The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated) (1078 page)

When they were living, warm'd themselves on thine!

O, now, sweet boy, give them their latest kiss!

Bid him farewell; commit him to the grave;

Do them that kindness, and take leave of them.

How many thousands of times have these poor lips,

when they were alive, warmed themselves on yours!

Oh now, sweet boy, give them their last kiss!

Say goodbye to him; send him tohis grave;

do this kindness, and then leave them.

BOY.

O grandsire, grandsire! ev'n with all my heart

Would I were dead, so you did live again!

O Lord, I cannot speak to him for weeping;

My tears will choke me, if I ope my mouth.

Re-enter attendants with AARON

Oh grandfather, grandfather!I wish with all my heart

that I were dead, if it meant you would live again!

Oh Lord, I cannot speak to him for weeping;

my tears will choke me, if I open my mouth.

A ROMAN.

You sad Andronici, have done with woes;

Give sentence on the execrable wretch

That hath been breeder of these dire events.

You sad Andronici, finish with your sorrows;

pass sentence on the horrible wretch

that inspired these terrible events.

LUCIUS.

Set him breast-deep in earth, and famish him;

There let him stand and rave and cry for food.

If any one relieves or pities him,

For the offence he dies. This is our doom.

Some stay to see him fast'ned in the earth.

Bury him up to the chest in the earth, and starve him;

let him stand there and rave and cry for food.

If anyone helps or pities him

they shall die for it.This is my sentence.

Some of you stop here and make sure he is buried in the earth.

AARON.

Ah, why should wrath be mute and fury dumb?

I am no baby, I, that with base prayers

I should repent the evils I have done;

Ten thousand worse than ever yet I did

Would I perform, if I might have my will.

If one good deed in all my life I did,

I do repent it from my very soul.

Ah, why should my anger be quiet and my fury silent?

I am not some baby who will with groveling prayers

repent all the evils I have done;

If I had my way I'd do ten thousand more,

all worse than the ones I've already done.

If I ever did one good thing in my life

I'm sorry for it from the bottom of my soul.

LUCIUS.

Some loving friends convey the Emperor hence,

And give him burial in his father's grave.

My father and Lavinia shall forthwith

Be closed in our household's monument.

As for that ravenous tiger, Tamora,

No funeral rite, nor man in mourning weed,

No mournful bell shall ring her burial;

But throw her forth to beasts and birds to prey.

Her life was beastly and devoid of pity,

And being dead, let birds on her take pity.

Exeunt

Some loving friends carry the Emperor away,

and bury him in his father's grave.

My father and Lavinia shall be put at once

in our family mausoleum.

As for that vicious tiger, Tamora,

she shall have no funeral rites, no mourners,

no sad bell will toll for her burial;

throw her out to the animals and the birds of prey.

Her life was beastly and empty of pity,

so now she's dead, let the birds take pity on her.

PRIAM, King of Troy

His sons:

HECTOR

TROILUS

PARIS

DEIPHOBUS

HELENUS

MARGARELON, a bastard son of Priam

Trojan commanders:

AENEAS

ANTENOR

CALCHAS, a Trojan priest, taking part with the Greeks

PANDARUS, uncle to Cressida

AGAMEMNON, the Greek general

MENELAUS, his brother

Greek commanders:

ACHILLES

AJAX

ULYSSES

NESTOR

DIOMEDES

PATROCLUS

THERSITES, a deformed and scurrilous Greek

ALEXANDER, servant to Cressida

SERVANT to Troilus

SERVANT to Paris

SERVANT to Diomedes

HELEN, wife to Menelaus

ANDROMACHE, wife to Hector

CASSANDRA, daughter to Priam, a prophetess

CRESSIDA, daughter to Calchas

Trojan and Greek Soldiers, and Attendants

SCENE: Troy and the Greek camp before it

In Troy, there lies the scene. From isles of Greece

The princes orgillous, their high blood chaf'd,

Have to the port of Athens sent their ships

Fraught with the ministers and instruments

Of cruel war. Sixty and nine that wore

Their crownets regal from th' Athenian bay

Put forth toward Phrygia; and their vow is made

To ransack Troy, within whose strong immures

The ravish'd Helen, Menelaus' queen,

With wanton Paris sleeps-and that's the quarrel.

To Tenedos they come,

And the deep-drawing barks do there disgorge

Their war-like fraughtage. Now on Dardan plains

The fresh and yet unbruised Greeks do pitch

Their brave pavilions: Priam's six-gated city,

Dardan, and Tymbria, Helias, Chetas, Troien,

And Antenorides, with massy staples

And corresponsive and fulfilling bolts,

Sperr up the sons of Troy.

Now expectation, tickling skittish spirits

On one and other side, Troyan and Greek,

Sets all on hazard-and hither am I come

A Prologue arm'd, but not in confidence

Of author's pen or actor's voice, but suited

In like conditions as our argument,

To tell you, fair beholders, that our play

Leaps o'er the vaunt and firstlings of those broils,

Beginning in the middle; starting thence away,

To what may be digested in a play.

Like or find fault; do as your pleasures are;

Now good or bad, 'tis but the chance of war.

Troy is where our play starts.From the Greek islands

the proud princes, who have been angered,

have sent their ships to the port of Athens,

full of soldiers and weapons.

Sixty nine who wore

royal coronets sailed out from the bay of Athens

towards Phyriga; they have sworn

to destroy Troy, within whose strong walls

the kidnapped Helen, queen to Menelaus,

sleeps with lustful Paris - and that's what started the argument.

They come to Tenedos,

and the great ships there unload

their military cargo.Now the fresh and yet to be

wounded Greeks set up their great tents on

the plains of Troy: the six gates of Priam's city,

Dardan, and Tymbria, Helias, Chetas, Troien

and Antenorides, with great bolts in matching

brackets, protect the sons of Troy.

Now anticipation stirs up the lively spirits

on both sides, Trojan and Greek,

putting everything to chance - and I have come here,

a Prologue armed not with the weapons

of an author's pen or actor's voice but dressed

in a costume which suits this story,

to tell you, dear audience, that our play

skips over the opening skirmishes,

beginning in the middle; it starts there,

telling everything a play can.

Like it or criticise, do as you will;

whatever happens, we see it as the fortunes of war.