Titus Andronicus
ACT II SCENE III | A lonely part of the forest. | |
[Enter AARON, with a bag of gold] | ||
AARON | He that had wit would think that I had none, | |
To bury so much gold under a tree, | ||
And never after to inherit it. | ||
Let him that thinks of me so abjectly | ||
Know that this gold must coin a stratagem, | 5 | |
Which, cunningly effected, will beget | ||
A very excellent piece of villany: | ||
And so repose, sweet gold, for their unrest | ||
[Hides the gold] | ||
That have their alms out of the empress’ chest. | ||
[Enter TAMORA] | ||
TAMORA | My lovely Aaron, wherefore look’st thou sad, | 10 |
When every thing doth make a gleeful boast? | ||
The birds chant melody on every bush, | ||
The snake lies rolled in the cheerful sun, | ||
The green leaves quiver with the cooling wind | ||
And make a chequer’d shadow on the ground: | 15 | |
Under their sweet shade, Aaron, let us sit, | ||
And, whilst the babbling echo mocks the hounds, | ||
Replying shrilly to the well-tuned horns, | ||
As if a double hunt were heard at once, | ||
Let us sit down and mark their yelping noise; | 20 | |
And, after conflict such as was supposed | ||
The wandering prince and Dido once enjoy’d, | ||
When with a happy storm they were surprised | ||
And curtain’d with a counsel-keeping cave, | ||
We may, each wreathed in the other’s arms, | 25 | |
Our pastimes done, possess a golden slumber; | ||
Whiles hounds and horns and sweet melodious birds | ||
Be unto us as is a nurse’s song | ||
Of lullaby to bring her babe asleep. | ||
AARON | Madam, though Venus govern your desires, | 30 |
Saturn is dominator over mine: | ||
What signifies my deadly-standing eye, | ||
My silence and my cloudy melancholy, | ||
My fleece of woolly hair that now uncurls | ||
Even as an adder when she doth unroll | 35 | |
To do some fatal execution? | ||
No, madam, these are no venereal signs: | ||
Vengeance is in my heart, death in my hand, | ||
Blood and revenge are hammering in my head. | ||
Hark Tamora, the empress of my soul, | 40 | |
Which never hopes more heaven than rests in thee, | ||
This is the day of doom for Bassianus: | ||
His Philomel must lose her tongue to-day, | ||
Thy sons make pillage of her chastity | ||
And wash their hands in Bassianus’ blood. | 45 | |
Seest thou this letter? take it up, I pray thee, | ||
And give the king this fatal plotted scroll. | ||
Now question me no more; we are espied; | ||
Here comes a parcel of our hopeful booty, | ||
Which dreads not yet their lives’ destruction. | 50 | |
TAMORA | Ah, my sweet Moor, sweeter to me than life! | |
AARON | No more, great empress; Bassianus comes: | |
Be cross with him; and I’ll go fetch thy sons | ||
To back thy quarrels, whatsoe’er they be. | ||
[Exit] | ||
[Enter BASSIANUS and LAVINIA] | ||
BASSIANUS | Who have we here? Rome’s royal empress, | 55 |
Unfurnish’d of her well-beseeming troop? | ||
Or is it Dian, habited like her, | ||
Who hath abandoned her holy groves | ||
To see the general hunting in this forest? | ||
TAMORA | Saucy controller of our private steps! | 60 |
Had I the power that some say Dian had, | ||
Thy temples should be planted presently | ||
With horns, as was Actaeon’s; and the hounds | ||
Should drive upon thy new-transformed limbs, | ||
Unmannerly intruder as thou art! | 65 | |
LAVINIA | Under your patience, gentle empress, | |
‘Tis thought you have a goodly gift in horning; | ||
And to be doubted that your Moor and you | ||
Are singled forth to try experiments: | ||
Jove shield your husband from his hounds to-day! | 70 | |
‘Tis pity they should take him for a stag. | ||
BASSIANUS | Believe me, queen, your swarth Cimmerian | |
Doth make your honour of his body’s hue, | ||
Spotted, detested, and abominable. | ||
Why are you sequester’d from all your train, | 75 | |
Dismounted from your snow-white goodly steed. | ||
And wander’d hither to an obscure plot, | ||
Accompanied but with a barbarous Moor, | ||
If foul desire had not conducted you? | ||
LAVINIA | And, being intercepted in your sport, | 80 |
Great reason that my noble lord be rated | ||
For sauciness. I pray you, let us hence, | ||
And let her joy her raven-colour’d love; | ||
This valley fits the purpose passing well. | ||
BASSIANUS | The king my brother shall have note of this. | 85 |
LAVINIA | Ay, for these slips have made him noted long: | |
Good king, to be so mightily abused! | ||
TAMORA | Why have I patience to endure all this? | |
[Enter DEMETRIUS and CHIRON] | ||
DEMETRIUS | How now, dear sovereign, and our gracious mother! | |
Why doth your highness look so pale and wan? | 90 | |
TAMORA | Have I not reason, think you, to look pale? | |
These two have ‘ticed me hither to this place: | ||
A barren detested vale, you see it is; | ||
The trees, though summer, yet forlorn and lean, | ||
O’ercome with moss and baleful mistletoe: | 95 | |
Here never shines the sun; here nothing breeds, | ||
Unless the nightly owl or fatal raven: | ||
And when they show’d me this abhorred pit, | ||
They told me, here, at dead time of the night, | ||
A thousand fiends, a thousand hissing snakes, | 100 | |
Ten thousand swelling toads, as many urchins, | ||
Would make such fearful and confused cries | ||
As any mortal body hearing it | ||
Should straight fall mad, or else die suddenly. | ||
No sooner had they told this hellish tale, | 105 | |
But straight they told me they would bind me here | ||
Unto the body of a dismal yew, | ||
And leave me to this miserable death: | ||
And then they call’d me foul adulteress, | ||
Lascivious Goth, and all the bitterest terms | 110 | |
That ever ear did hear to such effect: | ||
And, had you not by wondrous fortune come, | ||
This vengeance on me had they executed. | ||
Revenge it, as you love your mother’s life, | ||
Or be ye not henceforth call’d my children. | 115 | |
DEMETRIUS | This is a witness that I am thy son. | |
[Stabs BASSIANUS] | ||
CHIRON | And this for me, struck home to show my strength. | |
[Also stabs BASSIANUS, who dies] | ||
LAVINIA | Ay, come, Semiramis, nay, barbarous Tamora, | |
For no name fits thy nature but thy own! | ||
TAMORA | Give me thy poniard; you shall know, my boys | 120 |
Your mother’s hand shall right your mother’s wrong. | ||
DEMETRIUS | Stay, madam; here is more belongs to her; | |
First thrash the corn, then after burn the straw: | ||
This minion stood upon her chastity, | ||
Upon her nuptial vow, her loyalty, | 125 | |
And with that painted hope braves your mightiness: | ||
And shall she carry this unto her grave? | ||
CHIRON | An if she do, I would I were an eunuch. | |
Drag hence her husband to some secret hole, | ||
And make his dead trunk pillow to our lust. | 130 | |
TAMORA | But when ye have the honey ye desire, | |
Let not this wasp outlive, us both to sting. | ||
CHIRON | I warrant you, madam, we will make that sure. | |
Come, mistress, now perforce we will enjoy | ||
That nice-preserved honesty of yours. | 135 | |
LAVINIA | O Tamora! thou bear’st a woman’s face,– | |
TAMORA | I will not hear her speak; away with her! | |
LAVINIA | Sweet lords, entreat her hear me but a word. | |
DEMETRIUS | Listen, fair madam: let it be your glory | |
To see her tears; but be your heart to them | 140 | |
As unrelenting flint to drops of rain. | ||
LAVINIA | When did the tiger’s young ones teach the dam? | |
O, do not learn her wrath; she taught it thee; | ||
The milk thou suck’dst from her did turn to marble; | ||
Even at thy teat thou hadst thy tyranny. | 145 | |
Yet every mother breeds not sons alike: | ||
[To CHIRON] | ||
Do thou entreat her show a woman pity. | ||
CHIRON | What, wouldst thou have me prove myself a bastard? | |
LAVINIA | ‘Tis true; the raven doth not hatch a lark: | |
Yet have I heard,–O, could I find it now!– | 150 | |
The lion moved with pity did endure | ||
To have his princely paws pared all away: | ||
Some say that ravens foster forlorn children, | ||
The whilst their own birds famish in their nests: | ||
O, be to me, though thy hard heart say no, | 155 | |
Nothing so kind, but something pitiful! | ||
TAMORA | I know not what it means; away with her! | |
LAVINIA | O, let me teach thee! for my father’s sake, | |
That gave thee life, when well he might have | ||
slain thee, | 160 | |
Be not obdurate, open thy deaf ears. | ||
TAMORA | Hadst thou in person ne’er offended me, | |
Even for his sake am I pitiless. | ||
Remember, boys, I pour’d forth tears in vain, | ||
To save your brother from the sacrifice; | 165 | |
But fierce Andronicus would not relent; | ||
Therefore, away with her, and use her as you will, | ||
The worse to her, the better loved of me. | ||
LAVINIA | O Tamora, be call’d a gentle queen, | |
And with thine own hands kill me in this place! | 170 | |
For ’tis not life that I have begg’d so long; | ||
Poor I was slain when Bassianus died. | ||
TAMORA | What begg’st thou, then? fond woman, let me go. | |
LAVINIA | ‘Tis present death I beg; and one thing more | |
That womanhood denies my tongue to tell: | 175 | |
O, keep me from their worse than killing lust, | ||
And tumble me into some loathsome pit, | ||
Where never man’s eye may behold my body: | ||
Do this, and be a charitable murderer. | ||
TAMORA | So should I rob my sweet sons of their fee: | 180 |
No, let them satisfy their lust on thee. | ||
DEMETRIUS | Away! for thou hast stay’d us here too long. | |
LAVINIA | No grace? no womanhood? Ah, beastly creature! | |
The blot and enemy to our general name! | ||
Confusion fall– | 185 | |
CHIRON | Nay, then I’ll stop your mouth. Bring thou her husband: | |
This is the hole where Aaron bid us hide him. | ||
[ DEMETRIUS throws the body of BASSIANUS into the pit; then exeunt DEMETRIUS and CHIRON, dragging off LAVINIA ] | ||
TAMORA | Farewell, my sons: see that you make her sure. | |
Ne’er let my heart know merry cheer indeed, | ||
Till all the Andronici be made away. | 190 | |
Now will I hence to seek my lovely Moor, | ||
And let my spleenful sons this trull deflow’r. | ||
[Exit] | ||
[Re-enter AARON, with QUINTUS and MARTIUS] | ||
AARON | Come on, my lords, the better foot before: | |
Straight will I bring you to the loathsome pit | ||
Where I espied the panther fast asleep. | 195 | |
QUINTUS | My sight is very dull, whate’er it bodes. | |
MARTIUS | And mine, I promise you; were’t not for shame, | |
Well could I leave our sport to sleep awhile. | ||
[Falls into the pit] | ||
QUINTUS | What art thou fall’n? What subtle hole is this, | |
Whose mouth is cover’d with rude-growing briers, | 200 | |
Upon whose leaves are drops of new-shed blood | ||
As fresh as morning dew distill’d on flowers? | ||
A very fatal place it seems to me. | ||
Speak, brother, hast thou hurt thee with the fall? | ||
MARTIUS | O brother, with the dismall’st object hurt | 205 |
That ever eye with sight made heart lament! | ||
AARON | [Aside] Now will I fetch the king to find them here, | |
That he thereby may give a likely guess | ||
How these were they that made away his brother. | ||
[Exit] | ||
MARTIUS | Why dost not comfort me, and help me out | 210 |
From this unhallowed and blood-stained hole? | ||
QUINTUS | I am surprised with an uncouth fear; | |
A chilling sweat o’er-runs my trembling joints: | ||
My heart suspects more than mine eye can see. | ||
MARTIUS | To prove thou hast a true-divining heart, | 215 |
Aaron and thou look down into this den, | ||
And see a fearful sight of blood and death. | ||
QUINTUS | Aaron is gone; and my compassionate heart | |
Will not permit mine eyes once to behold | ||
The thing whereat it trembles by surmise; | 220 | |
O, tell me how it is; for ne’er till now | ||
Was I a child to fear I know not what. | ||
MARTIUS | Lord Bassianus lies embrewed here, | |
All on a heap, like to a slaughter’d lamb, | ||
In this detested, dark, blood-drinking pit. | 225 | |
QUINTUS | If it be dark, how dost thou know ’tis he? | |
MARTIUS | Upon his bloody finger he doth wear | |
A precious ring, that lightens all the hole, | ||
Which, like a taper in some monument, | ||
Doth shine upon the dead man’s earthy cheeks, | 230 | |
And shows the ragged entrails of the pit: | ||
So pale did shine the moon on Pyramus | ||
When he by night lay bathed in maiden blood. | ||
O brother, help me with thy fainting hand– | ||
If fear hath made thee faint, as me it hath– | 235 | |
Out of this fell devouring receptacle, | ||
As hateful as Cocytus’ misty mouth. | ||
QUINTUS | Reach me thy hand, that I may help thee out; | |
Or, wanting strength to do thee so much good, | ||
I may be pluck’d into the swallowing womb | 240 | |
Of this deep pit, poor Bassianus’ grave. | ||
I have no strength to pluck thee to the brink. | ||
MARTIUS | Nor I no strength to climb without thy help. | |
QUINTUS | Thy hand once more; I will not loose again, | |
Till thou art here aloft, or I below: | 245 | |
Thou canst not come to me: I come to thee. | ||
[Falls in] | ||
[Enter SATURNINUS with AARON] | ||
SATURNINUS | Along with me: I’ll see what hole is here, | |
And what he is that now is leap’d into it. | ||
Say who art thou that lately didst descend | ||
Into this gaping hollow of the earth? | 250 | |
MARTIUS | The unhappy son of old Andronicus: | |
Brought hither in a most unlucky hour, | ||
To find thy brother Bassianus dead. | ||
SATURNINUS | My brother dead! I know thou dost but jest: | |
He and his lady both are at the lodge | 255 | |
Upon the north side of this pleasant chase; | ||
‘Tis not an hour since I left him there. | ||
MARTIUS | We know not where you left him all alive; | |
But, out, alas! here have we found him dead. | ||
[ Re-enter TAMORA, with Attendants; TITUS ANDRONICUS, and Lucius ] | ||
TAMORA | Where is my lord the king? | 260 |
SATURNINUS | Here, Tamora, though grieved with killing grief. | |
TAMORA | Where is thy brother Bassianus? | |
SATURNINUS | Now to the bottom dost thou search my wound: | |
Poor Bassianus here lies murdered. | ||
TAMORA | Then all too late I bring this fatal writ, | 265 |
The complot of this timeless tragedy; | ||
And wonder greatly that man’s face can fold | ||
In pleasing smiles such murderous tyranny. | ||
[She giveth SATURNINUS a letter] | ||
SATURNINUS | [Reads] ‘An if we miss to meet him handsomely– | |
Sweet huntsman, Bassianus ’tis we mean– | 270 | |
Do thou so much as dig the grave for him: | ||
Thou know’st our meaning. Look for thy reward | ||
Among the nettles at the elder-tree | ||
Which overshades the mouth of that same pit | ||
Where we decreed to bury Bassianus. | 275 | |
Do this, and purchase us thy lasting friends.’ | ||
O Tamora! was ever heard the like? | ||
This is the pit, and this the elder-tree. | ||
Look, sirs, if you can find the huntsman out | ||
That should have murdered Bassianus here. | 280 | |
AARON | My gracious lord, here is the bag of gold. | |
SATURNINUS | [To TITUS] Two of thy whelps, fell curs of | |
bloody kind, | ||
Have here bereft my brother of his life. | ||
Sirs, drag them from the pit unto the prison: | 285 | |
There let them bide until we have devised | ||
Some never-heard-of torturing pain for them. | ||
TAMORA | What, are they in this pit? O wondrous thing! | |
How easily murder is discovered! | ||
TITUS ANDRONICUS | High emperor, upon my feeble knee | 290 |
I beg this boon, with tears not lightly shed, | ||
That this fell fault of my accursed sons, | ||
Accursed if the fault be proved in them,– | ||
SATURNINUS | If it be proved! you see it is apparent. | |
Who found this letter? Tamora, was it you? | 295 | |
TAMORA | Andronicus himself did take it up. | |
TITUS ANDRONICUS | I did, my lord: yet let me be their bail; | |
For, by my father’s reverend tomb, I vow | ||
They shall be ready at your highness’ will | ||
To answer their suspicion with their lives. | 300 | |
SATURNINUS | Thou shalt not bail them: see thou follow me. | |
Some bring the murder’d body, some the murderers: | ||
Let them not speak a word; the guilt is plain; | ||
For, by my soul, were there worse end than death, | ||
That end upon them should be executed. | 305 | |
TAMORA | Andronicus, I will entreat the king; | |
Fear not thy sons; they shall do well enough. | ||
TITUS ANDRONICUS | Come, Lucius, come; stay not to talk with them. | |
[Exeunt] |
Back to: Titus Andronicus, Act 2, Scene 4