Shakespeare Portal

Act 3, Scene 1

Rome. A street.

  1. [Enter Senators, Tribunes, and Officers of Justice, with MARTIUS and QUINTUS bound, passing on to the place of execution; TITUS going before, pleading.]
  2. Titus Andronicus
  3. 1035 Hear me, grave fathers! noble tribunes, stay!
  4. 1036 For pity of mine age, whose youth was spent
  5. 1037 In dangerous wars whilst you securely slept;
  6. 1038 For all my blood in Rome's great quarrel shed;
  7. 1039 For all the frosty nights that I have watch'd;
  8. 1040 And for these bitter tears, which now you see
  9. 1041 Filling the aged wrinkles in my cheeks;
  10. 1042 Be pitiful to my condemned sons,
  11. 1043 Whose souls are not corrupted as 'tis thought.
  12. 1044 For two and twenty sons I never wept,
  13. 1045 Because they died in honour's lofty bed.
  14. [Throwing himself on the ground.]
  15. Titus Andronicus
  16. 1046 For these, tribunes, in the dust I write
  17. 1047 My heart's deep languor and my soul's sad tears:
  18. 1048 Let my tears stanch the earth's dry appetite;
  19. 1049 My sons' sweet blood will make it shame and blush.
  20. [Exeunt Senators, Tribunes, &c., with the prisoners.]
  21. Titus Andronicus
  22. 1050 O earth, I will befriend thee more with rain
  23. 1051 That shall distil from these two ancient urns,
  24. 1052 Than youthful April shall with all his showers:
  25. 1053 In summer's drought I'll drop upon thee still;
  26. 1054 In winter with warm tears I'll melt the snow,
  27. 1055 And keep eternal spring-time on thy face,
  28. 1056 So thou refuse to drink my dear sons' blood.
  29. [Enter Lucius with his sword drawn.]
  30. Titus Andronicus
  31. 1057 O reverend tribunes! O gentle aged men!
  32. 1058 Unbind my sons, reverse the doom of death;
  33. 1059 And let me say, that never wept before,
  34. 1060 My tears are now prevailing orators.
  35. Lucius
  36. 1061 O noble father, you lament in vain:
  37. 1062 The tribunes hear you not, no man is by;
  38. 1063 And you recount your sorrows to a stone.
  39. Titus Andronicus
  40. 1064 Ah, Lucius, for thy brothers let me plead.—
  41. 1065 Grave tribunes, once more I entreat of you.
  42. Lucius
  43. 1066 My gracious lord, no tribune hears you speak.
  44. Titus Andronicus
  45. 1067 Why, 'tis no matter, man: if they did hear,
  46. 1068 They would not mark me; if they did mark,
  47. 1069 They would not pity me; yet plead I must,
  48. 1070 And bootless unto them.
  49. 1071 Therefore I tell my sorrows to the stones;
  50. 1072 Who, though they cannot answer my distress,
  51. 1073 Yet in some sort they are better than the tribunes,
  52. 1074 For that they will not intercept my tale:
  53. 1075 When I do weep they humbly at my feet
  54. 1076 Receive my tears, and seem to weep with me;
  55. 1077 And were they but attired in grave weeds,
  56. 1078 Rome could afford no tribunes like to these.
  57. 1079 A stone is soft as wax, tribunes more hard than stones;
  58. 1080 A stone is silent, and offendeth not,—
  59. 1081 And tribunes with their tongues doom men to death.
  60. [Rises.]
  61. Titus Andronicus
  62. 1082 But wherefore stand'st thou with thy weapon drawn?
  63. Lucius
  64. 1083 To rescue my two brothers from their death:
  65. 1084 For which attempt the judges have pronounc'd
  66. 1085 My everlasting doom of banishment.
  67. Titus Andronicus
  68. 1086 O happy man! they have befriended thee.
  69. 1087 Why, foolish Lucius, dost thou not perceive
  70. 1088 That Rome is but a wilderness of tigers?
  71. 1089 Tigers must prey; and Rome affords no prey
  72. 1090 But me and mine: how happy art thou, then,
  73. 1091 From these devourers to be banished!—
  74. 1092 But who comes with our brother Marcus here?
  75. [Enter MARCUS and LAVINIA.]
  76. Marcus Andronicus
  77. 1093 Titus, prepare thy aged eyes to weep;
  78. 1094 Or if not so, thy noble heart to break:
  79. 1095 I bring consuming sorrow to thine age.
  80. Titus Andronicus
  81. 1096 Will it consume me? let me see it then.
  82. Marcus Andronicus
  83. 1097 This was thy daughter.
  84. Titus Andronicus
  85. 1098 Why, Marcus, so she is.
  86. Lucius
  87. 1099 Ay me! this object kills me!
  88. Titus Andronicus
  89. 1100 Faint-hearted boy, arise, and look upon her.—
  90. 1101 Speak, my Lavinia, what accursed hand
  91. 1102 Hath made thee handless in thy father's sight?
  92. 1103 What fool hath added water to the sea,
  93. 1104 Or brought a fagot to bright-burning Troy?
  94. 1105 My grief was at the height before thou cam'st;
  95. 1106 And now, like Nilus, it disdaineth bounds.
  96. 1107 Give me a sword, I'll chop off my hands too;
  97. 1108 For they have fought for Rome, and all in vain;
  98. 1109 And they have nurs'd this woe in feeding life;
  99. 1110 In bootless prayer have they been held up,
  100. 1111 And they have serv'd me to effectless use:
  101. 1112 Now all the service I require of them
  102. 1113 Is that the one will help to cut the other.—
  103. 1114 'Tis well, Lavinia, that thou hast no hands;
  104. 1115 For hands to do Rome service, are but vain.
  105. Lucius
  106. 1116 Speak, gentle sister, who hath martyr'd thee?
  107. Marcus Andronicus
  108. 1117 O, that delightful engine of her thoughts,
  109. 1118 That blabb'd them with such pleasing eloquence,
  110. 1119 Is torn from forth that pretty hollow cage,
  111. 1120 Where, like a sweet melodious bird, it sung
  112. 1121 Sweet varied notes, enchanting every ear!
  113. Lucius
  114. 1122 O, say thou for her, who hath done this deed?
  115. Marcus Andronicus
  116. 1123 O, thus I found her straying in the park,
  117. 1124 Seeking to hide herself, as doth the deer
  118. 1125 That hath receiv'd some unrecuring wound.
  119. Titus Andronicus
  120. 1126 It was my deer; and he that wounded her
  121. 1127 Hath hurt me more than had he kill'd me dead:
  122. 1128 For now I stand as one upon a rock,
  123. 1129 Environ'd with a wilderness of sea;
  124. 1130 Who marks the waxing tide grow wave by wave,
  125. 1131 Expecting ever when some envious surge
  126. 1132 Will in his brinish bowels swallow him.
  127. 1133 This way to death my wretched sons are gone;
  128. 1134 Here stands my other son, a banish'd man;
  129. 1135 And here my brother, weeping at my woes:
  130. 1136 But that which gives my soul the greatest spurn
  131. 1137 Is dear Lavinia, dearer than my soul.—
  132. 1138 Had I but seen thy picture in this plight
  133. 1139 It would have madded me: what shall I do
  134. 1140 Now I behold thy lively body so?
  135. 1141 Thou hast no hands to wipe away thy tears,
  136. 1142 Nor tongue to tell me who hath martyr'd thee:
  137. 1143 Thy husband he is dead; and for his death
  138. 1144 Thy brothers are condemn'd, and dead by this.—
  139. 1145 Look, Marcus!—ah, son Lucius, look on her!
  140. 1146 When I did name her brothers, then fresh tears
  141. 1147 Stood on her cheeks, as doth the honey dew
  142. 1148 Upon a gather'd lily almost wither'd.
  143. Marcus Andronicus
  144. 1149 Perchance she weeps because they kill'd her husband:
  145. 1150 Perchance because she knows them innocent.
  146. Titus Andronicus
  147. 1151 If they did kill thy husband, then be joyful,
  148. 1152 Because the law hath ta'en revenge on them.—
  149. 1153 No, no, they would not do so foul a deed;
  150. 1154 Witness the sorrow that their sister makes.—
  151. 1155 Gentle Lavinia, let me kiss thy lips;
  152. 1156 Or make some sign how I may do thee ease:
  153. 1157 Shall thy good uncle, and thy brother Lucius,
  154. 1158 And thou, and I, sit round about some fountain,
  155. 1159 Looking all downwards, to behold our cheeks
  156. 1160 How they are stain'd, like meadows yet not dry,
  157. 1161 With miry slime left on them by a flood?
  158. 1162 And in the fountain shall we gaze so long,
  159. 1163 Till the fresh taste be taken from that clearness,
  160. 1164 And made a brine-pit with our bitter tears?
  161. 1165 Or shall we cut away our hands like thine?
  162. 1166 Or shall we bite our tongues, and in dumb shows
  163. 1167 Pass the remainder of our hateful days?
  164. 1168 What shall we do? let us, that have our tongues,
  165. 1169 Plot some device of further misery,
  166. 1170 To make us wonder'd at in time to come.
  167. Lucius
  168. 1171 Sweet father, cease your tears; for at your grief
  169. 1172 See how my wretched sister sobs and weeps.
  170. Marcus Andronicus
  171. 1173 Patience, dear niece.—Good Titus, dry thine eyes.
  172. Titus Andronicus
  173. 1174 Ah, Marcus, Marcus! brother, well I wot
  174. 1175 Thy napkin cannot drink a tear of mine,
  175. 1176 For thou, poor man, hast drown'd it with thine own.
  176. Lucius
  177. 1177 Ah, my Lavinia, I will wipe thy cheeks.
  178. Titus Andronicus
  179. 1178 Mark, Marcus, mark! I understand her signs:
  180. 1179 Had she a tongue to speak, now would she say
  181. 1180 That to her brother which I said to thee:
  182. 1181 His napkin, with his true tears all bewet,
  183. 1182 Can do no service on her sorrowful cheeks.
  184. 1183 O, what a sympathy of woe is this,—
  185. 1184 As far from help as limbo is from bliss!
  186. [Enter AARON.]
  187. Aaron
  188. 1185 Titus Andronicus, my lord the emperor
  189. 1186 Sends thee this word,—that, if thou love thy sons,
  190. 1187 Let Marcus, Lucius, or thyself, old Titus,
  191. 1188 Or any one of you, chop off your hand
  192. 1189 And send it to the king: he for the same
  193. 1190 Will send thee hither both thy sons alive:
  194. 1191 And that shall be the ransom for their fault.
  195. Titus Andronicus
  196. 1192 O gracious emperor! O gentle Aaron!
  197. 1193 Did ever raven sing so like a lark
  198. 1194 That gives sweet tidings of the sun's uprise?
  199. 1195 With all my heart I'll send the emperor
  200. 1196 My hand:
  201. 1197 Good Aaron, wilt thou help to chop it off?
  202. Lucius
  203. 1198 Stay, father! for that noble hand of thine,
  204. 1199 That hath thrown down so many enemies,
  205. 1200 Shall not be sent: my hand will serve the turn:
  206. 1201 My youth can better spare my blood than you;
  207. 1202 And therefore mine shall save my brothers' lives.
  208. Marcus Andronicus
  209. 1203 Which of your hands hath not defended Rome,
  210. 1204 And rear'd aloft the bloody battle-axe,
  211. 1205 Writing destruction on the enemy's castle?
  212. 1206 O, none of both but are of high desert:
  213. 1207 My hand hath been but idle; let it serve
  214. 1208 To ransom my two nephews from their death;
  215. 1209 Then have I kept it to a worthy end.
  216. Aaron
  217. 1210 Nay, come, agree whose hand shall go along,
  218. 1211 For fear they die before their pardon come.
  219. Marcus Andronicus
  220. 1212 My hand shall go.
  221. Lucius
  222. 1213 By heaven, it shall not go!
  223. Titus Andronicus
  224. 1214 Sirs, strive no more: such wither'd herbs as these
  225. 1215 Are meet for plucking up, and therefore mine.
  226. Lucius
  227. 1216 Sweet father, if I shall be thought thy son,
  228. 1217 Let me redeem my brothers both from death.
  229. Marcus Andronicus
  230. 1218 And for our father's sake and mother's care,
  231. 1219 Now let me show a brother's love to thee.
  232. Titus Andronicus
  233. 1220 Agree between you; I will spare my hand.
  234. Lucius
  235. 1221 Then I'll go fetch an axe.
  236. Marcus Andronicus
  237. 1222 But I will use the axe.
  238. [Exeunt LUCIUS and MARCUS.]
  239. Titus Andronicus
  240. 1223 Come hither, Aaron; I'll deceive them both:
  241. 1224 Lend me thy hand, and I will give thee mine.
  242. [Aside.]
  243. Aaron
  244. 1225 If that be call'd deceit, I will be honest,
  245. 1226 And never whilst I live deceive men so:—
  246. 1227 But I'll deceive you in another sort,
  247. 1228 And that you'll say ere half an hour pass.
  248. [He cuts off TITUS'S hand.]
  249. [Re-enter LUCIUS and MARCUS.]
  250. Titus Andronicus
  251. 1229 Now stay your strife: what shall be is despatch'd.—
  252. 1230 Good Aaron, give his majesty my hand:
  253. 1231 Tell him it was a hand that warded him
  254. 1232 From thousand dangers; bid him bury it;
  255. 1233 More hath it merited,—that let it have.
  256. 1234 As for my sons, say I account of them
  257. 1235 As jewels purchas'd at an easy price;
  258. 1236 And yet dear too, because I bought mine own.
  259. Aaron
  260. 1237 I go, Andronicus: and for thy hand
  261. 1238 Look by and by to have thy sons with thee:—
  262. [Aside]
  263. Aaron
  264. 1239 Their heads I mean. O, how this villainy
  265. 1240 Doth fat me with the very thoughts of it!
  266. 1241 Let fools do good, and fair men call for grace:
  267. 1242 Aaron will have his soul black like his face.
  268. [Exit.]
  269. Titus Andronicus
  270. 1243 O, here I lift this one hand up to heaven,
  271. 1244 And bow this feeble ruin to the earth:
  272. 1245 If any power pities wretched tears,
  273. 1246 To that I call!—
  274. [To LAVINIA.]
  275. Titus Andronicus
  276. 1247 What, wilt thou kneel with me?
  277. 1248 Do, then, dear heart; for heaven shall hear our prayers;
  278. 1249 Or with our sighs we'll breathe the welkin dim,
  279. 1250 And stain the sun with fog, as sometime clouds
  280. 1251 When they do hug him in their melting bosoms.
  281. Marcus Andronicus
  282. 1252 O brother, speak with possibilities,
  283. 1253 And do not break into these deep extremes.
  284. Titus Andronicus
  285. 1254 Is not my sorrow deep, having no bottom?
  286. 1255 Then be my passions bottomless with them.
  287. Marcus Andronicus
  288. 1256 But yet let reason govern thy lament.
  289. Titus Andronicus
  290. 1257 If there were reason for these miseries,
  291. 1258 Then into limits could I bind my woes:
  292. 1259 When heaven doth weep, doth not the earth o'erflow?
  293. 1260 If the winds rage, doth not the sea wax mad,
  294. 1261 Threatening the welkin with his big-swol'n face?
  295. 1262 And wilt thou have a reason for this coil?
  296. 1263 I am the sea; hark, how her sighs do flow!
  297. 1264 She is the weeping welkin, I the earth:
  298. 1265 Then must my sea be moved with her sighs;
  299. 1266 Then must my earth with her continual tears
  300. 1267 Become a deluge, overflow'd and drown'd;
  301. 1268 For why my bowels cannot hide her woes,
  302. 1269 But like a drunkard must I vomit them.
  303. 1270 Then give me leave; for losers will have leave
  304. 1271 To ease their stomachs with their bitter tongues.
  305. [Enter a Messenger, with two heads and a hand.]
  306. Messenger
  307. 1272 Worthy Andronicus, ill art thou repaid
  308. 1273 For that good hand thou sent'st the emperor.
  309. 1274 Here are the heads of thy two noble sons;
  310. 1275 And here's thy hand, in scorn to thee sent back,—
  311. 1276 Thy grief their sports, thy resolution mock'd:
  312. 1277 That woe is me to think upon thy woes,
  313. 1278 More than remembrance of my father's death.
  314. [Exit.]
  315. Marcus Andronicus
  316. 1279 Now let hot Aetna cool in Sicily,
  317. 1280 And be my heart an ever-burning hell!
  318. 1281 These miseries are more than may be borne.
  319. 1282 To weep with them that weep doth ease some deal;
  320. 1283 But sorrow flouted at is double death.
  321. Lucius
  322. 1284 Ah, that this sight should make so deep a wound,
  323. 1285 And yet detested life not shrink thereat!
  324. 1286 That ever death should let life bear his name,
  325. 1287 Where life hath no more interest but to breathe!
  326. [LAVINIA kisses him.]
  327. Marcus Andronicus
  328. 1288 Alas, poor heart, that kiss is comfortless
  329. 1289 As frozen water to a starved snake.
  330. Titus Andronicus
  331. 1290 When will this fearful slumber have an end?
  332. Marcus Andronicus
  333. 1291 Now farewell, flattery; die, Andronicus;
  334. 1292 Thou dost not slumber: see thy two sons' heads,
  335. 1293 Thy warlike hand, thy mangled daughter here;
  336. 1294 Thy other banish'd son with this dear sight
  337. 1295 Struck pale and bloodless; and thy brother, I,
  338. 1296 Even like a stony image, cold and numb.
  339. 1297 Ah! now no more will I control thy griefs:
  340. 1298 Rent off thy silver hair, thy other hand
  341. 1299 Gnawing with thy teeth; and be this dismal sight
  342. 1300 The closing up of our most wretched eyes:
  343. 1301 Now is a time to storm; why art thou still?
  344. Titus Andronicus
  345. 1302 Ha, ha, ha!
  346. Marcus Andronicus
  347. 1303 Why dost thou laugh? it fits not with this hour.
  348. Titus Andronicus
  349. 1304 Why, I have not another tear to shed:
  350. 1305 Besides, this sorrow is an enemy,
  351. 1306 And would usurp upon my watery eyes,
  352. 1307 And make them blind with tributary tears:
  353. 1308 Then which way shall I find revenge's cave?
  354. 1309 For these two heads do seem to speak to me,
  355. 1310 And threat me I shall never come to bliss
  356. 1311 Till all these mischiefs be return'd again
  357. 1312 Even in their throats that have committed them.
  358. 1313 Come, let me see what task I have to do.—
  359. 1314 You heavy people circle me about,
  360. 1315 That I may turn me to each one of you,
  361. 1316 And swear unto my soul to right your wrongs.—
  362. 1317 The vow is made.—Come, brother, take a head;
  363. 1318 And in this hand the other will I bear.
  364. 1319 And, Lavinia, thou shalt be employ'd in these things;
  365. 1320 Bear thou my hand, sweet wench, between thy teeth.
  366. 1321 As for thee, boy, go, get thee from my sight;
  367. 1322 Thou art an exile, and thou must not stay:
  368. 1323 Hie to the Goths, and raise an army there:
  369. 1324 And if you love me, as I think you do,
  370. 1325 Let's kiss and part, for we have much to do.
  371. [Exeunt TITUS, MARCUS, and LAVINIA.]
  372. Lucius
  373. 1326 Farewell, Andronicus, my noble father,—
  374. 1327 The woefull'st man that ever liv'd in Rome:
  375. 1328 Farewell, proud Rome; till Lucius come again,
  376. 1329 He leaves his pledges dearer than his life:
  377. 1330 Farewell, Lavinia, my noble sister;
  378. 1331 O, would thou wert as thou 'tofore hast been!
  379. 1332 But now nor Lucius nor Lavinia lives
  380. 1333 But in oblivion and hateful griefs.
  381. 1334 If Lucius live, he will requite your wrongs,
  382. 1335 And make proud Saturnine and his empress
  383. 1336 Beg at the gates, like Tarquin and his queen.
  384. 1337 Now will I to the Goths, and raise a power
  385. 1338 To be reveng'd on Rome and Saturnine.
  386. [Exit.]