Titus Andronicus

what you cannot as you would achieve,
You must perforce accomplish as you may.
Take this of me: Lucrece was not more chaste
Than this Lavinia, Bassianus’ love.
A speedier course than lingering languishment
Must we pursue, and I have found the path.
My lords, a solemn hunting is in hand;
There will the lovely Roman ladies troop:
The forest walks are wide and spacious;
And many unfrequented plots there are
Fitted by kind for rape and villany:
Single you thither then this dainty doe,
And strike her home by force, if not by words:
This way, or not at all, stand you in hope.
Come, come, our empress, with her sacred wit
To villany and vengeance consecrate,
Will we acquaint with all that we intend;
And she shall file our engines with advice,
That will not suffer you to square yourselves,
But to your wishes’ height advance you both.
The emperor’s court is like the house of Fame,
The palace full of tongues, of eyes, and ears:
The woods are ruthless, dreadful, deaf, and dull;
There speak, and strike, brave boys, and take your turns;
There serve your lusts, shadow’d from heaven’s eye,
And revel in Lavinia’s treasury. Chiron Thy counsel, lad, smells of no cowardice. Demetrius

Sit fas aut nefas, till I find the stream
To cool this heat, a charm to calm these fits,
Per Styga, per manes vehor. Exeunt.

Scene II

A forest near Rome. Horns and cry of hounds heard.

	Enter Titus Andronicus, with Hunters, etc., Marcus, Lucius, Quintus, and Martius.
Titus	The hunt is up, the morn is bright and grey, The fields are fragrant and the woods are green: Uncouple here and let us make a bay And wake the emperor and his lovely bride And rouse the prince and ring a hunter’s peal, That all the court may echo with the noise. Sons, let it be your charge, as it is ours, To attend the emperor’s person carefully: I have been troubled in my sleep this night, But dawning day new comfort hath inspired.
	A cry of hounds, and horns winded in a peal. Enter Saturninus, Tamora, Bassianus, Lavinia, Demetrius, Chiron, and Attendants.
	Many good morrows to your majesty; Madam, to you as many and as good: I promised your grace a hunter’s peal.
Saturninus	And you have rung it lustily, my lord; Somewhat too early for new-married ladies.
Bassianus	Lavinia, how say you?
Lavinia	I say, no; I have been broad awake two hours and more.
Saturninus	Come on, then; horse and chariots let us have, And to our sport. To Tamora. Madam, now shall ye see Our Roman hunting.
Marcus	I have dogs, my lord, Will rouse the proudest panther in the chase, And climb the highest promontory top.
Titus	And I have horse will follow where the game Makes way, and run like swallows o’er the plain.
Demetrius	Chiron, we hunt not, we, with horse nor hound, But hope to pluck a dainty doe to ground. Exeunt.

Scene III

A lonely part of the forest.

	Enter Aaron, with a bag of gold.
Aaron	He that had wit would think that I had none, To bury so much gold under a tree, And never after to inherit it. Let him that thinks of me so abjectly Know that this gold must coin a stratagem, Which, cunningly effected, will beget A very excellent piece of villany: And so repose, sweet gold, for their unrest Hides the gold. That have their alms out of the empress’ chest.
	Enter Tamora.
Tamora	My lovely Aaron, wherefore look’st thou sad, When every thing doth make a gleeful boast? The birds chant melody on every bush, The snake lies rolled in the cheerful sun, The green leaves quiver with the cooling wind And make a chequer’d shadow on the ground: Under their sweet shade, Aaron, let us sit, And, whilst the babbling echo mocks the hounds, Replying shrilly to the well-tuned horns, As if a double hunt were heard at once, Let us sit down and mark their yelping noise; And, after conflict such as was supposed The wandering prince and Dido once enjoy’d, When with a happy storm they were surprised And curtain’d with a counsel-keeping cave, We may, each wreathed in the other’s arms, Our pastimes done, possess a golden slumber; Whiles hounds and horns and sweet melodious birds Be unto us as is a nurse’s song Of lullaby to bring her babe asleep.
Aaron	Madam, though Venus govern your desires, Saturn is dominator over mine: What signifies my deadly-standing eye, My silence and my cloudy melancholy, My fleece of woolly hair that now uncurls Even as an adder when she doth unroll To do some fatal execution? No, madam, these are no venereal signs: Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand, Blood and revenge are hammering in my head. Hark, Tamora, the empress of my soul, Which never hopes more heaven than rests in thee, This is the day of doom for Bassianus: His Philomel must lose her tongue to-day, Thy sons make pillage of her chastity And wash their hands in Bassianus’ blood. Seest thou this letter? take it up, I pray thee, And give the king this fatal-plotted scroll. Now question me no more; we are espied; Here comes a parcel of our hopeful booty, Which dreads not yet their lives’ destruction.
Tamora	Ah, my sweet Moor, sweeter to me than life!
Aaron	No more, great empress; Bassianus comes: Be cross with him; and I’ll go fetch thy sons To back thy quarrels, whatsoe’er they be. Exit.
	Enter Bassianus and Lavinia.
Bassianus	Who have we here? Rome’s royal empress, Unfurnish’d of her well-beseeming troop? Or is it Dian, habited like her, Who hath abandoned her holy groves To see the general hunting in this forest?
Tamora	Saucy controller of our private steps! Had I the power that some say Dian had, Thy temples should be planted presently With horns, as was Actaeon’s; and the hounds Should drive upon thy new-transformed limbs, Unmannerly intruder as thou art!
Lavinia	Under your patience, gentle empress, ’Tis thought you have a goodly gift in horning; And to be doubted that your Moor and you Are singled forth to try experiments: Jove shield your husband from his hounds to-day! ’Tis pity they should take him for a stag.
Bassianus	Believe me, queen, your swarth Cimmerian Doth make your honour of his body’s hue, Spotted, detested, and abominable. Why are you sequester’d from all your train, Dismounted from your snow-white goodly steed, And