Free Complete Plays, The by William Shakespeare Page A

find some cunning practise out of hand,To scatter and disperse the giddy Goths,Or, at the least, make them his enemies.See, here he comes, and I must ply my theme.
    Enter Titus below
    Titus Andronicus
    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 empress never wagsBut 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?
    Tamora
    What wouldst thou have us do, Andronicus?
    Demetrius
    Show me a murderer, I’ll deal with him.
    Chiron
    Show me a villain that hath done a rape,And I am sent to be revenged on him.
    Tamora
    Show me a thousand that have done thee wrong,And I will be revenged on them all.
    Titus Andronicus
    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.Go thou with him; and when it is thy hapTo find another that is like to thee,Good Rapine, stab him; he’s a ravisher.Go thou with them; and in the emperor’s courtThere 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.
    Tamora
    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 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?
    Titus Andronicus
    Marcus, my brother! ’tis sad Titus calls.
    Enter Marcus
    Go, gentle Marcus, to thy nephew Lucius;Thou shalt inquire him out among the Goths:Bid him repair to me, and bring with himSome of the chiefest princes of the Goths;Bid him encamp his soldiers where they are:Tell him the emperor and the empress tooFeast 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.
    Marcus Andronicus
    This will I do, and soon return again.
    Exit
    Tamora
    Now will I hence about thy business,And take my ministers along with me.
    Titus Andronicus
    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.
    Tamora
    [Aside to her sons]   What say you, boys? will you bide with him,Whiles I go tell my lord the emperorHow I have govern’d our determined jest?Yield to his humour, smooth and speak him fair,And tarry with him till I turn again.
    Titus Andronicus
    [Aside]   I know them all, though they suppose me mad,And will o’erreach them in their own devices:A pair of cursed hell-hounds and their dam!
    Demetrius
    Madam, depart at pleasure; leave us here.
    Tamora
    Farewell, Andronicus: Revenge now goesTo lay a complot to betray thy foes.
    Titus Andronicus
    I know thou dost; and, sweet Revenge, farewell.
    Exit Tamora
    Chiron
    Tell us, old man, how shall we be employ’d?
    Titus Andronicus
    Tut, I have work enough for you to do.Publius, come hither, Caius, and Valentine!
    Enter Publius and others
    Publius
    What is your will?
    Titus Andronicus
    Know you these two?
    Publius
    The empress’ sons, I take them, Chiron and Demetrius.
    Titus Andronicus
    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 me wish for such an hour,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