam. If thou didst know me, thou wouldst talk with me.

Tit. I am not mad; I know thee well enough: Witness this wretched stump, these crimson lines; Witness these trenches, made by grief and care; Witness the tiring day, and heavy night; Witness all sorrow, that I know thee well For our proud empress, mighty Tamora: Is not thy coming for my other hand?

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

I am Revenge; sent from the infernal kingdom
To ease the gnawing vulture of thy mind,
By working wreakful 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 nor lurking-place
No vast obscurity or misty vale,
Where bloody murder or detested rape
Can couch for fear, but I will find them out;
And in their ears tell them my dreadful name,
Revenge, which makes the foul offender quake.

Tit. Art thou Revenge? and art thou sent to me, To be a torment to mine enemies?

Tam. I am; therefore come down and wel

come me.

Tit. Do me some service ere I come to thee. Lo, by thy side where Rape and Murder stand; 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 wagoner, And whirl along with thee about the globes; Provide thee proper palfreys, black as jet, To hale thy vengeful wagon 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 wagon wheel Trot, like a servile footman, all day long; Even from Hyperion's rising in the east,

Until his very downfall 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
called?

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

And you the empress! But we worldly 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 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, an 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 wouldst thou have us do, Andro

nicus?

Dem. Shew me a murderer, I'll deal with him. Chi. Shew me a villain that hath done a rape, And I am sent to be revenged on him.

Tam. Shew me a thousand that have done thee

wrong,

And I will be revenged on them all.

Tit. 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.-
Go thou with him, and when it is thy hap
To find another that is like to thee,
Good Rapine, stab him; he is a ravisher.—
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, 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 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 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! "T is sad Titus calls.

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. 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.
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 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 com-

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 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;
And of the paste a coffin I will rear,

And make two pasties of your shameful heads;
And bid that strumpet, your unhallowed 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 used my daughter,
And worse than Progne I will be revenged:
And now prepare your throats.-Lavinia, come,
[He cuts their throats.

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 officious

To make this banquet; which I wish may prove
More stern and bloody than the centaurs' feast.
So, now bring them in, for I will play the cook,
And see them ready 'gainst their mother comes.
[Exeunt, bearing the dead bodies.

SCENE III.-The same. A pavilion with tables, &c. Enter Lucius, MARCUS, and Goths, with AARON, prisoner.

Luc. Uncle Marcus, since 't is my father's mind That I repair to Rome, I am content.

1st. Goth. And ours with thine, befal what fortune will.

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.

Aar. Some devil whisper curses in my ear, And prompt me, that my tongue may utter forth The venomous malice of my swelling heart! Luc. Away, inhuman dog! unhallowed slave! Sirs, help our uncle to convey him in.—

[Exeunt Goths, with AARON. Flourish. The trumpets shew 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, break the parle ;

These quarrels must be quietly debated,
The feast is ready which the careful 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.

Sat. Marcus, we will. [Hautboys sound.

The company sit down at table.

Enter TITUS, dressed like a cook, LAVINIA, veiled, Young Lucius, and others. Tirus 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, "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 beholden to you, good Andro

nicus.

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 enforced, stained, and de-
flowered?

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 For me, most wretched, to perform the like.-Die, die, Lavinia, and thy shame with thee;

[He kills LAVINIA.

Luc. Can the son's eye behold his father bleed? There's meed for meed, death for a deadly deed. [Kills SATURNINUS. A great tumult. The people in confusion disperse. MARCUS, LUCIUS, and their partisans, ascend the steps before Tirus's house. Mar. You sad-faced men, people and sons of Rome,

By uproar 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 mutual sheaf,
These broken limbs again into one body.

Sen, Lest Rome herself be bane unto herself;
And she whom mighty kingdoms courtesy to,
Like a forlorn and desperate cast-away,
Do shameful execution on herself.
But if my frosty signs and chaps of age,
Grave witnesses of true experience,
Cannot induce you to attend my words,-
Speak, Rome's dear friend [to LUCIUS], as erst
our ancestor,

When with his solemn tongue he did discourse
To love-sick Dido's sad attending ear,
The story of that baleful burning night,
When subtle Greeks surprised King Priam's Troy;
Tell us what Sinon hath bewitched 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,

But floods of tears will drown my oratory
And break my very utterance, even i' the time
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,
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 cozened
Of that true hand that fought Rome's quarrel out,
And sent her enemies unto the grave,
Lastly, myself unkindly 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 the 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 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,
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,

[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;
The villain is alive in Titus' house,
Damned 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 ought amiss? Shew 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,
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.

Emil. 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. Rom. [several speak.] Lucius, all hail; Rome's royal emperor ! [LUCIUS, &c., descend. Mar. Go, go into old Titus' sorrowful house; [To an ATTENDANT. And hither hale that misbelieving Moor, To be adjudged some direful slaughtering death, As punishment for his most wicked life.

Rom. [Several speak.] Lucius, all hail; Rome's gracious governor!

Luc. Thanks, gentle Romans; may I govern