AARON. Ay, like a black dog, as the saying is.

LUCIUS. Art thou not sorry for these heinous deeds?

AARON. Ay, that I had not done a thousand more.

Even now I curse the day- and yet, I think, Few come within the compa.s.s of my curse- Wherein I did not some notorious ill; As kill a man, or else devise his death; Ravish a maid, or plot the way to do it; Accuse some innocent, and forswear myself; Set deadly enmity between two friends; Make poor men's cattle break their necks; Set fire on barns and hay-stacks in the night, And bid the owners quench them with their tears.

Oft have I digg'd up dead men from their graves, And set them upright at their dear friends' door Even when their sorrows almost was forgot, And on their skins, as on the bark of trees, Have with my knife carved in Roman letters 'Let not your sorrow die, though I am dead.'

Tut, I have done a thousand dreadful things As willingly as one would kill a fly; And nothing grieves me heartily indeed But that I cannot do ten thousand more.

LUCIUS. Bring down the devil, for he must not die So sweet a death as hanging presently.

AARON. If there be devils, would I were a devil, To live and burn in everlasting fire, So I might have your company in h.e.l.l But to torment you with my bitter tongue!

LUCIUS. Sirs, stop his mouth, and let him speak no more.

Enter AEMILIUS

GOTH. My lord, there is a messenger from Rome Desires to be admitted to your presence.

LUCIUS. Let him come near.

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 pledges Unto my father and my uncle Marcus.

And we will come. March away. Exeunt

SCENE II.

Rome. Before t.i.tUS' house

Enter TAMORA, and her two sons, DEMETRIUS and CHIRON, disguised

TAMORA. Thus, in this strange and sad habiliment, I will encounter with Andronicus, And say I am Revenge, sent from below To 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 and t.i.tUS opens his study door, above

t.i.tUS. 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 deceiv'd; for what I mean to do See here in b.l.o.o.d.y lines I have set down; And what is written shall be executed.

TAMORA. t.i.tus, I am come to talk with thee.

t.i.tUS. No, not a word. How can I grace my talk, Wanting a hand to give it that accord?

Thou hast the odds of me; therefore no more.

TAMORA. If thou didst know me, thou wouldst talk with me.

t.i.tUS. 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 well For 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 th' 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 b.l.o.o.d.y murder or detested rape Can 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.

t.i.tUS. 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.

t.i.tUS. Do me some service ere I come to thee.

Lo, by thy side where Rape and Murder stands; Now give 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 globes.

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 thy waggon wheel Trot, like a servile footman, all day long, Even from Hyperion's rising in the east Until 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.

t.i.tUS. Are they thy ministers? What are they call'd?

TAMORA. Rape and Murder; therefore called so 'Cause they take vengeance of such kind of men.

t.i.tUS. Good Lord, how like the Empress' sons they are!

And you the Empress! But we worldly men Have 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.

TAMORA. This closing with him fits his lunacy.

Whate'er I forge to feed his brain-sick humours, 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 find some cunning practice 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 t.i.tUS, below

t.i.tUS. Long have I been forlorn, and all for thee.

Welcome, dread Fury, to my woeful 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 h.e.l.l afford you such a devil?

For well I wot the Empress 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?

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 reveng'd on him.

TAMORA. Show me a thousand that hath done thee wrong, And I will be revenged on them all.

t.i.tUS. 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 hap To find another that is like to thee, Good Rapine, stab him; he is a ravisher.

Go thou with them; and in the Emperor's court There is a queen, attended by a Moor; Well shalt thou know her by thine 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 shall they stoop and kneel, And on them shalt thou ease thy angry heart.

What says Andronicus to this device?

t.i.tUS. Marcus, my brother! 'Tis sad t.i.tus 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 him Some of the chiefest princes of the Goths; Bid him encamp his soldiers where they are.

Tell him the Emperor and the Empress too Feast 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. This will I do, and soon return again. Exit TAMORA. Now will I hence about thy business, And take my ministers along with me.

t.i.tUS. 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 abide with him, Whiles I go tell my lord the Emperor How I have govern'd our determin'd jest?

Yield to his humour, smooth and speak him fair, And tarry with him till I turn again.

t.i.tUS. [Aside] I knew them all, though they suppos'd me mad, And will o'er reach them in their own devices, A pair of cursed h.e.l.l-hounds and their dam.

DEMETRIUS. Madam, depart at pleasure; leave us here.

TAMORA. Farewell, Andronicus, Revenge now goes To lay a complot to betray thy foes.

t.i.tUS. I know thou dost; and, sweet Revenge, farewell.

Exit TAMORA CHIRON. Tell us, old man, how shall we be employ'd?

t.i.tUS. Tut, I have work enough for you to do.