Enter TITUS below. Tit. Long have I been forlorn, and all for thee: Welcome, dread Fury, to my woful house: 90 Dem. Show me a murderer, I'll deal with him. Chi. Show me a villain that hath done a rape, And I am sent to be revenged on him. Tum. Show me a thousand that have done thee wrong, And I will be revenged on them all. 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. 100 court There is a queen, attended by a Moor; Well mayst thou know her by thy own proportion, For up and down she doth resemble thee: Tam. Well hast thou lesson'd us; this But would it please thee, good Andronicus, And bid him come and banquet at thy house; 120 Tit. Marcus, my brother! 'tis sad Titus calls. Marc. This will I do, and soon return again. [Erit. 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, Tam. [Aside to her sons] What say you, boys? will you bide with him, Whiles I go tell my lord the emperor suppose me mad, And will o'erreach them in their own devices: A pair of cursed hell-hounds and their dam! Dem. Madam, depart at pleasure; leave us here. Tam. Farewell, Andronicus: Revenge now goes To lay a complot to betray thy foes. Tit. know thou dost; and, sweet Revenge, farewell, [Erit Tamora. Chi. Tell us, old man, how shall we be employ'd ? 149 Tit. Tut, I have work enough for you to do. Publius, come hither, Caius, and Valentine ! Enter PUBLIUS and others. Tit. Know you these two? Tit. Fie, Publius, fie! thou art too much deceived; The one is Murder, Rape is the other's name; [Exit. [Publius, &c. lay hold on Chiron and Demetrius. Chi. Villains, forbear! we are the empress' sons. Pub. 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 TITUS, with LAVINIA; he bearing a knife, and she a basin. 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 ! 170 Here stands the spring whom you have stain'd with mud, [Exeunt, bearing the dead bodies. SCENE III. Court of Titus's house. A banquet set out. Enter LUCIUS, MARCUS, and Goths, with Luc. Uncle Marcus, since it is my father's mind That I repair to Rome, I am content. First Goth. And ours with thine, befall what fortune will. Luc. Good uncle, take you in this bar barous Moor, This ravenous tiger, this accursed devil; ear, I fear the emperor means no good to us. 10 Aur. Some devil whisper curses in mire [fortn And prompt me, that my tongue may utter The venomous malice of my swelling heart! Luc. Away, inhuman dog! unhallow'd slave ! Sirs, help our uncle to convey him in. [Exeunt Goths, with Aaron. Flourish within. The trumpets show the emperor is at hand. Enter SATURNINUS and TAMORA, with ÆMILIUS, Tribunes, Senators, and others. Sat. What, hath the firmament more suns than one? Luc. What boots it thee to call thyself a sun? Marc. Rome's emperor, and nephew, break the parley; These quarrels must be quietly debated. 20 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. that pie; 60 Whereof their mother daintily hath fed, Eating the flesh that she herself hath bred. 'Tis true, 'tis true; witness my knife's sharp point. [Kills Tamora. Sat. Die, frantic wretch, for this accursed deed! Kills 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. Lucius, Marcus, and others go up into the balcony. Mare. You sad-faced men, people and sons When with his solemn tongue he did discourse Tell us what Sinon hath bewitch'd our ears, My heart is not compact of flint nor steel; But floods of tears will drown my oratory, 90 Here is a captain, let him tell the tale; Your hearts will throb and weep to hear him speak. Luc. Then, noble auditory, be it known to you, That cursed Chiron and Demetrius Were they that murdered our emperor's brother; And they it were that ravished our sister: For their fell faults our brothers were beheaded; 100 Our father's tears despised, and basely cozen'd Of that true hand that fought Rome's quarrel out, And sent her enemies unto the grave. I am the turned forth, be it known to you, Marc. Now is my turn to speak. Behold this child: [Pointing to the Child in the arms of an Attendant. 120 Of this was Tamora delivered; Have we done aught amiss,-show us wherein, And, from the place where you behoid us now, 130 Marc. Go, go into old Titus' sorrowful house, [To Attendants. And hither hale that misbelieving Moor, To be adjudged some direful slaughtering death, As punishment for his most wicked life. [Exeunt Attendants. LUCIUS, MARCUS, and the others descend. All. Lucius, all hail, Rome's gracious governor ! Luc. Thanks, gentle Romans: may I govern so, To heal Rome's harms, and wipe away her woe! 150 But, gentle people, give me aim awhile, The last true duties of thy noble son! Mare. Tear for tear, and loving kiss for kiss, Thy brother Marcus tenders on thy lips : 160 To melt in showers: thy grandsire loved thee well: Many a time he danced thee on his knee, Because kind nature doth require it so. Friends should associate friends in grief and 169 woe: Bid him farewell; commit him to the grave; Do him that kindness, and take leave of him. Young Luc. O grandsire, grandsire! even with all my heart Would 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. Em. You sad Andronici, have done with woes: Give sentence on this execrable wretch, There let him stand, and rave, and cry for food; 180 If any one relieves or pities him, For the offence he dies. This is our doom: I am no baby, I, that with base prayers 190 Luc. Some loving friends convey the em peror hence, And give him burial in his father's grave: No funeral rite, nor man in mourning weeds, Her life was beast-like, and devoid of pity; KING HENRY VI. PART I. (WRITTEN ABOUT 1590-91. INTRODUCTION. This is almost certainly an old play, by one or more authors, which, as we find it in the First Folio, had received touches from the hand of Shakespeare. In Henslowe's diary a Henry VI. is said to have been acted March 3, 1591-92. It was extremely popular. Nash, in his Pierce Pennilesse (1592), alludes to the triumph on the stage of "brave Talbot over the French. But we have no reason for assuming that the play which we possess was that mentioned by Henslowe, or alluded to by Nash. Greene had, perhaps, a chief hand in the play, and he may have been assisted by Peele and Marlowe. There is a general agreement among critics in attributing to Shakespeare the scene (Act II. Sc. IV.) in which the white and red roses are plucked as emblems of the rival parties in the state; perhaps the scene of the wooing of Margaret by Suffolk (Act V., sc. III., L. 45, and onwards), if not written by Shakespeare was touched by him. The general spirit of the drama belongs to an older school than the Shakespearean, "and it is a happiness," says Prof. Dowden, "not to have to ascribe to our greatest poet the crude and hateful handling of the character of Joan of Arc, excused though to some extent it may be by the concurrence of view in our old English chronicles." |