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.

Mar. This will I do, and soon return again. [Exit. Tam. Now will I hence about thy business,

And take my ministers along with me.

Tit. 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.

Tam. 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 humor, smooth and speak him fair,

And tarry with him, till I come again.

[Aside.

Tit. I know them all, though they suppose me mad; And will o'erreach them in their own devices, A pair of cursed hellhounds, and their dam. [Aside. Dem. Madam, depart at pleasure, leave us here. Tam. Farewell, Andronicus. Revenge now goes To lay a complot to betray thy foes. [Exit TAMORA. Tit. I know thou dost; and, sweet Revenge, farewell.

Chi. Tell us, old man, how shall we be employed? Tit. Tut, I have work enough for you to do.Publius, come hither, Caius, and Valentine!

Enter PUBLIUS and others.

Pub. What's your will?

Tit.

Know you these two?

Th' empress' sons,

Pub.

I take them, Chiron and Demetrius.

Tit. Fie, Publius, fie! thou art too much deceived; The one is Murder, 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 TITUS. PUBLIUS, &c. lay hold on CHIRON and DEMETRIUS.

Chi. Villains, forbear; we are the empress' sons. Pub. And therefore do we what we are com

manded.

Stop close their mouths, let them not speak a word. Is he sure bound? look that you bind them fast.

Re-enter TITUS ANDRONICUS, with LAVINIA; she bearing a basin, and he a knife.

Tit. 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.

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;
Whilst 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,

1 A coffin is the term for the crust of a raised pie.

And make two pasties of your shameful heads;
And bid that strumpet, your unhallowed dam,
Like to the earth, swallow her own increase.1
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,
[He cuts their throats.
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 every one officious

To make this banquet; which I wish may prove
More stern and bloody than the Centaur's feast.
So, now bring them in, for I will play the cook,
And see them ready 'gainst their mother comes.
[Exeunt, bearing the dead bodies.

SCENE III. The same.

A Pavilion, with

tables, &c.

Enter LUCIUS, MARCUS, and Goths, with AARON,

prisoner.

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

1 Goth. And ours, with thine,2 befall what fortune will. Luc. Good uncle, take you in this barbarous Moor,

This ravenous tiger, this accursed devil;

Let him receive no sustenance, 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.

1 i. e. her own produce.

2 "And our content runs parallel with thine, be the consequence of our coming to Rome what it may."

Aar. Some devil whisper curses in mine ear, And prompt me, that my tongue may utter forth The venomous malice of my swelling heart! Luc. Away, inhuman dog! unhallowed slave!— Sirs, help our uncle to convey him in.

[Exeunt Goths, with AARON. Flourish.

The trumpets show the emperor is at hand.

Enter SATURNINUS and TAMORA, with Tribunes, Senators, and others.

Sat. What, hath the firmament more suns than one? Luc. What boots it thee, to call thyself a sun? Mar. Rome's emperor, and nephew, break the

parle ;

These quarrels must be quietly debated.

The feast is ready, which the careful Titus

Hath ordained to an honorable end,

1

For peace, for love, for league, and good to Rome. Please you, therefore, draw nigh, and take your places. Sat. Marcus, we will.

[Hautboys sound.

The company sit down at table.

Enter TITUS, dressed like a young LUCIUS, and others. on the table.

cook, LAVINIA, veiled, TITUS places the dishes

Tit. Welcome, my gracious 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.

Sat. Why art thou thus attired, Andronicus?
Tit. Because I would be sure to have all well,
To entertain your highness and your empress.
Tam. We are beholden to you, good Andronicus.
Tit. An if your highness knew my heart, you were.
My lord the emperor resolve me this;

1 i. e. end the debate.

Was it well done of rash Virginius,

To slay his daughter with his own right hand,
Because she was enforced, stained, and defloured?
Sat. It was, Andronicus.

Tit. Your reason, mighty lord!

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

And, with thy shame, thy father's sorrow die!
Sat. What hast thou done, unnatural, and unkind!
Tit. Killed her, for whom my tears have made me
blind.

I am as woful as Virginius was;

And have a thousand times more cause than he
To do this outrage ;-and it is now done.

Sat. What, was she ravished? tell, who did the deed. Tit. Will't please you eat? will't please your highness feed?

Tam. Why hast thou slain thine only daughter thus?
Tit. Not I; 'twas Chiron, and Demetrius.

They ravished her, and cut away her tongue,
And they, 'twas they, that did her all this wrong.
Sat. Go, fetch them hither to us presently.

Tit. 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. [Killing TAMORA.

Sat. Die, frantic wretch, for this accursed deed.

[Killing TITUS. Luc. Can the son's eye behold his father bleed? There's meed for meed, death for a deadly deed.

[Kills SATURNINUS. A great tumult. The People in confusion disperse. MARCUS, LUCIUS, and their partisans, ascend the steps before TITUS's house.