1    Uncle Marcus, since it is my father's mind
2    That I repair to Rome, I am content.

3    And ours with thine, befall what fortune will.

4    Good uncle, take you in this barbarous Moor,
5    This ravenous tiger, this accursed devil;
6    Let him receive no sustenance, fetter him
7    Till he be brought unto the empress' face,
8    For testimony of her foul proceedings:
9    And see the ambush of our friends be strong;
10   I fear the emperor means no good to us.

11   Some devil whisper curses in mine ear,
12   And prompt me, that my tongue may utter forth
13   The venomous malice of my swelling heart!

14   Away, inhuman dog! unhallow'd slave!
15   Sirs, help our uncle to convey him in.
Exeunt Goths, with AARON. Flourish within
16   The trumpets show the emperor is at hand.

17   What, hath the firmament more suns than one?

18   What boots it thee to call thyself a sun?

19   Rome's emperor, and nephew, break the parle;
20   These quarrels must be quietly debated.
21   The feast is ready, which the careful Titus
22   Hath ordain'd to an honourable end,
23   For peace, for love, for league, and good to Rome:
24   Please you, therefore, draw nigh, and take your places.

25   Marcus, we will.

26   Welcome, my gracious lord; welcome, dread queen;
27   Welcome, ye warlike Goths; welcome, Lucius;
28   And welcome, all: although the cheer be poor,
29   'Twill fill your stomachs; please you eat of it.

30   Why art thou thus attired, Andronicus?

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

33   We are beholding to you, good Andronicus.

34   An if your highness knew my heart, you were.
35   My lord the emperor, resolve me this:
36   Was it well done of rash Virginius
37   To slay his daughter with his own right hand,
38   Because she was enforced, stain'd, and deflower'd?

39   It was, Andronicus.

40   Your reason, mighty lord?

41   Because the girl should not survive her shame,
42   And by her presence still renew his sorrows.

43   A reason mighty, strong, and effectual;
44   A pattern, precedent, and lively warrant,
45   For me, most wretched, to perform the like.
46   Die, die, Lavinia, and thy shame with thee;
Kills LAVINIA
47   And, with thy shame, thy father's sorrow die!

48   What hast thou done, unnatural and unkind?

49   Kill'd her, for whom my tears have made me blind.
50   I am as woful as Virginius was,
51   And have a thousand times more cause than he
52   To do this outrage: and it now is done.

53   What, was she ravish'd? tell who did the deed.

54   Will't please you eat? will't please your
55   highness feed?

56   Why hast thou slain thine only daughter thus?

57   Not I; 'twas Chiron and Demetrius:
58   They ravish'd her, and cut away her tongue;
59   And they, 'twas they, that did her all this wrong.

60   Go fetch them hither to us presently.

61   Why, there they are both, baked in that pie;
62   Whereof their mother daintily hath fed,
63   Eating the flesh that she herself hath bred.
64   'Tis true, 'tis true; witness my knife's sharp point.

65   Die, frantic wretch, for this accursed deed!

66   Can the son's eye behold his father bleed?
67   There's meed for meed, death for a deadly deed!

68   You sad-faced men, people and sons of Rome,
69   By uproar sever'd, like a flight of fowl
70   Scatter'd by winds and high tempestuous gusts,
71   O, let me teach you how to knit again
72   This scatter'd corn into one mutual sheaf,
73   These broken limbs again into one body;
74   Lest Rome herself be bane unto herself,
75   And she whom mighty kingdoms court'sy to,
76   Like a forlorn and desperate castaway,
77   Do shameful execution on herself.
78   But if my frosty signs and chaps of age,
79   Grave witnesses of true experience,
80   Cannot induce you to attend my words,
To LUCIUS
81   Speak, Rome's dear friend, as erst our ancestor,
82   When with his solemn tongue he did discourse
83   To love-sick Dido's sad attending ear
84   The story of that baleful burning night
85   When subtle Greeks surprised King Priam's Troy,
86   Tell us what Sinon hath bewitch'd our ears,
87   Or who hath brought the fatal engine in
88   That gives our Troy, our Rome, the civil wound.
89   My heart is not compact of flint nor steel;
90   Nor can I utter all our bitter grief,
91   But floods of tears will drown my oratory,
92   And break my utterance, even in the time
93   When it should move you to attend me most,
94   Lending your kind commiseration.
95   Here is a captain, let him tell the tale;
96   Your hearts will throb and weep to hear him speak.

97   Then, noble auditory, be it known to you,
98   That cursed Chiron and Demetrius
99   Were they that murdered our emperor's brother;
100  And they it were that ravished our sister:
101  For their fell faults our brothers were beheaded;
102  Our father's tears despised, and basely cozen'd
103  Of that true hand that fought Rome's quarrel out,
104  And sent her enemies unto the grave.
105  Lastly, myself unkindly banished,
106  The gates shut on me, and turn'd weeping out,
107  To beg relief among Rome's enemies:
108  Who drown'd their enmity in my true tears.
109  And oped their arms to embrace me as a friend.
110  I am the turned forth, be it known to you,
111  That have preserved her welfare in my blood;
112  And from her bosom took the enemy's point,
113  Sheathing the steel in my adventurous body.
114  Alas, you know I am no vaunter, I;
115  My scars can witness, dumb although they are,
116  That my report is just and full of truth.
117  But, soft! methinks I do digress too much,
118  Citing my worthless praise: O, pardon me;
119  For when no friends are by, men praise themselves.

120  Now is my turn to speak. Behold this child:
Pointing to the Child in the arms of an Attendant
121  Of this was Tamora delivered;
122  The issue of an irreligious Moor,
123  Chief architect and plotter of these woes:
124  The villain is alive in Titus' house,
125  And as he is, to witness this is true.
126  Now judge what cause had Titus to revenge
127  These wrongs, unspeakable, past patience,
128  Or more than any living man could bear.
129  Now you have heard the truth, what say you, Romans?
130  Have we done aught amiss,--show us wherein,
131  And, from the place where you behold us now,
132  The poor remainder of Andronici
133  Will, hand in hand, all headlong cast us down.
134  And on the ragged stones beat forth our brains,
135  And make a mutual closure of our house.
136  Speak, Romans, speak; and if you say we shall,
137  Lo, hand in hand, Lucius and I will fall.

138  Come, come, thou reverend man of Rome,
139  And bring our emperor gently in thy hand,
140  Lucius our emperor; for well I know
141  The common voice do cry it shall be so.

142  Lucius, all hail, Rome's royal emperor!

143  Go, go into old Titus' sorrowful house,
To Attendants
144  And hither hale that misbelieving Moor,
145  To be adjudged some direful slaughtering death,
146  As punishment for his most wicked life.

147  Lucius, all hail, Rome's gracious governor!

148  Thanks, gentle Romans: may I govern so,
149  To heal Rome's harms, and wipe away her woe!
150  But, gentle people, give me aim awhile,
151  For nature puts me to a heavy task:
152  Stand all aloof: but, uncle, draw you near,
153  To shed obsequious tears upon this trunk.
154  O, take this warm kiss on thy pale cold lips,
Kissing TITUS
155  These sorrowful drops upon thy blood-stain'd face,
156  The last true duties of thy noble son!

157  Tear for tear, and loving kiss for kiss,
158  Thy brother Marcus tenders on thy lips:
159  O were the sum of these that I should pay
160  Countless and infinite, yet would I pay them!

161  Come hither, boy; come, come, and learn of us
162  To melt in showers: thy grandsire loved thee well:
163  Many a time he danced thee on his knee,
164  Sung thee asleep, his loving breast thy pillow:
165  Many a matter hath he told to thee,
166  Meet and agreeing with thine infancy;
167  In that respect, then, like a loving child,
168  Shed yet some small drops from thy tender spring,
169  Because kind nature doth require it so:
170  Friends should associate friends in grief and woe:
171  Bid him farewell; commit him to the grave;
172  Do him that kindness, and take leave of him.

173  O grandsire, grandsire! even with all my heart
174  Would I were dead, so you did live again!
175  O Lord, I cannot speak to him for weeping;
176  My tears will choke me, if I ope my mouth.

177  You sad Andronici, have done with woes:
178  Give sentence on this execrable wretch,
179  That hath been breeder of these dire events.

180  Set him breast-deep in earth, and famish him;
181  There let him stand, and rave, and cry for food;
182  If any one relieves or pities him,
183  For the offence he dies. This is our doom:
184  Some stay to see him fasten'd in the earth.

185  O, why should wrath be mute, and fury dumb?
186  I am no baby, I, that with base prayers
187  I should repent the evils I have done:
188  Ten thousand worse than ever yet I did
189  Would I perform, if I might have my will;
190  If one good deed in all my life I did,
191  I do repent it from my very soul.

192  Some loving friends convey the emperor hence,
193  And give him burial in his father's grave:
194  My father and Lavinia shall forthwith
195  Be closed in our household's monument.
196  As for that heinous tiger, Tamora,
197  No funeral rite, nor man m mourning weeds,
198  No mournful bell shall ring her burial;
199  But throw her forth to beasts and birds of prey:
200  Her life was beast-like, and devoid of pity;
201  And, being so, shall have like want of pity.
202  See justice done on Aaron, that damn'd Moor,
203  By whom our heavy haps had their beginning:
204  Then, afterwards, to order well the state,
205  That like events may ne'er it ruinate.