Titus Andronicus

what! the lustful sons of Tamora
Performers of this heinous, bloody deed? Titus

Magni Dominator poli,
Tam lentus audis scelera? tam lentus vides?

Marcus

O, calm thee, gentle lord; although I know
There is enough written upon this earth
To stir a mutiny in the mildest thoughts
And arm the minds of infants to exclaims.
My lord, kneel down with me; Lavinia, kneel;
And kneel, sweet boy, the Roman Hector’s hope;
And swear with me, as, with the woeful fere
And father of that chaste dishonour’d dame,
Lord Junius Brutus sware for Lucrece’ rape,
That we will prosecute by good advice
Mortal revenge upon these traitorous Goths,
And see their blood, or die with this reproach.

Titus

’Tis sure enough, an you knew how.
But if you hunt these bear-whelps, then beware:
The dam will wake; and, if she wind you once,
She’s with the lion deeply still in league,
And lulls him whilst she playeth on her back,
And when he sleeps will she do what she list.
You are a young huntsman, Marcus; let it alone;
And, come, I will go get a leaf of brass,
And with a gad of steel will write these words,
And lay it by: the angry northern wind
Will blow these sands, like Sibyl’s leaves, abroad,
And where’s your lesson, then? Boy, what say you?

Young Lucius

I say, my lord, that if I were a man,
Their mother’s bed-chamber should not be safe
For these bad bondmen to the yoke of Rome.

Marcus

Ay, that’s my boy! thy father hath full oft
For his ungrateful country done the like.

Young Lucius And, uncle, so will I, an if I live. Titus

Come, go with me into mine armoury;
Lucius, I’ll fit thee; and withal, my boy,
Shalt carry from me to the empress’ sons
Presents that I intend to send them both:
Come, come; thou’lt do thy message, wilt thou not?

Young Lucius Ay, with my dagger in their bosoms, grandsire. Titus

No, boy, not so; I’ll teach thee another course.
Lavinia, come. Marcus, look to my house:
Lucius and I’ll go brave it at the court;
Ay, marry, will we, sir; and we’ll be waited on. Exeunt Titus, Lavinia, and Young Lucius.

Marcus

O heavens, can you hear a good man groan,
And not relent, or not compassion him?
Marcus, attend him in his ecstasy,
That hath more scars of sorrow in his heart
Than foemen’s marks upon his batter’d shield;
But yet so just that he will not revenge.
Revenge, ye heavens, for old Andronicus! Exit.

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; He hath some message to deliver us.
Aaron	Ay, some mad message from his mad grandfather.
Young Lucius	My lords, with all the humbleness I may, I greet your honours from Andronicus. Aside. And pray the Roman gods confound you both!
Demetrius	Gramercy, lovely Lucius: what’s the news?
Young Lucius	Aside. That you are both decipher’d, that’s the news, For villains mark’d with rape.⁠—May it please you, My grandsire, well advised, hath sent by me The goodliest weapons of his armoury To gratify your honourable youth, The hope of Rome; for so he bade me say; And so I do, and with his gifts present Your lordships, that, whenever you have need, You may be armed and appointed well: And so I leave you both: aside like bloody villains. Exeunt Young Lucius, and Attendant.
Demetrius	What’s here? A scroll; and written round about? Let’s see; Reads. “Integer vitae, scelerisque purus, Non eget Mauri jaculis, nec arcu.”
Chiron	O, ’tis a verse in Horace; I know it well: I read it in the grammar long ago.
Aaron	Ay, just; a verse in Horace; right, you have it. Aside. Now, what a thing it is to be an ass! Here’s no sound jest! the old man hath found their guilt; And sends them weapons wrapped about with lines, That wound, beyond their feeling, to the quick. But were our witty empress well afoot, She would applaud Andronicus’ conceit: But let her rest in her unrest awhile. And now, young lords, was’t not a happy star Led us to Rome, strangers, and more than so, Captives, to be advanced to this height? It did me good, before the palace gate To brave the tribune in his brother’s hearing.
Demetrius	But me more good, to see so great a lord Basely insinuate and send us gifts.
Aaron	Had he not reason, Lord Demetrius? Did you not use his daughter very friendly?
Demetrius	I would we had a thousand Roman dames At such a bay, by turn to serve our lust.
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 For our beloved mother in her pains.
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: O, tell me, did you see Aaron the Moor?
Aaron	Well, more or less, or ne’er a whit at all, Here Aaron is; and what with Aaron now?
Nurse	O gentle Aaron, we are all undone! Now help, or woe betide thee evermore!
Aaron	Why, what a caterwauling dost thou keep! What dost thou wrap and fumble in thine arms?
Nurse	O, that which I would hide from heaven’s eye, Our empress’ shame, and stately Rome’s disgrace! She is deliver’d, lords; she is deliver’d.
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: Here is the babe, as loathsome as a toad Amongst the fairest breeders of our clime: The empress sends it thee, thy stamp, thy seal, And bids thee christen it with thy dagger’s point.
Aaron	’Zounds, ye whore! is black so