The Tragedy Of Titus Andronicus

1 Enter Young Lucius and Lavinia running after him, and the boy flies
2 from her with his books under his arm. Enter Titus and Marcus.
3 YOUNG LUCIUS.
4 Help, grandsire, help! My aunt Lavinia
5 Follows me everywhere, I know not why.
6 Good uncle Marcus, see how swift she comes!
7 Alas, sweet aunt, I know not what you mean.
8 MARCUS.
9 Stand by me, Lucius. Do not fear thine aunt.
10 TITUS.
11 She loves thee, boy, too well to do thee harm.
12 YOUNG LUCIUS
13 Ay, when my father was in Rome she did.
14 MARCUS.
15 What means my niece Lavinia by these signs?
16 TITUS.
17 Fear her not, Lucius. Somewhat doth she mean.
18 See, Lucius, see how much she makes of thee.
19 Somewhither would she have thee go with her.
20 Ah, boy, Cornelia never with more care
21 Read to her sons than she hath read to thee
22 Sweet poetry and Tully’s _Orator_.
23 MARCUS.
24 Canst thou not guess wherefore she plies thee thus?
25 YOUNG LUCIUS.
26 My lord, I know not, I, nor can I guess,
27 Unless some fit or frenzy do possess her;
28 For I have heard my grandsire say full oft,
29 Extremity of griefs would make men mad;
30 And I have read that Hecuba of Troy
31 Ran mad for sorrow. That made me to fear,
32 Although, my lord, I know my noble aunt
33 Loves me as dear as e’er my mother did,
34 And would not, but in fury, fright my youth;
35 Which made me down to throw my books, and fly,
36 Causeless, perhaps. But pardon me, sweet aunt.
37 And, madam, if my uncle Marcus go,
38 I will most willingly attend your ladyship.
39 MARCUS.
40 Lucius, I will.
41 [_Lavinia turns over with her stumps the books which Lucius has let
42 fall._]
43 TITUS.
44 How now, Lavinia? Marcus, what means this?
45 Some book there is that she desires to see.
46 Which is it, girl, of these? Open them, boy.
47 But thou art deeper read and better skilled.
48 Come and take choice of all my library,
49 And so beguile thy sorrow, till the heavens
50 Reveal the damned contriver of this deed.
51 Why lifts she up her arms in sequence thus?
52 MARCUS.
53 I think she means that there were more than one
54 Confederate in the fact. Ay, more there was,
55 Or else to heaven she heaves them for revenge.
56 TITUS.
57 Lucius, what book is that she tosseth so?
58 YOUNG LUCIUS.
59 Grandsire, ’tis Ovid’s _Metamorphosis_.
60 My mother gave it me.
61 MARCUS.
62 For love of her that’s gone,
63 Perhaps, she culled it from among the rest.
64 TITUS.
65 Soft! So busily she turns the leaves!
66 Help her! What would she find? Lavinia, shall I read?
67 This is the tragic tale of Philomel,
68 And treats of Tereus’ treason and his rape;
69 And rape, I fear, was root of thy annoy.
70 MARCUS.
71 See, brother, see! Note how she quotes the leaves.
72 TITUS.
73 Lavinia, wert thou thus surprised, sweet girl,
74 Ravished and wronged, as Philomela was,
75 Forced in the ruthless, vast, and gloomy woods?
76 See, see!
77 Ay, such a place there is where we did hunt,—
78 O, had we never, never hunted there!—
79 Patterned by that the poet here describes,
80 By nature made for murders and for rapes.
81 MARCUS.
82 O, why should nature build so foul a den,
83 Unless the gods delight in tragedies?
84 TITUS.
85 Give signs, sweet girl, for here are none but friends,
86 What Roman lord it was durst do the deed.
87 Or slunk not Saturnine, as Tarquin erst,
88 That left the camp to sin in Lucrece’ bed?
89 MARCUS.
90 Sit down, sweet niece. Brother, sit down by me.
91 Apollo, Pallas, Jove, or Mercury,
92 Inspire me, that I may this treason find!
93 My lord, look here. Look here, Lavinia.
94 This sandy plot is plain; guide, if thou canst,
95 This after me. I have writ my name
96 [_He writes his name with his staff and guides it with feet and
97 mouth._]
98 Without the help of any hand at all.
99 Cursed be that heart that forced us to this shift!
100 Write thou, good niece, and here display at last
101 What God will have discovered for revenge.
102 Heaven guide thy pen to print thy sorrows plain,
103 That we may know the traitors and the truth!
104 [_She takes the staff in her mouth, and guides it with her stumps and
105 writes._]
106 O, do ye read, my lord, what she hath writ?
107 TITUS.
108 “_Stuprum_. Chiron. Demetrius.”
109 MARCUS.
110 What, what! The lustful sons of Tamora
111 Performers of this heinous bloody deed?
112 TITUS.
113 _Magni Dominator poli,
114 Tam lentus audis scelera, tam lentus vides?_
115 MARCUS.
116 O, calm thee, gentle lord, although I know
117 There is enough written upon this earth
118 To stir a mutiny in the mildest thoughts
119 And arm the minds of infants to exclaims.
120 My lord, kneel down with me; Lavinia, kneel;
121 And kneel, sweet boy, the Roman Hector’s hope;
122 And swear with me, as, with the woeful fere
123 And father of that chaste dishonoured dame,
124 Lord Junius Brutus sware for Lucrece’ rape,
125 That we will prosecute, by good advice
126 Mortal revenge upon these traitorous Goths,
127 And see their blood, or die with this reproach.
128 TITUS.
129 ’Tis sure enough, an you knew how.
130 But if you hunt these bear-whelps, then beware;
131 The dam will wake, and if she wind you once.
132 She’s with the lion deeply still in league,
133 And lulls him whilst she playeth on her back,
134 And when he sleeps will she do what she list.
135 You are a young huntsman, Marcus; let alone;
136 And come, I will go get a leaf of brass,
137 And with a gad of steel will write these words,
138 And lay it by. The angry northern wind
139 Will blow these sands like Sibyl’s leaves abroad,
140 And where’s our lesson, then? Boy, what say you?
141 YOUNG LUCIUS.
142 I say, my lord, that if I were a man,
143 Their mother’s bedchamber should not be safe
144 For these base bondmen to the yoke of Rome.
145 MARCUS.
146 Ay, that’s my boy! Thy father hath full oft
147 For his ungrateful country done the like.
148 YOUNG LUCIUS.
149 And, uncle, so will I, an if I live.
150 TITUS.
151 Come, go with me into mine armoury.
152 Lucius, I’ll fit thee; and withal, my boy,
153 Shall carry from me to the empress’ sons
154 Presents that I intend to send them both.
155 Come, come; thou’lt do my message, wilt thou not?
156 YOUNG LUCIUS.
157 Ay, with my dagger in their bosoms, grandsire.
158 TITUS.
159 No, boy, not so. I’ll teach thee another course.
160 Lavinia, come. Marcus, look to my house.
161 Lucius and I’ll go brave it at the court;
162 Ay, marry, will we, sir; and we’ll be waited on.
163 [_Exeunt Titus, Lavinia and Young Lucius._]
164 MARCUS.
165 O heavens, can you hear a good man groan
166 And not relent, or not compassion him?
167 Marcus, attend him in his ecstasy,
168 That hath more scars of sorrow in his heart
169 Than foemen’s marks upon his battered shield,
170 But yet so just that he will not revenge.
171 Revenge ye heavens for old Andronicus!
172 [_Exit._]