Titus Andronicus (Dover Publications)

by William Shakespeare

  And let me say, that never wept before,

  My tears are now prevailing orators.

  LUC. O noble father, you lament in vain:

  The tribunes hear you not; no man is by;

  And you recount your sorrows to a stone. 30

  TIT Ah, Lucius, for thy brothers let me plead.

  Grave tribunes, once more I entreat of you,—

  LUC. My gracious lord, no tribune hears you speak.

  TIT Why, ’t is no matter, man: if they did hear,

  They would not mark me; or 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, 40

  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 tribune 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?

  LUC. To rescue my two brothers from their death: 50

  For which attempt the judges have pronounced

  My everlasting doom of banishment.

  TIT. 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 and LAVINIA

  MARC Titus, prepare thy aged eyes to weep; 60

  Or, if not so, thy noble heart to break:

  I bring consuming sorrow to thine age.

  TIT. Will it consume me? let me see it then.

  MARC. This was thy daughter.

  TIT. Why, Marcus, so she is.

  LUC. Ay me, this object kills me!

  TIT. 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, 70

  Or brought a faggot to bright-burning Troy?

  My grief was at the height before thou camest;

  And now, like Nilus, it disdaineth bounds.73

  Give me a sword, I’ll chop off my hands too;

  For they have fought for Rome, and all in vain;

  And they have nursed this woe, in feeding life;

  In bootless prayer have they been held up,

  And they have served me to effectless use:

  Now all the service I require of them

  Is, that the one will help to cut the other. 80

  ’T is well, Lavinia, that thou hast no hands;

  For hands to do Rome service is but vain.

  LUC. Speak, gentle sister, who hath martyr’d thee?

  MARC. O, that delightful engine of her thoughts,84

  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!

  LUC. O, say thou for her, who hath done this deed?

  MARC. O, thus I found her, straying in the park, 90

  Seeking to hide herself, as doth the deer

  That hath received some unrecuring wound.92

  TIT. It was my dear; and he that wounded her 93

  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; 100

  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?107

  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 110

  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-dew114

  Upon a gather’d lily almost wither’d.

  MARC. Perchance she weeps because they kill’d her husband;

  Perchance because she knows them innocent.

  TIT. 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; 120

  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, as 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, 130

  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.

  LUC. Sweet father, cease your tears; for, at your grief,

  See how my wretched sister sobs and weeps.

  MARC. Patience, dear niece. Good Titus, dry thine eyes. 140

  TIT. 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.

  LUC. Ah, my Lavinia, I will wipe thy cheeks.

  TIT. 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, 150

  As far from help as Limbo is from bliss!151

  Enter AARON

  AAR. 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.

  TIT. O gracious emperor! O gentle Aaron!

  Did ever raven sing so like a lark, 160

  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?

  LUC. Stay, father! for that noble hand of thine,

  That hath thrown down so many enemies,

  Shall no
t 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.

  MARC. Which of your hands hath not defended Rome, 170

  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.

  AAR. Nay, come, agree whose hand shall go along,

  For fear they die before their pardon come.

  MARC. My hand shall go.

  LUC. By heaven, it shall not go! 180

  TIT. Sirs, strive no more: such wither’d herbs as these

  Are meet for plucking up, and therefore mine.

  LUC. Sweet father, if I shall be thought thy son,

  Let me redeem my brothers both from death.

  MARC. And, for our father’s sake and mother’s care,

  Now let me show a brother’s love to thee.

  TIT. Agree between you; I will spare my hand.

  LUC. Then I’ll go fetch an axe.

  MARC. But I will use the axe.

  [Exeunt Lucius and Marcus. 190

  TIT. Come hither, Aaron; I’ll deceive them both:

  Lend me thy hand, and I will give thee mine.

  AAR. [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.

  [Cuts off Titus’s hand.

  Re-enter LUCIUS and MARCUS

  TIT. 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 200

  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 purchased at an easy price;

  And yet dear too, because I bought mine own.

  AAR. 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 villany

  Doth fat me with the very thoughts of it!209

  Let fools do good, and fair men call for grace, 210

  Aaron will have his soul black like his face.

  [Exit.

  TIT. 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 Lav.] What, would thou kneel with me?

  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.

  MARC. O brother, speak with possibilities, 220

  And do not break into these deep extremes.

  TIT. Is not my sorrow deep, having no bottom?

  Then be my passions bottomless with them.

  MARC. But yet let reason govern thy lament.

  TIT. 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,

  Threatening the welkin with his big-swoln face?

  And wilt thou have a reason for this coil? 230

  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,236

  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

  MESS. Worthy Andronicus, ill art thou repaid 240

  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 griefs their sports, thy resolution mock’d:

  That woe is me to think upon thy woes,

  More than remembrance of my father’s death, [Exit.

  MARC. Now let hot Ætna 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, 250

  But sorrow flouted at is double death.

  LUC. 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.

  MARC. Alas, poor heart, that kiss is comfortless

  As frozen water to a starved snake.

  TIT. When will this fearful slumber have an end?

  MARC. Now, farewell, flattery: die, Andronicus; 260

  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:

  Rend 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? 270

  TIT. Ha, ha, ha!

  MARC. Why dost thou laugh? it fits not with this hour.

  TIT. Why, I have not another tear to shed:

  Besides, this sorrow is an enemy,

  And would usurp upon my watery 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 280

  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.

  Lavinia, thou shalt be employ’d in these things:

  Bear thou my hand, sweet wench, between thy teeth.

  As for thee, boy, go get thee from my sight; 290

  Thou art an exile, and thou must not stay:

  Hie to the Goths, and raise an army there:

  And, if you love me, as I think you do,

  Let’s kiss and part, for we have much to do.

  [Exeunt all but Lucius.

  LUC. Farewell, Andronicus, my noble father,

  The wofull’st man that ever lived in Rome:

  Farewell, proud Rome; till Lucius come again,

  He leaves his pledges dearer than his life:

  Farewell, Lavinia, my noble sister; 300

  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 empress

  Beg at the gates, like Tarquin and his queen.

  Now will I to the Goths and raise a power,

&nb
sp; To be revenged on Rome and Saturnine. [Exit.

  SCENE II. A Room in Titus’s House. A Banquet Set Out.

  Enter TITUS MARCUS LAVINIA and young LUCIUS a Boy307

  TIT. So, so; now sit: and look you eat no more

  Than will preserve just so much strength in us

  As will revenge those bitter woes of ours.

  Marcus, unknit that sorrow-wreathen knot:4

  Thy niece and I, poor creatures, want our hands,

  And cannot passionate our tenfold grief6

  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, 10

  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;15

  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.20

  MARC. 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 Æneas 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. 30

  Fie, fie, how franticly I square my talk,31

  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;36

  She says she drinks no other drink but tears,

  Brew’d with her sorrow, mesh’d upon her cheeks: 38

  Speechless complainer, I will learn thy thought;

  In thy dumb action will I be as perfect 40

  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.45

  BOY. Good grandsire, leave these bitter deep laments:

  Make my aunt merry with some pleasing tale.

  MARC. Alas, the tender boy, in passion moved,