Titus Andronicus (Dover Publications)

by William Shakespeare

  103 sanguine] red-complexioned.

  104 white-limed] whitewashed.

  119 foul escape] escapade, transgression.

  121 ignomy] a common contraction of “ignominy.”

  124 enacts] enactments, resolutions.

  125 leer] complexion.

  139 have the wind of you] keep the advantage of you; an archer’s expression when contriving to shoot with the wind at his back, and in his opponent’s face.

  151 Two … away] a common proverb.

  164 Go pack] Go and plot, contrive.

  174 gallant grooms] strong fellows.

  175 take no longer days] take as short a time as possible.

  188 puts us to our shifts] drives us to cunning schemes.

  3 draw home] shoot with force.

  4 Terras Astræa reliquit] From Ovid, Metamorphoses, I, 149, 150: “Victa iacet pietas, et uirgo cæde madentes Ultima cælestum terras Astræa reliquit” (“Goodness lies conquered, and the virgin Astræa, last of the immortals, has left the slaughter-stained earth”). Astræa was the goddess of justice.

  8 Happily] Haply, perhaps.

  24 go pipe] go whistle.

  30 careful] possibly “provident,” “efficient.”

  33 wreak] vengeance.

  44 Acheron] properly a river of Hades.

  52 this gear] the business.

  64 well said] well done; a common usage.

  65 in Virgo’s lap] as far as the constellation Virgo.

  66 a mile beyond the moon] out of reach or range.

  91 tribunal plebs] an ignorant mispronunciation of “tribunus plebis.” take up] make up, settle.

  3–4 for the extent Of egal justice] in consequence of the impartial administration of justice.

  8 even with] in agreement with.

  11 wreaks] efforts at vengeance.

  21 ecstasies] fits of frenzy.

  35 gloze with] wheedle, cajole.

  37 Thy life-blood out] So that thy life-blood is drawn

  63 gather’d head] collected an army.

  86 stint] stop.

  91 honey-stalks] sweet-clover flower, which eaten to excess kills cattle.

  96 smooth] wheedle, cajole.

  113 successantly] a word unknown elsewhere. It may be an error for successfully, or may be formed from an invented present participle meaning “following after.”

  ACT V.

  SCENE I. Plains near Rome.

  Flourish. Enter LUCIUS and Goths, with drum and colours

  LUCIUS. Approved warriors, and my faithful friends,

  I have received letters from great Rome,

  Which signify 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,7

  Let him make treble satisfaction.

  FIRST GOTH. Brave slip, sprung from the great Andronicus,

  Whose name was once our terror, now our comfort; 10

  Whose high exploits and honourable deeds

  Ingrateful Rome requites with foul contempt,

  Be bold in us: we’ll follow where thou lead’st,13

  Like stinging bees in hottest summer’s day,

  Led by their master to the flowered fields,

  And be avenged on cursed Tamora.

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

  LUCI humbly thank him, and I thank you all.

  But who comes here, led by a lusty Goth?

  Enter a Goth, leading AARON with his Child in his arms

  SEC GOTHS. Renowned Lucius, from our troops I stray’d 20

  To gaze upon a ruinous monastery;21

  And, as I earnestly did fix mine eye

  Upon the wasted building, suddenly

  I heard a child cry underneath a wall.

  I made unto the noise; when soon I heard

  The crying babe controll’d with this discourse:

  “Peace, tawny slave, half me and half thy dam!

  Did not thy hue bewray whose brat thou art,

  Had nature lent thee but thy mother’s look,

  Villain, thou mightst have been an emperor: 30

  But where the bull and cow are both milk-white,

  They never do beget a coal-black calf.

  Peace, villain, peace!”—even thus he rates the babe—33

  “For I must bear thee to a trusty Goth;

  Who, when he knows thou art the empress’ babe,

  Will hold thee dearly for thy mother’s sake.”

  With this, my weapon drawn, I rush’d upon him,

  Surprised him suddenly, and brought him hither,

  To use as you think needful of the man.

  LUC. O worthy Goth, this is the incarnate devil 40

  That robb’d Andronicus of his good hand;

  This is the pearl that pleased your empress’ eye;42

  And here’s the base fruit of his burning lust.

  Say, wall-eyed slave, whither wouldst thou convey 44

  This growing image of thy fiend-like face?

  Why dost not speak? what, deaf? not a word?

  A halter, soldiers! hang him on this tree,

  And by his side his fruit of bastardy.

  AAR. Touch not the boy; he is of royal blood.

  LUC. Too like the sire for ever being good. 50

  First hang the child, that he may see it sprawl;

  A sight to vex the father’s soul withal.

  Get me a ladder.

  [A ladder brought, which Aaron is made to ascend.

  AAR. Lucius, save the child,

  And bear it from me to the empress.

  If thou do this, I’ll show thee wondrous things,

  That highly may advantage thee to hear:

  If thou wilt not, befall what may befall,

  I’ll speak no more but “Vengeance rot you all!” 60

  LUC. Say on: an if it please me which thou speak’st,

  Thy child shall live, and I will see it nourish’d.

  AAR. An if it please thee! why, assure thee, Lucius,

  ’T will vex thy soul to hear what I shall speak;

  For I must talk of murders, rapes and massacres,

  Acts of black night, abominable deeds,

  Complots of mischief, treason, villanies

  Ruthful to hear, yet piteously perform’d: 68

  And this shall all be buried in my death,

  Unless thou swear to me my child shall live. 70

  LUC. Tell on thy mind; I say thy child shall live.

  AAR. Swear that he shall, and then I will begin.

  LUC. Who should I swear by? thou believest no god:

  That granted, how canst thou believe an oath?

  AAR. What if I do not? as, indeed, I do not;

  Yet, for I know thou art religious,

  And hast a thing within thee called conscience,

  With twenty popish tricks and ceremonies,

  Which I have seen thee careful to observe,

  Therefore I urge thy oath; for that I know 80

  An idiot holds his bauble for a god,81

  And keeps the oath which by that god he swears,

  To that I’ll urge him: therefore thou shalt vow

  By that same god, what god soe’er it be,

  That thou adorest and hast in reverence,

  To save my boy, to nourish and bring him up;

  Or else I will discover nought to thee.

  LUC. Even by my god I swear to thee I will.

  AAR. First know thou, I begot him on the empress.

  LUC. O most insatiate, and luxurious woman!90

  AAR. Tut, Lucius, this was but a deed of charity

  To that which thou shalt hear of me anon.

  ’T was her two sons that murder’d Bassianus;

  They cut thy sister’s tongue, and ravish’d her,

  And cut her hands, and trimm’d her as thou saw’s
t.

  LUC. O detestable villain! call’st thou that trimming?

  AAR. Why, she was wash’d and cut and trimm’d, and ’t was

  Trim sport for them that had the doing of it.

  LUC. O barbarous, beastly villains, like thyself!

  AAR. Indeed, I was their tutor to instruct them: 100

  That codding spirit had they from their mother,101

  As sure a card as ever won the set;

  That bloody mind, I think, they learn’d of me,

  As true a dog as ever fought at head.104

  Well, let my deeds be witness of my worth.

  I train’d thy brethren to that guileful hole,106

  Where the dead corpse of Bassianus lay:

  I wrote the letter that thy father found,

  And hid the gold within the letter mention’d,

  Confederate with the queen and her two sons: 110

  And what not done, that thou hast cause to rue,

  Wherein I had no stroke of mischief in it?

  I play’d the cheater for thy father’s hand;

  And, when I had it, drew myself apart,

  And almost broke my heart with extreme laughter:

  I pried me through the crevice of a wall

  When for his hand he had his two sons’ heads;

  Beheld his tears and laugh’d so heartily,

  That both mine eyes were rainy like to his:

  And when I told the empress of this sport, 120

  She swounded almost at my pleasing tale,121

  And for my tidings gave me twenty kisses.

  FIRST GOTH. What, canst thou say all this, and never blush?

  AAR. Ay, like a black dog, as the saying is.124

  LUC. Art thou not sorry for these heinous deeds?

  AAR. Ay, that I had not done a thousand more.

  Even now I curse the day—and yet, I think,

  Few come within the compass of my curse—

  Wherein I did not some notorious ill:

  As kill a man, or else devise his death; 130

  Ravish a maid, or plot the way to do it;

  Accuse some innocent, and forswear myself;

  Set deadly enmity between two friends;

  Make poor men’s cattle break their necks;

  Set fire on barns and hay-stacks in the night,

  And bid the owners quench them with their tears.

  Oft have I digg’d up dead men from their graves,

  And set them upright at their dear friends’ doors,

  Even when their sorrows almost were forgot;

  And on their skins, as on the bark of trees, 140

  Have with my knife carved in Roman letters

  “Let not your sorrow die, though I am dead.”

  Tut, I have done a thousand dreadful things

  As willingly as one would kill a fly;

  And nothing grieves me heartily indeed,

  But that I cannot do ten thousand more.

  LUC. Bring down the devil; for he must not die147

  So sweet a death as hanging presently.

  AAR. If there be devils, would I were a devil,

  To live and burn in everlasting fire, 150

  So I might have your company in hell,

  But to torment you with my bitter tongue!

  LUC. Sirs, stop his mouth, and let him speak no more.

  Enter a Goth

  THIRD GOTH. My lord, there is a messenger from Rome Desires to be admitted to your presence.

  LUC. Let him come near.

  Enter ÆMIL

  Welcome, Æmilius: what’s the news from Rome?

  ÆMIL. Lord Lucius, and you princes of the Goths,

  The Roman emperor greets you all by me;

  And, for he understands you are in arms, 160

  He craves a parley at your father’s house,

  Willing you to demand your hostages,

  And they shall be immediately deliver’d.

  FIRST GOTH. What says our general?

  LUC. Æmilius, let the emperor give his pledges

  Unto my father and my uncle Marcus,

  And we will come. March away. [Flourish. Exeunt.

  SCENE II. Rome. Before Titus’s House.

  Enter TAMORN, DEMETRIUS, and CHIRON, disguised

  TAM. Thus, in this strange and sad habiliment,

  I will encounter with Andronicus,

  And say I am Revenge, sent from below

  To join with him and right his heinous wrongs.

  Knock at his study, where, they say, he keeps,

  To ruminate strange plots of dire revenge;5

  Tell him Revenge is come to join with him,

  And work confusion on his enemies. [Knock.

  Enter TITUS, above

  TIT. Who doth molest my contemplation?

  Is it your trick to make me ope the door, 10

  That so my sad decrees may fly away,11

  And all my study be to no effect?

  You are deceived: for what I mean to do

  See here in bloody lines I have set down;

  And what is written shall be executed.

  TAM. Titus, I am come to talk with thee.

  TIT. No, not a word: how can I grace my talk,

  Wanting a hand to give it action?

  Thou hast the odds of me; therefore no more.

  TAM. If thou didst know me, thou wouldst talk with me. 20

  TIT. I am not mad; I know thee well enough:

  Witness this wretched stump, witness these crimson lines;

  Witness these trenches made by grief and care;

  Witness the tiring day and heavy night;

  Witness all sorrow, that I know thee well

  For our proud empress, mighty Tamora:

  Is not thy coming for my other hand?

  TAM. Know, thou sad man, I am not Tamora;

  She is thy enemy, and I thy friend:

  I am Revenge; sent from the infernal kingdom, 30

  To ease the gnawing vulture of thy mind,

  By working wreakful vengeance on thy foes.32

  Come down and welcome me to this world’s light;

  Confer with me of murder and of death:

  There’s not a hollow cave or lurking-place,

  No vast obscurity or misty vale,

  Where bloody murder or detested rape

  Can couch for fear, but I will find them out,

  And in their ears tell them my dreadful name,

  Revenge, which makes the foul offender quake. 40

  TIT. Art thou Revenge? and art thou sent to me,

  To be a torment to mine enemies?

  TAM. I am; therefore come down and welcome me.

  TIT. Do me some service ere I come to thee.

  Lo, by thy side where Rape and Murder stands;

  Now give some surance that thou art Revenge,

  Stab them, or tear them on thy chariot-wheels;

  And then I’ll come and be thy waggoner,

  And whirl along with thee about the globes.

  Provide thee two proper palfreys, black as jet, 50

  To hale thy vengeful waggon swift away,

  And find out murderers in their guilty caves:

  And when thy car is loaden with their heads,

  I will dismount, and by the waggon-wheel

  Trot like a servile footman all day long,

  Even from Hyperion’s rising in the east56

  Until his very downfall in the sea:

  And day by day I’ll do this heavy task,

  So thou destroy Rapine and Murder there.59

  TAM. These are my ministers and come with me. 60

  TIT. Are these thy ministers? what are they call’d?

  TAM. Rapine and Murder; therefore called so,

  ’Cause they take vengeance of such kind of men.

  TIT. Good Lord, how like the empress’ sons they are,

  And you the empress! but we worldly men

  Have miserable, mad, mistaking eyes.

  O sweet Revenge, now do I come to
thee;

  And, if one arm’s embracement will content thee,

  I will embrace thee in it by and by. [Exit above.

  TAM. This closing with him fits his lunacy: 70

  Whate’er I forge to feed his brain-sick fits,

  Do you uphold and maintain in your speeches,

  For now he firmly takes me for Revenge;

  And, being credulous in this mad thought,

  I’ll make him send for Lucius his son;

  And, whilst I at a banquet hold him sure,

  I’ll find some cunning practice out of hand,77

  To scatter and disperse the giddy Goths,

  Or at the least make them his enemies.

  See, here he comes, and I must ply my theme. 80

  Enter TITUS below

  TIT. Long have I been forlorn, and all for thee:

  Welcome, dread Fury, to my woful house:

  Rapine and Murder, you are welcome too:

  How like the empress and her sons you are!

  Well are you fitted, had you but a Moor:

  Could not all hell afford you such a devil?

  For well I wot the empress never wags

  But in her company there is a Moor;

  And, would you represent our queen aright,

  It were convenient you had such a devil: 90

  But welcome, as you are. What shall we do?

  TAM. What wouldst thou have us do, Andronicus?

  DEM. Show me a murderer, I’ll deal with him.

  CHI. Show me a villain that hath done a rape,

  And I am sent to be revenged on him.

  TAM. Show me a thousand that have done thee wrong,

  And I will be revenged on them all.

  TIT. Look round about the wicked streets of Rome,

  And when thou find’st a man that’s like thyself,

  Good Murder, stab him; he’s a murderer. 100

  Go thou with him, and when it is thy hap

  To find another that is like to thee,

  Good Rapine, stab him; he’s a ravisher.

  Go thou with them; and in the emperor’s court

  There is a queen, attended by a Moor;

  Well mayst thou know her by thine own proportion,

  For up and down she doth resemble thee:107

  I pray thee, do on them some violent death;

  They have been violent to me and mine.

  TAM. Well hast thou lesson’d us; this shall we do.

  But would it please thee, good Andronicus,

  To send for Lucius, thy thrice valiant son,

  Who leads towards Rome a band of warlike Goths,

  And bid him come and banquet at thy house;

  When he is here, even at thy solemn feast,

  I will bring in the empress and her sons,

  The emperor himself, and all thy foes;