TPTT The Tragedy of Titus Andronicus: ACT II
Introduction
ACT I
ACT II
SCENE I. Rome. Before the Palace.
SCENE II. A forest near Rome. Horns and cry of hounds heard.
SCENE III. A lonely part of the forest.
SCENE IV. Another part of the forest.
ACT III
ACT IV
ACT V
About the Play
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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
5     Know that this gold must coin a stratagem,
      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
10    My lovely Aaron, wherefore look'st thou sad,
      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
15    And make a chequer'd shadow on the ground:
      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,
20    Let us sit down and mark their yelping noise;
      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,
25    We may, each wreathed in the other's arms,
      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
30    Madam, though Venus govern your desires,
      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
35    Even as an adder when she doth unroll
      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.
40    Hark Tamora, the empress of my soul,
      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
45    And wash their hands in Bassianus' blood.
      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,
50    Which dreads not yet their lives' destruction.
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
55    Who have we here? Rome's royal empress,
      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
60    Saucy controller of our private steps!
      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,
65    Unmannerly intruder as thou art!
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:
70    Jove shield your husband from his hounds to-day!
      '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.
75    Why are you sequester'd from all your train,
      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
80    And, being intercepted in your sport,
      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
85    The king my brother shall have note of this.
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!
90    Why doth your highness look so pale and wan?
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,
95    O'ercome with moss and baleful mistletoe:
      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,
100   A thousand fiends, a thousand hissing snakes,
      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.
105   No sooner had they told this hellish tale,
      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,
110   Lascivious Goth, and all the bitterest terms
      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,
115   Or be ye not henceforth call'd my children.
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
120   Give me thy poniard; you shall know, my boys
      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,
125   Upon her nuptial vow, her loyalty,
      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,
130   And make his dead trunk pillow to our lust.
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
135   That nice-preserved honesty of yours.
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
140   To see her tears; but be your heart to them
      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;
145   Even at thy teat thou hadst thy tyranny.
      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:
150   Yet have I heard,--O, could I find it now!--
      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:
155   O, be to me, though thy hard heart say no,
      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
160   slain thee,
      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,
165   To save your brother from the sacrifice;
      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,
170   And with thine own hands kill me in this place!
      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
175   That womanhood denies my tongue to tell:
      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
180   So should I rob my sweet sons of their fee:
      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!
185   Confusion fall--
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,
190   Till all the Andronici be made away.
      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
195   Where I espied the panther fast asleep.
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,
200   Whose mouth is cover'd with rude-growing briers,
      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
205   O brother, with the dismall'st object hurt
      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
210   Why dost not comfort me, and help me out
      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
215   To prove thou hast a true-divining heart,
      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
220   The thing whereat it trembles by surmise;
      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,
225   In this detested, dark, blood-drinking pit.
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,
230   Doth shine upon the dead man's earthy cheeks,
      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--
235   If fear hath made thee faint, as me it hath--
      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,
240   I may be pluck'd into the swallowing womb
      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,
245   Till thou art here aloft, or I below:
      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
250   Into this gaping hollow of the earth?
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:
255   He and his lady both are at the lodge
      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
260   Where is my lord the king?
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
265   Then all too late I bring this fatal writ,
      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--
270   Sweet huntsman, Bassianus 'tis we mean--
      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
275   Where we decreed to bury Bassianus.
      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
280   That should have murdered Bassianus here.
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.
285   Sirs, drag them from the pit unto the prison:
      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
290   High emperor, upon my feeble knee
      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.
295   Who found this letter? Tamora, was it you?
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
300   To answer their suspicion with their lives.
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,
305   That end upon them should be executed.
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
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