Here none but soldiers, and Rome's servitors,
Repose in fame; none basely slain in brawls:
Bury him where you can, he comes not here.
Mar. My lord, this is impiety in you:
My nephew Mutins' deeds do plead for him;
He must be buried with his brethren.
Quin. Mart. And shall, or him we will ac-
company.
[that word?
Tit. And shall? What villain was it spoke
Quin. He that would youch't it in any place
but here.
[spite?
Tit. What, would you bury him in my de-
Mar. No, noble Titus; but entreat of thee
To pardon Mutius, and to bury him., [crest,
Tit. Marcus, even thou hast struck upon my
And, with these boys, mine honour thou hast
wounded:

My foes I do repute you every one;
So trouble me no more, but get you gone.
Mart. He is not with himself; let us with-
draw.

Quin. Not I, till Mutius' bones be buried.
[MARCUS and the Sons of TITUS kneel.
Mur. Brother, for in that name doth nature
plead.
[speak.
Quin. Father, and in that name doth nature
Tit. Speak thou no more, if all the rest
will speed.
[soul,-
Mar. Renowned Titus, more than half my
Luc. Dear father, soul and substance of us

all,

Mar. Suffer thy brother Marcus to inter His noble nephew here in virtue's nest, That died in honour and Lavinia's cause. Thou art a Roman, be not barbarous. The Greeks, upon advice, did bury Ajax That slew himself; and wise Laërtes' son Did graciously plead for his funerals. Let not young Mutius then, that was thy joy, Be barr'd his entrance here.

Tit. Rise, Marcus, rise:-The dismall'st day is this, that e'er I saw, To be dishonour'd by my sons in Rome!Well, bury him, and bury me the next.

[MUTIUS is put into the Tomb. Luc. There lie thy bones, sweet Mutius, with thy friends,

Till we with trophies do adorn thy tomb!All. No man shed tears for noble Mutius; He lives in fame that died in virtue's cause. Mar. My lord,-to step out of these dreary dumps,

Answer I must, and shall do with my life.
Only thus much I give your grace to know,
By all the duties that I owe to Rome,
This noble gentleman, lord Titus here,
Is in opinion, and in honour, wrong'd;
That, in the rescue of Lavinia,
With his own hand did slay his youngest son,
In zeal to you, and highly moved to wrath
To be control'd in that he frankly gave:
Receive him then to favour, Saturnine;
That hath express'd himself, in all his deeds,
A father and a friend, to thee and Rome.

Tit. Prince Bassianus, leave to plead my

deeds;

'Tis thou, and those, that have dishonour d me: Rome and the righteous heavens be my judge, How I have loved and honour'd Saturniue!

Tam. My worthy lord, if ever Tamora Were gracious in those princely eyes of thine, Then hear me speak indifferently for all; And at my suit, sweet, pardon what is past. Sat. What! madam! be dishonour'd openly, And basely put it up without revenge?

Tam. Not so, my lord; The gods of Rome forefend *

I should be author to dishonour you !
But, on mine honour, dare I undertake
For good lord Titus' innocence in all,
Whose fury, not dissembled, speaks his griefs:
Then, at my suit, look graciously on him;
Lose not so noble a friend on vain suppose,
Nor with sour looks affiict his gentle heart.-
My lord, be ruled by me, be won at

last,
[tents:
Dissen ble all your griefs and discon.
You are but newly planted in your
throne;
[too,
Lest then the people, and patricians
Upon a just survey, take Titus' part,
And so supplant us for ingratitude,
(Which Rome reputes to be a heinous
sin,)
[alone :
Yield at entreats, and then et me
find a day to massacre them all,
And raze their faction, and their
family,

[sons,

God give you joy, sir, of your gallant bride.

Aside

Now, by the gods that warlike Goths adore,
This petty brabble will undo us all.-
Why, lords, and think you not how dangerous
It is to jut upon a prince's right?
What, is Lavinia then become so loose,
Or Bassianus so degenerate,
That for her love such quarrels may be broach'd
Without controlment, justice, or revenge?
Young lords, beware!-an should the empress
know
[please.
This discord's ground, the music would not
Chi. I care not, I, knew she and all the
world;

I love Lavinia more than all the world. Dem. Youngling, learn thou to make some meaner choice:

Lavinia is thine elder brother's hope.

Aar. Why, are ye mad? or know ye not, How furious and impatient they be, [in Rome And cannot brook competitors in love? I tell you, lords, you do but plot your deaths By this device.

Chi.

Aaron, a thousand deaths

Would I propose, to achieve her whom I love.

Aar. To achieve her!-How? Dem. Why makest thou it so strange? She is a woman, therefore may be woo'd; She is a woman, therefore may be won; She is Lavinia, therefore must be loved. What, man! more water glideth by the mill Than wots the miller of; and easy it is Of a cut loaf to steal a shive*, we know: Though Bassianus be the emperor's brother, Better than he have yet worn Vulcan's badge. Aar. Ay, and as good as Saturninus may. [Aside. Dem. Then why should he despair, that

knows to count it

With words, fair looks, and liberality?
What, hast thou not full often struck a doe,
And borne her cleanly by the keeper's nose?
Aar. Why then, it seems, some certain
Would serve your turns.
[snatch or so
Chi.
Ay, so the turn were served.
Dem. Aaron, thou hast bit it.
Aar.
'Would you had hit it too;
Then should not we be tired with this ado.
Why, hark ye, hark ye,—And are you such
fcols,

To squaret for this? Would it offend you then
That both should speed?

Chi. Dem.

I'faith, not me.

Nor me, So I were one. [that you jar. Aar. For shame, be friends; and join for 'Tis policy and stratagem must do That you affect; and so must you resolve; That what you cannot, as you would, achieve, You must perforce accomplish as you may. Take this of me, Lucrece was not more chaste Than this Lavinia, Bassianus' love.

A speedier course than lingering languishment
Must we pursue, and I have found the path.
My lords, a solemn hunting is in hand;
There will the lovely Roman ladies troop:
The forest walks are wide and spacious;
• Slice. + Quarrel.

And many unfrequented plots there are,
Fitted by kind or rape and villany:
Single you thither then this dainty doe,
And strike her home by force, if not by words:
This way, or not at all, stand you in hope.
Come, come, our empress, with her sacred
To villany and vengeance consecrate,
wi
Will we acquaint with all that we intend;
And she shall file our engines with advice
That will not suffer you to square yourselves,
But to your wishes' height advance you both.
The emperor's court is like the house of fame,
The palace full of tongues, of eyes, of ears:
The woods are ruthless, dreadful, deaf, and
dull;
[your turns:

There speak, and strike, brave boys, and take
There serve your lust, shadow'd from heaven's
And revel in Lavinia's treasury.
[eye,

Chi. Thy counsel, lad, smells of no cowar dice.

[stream

Dem. Sit fas aut nefas, till I find the To cool this heat, a charm to calm these fits, Per Styga, per manes vehor. [Exeunt SCENE II. A Forest near Rome. A Lodge seen at a distance, Horns, and cry of Hounds heard.

Enter TITUS ANDRONICUS, with Hunters, &c. MARCUS, LUCIUS, QUINTUS, and MARTUS.

Tit. The hunt is up, the morn is bright and grey, (green: The fields are fragrant, and the woods are Uncouple here, and let us make a bay, And wake the emperor and his lovely bride, And rouse the prince; and ring a hunter's peal, That all the court may echo with the noise. Sons, let it be your charge, as it is ours, To tend the emperor's person carefully: I have been troubled in my sleep this night, But dawning day new comfort hath inspired. Horns wind a Peal. Enter SATURNINUS, TAMORA, BASSIANUS, LAVINIA, CHIRON, DEMETRIUS, and Attendants.

Tit. Many good morrows to your majesty ; Madam, to you as many and as good!I promised your grace a hunter's peal.

lords,

Sat. And you have rung it lustily, my Somewhat too early for new-married ladies. Bas. Lavinia, how say you? Lav. I say, no;

I have been broad awake two hours and more. Sat. Come on then, horse and chariots let us have, And to our sport:-Madam, now shall ye see Our Roman hunting. [TO TAMORA.

Mar. I have dogs, my lord, Will rouse the proudest panther in the chase, And climb the highest promontory top.

Tit. And I have horse will follow where the game

[plain. Makes way, and ran like swallows o'er the Dem. Chiron, we hunt not, we, with horse

nor hound,

But hope to pluck a dainty doe to ground. [Exeunt

By nature.

Sacred here signifies accursed; a Latinisa

SCENE III. A desert part of the Forest.

Enter AARON, with a Bag of Gold.
Aar. He, that bad wit, would think that I
To bury so much gold under a tree, [had none
And never after to inherit it.

Let him, that thinks of me so abjectly,
Know, that this gold must coin a stratagem;
Which, cunningly effected, will beget
A very excellent piece of villany:
And so repose, sweet gold, for their unrest,
[Hides the Gold.
That have their alms out of the empress' chest.
Enter TAMORA.

Tam. My lovely Aaron, wherefore look'st
thou sad,
When every thing doth make a gleeful boast?
The birds chant melody on every bush;
The snake lies rolled in the cheerful sun;
The green leaves quiver with the cooling wind,
And make a chequer'd shadow on the ground:
Under their sweet shade, Aaron, let us sit,
And, whilst the babbling echo mocks the
hounds,

Replying shrilly to the well-tuned horns,
As if a double hunt were heard at once,-
Let us sit down and mark their yelling noise:
And,-after conflict such as was supposed
The wandering prince of Dido once enjoy'd,
When with a happy storm they were surprised,
And curtain'd with a counsel-keeping cave,-
We may, each wreathed in the other's arms,
Our pastimes done, possess a golden slumber;
Whiles hounds, and horns, and sweet melodi
Be unto us, as is a nurse's song [ous birds,
Of lullaby, to bring her babe asleep.

Aar. Madam, though Venus govern your
Saturn is dominator over mine: [desires,
What signifies my deadly-standing eye,
My silence, and my cloudy melancholy?
My fleece of woolly hair that now uncurls,
Even as an adder, when she doth unroll
To do some fatal execution?

No, madam, these are no venereal signs;
Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand,
Blood and revenge are hammering in my head.
Hark, Tamora,-the empreɛs of my soul,
Which never hopes more heaven than rests in
This is the day of doom for Bassianus ; [thee,
His Philomel must lose her tongue to-day;
Thy sons make pillage of her chastity,
And wash their hands in Bassianus' blood.
Seest thou this letter? take it up, I pray thee,
And give the king this fatal-plotted scroll :-
Now question me no more, we are espied;
Here comes a parcel of our hopeful booty,
Which dreads not yet their lives' destruction.
Tam. Ah, my sweet Moor, sweeter to me
than life!
[comes:
Aar. No more, great empress, Bassianus
Be cross with him, and I'll go fetch thy sons
To back thy quarrels, whatsoe'er they be. [Exit.
Enter BASSIANUS and LAVINIA.
Bas. Who have we here? Rome's royal
emperess,

Untarnish'd of her well-bestemning troop?
Or is it Dian, habited like her;
Who hath abandoned her holy groves,
To see the general hunting in this forest?

Tum. Saucy controller of our private steps! Had I the power that some say Dian had, Thy temples should be planted presently With borns, as was Acteon's; and the hounds Should drive upon thy new transformed limbs, Unmannerly intruder as thou art!

Lav. Under your patience, gentle empress, 'Tis thought you have a goodly gift in horning; And to be doubted, that your Moor and you Are singled forth to try experiments: Jove shield your husband from his hounds to'Tis pity they should take him for a stag, [day! Bas. Believe me, queen, your swarth Cim

merian

Doth make your honour of his body's hue,
Spotted, delested, and abominable.
Why are you sequestered from all your train?
Dismounted from your snow-white goodly
And wander'd bither to an obscure plot, [steed,
Accompanied with a barbarous Moor,
If foul desire had not conducted you?

Lav. And being intercepted in your sport,
Great reason that my noble lord be rated
For sauciness.-I pray you, let us hence,
And let her 'joy her raven-coloured love;
This valley fits the purpose passing well.
Bus. The king, my brother, shall have note
[uoted long:

of this.

Lav. Ay, for these slips have made him Good king! to be so mightily abused! Tam. Why have I patience to endure all this? Enter CHIRON and DEMETRIUS. Dem. How now, dear sovereign, and our gracious mother,

Why doth your highness look so pale and wan? Tum. Have I not reason, think you, to look

pile!

These two have 'ticed me hither to this place,
A barren, detested vale, you see, it is:
The trees, though summer, yet forlorn and lean,
O'ercome with moss, and baleful misletoe.
Here never shines the sun; here nothing breeds
Unless the nightly owl, or fatal raven.
And, when they show'd me this abhorred pit,
They told me, here, at dead time of the night,
A thousand fiends, a thousand hissing snakes,
Ten thousand swelling toads, as many urchins,
Would make such fearful and confused cries,
As any mortal body, hearing it,
Should straight fall mad, or else die suddenly.
No sooner had they told this hellish tale,
Fut straight they told me they would bind me
Unto the body of a dismal yew;
And leave me to this miserable death.
And then they called me, foul adulteress,
Lascivions Goth, and all the bitterest terms
That ever ear did hear to such effect.
And, had you not by wondrous fortune come,
This vengeance on me had they executed:
Revenge it, as you love your mother's life,
Or be ye not henceforth called my children.

See Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book VI.
Hedge-hogs,

There

Dem. This is a witness that I am thy son. [Stubs BASSIANUS. Chi. And this for me, struck home to show my strength. [Stabbing him likewise. Lav. Ay, come, Semiramis,-nay, barbarous Tamora!

For no name fits thy nature but thy own! Tum. Give me thy poinard; you shall know, my boys, [wrong. Your mother's hand shall right your mother's Dem. Stay, madam, here is more belongs to her; [straw : First, thrash the corn, then after burn the This minion stood upon her chastity, Upon her nuptial vow, her loyalty, [mightiness: And with that painted hope braves your And shall she carry this unto her grave?

Chi. And if she do, I would I were an eunuch.

Drag hence her husband to some secret hole, And make his dead trunk pillow to our lust. Tam. But when you have the honey you desire,

Let not this wasp outlive, us both to sting.

Chi. I warrant you, madam; we will make that sure.

Come, mistress, now perforce we will enjoy That nice preserved honesty of yours. [face.

Lav. O Tamora! thou bear'st a woman's Tam. I will not hear her speak; away with her. [a word. Lav. Sweet lords, entreat her hear me but Dem. Listen, fair madam: let it be your glory

To see her tears: but be your heart to them, As unrelenting flint to drops of rain. [the dam? Lav. When did the tiger's young ones teach O, do not learn her wrath; she taught it thee: The milk thou suck'dst from her, did turn to

marble;

Even at thy teat thou hadst thy tyranny.Yet every mother breeds not sons alike; Do thou entreat her shew a woman pity.

[TO CHIRON. Chi. What! wouldst thou have me prove myself a bastard? [lark: Lav. Tis true; the raven doth not hatch a Yet I have heard, (O could I find it now!) The lion moved with pity, did endure

To have his princely paws pared all away.
Some say that ravens foster forlorn children,
The whilst their own birds famish in their nests:
O, be to me, though thy hard heart say no,
Nothing so kind, but something pitiful!
Tam. I know not what it means; away
with her.
[sake,
Lav. O, let me teach thee: for my father's
That gave thee life, when well he might have

slain thee,

Be not obdurate, open thy deaf ears.

Tum. Had thou in person ne'er offended me, Even for his sake am I pitiless :Remember, boys, I pour'd forth tears in vain, To save your brother from the sacrifice; But fierce Andronicus would not relent. [will; Therefore away with her, and use her as you The worse to her, the better loved of me.

Lav. O Tamora, be call'd a gentle queen,

And with thine own hands kill me in this place: For 'tis not life that I have begg'd so long ; Poor I was slain when Bassianus died. Tum. What begg'st thou then; fond woman, let me go. [more,

Lav. 'Tis present death I beg; and one thing That womanhood denies my tongue to tell: O, keep me from their worse than killing lust, And tumble me into some loathsome pit; Where never man's eye may behold my body: Do this, and be a charitable murderer. Tum. So should I rob my sweet sons of their No, let them satisfy their lust on thee. [fee: Dem. Away, for thou hast staid us here too long. [ly creature! Lav. No grace? no womanhood? Ah, beastThe blot and enemy to our general name! Confusion fall[thou her husband; Chi, Nay, then I'll stop your mouth: Bring [Dragging of LAVINIA. This is the hole where Aaron bid us hide him. [Exeunt.

Tam. Farewell, my sons; see that you make

her sure:

Straight will I bring you to the loathsome pit, Where I espy'd the panther fast asleep. Quin. My sight is very dull, whate'er it bodes. [for shame, Mart. And mine, I promise you; wer't not Well could I leave our sport to sleep awhile. [MARTIUS falls into the Pit. Quin. What art thou fallen? What subtle hole is this, [briers; Whose mouth is cover'd with rude-growing Upon whose leaves are drops of new-shed blood,

As fresh as morning's dew distill'd on flowers? A very fatal place it seems to me:- [fall? Speak, brother, hast thou hurt thee with the Mart. O, brother, with the dismallest object That ever eye, with sight, made heart lament. Aar. [Aside.] Now will I fetch the king to