TITUS.
Because I would be sure to have all well
To entertain your highness and your empress.
TAMORA.
We are beholden to you, good Andronicus.
TITUS.
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?
SATURNINUS.
It was, Andronicus.
TITUS.
Your reason, mighty lord?
SATURNINUS.
Because the girl should not survive her shame,
And by her presence still renew his sorrows.
TITUS.
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;
And with thy shame thy father’s sorrow die!
[He kills Lavinia.]
SATURNINUS.
What hast thou done, unnatural and unkind?
TITUS.
Killed her for whom my tears have made me blind.
I am as woeful as Virginius was,
And have a thousand times more cause than he
To do this outrage, and it now is done.