And nothing grieves me heartily indeed, 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! Trot, like a servile footman, all day long, Luc. Sirs, stop his mouth, and let him speak no 'Cause they take vengeance on such kind of men. SCENE II.-Rome. Before Titus's House. Tam. Thus, in this strange and sad habiliment, I will encounter with Andronicus; And say, I am Revenge, sent from below, Tit. Who doth molest my contemplation? Tam. Titus, I am come to talk with thee. 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, Tam. I am; therefore come down and welcome 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 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 cave: And, when thy car is loaden with their heads, I will dismount, and by the waggon wheel 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; [Exit Tires, from above Enter TITUS. Tit. Long have I been forlorn, and all for thee. Welcome, dread fury, to my woeful 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, Andronicus Dem. Show me a murderer, I'll deal with him. Chi. Show me a villain, that hath done a rape, And I am sent to be reveng'd on him. Tam. Show me a thousand, that hath done thee wrong, And I will be revenged on them all. Tit. Look round about the wicked streets of And when thou find'st a man that's like thyself, Tam. Well hast thou lesson'd us; this shall we do Go, gentle Marcus, to thy nephew Lucius; Marc. This will I do, and soon return again. Exi 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, Tam. [To her Sons.] What say you, boys! will you abide with him, Whiles I go tell my lord the emperor, Tit. I know them all, though they suppose me mad; And will o'er-reach them in their own devices, [Aside. Dem. Madam, depart at pleasure, leave us here. Tam. Farewell, Andronicus: Revenge now goes To lay a complot to betray thy foes. [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. Pub. Know you these two1 The one is Murder, Rape is the other's name: [Exit TITUS.-PUBLIUS, &c. lay hold on 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 ANDRONICUS, with LAVINIA; she bearing a Bason, and he a Knife. Tit. Come, come, Lavinia; look, thy foes are bound; Sirs, stop their mouths, let them not speak to me: Here stands the spring whom you have stain'd with mud; This goodly summer with your winter mix'd. Both her sweet hands, her tongue, and that, more dear Than hands or tongue, her spotless chastity, And make two pasties of your shameful heads; To make this banquet; which I wish may prove • Crust of a raised ple. 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-A Pavilion, with Tables, &c. Enter LUCIUS, MARCUS, and Goths, with AARON, Prisoner. Luc. Uncle Marcus, since 'tis my father's mind That I repair to Rome, I am content. 1 Goth. And ours, with thine, befall what fortune will. Luc. Good uncle, take you in this barbarous This ravenous tiger, this accursed devil; Aar. Some devil whisper curses in mine ear, [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? Marc. Rome's emperor, and nephew, break the parle ; These quarrels must be quietly debated. 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. 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 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 Andronicus. Tit. Anif 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, stain'd, and deflour'd? Sat. It was, Andronicus. Tit. Your reason, mighty lord? Sal. Because the girl should not survive her shame, And by her presence still renew his sorrows. Tit. A reason mighty, strong, and effectual; [He kills LAVINIA. And, with thy shame, thy father's sorrow die! Sut. What hast thou done, unnatural, and unkind? Tit. Kill'd her, for whom my tears have made me blind. I am as woeful as Virginius was: Sat. What, was she ravish'd? tell, who did the deed. Tit. Will't please you eat? will't please your highness teed? Tam. Why hast thou slain thine only daughter thus? Til. 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. • Of what advantage is it? 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: '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? There's meed for meed, death for a deadly deed. [Kills SATURNINUS. A great Tumult. The By uproar sever'd, like a flight of fowl Sen. Lest Rome herself be bane unto herself; When with his solemn tongue he did discourse But floods of tears will drown my oratory, Were they that murdered our emperor's brother; The gates shut on me, and turn'd weeping out, The issue of an irreligious Moor, Damn'd as he is, to witness this is true. Have we done aught amiss? Show us wherein, Will, hand-in-hand, all headlong cast us down, 42 And make a mutual closure of our house. Speak, Romans, speak; and, if you say, we shali, 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. Marc. Go, go into old Titus' sorrowful house; [To an Attendant And hither hale that misbelieving Moor, To be adjudg'd some direful slaughtering death, As punishment for his most wicked life. Rom. [Several speak.] Lucius, all hail; Rome'ɛ 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,For nature puts me to a heavy task;— 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, [Kisses 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. Luc. Come hither, boy; come, come, and learn of us To melt in showers: Thy grandsire lov'd thee well: Many a time he danced thee on his knee, Enter Attendants, with AARON. 1 Rom. 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. There let him stand, and rave and cry for food; For the offence he dies. This is our doom: I am no baby, I, that, with base prayers, Luc. Some loving friends convey the emperor hence, And give him burial in his father's grave: As for that heinous tiger, Tamora, No funeral rite, nor man in mournful weeds, That the reader may know through how many regions the scene of this drama is dispersed, it is necessary to observe that Antioch was the metropolis of Syria; Tyre, a city of Phoenicia, in Asia; Tharsus, the metropolis of Cilicia, a country of Asia Minor; Mitylene, the capital of Lesbos, an is.and in the Ægean Sea; and Ephesus, the capital of Ionia, a country of the Lesser Asia. ACT I. Enter Gower. Before the Palace of Antioch. To sing a song of old2 was sung, To glad your ear, and please your eyes. On ember-eves, and holy ales:3 If you, born in these latter times, When wit's more ripe, accept my rhymes, (I tell you what mine authors say:) borus, in the character of Gower, an ancient English poet who has related the story of this play in his ComJesse Amantis. i. e. That of old. Whitsun-ales, &c. Vife: the word signifies a mate or companion. Accounted. SCENE I.-Antioch. A Room in the Palace. Enter ANTIOCHUS, PERICLES, and Attendants. Ant. Young prince of Tyre, you have at large receiv'd The danger of the task you undertake. Per. I have, Antiochus, and with a soul Embolden'd with the glory of her praise, Think death no hazard, in this enterprise. [Music. Ant. Bring in our daughter, clothed like a bride, For the embracements even of Jove himself; At whose conception, (till Lucina reign'd,) Nature this dowry gave to glad her presence, The senate-house of planets all did sit, To knit in her their best perfections. Enter the Daughter of Antiochus. Per. See, where she comes, apparell'd like the spring, Graces her subjects, and her thoughts the king Pointing to the scene of the palace gate at Antioch, on which the heads of those unfortunate wights were fid. Ye gods, that made me man, and sway in love, Or die in the adventure, be my helps, As I am son and servant to your will, Per. That would be son to great Antiochus. Tell thee with speechless tongues, and semblance pale, That, without covering, save yon field of stars, Per. Antiochus, I thank thee, who hath taught [To the Daughter of Antiochus. Thus ready for the way of life or death, I wait the sharpest blow, Antiochus, Scorning advice. Ant. Read the conclusion, then; Which read, and not expounded, 'tis decreed, As these before thee, thou thyself shalt bleed. Daugh. In all, save that, may'st thou prove prosperous! In all, save that, I wish thee happiness! Per. Like a bold champion, I assume the lists, Nor ask advice of any other thought But faithfulness and courage. [He reads the Riddle.] I am no viper, yet I feed On mother's flesh, which did me breed: Snarp physic is the last: but O you powers! [Takes hold of the Hand of the Princess. But, being play'd upon before your time, Ant. Prince Pericles, touch not, upon thy life, As dangerous as the rest. Your time's expir'd; Few love to hear the sins they love to act; To stop the air would hurt them. The blind mole casts Cop'd hills towards heaven, to tell, the earth is wrong'd By man's oppression, and the poor worm doth die for't. Kings are earth's gods: in vice their law's their will But I will glozes with him. [Aside.] Young prince of Tyre, Though, by the tenor of our strict edict, [Exeunt ANTIOCHUS, his Daughter, and Per. How courtesy would seem to cover sin! When what is done is like a hypocrite, The which is good in nothing but in sight. If it be true that I interpret false, Then were it certain, you were not so bad, As with foul incest to abuse your soul; Where now you're both a father and a son, By your untimely claspings with your child; (Which pleasure fits a husband, not a father;) And she an eater of her mother's flesh, By the detiling of her parent's bed; And both like serpents are, who though they feed On sweetest flowers, yet they poison breed. Antioch, farewell! for wisdom sees, those men Blush not in actions blacker than the night, Will shun no course to keep them from the light. One sin, I know, another doth provoke; Murder's as near to lust, as flame to smoke. Poison and treason are the hands of sin, Ay, and the targets to put off the shame: Then, lest my life be cropp'd to keep you clear. By flight I'll shun the danger which I fear. [Exit Re-enter ANTIOCHUS. Ant. He hath found the meaning, for the which |