And this the banquet she shall surfeit on;
For worse than Philomel you used my daughter,
And worse than Progne I will be revenged :
And now prepare your throats.-Lavinia, come,
[He cuts their throats.

Receive the blood; and, when that they are dead,
Let me go grind their bones to powder small,
And with this hateful liquor temper it;
And in that paste let their vile heads be baked.
Come, come, be every one officious

To make this banquet; which I wish may prove
More stern and bloody than the centaurs' 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 't is my father's mind That I repair to Rome, I am content.

1st. Goth. And ours with thine, befal 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,
Till he be brought unto the empress' face,
For testimony of her foul proceedings:
And see the ambush of our friends be strong;
I fear the emperor means no good to us.

Aar. Some devil whisper curses in my ear, And prompt me, that my tongue may utter forth The venomous malice of my swelling heart! Luc. Away, inhuman dog! unhallowed slave! Sirs, help our uncle to convey him in.—

[Exeunt Goths, with AARON. Flourish. The trumpets shew 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 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 ordained to an honourable end,

Enter TITUS, dressed like a cook, LAVINIA, veiled, Young Lucius, and others. TITUS places the

dishes on the table.

Tit. Welcome, my gracious lord; welcome, dread queen;

Welcome, ye warlike Goths; welcome, Lucius; And welcome, all: although the cheer be poor, "T will fill your stomachs; please you, eat of it. Sat. Why art thou thus attired, Andronicus? Tit. Because I would be sure to have all well To entertain your highness and your empress. Tam. We are beholden to you, good Andro

nicus.

Tit. An if your highness knew my heart, you

were.

My lord the emperor resolve me this;
Was it well done of rash Virginius

To slay his daughter with his own right hand, Because she was enforced, stained, and deflowered?

Sat. It was, Andronicus.

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; A pattern, precedent, and lively warrant For me, most wretched, to perform the like.Die, die, Lavinia, and thy shame with thee; [He kills LAVINIA.

And with thy shame, thy father's sorrows. Sat. What hast thou done, unnatural and unkind?

Tit. Killed her for whom my tears have made me blind.

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 ravished? 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 I; 't was Chiron, and Demetrius : They ravished her and cut away her tongue, And they, 't was they, that did her all this

wrong.

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. The people in confusion disperse. MARCUS, LUCIUS, and their partisans, ascend the steps before Tirus's house. Mar. You sad-faced men, people and sons of Rome,

By uproar severed, like a flight of fowl
Scattered by winds and high tempestuous gusts,
O let me teach you how to knit again
This scattered corn into one mutual sheaf,
These broken limbs again into one body.

Sen. Lest Rome herself be bane unto herself;
And she whom mighty kingdoms courtesy to,
Like a forlorn and desperate cast-away,
Do shameful execution on herself.
But if my frosty signs and chaps of age,
Grave witnesses of true experience,
Cannot induce you to attend my words,-
Speak, Rome's dear friend [to LUCIUS], as erst
our ancestor,

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 bewitched 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
And break my very utterance, even i' 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;
Our father's tears despised; and basely cozened
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 turned weeping out,
To beg relief among Rome's enemies;
Who drowned their enmity in my true tears,
And oped their arms to embrace me as a friend;
And 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 themselves.
Mar. Now is my turn to speak. Behold this
child,

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

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,
Damned 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 ought amiss? Shew us wherein,
And from the place where you behold us now,
The poor remainder of Andronici

Will, hand in hand, all headlong cast us down,
And on the ragged stones beat forth our brains,
And make a mutual closure of our house.
Speak, Romans, speak; and if you say we shall,
Lo, hand in hand, Lucius and I will fall.

Emil. Come, come, thou reverend man of

Rome,

And bring our emperor gently in thy hand, Lucius our emperor; for well I know The common voice do cry it shall be so. Rom. [several speak.] Lucius, all hail; Rome's royal emperor! [LUCIUS, &c., descend. Mar. Go, go into old Titus' sorrowful house; [To an ATTENDANT. And hither hale that misbelieving Moor, To be adjudged some direful slaughtering death, As punishment for his most wicked life.

Rom. [Several speak.] 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!
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 obseqious tears upon this trunk.-
O take this warm kiss on thy pale cold lips,
[Kisses TITUS.
These sorrowful drops upon thy blood-stained
face

The last true duties of thy noble son.

Mar. 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

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 woe.
Bid him farewell; commit him to the grave;
Do him that kindness, and take leave of him.
Boy. 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.

Enter Attendants, with AARON.

Ist. Rom. 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:

If any one relieves or pities him,

For the offence he dies. This is our doom:
Some stay to see him fastened 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.
Luc. Some loving friends convey the
hence,

emperor

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 mournful 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 damned Moor,
From whom our heavy haps had their begin-
ning;

Then, afterwards, to order well the state;
That like events may ne'er it ruinate.

[Exeunt.

This king unto him took a pheere,
Who died, and left a female heir,
So buxom, blythe, and full of face,
As heaven had lent her all his grace;
With whom the father liking took,
And her to incest did provoke:
Bad father! to entice his own
To evil should be done by none.
By custom, what they did begin,
Was with long use account no sin.
The beauty of this sinful dame
Made many princes thither frame,

To seek her as a bed-fellow,
In marriage-pleasures play-fellow:
Which to prevent, he made a law
(To keep her still, and men in awe),
That whoso asked her for his wife,
His riddle told not, lost his life:

So for her many a wight did die,

As yon grim looks do testify.

What now ensues, to the judgment of your

eye

I give, my cause who best can justify.

[Exit.

SCENE I.-Antioch. A Room in the Palace. Enter ANTIOCHUS, PERICLES, and Attendants. Ant. Young prince of Tyre, you have at large received

The danger of the task you undertake.

Per. I have, Antiochus, and with a soul
Emboldened with the glory of her praise,
Think death no hazard in this enterprize. [Music.
Ant. Bring in our daughter, clothed like a
bride,

For the embracements even of Jove himself;
At whose conception (till Lucina reigned)
Nature this dowry gave, to glad her presence,
The senate-house cf planets all did sit,
To knit in her their best perfections.

Enter the Daughter of ANTIOCHUS.

Per. See, where she comes, apparelled like the spring,

Graces her subjects, and her thoughts the king
Of every virtue gives renown to men!
Her face the book of praises, where is read
Nothing but curious pleasures, as from thence
Sorrow were ever 'rased, and testy wrath
Could never be her mild companion.
Ye gods that made me man and sway in love,
That have inflamed desire in my breast,
To taste the fruit of yon celestial tree,
Or die in the adventure, be my helps,

As I am son and servant to your will,
To compass such a boundless happiness!
Ant. Prince Pericles,-

Per. That would be son to great Antiochus.
Ant. Before thee stands this fair Hesperides,
With golden fruit, but dangerous to be touched;
For death-like dragons here affright thee hard.
Her face, like heaven, enticeth thee to view
A countless glory which desert must gain:

And which, without desert, because thine eye
Presumes to reach, all thy whole heap must die.
Yon sometime famous princes, like thyself,
Drawn by report, adventurous by desire,
Tell thee with speechless tongues, and semblance
pale,

That, without covering, save yon field of stars,
They here stand martyrs, slain in Cupid's wars;
And with dead cheeks advise thee to desist
For going on death's net, whom none resist.

Per. Antiochus, I thank thee, who hath taught
My frail mortality to know itself,
And by those fearful objects to prepare
This body, like to them, to what I must:
For death remembered should be like a mirror,
Who tells us life's but breath; to trust it,

error.

I'll make my will, then; and, as sick men do, Who know the world, see heaven, but feeling

woe,

Gripe not at earthly joys as erst they did:
So I bequeath a happy peace to you
And all good men, as every prince should do,
My riches to the earth from whence they came;
But my unspotted fire of love to you.

[To the Daughter of ANTIOCHUS.
Thus ready for the way of life or death
I wait the sharpest blow, Antiochus,
Scorning advice.

Ant. Read the conclusion, then; Which read and not expounded 't is decreed, As these before thee thou thyself shalt bleed. Daugh. In all, save that, mayst thou prove prosperous!

In all, save that, I wish thee happiness!

Per. Like a bold champion I assume the

lists,

Nor ask advice of any other thought But faithfulness and courage.