酷兔英语

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And bear it from me to the Emperess.
If thou do this, I'll show thee wondrous things

That highly may advantage thee to hear;
If thou wilt not, befall what may befall,

I'll speak no more but 'Vengeance rot you all!'
LUCIUS. Say on; an if it please me which thou speak'st,

Thy child shall live, and I will see it nourish'd.
AARON. An if it please thee! Why, assure thee, Lucius,

'Twill vex thy soul to hear what I shall speak;
For I must talk of murders, rapes, and massacres,

Acts of black night, abominable deeds,
Complots of mischief, treason, villainies,

Ruthful to hear, yet piteously perform'd;
And this shall all be buried in my death,

Unless thou swear to me my child shall live.
LUCIUS. Tell on thy mind; I say thy child shall live.

AARON. Swear that he shall, and then I will begin.
LUCIUS. Who should I swear by? Thou believest no god;

That granted, how canst thou believe an oath?
AARON. What if I do not? as indeed I do not;

Yet, for I know thou art religious
And hast a thing within thee called conscience,

With twenty popish tricks and ceremonies
Which I have seen thee careful to observe,

Therefore I urge thy oath. For that I know
An idiot holds his bauble for a god,

And keeps the oath which by that god he swears,
To that I'll urge him. Therefore thou shalt vow

By that same god- what god soe'er it be
That thou adorest and hast in reverence-

To save my boy, to nourish and bring him up;
Or else I will discover nought to thee.

LUCIUS. Even by my god I swear to thee I will.
AARON. First know thou, I begot him on the Empress.

LUCIUS. O most insatiate and luxurious woman!
AARON. Tut, Lucius, this was but a deed of charity

To that which thou shalt hear of me anon.
'Twas her two sons that murdered Bassianus;

They cut thy sister's tongue, and ravish'd her,
And cut her hands, and trimm'd her as thou sawest.

LUCIUS. O detestable villain! Call'st thou that trimming?
AARON. Why, she was wash'd, and cut, and trimm'd, and 'twas

Trim sport for them which had the doing of it.
LUCIUS. O barbarousbeastly villains like thyself!

AARON. Indeed, I was their tutor to instruct them.
That codding spirit had they from their mother,

As sure a card as ever won the set;
That bloody mind, I think, they learn'd of me,

As true a dog as ever fought at head.
Well, let my deeds be witness of my worth.

I train'd thy brethren to that guileful hole
Where the dead corpse of Bassianus lay;

I wrote the letter that thy father found,
And hid the gold within that letter mention'd,

Confederate with the Queen and her two sons;
And what not done, that thou hast cause to rue,

Wherein I had no stroke of mischief in it?
I play'd the cheater for thy father's hand,

And, when I had it, drew myself apart
And almost broke my heart with extreme laughter.

I pried me through the crevice of a wall,
When, for his hand, he had his two sons' heads;

Beheld his tears, and laugh'd so heartily
That both mine eyes were rainy like to his;

And when I told the Empress of this sport,
She swooned almost at my pleasing tale,

And for my tidings gave me twenty kisses.
GOTH. What, canst thou say all this and never blush?

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 compass 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 deadlyenmity 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 hell

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 TITUS' 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 TITUS opens his study door, above

TITUS. 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 bloody lines I have set down;

And what is written shall be executed.
TAMORA. Titus, I am come to talk with thee.

TITUS. 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.

TITUS. 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 bloody 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.

TITUS. 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. 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.

TITUS. 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.
TITUS. 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 TITUS, below
TITUS. Long have I been forlorn, and all for thee.

Welcome, dread Fury, to my woeful house.


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