Free Complete Plays, The by William Shakespeare

presence.
    Lucius
    Let him come near.
    Enter Aemilius
    Welcome, Aemilius what’s the news from Rome?
    Aemilius
    Lord Lucius, and you princes of the Goths,The Roman emperor greets you all by me;And, for he understands you are in arms,He craves a parley at your father’s house,Willing you to demand your hostages,And they shall be immediately deliver’d.
    First Goth
    What says our general?
    Lucius
    Aemilius, let the emperor give his pledgesUnto my father and my uncle Marcus,And we will come. March away.
    Exeunt

S CENE II. R OME . B EFORE T ITUS ’ S HOUSE .
    Enter Tamora, Demetrius, and Chiron, disguised
    Tamora
    Thus, in this strange and sad habiliment,I will encounter with Andronicus,And say I am Revenge, sent from belowTo join with him and right his heinous wrongs.Knock at his study, where, they say, he keeps,To ruminate strange plots of dire revenge;Tell him Revenge is come to join with him,And work confusion on his enemies.
    They knock
    Enter Titus, above
    Titus Andronicus
    Who doth molest my contemplation?Is it your trick to make me ope the door,That so my sad decrees may fly away,And all my study be to no effect?You are deceived: for what I mean to doSee here in bloody lines I have set down;And what is written shall be executed.
    Tamora
    Titus, I am come to talk with thee.
    Titus Andronicus
    No, not a word; how can I grace my talk,Wanting a hand to give it action?Thou hast the odds of me; therefore no more.
    Tamora
    If thou didst know me, thou wouldest talk with me.
    Titus Andronicus
    I am not mad; I know thee well enough:Witness this wretched stump, witness these crimson lines;Witness these trenches made by grief and care,Witness the tiring day and heavy night;Witness all sorrow, that I know thee wellFor our proud empress, mighty Tamora:Is not thy coming for my other hand?
    Tamora
    Know, thou sad man, I am not Tamora;She is thy enemy, and I thy friend:I am Revenge: sent from the infernal kingdom,To ease the gnawing vulture of thy mind,By working wreakful vengeance on thy foes.Come down, and welcome me to this world’s light;Confer with me of murder and of death:There’s not a hollow cave or lurking-place,No vast obscurity or misty vale,Where bloody murder or detested rapeCan couch for fear, but I will find them out;And in their ears tell them my dreadful name,Revenge, which makes the foul offender quake.
    Titus Andronicus
    Art thou Revenge? and art thou sent to me,To be a torment to mine enemies?
    Tamora
    I am; therefore come down, and welcome me.
    Titus Andronicus
    Do me some service, ere I come to thee.Lo, by thy side where Rape and Murder stands;Now give me some surance that thou art Revenge,Stab them, or tear them on thy chariot-wheels;And then I’ll come and be thy waggoner,And whirl along with thee about the globe.Provide thee two proper palfreys, black as jet,To hale thy vengeful waggon swift away,And find out murderers in their guilty caves:And when thy car is loaden with their heads,I will dismount, and by the waggon-wheelTrot, like a servile footman, all day long,Even from Hyperion’s rising in the eastUntil his very downfall in the sea:And day by day I’ll do this heavy task,So thou destroy Rapine and Murder there.
    Tamora
    These are my ministers, and come with me.
    Titus Andronicus
    Are these thy ministers? what are they call’d?
    Tamora
    Rapine and Murder; therefore called so,Cause they take vengeance of such kind of men.
    Titus Andronicus
    Good Lord, how like the empress’ sons they are!And you, the empress! but we worldly menHave miserable, mad, mistaking eyes.O sweet Revenge, now do I come to thee;And, if one arm’s embracement will content thee,I will embrace thee in it by and by.
    Exit above
    Tamora
    This closing with him fits his lunacyWhate’er I forge to feed his brain-sick fits,Do you uphold and maintain in your speeches,For now he firmly takes me for Revenge;And, being credulous in this mad thought,I’ll make him send for Lucius his son;And, whilst I at a banquet hold him sure,I’ll