Let me go grind their bones to powder small, To make this banquet; which I wish may prove 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 mind, That I repair to Rome, I am content. 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, : 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. Sat. What, hath the firmament more suns than one? Luc. What boots 4 it thee, to call thyself a sun? Mar. 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. Sat. Marcus, we will. [Huutboys sound. The Company sit down at Table. Enter TITUS, dressed like a Cook, LAVINIA, veiled, young LUCIUS, and Others. Dishes on the Table. TITUS places the Tit. Welcome, my gracious lord: welcome, dread queen; Welcome, ye warlike Goths; welcome, Lucius; 4 Advantage, benefit. 5 i, e. Begin the parley. Was it well done of rash Virginius, To slay his daughter with his own right hand, 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; [He kills LAVINIA, And, with thy shame, thy father's sorrow die! I am as woful as Virginius was: And have a thousand times more cause than he To do this outrage ;—and it is now done. Sat. What, was she ravish'd? tell, who did the deed. Tit. Will't please you eat? will't please your highness feed? Tam. Why hast thou slain thine only daughter thus? Tit. Not l; '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 point. [Killing TAMORA. Sat. Die, frantick wretch, for this accursed deed. [Killing TITUS. Luc. Can the son's eye behold his father bleed? LUCIUS, and their Partisans ascend the Mar. You sad-fac'd men, people and sons of By uproar sever'd, like a flight of fowl Sen. Lest Rome herself be bane unto herself; Do shameful execution on herself. But if my frosty signs and chaps of age, Cannot induce you to attend my words,- our ancestor, When with his solemn tongue he did discourse, The story of that baleful burning night, When subtle Greeks surpriz'd king Priam's Troy ; Or who hath brought the fatal engine in, That gives our Troy, our Rome, the civil wound.- But floods of tears will drown my oratory, Here is a captain, let him tell the tale ; Your hearts will throb and weep to hear him speak. Were they that murdered our emperor's brother; Lastly, myself unkindly banished, The gates shut on me, and turn'd weeping out, For when no friends are by, men praise themselves. |