Titus Andronicus & Timon of Athens
Page 8
See, see!
Ay, such a place there is, where we did hunt --
O, had we never, never hunted there! --
Patterned by that59 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?62
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,65
That left the camp to sin in Lucrece' bed?
MARCUS Sit down, sweet niece: brother, sit down by me.
Apollo, Pallas, Jove or Mercury68
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 plain71: guide, if thou canst, This after me72. I here have writ my name Without the help of any hand at all.
Cursed be that heart that forced us to that shift.74
Write thou, good niece, and here display at last
What God will have discovered76 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 her stumps, and writes
TITUS O, do ye read, my lord, what she hath writ?
'Stuprum80, Chiron, Demetrius.'
MARCUS What, what? The lustful sons of Tamora Performers of this heinous, bloody deed?
TITUS Magni dominator poli,83
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.88
My lord, kneel down with me: Lavinia, kneel:
They kneel
And kneel, sweet boy, the Roman Hector's hope,90
And swear with me -- as, with the woeful fere91
And father of that chaste dishonoured dame,
Lord Junius Brutus swore for Lucrece' rape --
That we will prosecute by good advice94
Mortal revenge upon these traitorous Goths,
They rise
And see their blood, or die with this reproach.96
TITUS 'Tis sure enough, an97 you knew how.
But if you hunt these bear-whelps, then beware:
The dam will wake, and, if she wind99 you once She's with the lion100 deeply still in league, And lulls him whilst she playeth on her back,101
And when he sleeps will she do what she list.102
You are a young103 huntsman, Marcus: let it alone, And come. I will go get a leaf104 of brass And with a gad105 of steel will write these words, And lay it by. The angry northern wind
Will blow these sands, like Sibyl's leaves107 abroad, And where's your 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 bad bondmen111 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 withal116 my boy Shall carry from me to the empress' sons
Presents that I intend to send them both.
Come, come, thou'lt do thy 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 it123 at the court.
Ay, marry, will we, sir, and we'll be waited on.124
Exeunt. [Marcus remains]
MARCUS O heavens, can you hear a good man groan And not relent or not compassion126 him?
Marcus, attend him in his ecstasy127
That hath more scars of sorrow in his heart
Than foemen's marks upon his battered shield,
But yet so just that he will not revenge.
Revenge, the heavens, for old Andronicus!
Exit
[Act 4 Scene 2]
running scene 7
Enter Aaron, Chiron and Demetrius at one door, and at another door Young Lucius and another [Attendant], with a bundle of weapons and verses writ upon them
CHIRON Demetrius, here's the son of Lucius: He hath some message to deliver us.
AARON Ay, some mad message from his mad grandfather.
BOY My lords, with all the humbleness I may, I greet your honours from Andronicus.--
Aside
And pray the Roman gods confound6 you both.
DEMETRIUS Gramercy,7 lovely Lucius. What's the news?
Aside
BOY That you are both deciphered8, that's the news,
To them
For villains marked with rape.-- May it please you,
My grandsire, well advised10, hath sent by me The goodliest weapons of his armoury
To gratify your honourable youth,
The hope of Rome, for so he bade me say,
And so I do, and with his gifts present
Your lordships, that, whenever you have need,
Attendant presents the weapons
You may be armed and appointed16 well.
And so I leave you both-- like bloody villains.
Exeunt [Young Lucius and Attendant]
Aside
DEMETRIUS What's here? A scroll, and written round about?
Let's see:
Reads
'Integer vitae, scelerisque purus,20
Non eget Mauri jaculis, nec arcu.'
CHIRON O, 'tis a verse in Horace, I know it well: I read it in the grammar23 long ago.
AARON Ay, just24: a verse in Horace, right, you have it.--
Aside
Now, what a thing it is to be an ass!
Here's no sound jest!26 The old man hath found their guilt, And sends them weapons wrapped about with lines
That wound beyond their feeling to the quick.28
But were our witty empress well afoot29
She would applaud Andronicus' conceit:30
But let her rest in her unrest31 awhile.--
To Chiron and Demetrius
And now, young lords, was't not a happy32 star
Led us to Rome, strangers, and more than so,
Captives, to be advanced to this height?
It did me good before the palace gate
To brave36 the tribune in his brother's hearing.
DEMETRIUS But me more good to see so great a lord Basely insinuate38 and send us gifts.
AARON Had he not reason, Lord Demetrius?
Did you not use his daughter very friendly?40
DEMETRIUS I would we had a thousand Roman dames At such a bay, by turn to serve42 our lust.
CHIRON A charitable wish and full of love.
AARON Here lacks but your mother for to say 'Amen'.
CHIRON And that would she for twenty thousand more.45
DEMETRIUS Come, let us go; and pray to all the gods For our beloved mother in her pains.
Aside?
AARON Pray to the devils: the gods have given us over.
Flourish
DEMETRIUS Why do the emperor's trumpets flourish thus?
CHIRON Belike50 for joy the emperor hath a son.
DEMETRIUS Soft, who comes here?
Enter Nurse with a blackamoor child
The child hidden in her arms
NURSE Good morrow, lords.
O, tell me, did you see Aaron the Moor?
AARON Well, more or less, or ne'er a whit54 at all: Here Aaron is, and what55 with Aaron now?
NURSE O gentle Aaron, we are all undone.56
Now help, or woe betide thee evermore!
> AARON Why, what a caterwauling dost thou keep!
What dost thou wrap and fumble in thine arms?
NURSE O, that which I would hide from heaven's eye, Our empress' shame and stately Rome's disgrace!
She is delivered, lords, she is delivered.
AARON To whom?
NURSE I mean, she is brought abed.
AARON Well, God give her good rest! What hath he sent her?
NURSE A devil.
AARON Why, then she is the devil's dam: a joyful issue.67
NURSE A joyless, dismal, black, and sorrowful issue: Here is the babe, as loathsome as a toad
Amongst the fair-faced breeders of our clime.70
The empress sends it thee, thy stamp, thy seal,71
And bids thee christen it with thy dagger's point.
AARON Out, you whore! Is black so base a hue?--
To the child
Sweet blowse74, you are a beauteous blossom, sure.
DEMETRIUS Villain, what hast thou done?
AARON That which thou canst not undo.
CHIRON Thou hast undone our mother.
AARON Villain, I have done78 thy mother.
DEMETRIUS And therein, hellish dog, thou hast undone.
Woe to her chance80, and damned her loathed choice, Accursed the offspring of so foul a fiend.
CHIRON It shall not live.
AARON It shall not die.
NURSE Aaron, it must: the mother wills it so.
AARON What, must it, nurse? Then let no man but I Do execution on my flesh and blood.
DEMETRIUS I'll broach87 the tadpole on my rapier's point.
Nurse, give it me: my sword shall soon dispatch it.
Draws his sword and takes the child
AARON Sooner this sword shall plough thy bowels up.
Stay, murderous villains! Will you kill your brother?
Now, by the burning tapers of the sky,
That shone so brightly when this boy was got,92
He dies upon my scimitar's sharp point
That touches this my first-born son and heir.
I tell you, younglings, not Enceladus95
With all his threat'ning band of Typhon's96 brood, Nor great Alcides, nor the god of war,97
Shall seize this prey out of his father's hands.
What, what, ye sanguine99, shallow-hearted boys!
Ye white-limed walls, ye ale-house painted100 signs!
Coal-black is better than another hue
In that it scorns to bear another hue,
For all the water in the ocean
Can never turn the swan's black legs to white,
Although she lave them hourly in the flood.105
Tell the empress from me, I am of age
To keep mine own, excuse it how she can.
DEMETRIUS Wilt thou betray thy noble mistress thus?
AARON My mistress is my mistress, this109 myself, The vigour and the picture of my youth:
This before all the world do I prefer,
This maugre112 all the world will I keep safe, Or some of you shall smoke113 for it in Rome.
DEMETRIUS By this our mother is forever shamed.
CHIRON Rome will despise her for this foul escape.115
NURSE The emperor, in his rage, will doom her death.
CHIRON I blush to think upon this ignomy.117
AARON Why, there's the privilege your beauty bears: Fie, treacherous hue, that will betray with blushing
The close enacts120 and counsels of the heart.
Here's a young lad framed of another leer:121
Look how the black slave122 smiles upon the father, As who should say123 'Old lad, I am thine own.'
He is your brother, lords, sensibly124 fed Of that self-blood125 that first gave life to you, And from that womb where you imprisoned were
He is enfranchised127 and come to light.
Nay, he is your brother by the surer128 side, Although my seal be stamped in his face.
NURSE Aaron, what shall I say unto the empress?
DEMETRIUS Advise thee131, Aaron, what is to be done, And we will all subscribe to thy advice.
Save thou the child, so133 we may all be safe.
AARON Then sit we down, and let us all consult.
My son and I will have the wind of135 you.
They sit
Keep there: now talk at pleasure of your safety.
To the Nurse
DEMETRIUS How many women saw this child of his?
AARON Why, so, brave lords, when we join in league I am a lamb: but if you brave the Moor,
The chafed140 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 none 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
Weke, weke!148 So cries a pig prepared to th'spit.
They all stand up
DEMETRIUS What mean'st thou, Aaron? Wherefore didst thou this?
AARON O Lord, sir, 'tis a deed of policy:150
Shall she live to betray this guilt of ours,
A long-tongued152 babbling gossip? No, lords, no: And now be it known to you my full intent.
Not far, one Muly lives, my countryman:
His wife but yesternight was brought to bed:
His child is like to her156, fair as you are.
Go pack157 with him, and give the mother gold, And tell them both the circumstance158 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, ye see I have given her physic,164
And you must needs bestow165 her funeral: The fields are near and you are gallant grooms.166
This done, see that you take no longer days,167
But send the midwife presently168 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 [Demetrius and Chiron with the 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:179
I'll make you feed on berries and on roots,
And feed on curds and whey, and suck181 the goat, And cabin182 in a cave, and bring you up To be a warrior and command a camp.
Exit
[Act 4 Scene 3]
running scene 8
Enter Titus, Old Marcus, Young Lucius and other Gentlemen [Publius, Sempronius, Caius] with bows and Titus bears the arrows with letters on the end 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.3
Terras Astraea reliquit: be you remembered,4
Marcus, she's gone, she's fled.-- Sirs, take you to your tools.
You, cousins, shall go sound6 the ocean, And cast your nets:
Haply8 you may find her in the sea, Yet there's9 as little justice as at land.
No, Publius and Sempronius, you must do it,
'Tis you must dig with mattock11 and with spade, And pierce the inmost centre of the earth.
Then, when you come to Pluto's region,13
I pray you deliver him this petition.
Tell him, it is f
or 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 suffrages19
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-war22 unsearched: This wicked emperor may have shipped her23 hence, And, kinsmen, then we may go pipe for24 justice.
MARCUS O Publius, is not this a heavy case,25
To see thy noble uncle thus distract?26
PUBLIUS Therefore, my lords, it highly us concerns By day and night t'attend him carefully28
And feed his humour29 kindly as we may, Till time beget some careful30 remedy.
MARCUS Kinsmen, his sorrows are past remedy.
Join with the Goths32 and with revengeful war Take wreak33 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?36
PUBLIUS No, my good lord, but Pluto sends you word If you will have Revenge from hell, you shall.
Marry, for39 Justice, she is so employed, He thinks with Jove in heaven or somewhere else,
So that perforce you must needs stay41 a time.
TITUS He doth me wrong to feed me with delays.
I'll dive into the burning lake43 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 Cyclops46' size, But metal, Marcus, steel to the very back,
Yet wrung48 with wrongs more than our backs can bear.
And sith49 there's no justice in earth nor hell, We will solicit heaven and move50 the gods To send down Justice for to51 wreak our wrongs.
Come, to this gear52. You are a good archer, Marcus:
He gives them the arrows
'Ad Jovem', that's for you: here, 'Ad Apollinem':53
'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.57
To it, boy! Marcus, loose58 when I bid.
Of59 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 draw and shoot
O, well said,64 Lucius.
Good boy, in Virgo's lap. Give it Pallas.65
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 Taurus70' horns.
MARCUS This was the sport, my lord: when Publius shot, The bull, being galled, gave Aries72 such a knock That down fell both the ram's horns73 in the court, And who should find them but the empress' villain!74