Complete Plays, The Read online

  Hast prisoner held, fetter’d in amorous chains

  And faster bound to Aaron’s charming eyes

  Than is Prometheus tied to Caucasus.

  Away with slavish weeds and servile thoughts!

  I will be bright, and shine in pearl and gold,

  To wait upon this new-made empress.

  To wait, said I? to wanton with this queen,

  This goddess, this Semiramis, this nymph,

  This siren, that will charm Rome’s Saturnine,

  And see his shipwreck and his commonweal’s.

  Holloa! what storm is this?

  Enter Demetrius and Chiron, braving

  Demetrius

  Chiron, thy years want wit, thy wit wants edge,

  And manners, to intrude where I am graced;

  And may, for aught thou know’st, affected be.

  Chiron

  Demetrius, thou dost over-ween in all;

  And so in this, to bear me down with braves.

  ’Tis not the difference of a year or two

  Makes me less gracious or thee more fortunate:

  I am as able and as fit as thou

  To serve, and to deserve my mistress’ grace;

  And that my sword upon thee shall approve,

  And plead my passions for Lavinia’s love.

  Aaron

  [Aside] Clubs, clubs! these lovers will not keep the peace.

  Demetrius

  Why, boy, although our mother, unadvised,

  Gave you a dancing-rapier by your side,

  Are you so desperate grown, to threat your friends?

  Go to; have your lath glued within your sheath

  Till you know better how to handle it.

  Chiron

  Meanwhile, sir, with the little skill I have,

  Full well shalt thou perceive how much I dare.

  Demetrius

  Ay, boy, grow ye so brave?

  They draw

  Aaron

  [Coming forward] Why, how now, lords!

  So near the emperor’s palace dare you draw,

  And maintain such a quarrel openly?

  Full well I wot the ground of all this grudge:

  I would not for a million of gold

  The cause were known to them it most concerns;

  Nor would your noble mother for much more

  Be so dishonour’d in the court of Rome.

  For shame, put up.

  Demetrius

  Not I, till I have sheathed

  My rapier in his bosom and withal

  Thrust these reproachful speeches down his throat

  That he hath breathed in my dishonour here.

  Chiron

  For that I am prepared and full resolved.

  Foul-spoken coward, that thunder’st with thy tongue,

  And with thy weapon nothing darest perform!

  Aaron

  Away, I say!

  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 jet 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! and should the empress know

  This discord’s ground, the music would not please.

  Chiron

  I care not, I, knew she and all the world:

  I love Lavinia more than all the world.

  Demetrius

  Youngling, learn thou to make some meaner choice:

  Lavinia is thine elder brother’s hope.

  Aaron

  Why, are ye mad? or know ye not, in Rome

  How furious and impatient they be,

  And cannot brook competitors in love?

  I tell you, lords, you do but plot your deaths

  By this device.

  Chiron

  Aaron, a thousand deaths

  Would I propose to achieve her whom I love.

  Aaron

  To achieve her! how?

  Demetrius

  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 worn Vulcan’s badge.

  Aaron

  [Aside] Ay, and as good as Saturninus may.

  Demetrius

  Then why should he despair that knows to court it

  With words, fair looks and liberality?

  What, hast not thou full often struck a doe,

  And borne her cleanly by the keeper’s nose?

  Aaron

  Why, then, it seems, some certain snatch or so

  Would serve your turns.

  Chiron

  Ay, so the turn were served.

  Demetrius

  Aaron, thou hast hit it.

  Aaron

  Would you had hit it too!

  Then should not we be tired with this ado.

  Why, hark ye, hark ye! and are you such fools

  To square for this? would it offend you, then

  That both should speed?

  Chiron

  Faith, not me.

  Demetrius

  Nor me, so I were one.

  Aaron

  For shame, be friends, and join for that you jar:

  ’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;

  And many unfrequented plots there are

  Fitted by kind for 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 wit

  To villany and vengeance consecrate,

  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, and ears:

  The woods are ruthless, dreadful, deaf, and dull;

  There speak, and strike, brave boys, and take your turns;

  There serve your lusts, shadow’d from heaven’s eye,

  And revel in Lavinia’s treasury.

  Chiron

  Thy counsel, lad, smells of no cowardice,

  Demetrius

  Sit fas aut nefas, till I find the stream

  To cool this heat, a charm to calm these fits.

  Per Styga, per manes vehor.

  Exeunt

  SCENE II. A FOREST NEAR ROME. HORNS AND CRY OF HOUNDS HEARD.

  Enter Titus Andronicus, with Hunters, & c., Marcus, Lucius, Quintus, and Martius

  Titus Andronicus

  The hunt is up, the morn is bright and grey,

  The fields are fragrant and the woods are green:

  Uncouple here and let us make a bay

  And wake the emperor and his lovely bride

  And rouse the prin
ce 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 attend the emperor’s person carefully:

  I have been troubled in my sleep this night,

  But dawning day new comfort hath inspired.

  A cry of hounds and horns, winded in a peal. Enter Saturninus, Tamora, Bassianus, Lavinia, Demetrius, Chiron, and Attendants

  Many good morrows to your majesty;

  Madam, to you as many and as good:

  I promised your grace a hunter’s peal.

  Saturninus

  And you have rung it lustily, my lord;

  Somewhat too early for new-married ladies.

  Bassianus

  Lavinia, how say you?

  Lavinia

  I say, no;

  I have been broad awake two hours and more.

  Saturninus

  Come on, then; horse and chariots let us have,

  And to our sport.

  To Tamora

  Madam, now shall ye see

  Our Roman hunting.

  Marcus Andronicus

  I have dogs, my lord,

  Will rouse the proudest panther in the chase,

  And climb the highest promontory top.

  Titus Andronicus

  And I have horse will follow where the game

  Makes way, and run like swallows o’er the plain.

  Demetrius

  Chiron, we hunt not, we, with horse nor hound,

  But hope to pluck a dainty doe to ground.

  Exeunt

  SCENE III. A LONELY PART OF THE FOREST.

  Enter Aaron, with a bag of gold

  Aaron

  He that had wit would think that I had none,

  To bury so much gold under a tree,

  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

  Tamora

  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 yelping noise;

  And, after conflict such as was supposed

  The wandering prince and 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 melodious birds

  Be unto us as is a nurse’s song

  Of lullaby to bring her babe asleep.

  Aaron

  Madam, though Venus govern your desires,

  Saturn is dominator over mine:

  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 empress of my soul,

  Which never hopes more heaven than rests in thee,

  This is the day of doom for Bassianus:

  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.

  Tamora

  Ah, my sweet Moor, sweeter to me than life!

  Aaron

  No more, great empress; Bassianus comes:

  Be cross with him; and I’ll go fetch thy sons

  To back thy quarrels, whatsoe’er they be.

  Exit

  Enter Bassianus and Lavinia

  Bassianus

  Who have we here? Rome’s royal empress,

  Unfurnish’d of her well-beseeming troop?

  Or is it Dian, habited like her,

  Who hath abandoned her holy groves

  To see the general hunting in this forest?

  Tamora

  Saucy controller of our private steps!

  Had I the power that some say Dian had,

  Thy temples should be planted presently

  With horns, as was Actaeon’s; and the hounds

  Should drive upon thy new-transformed limbs,

  Unmannerly intruder as thou art!

  Lavinia

  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-day!

  ’Tis pity they should take him for a stag.

  Bassianus

  Believe me, queen, your swarth Cimmerian

  Doth make your honour of his body’s hue,

  Spotted, detested, and abominable.

  Why are you sequester’d from all your train,

  Dismounted from your snow-white goodly steed.

  And wander’d hither to an obscure plot,

  Accompanied but with a barbarous Moor,

  If foul desire had not conducted you?

  Lavinia

  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-colour’d love;

  This valley fits the purpose passing well.

  Bassianus

  The king my brother shall have note of this.

  Lavinia

  Ay, for these slips have made him noted long:

  Good king, to be so mightily abused!

  Tamora

  Why have I patience to endure all this?

  Enter Demetrius and Chiron

  Demetrius

  How now, dear sovereign, and our gracious mother!

  Why doth your highness look so pale and wan?

  Tamora

  Have I not reason, think you, to look pale?

  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 mistletoe:

  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,

  But straight they told me they would bind me here

  Unto t
he body of a dismal yew,

  And leave me to this miserable death:

  And then they call’d me foul adulteress,

  Lascivious 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 call’d my children.

  Demetrius

  This is a witness that I am thy son.

  Stabs Bassianus

  Chiron

  And this for me, struck home to show my strength.

  Also stabs Bassianus, who dies

  Lavinia

  Ay, come, Semiramis, nay, barbarous Tamora,

  For no name fits thy nature but thy own!

  Tamora

  Give me thy poniard; you shall know, my boys

  Your mother’s hand shall right your mother’s wrong.

  Demetrius

  Stay, madam; here is more belongs to her;

  First thrash the corn, then after burn the straw:

  This minion stood upon her chastity,

  Upon her nuptial vow, her loyalty,

  And with that painted hope braves your mightiness:

  And shall she carry this unto her grave?

  Chiron

  An 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.

  Tamora

  But when ye have the honey ye desire,

  Let not this wasp outlive, us both to sting.

  Chiron

  I warrant you, madam, we wil l make that sure.

  Come, mistress, now perforce we will enjoy

  That nice-preserved honesty of yours.

  Lavinia

  O Tamora! thou bear’st a woman’s face,—

  Tamora

  I will not hear her speak; away with her!

  Lavinia

  Sweet lords, entreat her hear me but a word.

  Demetrius

  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.

  Lavinia

  When did the tiger’s young ones teach the dam?

  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:

  To Chiron

  Do thou entreat her show a woman pity.

  Chiron

  What, wouldst thou have me prove myself a bastard?

  Lavinia

  ’Tis true; the raven doth not hatch a lark:

  Yet have I 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: