William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition (96 page)
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Authors: William Shakespeare
Tags: #Drama, #Literary Criticism, #Shakespeare
BOOK: William Shakespeare: The Complete Works 2nd Edition
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LUCIUS
Sirs, stop his mouth, and let him speak no more.
Goths gag Aaron.
Enter Aemilius
A
GOTH
GOTH
My lord, there is a messenger from Rome
Desires to be admitted to your presence.
Desires to be admitted to your presence.
LUCIUS Let him come near.
Welcome, Aemilius. What’s the news from Rome?
AEMILIUS
Lord Lucius, and you princes of the Goths,
The Roman Emperor greets you all by me,
And for he understands you are in arms,
He craves a parley at your father’s house,
Willing you to demand your hostages,
And they shall be immediately delivered.
The Roman Emperor greets you all by me,
And for he understands you are in arms,
He craves a parley at your father’s house,
Willing you to demand your hostages,
And they shall be immediately delivered.
A GOTH What says our general?
LUCIUS
Aemilius, let the Emperor give his pledges
Unto my father and my uncle Marcus,
And we will come. Away!
Unto my father and my uncle Marcus,
And we will come. Away!
⌈
Flourish.
⌉ Exeunt ⌈
marching
⌉
5.2Flourish.
⌉ Exeunt ⌈
marching
⌉
Enter Tamora and Chiron and Demetrius, her two sons, disguised
TAMORA
Thus, in this strange and sad habiliment,
I will encounter with Andronicus
And say I am Revenge, sent from below
To join with him and right his heinous wrongs.
Knock at his study, where they say he keeps
To ruminate strange plots of dire revenge.
Tell him Revenge is come to join with him
And work confusion on his enemies.
I will encounter with Andronicus
And say I am Revenge, sent from below
To join with him and right his heinous wrongs.
Knock at his study, where they say he keeps
To ruminate strange plots of dire revenge.
Tell him Revenge is come to join with him
And work confusion on his enemies.
They knock, and Titus
⌈
aloft
⌉
opens his study door
TITUS
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.
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.
TAMORA
Titus, I am come to talk with thee.
TITUS
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.
Wanting a hand to give it action?
Thou hast the odds of me, therefore no more.
TAMORA
If thou didst know me thou wouldst talk with me.
TITUS
I am not mad, I know thee well enough;
Witness this wretched stump, witness 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?
Witness this wretched stump, witness 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?
TAMORA
Know, thou sad man, I am not Tamora.
She is thy enemy, and I thy friend.
I am Revenge, sent from th’nfernal 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 or 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.
She is thy enemy, and I thy friend.
I am Revenge, sent from th’nfernal 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 or 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.
TITUS
Art thou Revenge, and art thou sent to me
To be a torment to mine enemies?
To be a torment to mine enemies?
TAMORA
I am; therefore come down, and welcome me.
TITUS
Do me some service ere I come to thee.
Lo by thy side where Rape and Murder stands.
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 globe,
Provide two 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 thy 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.
Lo by thy side where Rape and Murder stands.
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 globe,
Provide two 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 thy 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.
TAMORA
These are my ministers, and come with me.
TITUS
Are they thy ministers? What are they called?
TAMORA
Rape and Murder, therefore called so
‘Cause they take vengeance of such kind of men.
‘Cause they take vengeance of such kind of men.
TITUS
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
⌈
aloft
⌉
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
⌈
aloft
⌉
TAMORA
This closing with him fits his lunacy.
Whate’er I forge to feed his brainsick humours
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.
Whate’er I forge to feed his brainsick humours
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, below
TITUS
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?
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?
TAMORA
What wouldst thou have us do, Andronicus?
DEMETRIUS
Show me a murderer, I’ll deal with him.
CHIRON
Show me a villain that hath done a rape,
And I am sent to be revenged on him.
And I am sent to be revenged on him.
TAMORA
Show me a thousand that hath done thee wrong,
And I will be revenged on them all.
And I will be revenged on them all.
TITUS (
to Demetrius
)
to Demetrius
)
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.
(
To Chiron
) 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.
(
To Tamora)
Go thou with them, and in the Emperor’s
court
There is a queen attended by a Moor.
Well shalt thou know her by thine own proportion,
For up and down she doth resemble thee.
And when thou find’st a man that’s like thyself,
Good Murder, stab him; he’s a murderer.
(
To Chiron
) 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.
(
To Tamora)
Go thou with them, and in the Emperor’s
court
There is a queen attended by a Moor.
Well shalt thou know her by thine 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.
They have been violent to me and mine.
TAMORA
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?
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?
TITUS
Marcus, my brother! ’Tis sad Titus calls.
Enter Marcus
Go, gentle Marcus, to thy nephew Lucius.
Thou shalt enquire him out among the Goths.
Bid him repair to me, and bring with him
Some of the chiefest princes of the Goths.
Bid him encamp his soldiers where they are.
Tell him the Emperor and the Empress too
Feast at my house, and he shall feast with them.
This do thou for my love, and so let him,
As he regards his aged father’s life.
Thou shalt enquire him out among the Goths.
Bid him repair to me, and bring with him
Some of the chiefest princes of the Goths.
Bid him encamp his soldiers where they are.
Tell him the Emperor and the Empress too
Feast at my house, and he shall feast with them.
This do thou for my love, and so let him,
As he regards his aged father’s life.
MARCUS
This will I do, and soon return again. Exit
TAMORA
Now will I hence about thy business,
And take my ministers along with me.
And take my ministers along with me.
TITUS
Nay, nay, let Rape and Murder stay with me,
Or else I’ll call my brother back again,
And cleave to no revenge but Lucius.
Or else I’ll call my brother back again,
And cleave to no revenge but Lucius.
TAMORA (
aside to her sons
)
aside to her sons
)
What say you, boys, will you abide with him
Whiles I go tell my lord the Emperor
How I have governed our determined jest?
Yield to his humour, smooth and speak him fair,
And tarry with him till I turn again.
Whiles I go tell my lord the Emperor
How I have governed our determined jest?
Yield to his humour, smooth and speak him fair,
And tarry with him till I turn again.
TITUS (
aside
)
aside
)
I knew them all, though they supposed me mad,
And will o’erreach them in their own devices—
A pair of cursed hell-hounds and their dam.
And will o’erreach them in their own devices—
A pair of cursed hell-hounds and their dam.
DEMETRIUS
Madam, depart at pleasure. Leave us here.
TAMORA
Farewell, Andronicus. Revenge now goes
To lay a complot to betray thy foes.
To lay a complot to betray thy foes.
TITUS
I know thou dost, and sweet Revenge, farewell.
Exit Tamora
CHIRON
Tell us, old man, how shall we be employed?
TITUS
Tut, I have work enough for you to do.
Publius, come hither; Caius and Valentine.
Publius, come hither; Caius and Valentine.
Enter Publius, Caius, and Valentine
PUBLIUS
What is your will?
TITUS
Know you these two?
PUBLIUS
The Empress’ sons I take them—Chiron, Demetrius.
TITUS
Fie, Publius, fie! Thou art too much deceived.
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
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
CHIRON
Villains, forbear! We are the Empress’ sons.
PUBLIUS
And therefore do we what we are commanded.
Publius, Caius, and Valentine bind and gag Chiron
and Demetrius
Stop close their mouths. Let them not speak a word.
Is he sure bound? Look that you bind them fast.
Is he sure bound? Look that you bind them fast.
Enter Titus Andronicus with a knife, and Lavinia
with a basin
TITUS
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 stained with
mud,
This goodly summer with your winter mixed.
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 stained with
mud,
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,
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.
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,
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 used my daughter,
And worse than Progne I will be revenged.
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 baked.
Come, come, be everyone officious
To make this banquet, which I wish may prove
More stern and bloody than the Centaurs’ feast.
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.
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 everyone officious
To make this banquet, which I wish may prove
More stern and bloody than the Centaurs’ feast.
He cuts their throats
So, now bring them in, for I’ll play the cook
And see them ready against their mother comes.
And see them ready against their mother comes.
Exeunt carrying the bodies
5.3Enter Lucius, Marcus, and the Goths, with Aaron, prisoner,
⌈
and an attendant with his child
⌉
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