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Enter TITUS below.

Tit. Long have I been forlorn, and all for thee:

Welcome, dread Fury, to my woful house:
Rapine and Murder, you are welcome too.
How like the empress and her sons you are!
Well are you fitted, had you but a Moor:
Could not all hell afford you such a devil?
For well I wot the cmpress never wags
But in her company there is a Moor;
And would you represent our queen aright,
It were convenient you had such a devil :
But welcome, as you are. What shall we do?
Tum. What wouldst thou have us do,
Andronicus?

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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.
Tit.

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
Go thou with him; and when it is thy hap
To find another that is like to thee,
Good Rapine, stab him; he's a ravisher.
Go thon with them; and in the emperor's

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:
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.
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But would it please thee, good Andronicus,
To send for Lucius, thy thrice-valiant son,
Who leads towards Rome a band of warlike
Goths,

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 shalt they stoop and kneel,
And on them shalt thou ease thy angry heart.
What says Andronicus to this device?

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Tit. Marcus, my brother! 'tis sad Titus calls.

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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,
And cleave to no revenge but Lucius.

Tam. [Aside to her sons] What say you, boys? will you bide with him,

Whiles I go tell my lord the emperor
How I have govern'd our determined jest?
Yield to his humor, smooth and speak him

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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.

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Tit. Know you these two?
Pub. The empress' sons, I take them,
Chiron and Demetrius,

Tit. Fie, Publius, fie! thou art too much deceived;

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 ine wish for such an
hour,
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And now I find it; therefore bind them sure,
And stop their mouths, if they begin to cry.

[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,

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[Exeunt, bearing the dead bodies. SCENE III. Court of Titus's house. A banquet set out.

Enter LUCIUS, MARCUS, and Goths, with
AARON prisoner.

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;
Let him receive no sustenance, fetter him,
Til! he be brought unto the empress' face,
For testimony of her foul proceedings:
And see the ambush of our friends be strong;

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.
The feast is ready, which the careful Titus
Hath ordain'd to an honorable end,

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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.

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that pie;

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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

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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 surprised King Priam's
Troy,

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, 90
And break my utterance, even in 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 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;

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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.
Lastly, myself unkindly banished,
The gates shut on me, and turn'd weeping out,
To beg relief among Rome's enemies:
Who drown'd their enmity in my true tears,
And oped their arms to embrace me as a
friend.

I am the turned forth, be it known to you,
That have preserved her welfare in my blood;
And from her bosom took the enemy's point,
Sheathing the steel in my adventurous body.
Alas, you know I am no vaunter, I;
My scars can witness, dumb although they are,
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.

Marc. Now is my turn to speak. Behold this child:

[Pointing to the Child in the arms of an Attendant.

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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,
And 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 behoid us now, 130

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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,
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,
[Kissing Titus.
These sorrowful drops upon thy blood-stain'd
face,

The last true duties of thy noble son!

Mare. Tear for tear, and loving kiss for kiss,

Thy brother Marcus tenders on thy lips :
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
learn of us

160 To melt in showers: thy grandsire loved thee well:

Many a time he danced thee on his knee,
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
spring.

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,
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; 180

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.

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Luc. Some loving friends convey the em peror 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 mourning weeds,
No mournful bell shall ring her burial;
But throw her forth to beasts and birds of
prey:

Her life was beast-like, and devoid of pity;
And, being so, shall have like want of pity.
See justice done on 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. [Exeuni

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."

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