Well may'st thou know her by thy own pro- | And stop their mouths, if they begin to cry.
For up and down she doth resemble thee; I pray thee, do on them some violent death, They have been violent to me and mine.
Tam. Well hast thou lesson'd us; this shall we do.
But would it please thee, good Andronicus, To send for Lucius, thy thrice valiant son, Who leads towards Rome a band of warlike
And bid him come and banquet at thy house: When he is here, even at thy solemn feast, I will bring in the empress and her sons, The emperor himself, and all thy foes; And at thy mercy shall they stoop and kneel, And on them shalt thou ease thy angry heart. What says Andronicus to this device?
Tit. Marcus, my brother!-'tis sad Titus calls.
Go, gentle Marcus, to thy nephew Lucius; Thou shalt inquire him out among the Goths; Got Bid him repair to me, and bring with him Some of the chiefest princes of the Goths: 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. Tam. Now will I hence about thy business, [Exit. 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 govern'd our determin'd jest? Yield to his humour, smooth and speak him fair,
And tarry with him, till I come again. [Aside. Tit. I know them all, though they suppose And will o'er-reach them in their own devices, A pair of cursed hell-hounds, and their dam. [Aside.
Dem. Madam, depart at pleasure, leave us Tam. Farewell, Andronicus: Revenge now
To lay a complot to betray thy foes. [goes Tit. I know thou dost; and, sweet Revenge, [Exit TAMORA. farewell. Chi. Tell us, old man, how shall we be em- ploy'd?
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?
Pub. Th' empress' sons,
I take them, Chiron and Demetrius.
Tit. Fie, Publius, fie! thou art too much de
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;
[Exit TITUS. PUBLIUS, &c. lay hold
CHIRON and DEMETRIUS.
Chi. Villains, forbear: we are the empress'
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 stain'd with mud;
This goodly summer with your winter mix'd. You kill'd her husband; and, for that vile fault, Two of her brothers were condemn'd 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 constrain'd and forc'd. 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 You know, your mother means to feast with me, The basin, that receives your guilty blood. 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, And make two pasties of your shameful heads; And bid that strumpet, your unhallow'd dam, Like to the earth, swallow her own increase. This is the feast that I have bid her to, And this the banquet she shall surfeit on; For worse than Philomel you us'd my daughter, And now prepare your throats, Lavinia, And worse than Progne I will be reveng'd: Receive the blood: and, when that they are [He cuts their Throats. And with this hateful liquor temper it; Let me go grind their bones to powder small, dead,
And in that paste let their vile heads be bak'd. Come, come, be every one officious [prove To make this banquet; which I wish may 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 That I repair to Rome, I am content. (mind, 1 Goth. And ours, with thine, 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, * Crust of a raised pye,
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.
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! unhallow'd 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.
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 de- flower'd?
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. Kill'd her, for whom my tears have made me blind.
I am as woful as Virginius was: And have a thousand times more cause than To do this outrage; and it is now done.
Sat. What, was she ravished? tell, who did
Tam. Why hast thou slain thine only daughter thus?
Tit. 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.
Sat. Go, fetch them hither to us presently. Tit. Why, there they are both, baked in that pye; Whereof their mother daintily hath fed, Eating the flesh that she herself hath bred. "Tis true, 'tis true; witness my knife's sharp [Killing TAMORA. Sat. Die, frantic wretch, for this accursed [Killing TITUS.
deed. Luc. Can the son's eye behold his father blced? [deed. There's meed for meed, death for a deadly [Kills SATURNINUS. A great Tumult. The People in confusion disperse. MARCUS, LUCIUS, and their Partisans ascend the Steps before TITUS' House.
Mar. You sad-fac'd men, people and sons of Rome,
By uproar sever'd, like a flight of fowl
Scatter'd by winds and high tempestuous gusts, O, let me teach you how to knit again This scatter'd corn into one mutual sheaf, These broken limbs again into one body.
Sen. Lest Rome herself be bane unto her- self;
And she, whom mighty kingdoms court'sy to, Like a forlorn and desperate cast-away, Do shameful execution on herself. But if my frosty signs and chaps of age, Grave witnesses of true experience, Cannot induce you to attend my words,- Speak, Rome's dear friend; [To Lucius.] as
When with his solemn tongue he did discourse, To love-sick Dido's sad attending ear, The story of that baleful burning night, When subtle Greeks surpris'd king Priam's
Tell us, what Sinon hath bewitch'd our ears, Or who hath brought the fatal engine in, That gives our Troy, our Rome, the civil wound.-
My heart is not compact of flint, nor steel; Nor can I utter all our bitter grief,
But floods of tears will drown my oratory, And break my very utterance; even i'the time When it should move you to attend me most, Lending your kind commiseration: Here is a captain, let him tell the tale; Your hearts will throb and weep to hear him
Luc. Then, noble auditory, be it known to That cursed Chiron and Demetrius [you, Were they that murdered our emperor's bro- ther;
And they it were that ravished our sister: For their fell faults our brothers were be- headed;
Our father's tears despis'd; and basely cozen'd Of that true hand, that fought Rome's quarrel And sent her enemies unto the grave. [out, Lastly, myself unkindly banished, [out, The gates shut on me, and turn'd weeping To beg relief among Rome's enemies; Who drown'd their enmity in my true tears, And op'd their arms to embrace me as a friend: And I am the turn'd-forth, be it known to you, That have preserv'd her welfare in my blood;
Tit. Will't please you eat? will't please your And from her bosom took the enemy's point,
Sheathing the steel in my advent'rous body. Alas! you know, I am no vaunter. I:
My scars can witness, dumb although they are, | Thy brother Marcus tenders on thy lips:
That my report is just, and full of truth. But, soft; methinks, I do digress too much, Citing my worthless praise: O, pardon me; For when no friends are by, men praise them- selves.
Mar. Now is my turn to speak; Behold this child,
[Pointing to the Child in the arms of an At
Of this was Tamora delivered; The issue of an irreligious Moor, Chief architect and plotter of these woes; The villain is alive in Titus' house, Damn'd as he is, to witness this is true. Now judge, what cause had Titus to revenge These wrongs, unspeakable, past patience, Or more than any living man could bear. Now you have heard the truth, what say you, Romans?
Have we done aught amiss? Show us wherein, And, from the place where you behold us now, The poor remainder of Andronici
Will, hand in hand, all headlong cast us down, And on the ragged stones beat forth our brains, And make a mutual closure of our house. Speak, Romans, speak; and, if you say, we shall,
Lo, hand in hand, Lucius and I will fall. Emil. Come, come, thou reverend man of Rome,
And bring our emperor gently in thy hand, Lucius our emperor; for, well I know, The common voice do cry, it shall be so.
Rom. [Several speak.) Lucius, all hail; Rome's royal emperor!
Mar. Go, go into old Titus' sorrowful house; [To an Attendant. And hither hale that misbelieving Moor, To be adjudg'd some direful slaughtering As punishment for his most wicked life. Rom. [Several speak.] Lucius, all hail; Rome's gracious governor!
Luc. Thanks, gentle Romans; May I govern [woe! To heal Rome's harms, and wipe away her But, gentle people, give me aim awhile,For nature puts me to a heavy task;Stand all aloof: -but, uncle, draw you near, To shed obsequious tears upon this trunk :O, take this warm kiss on thy pale cold lips, [Kisses TITUS. These sorrowful drops upon thy blood-stain'd The last true duties of thy noble son! [face, Mar. Tear for tear, and loving kiss for kiss,
O, were the sum of these that I should pay Countless and infinite, yet would I pay them! Luc. Come hither, boy; come, come, and [well: To melt in showers: Thy grandsire lov'd thee Many a time he danc'd thee on his knee, nee Sung thee asleep, his loving breast thy pillow; Many a matter hath he told to thee, Meet, and agreeing with thine infancy; In that respect then, like a loving child, Shed yet some small drops from thy tender
Because kind nature doth require it so: [woe: Friends should associate friends in grief and Bid him farewell; commit him to the grave; Do him that kindness, and take leave of him. Boy. O grandsire, grandsirel 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.
Enter Attendants, with AARON.
1 Rom. You sad Andronici, have done with woes;
Give sentence on this execrable wretch, That hath been breeder of these dire events. Luc. Set him breast-deep in earth, and famish him; There let him stand, and rave and cry for food: If any one relieves or pities him, For the offence he dies. This is our doom: Some stay, to see him fasten'd in the earth. Aar. O, why should wrath be mute, and fury dumb?
I am no baby, I, that, with base prayers, I should repent the evils I have done; Ten thousand, worse than ever yet I did, Would I perform, if I might have my will; If one good deed in all my life I did, I do repent it from my very soul.
Luc. Some loving friends convey the emperor hence,
And give him burial in his father's grave: My father, and Lavinia, shall forthwith Be closed in our household's monument. As for that heinous tiger, Tamora, No funeral rite, nor man in mournful weeds, No mournful bell shall ring her burial; (prey: But throw her forth to beasts, and birds of Her life was beast-like, and devoid of pity; And, being so, shall have like want of pity. See justice done to Aaron, that damn'd Moor, By whom our heavy haps had their beginning: Then, afterwards, to order well the state; That like events may ne'er it ruinate.
[Exeunt.
ANTIOCHUS, King of Antioch. PERICLES, Prince of Tyre.
PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE.
HELICANUS, Two Lords of Tyre. ESCANES,
SIMONIDES, King of Pentapolis. CLEON, Governor of Tharsus. LYSIMACHUS, Governor of Mitylene. CERIMON, a Lord of Ephesus. THALIARD, a Lord of Antioch. PHILEMON, Servant to Cerimon. LEONINE, Servant to Dionyza.-MARSHAL.
A PANDAR, and his WIFE.-BOULT, their Ser
GOWER, as Chorus.
The DAUGHTER of Antiochus.
DIONYZA, Wife to Cleon.
THAISA, Daughter to Simonides. MARINA, Daughter to Pericles and Thaisa. LYCHORIDA, Nurse to Marina. DIANA.
Lords, Ladies, Knights, Gentlemen, Sailors, Pirates, Fishermen, and Messengers, &c.
SCENE, dispersedly in various countries.*
* That the reader may know through how many regions the scene of this drama is dispersed, it is necessary to observe, that Antioch was the metropolis of Syria; Tyre a city of Phenicia in Asia; Tarsus, the metropolis of Cilicia, a country of Asia Minor; Mitylene, the capital of Les bos, an Island in the Ægean sea; and Ephesus, the capi tal of Ionia, a country of the Lesser Asia.
ACT I. Enter GOWER.*
Before the Palace of Antioch.
To sing a song of oldt was sung, From ashes ancient Gower is come; Assuming man's infirmities,
To glad your ear, and please your eyes. It hath been sung at festivals, On ember-eves, and holy ales;‡ And lords and ladies of their lives Have read it for restoratives: 'Purpose to make men glorious; Et quo antiquius, eo melius. If you, born in these latter times, When wit's more ripe, accept my rhymes, And that to hear an old man sing, May to your wishes pleasure bring, I life would wish, and that I might Waste it for you, like taper-light.- This city then, Antioch the great Built up for his chiefest seat; The fairest in all Syria;
(I tell you what mine authors say:)
This king unto him took a pheere,§ Who died and left a female heir, So buxom, blithe, and full of face, As heaven had lent her all his grace; With whom the father liking took, And her to incest did provoke: Bad father! to entice his own
To evil, should be done by none.
Chorus, in the character of Gower, an ancient English Poet, who has related the story of this play in his Confesso Amantis. + I. e. That of old.
Wife, the word signifies a mate or companion.
By custom, what they did begin, Was, with long use, account no sin. The beauty of this sinful dame Made many princes thither frame, To seek her as a bed-fellow, In marriage-pleasures play-fellow: Which to prevent, he made a law, (To keep her still, and men in awe,) That whoso ask'd her for his wife, His riddle told not, lost his life: So for her many a wight did die, As yon grim looks do testify.t What now ensues, to the judgement of
The senate-house of planets all did sit, To knit in her their best perfections.
Enter the DAUGHTER of ANTIOCHUS. Per. See, where she comes, apparell'd like the spring,
Graces her subjects, and her thoughts the king Of every virtue gives renown to men! Her face, the book of praises, where is read Nothing but curious pleasures, as from thence Sorrow were ever raz'd, and testy wrath
| That give heaven countless eyes to view men's acts, Why cloud they not their sights perpetually, If this be true, which makes me pale to read it? Fair glass of light, I lov'd you, and could still. [Takes hold of the hand of the princess Were not this glorious casket stor'd with ill: But I must tell you,-now, my thoughts revolt; For he's no man on whom perfections wait, That knowing sin within, will touch the gate. You're a fair viol, and your sense the strings; Who, finger'd to make man his lawful music,
Ye gods that made me man, and sway in love, Would draw heaven down, and all the gods to
Could never be her mild companion.
That have inflam'd desire in my breast,
To taste the fruit of yon celestial tree,
Or die in the adventure, be my helps,
As I am son and servant to your will,
To compass such a boundless happiness!
Per. That would be son to great Antiochus. Ant. Before thee stands this fair Hesperides, With golden fruit, but dangerous to be touch'd; For death-like dragons here affright thee hard: Her face, like heaven, enticeth thee to view A countless glory, which desert must gain: And which, without desert, because thine eye Presumes to reach, all thy whole heap must
Yon sometime famous princes, like thyself, Drawn by report, advent'rous by desire, Tell thee with speechless tongues, and sem- blance pale,
That, without covering, save yon field of stars, They here stand martyrs, slain in Cupid's
And with dead cheeks advise thee to desist, For going on death's net, whom none resist.
Pers. Antiochus, I thank thee, who hath My frail mortality to know itself, [taught And by those fearful objects to prepare This body, like to them, to what I must: For death remember'd, should be like a mirror, Who tells us, life's but breath; to trust it,
I'll make my will then; and as sick men do, Who know the world, see heaven, but feeling woe,
Gripe not at earthly joys, as erst they did; So I bequeath a happy peace to you, And all good men, as every prince should do; My riches to the earth from whence they came; But my unspotted fire of love to you.
[To the DAUGHTER of ANTIOCHUS.
Thus ready for the way of life or death, I wait the sharpest blow, Antiochus, Scorning advice.
Ant. Read the conclusion then; Which read and not expounded, 'tis decreed, As these before thee thou thyself shalt bleed. Daugh. In all, save that, inay'st thou prove
In all, save that, I wish thee happiness! Per. Like a bold champion, I assume the lists, Nor ask advice of any other thought But faithfulness, and courage.
[He reads the Riddle.]
I am no viper, yet I feed On mother's flesh, which did me breed: I sought a husband, in which labour, I found that kindness in a father. He's father, son, and husband mild, I mother, wife, and yet his child. How they may be, and yet in two, As you will live, resolve it you.
Sharp physic is the last; but O you powers!
But, being play'd upon before your time, Hell only danceth at so harsh a chime : Good sooth, I care not for you.
Ant. Prince Pericles, touch not, upon thy For that's an article within our law, [life, As dangerous as the rest. Your time's ex- pir'd;
Either expound now, or receive your sentence Per. Great king,
Few love to hear the sins they love to act; "Twould 'braid yourself too near for me to tell it.
Who has a book of all that monarchs do, He's more secure to keep it shut, than shown; For vice repeated, is like the wand'ring wind, Blows dust in others' eyes, to spread itself; And yet the end of all is bought thus dear, The breath is gone, and the sore eyes see clear: To stop the air would hurt them. The blind Copp'd* hills towards heaven, to tell, the earth is wrong'd By man's oppression; and the poor worm doth Kings are earth's gods: in vice their law's their will; [ill? And if Jove stray, who dares say, Jove doth It is enough you know; and it is fit, What being more known grows worse, to smother it.
All love the womb that their first beings bred, Then give my tongue like leave to love my head.
Ant. Heaven, that I had thy head! He has
found the meaning;
But I will glozet with him. [Aside.] Young prince of Tyre. Though by the tenour of our strict edict, Your exposition misinterpreting, We might proceed to cancel of your days; Yet hope, succeeding from so fair a tree As your fair self, doth tune us otherwise: Forty days longer we do respite you; If by which time our secret be undone, This mercy shows, we'll joy in such a son: As doth befit our honour, and your worth. And until then, your entertain shall be,
[Exeunt ANTIOCHUS, his Daughter, and Attendants.
Per. How courtesy would seem to cover sin! When what is done is like a hypocrite, The which is good in nothing but in sight. If it be true that I interpret false, Then were it certain, you were not so bad, As with foul incest to abuse your soul; Wheres now you're both a father and a son, By your untimely claspings with your child, (Which pleasure fits a husband, not a father;) And she an eater of her mother's flesh, By the defiling of her parent's bed; [feed And both like serpents are, who though they
Rising to a top or head. ‡ To the destruction of your life,
† Flatter, insinuate. Whereas,
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