More stern and bloody than the Centaurs’ feast.
So, now bring them in, for I will play the cook,
And see them ready against their mother comes.
[Exeunt, bearing the dead bodies.]
SCENE III
Rome. A Pavilion in TITUS’S Gardens, with tables, &c.
[Enter LUCIUS, MARCUS, and GOTHS, with AARON prisoner.]
LUCIUS.
Uncle Marcus, since ‘tis my father’s mind
That 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 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.
AARON.
Some devil whisper curses in my ear,
And prompt me that my tongue may utter forth
The venomous malice of my swelling heart!
LUCIUS.
Away, inhuman dog, unhallowed 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 AEMILIUS, Tribunes, Senators, and others.]
SATURNINUS.
What, hath the firmament more suns than one?
LUCIUS.
What boots it thee to call thyself the sun?
MARCUS.
Rome’s emperor, and nephew, break the parle;
These quarrels must be quietly debated.
The feast is ready, which the careful Titus
Hath ordain’d 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.
[Hautboys sound. The company sit at table.]
[Enter TITUS, dressed like a cook,LAVINIA, valed,YOUNG LUCIUS, and others. TITUS places the dishes on the table.]
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 attir’d, Andronicus?
TITUS.
Because I would be sure to have all well
To 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 Virginius
To slay his daughter with his own right hand,
Because she was enforc’d, stain’d, and deflower’d?
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 warrant
For me, most wretched, to perform the like:—
Die, die, Lavinia, and thy shame with thee;
[Kills LAVINIA.]
And with thy shame thy father’s sorrow die!
SATURNINUS.
What hast thou done, unnatural and unkind?
TITUS.
Kill’d her for whom my tears have made me blind.
I am as woeful as Virginius was,
And have a thousand times more cause than he
To do this outrage;—and it now is done.
SATURNINUS.
What, was she ravish’d? 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 ravish’d 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.
[Kills Tamora.]
SATURNINUS.
Die, frantic wretch, for this accursed deed!
[Kills TITUS.]
LUCIUS.
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 their partisans, ascend the steps before TITUS’S house.]
MARCUS.
You sad-fac’d men, people and sons of Rome,
By uproar sever’d, as a flight of fowl
Scatter’d by winds and high tempestuous gusts,
O, let me teach you how