SCENE I. Rome. A street. Titus Andronicus  Shakespeare homepage  |  Titus Andronicus  | Act 3, Scene 1 

 Previous scene  |  Next scene  SCENE I. Rome. A street. 

 Enter Judges, Senators and Tribunes, with MARTIUS  and QUINTUS, bound, passing on to the place of execution; TITUS going before, pleading  TITUS ANDRONICUS  Hear me, grave fathers! noble tribunes, stay! 

 For pity of mine age, whose youth was spent 

 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 

 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, 

 Because they died in honour's lofty bed. 



 Lieth down; the Judges,  & c., pass by him, and Exeunt  For these, these, tribunes, in the dust I write 

 My heart's deep languor and my soul's sad tears: 

 Let my tears stanch the earth's dry appetite; 

 My sons' sweet blood will make it shame and blush. 

 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: 

 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. 



 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, 

 My tears are now prevailing orators. 

 LUCIUS  O noble father, you lament in vain: 

 The tribunes hear you not; no man is by; 

 And you recount your sorrows to a stone. 

 TITUS ANDRONICUS  Ah, Lucius, for thy brothers let me plead. 

 Grave tribunes, once more I entreat of you,-- 

 LUCIUS  My gracious lord, no tribune hears you speak. 

 TITUS ANDRONICUS  Why, tis no matter, man; if they did hear, 

 They would not mark me, or if they did mark, 

 They would not pity me, yet plead I must; 

 Therefore I tell my sorrows to the stones; 

 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 

 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; 

 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? 

 LUCIUS  To rescue my two brothers from their death: 

 For which attempt the judges have pronounced 

 My everlasting doom of banishment. 

 TITUS ANDRONICUS  O happy man! they have befriended thee. 

 Why, foolish Lucius, dost thou not perceive 

 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! 

 But who comes with our brother Marcus here? 



 Enter MARCUS and LAVINIA  MARCUS ANDRONICUS  Titus, prepare thy aged eyes to weep; 

 Or, if not so, thy noble heart to break: 

 I bring consuming sorrow to thine age. 

 TITUS ANDRONICUS  Will it consume me? let me see it, then. 

 MARCUS ANDRONICUS  This was thy daughter. 

 TITUS ANDRONICUS  Why, Marcus, so she is. 

 LUCIUS  Ay me, this object kills me! 

 TITUS ANDRONICUS  Faint-hearted boy, arise, and look upon her. 

 Speak, Lavinia, what accursed hand 

 Hath made thee handless in thy father's sight? 

 What fool hath added water to the sea, 

 Or brought a faggot to bright-burning Troy? 

 My grief was at the height before thou camest, 

 And now like Nilus, it disdaineth bounds. 

 Give me a sword, I'll chop off my hands too; 

 For they have fought for Rome, and all in vain; 

 And they have nursed this woe, in feeding life; 

 In bootless prayer have they been held up, 

 And they have served 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; 

 For hands, to do Rome service, are but vain. 

 LUCIUS  Speak, gentle sister, who hath martyr'd thee? 

 MARCUS ANDRONICUS  O, that delightful engine of her thoughts 

 That blabb'd them with such pleasing eloquence, 

 Is torn from forth that pretty hollow cage, 

 Where, like a sweet melodious bird, it sung 

 Sweet varied notes, enchanting every ear! 

 LUCIUS  O, say thou for her, who hath done this deed? 

 MARCUS ANDRONICUS  O, thus I found her, straying in the park, 

 Seeking to hide herself, as doth the deer 

 That hath received some unrecuring wound. 

 TITUS ANDRONICUS  It was my deer; and he that wounded her 

 Hath hurt me more than had he killed me dead: 

 For now I stand as one upon a rock 

 Environed with a wilderness of sea, 

 Who marks the waxing tide grow wave by wave, 

 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 banished man, 

 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, 

 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: 

 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 

 Stood on her cheeks, as doth the honey-dew 

 Upon a gather'd lily almost wither'd. 

 MARCUS ANDRONICUS  Perchance she weeps because they kill'd her husband; 

 Perchance because she knows them innocent. 

 TITUS ANDRONICUS  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. 

 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, 

 Looking all downwards to behold our cheeks 

 How they are stain'd, as meadows, yet not dry, 

 With miry slime left on them by a flood? 

 And in the fountain shall we gaze so long 

 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 

 Pass the remainder of our hateful days? 

 What shall we do? let us, that have our tongues, 

 Plot some deuce of further misery, 

 To make us wonder'd at in time to come. 

 LUCIUS  Sweet father, cease your tears; for, at your grief, 

 See how my wretched sister sobs and weeps. 

 MARCUS ANDRONICUS  Patience, dear niece. Good Titus, dry thine eyes. 

 TITUS ANDRONICUS  Ah, Marcus, Marcus! brother, well I wot 

 Thy napkin cannot drink a tear of mine, 

 For thou, poor man, hast drown'd it with thine own. 

 LUCIUS  Ah, my Lavinia, I will wipe thy cheeks. 

 TITUS ANDRONICUS  Mark, Marcus, mark! I understand her signs: 

 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. 

 O, what a sympathy of woe is this, 

 As far from help as Limbo is from bliss! 



 Enter AARON  AARON  Titus Andronicus, my lord the emperor 

 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 

 Will send thee hither both thy sons alive; 

 And that shall be the ransom for their fault. 

 TITUS ANDRONICUS  O gracious emperor! O gentle Aaron! 

 Did ever raven sing so like a lark, 

 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? 

 LUCIUS  Stay, father! for that noble hand of thine, 

 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. 

 MARCUS ANDRONICUS  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: 

 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. 

 AARON  Nay, come, agree whose hand shall go along, 

 For fear they die before their pardon come. 

 MARCUS ANDRONICUS  My hand shall go. 

 LUCIUS  By heaven, it shall not go! 

 TITUS ANDRONICUS  Sirs, strive no more: such wither'd herbs as these 

 Are meet for plucking up, and therefore mine. 

 LUCIUS  Sweet father, if I shall be thought thy son, 

 Let me redeem my brothers both from death. 

 MARCUS ANDRONICUS  And, for our father's sake and mother's care, 

 Now let me show a brother's love to thee. 

 TITUS ANDRONICUS  Agree between you; I will spare my hand. 

 LUCIUS  Then I'll go fetch an axe. 

 MARCUS ANDRONICUS  But I will use the axe. 



 Exeunt LUCIUS and MARCUS  TITUS ANDRONICUS  Come hither, Aaron; I'll deceive them both: 

 Lend me thy hand, and I will give thee mine. 

 AARON  [Aside]  If that be call'd deceit, I will be honest, 

 And never, whilst I live, deceive men so: 

 But I'll deceive you in another sort, 

 And that you'll say, ere half an hour pass. 



 Cuts off TITUS's hand 

 Re-enter LUCIUS and MARCUS  TITUS ANDRONICUS  Now stay your strife: what shall be is dispatch'd. 

 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. 

 As for my sons, say I account of them 

 As jewels purchased at an easy price; 

 And yet dear too, because I bought mine own. 

 AARON  I go, Andronicus: and for thy hand 

 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. 

 Aaron will have his soul black like his face. 



 Exit  TITUS ANDRONICUS  O, here I lift this one hand up to heaven, 

 And bow this feeble ruin to the earth: 

 If any power pities wretched tears, 

 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 

 When they do hug him in their melting bosoms. 

 MARCUS ANDRONICUS  O brother, speak with possibilities, 

 And do not break into these deep extremes. 

 TITUS ANDRONICUS  Is not my sorrow deep, having no bottom? 

 Then be my passions bottomless with them. 

 MARCUS ANDRONICUS  But yet let reason govern thy lament. 

 TITUS ANDRONICUS  If there were reason for these miseries, 

 Then into limits could I bind my woes: 

 When heaven doth weep, doth not the earth o'erflow? 

 If the winds rage, doth not the sea wax mad, 

 Threatening the welkin with his big-swoln face? 

 And wilt thou have a reason for this coil? 

 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 

 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 

 To ease their stomachs with their bitter tongues. 



 Enter a Messenger, with two heads and a hand  Messenger  Worthy Andronicus, ill art thou repaid 

 For that good hand thou sent'st the emperor. 

 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 

 More than remembrance of my father's death. 



 Exit  MARCUS ANDRONICUS  Now let hot AEtna cool in Sicily, 

 And be my heart an ever-burning hell! 

 These miseries are more than may be borne. 

 To weep with them that weep doth ease some deal; 

 But sorrow flouted at is double death. 

 LUCIUS  Ah, that this sight should make so deep a wound, 

 And yet detested life not shrink thereat! 

 That ever death should let life bear his name, 

 Where life hath no more interest but to breathe! 



 LAVINIA kisses TITUS  MARCUS ANDRONICUS  Alas, poor heart, that kiss is comfortless 

 As frozen water to a starved snake. 

 TITUS ANDRONICUS  When will this fearful slumber have an end? 

 MARCUS ANDRONICUS  Now, farewell, flattery: die, Andronicus; 

 Thou dost not slumber: see, thy two sons' heads, 

 Thy warlike hand, thy mangled daughter here: 

 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: 

 Rend 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? 

 TITUS ANDRONICUS  Ha, ha, ha! 

 MARCUS ANDRONICUS  Why dost thou laugh? it fits not with this hour. 

 TITUS ANDRONICUS  Why, I have not another tear to shed: 

 Besides, this sorrow is an enemy, 

 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, 

 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. 

 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; 

 And in this hand the other I will bear. 

 Lavinia, thou shalt be employ'd: these arms! 

 Bear thou my hand, sweet wench, between thy teeth. 

 As for thee, boy, go get thee from my sight; 

 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  LUCIUS  Farewell Andronicus, my noble father, 

 The wofull'st man that ever lived in Rome: 

 Farewell, proud Rome; till Lucius come again, 

 He leaves his pledges dearer than his life: 

 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. 

 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, 

 To be revenged on Rome and Saturnine. 



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