Act VScene III
Rome. A Pavilion in Titus’s Gardens, with tables, &c
Enter Lucius, Marcus and the Goths, with Aaron, prisoner.
Lucius
Uncle Marcus, since ’tis my father’s mindThat 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’ faceFor 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 forthThe venomous malice of my swelling heart!
Lucius
Away, inhuman dog, unhallowed slave!Sirs, help our uncle to convey him in.
Sound trumpets.
The trumpets show the emperor is at hand.
Exeunt Goths with Aaron.
Enter Emperor Saturninus and Empress Tamora with Aemilius, Tribunes and others.
Saturninus
What, hath the firmament more suns than one?
Lucius
What boots it thee to call 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 TitusHath ordained 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.
Trumpets sounding, enter Titus like a cook, placing the dishes, with Young Lucius and others, and Lavinia with a veil over her face.
Titus
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 attired, Andronicus?
Titus
Because I would be sure to have all wellTo entertain your highness and your empress.
Tamora
We are beholden to you, good Andronicus.
Titus
An if your highness knew my heart, you were.My lord the emperor, resolve me this:Was it well done of rash VirginiusTo slay his daughter with his own right hand,Because she was enforced, stained, and deflowered?
Saturninus
It was, Andronicus.
Titus
Your reason, mighty lord?
Saturninus
Because the girl should not survive her shame,And by her presence still renew his sorrows.
Titus
A reason mighty, strong, and effectual;A pattern, precedent, and lively warrantFor me, most wretched, to perform the like.Die, die, Lavinia, and thy shame with thee;And with thy shame thy father’s sorrow die!
He kills Lavinia.
Saturninus
What hast thou done, unnatural and unkind?
Titus
Killed her for whom my tears have made me blind.I am as woeful as Virginius was,And have a thousand times more cause than heTo do this outrage, and it now is done.
Saturninus
What, was she ravished? Tell who did the deed.
Titus
Will’t please you eat? Will’t please your highness feed?
Tamora
Why hast thou slain thine only daughter thus?
Titus
Not I; ’twas Chiron and Demetrius.They ravished her, and cut away her tongue;And they, ’twas they, that did her all this wrong.
Saturninus
Go fetch them hither to us presently.
Titus
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.
He stabs the Empress.
Saturninus
Die, frantic wretch, for this accursed deed.
He kills Titus.
Lucius
Can the son’s eye behold his father bleed?
He kills Saturninus.
There’s meed for meed, death for a deadly deed.
A great tumult. Lucius, Marcus, and others go aloft to the upper stage.
Marcus
You sad-faced men, people and sons of Rome,By uproar severed, as a flight of fowlScattered by winds and high tempestuous gusts,O, let me teach you how to knit againThis 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,Speak, Rome’s dear friend,
To Lucius
as erst our ancestor,When with his solemn tongue he did discourseTo love-sick Dido’s sad attending earThe story of that baleful burning nightWhen subtle Greeks surprised King Priam’s Troy.Tell us what Sinon hath bewitched our ears,Or who hath brought the fatal engine inThat 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 oratoryAnd break my utterance, even in the timeWhen it should move you 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.
Lucius
Then, noble auditory, be it known to youThat Chiron and the damned DemetriusWere they that murdered our emperor’s brother;And they it were that ravished our sister.For their fell faults our brothers were beheaded,Our father’s tears despised, and basely cozenedOf that true hand that fought Rome’s quarrel outAnd sent her enemies unto the grave.Lastly, myself unkindly banished,The gates shut on me, and turned weeping out,To beg relief among Rome’s enemies;Who drowned their enmity in my true tears,And oped their arms to embrace me as a friend.I am the turned-forth, be it known to you,That have preserved her welfare in my bloodAnd from her bosom took the enemy’s point,Sheathing the steel in my advent’rous body.Alas, you know I am no vaunter, I;My scars can witness, dumb although they are,That my report is just and full of truth.But soft, methinks I do digress too much,Citing my worthless praise. O, pardon me;For when no friends are by, men praise themselves.
Marcus
Now is my turn to speak. Behold the child.Of this was Tamora delivered,The issue of an irreligious Moor,Chief architect and plotter of these woes.The villain is alive in Titus’ house,And as he is to witness, this is true.Now judge what cause had Titus to revengeThese wrongs unspeakable, past patience,Or more than any living man could bear.Now have you heard the truth. What say you, Romans?Have we done aught amiss? Show us wherein,And, from the place where you behold us pleading,The poor remainder of AndroniciWill, hand in hand, all headlong hurl ourselves,And on the ragged stones beat forth our souls,And make a mutual closure of our house.Speak, Romans, speak, and if you say we shall,Lo, hand in hand, Lucius and I will fall.
Aemilius
Come, come, thou reverend man of Rome,And bring our emperor gently in thy hand,Lucius our emperor; for well I knowThe common voice do cry it shall be so.
Romans
Lucius, all hail, Rome’s royal emperor!
Marcus
Go, go into old Titus’ sorrowful house,And hither hale that misbelieving MoorTo be adjudged some direful slaught’ring death,As punishment for his most wicked life.
Exeunt Attendants. Lucius and Marcus come down from the upper stage.
Romans
Lucius, all hail, Rome’s gracious governor!
Lucius
Thanks, gentle Romans. May I govern soTo 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 nearTo shed obsequious tears upon this trunk.
He kisses Titus.
O, take this warm kiss on thy pale cold lips.These sorrowful drops upon thy blood-stained face,The last true duties of thy noble son.
Marcus
Tear for tear and loving kiss for kissThy brother Marcus tenders on thy lips.O, were the sum of these that I should payCountless and infinite, yet would I pay them.
Lucius
Come hither, boy; come, come, and learn of usTo melt in showers. Thy grandsire loved thee well.Many a time he danced thee on his knee,Sung thee asleep, his loving breast thy pillow;Many a story hath he told to thee,And bid thee bear his pretty tales in mindAnd talk of them when he was dead and gone.
Marcus
How many thousand times hath these poor lips,When they were living, warmed themselves on thine!O, now, sweet boy, give them their latest kiss.Bid him farewell; commit him to the grave.Do them that kindness, and take leave of them.
Young Lucius
O grandsire, grandsire, e’en with all my heartWould I were dead, so you did live again!O Lord, I cannot speak to him for weeping;My tears will choke me if I ope my mouth.
Re-enter Attendants with Aaron.
Aemilius
You sad Andronici, have done with woes.Give sentence on the execrable wretchThat hath been breeder of these dire events.
Lucius
Set him breast-deep in earth and famish him;There let him stand and rave and cry for food.If anyone relieves or pities him,For the offence he dies. This is our doom.Some stay to see him fastened in the earth.
Aaron
Ah, why should wrath be mute and fury dumb?I am no baby, I, that with base prayersI should repent the evils I have done.Ten thousand worse than ever yet I didWould I perform, if I might have my will.If one good deed in all my life I did,I do repent it from my very soul.
Lucius
Some loving friends convey the emperor hence,And give him burial in his father’s grave.My father and Lavinia shall forthwithBe closed in our household’s monument.As for that ravenous tiger, Tamora,No funeral rite, nor man in mournful weed,No mournful bell shall ring her burial;But throw her forth to beasts and birds of prey.Her life was beastly and devoid of pity;And being dead, let birds on her take pity.
Exeunt.