Titus Andronicus (Dover Publications)

by William Shakespeare

  And from that womb where you imprison’d were 130

  He is enfranchised and come to light:

  Nay, he is your brother by the surer side,

  Although my seal be stamped in his face.

  NUR Aaron, what shall I say unto the empress?

  DEM. Advise thee, Aaron, what is to be done,

  And we will all subscribe to thy advice:

  Save thou the child, so we may all be safe.

  AAR. Then sit we down, and let us all consult.

  My son and I will have the wind of you:139

  Keep there: now talk at pleasure of your safety. 140

  [They sit.

  DEM. How many women saw this child of his?

  AAR. Why, so, brave lords! when we join in league,

  I am a lamb: but if you brave the Moor,

  The chafed boar, the mountain lioness,

  The ocean swells not so as Aaron storms.

  But say, again, how many saw the child?

  NUR Cornelia the midwife and myself;

  And no one else but the deliver’d empress.

  AAR. The empress, the midwife, and yourself: 150

  Two may keep counsel when the third’s away:151

  Go to the empress, tell her this I said.

  [He kills the Nurse.

  Weke, weke!

  So cries a pig prepared to the spit.

  DEM. What mean’st thou, Aaron? wherefore didst thou this?

  AAR.O Lord, sir, ’t is a deed of policy:

  Shall she live to betray this guilt of ours,

  A long-tongued babbling gossip? no, lords, no:

  And now be it known to you my full intent. 160

  Not far, one Muliteus, my countryman,

  His wife but yesternight was brought to bed;

  His child is like to her, fair as you are:

  Go pack with him, and give the mother gold,164

  And tell them both the circumstance of all;

  And how by this their child shall be advanced,

  And be received for the emperor’s heir,

  And substituted in the place of mine,

  To calm this tempest whirling in the court;

  And let the emperor dandle him for his own. 170

  Hark ye, lords; you see I have given her physic,

  [Pointing to the Nurse.

  And you must needs bestow her funeral;

  The fields are near, and you are gallant grooms:174

  This done, see that you take no longer days,175

  But send the midwife presently to me.

  The midwife and the nurse well made away,

  Then let the ladies tattle what they please.

  CHI. Aaron; I see thou wilt not trust the air

  With secrets. 180

  DEM. For this care of Tamora,

  Herself and hers are highly bound to thee.

  [Exeunt Dem. and Chi. bearing off the Nurse’s body.

  AAR. Now to the Goths, as swift as swallow flies;

  There to dispose this treasure in mine arms,

  And secretly to greet the empress’ friends.

  Come on, you thick-lipp’d slave, I’ll bear you hence;

  For it is you that puts us to our shifts:188

  I’ll make you feed on berries and on roots,

  And feed on curds and whey, and suck the goat, 190

  And cabin in a cave, and bring you up

  To be a warrior and command a camp. [Exit.

  SCENE III. The Same A Public Place.

  Enter TITUS bearing arrows with letters at the ends of them; with him, MARCUS young LUCIUS and other Gentlemen (PUBLIUS, SEMPRONIUS, and CAIUS),. with bows

  TIT. Come, Marcus, come; kinsmen, this is the way.

  Sir boy, let me see your archery;

  Look ye draw home enough, and ’t is there straight.3

  Terras Astræa reliquit:4

  Be you remember’d, Marcus, she’s gone, she’s fled.

  Sirs, take you to your tools. You, cousins, shall

  Go sound the ocean, and cast your nets;

  Happily you may catch her in the sea;8

  Yet there’s as little justice as at land:

  No; Publius and Sempronius, you must do it; 10

  ’T is you must dig with mattock and with spade,

  And pierce the inmost centre of the earth:

  Then, when you come to Pluto’s region,

  I pray you, deliver him this petition;

  Tell him, it is for justice and for aid,

  And that it comes from old Andronicus,

  Shaken with sorrows in ungrateful Rome.

  Ah, Rome! Well, well; I made thee miserable

  What time I threw the people’s suffrages

  On him that thus doth tyrannize o’er me. 20

  Go get you gone; and pray be careful all,

  And leave you not a man-of-war unsearch’d:

  This wicked emperor may have shipp’d her hence;

  And, kinsmen, then we may go pipe for justice.24

  MARC. O Publius, is not this a heavy case,

  To see thy noble uncle thus distract?

  PUB. Therefore, my lord, it highly us concerns

  By day and night to attend him carefully,

  And feed his humour kindly as we may,

  Till time beget some careful remedy. 30

  MARC. Kinsmen, his sorrows are past remedy.

  Join with the Goths, and with revengeful war

  Take wreak on Rome for this ingratitude,33

  And vengeance on the traitor Saturnine.

  TIT. Publius, how now! how now, my masters!

  What, have you met with her?

  PUB. No, my good lord; but Pluto sends you word,

  If you will have Revenge from Hell, you shall:

  Marry, for Justice, she is so employ’d,

  He thinks, with Jove in heaven, or somewhere else, 40

  So that perforce you must needs stay a time.

  TIT. He doth me wrong to feed me with delays.

  I’ll dive into the burning lake below,

  And pull her out of Acheron by the heels.44

  Marcus, we are but shrubs, no cedars we,

  No big-boned men framed of the Cyclops’ size;

  But metal, Marcus, steel to the very back,

  Yet wrung with wrongs more than our backs can bear:

  And sith there’s no justice in earth nor hell,

  We will solicit heaven, and move the gods 50

  To send down Justice for to wreak our wrongs.

  Come, to this gear. You are a good archer, Marcus;52

  [He gives them the arrows.

  “Ad Jovem,” that’s for you: here, “Ad Apollinem:”

  “Ad Martem,” that’s for myself:

  Here, boy, to Pallas: here, to Mercury:

  To Saturn, Caius, not to Saturnine;

  You were as good to shoot against the wind.

  To it, boy! Marcus, loose when I bid.

  Of my word, I have written to effect; 60

  There’s not a god left unsolicited.

  MARC. Kinsmen, shoot all your shafts into the court:

  We will afflict the emperor in his pride.

  TIT. Now, masters, draw. [They shoot.] O, well said, Lucius! 64

  Good boy, in Virgo’s lap; give it Pallas.65

  MARC. My lord, I aim a mile beyond the moon;66

  Your letter is with Jupiter by this.

  TIT. Ha, ha!

  Publius, Publius, what hast thou done?

  See, see, thou hast shot off one of Taurus’ horns. 70

  MARC. his was the sport, my lord: when Publius shot,

  The Bull, being gall’d, gave Aries such a knock

  That down fell both the Ram’s horns in the court;

  And who should find them but the empress’ villain?

  She laugh’d, and told the Moor he should not choose

  But give them to his master for a present.

  TIT. Why, there it goes: God give his lordship joy!

  Enter
a Clown, with a basket, and two pigeons in it

  News, news from heaven! Marcus, the post is come.

  Sirrah, what tidings? have you any letters?

  Shall I have justice? what says Jupiter? 80

  CLO. O, the gibbet-maker! he says that he hath taken them down again, for the man must not be hanged till the next week.

  TIT. But what says Jupiter, I ask thee?

  CLO. Alas, sir, I know not Jupiter; I never drank with him in all my life.

  TIT. Why, villain, art not thou the carrier?

  CLO. Ay, of my pigeons, sir; nothing else.

  TIT. Why, didst thou not come from heaven?

  CLO. From heaven! alas, sir, I never came there: God forbid I should be so bold to press to heaven in my young days. Why, I 90 am going with my pigeons to the tribunal plebs, to take up a matter of brawl betwixt my uncle and one of the emperial’s men.91

  MARC. Why, sir, that is as fit as can be to serve for your oration; and let him deliver the pigeons to the emperor from you.

  TIT. Tell me, can you deliver an oration to the emperor with a grace?

  CLO. Nay, truly, sir, I could never say grace in all my life.

  TIT. Sirrah, come hither: make no more ado,

  But give your pigeons to the emperor:

  By me thou shalt have justice at his hands. 100

  Hold, hold; meanwhile here’s money for thy charges.

  Give me pen and ink.

  Sirrah, can you with a grace deliver a supplication?

  CLO. Ay, sir.

  TIT. Then here is a supplication for you. And when you come to him, at the first approach you must kneel; then kiss his foot;

  then deliver up your pigeons; and then look for your reward. I’ll be at hand, sir; see you do it bravely.

  CLO. I warrant you, sir, let me alone.

  TIT. Sirrah, hast thou a knife? come, let me see it. 110

  Here, Marcus, fold it in the oration;

  For thou hast made it like an humble suppliant:

  And when thou hast given it to the emperor,

  Knock at my door, and tell me what he says.

  CLO. God be with you, sir; I will. [Exit.

  TIT. Come, Marcus, let us go. Publius, follow me.

  [Exeunt.

  SCENE IV. The Same. Before the Palace.

  Enter SATURNINUS,.TAMORN, CHIRON, DEMETRIUS, and others; SATURNINUS with the Arrows in his hand that TITUS shot

  SAT. Why, lords, what wrongs are these! was ever seen

  An emperor in Rome thus overborne,

  Troubled, confronted thus, and for the extent3

  Of egal justice used in such contempt?4

  My lords, you know, as know the mightful gods,

  However these disturbers of our peace

  Buzz in the people’s ears, there nought hath pass’d

  But even with law against the wilful sons8

  Of old Andronicus. And what an if

  His sorrows have so overwhelm’d his wits, 10

  Shall we be thus afflicted in his wreaks,11

  His fits, his frenzy and his bitterness?

  And now he writes to heaven for his redress:

  See, here’s to Jove, and this to Mercury;

  This to Apollo; this to the god of war:

  Sweet scrolls to fly about the streets of Rome!

  What’s this but libelling against the senate,

  And blazoning our unjustice every where?

  A goodly humour, is it not, my lords?

  As who would say, in Rome no justice were. 20

  But if I live, his feigned ecstasies21

  Shall be no shelter to these outrages:

  But he and his shall know that justice lives

  In Saturninus’ health; whom, if he sleep,

  He’ll so awake, as he in fury shall

  Cut off the proud’st conspirator that lives.

  TAM. My gracious lord, my lovely Saturnine,

  Lord of my life, commander of my thoughts,

  Calm thee, and bear the faults of Titus’ age,

  The effects of sorrow for his valiant sons, 30

  Whose loss hath pierced him deep and scarr’d his heart;

  And rather comfort his distressed plight

  Than prosecute the meanest or the best

  For these contempts. [Aside] Why, thus it shall become

  High-witted Tamora to gloze with all:35

  But, Titus, I have touch’d thee to the quick,

  Thy life-blood out: if Aaron now be wise,37

  Then is all safe, the anchor in the port.

  Enter Clown

  How now, good fellow! wouldst thou speak with us?

  CLO. Yea, forsooth, an your mistership be emperial. 40

  TAM. Empress I am, but yonder sits the emperor.

  CLO.’T is he. God and Saint Stephen give you god-den:

  I have brought you a letter and a couple of pigeons here.

  [Saturninus reads the letter.

  SAT. Go, take him away, and hang him presently.

  CLO. How much money must I have?

  TAM. Come, sirrah, you must be hanged.

  CLO. Hanged! by ’r lady, then I have brought up a neck to a fair end.

  [Exit, guarded.

  SAT. Despiteful and intolerable wrongs! 50

  Shall I endure this monstrous villany?

  I know from whence this same device proceeds:

  May this be borne? As if his traitorous sons,

  That died by law for murder of our brother,

  Have by my means been butcher’d wrongfully!

  Go, drag the villain hither by the hair;

  Nor age nor honour shall shape privilege:

  For this proud mock I’ll be thy slaughter-man;

  Sly frantic wretch, that holp’st to make me great,

  In hope thyself should govern Rome and me. 60

  Enter ÆMILIUS

  What news with thee, Æmilius?

  ÆMIL. Arm, my lords; Rome never had more cause.63

  The Goths have gather’d head, and with a power

  Of high-resolved men, bent to the spoil,

  They hither march amain, under conduct

  Of Lucius, son to old Andronicus;

  Who threats, in course of this revenge, to do

  As much as ever Coriolanus did.

  SAT. Is warlike Lucius general of the Goths?

  These tidings nip me, and I hang the head 70

  As flowers with frost or grass beat down with storms:

  Ay, now begin our sorrows to approach:

  ’T is he the common people love so much;

  Myself hath often heard them say,

  When I have walked like a private man,

  That Lucius’ banishment was wrongfully,

  And they have wish’d that Lucius were their emperor.

  TAM. Why should you fear? is not your city strong?

  SAT. Ay, but the citizens favour Lucius,

  And will revolt from me to succour him. 80

  TAM. King, be thy thoughts imperious, like thy name.

  Is the sun dimm’d, that gnats do fly in it?

  The eagle suffers little birds to sing,

  And is not careful what they mean thereby,

  Knowing that with the shadow of his wings

  He can at pleasure stint their melody:86

  Even so mayst thou the giddy men of Rome.

  Then cheer thy spirit: for know, thou emperor,

  I will enchant the old Andronicus

  With words more sweet, and yet more dangerous, 90

  Than baits to fish, or honey-stalks to sheep; 91

  Whenas the one is wounded with the bait,

  The other rotted with delicious feed.

  SAT. But he will not entreat his son for us.

  TAM. If Tamora entreat him, then he will:

  For I can smooth, and fill his aged ears96

  With golden promises; that, were his heart

  Almost impregnable, his old ears deaf,

  Yet should both ear and h
eart obey my tongue.

  [To Æmilius] Go thou before, be our ambassador: 100

  Say that the emperor requests a parley

  Of warlike Lucius, and appoint the meeting

  Even at his father’s house, the old Andronicus.

  SAT. Æmilius, do this message honourably:

  And if he stand on hostage for his safety,

  Bid him demand what pledge will please him best.

  ÆMIL. Your bidding shall I do effectually. [Exit.

  TAM. Now will I to that old Andronicus,

  And temper him with all the art I have,

  To pluck proud Lucius from the warlike Goths. 110

  And now, sweet emperor, be blithe again,

  And bury all thy fear in my devices.

  SAT. Then go successantly, and plead to him.113

  [Exeunt.

  * * *

  12 Cornelia] The courageous mother of the Gracchi.

  14 Tully’s Orator] One of Cicero’s two treatises on oratory was called Orator. The second more famous treatise was called De Oratore.

  24 fury] fury of madness.

  42 tosseth] turns over (the leaves of).

  43 Ovid’s Metamorphoses] the most popular of Ovid’s works.

  50–51 This is … rape] See note on II, iii, 43.

  52 annoy] suffering.

  53 quotes] observes, marks.

  72 This sandy … plain] This sandy plot of earth is level.

  84 Stuprum] Latin for “violation.”

  94 Roman Hector’s hope] The Trojan Hector’s son was Astyanax.

  95 fere] companion; here “husband.”

  98 by good advice] deliberately.

  109 gad] piercing instrument, sharp point.

  115 bondmen to the yoke of Rome] Rome’s prisoners of war, and thus of the status of slaves.

  131 compassion] pity.

  132 ecstasy] fit of madness, frenzy.

  16 appointed] equipped.

  21–22 “Integer ... nec arcu”] the first two lines of Horace’s well-known ode, Bk. I, no. xxii. “The man of spotless life and free from guilt needs no Moorish javelins or bow” (to protect him).

  24 the grammar] Lily’s Grammar, a book in common use in Elizabethan grammar schools.

  27 Here’s no sound jest] This is no safe jest. This is a perilous jest.

  29 beyond their feeling] without their perceiving it.

  30 witty] clever. well afoot] well recovered from childbed.

  39 Basely insinuate] Ingratiate himself with us in undignified fashion.

  43 At such a bay] At such an extremity, within our power.

  73 breeders] women (who bear children).

  77 blowse] blowsy, red-faced wench.

  90 broach] spit.

  99–101 Enceladus … Typhon … Alcides] giants of classical mythology who warred against the gods.