Tit. Not I; 'twas Chiron and Demetrius:
They ravish'd her, and cut away her tongue;
And they, 'twas they, that did her all this wrong.
Sat. Go fetch them hither to us presently.[4821][4833]
Tit. Why, there they are both, baked in that pie; 60
Whereof their mother daintily hath fed,
Eating the flesh that she herself hath bred.
'Tis true, 'tis true; witness my knife's sharp point.
[Kills Tamora.[4834]
Sat. Die, frantic wretch, for this accursed deed!
[Kills Titus.[4835]
Luc. Can the son's eye behold his father bleed? 65
There's meed for meed, death for a deadly deed!
[Kills Saturninus. A great tumult. Lucius, Marcus, and others go up into the balcony.[4836]
Marc. You sad-faced men, people and sons of Rome,
By uproars sever'd, as a flight of fowl[4837]
Scatter'd by winds and high tempestuous gusts,[4838]
O, let me teach you how to knit again[4839] 70
This scatter'd corn into one mutual sheaf,
These broken limbs again into one body;[4840]
Lest Rome herself be bane unto herself,[4840]
And she whom mighty kingdoms court'sy to,[4841]
Like a forlorn and desperate castaway,[4842] 75
Do shameful execution on herself.
But if my frosty signs and chaps of age,[4843]
Grave witnesses of true experience,
Cannot induce you to attend my words,—
[To Lucius] Speak, Rome's dear friend: as erst our ancestor,[4844] 80
When with his solemn tongue he did discourse
To love-sick Dido's sad attending ear
The story of that baleful burning night[4845]
When subtle Greeks surprised King Priam's Troy;
Tell us what Sinon hath bewitch'd our ears, 85
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, 90
And break my utterance, even in the time[4846]
When it should move you to attend me most,
Lending your kind commiseration.[4847]
Here is a captain, let him tell the tale;[4848]
Your hearts will throb and weep to hear him speak. 95
Luc. Then, noble auditory, be it known to you,[4849]
That cursed Chiron and Demetrius
Were they that murdered our emperor's brother;[4850]
And they it were that ravished our sister:[4851]
For their fell faults our brothers were beheaded, 100
Our father's tears despised, and basely cozen'd
Of that true hand that fought Rome's quarrel out
And sent her enemies unto the grave.[4852]
Lastly, myself unkindly banished,
The gates shut on me, and turn'd weeping out, 105
To beg relief among Rome's enemies;
Who drown'd their enmity in my true tears,
And oped their arms to embrace me as a friend.
I am the turned forth, be it known to you,[4853]
That have preserved her welfare in my blood, 110
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. 115
But, soft! methinks I do digress too much,
Citing my worthless praise: O, pardon me;
For when no friends are by, men praise themselves.