Act III. Scene I. Titus Andronicus. Craig, W.J., ed. 1914. The Oxford Shakespeare

Reference > William Shakespeare > The Oxford Shakespeare > Titus Andronicus > Act III. Scene I.

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William Shakespeare (1564–1616). The Oxford Shakespeare. 1914.

Titus Andronicus

Act III. Scene I.

Rome. A Street.

Enter Senators, Tribunes, and Officers of Justice, with MARTIUS and QUINTUS, bound, passing on to the place of execution; TITUS going before, pleading.
Tit. Hear me, grave fathers! noble tribunes, stay!
For pity of mine age, whose youth was spent	4
In dangerous wars, whilst you securely slept;
For all my blood in Rome’s great quarrel shed;
For all the frosty nights that I have watch’d;
And for these bitter tears, which now you see	8
Filling the aged wrinkles in my cheeks;
Be pitiful to my condemned sons,
Whose souls are not corrupted as ’tis thought.
For two and twenty sons I never wept,	12
Because they died in honour’s lofty bed.
For these, these, tribunes, in the dust I write [He throws himself on the ground.
My heart’s deep languor and my soul’s sad tears.
Let my tears stanch the earth’s dry appetite;	16
My sons’ sweet blood will make it shame and blush. [Exeunt Senators, Tribunes, &c., with the Prisoners.
O earth! I will befriend thee more with rain,
That shall distil from these two ancient urns,
Than youthful April shall with all his showers:	20
In summer’s drought I’ll drop upon thee still;
In winter with warm tears I’ll melt the snow,
And keep eternal spring-time on thy face,
So thou refuse to drink my dear sons’ blood.	24

Enter LUCIUS, with his sword drawn.
O reverend tribunes! O gentle, aged men!
Unbind my sons, reverse the doom of death:
And let me say, that never wept before,	28
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.	32
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, ’tis no matter, man: if they did hear,	36
They would not mark me, or if they did mark,
They would not pity me, yet plead I must,
All bootless unto them.
Therefore I tell my sorrows to the stones,	40
Who, though they cannot answer my distress,
Yet in some sort they are better than the tribunes,
For that they will not intercept my tale.
When I do weep, they humbly at my feet	44
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;	48
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;	52
For which attempt the judges have pronounc’d
My everlasting doom of banishment.
Tit. O happy man! they have befriended thee.
Why, foolish Lucius, dost thou not perceive	56
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!	60
But who comes with our brother Marcus here?

Enter MARCUS and LAVINIA.
Mar. Titus, prepare thy aged eyes to weep;
Or, if not so, thy noble heart to break:	64
I bring consuming sorrow to thine age.
Tit. Will it consume me? let me see it then.
Mar. This was thy daughter.
Tit. Why, Marcus, so she is.	68
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?	72
What fool hath added water to the sea,
Or brought a faggot to bright-burning Troy?
My grief was at the height before thou cam’st;
And now, like Nilus, it disdaineth bounds.	76
Give me a sword, I’ll chop off my hands too;
For they have fought for Rome, and all in vain;
And they have nurs’d this woe, in feeding life;
In bootless prayer have they been held up,	80
And they have serv’d me to effectless use:
Now all the service I require of them
Is that the one will help to cut the other.
’Tis well, Lavinia, that thou hast no hands,	84
For hands, to do Rome service, are but vain.
Luc. Speak, gentle sister, who hath martyr’d thee?
Mar. O! that delightful engine of her thoughts,
That blabb’d them with such pleasing eloquence,	88
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?	92
Mar. O! thus I found her straying in the park,
Seeking to hide herself, as doth the deer,
That hath receiv’d some unrecuring wound.
Tit. It was my dear; and he that wounded her	96
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,	100
Expecting ever when some envious surge
Will in his brinish bowels swallow him.
This way to death my wretched sons are gone;
Here stands my other son, a banish’d man,	104
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	108
It would have madded me: what shall I do
Now I behold thy lively body so?
Thou hast no hands to wipe away thy tears,
Nor tongue to tell me who hath martyr’d thee:	112
Thy husband he is dead, and for his death
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	116
Stood on her cheeks, as doth the honey-dew
Upon a gather’d lily almost wither’d.
Mar. Perchance she weeps because they kill’d her husband;
Perchance because she knows them innocent.	120
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;
Witness the sorrow that their sister makes.	124
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,	128
Looking all downwards, to behold our cheeks
How they are stain’d, like meadows yet not dry,
With miry slime left on them by a flood?
And in the fountain shall we gaze so long	132
Till the fresh taste be taken from that clearness,
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	136
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.	140
Luc. Sweet father, cease your tears; for at your grief
See how my wretched sister sobs and weeps.
Mar. Patience, dear niece. Good Titus, dry thine eyes.
Tit. Ah! Marcus, Marcus, brother; well I wot	144
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:	148
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.	152
O! what a sympathy of woe is this;
As far from help as limbo is from bliss.

Enter AARON.
Aar. Titus Andronicus, my lord the emperor	156
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	160
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,	164
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,	168
That hath thrown down so many enemies,
Shall not 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.	172
Mar. Which of your hands hath not defended Rome,
And rear’d aloft the bloody battle-axe,
Writing destruction on the enemy’s castle?
O! none of both but are of high desert:	176
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,	180
For fear they die before their pardon come.
Mar. My hand shall go.
Luc. By heaven, it shall not go!
Tit. Sirs, strive no more: such wither’d herbs as these	184
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.
Mar. And for our father’s sake, and mother’s care,	188
Now let me show a brother’s love to thee.
Tilt. Agree between you; I will spare my hand.
Luc. Then I’ll go fetch an axe.
Mar. But I will use the axe. [Exeunt LUCIUS and MARCUS.	192
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:	196
But I’ll deceive you in another sort,
And that you’ll say, ere half an hour pass. [Cuts off TITUS’ hand.

Re-enter LUCIUS and MARCUS.
Tit. Now stay your strife: what shall be is dispatch’d.	200
Good Aaron, give his majesty my hand:
Tell him it was a hand that warded him
From thousand dangers; bid him bury it;
More hath it merited; that let it have.	204
As for my sons, say I account of them
As jewels purchas’d at an easy price;
And yet dear too, because I bought mine own.
Aar. I go, Andronicus; and for thy hand,	208
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.
Let fools do good, and fair men call for grace,	212
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,	216
To that I call! [To LAVINIA.] What! wilt 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	220
When they do hug him in their melting bosoms.
Mar. O! brother, speak with possibilities,
And do not break into these deep extremes.
Tit. Is not my sorrow deep, having no bottom?	224
Then be my passions bottomless with them.
Mar. But yet let reason govern thy lament.
Tit. If there were reason for these miseries,
Then into limits could I bind my woes.	228
When heaven doth weep, doth not the earth o’erflow?
If the winds rage, doth not the sea wax mad,
Threat’ning the welkin with his big-swoln face?
And wilt thou have a reason for this coil?	232
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	236
Become a deluge, overflow’d and drown’d;
For why my bowels cannot hide her woes,
But like a drunkard must I vomit them.
Then give me leave, for losers will have leave	240
To ease their stomachs with their bitter tongues.

Enter a Messenger, with two heads and a hand.
Mess. Worthy Andronicus, ill art thou repaid
For that good hand thou sent’st the emperor.	244
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,	248
More than remembrance of my father’s death. [Exit.
Mar. Now let hot Ætna cool in Sicily,
And be my heart an ever burning hell!
These miseries are more than may be borne.	252
To weep with them that weep doth ease some deal,
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,	256
That ever death should let life bear his name,
Where life hath no more interest but to breathe. [LAVINIA kisses TITUS.
Mar. Alas! poor heart; that kiss is comfortless
As frozen water to a starved snake.	260
Tit. When will this fearful slumber have an end?
Mar. Now, farewell, flattery: die, Andronicus;
Thou dost not slumber: see, thy two sons’ heads,
Thy war-like hand, thy mangled daughter here;	264
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.	268
Rent 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?	272
Tit. Ha, ha, ha!
Mar. 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,	276
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,	280
And threat me I shall never come to bliss
Till all these mischiefs be return’d again
Even in their throats that have committed them.
Come, let me see what task I have to do.	284
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;	288
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;	292
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 TITUS, MARCUS, and LAVINIA.	296
Luc. Farewell, Andronicus, my noble father;
The woefull’st man that ever liv’d in Rome:
Farewell, proud Rome; till Lucius come again,
He leaves his pledges dearer than his life.	300
Farewell, Lavinia, my noble sister;
O! would thou wert as thou tofore hast been;
But now nor Lucius nor Lavinia lives
But in oblivion and hateful griefs.	304
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,	308
To be reveng’d on Rome and Saturnine. [Exeunt.

CONTENTS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

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