The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works

by William Shakespeare

  NURSE

  Aaron, what shall I say unto the Empress?

  DEMETRIUS

  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.

  AARON

  Then sit we down, and let us all consult.

  My son and I will have the wind of you.

  Keep there; now talk at pleasure of your safety.

  They sit

  DEMETRIUS (to the Nurse)

  How many women saw this child of his?

  AARON

  Why, so, brave lords, when we do 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.

  (To the Nurse) But say again, how many saw the

  child?

  NURSE

  Cornelia the midwife, and myself,

  And no one else but the delivered Empress.

  AARON

  The Empress, the midwife, and yourself.

  Two may keep counsel when the third’s away.

  Go to the Empress, tell her this I said.

  He kills her

  ‘Wheak, wheak’—so cries a pig prepared to the spit.

  DEMETRIUS

  What mean’st thou, Aaron? Wherefore didst thou this?

  AARON

  OLord, sir, ’tis 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.

  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,

  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.

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

  And you must needs bestow her funeral.

  The fields are near, and you are gallant grooms.

  This done, see that you take no longer days,

  But send the midwife presently to me.

  The midwife and the nurse well made away,

  Then let the ladies tattle what they please.

  CHIRON

  Aaron, I see thou wilt not trust the air

  With secrets.

  DEMETRIUS

  For this care of Tamora,

  Herself and hers are highly bound to thee.

  Exeunt Chiron and Demetrius with the Nurse’s body

  AARON

  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-lipped slave, I’ll bear you hence,

  For it is you that puts us to our shifts.

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

  And fat on curds and whey, and suck the goat,

  And cabin in a cave, and bring you up

  To be a warrior and command a camp.

  Exit with the child

  4.3 Enter Titus, old Marcus, his son Publius, young Lucius, and other gentlemen (Sempronius, Caius) with bows; and Titus bears the arrows with letters on the ends of them

  TITUS

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

  Sir boy, let me see your archery.

  Look ye draw home enough, and ‘tis there straight.

  Terras Astraea reliquit.

  Be you remembered, 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;

  Yet there’s as little justice as at land.

  No, Publius and Sempronius, you must do it.

  ’Tis 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.

  Go, get you gone, and pray be careful all,

  And leave you not a man-of-war unsearched.

  This wicked Emperor may have shipped her hence,

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

  MARCUS

  O, Publius, is not this a heavy case,

  To see thy noble uncle thus distraught?

  PUBLIUS

  Therefore, my lords, it highly us concerns

  By day and night t’attend him carefully

  And feed his humour kindly as we may,

  Till time beget some careful remedy.

  MARCUS

  Kinsmen, his sorrows are past remedy,

  But ⌈ ⌉

  Join with the Goths, and with revengeful war

  Take wreak on Rome for this ingratitude,

  And vengeance on the traitor Saturnine.

  TITUS

  Publius, how now? How now, my masters?

  What, have you met with her?

  PUBLIUS

  No, my good lord, but Pluto sends you word

  If you will have Revenge from hell, you shall.

  Marry, for Justice, she is now employed,

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

  So that perforce you must needs stay a time.

  TITUS

  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.

  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

  To send down Justice for to wreak our wrongs.

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

  He gives them the arrows

  ‘Ad Iovem’, that’s for you. Here, ’ad Apollinem’.

  ‘Ad Martem’, that’s for myself. 55

  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.

  There’s not a god left unsolicited.

  MARCUS

  Kinsmen, shoot all your shafts into the court.

  We will afflict the Emperor in his pride.

  TITUS

  Now, masters, draw.

  They shoot

  O, well said, Lucius!

  Good boy, in Virgo’s lap ! Give it Pallas.

  MARCUS

  My lord, I aim a mile beyond the moon.

  Your letter is with Jupiter by this.

  TITUS

  Ha, ha! Publius, Publius, what hast thou done?

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

  MARCUS

  This was the sport, my lord. When Publius shot,

  The Bull, being galled, 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!
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br />   She laughed, and told the Moor he should not choose

  But give them to his master for a present.

  TITUS

  Why, there it goes. God give his lordship joy.

  Enter the 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?

  CLOWN Ho, the gibbet-maker? He says that he hath taken them down again, for the man must not be hanged till the next week.

  TITUS

  But what says Jupiter, I ask thee?

  CLOWN Alas, sir, I know not ‘Jupiter’. I never drank with him in all my life.

  TITUS

  Why, villain, art not thou the carrier?

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

  TITUS Why, didst thou not come from heaven?

  CLOWN 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 am going with my pigeons to the tribunal plebs to take up a matter of brawl betwixt my uncle and one of the Emperal’s men.

  TITUS

  Sirrah, come hither. Make no more ado,

  But give your pigeons to the Emperor.

  By me thou shalt have justice at his hands.

  Hold, hold—(giving money) meanwhile, here’s money

  for thy charges.

  Give me pen and ink. Sirrah, can you with a grace

  Deliver up a supplication?

  CLOWN Ay, sir.

  TITUS (writing and giving the Clown a paper) 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. CLOWN I warrant you, sir. Let me alone.

  TITUS

  Sirrah, hast thou a knife? Come, let me see it.

  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.

  CLOWN God be with you, sir. I will. Exit

  TITUS

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

  4.4 Enter Saturninus, the Emperor, and Tamora, the Empress, and Chiron and Demetrius, her two sons, and others. The Emperor brings the arrows in his hand that Titus shot at him

  SATURNINUS

  Why, lords, what wrongs are these! Was ever seen

  An emperor in Rome thus overborne,

  Troubled, confronted thus, and for the extent

  Of egall justice used in such contempt?

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

  However these disturbers of our peace

  Buzz in the people’s ears, there naught hath passed

  But even with law against the wilful sons

  Of old Andronicus. And what an if

  His sorrows have so overwhelmed his wits?

  Shall we be thus afflicted in his wreaks,

  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 everywhere?

  A goodly humour, is it not, my lords?—

  As who would say, in Rome no justice were.

  But, if I live, his feigned ecstasies

  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.

  TAMORA

  My gracious lord, my lovely Saturnine,

  Lord of my life, commander of my thoughts,

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

  Th’effects of sorrow for his valiant sons

  Whose loss hath pierced him deep and scarred 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.

  But, Titus, I have touched thee to the quick.

  Thy life blood out if Aaron now be wise,

  Then is all safe, the anchor in the port.Enter Clown

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

  CLOWN Yea, forsooth, an your mistress-ship be Emperial.

  TAMORA Empress I am, but yonder sits the Emperor.

  CLOWN ’Tis he. God and Saint Stephen give you good-e’ en. I have brought you a letter and a couple of pigeons here.

  Saturninus reads the letter

  SATURNINUS (to an attendant)

  Go, take him away, and hang him presently.

  CLOWN How much money must I have?

  TAMORA Come, sirrah, you must be hanged.

  CLOWN Hanged, by’ Lady? Then I have brought up a neck to a fair end. Exit ⌈with attendant⌉

  SATURNINUS

  Despiteful and intolerable wrongs!

  Shall I endure this monstrous villainy?

  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 butchered wrongfully!

  Go, drag the villain hither by the hair.

  Nor age nor honour shall shape privilege.

  For this proud mock I’ll be thy slaughterman,

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

  In hope thyself should govern Rome and me.

  Enter Aemilius, a messenger

  SATURNINUS

  What news with thee, Aemilius?

  AEMILIUS

  Arm, my lords! Rome never had more cause.

  The Goths have gathered head, and with a power

  Of high-resolvèd 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.

  SATURNINUS

  Is warlike Lucius general of the Goths?

  These tidings nip me, and I hang the head,

  As flowers with frost, or grass beat down with storms.

  Ay, now begins our sorrows to approach.

  ’Tis 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 wished that Lucius were their emperor.

  TAMORA

  Why should you fear? Is not your city strong?

  SATURNINUS

  Ay, but the citizens favour Lucius,

  And will revolt from me to succour him.

  TAMORA

  King, be thy thoughts imperious like thy name.

  Is the sun dimmed, 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.

  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

  Than baits to fish or honey-stalks to sheep

  Whenas the one is wounded with the bait,

  The other rotted with delicious feed.

  SATURNINUS

  But he will not entreat his son for us.
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  TAMORA

  If Tamora entreat him, then he will,

  For I can smooth and fill his aged ears

  With golden promises that, were his heart

  Almost impregnable, his old ears deaf,

  Yet should both ear and heart obey my tongue.

  (To Aemilius) Go thou before to be our ambassador.

  Say that the Emperor requests a parley

  Of warlike Lucius, and appoint the meeting

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

  SATURNINUS

  Aemilius, do this message honourably,

  And if he stand on hostage for his safety,

  Bid him demand what pledge will please him best.

  AEMILIUS

  Your bidding shall I do effectually. Exit

  TAMORA

  Now will I to that old Andronicus,

  And temper him with all the art I have

  To pluck proud Lucius from the warlike Goths.

  And now, sweet Emperor, be blithe again,

  And bury all thy fear in my devices.

  SATURNINUS

  Then go incessantly, and plead to him.

  Exeunt severally

  5.1 ⌈Flourish.⌉ Enter Lucius with an army of Goths, with drummers and soldiers

  LUCIUS

  Approved warriors and my faithful friends,

  I have received letters from great Rome

  Which signifies what hate they bear their emperor

  And how desirous of our sight they are.

  Therefore, great lords, be as your titles witness,

  Imperious, and impatient of your wrongs,

  And wherein Rome hath done you any scath

  Let him make treble satisfaction.

  A GOTH

  Brave slip sprung from the great Andronicus,

  Whose name was once our terror, now our comfort,

  Whose high exploits and honourable deeds

  Ingrateful Rome requites with foul contempt,

  Be bold in us. We’ll follow where thou lead’st,

  Like stinging bees in hottest summer’s day

  Led by their master to the flowered fields,

  And be avenged on cursed Tamora.

  GOTHS

  And as he saith, so say we all with him.

  LUCIUS

  I humbly thank him, and I thank you all.

  But who comes here, led by a lusty Goth?

  Enter a Goth, leading of Aaron with his child in his

  arms

  GOTH

  Renowned Lucius, from our troops I strayed

  To gaze upon a ruinous monastery,