The Tragedy of Titus Andronicus

ACT III. SCENE I. Rome. A street

Enter the JUDGES, TRIBUNES, and SENATORS, with TITUS' two sons MARTIUS and QUINTUS bound, passing on the stage to the place of execution, and TITUS going before, pleading

  TITUS. Hear me, grave fathers; noble Tribunes, stay!    For pity of mine age, whose youth was spent    In dangerous wars whilst you securely slept;    For all my blood in Rome's great quarrel shed,    For all the frosty nights that I have watch'd,    And for these bitter tears, which now you see    Filling the aged wrinkles in my cheeks,    Be pitiful to my condemned sons,    Whose souls are not corrupted as 'tis thought.    For two and twenty sons I never wept,    Because they died in honour's lofty bed.[ANDRONICUS lieth down, and the judges pass by him with the prisoners, and exeunt]    For these, Tribunes, in the dust I write    My heart's deep languor and my soul's sad tears.    Let my tears stanch the earth's dry appetite;    My sons' sweet blood will make it shame and blush.    O earth, I will befriend thee more with rain    That shall distil from these two ancient urns,    Than youthful April shall with all his show'rs.    In summer's drought I'll drop upon thee still;    In winter with warm tears I'll melt the snow    And keep eternal spring-time on thy face,    So thou refuse to drink my dear sons' blood.

Enter Lucius with his weapon drawn

    O reverend Tribunes! O gentle aged men!    Unbind my sons, reverse the doom of death,    And let me say, that never wept before,    My tears are now prevailing orators.  LUCIUS. O noble father, you lament in vain;    The Tribunes hear you not, no man is by,    And you recount your sorrows to a stone.  TITUS. Ah, Lucius, for thy brothers let me plead!    Grave Tribunes, once more I entreat of you.  LUCIUS. My gracious lord, no tribune hears you speak.  TITUS. Why, 'tis no matter, man: if they did hear,    They would not mark me; if they did mark,    They would not pity me; yet plead I must,    And bootless unto them.    Therefore I tell my sorrows to the stones;    Who though they cannot answer my distress,    Yet in some sort they are better than the Tribunes,    For that they will not intercept my tale.    When I do weep, they humbly at my feet    Receive my tears, and seem to weep with me;    And were they but attired in grave weeds,    Rome could afford no tribunes like to these.    A stone is soft as wax: tribunes more hard than stones.    A stone is silent and offendeth not,    And tribunes with their tongues doom men to death.[Rises]    But wherefore stand'st thou with thy weapon drawn?  LUCIUS. To rescue my two brothers from their death;    For which attempt the judges have pronounc'd    My everlasting doom of banishment.  TITUS. O happy man! they have befriended thee.    Why, foolish Lucius, dost thou not perceive    That Rome is but a wilderness of tigers?    Tigers must prey, and Rome affords no prey    But me and mine; how happy art thou then    From these devourers to be banished!    But who comes with our brother Marcus here?

Enter MARCUS with LAVINIA

  MARCUS. Titus, prepare thy aged eyes to weep,    Or if not so, thy noble heart to break.    I bring consuming sorrow to thine age.  TITUS. Will it consume me? Let me see it then.  MARCUS. This was thy daughter.  TITUS. Why, Marcus, so she is.  LUCIUS. Ay me! this object kills me.  TITUS. Faint-hearted boy, arise, and look upon her.    Speak, Lavinia, what accursed hand    Hath made thee handless in thy father's sight?    What fool hath added water to the sea,    Or brought a fagot to bright-burning Troy?    My grief was at the height before thou cam'st,    And now like Nilus it disdaineth bounds.    Give me a sword, I'll chop off my hands too,    For they have fought for Rome, and all in vain;    And they have nurs'd this woe in feeding life;    In bootless prayer have they been held up,    And they have serv'd me to effectless use.    Now all the service I require of them    Is that the one will help to cut the other.    'Tis well, Lavinia, that thou hast no hands;    For hands to do Rome service is but vain.  LUCIUS. Speak, gentle sister, who hath martyr'd thee?  MARCUS. O, that delightful engine of her thoughts    That blabb'd them with such pleasing eloquence    Is torn from forth that pretty hollow cage,    Where like a sweet melodious bird it sung    Sweet varied notes, enchanting every ear!  LUCIUS. O, say thou for her, who hath done this deed?  MARCUS. O, thus I found her straying in the park,    Seeking to hide herself as doth the deer    That hath receiv'd some unrecuring wound.  TITUS. It was my dear, and he that wounded her    Hath hurt me more than had he kill'd me dead;    For now I stand as one upon a rock,    Environ'd with a wilderness of sea,    Who marks the waxing tide grow wave by wave,    Expecting ever when some envious surge    Will in his brinish bowels swallow him.    This way to death my wretched sons are gone;    Here stands my other son, a banish'd man,    And here my brother, weeping at my woes.    But that which gives my soul the greatest spurn    Is dear Lavinia, dearer than my soul.    Had I but seen thy picture in this plight,    It would have madded me; what shall I do    Now I behold thy lively body so?    Thou hast no hands to wipe away thy tears,    Nor tongue to tell me who hath martyr'd thee;    Thy husband he is dead, and for his death    Thy brothers are condemn'd, and dead by this.    Look, Marcus! Ah, son Lucius, look on her!    When I did name her brothers, then fresh tears    Stood on her cheeks, as doth the honey dew    Upon a gath'red lily almost withered.  MARCUS. Perchance she weeps because they kill'd her husband;    Perchance because she knows them innocent.  TITUS. If they did kill thy husband, then be joyful,    Because the law hath ta'en revenge on them.    No, no, they would not do so foul a deed;    Witness the sorrow that their sister makes.    Gentle Lavinia, let me kiss thy lips,    Or make some sign how I may do thee ease.    Shall thy good uncle and thy brother Lucius    And thou and I sit round about some fountain,    Looking all downwards to behold our cheeks    How they are stain'd, like meadows yet not dry    With miry slime left on them by a flood?    And in the fountain shall we gaze so long,    Till the fresh taste be taken from that clearness,    And made a brine-pit with our bitter tears?    Or shall we cut away our hands like thine?    Or shall we bite our tongues, and in dumb shows    Pass the remainder of our hateful days?    What shall we do? Let us that have our tongues    Plot some device of further misery    To make us wonder'd at in time to come.  LUCIUS. Sweet father, cease your tears; for at your grief    See how my wretched sister sobs and weeps.  MARCUS. Patience, dear niece. Good Titus, dry thine eyes.  TITUS. Ah, Marcus, Marcus! Brother, well I wot    Thy napkin cannot drink a tear of mine,    For thou, poor man, hast drown'd it with thine own.  LUCIUS. Ah, my Lavinia, I will wipe thy cheeks.  TITUS. Mark, Marcus, mark! I understand her signs.    Had she a tongue to speak, now would she say    That to her brother which I said to thee:    His napkin, with his true tears all bewet,    Can do no service on her sorrowful cheeks.    O, what a sympathy of woe is this    As far from help as Limbo is from bliss!

Enter AARON the Moor

  AARON. Titus Andronicus, my lord the Emperor    Sends thee this word, that, if thou love thy sons,    Let Marcus, Lucius, or thyself, old Titus,    Or any one of you, chop off your hand    And send it to the King: he for the same    Will send thee hither both thy sons alive,    And that shall be the ransom for their fault.  TITUS. O gracious Emperor! O gentle Aaron!    Did ever raven sing so like a lark    That gives sweet tidings of the sun's uprise?    With all my heart I'll send the Emperor my hand.    Good Aaron, wilt thou help to chop it off?  LUCIUS. Stay, father! for that noble hand of thine,    That hath thrown down so many enemies,    Shall not be sent. My hand will serve the turn,    My youth can better spare my blood than you,    And therefore mine shall save my brothers' lives.  MARCUS. Which of your hands hath not defended Rome    And rear'd aloft the bloody battle-axe,    Writing destruction on the enemy's castle?    O, none of both but are of high desert!    My hand hath been but idle; let it serve    To ransom my two nephews from their death;    Then have I kept it to a worthy end.  AARON. Nay, come, agree whose hand shall go along,    For fear they die before their pardon come.  MARCUS. My hand shall go.  LUCIUS. By heaven, it shall not go!  TITUS. Sirs, strive no more; such with'red herbs as these    Are meet for plucking up, and therefore mine.  LUCIUS. Sweet father, if I shall be thought thy son,    Let me redeem my brothers both from death.  MARCUS. And for our father's sake and mother's care,    Now let me show a brother's love to thee.  TITUS. Agree between you; I will spare my hand.  LUCIUS. Then I'll go fetch an axe.  MARCUS. But I will use the axe.Exeunt LUCIUS and MARCUS  TITUS. Come hither, Aaron, I'll deceive them both;    Lend me thy hand, and I will give thee mine.  AARON. [Aside] If that be call'd deceit, I will be honest,    And never whilst I live deceive men so;    But I'll deceive you in another sort,    And that you'll say ere half an hour pass.[He cuts off TITUS' hand]

Re-enter LUCIUS and MARCUS

 TITUS. Now stay your strife. What shall be is dispatch'd.    Good Aaron, give his Majesty my hand;    Tell him it was a hand that warded him    From thousand dangers; bid him bury it.    More hath it merited- that let it have.    As for my sons, say I account of them    As jewels purchas'd at an easy price;    And yet dear too, because I bought mine own.  AARON. I go, Andronicus; and for thy hand    Look by and by to have thy sons with thee.    [Aside] Their heads I mean. O, how this villainy    Doth fat me with the very thoughts of it!    Let fools do good, and fair men call for grace:    Aaron will have his soul black like his face. Exit  TITUS. O, here I lift this one hand up to heaven,    And bow this feeble ruin to the earth;    If any power pities wretched tears,    To that I call! [To LAVINIA] What, would'st thou kneel withme?    Do, then, dear heart; for heaven shall hear our prayers,    Or with our sighs we'll breathe the welkin dim    And stain the sun with fog, as sometime clouds    When they do hug him in their melting bosoms.  MARCUS. O brother, speak with possibility,    And do not break into these deep extremes.  TITUS. Is not my sorrow deep, having no bottom?    Then be my passions bottomless with them.  MARCUS. But yet let reason govern thy lament.  TITUS. If there were reason for these miseries,    Then into limits could I bind my woes.    When heaven doth weep, doth not the earth o'erflow?    If the winds rage, doth not the sea wax mad,    Threat'ning the welkin with his big-swol'n face?    And wilt thou have a reason for this coil?    I am the sea; hark how her sighs do blow.    She is the weeping welkin, I the earth;    Then must my sea be moved with her sighs;    Then must my earth with her continual tears    Become a deluge, overflow'd and drown'd;    For why my bowels cannot hide her woes,    But like a drunkard must I vomit them.    Then give me leave; for losers will have leave    To ease their stomachs with their bitter tongues.

Enter a MESSENGER, with two heads and a hand

  MESSENGER. Worthy Andronicus, ill art thou repaid    For that good hand thou sent'st the Emperor.    Here are the heads of thy two noble sons;    And here's thy hand, in scorn to thee sent back-    Thy grief their sports, thy resolution mock'd,    That woe is me to think upon thy woes,    More than remembrance of my father's death. Exit  MARCUS. Now let hot Aetna cool in Sicily,    And be my heart an ever-burning hell!    These miseries are more than may be borne.    To weep with them that weep doth ease some deal,    But sorrow flouted at is double death.  LUCIUS. Ah, that this sight should make so deep a wound,    And yet detested life not shrink thereat!    That ever death should let life bear his name,    Where life hath no more interest but to breathe![LAVINIA kisses TITUS]  MARCUS. Alas, poor heart, that kiss is comfortless    As frozen water to a starved snake.  TITUS. When will this fearful slumber have an end?  MARCUS. Now farewell, flatt'ry; die, Andronicus.    Thou dost not slumber: see thy two sons' heads,    Thy warlike hand, thy mangled daughter here;    Thy other banish'd son with this dear sight    Struck pale and bloodless; and thy brother, I,    Even like a stony image, cold and numb.    Ah! now no more will I control thy griefs.    Rent off thy silver hair, thy other hand    Gnawing with thy teeth; and be this dismal sight    The closing up of our most wretched eyes.    Now is a time to storm; why art thou still?  TITUS. Ha, ha, ha!  MARCUS. Why dost thou laugh? It fits not with this hour.  TITUS. Why, I have not another tear to shed;    Besides, this sorrow is an enemy,    And would usurp upon my wat'ry eyes    And make them blind with tributary tears.    Then which way shall I find Revenge's cave?    For these two heads do seem to speak to me,    And threat me I shall never come to bliss    Till all these mischiefs be return'd again    Even in their throats that have committed them.    Come, let me see what task I have to do.    You heavy people, circle me about,    That I may turn me to each one of you    And swear unto my soul to right your wrongs.    The vow is made. Come, brother, take a head,    And in this hand the other will I bear.    And, Lavinia, thou shalt be employ'd in this;    Bear thou my hand, sweet wench, between thy teeth.    As for thee, boy, go, get thee from my sight;    Thou art an exile, and thou must not stay.    Hie to the Goths and raise an army there;    And if ye love me, as I think you do,    Let's kiss and part, for we have much to do.Exeunt all but Lucius  LUCIUS. Farewell, Andronicus, my noble father,    The woefull'st man that ever liv'd in Rome.    Farewell, proud Rome; till Lucius come again,    He leaves his pledges dearer than his life.    Farewell, Lavinia, my noble sister;    O, would thou wert as thou tofore hast been!    But now nor Lucius nor Lavinia lives    But in oblivion and hateful griefs.    If Lucius live, he will requite your wrongs    And make proud Saturnine and his emperess    Beg at the gates like Tarquin and his queen.    Now will I to the Goths, and raise a pow'r    To be reveng'd on Rome and Saturnine. Exit

SCENE II. Rome. TITUS' house

A banquet.

Enter TITUS, MARCUS, LAVINIA, and the boy YOUNG LUCIUS

  TITUS. So so, now sit; and look you eat no more    Than will preserve just so much strength in us    As will revenge these bitter woes of ours.    Marcus, unknit that sorrow-wreathen knot;    Thy niece and I, poor creatures, want our hands,    And cannot passionate our tenfold grief    With folded arms. This poor right hand of mine    Is left to tyrannize upon my breast;    Who, when my heart, all mad with misery,    Beats in this hollow prison of my flesh,    Then thus I thump it down.    [To LAVINIA] Thou map of woe, that thus dost talk in signs!    When thy poor heart beats with outrageous beating,    Thou canst not strike it thus to make it still.    Wound it with sighing, girl, kill it with groans;    Or get some little knife between thy teeth    And just against thy heart make thou a hole,    That all the tears that thy poor eyes let fall    May run into that sink and, soaking in,    Drown the lamenting fool in sea-salt tears.  MARCUS. Fie, brother, fie! Teach her not thus to lay    Such violent hands upon her tender life.  TITUS. How now! Has sorrow made thee dote already?    Why, Marcus, no man should be mad but I.    What violent hands can she lay on her life?    Ah, wherefore dost thou urge the name of hands?    To bid Aeneas tell the tale twice o'er    How Troy was burnt and he made miserable?    O, handle not the theme, to talk of hands,    Lest we remember still that we have none.    Fie, fie, how franticly I square my talk,    As if we should forget we had no hands,    If Marcus did not name the word of hands!    Come, let's fall to; and, gentle girl, eat this:    Here is no drink. Hark, Marcus, what she says-    I can interpret all her martyr'd signs;    She says she drinks no other drink but tears,    Brew'd with her sorrow, mesh'd upon her cheeks.    Speechless complainer, I will learn thy thought;    In thy dumb action will I be as perfect    As begging hermits in their holy prayers.    Thou shalt not sigh, nor hold thy stumps to heaven,    Nor wink, nor nod, nor kneel, nor make a sign,    But I of these will wrest an alphabet,    And by still practice learn to know thy meaning.  BOY. Good grandsire, leave these bitter deep laments;    Make my aunt merry with some pleasing tale.  MARCUS. Alas, the tender boy, in passion mov'd,    Doth weep to see his grandsire's heaviness.  TITUS. Peace, tender sapling; thou art made of tears,    And tears will quickly melt thy life away.[MARCUS strikes the dish with a knife]    What dost thou strike at, Marcus, with thy knife?  MARCUS. At that that I have kill'd, my lord- a fly.  TITUS. Out on thee, murderer, thou kill'st my heart!    Mine eyes are cloy'd with view of tyranny;    A deed of death done on the innocent    Becomes not Titus' brother. Get thee gone;    I see thou art not for my company.  MARCUS. Alas, my lord, I have but kill'd a fly.  TITUS. 'But!' How if that fly had a father and mother?    How would he hang his slender gilded wings    And buzz lamenting doings in the air!    Poor harmless fly,    That with his pretty buzzing melody    Came here to make us merry! And thou hast kill'd him.  MARCUS. Pardon me, sir; it was a black ill-favour'd fly,    Like to the Empress' Moor; therefore I kill'd him.  TITUS. O, O, O!    Then pardon me for reprehending thee,    For thou hast done a charitable deed.    Give me thy knife, I will insult on him,    Flattering myself as if it were the Moor    Come hither purposely to poison me.    There's for thyself, and that's for Tamora.    Ah, sirrah!    Yet, I think, we are not brought so low    But that between us we can kill a fly    That comes in likeness of a coal-black Moor.  MARCUS. Alas, poor man! grief has so wrought on him,    He takes false shadows for true substances.  TITUS. Come, take away. Lavinia, go with me;    I'll to thy closet, and go read with thee    Sad stories chanced in the times of old.    Come, boy, and go with me; thy sight is young,    And thou shalt read when mine begin to dazzle. Exeunt

ACT IV. SCENE I. Rome. TITUS' garden

Enter YOUNG LUCIUS and LAVINIA running after him, and the boy flies from her with his books under his arm.

Enter TITUS and MARCUS

  BOY. Help, grandsire, help! my aunt Lavinia    Follows me everywhere, I know not why.    Good uncle Marcus, see how swift she comes!    Alas, sweet aunt, I know not what you mean.  MARCUS. Stand by me, Lucius; do not fear thine aunt.  TITUS. She loves thee, boy, too well to do thee harm.  BOY. Ay, when my father was in Rome she did.  MARCUS. What means my niece Lavinia by these signs?  TITUS. Fear her not, Lucius; somewhat doth she mean.    See, Lucius, see how much she makes of thee.    Somewhither would she have thee go with her.    Ah, boy, Cornelia never with more care    Read to her sons than she hath read to thee    Sweet poetry and Tully's Orator.  MARCUS. Canst thou not guess wherefore she plies thee thus?  BOY. My lord, I know not, I, nor can I guess,    Unless some fit or frenzy do possess her;    For I have heard my grandsire say full oft    Extremity of griefs would make men mad;    And I have read that Hecuba of Troy    Ran mad for sorrow. That made me to fear;    Although, my lord, I know my noble aunt    Loves me as dear as e'er my mother did,    And would not, but in fury, fright my youth;    Which made me down to throw my books, and fly-    Causeless, perhaps. But pardon me, sweet aunt;    And, madam, if my uncle Marcus go,    I will most willingly attend your ladyship.  MARCUS. Lucius, I will. [LAVINIA turns over with her                     stumps the books which Lucius has let fall]  TITUS. How now, Lavinia! Marcus, what means this?    Some book there is that she desires to see.    Which is it, girl, of these? – Open them, boy. -    But thou art deeper read and better skill'd;    Come and take choice of all my library,    And so beguile thy sorrow, till the heavens    Reveal the damn'd contriver of this deed.    Why lifts she up her arms in sequence thus?  MARCUS. I think she means that there were more than one    Confederate in the fact; ay, more there was,    Or else to heaven she heaves them for revenge.  TITUS. Lucius, what book is that she tosseth so?  BOY. Grandsire, 'tis Ovid's Metamorphoses;    My mother gave it me.  MARCUS. For love of her that's gone,    Perhaps she cull'd it from among the rest.  TITUS. Soft! So busily she turns the leaves! Help her.    What would she find? Lavinia, shall I read?    This is the tragic tale of Philomel    And treats of Tereus' treason and his rape;    And rape, I fear, was root of thy annoy.  MARCUS. See, brother, see! Note how she quotes the leaves.  TITUS. Lavinia, wert thou thus surpris'd, sweet girl,    Ravish'd and wrong'd as Philomela was,    Forc'd in the ruthless, vast, and gloomy woods?    See, see!    Ay, such a place there is where we did hunt-    O, had we never, never hunted there! -    Pattern'd by that the poet here describes,    By nature made for murders and for rapes.  MARCUS. O, why should nature build so foul a den,    Unless the gods delight in tragedies?  TITUS. Give signs, sweet girl, for here are none but friends,    What Roman lord it was durst do the deed.    Or slunk not Saturnine, as Tarquin erst,    That left the camp to sin in Lucrece' bed?  MARCUS. Sit down, sweet niece; brother, sit down by me.    Apollo, Pallas, Jove, or Mercury,    Inspire me, that I may this treason find!    My lord, look here! Look here, Lavinia![He writes his name with his staff, and guides it with feet and mouth]    This sandy plot is plain; guide, if thou canst,    This after me. I have writ my name    Without the help of any hand at all.    Curs'd be that heart that forc'd us to this shift!    Write thou, good niece, and here display at last    What God will have discovered for revenge.    Heaven guide thy pen to print thy sorrows plain,    That we may know the traitors and the truth![She takes the staff in her mouth and guides it with stumps, and writes]    O, do ye read, my lord, what she hath writ?  TITUS. 'Stuprum- Chiron- Demetrius.'  MARCUS. What, what! the lustful sons of Tamora    Performers of this heinous bloody deed?  TITUS. Magni Dominator poli,    Tam lentus audis scelera? tam lentus vides?  MARCUS. O, calm thee, gentle lord! although I know    There is enough written upon this earth    To stir a mutiny in the mildest thoughts,    And arm the minds of infants to exclaims.    My lord, kneel down with me; Lavinia, kneel;    And kneel, sweet boy, the Roman Hector's hope;    And swear with me- as, with the woeful fere    And father of that chaste dishonoured dame,    Lord Junius Brutus sware for Lucrece' rape-    That we will prosecute, by good advice,    Mortal revenge upon these traitorous Goths,    And see their blood or die with this reproach.  TITUS. 'Tis sure enough, an you knew how;    But if you hunt these bear-whelps, then beware:    The dam will wake; and if she wind ye once,    She's with the lion deeply still in league,    And lulls him whilst she playeth on her back,    And when he sleeps will she do what she list.    You are a young huntsman, Marcus; let alone;    And come, I will go get a leaf of brass,    And with a gad of steel will write these words,    And lay it by. The angry northern wind    Will blow these sands like Sibyl's leaves abroad,    And where's our lesson, then? Boy, what say you?  BOY. I say, my lord, that if I were a man    Their mother's bedchamber should not be safe    For these base bondmen to the yoke of Rome.  MARCUS. Ay, that's my boy! Thy father hath full oft    For his ungrateful country done the like.  BOY. And, uncle, so will I, an if I live.  TITUS. Come, go with me into mine armoury.    Lucius, I'll fit thee; and withal my boy    Shall carry from me to the Empress' sons    Presents that I intend to send them both.    Come, come; thou'lt do my message, wilt thou not?  BOY. Ay, with my dagger in their bosoms, grandsire.  TITUS. No, boy, not so; I'll teach thee another course.    Lavinia, come. Marcus, look to my house.    Lucius and I'll go brave it at the court;    Ay, marry, will we, sir! and we'll be waited on.Exeunt TITUS, LAVINIA, and YOUNG LUCIUS  MARCUS. O heavens, can you hear a good man groan    And not relent, or not compassion him?    Marcus, attend him in his ecstasy,    That hath more scars of sorrow in his heart    Than foemen's marks upon his batt'red shield,    But yet so just that he will not revenge.    Revenge the heavens for old Andronicus! Exit