Act 2, Scene 3

A lonely part of the Forest.

[Enter AARON with a bag of gold.]
Aaron
672 He that had wit would think that I had none,
673 To bury so much gold under a tree,
674 And never after to inherit it.
675 Let him that thinks of me so abjectly
676 Know that this gold must coin a stratagem,
677 Which, cunningly effected, will beget
678 A very excellent piece of villainy:
679 And so repose, sweet gold, for their unrest
[Hides the gold.]
Aaron
680 That have their alms out of the empress' chest.
[Enter TAMORA.]
Tamora
681 My lovely Aaron, wherefore look'st thou sad
682 When everything does make a gleeful boast?
683 The birds chant melody on every bush;
684 The snakes lie rolled in the cheerful sun;
685 The green leaves quiver with the cooling wind,
686 And make a chequer'd shadow on the ground:
687 Under their sweet shade, Aaron, let us sit,
688 And whilst the babbling echo mocks the hounds,
689 Replying shrilly to the well-tun'd horns,
690 As if a double hunt were heard at once,
691 Let us sit down and mark their yelping noise;
692 And,—after conflict such as was suppos'd
693 The wandering prince and Dido once enjoy'd,
694 When with a happy storm they were surpris'd,
695 And curtain'd with a counsel-keeping cave,—
696 We may, each wreathed in the other's arms,
697 Our pastimes done, possess a golden slumber;
698 Whiles hounds and horns and sweet melodious birds
699 Be unto us as is a nurse's song
700 Of lullaby to bring her babe asleep.
Aaron
701 Madam, though Venus govern your desires,
702 Saturn is dominator over mine:
703 What signifies my deadly-standing eye,
704 My silence and my cloudy melancholy,
705 My fleece of woolly hair that now uncurls
706 Even as an adder when she doth unroll
707 To do some fatal execution?
708 No, madam, these are no venereal signs,
709 Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand,
710 Blood and revenge are hammering in my head.
711 Hark, Tamora,—the empress of my soul,
712 Which never hopes more heaven than rests in thee,—
713 This is the day of doom for Bassianus;
714 His Philomel must lose her tongue to-day,
715 Thy sons make pillage of her chastity,
716 And wash their hands in Bassianus' blood.
717 Seest thou this letter? take it up, I pray thee,
718 And give the king this fatal-plotted scroll.—
719 Now question me no more,—we are espied;
720 Here comes a parcel of our hopeful booty,
721 Which dreads not yet their lives' destruction.
Tamora
722 Ah, my sweet Moor, sweeter to me than life!
Aaron
723 No more, great empress: Bassianus comes:
724 Be cross with him; and I'll go fetch thy sons
725 To back thy quarrels, whatsoe'er they be.
[Exit.]
[Enter BASSIANUS and LAVINIA.]
Bassianus
726 Who have we here? Rome's royal empress,
727 Unfurnish'd of her well-beseeming troop?
728 Or is it Dian, habited like her,
729 Who hath abandoned her holy groves
730 To see the general hunting in this forest?
Tamora
731 Saucy controller of my private steps!
732 Had I the power that some say Dian had,
733 Thy temples should be planted presently
734 With horns, as was Actaeon's; and the hounds
735 Should drive upon thy new-transformed limbs,
736 Unmannerly intruder as thou art!
Lavinia
737 Under your patience, gentle empress,
738 'Tis thought you have a goodly gift in horning;
739 And to be doubted that your Moor and you
740 Are singled forth to try experiments;
741 Jove shield your husband from his hounds to-day!
742 'Tis pity they should take him for a stag.
Bassianus
743 Believe me, queen, your swarth Cimmerian
744 Doth make your honour of his body's hue,
745 Spotted, detested, and abominable.
746 Why are you sequester'd from all your train,
747 Dismounted from your snow-white goodly steed,
748 And wander'd hither to an obscure plot,
749 Accompanied but with a barbarous Moor,
750 If foul desire had not conducted you?
Lavinia
751 And, being intercepted in your sport,
752 Great reason that my noble lord be rated
753 For sauciness.—I pray you let us hence,
754 And let her joy her raven-coloured love;
755 This valley fits the purpose passing well.
Bassianus
756 The king my brother shall have notice of this.
Lavinia
757 Ay, for these slips have made him noted long:
758 Good king, to be so mightily abus'd!
Tamora
759 Why have I patience to endure all this?
[Enter DEMETRIUS and CHIRON.]
Demetrius
760 How now, dear sovereign, and our gracious mother!
761 Why doth your highness look so pale and wan?
Tamora
762 Have I not reason, think you, to look pale?
763 These two have 'ticed me hither to this place:—
764 A barren detested vale you see it is:
765 The trees, though summer, yet forlorn and lean,
766 O'ercome with moss and baleful mistletoe:
767 Here never shines the sun; here nothing breeds,
768 Unless the nightly owl or fatal raven:—
769 And when they show'd me this abhorred pit,
770 They told me, here, at dead time of the night,
771 A thousand fiends, a thousand hissing snakes,
772 Ten thousand swelling toads, as many urchins,
773 Would make such fearful and confused cries
774 As any mortal body hearing it
775 Should straight fall mad or else die suddenly.
776 No sooner had they told this hellish tale
777 But straight they told me they would bind me here
778 Unto the body of a dismal yew,
779 And leave me to this miserable death:
780 And then they call'd me foul adulteress,
781 Lascivious Goth, and all the bitterest terms
782 That ever ear did hear to such effect:
783 And had you not by wondrous fortune come,
784 This vengeance on me had they executed.
785 Revenge it, as you love your mother's life,
786 Or be ye not henceforth call'd my children.
Demetrius
787 This is a witness that I am thy son.
[Stabs BASSIANUS.]
Chiron
788 And this for me, struck home to show my strength.
[Also stabs BASSIANUS, who dies.]
Lavinia
789 Ay, come, Semiramis,—nay, barbarous Tamora,
790 For no name fits thy nature but thy own!
Tamora
791 Give me thy poniard;—you shall know, my boys,
792 Your mother's hand shall right your mother's wrong.
Demetrius
793 Stay, madam; here is more belongs to her;
794 First thrash the corn, then after burn the straw:
795 This minion stood upon her chastity,
796 Upon her nuptial vow, her loyalty,
797 And with that painted hope braves your mightiness:
798 And shall she carry this unto her grave?
Chiron
799 An if she do, I would I were an eunuch.
800 Drag hence her husband to some secret hole,
801 And make his dead trunk pillow to our lust.
Tamora
802 But when ye have the honey we desire,
803 Let not this wasp outlive, us both to sting.
Chiron
804 I warrant you, madam, we will make that sure.—
805 Come, mistress, now perforce we will enjoy
806 That nice-preserved honesty of yours.
Lavinia
807 O Tamora! thou bear'st a woman's face,—
Tamora
808 I will not hear her speak; away with her!
Lavinia
809 Sweet lords, entreat her hear me but a word.
Demetrius
810 Listen, fair madam: let it be your glory
811 To see her tears; but be your heart to them
812 As unrelenting flint to drops of rain.
Lavinia
813 When did the tiger's young ones teach the dam?
814 O, do not learn her wrath,—she taught it thee;
815 The milk thou suck'dst from her did turn to marble;
816 Even at thy teat thou hadst thy tyranny.—
817 Yet every mother breeds not sons alike:
[To CHIRON.]
Lavinia
818 Do thou entreat her show a woman's pity.
Chiron
819 What, wouldst thou have me prove myself a bastard?
Lavinia
820 'Tis true, the raven doth not hatch a lark:
821 Yet have I heard,—O, could I find it now!—
822 The lion, mov'd with pity, did endure
823 To have his princely paws par'd all away.
824 Some say that ravens foster forlorn children,
825 The whilst their own birds famish in their nests:
826 O, be to me, though thy hard heart say no,
827 Nothing so kind, but something pitiful!
Tamora
828 I know not what it means:—away with her!
Lavinia
829 O, let me teach thee! for my father's sake,
830 That gave thee life, when well he might have slain thee,
831 Be not obdurate, open thy deaf ears.
Tamora
832 Hadst thou in person ne'er offended me,
833 Even for his sake am I pitiless.—
834 Remember, boys, I pour'd forth tears in vain
835 To save your brother from the sacrifice;
836 But fierce Andronicus would not relent:
837 Therefore away with her, and use her as you will;
838 The worse to her the better lov'd of me.
Lavinia
839 O Tamora, be call'd a gentle queen,
840 And with thine own hands kill me in this place!
841 For 'tis not life that I have begg'd so long;
842 Poor I was slain when Bassianus died.
Tamora
843 What begg'st thou, then? fond woman, let me go.
Lavinia
844 'Tis present death I beg; and one thing more,
845 That womanhood denies my tongue to tell:
846 O, keep me from their worse than killing lust,
847 And tumble me into some loathsome pit,
848 Where never man's eye may behold my body:
849 Do this, and be a charitable murderer.
Tamora
850 So should I rob my sweet sons of their fee:
851 No, let them satisfy their lust on thee.
Demetrius
852 Away! for thou hast stay'd us here too long.
Lavinia
853 No grace? no womanhood? Ah, beastly creature!
854 The blot and enemy to our general name!
855 Confusion fall,—
Chiron
856 Nay, then I'll stop your mouth:—bring thou her husband.
857 This is the hole where Aaron bid us hide him.
[DEMETRIUS throws BASSIANUS'S body into the pit; then exit with CHIRON, dragging off LAVINIA.]
Tamora
858 Farewell, my sons: see that you make her sure:—
859 Ne'er let my heart know merry cheer indeed
860 Till all the Andronici be made away.
861 Now will I hence to seek my lovely Moor,
862 And let my spleenful sons this trull deflower.
[Exit.]
[Re-enter AARON, with QUINTUS and MARTIUS.]
Aaron
863 Come on, my lords, the better foot before:
864 Straight will I bring you to the loathsome pit
865 Where I espied the panther fast asleep.
Quintus
866 My sight is very dull, whate'er it bodes.
Martius
867 And mine, I promise you; were't not for shame,
868 Well could I leave our sport to sleep awhile.
[Falls into the pit.]
Quintus
869 What, art thou fallen?—What subtle hole is this,
870 Whose mouth is cover'd with rude-growing briers,
871 Upon whose leaves are drops of new-shed blood
872 As fresh as morning dew distill'd on flowers?
873 A very fatal place it seems to me.—
874 Speak, brother, hast thou hurt thee with the fall?
Martius
875 O brother, with the dismallest object hurt
876 That ever eye with sight made heart lament!
[Aside]
Aaron
877 Now will I fetch the king to find them here,
878 That he thereby may have a likely guess
879 How these were they that made away his brother.
[Exit.]
Martius
880 Why dost not comfort me, and help me out
881 From this unhallow'd and blood-stained hole?
Quintus
882 I am surprised with an uncouth fear;
883 A chilling sweat o'er-runs my trembling joints;
884 My heart suspects more than mine eye can see.
Martius
885 To prove thou hast a true divining heart,
886 Aaron and thou look down into this den,
887 And see a fearful sight of blood and death.
Quintus
888 Aaron is gone; and my compassionate heart
889 Will not permit mine eyes once to behold
890 The thing whereat it trembles by surmise:
891 O, tell me who it is; for ne'er till now
892 Was I a child to fear I know not what.
Martius
893 Lord Bassianus lies embrewed here,
894 All on a heap, like to a slaughter'd lamb,
895 In this detested, dark, blood-drinking pit.
Quintus
896 If it be dark, how dost thou know 'tis he?
Martius
897 Upon his bloody finger he doth wear
898 A precious ring that lightens all the hole,
899 Which, like a taper in some monument,
900 Doth shine upon the dead man's earthy cheeks,
901 And shows the ragged entrails of the pit:
902 So pale did shine the moon on Pyramus
903 When he by night lay bath'd in maiden blood.
904 O brother, help me with thy fainting hand,—
905 If fear hath made thee faint, as me it hath,—
906 Out of this fell devouring receptacle,
907 As hateful as Cocytus' misty mouth.
Quintus
908 Reach me thy hand, that I may help thee out;
909 Or, wanting strength to do thee so much good,
910 I may be pluck'd into the swallowing womb
911 Of this deep pit, poor Bassianus' grave.
912 I have no strength to pluck thee to the brink.
Martius
913 Nor I no strength to climb without thy help.
Quintus
914 Thy hand once more; I will not lose again,
915 Till thou art here aloft, or I below:
916 Thou canst not come to me,—I come to thee.
[Falls in.]
[Enter SATURNINUS with AARON.]
Saturninus
917 Along with me: I'll see what hole is here,
918 And what he is that now is leap'd into it.—
919 Say, who art thou that lately didst descend
920 Into this gaping hollow of the earth?
Martius
921 The unhappy sons of old Andronicus,
922 Brought hither in a most unlucky hour,
923 To find thy brother Bassianus dead.
Saturninus
924 My brother dead! I know thou dost but jest:
925 He and his lady both are at the lodge
926 Upon the north side of this pleasant chase;
927 'Tis not an hour since I left them there.
Martius
928 We know not where you left them all alive;
929 But, out, alas! here have we found him dead.
[Re-enter TAMORA, with Attendants; TITUS ANDRONICUS and LUCIUS.]
Tamora
930 Where is my lord the king?
Saturninus
931 Here, Tamora; though griev'd with killing grief.
Tamora
932 Where is thy brother Bassianus?
Saturninus
933 Now to the bottom dost thou search my wound;
934 Poor Bassianus here lies murdered.
Tamora
935 Then all too late I bring this fatal writ,
[Giving a letter.]
Tamora
936 The complot of this timeless tragedy;
937 And wonder greatly that man's face can fold
938 In pleasing smiles such murderous tyranny.
[Reads]
Saturninus
939 'An if we miss to meet him handsomely,—
940 Sweet huntsman, Bassianus 'tis we mean,—
941 Do thou so much as dig the grave for him:
942 Thou know'st our meaning. Look for thy reward
943 Among the nettles at the elder-tree
944 Which overshades the mouth of that same pit
945 Where we decreed to bury Bassianus.
946 Do this, and purchase us thy lasting friends.'
947 O Tamora! was ever heard the like?—
948 This is the pit and this the elder-tree:—
949 Look, sirs, if you can find the huntsman out
950 That should have murder'd Bassianus here.
Aaron
951 My gracious lord, here is the bag of gold.
[Showing it.]
[To TITUS]
Saturninus
952 Two of thy whelps, fell curs of bloody kind,
953 Have here bereft my brother of his life.—
954 Sirs, drag them from the pit unto the prison:
955 There let them bide until we have devis'd
956 Some never-heard-of torturing pain for them.
Tamora
957 What, are they in this pit? O wondrous thing!
958 How easily murder is discovered!
Titus Andronicus
959 High emperor, upon my feeble knee
960 I beg this boon, with tears not lightly shed,
961 That this fell fault of my accursed sons,—
962 Accursed if the fault be prov'd in them,—
Saturninus
963 If it be prov'd! You see it is apparent.—
964 Who found this letter? Tamora, was it you?
Tamora
965 Andronicus himself did take it up.
Titus Andronicus
966 I did, my lord: yet let me be their bail;
967 For, by my fathers' reverend tomb, I vow
968 They shall be ready at your highness' will
969 To answer their suspicion with their lives.
Saturninus
970 Thou shalt not bail them: see thou follow me.—
971 Some bring the murder'd body, some the murderers:
972 Let them not speak a word,—the guilt is plain;
973 For, by my soul, were there worse end than death,
974 That end upon them should be executed.
Tamora
975 Andronicus, I will entreat the king:
976 Fear not thy sons; they shall do well enough.
Titus Andronicus
977 Come, Lucius, come; stay not to talk with them.
[Exeunt severally. Attendants bearing the body.]

Reading mode

Word definitions on hover

Notes

TLN 676archaic vocab
“this gold must coin a stratagem”
'Coin a stratagem' means to devise or fabricate a plot — from the same root as minting coins, which are manufactured. Aaron has buried gold beneath a tree so it can later be 'discovered' as planted evidence to frame Titus's sons for Bassianus's murder.
TLN 693classical allusion
“the wandering prince and Dido once enjoy'd”
Tamora compares their forest tryst to the love of Aeneas ('the wandering prince') and Dido, Queen of Carthage. In Virgil's Aeneid a storm drives the lovers into a cave during a hunt, and they consummate their love there. Tamora's invitation to sit under the trees and let 'hounds and horns' lull them to sleep directly echoes that Virgilian scene.
classical Dido, queen of Carthage ('widow Dido')
TLN 701cultural context
“Venus govern your desires, Saturn is dominator over mine”
Aaron rejects Tamora's invitation by invoking astrology: Venus, planet of love, governs Tamora's desires; Saturn, the cold, gloomy planet associated with melancholy and malice, governs his. Being 'Saturnine' meant being cold, suspicious, and prone to dark brooding — the opposite of the warm, amorous temperament Venus rules.
TLN 705cultural context
“My fleece of woolly hair that now uncurls Even as an adder”
Aaron describes his own tightly curled hair straightening in agitation, comparing it to a coiling adder. The image is Aaron appropriating his own appearance as a mark of dangerous power — the adder about to strike. It anticipates his revelation of a violent plot: the hair 'uncurling' signals readiness for 'fatal execution.'
historical The 'Moor' on the Elizabethan stage
TLN 714classical allusion
“His Philomel must lose her tongue to-day”
Aaron calls Lavinia 'his Philomel' — a direct reference to the myth of Philomela, the Athenian princess raped by King Tereus, who then cut out her tongue so she could not name him. Aaron is announcing exactly what will be done to Lavinia: raped by Tamora's sons, her tongue will be cut out to prevent her from speaking. The allusion names the play's governing myth.
classical Philomela
TLN 728classical allusion
“Dian, habited like her, Who hath abandoned her holy groves”
Bassianus greets the empress with a left-handed compliment: perhaps she is not Tamora at all, but the chaste hunt-goddess Diana ('Dian') disguised in Tamora's form, having left her sacred forests to join the royal hunt. Calling her 'Dian' both mocks Tamora's actual behaviour and names the irony — Diana, goddess of chastity, is the last comparison that fits a woman alone in the woods with her lover.
classical Diana, virgin goddess of the moon
TLN 733classical allusion
“Thy temples should be planted presently With horns, as was Actaeon's”
Tamora threatens Bassianus with the fate of Actaeon, a hunter who stumbled upon Diana bathing in her sacred pool; the goddess punished his intrusion by turning him into a stag, after which his own hounds tore him apart. Tamora casts herself as the wronged Diana and Bassianus as the impertinent trespasser who deserves to be hunted down.
classical Diana, virgin goddess of the moon
TLN 743cultural context
“your swarth Cimmerian Doth make your honour of his body's hue, Spotted, detested”
'Swarth' means dark-complexioned; 'Cimmerian' was a classical term for the peoples of a far northern land imagined as perpetually sunless and dark. Bassianus uses it as an insult equating Aaron's blackness with darkness, defilement, and moral corruption — 'spotted, detested, and abominable.' This is the racial contempt the play's Roman characters express; the annotation records it as historical stereotype, not endorsement.
historical The 'Moor' on the Elizabethan stage
TLN 764rhetorical device
“A barren detested vale you see it is: The trees, though summer, yet forlorn and lean, O'ercome with moss and baleful mistletoe”
Tamora's description of the pit — 'barren,' leafless trees in summer, 'baleful mistletoe,' no sunlight, owl and raven as the only inhabitants — is a sustained negative landscape (locus horridus, the classical 'horrible place'). It is entirely fabricated: Tamora was a willing lover, not a captive brought to a hellish spot. The rhetoric functions as manipulation, inflaming her sons into revenge.
TLN 789classical allusion
“Ay, come, Semiramis,—nay, barbarous Tamora”
Lavinia calls Tamora 'Semiramis' — the semi-legendary Assyrian queen whose name was synonymous with cruel, sexually voracious tyranny — before correcting herself: 'nay, barbarous Tamora, / For no name fits thy nature but thy own.' Semiramis was so notorious that even this superlative insult feels inadequate.
TLN 794rhetorical device
“First thrash the corn, then after burn the straw: This minion stood upon her chastity”
Demetrius uses a farming proverb — thresh the grain first, then burn the leftover straw — to argue that Lavinia should be raped before being killed. 'Minion' means a spoilt, contemptuous word for a favourite or darling; 'stood upon her chastity' means insisted on or prided herself on it. The agrarian metaphor is Demetrius's way of talking about rape and murder in calculated, businesslike terms.
TLN 829historical topical
“for my father's sake, That gave thee life, when well he might have slain thee”
Lavinia's last appeal is to remind Tamora that Titus spared her life when he had the right to kill her — at the play's opening, Tamora pleaded for the life of her son Alarbus but Titus sacrificed him anyway, while leaving Tamora herself alive as a captive. Lavinia is saying: my father showed you mercy; show me mercy now. Tamora's refusal closes the revenge logic.
TLN 837stage direction note
“Therefore away with her, and use her as you will; The worse to her the better lov'd of me”
This couplet functions as a stage direction in dialogue: Tamora explicitly authorizes rape as an act of loyalty to herself. 'Use her as you will' gives Chiron and Demetrius permission to do whatever they choose with Lavinia; 'the worse to her the better lov'd of me' makes cruelty toward Lavinia a measure of their devotion to their mother. Tamora then exits, leaving the assault to happen off stage.
historical Seneca and the revenge tragedy
TLN 844stage direction note
“'Tis present death I beg; and one thing more, That womanhood denies my tongue to tell”
Lavinia is asking Tamora to kill her rather than allow what she cannot bring herself to name — rape. The phrase 'womanhood denies my tongue to tell' means that female modesty and honour ('womanhood') forbid her from speaking the word directly. The play's language here matches the violence of the story: even to name the act is beyond what can be said in public.
TLN 857stage direction note
“This is the hole where Aaron bid us hide him”
Chiron's throwaway line reveals that Aaron had given the brothers advance instructions to dispose of Bassianus's body in a specific pit. This confirms that every element of the scene — the location, the pit, the staged 'discovery' — was pre-planned by Aaron, not a spontaneous crime. The pit is the same one Aaron will later use to frame Titus's sons.
TLN 862archaic vocab
“let my spleenful sons this trull deflower”
'Spleenful' means impulsive, hot-tempered, or violently passionate — the spleen was the organ thought to generate sudden violent emotions. A 'trull' was a contemptuous word for a woman of loose virtue or a prostitute. Tamora uses both words to dehumanize Lavinia while simultaneously framing herself as simply allowing her natural sons to satisfy a natural appetite.
TLN 893archaic vocab
“Lord Bassianus lies embrewed here, All on a heap, like to a slaughter'd lamb”
'Embrewed' (also spelled 'imbrued') means stained or soaked in blood. Martius is at the bottom of the pit in the dark, feeling or barely glimpsing Bassianus's body, soaked in blood and crumpled in a heap. The comparison to 'a slaughter'd lamb' is both a graphic physical image of a body drained of blood and a moral one — the lamb is the standard image of innocence sacrificed.
TLN 902classical allusion
“So pale did shine the moon on Pyramus When he by night lay bath'd in maiden blood”
Martius compares the pale ring-light gleaming on Bassianus's dead face in the pit to the moonlight that fell on the dying Pyramus. In Ovid's tale Pyramus, believing his beloved Thisbe dead, killed himself; he died drenched in blood while the moon shone cold and pale above him. The allusion draws a parallel between an innocent lover's death and Bassianus's murder.
classical Ovid's Metamorphoses
TLN 906classical allusion
“this fell devouring receptacle, As hateful as Cocytus' misty mouth”
Cocytus was one of the rivers of the classical underworld — its name means 'river of wailing' in Greek, and it was imagined as a black, misty, infernal stream. Martius compares the pit to the mouth of this hellish river: dark, vaporous, 'devouring' (swallowing the dead). The comparison makes the pit a literal entrance to the underworld.
TLN 935archaic vocab
“this fatal writ, The complot of this timeless tragedy”
'Complot' means a plot or conspiracy (from the same French root as 'complotter,' to conspire). 'Timeless' does not mean 'eternal' but 'untimely' — happening before its proper time, cutting life short. Tamora is presenting the forged letter as if it exposes a murder conspiracy, while the real 'timeless tragedy' is the one she has staged.
TLN 952archaic vocab
“Two of thy whelps, fell curs of bloody kind”
'Whelps' are the young of a dog or wolf — used here as a contemptuous term for Titus's sons. 'Fell' means fierce, savage, or cruel; 'curs' are mongrel dogs. Saturninus reduces Quintus and Martius to savage animals, framing them as inherently brutal by nature ('of bloody kind'). The language of bestial kin ('kind' = nature, breed) reflects the Elizabethan idea that violence runs in blood.