Act IV
Scene I
Rome. Titus’s garden.
Enter Young Lucius, and Lavinia running after him, and the boy flies from her, with books under his arm. Then enter Titus and Marcus. | |
Young Lucius |
Help, grandsire, help! my aunt Lavinia
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Marcus | Stand by me, Lucius; do not fear thine aunt. |
Titus | She loves thee, boy, too well to do thee harm. |
Young Lucius | Ay, when my father was in Rome she did. |
Marcus | What means my niece Lavinia by these signs? |
Titus |
Fear her not, Lucius: somewhat doth she mean:
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Marcus | Canst thou not guess wherefore she plies thee thus? |
Young Lucius |
My lord, I know not, I, nor can I guess,
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Marcus | Lucius, I will. Lavinia turns over with her stumps the books which Lucius has let fall. |
Titus |
How now, Lavinia! Marcus, what means this?
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Marcus |
I think she means that there was more than one
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Titus | Lucius, what book is that she tosseth so? |
Young Lucius |
Grandsire, ’tis Ovid’s Metamorphoses;
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Marcus |
For love of her that’s gone,
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Titus |
Soft! see how busily she turns the leaves! Helping her.
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Marcus | See, brother, see; note how she quotes the leaves. |
Titus |
Lavinia, wert thou thus surprised, sweet girl,
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Marcus |
O, why should nature build so foul a den,
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Titus |
Give signs, sweet girl, for here are none but friends,
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Marcus |
Sit down, sweet niece: brother, sit down by me.
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Titus |
O, do ye read, my lord, what she hath writ?
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Marcus |
What, what! the lustful sons of Tamora
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Titus |
Magni Dominator poli,
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Marcus |
O, calm thee, gentle lord; although I know
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Titus |
’Tis sure enough, an you knew how.
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Young Lucius |
I say, my lord, that if I were a man,
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Marcus |
Ay, that’s my boy! thy father hath full oft
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Young Lucius | And, uncle, so will I, an if I live. |
Titus |
Come, go with me into mine armoury;
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Young Lucius | Ay, with my dagger in their bosoms, grandsire. |
Titus |
No, boy, not so; I’ll teach thee another course.
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Marcus |
O heavens, can you hear a good man groan,
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Scene II
The same. A room in the palace.
Enter, from one side, Aaron, Demetrius, and Chiron; from the other side, Young Lucius, and an Attendant, with a bundle of weapons, and verses writ upon them. | |
Chiron |
Demetrius, here’s the son of Lucius;
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Aaron | Ay, some mad message from his mad grandfather. |
Young Lucius |
My lords, with all the humbleness I may,
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Demetrius | Gramercy, lovely Lucius: what’s the news? |
Young Lucius |
Aside. That you are both decipher’d, that’s the news,
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Demetrius |
What’s here? A scroll; and written round about?
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Chiron |
O, ’tis a verse in Horace; I know it well:
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Aaron |
Ay, just; a verse in Horace; right, you have it.
And now, young lords, was’t not a happy star
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Demetrius |
But me more good, to see so great a lord
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Aaron |
Had he not reason, Lord Demetrius?
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Demetrius |
I would we had a thousand Roman dames
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Chiron | A charitable wish and full of love. |
Aaron | Here lacks but your mother for to say amen. |
Chiron | And that would she for twenty thousand more. |
Demetrius |
Come, let us go; and pray to all the gods
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Aaron | Aside. Pray to the devils; the gods have given us over. Trumpets sound within. |
Demetrius | Why do the emperor’s trumpets flourish thus? |
Chiron | Belike, for joy the emperor hath a son. |
Demetrius | Soft! who comes here? |
Enter a Nurse, with a blackamoor Child in her arms. | |
Nurse |
Good morrow, lords:
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Aaron |
Well, more or less, or ne’er a whit at all,
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Nurse |
O gentle Aaron, we are all undone!
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Aaron |
Why, what a caterwauling dost thou keep!
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Nurse |
O, that which I would hide from heaven’s eye,
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Aaron | To whom? |
Nurse | I mean, she is brought a-bed. |
Aaron | Well, God give her good rest! What hath he sent her? |
Nurse | A devil. |
Aaron | Why, then she is the devil’s dam; a joyful issue. |
Nurse |
A joyless, dismal, black, and sorrowful issue:
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Aaron |
’Zounds, ye whore! is black so base a hue?
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Demetrius | Villain, what hast thou done? |
Aaron | That which thou canst not undo. |
Chiron | Thou hast undone our mother. |
Aaron | Villain, I have done thy mother. |
Demetrius |
And therein, hellish dog, thou hast undone.
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Chiron | It shall not live. |
Aaron | It shall not die. |
Nurse | Aaron, it must; the mother wills it so. |
Aaron |
What, must it, nurse? then let no man but I
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Demetrius |
I’ll broach the tadpole on my rapier’s point:
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Aaron |
Sooner this sword shall plough thy bowels up. Takes the Child from the Nurse, and draws.
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Demetrius | Wilt thou betray thy noble mistress thus? |
Aaron |
My mistress is my mistress; this myself,
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Demetrius | By this our mother is for ever shamed. |
Chiron | Rome will despise her for this foul escape. |
Nurse | The emperor, in his rage, will doom her death. |
Chiron | I blush to think upon this ignomy. |
Aaron |
Why, there’s the privilege your beauty bears:
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Nurse | Aaron, what shall I say unto the empress? |
Demetrius |
Advise thee, Aaron, what is to be done,
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Aaron |
Then sit we down, and let us all consult.
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Demetrius | How many women saw this child of his? |
Aaron |
Why, so, brave lords! when we join in league,
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Nurse |
Cornelia the midwife and myself;
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Aaron |
The empress, the midwife, and yourself:
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Demetrius | What mean’st thou, Aaron? wherefore didst thou this? |
Aaron |
O Lord, sir, ’tis a deed of policy:
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Chiron |
Aaron, I see thou wilt not trust the air
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Demetrius |
For this care of Tamora,
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Aaron |
Now to the Goths, as swift as swallow flies;
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Scene III
The same. A public place.
Enter Titus, bearing arrows with letters at the ends of them; with him, Marcus, Young Lucius, Publius, Sempronius, Caius, and other Gentlemen, with bows. | |
Titus |
Come, Marcus; come, kinsmen; this is the way.
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Marcus |
O Publius, is not this a heavy case,
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Publius |
Therefore, my lord, it highly us concerns
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Marcus |
Kinsmen, his sorrows are past remedy.
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Titus |
Publius, how now! how now, my masters!
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Publius |
No, my good lord; but Pluto sends you word,
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Titus |
He doth me wrong to feed me with delays.
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Marcus |
Kinsmen, shoot all your shafts into the court:
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Titus |
Now, masters, draw. They shoot. O, well said, Lucius!
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Marcus |
My lord, I aim a mile beyond the moon;
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Titus |
Ha, ha!
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Marcus |
This was the sport, my lord: when Publius shot,
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Titus | Why, there it goes: God give his lordship joy! |
Enter a Clown, with a basket, and two pigeons in it. | |
News, news from heaven! Marcus, the post is come.
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Clown | O, the gibbet-maker! he says that he hath taken them down again, for the man must not be hanged till the next week. |
Titus | But what says Jupiter, I ask thee? |
Clown | Alas, sir, I know not Jupiter; I never drank with him in all my life. |
Titus | Why, villain, art not thou the carrier? |
Clown | Ay, of my pigeons, sir; nothing else. |
Titus | Why, didst thou not come from heaven? |
Clown | From heaven! alas, sir, I never came there: God forbid I should be so bold to press to heaven in my young days. Why, I am going with my pigeons to the tribunal plebs, to take up a matter of brawl betwixt my uncle and one of the emperial’s men. |
Marcus | Why, sir, that is as fit as can be to serve for your oration; and let him deliver the pigeons to the emperor from you. |
Titus | Tell me, can you deliver an oration to the emperor with a grace? |
Clown | Nay, truly, sir, I could never say grace in all my life. |
Titus |
Sirrah, come hither: make no more ado,
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Clown | Ay, sir. |
Titus | Then here is a supplication for you. And when you come to him, at the first approach you must kneel, then kiss his foot, then deliver up your pigeons, and then look for your reward. I’ll be at hand, sir; see you do it bravely. |
Clown | I warrant you, sir, let me alone. |
Titus |
Sirrah, hast thou a knife? come, let me see it.
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Clown | God be with you, sir; I will. |
Titus | Come, Marcus, let us go. Publius, follow me. Exeunt. |
Scene IV
The same. Before the palace.
Enter Saturninus, Tamora, Demetrius, Chiron, Lords, and others; Saturninus with the arrows in his hand that Titus shot. | |
Saturninus |
Why, lords, what wrongs are these! was ever seen
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Tamora |
My gracious lord, my lovely Saturnine,
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Enter Clown. | |
How now, good fellow! wouldst thou speak with us? | |
Clown | Yea, forsooth, an your mistership be emperial. |
Tamora | Empress I am, but yonder sits the emperor. |
Clown | ’Tis he. God and Saint Stephen give you good den: I have brought you a letter and a couple of pigeons here. Saturninus reads the letter. |
Saturninus | Go, take him away, and hang him presently. |
Clown | How much money must I have? |
Tamora | Come, sirrah, you must be hanged. |
Clown | Hanged! by’r lady, then I have brought up a neck to a fair end. Exit, guarded. |
Saturninus |
Despiteful and intolerable wrongs!
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Enter Aemilius. | |
What news with thee, Aemilius? | |
Aemilius |
Arm, arm, my lord;—Rome never had more cause.
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Saturninus |
Is warlike Lucius general of the Goths?
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Tamora | Why should you fear? is not your city strong? |
Saturninus |
Ay, but the citizens favour Lucius,
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Tamora |
King, be thy thoughts imperious, like thy name.
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Saturninus | But he will not entreat his son for us. |
Tamora |
If Tamora entreat him, then he will:
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Saturninus |
Aemilius, do this message honourably:
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Aemilius | Your bidding shall I do effectually. Exit. |
Tamora |
Now will I to that old Andronicus,
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Saturninus | Then go successantly, and plead to him. Exeunt. |