Tit: Lavinia, wer't thou thus surpriz'd, s
Ravish'd, and wrong'd, as Philomela was,
10 Forc'd in the ruthless, vast, and gloomy wood
See, see!-
Tit. She loves thee, boy, too well to do thee 15
Boy. Ay, when my father was in Rome, she did.
Marc. What means my niece Lavinia by these
[mean:-
Ay, such a place there is, where we did hunt,
(0, had we never, never, hunted there!)
Pattern'd by that the poet here describes,
By nature made for murders, and for rapes.
Marc. O, why should nature build so foul a
Unless the gods delight in tragedies!
Tit. Give signs, sweet girl, for here are
but friends,-
20 What Roman lord it was durst do the deed Or slunk not Saturnine, as Tarquin erst, That left the camp to sin in Lucrece' bed? Marc. Sit down, sweet niece;-brother down by me.
Tit. Fear her not, Lucius:-Somewhat doth she
See, Lucius, see, how much she makes of thee:
Some whither would she have thee go with her.
Ah, boy, Cornelia never with more care
Read to her sons, than she hath read to thee,
Sweet poetry, and Tully's oratory.
Canst thou not guess wherefore she plies thee thus: 25
Boy. My lord, I know not, I, nor can I guess,
Unless some fit of phrenzy do possess her:
For I have heard my grandsire say full oft,
Extremity of griefs would make men mad;
And I have read, that Hecuba of Troy
Ran mad through sorrow; That made me to fear;
Although, my lord, I know, my noble aunt
Loves me as dear as e'er my mother did,
And would not, but in fury, fright my youth:
Which made me down to throw my books, and fly; 35
Causeless, perhaps : But pardon me, sweet aunt:
And, madam, if my uncle Marcus go,
I will most willingly attend your ladyship.
Tit. How now, Lavinia?-Marcus, what means 40
Some book there is that she desires to see:-
Which is it, girl, of these? Open them, boy.-
But thou art decper read, and better skill'd;
Come, and take choice of all my library,
And so beguile thy sorrow, 'till the heavens
Reveal the damnn'd contriver of this deed.-
Why lifts she up her arms in sequence thus?
Marc. I think, she means, that there was more
Apollo, Pallas, Jove, or Mercury,
Inspire me, that I may this treason find!-
My lord, look here;-look here, Lavinia :
[He writes his name with his staff
guides it with his feet and mouth
This sandy plot is plain; guide, if thou can
This after me, when I have writ my name
Without the help of any hand at all.
Curs'd be that heart, that forc'd us to this sh
Write thou, good niece; and here display a
What God will have discover'd for revenge
Heaven guide thy pen to print thy sorrows
That we may know the traitors, and the tru
[She takes the staff in her mouth, and it with her stumps, and writes. Tit. O, do you read, my lord, what she hat Stuprum Chiron Demetrius.
Marc. What, what!-the lustful sons of T
Performers of this hateful bloody deed?
45 Tit. -Magne Dominator Poli,
Tam lentus audis scelera? tam lentus vides
Marc. O, calm thee, gentle lord! altho
Confederate in the fact;-Ay, more there was:-50
Or else to heaven she heaves them for revenge.
Tit. Lucius, what book is that she tosseth so?
Boy. Grandsire, 'tis Ovid's Metamorphosis;
My mother gave it me.
Marc. For love of her that's gone,
Perhaps she cull'd it from among the rest.
Tit. Soft! soft! how busily she turns the leaves!]
There is enough written upon this earth, To stir a mutiny in the mildest thoughts, And arm the minds of infants to exclaims. My lord, kneel down with me; Lavinia, k And kneel, sweet boy, the Roman Hector's And swear with me,-as with the woeful fo 55 And father, of that chaste dishonour'd dam Lord Junius Brutus sware for Lucrece' rap That we will prosecute, by good advice,
To gratify your honourable youth, The hope of Rome; for so he bade me say; And so I do, and with his gifts present Your lordships, that whenever you have need, 5 You may be armed and appointed well: And so I leave you both, [Aside] like bloody [Exit. Dem. What's here? A scroll; and written round about?
Mortal revenge upon these traiterous Goths,
And see their blood, or die with this reproach.
Tim. 'Tis sure enough, an you knew how.
But if you hurt these bear-whelps, then beware:
The dam will wake; and, if she wind you once,
She's with the lion deeply still in league,
And lulls him while she playeth on her back,
And, when he sleeps, will she do what she list.
You're a young huntsman, Marcus; let it alone;
And, come, I will go get a leaf of brass,
And with a gad of steel will write these words,
And lay it by: the angry northern wind
Will blow these sands, like Sybil's leaves, abroad,
And where's your lesson then?-Boy, what say
Boy. I say, my lord, that if I were a man, [you? 15
Their mother's bed-chamber should not be safe
For these bad bond-men to the yoke of Rome.
Marc. Ay, that's my boy! thy father hath full
For this ungrateful country done the like.
Boy. And, uncle, so will I, an if I live.
Tit. Come, go with me into my armoury;
Lucius, I'll fit thee; and withal, my boy
Shall carry from me to the emperess' sons
Presents, that I intend to send them both:
Come, come; thou 'lt do my message, wilt thou 25
Boy. Ay, with my dagger in their bosom, grand-
Tit. No, no, boy, not so; l'll teach thee ano-
ther course.
Lavinia, come:-Marcus, look to my house;
Lucius and I'll go brave it at the court;
Ay, marry, will we, sir; and we'll be waited on.
[Exeunt.
Integer vita, scelerisque purus,
Non eget Mauri juculis nec arcu.
Chi. O, 'tis a verse in Horace; I know it well:
read it in the grammar long ago.
[have it.
Aar. Ay, just;-a verse in Horace ;—right, you
Now, what a thing it is to be an ass!
Here's no fond jest: the old man hath
found their guilt;
And sends the weapons wrapp'd about
with lines,
That wound, beyond their feeling, to [Aside.
the quick.
But were our witty emperess well a-foot,
She would applaud Andronicus' conceit.
But let her rest in her untest a-while.
And now, young lords, was 't not a happy stať
Led us to Rome, strangers, and, more than so,
Captives, to be advanced to this height?
it did me good, before the palace gate
36 To brave the tribune in his brother's hearing.
Dem. But me more good, to see so great a lord
Basely insinuate, and send us gifts.
Marc. O heavens, can you hear a good man
And not relent, or not compassionate him? [groan,|35||
Marcus, attend him in his ecstacy;
That hath more scars of sorrow in his heart,
Than foe-men's marks upon his batter'd shield:
But yet so just, that he will not revenge :-
Revenge the heavens for old Andronicus! [Exit. 40
SCENE II.
Changes to the Palace.
Enter Aaron, Chiron, and Demetrius, at one door;
and at another door, young Lucius and another, 43
with a bundle of weapons, and verses writ upon
them.
Chi. Demetrius, here's the son of Lucius; He hath some message to deliver to us.
Aar. Ay, some mad message from his mad 50 grandfather.
Boy. My lords, with all the humbleness I may, I greet your honours from Andronicus ;And pray the Roman gods, confound you both. [Aside. 55 Dem. Gramercy', lovely Lucius; What's the [news,
Boy. That you are both decypher'd, that's the For villains mark'd with rape. [Aside.] May
My grandsire, well-advis'd, hath sent by me
The goodliest weapons of his armoury,
Aur. Had he not reason, lord Demetrius ?
Did you not use his daughter very friendly?
Dem. I would, we had a thousand Roman dames
At such a bay, by turn to serve our lust.
Chi. A charitable wish, and full of love.
Aar. Here lacketh but your mother to say Amen.
Chi. And that would she for twenty thousand
Dem. Come, let us go; and pray to all the gods
For our beloved mother in her pains.
Aar. Pray to the devils; the gods have given
us o'er.
[Aside. Flourish.
Dem. Why do the emperor's trumpets flourish
thus?
Chi. Belike, for joy the emperor hath a son.
Dem. Soft; who comes here?
Enter Nurse, with a Black-a-moor Child.
Nurse. Good-morrow, lords:
O tell me, did you see Aaron the Moor?
Aar. Well, more or less, or ne'er a whit at all.
Here Aaron is; and what with Aaron now?
Nurse. O gentle Aaron, we are all undone !
Now help, or woe betide thee evermore!
Aar. Why, what a caterwauling dost thou keep?
What dost thou wrap and fumble in thine arms?
Nurse. O, that which I would hide from heaven's
[grace ;-
60 Our emperess' shame, and stately Rome's dis
She is deliver'd, lords, she is deliver'd.
Aar. To whom?
1 i. e. grand merci; great thanks,
Nurse. I mean, she is brought to bed.
Aar. Well, God
Give her good rest! What hath he sent her?
Nurse. A devil.
Aar. Why, then she is the devil's dam; a joyful 5
Nurse. A joyless, dismal, black, and sorrowful
Here is the babe, as loathsome as a toad [issue:
Amongst the fairest breeders of our clime.
The emperess sends it thee, thy stamp, thy seal,
And bids thee christen it with thy dagger's point. 10
Aar. Out, out, you whore! is black so base a
Sweet blowse, you are a beauteous blossom, sure.
Dem. Villain, what hast thou done?
Aar. That which thou
Canst not undo.
Chi. Thou hast undone our mother.
Aar. Villain, I have done thy mother.
Dem. And therein, hellish dog, thou hast undone.
Woe to her chance, and damn'd her loathed choice!
Accurs'd the offspring of so foul a fiend!
Chi. It shall not live.
Aar. It shall not die.
[Look, how the black slave smiles upon th As who should say, Old lad, I am thine o He is your brother, lords; sensibly fed And, from that womb,where you imprison Of that self-blood that first gave life to yo Nay, he's your brother by the surer side, He is infranchised and come to light: Although my seal is stamped in his face. Nurse. Aaron, what shall I say unto the em
Dem. Advise thee, Aaron, what is to be And we will all subscribe to thy advice; Save you the child, so we may all be safe.
Aar. Then sit we down, and let us all c My son and I will have the wind of you: Keep there: now talk at pleasure of your sa Dem. How many women saw this child [They sit on the gr Aar. Why, so, brave lords; When we a 20I am a lamb: but if you brave the Moor, in league, The chafed boar, the mountain lioness, The ocean swells not so as Aaron storms.But, say again, how many saw the child?
Nurse. Aaron, it must; the mother wills it so.
Aar. What, must it, nurse? then let no man but I, 25
Dó execution on my flesh and blood. [point:
Dem. I'll broach the tadpole on my rapier's
Nurse, give it me; my sword shall soon dispatch it.
Aar.Sooner this sword shall plough thy bowels up.
Stay, murd'rous villains! will you kill your bro-30
Now, by the burning tapers of the sky,
That shone so brightly when this boy was got,
[ther?
He dies upon my scymitar's sharp point,
That touches this my first-born son and heir!
I tell you, younglings, not Enceladus,
With all his threat'ning band of Typhon's brood,
Nor great Alcides, nor the god of war,
Shall seize this prey out of his father's hands.
What, what, ye sanguine, shallow-hearted boys!
Ye white-lim'd walls! ye alehouse painted signs
Coal-black is better than another hue,
In that it scorns to bear another hue:
For all the water in the ocean
Can never turn the swan's black legs to white,
Although she lave them hourly in the flood.-
Tell the emperess from me, I am of age
To keep mine own; excuse it how she can.
Dem. Wilt thou betray thy noble mistress thus
Aar. My mistress is my mistress; this, myself;
The vigour, and the picture of my youth:
This, before all the world, do I prefer;
This, maugre all the world, will I keep safe,
Or some of you shall smoke for it in Rome.
And no one else, but the deliver'd emperess.
Nurse. Cornelia the midwife, and myself,
Aar.The emperess, the midwife, and yourse
Two may keep counsel, when the third's aw
Go to the emperess; tell her this I said :-
Weke, weke!-so cries a pig, prepar'd to the
[He kills
Dem. What mean'st thou, Aaron? Where
didst thou this?
Aar. O lord, sir, 'tis a deed of policy: Shall she live to betray this guilt of ours? 35 A long-tongu'd babbling gossip! no, lords, n And now be it known to you my full intent. Not far, one Muliteus lives, my countryman; His wife but yesternight was brought to-bed; 40 Go pack with him, and give the mother gold His child is like to her, fair as you are: And tell them both the circumstance of all; And how by this their child shall be advanc'd, And be received for the emperor's heir, And substituted in the place of mine, 45To calm this tempest whirling in the court; And let the emperor dandle him for his own. Hark ye,my lords; yesee, I have given her physic And you must needs bestow her funeral ; [Pointing to the Nurs 50The fields are near, and you are gallant grooms This done, see that you take no longer days,
Dem. By this, our mother is for ever sham'd.
Chi. Rome will despise her for this foul escape. 55
Nurse. The emperor, in his rage, will doom
her death.
Chi. I blush to think
Aar. Why there's the privilege your beauty
this ignomy. [bears:
Fye,treacherous hue! that will betray with blushing 6
The close enacts and counsels of the heart!
Here is a young lad fram'd of another leer 3:
'To do is here used obscenely
But send the midwife presently to me.
The midwife, and the nurse, well made away,
Then let the ladies tattie what they please.
Chi. Aaron, I see, thou wilt not trust the air
With secrets.
Dem. For this care of Tamora,
Herself, and hers, are highly bound to thee.
[Exeunt
Aar. Now to the Goths, as swift as swallow flies
There to dispose this treasure in my arms,
And secretly to greet the emperess' friends.-
Yet there's as little justice as at land:-
No; Publius and Sempronius, you must do it;
"Tis you must dig with mattock, and with spade,
And pierce the inmost centre of the earth;
Then, when you come to Pluto's region,
I pray you, deliver him this petition:
Tell him, it is for justice, and for aid;
And that it comes from old Andronicus,
Shaken with sorrows in ungrateful Rome.-
Ah, Rome!-Well, well; Imade thee miserable,
What time I threw the people's suffrages
On him that thus doth tyrannize o'er me.—
Go, get you gone; and pray be careful all,
And leave you not a man of war unsearch'd;
This wicked emperor may have shipp'd her hence,
And, kinsmen, then we may go pipe for justice.
Marc. O, Publius, is not this a heavy case,
To see thy noble uncle thus distract?
Pub. Therefore, my lord, it highly us con
By day and night to attend him carefully;
And feed his humour kindly as we may,
'Till time beget some careful remedy.
well said, Luc Good boy, in Virgo's la Marc. My lord, I am Your letter is with Jupit Tit: Ha! Publius, Pub See, see, thou hast shot Marc. This was the sp lius shot,
The bull being gall'd, g That down fell both the 30 And who should find the lain?
Sirrah, what tidings? hay 40 Shall I have justice? wha
Marc. Kinsmen, his sorrows are past remedy.
Join with the Goths; and with revengeful war
Take wreak on Rome for this ingratitude,
And vengeance on the traitor Saturnine. [ters; 50
Tit. Publius, how now? how now, my mas-
What, have you met with her?
[word,
Pub. No, my good lord; but Pluto sends you
If you will have revenge from hell, you shall:
Marry, for Justice, she is so employ'd, [else, 55
He thinks with Jove in heaven, or somewhere
So that perforce you needs must stay a time.
Tit. He doth me wrong, to feed me with delays.
I'll dive into the burning lake below,
And pull her out of Acheron by the heels.-
Marcus, we are but shrubs, no cedars we;
No big-bon❜d men, fram'd of the Cyclops' size;
Clown. Ho! the gibbet hath taken them down as not be hang'd 'till the ne Tit. Tut, what says Jup Clown. Alas, sir, I kn drank with him in all my Tit. Why, villain, art n Clown. Ay, of my pige Tit. Why, didst thou no Clown. From heaven? there: God forbid, I sho to heaven in my young d with my pigeons to the tr up a matter of brawl betw of the emperial's men.
Marc. Why, sir, that serve for your oration; an pigeons to the emperor fro Tit. Tell me, can you de emperor with a grace? Clown. Nay, truly, sir, I fin all my life.
1 The Clown means to say, to the tribune of the people.
Tit. Sirrah, come hither; make no more ado,
But give your pigeons to the emperor:
By me thou shalt have justice at his hands.
Hold, hold; mean while, here's money for thy
Give me a pen and ink.-
[charges. 5
Sirrah, can you with a grace deliver a supplication?
Clown. Ay, sir.
Tit. Then here is a supplication for you. And
when you come to him, at the first approach, you
must kneel; then kiss his foot; then deliver up 10
your pigeons; and then look for your reward.
I'll be at hand, sir; see you do it bravely.
Clown. I warrant you, sir: let me alone.
Tit. Sirrah, hast thou a knife? Come, let me see
Here, Marcus, fold it in the oration;
15
For thou hast made it like an humble suppliant:-
And when thou hast given it to the emperor,
Knock at my door, and tell me what he says.
Clown. God be with you, sir; I will.
Tit. Come, Marcus, let us go:-Publius, follow 20
[Exeunt.
Enter Emperor, and Emperess, and her two sons; the Emperor brings the arrows in his hand, that Titus shot.
Sat. Why, lords, what wrongs are these? Was
An emperor of Rome thus over-borne,
Troubled, confronted thus; and, for the extent
Of legal justice, us'd in such contempt?
My lords, you know, as do the mightful gods,
However the disturbers of our peace
Buz in the people's ears, there nought hath past
But even with law, against the wilful sons
Of old Andronicus. And what an if
His sorrows have so overwhelm'd his wits,
Shall we be thus afflicted in his wreaks',
His fits, his frenzy, and his bitterness?
And now he writes to heaven for his redress:
See, here's to Jove, and this to Mercury;
This to Apollo; this to the god of war:
Sweet scrolls, to fly about the streets of Rome!
What's this, but libelling against the senate,
And blazoning our injustice every where?
A goodly humour, is it not, my lords?
As who would say, in Rome no justice were.
But, if I live, his feigned ecstasies
Shall be no shelter to these outrages:
But he and his shall know, that justice lives
In Saturninus' health; whom, if she sleep,
He'll so awake, as she in fury shall
Cut off the proud'st conspirator that lives.
Tam. My gracious lord, most lovely Saturnine,
Lord of my life, commander of my thoughts,
Calm thee, and bear the faults of Titus' age,
The effects of sorrow for his valiant sons,
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Clown. Yes, forsooth, an your mistership i Tam. Emperess I am, but yonder sits th peror.
Clown. 'Tis he.-God, and saint Stephen you good den:
I have brought you a letter, and a couple geons here. [The Emperor reads the Sat. Go, take him away, and hang hin sently.
Clown. How much money must I have? Tam. Come, sirrah, you must be hang'd Clown. Hang'd! By'r lady, then I have br up a neck to a fair end.
Sat. Despightful and intolerable wrongs 25 Shall I endure this monstrous villainy? I know from whence this same device proce May this be borne?—as if his traitorous son That dy'd by law for murder of our broth Have by my means been butcher'd wrongful 30 Go, drag the villain hither by the hair;
Nor age, nor honour, shall shape privilege
For this proud mock, I'll be thy slaughter-
Sly frantick wretch,that holp'st to make me
In hope thyself should govern Rome and
Enter Æmilius.
Sat. What news with thee, Æmilius?
Æmil. Arm, arm, my lords; Rome neve
more cause!
The Goths have gather'd head; and with a
40 Of high-resolved men, bent to the spoil,
They hither march amain, under conduct
Of Lucius, son to old Andronicus;
Who threats, in course of his revenge, to d
As much as ever Coriolanus did.
Sat. Ay, but the citizens favour Lucius: And will revolt from me, to succour him. [ Tam. King, be thy thoughts imperious, li
Whose loss hath pierc'd him deep and scarr'd his 60 Is the sun dimm'd, that gnats do fly in it?
And rather comfort his distressed plight,
The eagle suffers little birds to sing,
And is not careful what they incan thereb
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