Publius, come hither, Caius, and Valentine.

Enter PUBLIUS, CAIUS, and VALENTINE

PUBLIUS. What is your will?

t.i.tUS. Know you these two?

PUBLIUS. The Empress' sons, I take them: Chiron, Demetrius.

t.i.tUS. Fie, Publius, fie! thou art too much deceiv'd.

The one is Murder, and 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 [They lay hold on CHIRON and DEMETRIUS]

CHIRON. Villains, forbear! we are the Empress' sons.

PUBLIUS. 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 t.i.tUS ANDRONICUS with a knife, and LAVINIA, with a basin

t.i.tUS. Come, come, Lavinia; look, thy foes are bound.

Sirs, stop their mouths, let them not speak to me; But let them hear what fearful words I utter.

O villains, Chiron and Demetrius!

Here stands the spring whom you have stain'd with mud; This goodly summer with your winter mix'd.

You kill'd her husband; and for that vile fault Two of her brothers were condemn'd 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 chast.i.ty, Inhuman traitors, you constrain'd and forc'd.

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, Whiles 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 us'd my daughter, And worse than Progne I will be reveng'd.

And now prepare your throats. Lavinia, come, 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 bak'd.

Come, come, be every one officious To make this banquet, which I wish may prove More stern and b.l.o.o.d.y than the Centaurs' feast.

[He cuts their throats]

So.

Now bring them in, for I will play the cook, And see them ready against their mother comes.

Exeunt, bearing the dead bodies

SCENE III.

The court of t.i.tUS' house

Enter Lucius, MARCUS, and the GOTHS, with AARON prisoner, and his CHILD in the arms of an attendant

LUCIUS. Uncle Marcus, since 'tis my father's mind That I repair to Rome, I am content.

FIRST GOTH. And ours with thine, befall what fortune will.

LUCIUS. Good uncle, take you in this barbarous Moor, This ravenous tiger, this accursed devil; Let him receive no sust'nance, 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.

AARON. Some devil whisper curses in my ear, And prompt me that my tongue may utter forth The venomous malice of my swelling heart!

LUCIUS. Away, inhuman dog, unhallowed slave!

Sirs, help our uncle to convey him in.

Exeunt GOTHS with AARON. Flourish within The trumpets show the Emperor is at hand.

Sound trumpets. Enter SATURNINUS and TAMORA, with AEMILIUS, TRIBUNES, SENATORS, and others

SATURNINUS. What, hath the firmament more suns than one?

LUCIUS. What boots it thee to can thyself a sun?

MARCUS. Rome's Emperor, and nephew, break the parle; These quarrels must be quietly debated.

The feast is ready which the careful t.i.tus Hath ordain'd to an honourable end, For peace, for love, for league, and good to Rome.

Please you, therefore, draw nigh and take your places.

SATURNINUS. Marcus, we will.

[A table brought in. The company sit down]

Trumpets sounding, enter t.i.tUS like a cook, placing the dishes, and LAVINIA with a veil over her face; also YOUNG LUCIUS, and others

t.i.tUS. Welcome, my 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.

SATURNINUS. Why art thou thus attir'd, Andronicus?

t.i.tUS. Because I would be sure to have all well To entertain your Highness and your Empress.

TAMORA. We are beholding to you, good Andronicus.

t.i.tUS. 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 enforc'd, stain'd, and deflower'd?

SATURNINUS. It was, Andronicus.

t.i.tUS. Your reason, mighty lord.

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

t.i.tUS. 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 her]

And with thy shame thy father's sorrow die!

SATURNINUS. What hast thou done, unnatural and unkind?

t.i.tUS. Kill'd her for whom my tears have made me blind.

I am as woeful as Virginius was, And have a thousand times more cause than he To do this outrage; and it now is done.

SATURNINUS. What, was she ravish'd? Tell who did the deed.

t.i.tUS. Will't please you eat? Will't please your Highness feed?

TAMORA. Why hast thou slain thine only daughter thus?

t.i.tUS. 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.

SATURNINUS. Go, fetch them hither to us presently.

t.i.tUS. Why, there they are, both baked in this 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.

[He stabs the EMPRESS]

SATURNINUS. Die, frantic wretch, for this accursed deed!

[He stabs t.i.tUS]

LUCIUS. Can the son's eye behold his father bleed?

There's meed for meed, death for a deadly deed.

[He stabs SATURNINUS. A great tumult. LUCIUS, MARCUS, and their friends go up into the balcony]

MARCUS. You sad-fac'd men, people and sons of Rome, By uproars sever'd, as a flight of fowl Scatter'd 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; Lest Rome herself be bane unto herself, And she whom mighty kingdoms curtsy to, Like a forlorn and desperate castaway, 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, [To Lucius] Speak, Rome's dear friend, 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 surpris'd King Priam's Troy.

Tell us what Sinon hath bewitch'd 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 utt'rance, even in the time When it should move ye to attend me most, And force you to commiseration.

Here's Rome's young Captain, let him tell the tale; While I stand by and weep to hear him speak.