ACT V.

SCENE I.-Plains near Rome

And this shall all be buried by my death,

Unless thou swear to me, my child shall live. Enter Lucius and Goths, with Drum and Colors. Luc. Tell on thy mind: say, thy child shall

live. Luc. Approved warriors, and my faithful friends,

Aar. Swear, that he shall, and then I will begin. I have received letters from great Rome, Which signify what hate they bear their emperor,

Luc. Who should I swear by? thou believ'st no

god; And how desirous of our sight they are.

That granted, how canst thou believe an oath ? Therefore, great lords, be, as your titles witness,

Aar. What if I do not? as, indeed, I do not: Imperious, and impatient of your wrongs;

Yet,-for I know thou art religious, And, wherein Rome hath done you any scath,9

And hast a thing within thee, called conscience. Let him make treble satisfaction. 1 Goth. Brave slip, sprung from the great An-With twenty popish tricks and ceremonies,

Which I have seen thee careful to observe, dronicus, Whose name was once our terror, now our comfort; An idiot holds his bauble for a god,

Therefore I urge thy oath ;-For that, I know, Whose high exploits, and honorable deeds,

And keeps the oath, which by that god he swears; Ingrateful Rome requites with foul contempt,

To that I'll urge him :- Therefore thou shalt vow Be bold in us: we'll follow where thou lead'st,

By that same god, what god soe'er it be,
Like stinging bees in hottest summer's day,

That thou ador'st and hast in reverence,
Led by their master to the flower'd fields,
And be avenged on cursed Tamora.

To save my boy, to nourish, and bring him up;

Or else I will discover naught to thee.
Goths. And, as he saith, so say we all with him.
Luc. I humbly thank him, and I thank you all.

Luc. Even by my god, I swear to thee, I will.

Aar. First, know thou, I begot him on the emBut who comes here, led by a lusty Goth?

press. Enter a Goth, leading AARON, with his child in Luc. O most insatiate, luxurious woman! his Arms.

Aar. Tut, Lucius! this was but a deed of charity, 2 Goth. Renowned Lucius, from our troops I To that which thou shalt hear of me anon. stray'd,

'Twas her two sons that murderd Bassianus: To gaze upon a ruinous monastery;

They cut thy sister's tongue, and ravish'd her, And as I earnestly did fix mine eye

And cut her hands; and trinam'd her as thou

sa w'st. Upon the wasted building, suddenly. I heard a child cry underneath a wall:

Luc. 0, détestable villain! call'st thou that trimI made unto the noise; when soon I heard

ming? The crying babe controllid with this discourse :

Aar. Why, she was wash'd, and cut, and trimm'd;

and 'twas Peace, tawny slave; half me, and half thy dam! Did not thy hue bewray whose brat thou art,

Trim sport for them that had the doing of it. Had nature lent thee but thy mother's look,

Luc. 0, barbarous, beastly villains, like thyself! Villain, thou mightst have been an emperor :

Aar. Indeed, I was their tutor to instruct them; But where the bull and cow are both milk-white,

That codding spirit had they from their mother,

As sure a card as ever won the set:
They never do beget a coal-black calf.
Peace, villain, peace!--even thus he rates the babe, - As true a dog as ever fought at head.-

That bloody mind, I think, they learn'd of me,
For I must bear thee to a trusty Goth;
Who, when he knows thou art the empress' babe,

Well, let my deeds be witness of my worth. Will hold thee dearly for thy mother's sake.

I traind thy brethren to that guiletul hole, With this, my weapon drawn, I rush'd upon him,

Where the dead corpse of Bassianus lay: Surpris’d him suddenly; and brought him

hither, I wrote the letter that thy father found, To use as you think needful of the man.

And hid the gold within the letter mention'd, Luc. O worthy Goth! this is the incarnate devil And what not done, that thou hast cause to rue,

Confederate with the queen, and her two sons: That robb'd Andronicus of his good hand: This is the pearl that pleas'd your empress' eye;'

Wherein I had no stroke ot' mischief in it? And here's the base fruit of his burning lust.

I play'd the cheater for thy father's hand;
Say, wall-eyed slave, whither wouldst thou convey | And almost broke my heart with extreme laughter.

And when I had it, drew myself apart,
This growing image of thy fiend-like face?
Why dost not speak? What! deat? No; not a pryd me through the crevice of a wall,
word?

When, for his hand, he had his two sons' heads : A halter, soldiers; hang him on this tree,

Beheld his tears, and laugh'd so heartily, And by his side his fruit of bastardy.

That both mine eyes were rainy like to his; Aur. Touch not the boy, he is of royal blood.

And when I told the empress of this sport, Luc. Too like the sire ior ever being good.

She swounded almost at my pleasing tale, First, hang the child, that he may see it sprawl;

And, for my tidings, gave me twenty kisses. A sight to vex the father's soul withal.

Goth. What! canst thou say all this, and never

blush! Get me a ladder. [A larlder brought, which Aaron is

Aar. Ay, like a black dog, as the saying is. obliged to ascend.

Luc. Art thou not sorry for these heinous

deeds? Aar.

Lucius, save the child; And bear it from me to the emperess.

Aar. Ay, that I had not done a thousand more. If thou do this, I'll show thee wondrous things,

Even now I curse the day. (and yet, I think,

Few come within the compass of my curse,)
That highly may advantage thee to hear:
If thou wilt not, befall what may befall,

Wherein I did not some notorious ill: l'll speak no more; But vengearice rot you all!

As kill a man, or else devise his death; Luc. Say on, and, if it please me which thou Ravish a maid, or plot the way to do it; speak’st,

Accuse some innocent, and torswear myself;
Thy child shall live, and I will see it nourish'd.

Set deadly enmity between two friends;
Åar. An if it please thee? why, assure thee, Set tire on barns and hay-stacks in the night,

Make poor men's cattle break their necks;
Lucius,
'Twill vex thy soul to hear what I shall speak;

And bid the owners quench them with their tears. For I must talk ot' murders, rapes, and massacres, And set them upright at their dear friends' doors,

Oit have I digg'd up dead men from their graves, Acts of black night, abominable deeds, Complots of mischiet, treason; villanies

Even when their sorrows almost were forgot; Ruthiul to hear, yet piteously perform’d:

And on their skins, as on the bark of trees,

Have with my knife carved, in Roman letters, . Harm.

Let not your surrow die, though I am dead. ! Alluding to the proverb, “ A black man is a pearl in a Tut, I have done a thousand dreadful things, fair woman's eye.”

As willingly as one would kill a fly:

more.

And nothing grieves me heartily indeed,

Trot, like a servile footman, all day long;
But that I cannot do ten thousand more.

Even from Hyperion's rising in the cast,
Luc. Bring down the devil; for he must not die Until his very downfall in the sea.
So sweet a death, as hanging presently.

And day by day I'll do this heavy task,
Aar. If there be devils, 'would I were a devil, So thou destroy Rapine and Murder there.
To live and burn in everlasting fire;

Tam. These are my ministers, and come with me. So I might have your company in hell,

Tit. Are they thy ministers? what are they call’d? But to torment you with my bitter tongue!

Tam. Rapine, and Murder; therefore called so, Luc. Sirs, stop his mouth, and let him speak no 'Cause they take vengeance on such kind of men.

Tit. Good lord, how like the empress' sons they Enter a Goth.

are ! Goth. My lord, there is a messenger from Rome And you, the empress! But we worldly men Desires to be admitted to your presence.

Have miserable, mad, mistaking eyes. Luc. Let him coine near.

O sweet Revenge, now do I come to thee;

And, if one arm's embracement will content thee, Enter ÆMILIUS.

I will embrace thee in it by and by. Welcome, Æmilius! what's the news from Rome?

[Exit Titus, from above. Æmil. Lord Lucius, and you princes of the Goths, Tam. This closing with him fits his lunacy: The Roman emperor greets you all by me: Whate'er I forge, to feed his brain-sick fits, And, for he understands you are in arms,

Do you uphold and maintain in your speeches, He craves a parley at your father's house,

For now he firmly takes me for Revenge; Willing you to demand your hostages,

And, being credulous in this mad thought, And they shall be immediately deliver'd.

I'll make him send for Lucius, his son; 1 Goth. What says our general ?

And, whilst I at a banquet hold him sure, Luc. Æmilius, let the emperor give his pledges I'll find some cunning practice out of hand, Unto my father and my uncle Marcus,

To scatter and disperse the giddy Goths, And we will come.-March away. [Exeunt. Or, at the least, make them his enemies.

See, here he comes, and I must ply my theme. SCENE II.-Rome. Before Titus's House.

Enter Titus. Enter TAMORA, CHIRON, and DEMETRICS, Tit. Long have I been forlorn, and all for thee. disguised.

Welcome, dread fury, to my woeful house; Tam. Thus, in this strange and sad habiliment, Rapine, and Murder, you are welcome too : I will encounter with Andronicus;

How like the empress and her sons you are! And say, I am Revenge, sent from below,

Well are you fitted, had you but a Moor: To join with him, and right his heinous wrongs.

Could not all hell afford you such a devil ?Knock at his study, where, they say, he keeps,

For, well I wot, the empress never wags,
To ruminate strange plots of dire revenge;

But in her company there is a Moor;
Tell him, Revenge is come to join with him, And, would you represent our queen aright,
And work confusion on his enemies. [ They knock. It were convenient you had such a devil:
Enter Titus, above.

But welcome, as you are. What shall we do?

Tam. What wouldst thou have us do, Andronicus! Tit. Who doth molest my contemplation ?

Dem. Show me a murderer, I'll deal with him. Is it your trick, to make me ope the door;

Chi. Show me a villain, that hath done a rape, That so my sad decrees may fly away,

And I am sent to be reveng'd on him. And all my study be to no effect ?

Tam. Show me a thousand, that hath done thee You are deceiv'd; for what I mean to do,

wrong, See here, in bloody lines I have set down;

And I will be revenged on them all. And what is written shall be executed.

Tit. Look round about the wicked streets of Tam. Titus, I am come to talk with thee.

Rome;
Tit. No; not a word: How can I grace my talk, And when thou find'st a man that's like thyself,
Wanting a hand to give it action?

Good Murder, stab him; he's a murderer.
Thou hast the odds of me, therefore no more. Go thou with him; and when it is thy hap
Tam. If thou didst know me, thou wouldst talk To find another that is like to thee,
with me.

Good Rapine, stab him ; he's a ravisher.-
Tit. I am not mad; I know thee well enough: Go thou with them; and in the emperor's court
Witness this wretched stump, these crimson lines; There is a queen, attended by a Moor;
Witness these trenches, made by grief and care; Well may'st thou know her by thy own proportion,
Witness the tiring day, and heavy night;

For up and down she doth resemble thee; Witness all sorrow, that I know thee well

I pray thee, do on them some violent death, For our proud empress, mighty Tamora :

They have been violent to me and mine. Is not thy coming for my other hand ?

Täm. Well hast thou lesson'd us; this shall we do. Tam. Know thou, sad man, I am not Tamora; But would it please thee, good Andronicus, She is thy enemy, and I thy friend:

To send for Lucius, thy thrice valiant son, I am Revenge; sent from the infernal kingdom, Who leads towards Rome a band of warlike Goths, To ease the gnawing vulture of thy mind,

And bid him come and banquet at thy huuse: By working wreakful vengeance on thy foes. When he is here, even at thy solemn feast, Come down, and welcome me to this world's light; I will bring in the empress and her sons, Confer with me of murder and of death:

The emperor himself, and all thy foes; There's not a hollow cave, or lurking-place, And at thy mercy shall they stoop and kneel, No vast obscurity, or misty vale,

And on them shalt thou ease thy angry heart. Where bloody murder, or detested rape,

What says Andronicus to this device? Can couch for fear, but I will find them out;

Tit. Marcus, my brother !-'tis sad Titus calls.
And in their ears tell them my dreadful name,
Revenge, which makes the foul offender quake.

Enter MARCUS.
Tit. Art thou Revenge ? and art thou sent to me, Go, gentle Marcus, to thy nephew Lucius;
To be a torment to mine enemies?

Thou shalt inquire him out among the Goths: Tam. I am; therefore come down and welcome Bid him repair to me, and bring with him me.

Some of the chiefest princes of the Goths; Tit. Do me some service, ere I come to thee. Bid him encamp his soldiers where they are : Lo, by thy side, where Rape and Murder stand; Tell him, the emperor and the empress too Now give some 'surance that thou art Revenge, Feast at my house : and he shall feast with them. Stab them, or tear them on thy chariot wheels; This do thou for my love, and so let him, And then I'll come, and be thy waggoner,

As he regards his aged father's life. And whirl along with thee about the globes.

Marc. This will I do, and soon return again. Provide thee proper palfries, black as jet,

(Exit. To hale thy vengeful waggon swift away,

Tam. Now will I hence about thy business, And find out murderers in their guilty cave: And take my ministers along with me. And, when thy car is loaden with their heads, Tit. Nay, nay, let Rape and Murder stay with I will dismount, and by the waggon wheel

go

[ Aside.

one?

Or else I'll call my brother back again,

So, now bring them in, for I will play the cook, And cleave to no revenge but Lucius.

And see them ready 'gainst their mother comes. Tam. [To her Sons.) What say you, boys ? will

(Exeunt, bearing the dead Bodies you abide with him, Whiles i tell my lord the emperor,

SCENE III.- A Pavilion, with Tables, &c. How I have govern'd our determind jest? Yield to his humor, smooth and speak him fair,

Enter Lucius, MARCUS, and Goths, with AARON, And tarry with him, till I come again.

Prisoner. Tit. I know them all, though they suppose me Luc. Uncle Marcus, since 'tis my father's mind mad;

That I repair to Rome, I am content. And will o'er-reach them in their own devices, 1 Goth. And ours, with thine, befall what fortune A pair of cursed hell-hounds, and their dam.

will.

Luc. Good uncle, take you in this barbarous Dem. Madam, depart at pleasure, leave us here.

Moor,
Tam. Farewell, Andronicus: Revenge now goes This ravenous tiger, this accursed devil;
To lay a complot to betray thy foes.

Let him receive no sustenance, fetter him,

[Exit TAMORA. 'Till he be brought unto the empress' face, Tit. I know, thou dost; and, sweet Revenge, For testimony of her foul proceedings: farewell.

And see the ambush of our friends be strong: Chi. Tell us, old man, how shall we be em- I fear, the emperor means no good to us. ploy'd ?

Aar. Some devil whisper curses in mine ear, Tit. Tut, I have work enough for you to do.- And prompt me, that my tongue may utter forth Publius, come hither, Caius, and Valentine ! The venomous malice of my swelling heart! Enter PUBLIUS and others.

Luc. Away, inhuman dog, unhallow'd slave!

Sirs, help our uncle to convey him in.Pub. What's your will?

[Exeunt Goths with AARON. Flourish. Tit.

Know you these two? The trumpets show the emperor is at hand. Pub.

Th’empress' sons, I take them, Chiron and Demetrius.

Enter SATURNINCS and TAMORA, with Tribunes, Tit. Fye, Publius, fye! thou art too much de

Senators, and others. ceiv'd;

Sat. What! hath the firmament more suns than The one is Murder, Rape is the other's name: And therefore bind them, gentle Publius;

Luc. What boots it3 thee, to call thyself a sun ? Caius and Valentine, lay hands on them.

Marc. Rome's emperor, and nephew, break the Oft have you heard me wish for such an hour,

parle ;
And now I find it; therefore bind them sure; These quarrels must be quietly debated.
And stop their mouths, if they begin to cry. The feast is ready which the careful Titus

[Exit Titus.-PUBLIUS, &c. lay hold on Hath ordain'd to an honorable end,
CHIRON and DEMETRIUS.

For peace, for love, for league, and good to Rome: Chi. Villains, forbear: we are the empress' sons. Please you, therefore, draw nigh, and take your Pub. And therefore do we what we are com

places. manded.

Sat. Marcus, we will. Stop close their mouths, let them not speak a word:

[Haut boys sound. The Company sit down Is he sure bound? look, that you bind them fast.

at Table. Re-enter Titus ANDRONICUS, with LAVINIA ; she Enter Titus, dressed like a Cook, LAVINIA, reiled, bearing a Bason, and he a knife.

young LUCIUS, and others. TITUS places the Tit. Come, come, Lavinia; look, thy foes are

Dishes on the Table.

Tit. Welcome, my gracious lord: welcome, dread Sirs, stop their mouths, let them not speak to me:

queen; But let them hear what fearful words I utter- Welcome, ye warlike Goths; welcome, Lucius; () villains, Chiron and Demetrius!

And welcome all : although the cheer be poor, Here stands the spring whom you have stain'd with 'Twill fill your stomachs; please you eat of it. mud;

Sat. Why art thou thus attired, Andronicus ? This goodly summer with your winter mix’d. Tit. Because I would be sure to have all well, You kill'd her husband; and, for that vile fault, To entertain your highness, and your empress. Two of her brothers were condemn'd to death : Tam. We are beholden to you, good Andronicus. My hand cut off, and made a merry jest:

Tit. Anif your highness knew my heart, you were. Both hier sweet hands, her tongue, and that, more My lord the emperor, resolve me this; dear

Was it well done of rash Virginius, Than hands or tongue, her spotless chastity, To slay his daughter with his own right hand, Inhuman traitors, you constrain'd and forced. Because she was enforced, stain'd, and deflour'd? What would you say, if I should let you speak? Sat. It was, Andronicus. Villains, for shame you could not beg for grace. Tit. Your reason, mighty lord ? Hark, wretches, how I mean to martyr you.

Sat. Because the girl should not survive her This one hand yet is lett to cut your throats;

shame, hold

And by her presence still renew his sorrows. The bason, that receives your guilty blood.

Tit. A reason mighty, strong, and effectual; You know, your mother means to feast with me, A pattern, precedent, and lively warrant, And calls herself, Revenge, and thinks me mad,- For me, most wretched, to perform the like :Hark, villains; I will grind your bones to dust, Die, die, Lavinia, and thy shame with thee; And with your blood and it, I'll make a paste;

He kills LAVINIA. And of the paste a coffin2 I will rear,

And, with thy shame, thy father's sorrow die! And make two pasties of your shameful heads; Sat. What hast thou done, unnatural, and unAnd bid that strumpet, your unhallow'd dam,

kind? Like to the earth, swallow her own increase.

Tit. Kill'd her, for whom my tears have made This is the feast that I have bid her to,

me blind. And this the banquet she shall surfeit on;

I am as woeful as Virginius was: For worse than Philomel you used my daughter, And have a thousand times more cause than he And worse than Progne I will be reveng'd: To do this outrage ;-and it is now done. And now prepare your throats,-Lavinia, come, Sat. What, was she ravishd? tell, who did the [He cuts their Throats.

deed. Receive the blood : and, when that they are dead, Tit. Will't please you eat ? will't please your Let me go grind their bones to powder small,

highness feed? And with this hateful liquor temper it;

Tam. Why hast thou slain thine only daughter And in that paste let their vile heads be bak'd.

thus ? Come, come, be every one officious

Tit. Not I; 'twas Chiron and Demetrius: To make this banquet; which I wish may prove They ravish'd her, and cut away her tongue, More stern and bloody than the Centaurs' feast. And they, 'twas they, that did her all this wrong. 9 Crust of a raised pie.

? Of what advantage is it?

bound;

Sat. Go, fetch them hither to us presently. And make a mutual closure of our house.
Tit. Why, there they are both, baked in that pie; Speak, Romans, speak; and, if you say, we shall,
Whereof their mother daintily hath fed,

Lo, hand-in-hand, Lucius and I will fall.
Eating the flesh that she herself hath bred:

Æmil. Come, come, thou reverend man of Rome, 'Tis true, 'tis true: witness my knite's sharp point. And bring our emperor gently in thy hand,

[Killing TAMORA. Lucius our emperor; for well I know, Sat. Die, frantic wretch, for this accursed deed. The common voice do cry, it shall be so.

[Killing TITUS. Rom. [Several speak.] Lucius, all hail; Rome's Luc. Can the son's eye behold his father bleed ?

royal emperor!
There's meed for meed, death for a deadly deed.
[Kills SATURNINUS. A great Tumult. The

LUCIUS, &c. descend.
People in confusion disperse. MARCUS, Marc. Go, go into old Titus' sorrowful house;
Lucius, and their Partisans, ascend the

[To an Attendant.
Steps before Titus's House.

And hither hale that misbelieving Moor,
Marc. You sad-laced men, people and sons of To be adjudy'd some direful slaughtering death,
Rome,

As punishment for his most wicked life.
By uproar sever'd, like a flight of fowl

Rom. [Several speak.] Lucius, all hail; Rome's Scatter'd by winds and high tempestuous gusts,

gracious governor! 0, let me teach you how to knit again

Luc. Thanks, gentle Romans; may I govern so, This scatter'd corn into one mutual sheaf,

To heal Rome's harms, and wipe away her woe!
These broken limbs again into one body.

But, gentle people, give me aim awhile,-
Sen. Lest Rome herself be bane unto herself; For nature puts me to a heavy task ;-
And she, whom mighty kingdoms court'sy to,

Stand all aloof:-but, uncle, draw you near,
Like a forlorn and desperate castaway,

To shed obsequious tears upon this trunk: Do shameful execution on herself.

O take this warm kiss on thy pale cold lips, But if my frosty signs and chaps of age,

[Kisses Titus. Grave witnesses of true experience,

These sorrowful drops upon thy blood-stain'd face, Cannot induce you to attend my words,-.

The last true duties of thy noble son! Speak, Rome's dear friend; [TO LUCIUS.) as erst Marc. Tear for tear, and loving kiss for kiss, our ancestor,

Thy brother Marcus tenders on thy lips: When with his solemn tongue he did discourse 0, were the sum of these that I should pay To love-sick Dido's sad attending ear,

Countless and infinite, yet would I pay them. The story of that baleful burning night,

Luc. Come hither, boy; come, come, and learn When subtle Greeks surpris'd king Priam's Troy.

of us
Tell us what Sinon hath bewitch'd our ears, To melt in showers: Thy grandsire lov'd thee
Or who hath brought the fatal engine in,

well:
That gives our Troy, our Rome, the civil wound. Many a time he danced thee on his knee,
My heart is not compact of flint, nor steel; Sung thee asleep, his loving breast thy pillow;
Nor can I utter all our bitter grief,

Many a matter hath he told to thee,
But floods of tears will drown my oratory,

Meet, and agreeing with thine infancy; And break my very utterance; even i' the time

In that respect then, like a loving child, When it should move you to attend me most,

Shed yet some small drops from thy tender spring, Lending your kind commiseration:

Because kind nature doth require it so:
Here is a captain, let him tell the tale;

Friends should associate friends in grief and woe:
Your hearts will throb and weep to hear him speak. Bid him farewell; commit him to the grave;
Luc. Then, noble auditory, be it known to you,

Do him that kindness, and take leave of him.
That cursed Chiron and Demetrius

Boy. O grandsire, grandsire! even with all my Were they that murdered our emperor's brother;

heart And they it were that ravished our sister:

Would I were dead, so you did live again!
For their fell faults our brothers were beheaded; O lord, I cannot speak to him for weeping;
Our father's tears despised; and basely cozen'd

My tears will choke me, if I ope my mouth.
Of that true hand, that fought Rome's quarrel out,
And sent her enemies unto the grave.

Enter Attendants, with AARON.
Lastly, myself unkindly banished,

1 Rom. You sad Andronici, have done with woes; The gates shut on me, and turn'd weeping out, Give sentence on this execrable wretch, To beg relief among Rome's enemies,

That hath been breeder of these dire events. Who drown'd their enmity in my true tears,

Luc. Set him breast-deep in earth, and famish
And op'd their arms to embrace me as a friend;

him.
And I am the turn'd-forth, be it known to you, There let him stand, and rave and cry for food;
That have preserv'd her welfare in my blood; If any one relieves or pities him,
And from her bosom took the enemy's point, For the offence he dies. This is our doom:
Sheathing the steel in my advent'rous body. Some stay, to see him fastend in the earth.
Alas! you know, I am no vaunter, I;

Aar. O, why should wrath be mute, and fury
My scars can witness, dumb although they are,

dumb"? That my report is just, and full of truth.

I am no baby, I, that, with base prayers, kut, soft; methinks, I do digress too much,

I should repent the evils I have done;
Citing my worthless praise: 0, pardon me; Ten thousand, worse than ever yet I did,
For when no friends are by, men praise themselves. Would I perform, if I might have my will

Marc. Now is my turn to speak: Behold this child. If one good deed in all my life I did,
[Pointing to the Child in the arms of an Attendant. do repent it from my very soul.
of this was Tamora delivered ;

Luc. Some loving friends convey the emperor
The issue of an irreligious Moor,

hence, Chief architect and plotter of these woes:

And give him burial in his father's grave: The villain is alive in Titus' house,

My father, and Lavinia, shall forthwith
Damn'd as he is, to witness this is true.

Be closed in our household's monument.
Now judge, what cause had Titus to revenge As for that heinous tiger, Tamora,
These wrongs, unspeakable, past patience, No funeral rite, nor man in mournful weeds,
Or more than any living man could bear.

No mournful bell shall ring her burial;
Now you have heard the truth, what say you, Ro- But throw her forth to beasts, and birds of prey:
mans ?

Her life was beast-like, and devoid of pity;
Have we done aught amiss ? Show us wherein, And, being so, shall have like want of pity.
And, from the place where you behold us now, See justice done to Aaron, that damnd Moor,
The poor remainder of Andronici

By whom our heavy haps had their beginning:
Will, hand-in-hand, all headlong cast us down, Then, afterwards, to order well the state,
And on the ragged stones beat forth our brains, That like events may ne'er it ruinate. (Exeunt.

PERICLES,

PRINCE OF TYRE.

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

ANTIOCHUS, King of Antioch.

A Pandar, and his Wife.
PERICLES, Prince of Tyre.

Boult, their Servant.
HELICANUS,
ESCANES,
Two Lords of Tyre.

Gower, as Chorus.
SIMONIDES, King of Penta polis.

The Daughter of Antiochus. CLEON, Governor of Tharsus.

DIONYZA, Wife to Cleon. LYSIMACHUS, Governor of Mitylene.

THAISA, Daughter to Simonides.

MARINA, Daughter to Pericles and Thaisa. CERIMON, a Lord of Ephesus.

LYCHORIDA, Nurse to Marina.
THALIARD, a Lord of Antioch.

DIANA.
PHILEMON, Servant to Cerimon.
LEONINE, Servant to Dionyza.

Lords, Ladies, Knights, Gentlemen, Sailors, PiMarshal.

rates, 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 Phænicia, in Asia; Tharsus, the metropolis of Cilicia, a country of Asia Minor; Mitylene, the capital of Lesbos, an island in the Ægean Sea; and Ephesus, the capital of Ionia, a country of the Lesser Asia.

ACT I.

Enter Gower. Before the Palace of Antioch. To seek her as a bed-fellow,

In marriage-pleasures play-fellow:
To sing a song of old2 was sung,
From ashes ancient Gower is come;

Which to prevent, he made a law,

(To keep her still, and men in awe,) Assuming man's infirmities,

That whoso ask'd her for his wife, To glad your ear, and please your eyes.

His riddle told not, lost his life:
It hath been sung at festivals,

So for her many a wight did die,
On ember-eves, and holy ales;3
And lords and ladies on their lives

As yon grim looks do testify.6

What now ensues, to the judgment of your eye Have read it for restoratives: 'Purpose to make men glorious;

I give, my cause who best can justify. [Exit. Et quo antiquius, eo melius. If you, born in these latter times,

SCENE I.-Antioch. A Room in the Palace. When wit's more ripe, accept my rhymes, Enter ANTIOCHUS, PERICLES, and Attendants. And that to hear an old man sing,

Ant. Young prince of Tyre, you have at large May to your wishes pleasure bring,

receivid I life would wish, and that I might

The danger of the task you undertake. Waste it for you, like ta per-light.

Per. I have, Antiochus, and with a soul This city then, Antioch the great

Embolden'd with the glory of her praise, Built up for his chiefest seat:

Think death no hazard, in this enterprise. [Music. The fairest in all Syria;

Ant. Bring in our daughter, clothed like a bride, (I tell you what mine authors say:)

For the embracements even of Jove himself; This king unto him took a pheere,

At whose conception, (till Lucina reign'd,) Who died and lett a female heir,

Nature this dowry gave to glad her presence, So buxom, blithe, and full of face,

The senate-house of planets all did sit,
As heaven had lent her all his grace;
With whom the father liking took,

To knit in her their best perfections.
And her to incest did provoke:

Enter the Daughter of Antiochus.
Bad father! to entice his own
To evil, should be done by none.

Per. See, where she comes, apparellid like the By custom, what they did begin,

spring, Was, with long use, accountă no sin.

Graces her subjects, and her thoughts the king The beauty of this sinful dame

Of every virtue gives renown to men! Made many princes thither frame,

Her face, the book of praises, where is read * Chorus, in the character of Gower, an ancient English Sorrow were ever ras'd, and testy wrath

Nothing but curious pleasures, as from thence poet, who has related the story of this play in his Confessin Amantis.

Could never be her mild companion. 21. e. That of old. 3 Whitsun-ales, &c. • Wife: the word signifies a mate or companion.

• Pointing to the scene of the palace gate at Antioch, on & Accounted.

which the heads of those unfortunate wights were fixed.