Titus Andronicus (Dover Publications) Read online

  Titus Andronicus

  William Shakespeare

  DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC.

  Mineola, New York

  DOVER THRIFT EDITIONS

  GENERAL EDITOR: MARY CAROLYN WALDREP EDITOR OF THIS VOLUME: ALISON DAURIO

  Copyright

  Copyright © 2014 by Dover Publications, Inc.

  All rights reserved.

  Theatrical Rights

  This Dover Thrift Edition may be used in its entirety, in adaptation, or in any other way for theatrical productions, professional and amateur, in the United States, without fee, permission, or acknowledgment. (This may not apply outside of the United States, as copyright conditions may vary.)

  Bibliographical Note

  This Dover edition, first published in 2014, contains the unabridged text of Titus Andronicus as published in Volume XIV of The Caxton Edition of the Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Caxton Publishing Company, London, n.d. The introductory Note was prepared specially for this edition, and the explanatory footnotes from the Caxton edition have been revised.

  International Standard Book Number

  eISBN-13: 978-0-486-79004-6

  www.doverpublications.com

  Note

  WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564–1616) was born in Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, England. Although much of his early life remains sketchy, it is known that he moved to London around 1589 to earn his way as an actor and playwright. He joined an acting company known as Lord Chamberlain’s Men in 1594, a decision that finally enabled him to share in the financial success of his plays. Only eighteen of his thirty-seven plays were published during his lifetime, and these were usually sold directly to theater companies and printed in quartos, or single-play editions, without his approval.

  The bloodiest and most violent of all Shakespeare’s tragedies, Titus Andronicus was completed sometime between 1588 and 1593, and was likely modeled after the “revenge plays” that were so popular during this time. When Titus, an aging Roman general, returns from war, he finds the emperor of Rome dead, and his two sons vying for the crown. To his surprise, Titus himself is offered the crown. But as he is old and tired, he decides to turn it over to the emperor’s eldest son, Saturninus—thus setting off the whirlwind of killings, severed limbs, rape, cannibalism, live burial, and insanity that characterize the bard’s most brutal tale.

  DRAMATIS PERSONÆ

  SATURNINUS, son to the late Emperor of Rome, afterwards emperor.

  BASSIANUS, brother to Saturninus.

  TITUS, ANDRONICUS, a noble Roman.

  MARCUS, ANDRONICUS, tribune of the people, and brother to Titus.

  LUCIUS, sons to Titus Andronicus.

  QUINTUS, sons to Titus Andronicus.

  MARTIUS, sons to Titus Andronicus.

  MUTIUS, sons to Titus Andronicus.

  YOUNG, LUCIUS, a boy, son to Lucius.

  PUBLIUS, son to Marcus Andronicus.

  ÆMILIUS, a noble Roman.

  ALARBUS, sons to Tamora.

  DEMETRIUS, sons to Tamora.

  CHIRON, sons to Tamora.

  AARON, a Moor, beloved by Tamora.

  A Captain, Tribune, Messenger, and Clown; Romans and Goths.

  TAMORN, Queen of the Goths.

  LAVINIA, daughter to Titus Andronicus.

  A Nurse, and a black Child.

  Kinsmen of Titus, Senators, Tribunes, Officers, Soldiers, and Attendants.

  SCENE: Rome, and the country near it

  Contents

  ACT I.

  SCENE I. Rome. Before the Capitol—The Tomb of the Andronici Appearing

  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.

  SCENE I. Rome. A Street

  SCENE II. A Room in Titus’s House. A Banquet Set Out

  ACT IV.

  SCENE I. Rome. Titus’s Garden

  SCENE II. The Same. A Room in the Palace

  SCENE III. The Same A Public Place

  SCENE IV. The Same. Before the Palace

  ACT V.

  SCENE I. Plains near Rome

  SCENE II. Rome. Before Titus’s House

  SCENE III. Court of Titus’s House. A Banquet Set Out

  ACT I.

  SCENE I. Rome. Before the Capitol—The Tomb of the Andronici Appearing.

  Flourish, Enter the Tribunes and Senators aloft. And then enter below, SATURNINUS and his Followers from one side, and BASSIANUS and his Followers from the other side, with drum and colours

  SATURNINUS. Noble patricians, patrons of my right,

  Defend the justice of my cause with arms;

  And, countrymen, my loving followers,

  Plead my successive title with your swords: 4

  I am his first-born son, that was the last

  That ware the imperial diadem of Rome;

  Then let my father’s honours live in me,

  Nor wrong mine age with this indignity.8

  BAS. Romans, friends, followers, favourers of my right,

  If ever Bassianus, Cæsar’s son, 10

  Were gracious in the eyes of royal Rome,

  Keep then this passage to the Capitol;

  And suffer not dishonour to approach

  The imperial seat, to virtue consecrate,

  To justice, continence and nobility:15

  But let desert in pure election shine;16

  And, Romans, fight for freedom in your choice.

  Enter MARCUS ANDRONICUS, aloft, with the crown

  MARC. Princes, that strive by factions and by friends

  Ambitiously for rule and empery,19

  Know that the people of Rome, for whom we stand 20

  A special party, have by common voice,21

  In election for the Roman empery,

  Chosen Andronicus, surnamed Pius

  For many good and great deserts to Rome:

  A nobler man, a braver warrior,

  Lives not this day within the city walls:

  He by the senate is accited home27

  From weary wars against the barbarous Goths;

  That, with his sons, a terror to our foes,29

  Hath yoked a nation strong, train’d up in arms. 30

  Ten years are spent since first he undertook

  This cause of Rome, and chastised with arms

  Our enemies’ pride: five times he hath return’d

  Bleeding to Rome, bearing his valiant sons

  In coffins from the field.

  And now at last, laden with honour’s spoils,

  Returns the good Andronicus to Rome,

  Renowned Titus, flourishing in arms.

  Let us entreat, by honour of his name,

  Whom worthily you would have now succeed, 40

  And in the Capitol and senate’s right,41

  Whom you pretend to honour and adore,

  That you withdraw you and abate your strength,43

  Dismiss your followers and, as suitors should,

  Plead your deserts in peace and humbleness.

  SAT. How fair the tribune speaks to calm my thoughts!

  BAS. Marcus Andronicus, so I do affy47

  In thy uprightness and integrity,

  And so I love and honour thee and thine,

  Thy noble brother Titus and his sons, 50

  And her to whom my thoughts are humbled all,

  Gracious Lavinia, Rome’s rich ornament,

  That I will here dismiss my loving friends,

  And to my fortunes and the people’s favour

  Commit my
cause in balance to be weigh’d.

  [Exeunt the Followers of Bassianus.

  SAT. Friends, that have been thus forward in my right,

  I thank you all, and here dismiss you all,

  And to the love and favour of my country

  Commit myself, my person and the cause. 60

  [Exeunt the Followers of Saturninus.

  Rome, be as just and gracious unto me,

  As I am confident and kind to thee.

  Open the gates, and let me in.

  BAS. Tribunes, and me, a poor competitor.

  [Flourish. Saturninus and Bassianus go up into the Capitol.

  Enter a Captain

  CAP. Romans, make way: the good Andronicus,

  Patron of virtue, Rome’s best champion,

  Successful in the battles that he fights, 70

  With honour and with fortune is return’d

  From where he circumscribed with his sword,

  And brought to yoke, the enemies of Rome.

  Drums and trumpets sounded. Enter MARTIUS and MUTIUS after them, two Men bearing a coffin covered with black; then LUCIUS and QUINTUS After them, TITUS ANDRONICUS, and then TAMORN Queen of Goths, with ALARBUS, DEMETRIUS, CHIRON, AARON, and other Goths, prisoners; Soldiers and People following. The Bearers set down the coffin, and TITUS speaks

  TIT. Hail, Rome, victorious in thy mourning weeds!

  Lo, as the bark that hath discharged her fraught

  Returns with precious lading to the bay

  From whence at first she weigh’d her anchorage,

  Cometh Andronicus, bound with laurel boughs,

  To re-salute his country with his tears,

  Tears of true joy for his return to Rome. 80

  Thou great defender of this Capitol,

  Stand gracious to the rites that we intend!

  Romans, of five and twenty valiant sons,

  Half of the number that King Priam had,

  Behold the poor remains, alive and dead!

  These that survive let Rome reward with love;

  These that I bring unto their latest home,

  With burial amongst their ancestors:

  Here Goths have given me leave to sheathe my sword.

  Titus, unkind, and careless of thine own, 90

  Why suffer’st thou thy sons, unburied yet,

  To hover on the dreadful shore of Styx?

  Make way to lay them by their brethren.

  [They open the tomb.

  There greet in silence, as the dead are wont,

  And sleep in peace, slain in your country’s wars!

  O sacred receptacle of my joys,

  Sweet cell of virtue and nobility,

  How many sons hast thou of mine in store,

  That thou wilt never render to me more! 100

  LUC. Give us the proudest prisoner of the Goths,

  That we may hew his limbs and on a pile

  “Ad manes fratrum” sacrifice his flesh,

  Before this earthy prison of their bones,

  That so the shadows be not unappeased,

  Nor we disturb’d with prodigies on earth.

  TIT. I give him you, the noblest that survives,

  The eldest son of this distressed queen.

  TAM. Stay, Roman brethren! Gracious conqueror,

  Victorious Titus, rue the tears I shed, 110

  A mother’s tears in passion for her son:

  And if thy sons were ever dear to thee,

  O, think my son to be as dear to me!

  Sufficeth not, that we are brought to Rome,

  To beautify thy triumphs and return,

  Captive to thee and to thy Roman yoke;

  But must my sons be slaughter’d in the streets,

  For valiant doings in their country’s cause?

  O, if to fight for king and commonweal

  Were piety in thine, it is in these. 120

  Andronicus, stain not thy tomb with blood.

  Wilt thou draw near the nature of the gods?

  Draw near them then in being merciful:

  Sweet mercy is nobility’s true badge:

  Thrice-noble Titus, spare my first-born son.

  TIT. Patient yourself, madam, and pardon me.126

  These are their brethren, whom you Goths beheld

  Alive and dead; and for their brethren slain

  Religiously they ask a sacrifice:

  To this your son is mark’d, and die he must, 130

  To appease their groaning shadows that are gone.

  LUC. Away with him! and make a fire straight;

  And with our swords, upon a pile of wood,

  Let’s hew his limbs till they be clean consumed.

  [Exeunt the sons of Andronicus with Alarbus.

  TAM. O cruel, irreligious piety!

  CHI. Was ever Scythia half so barbarous?

  DEM. Oppose not Scythia to ambitious Rome.138

  Alarbus goes to rest, and we survive

  To tremble under Titus’ threatening look. 140

  Then, madam, stand resolved; but hope withal,

  The self-same gods that arm’d the Queen of Troy

  With opportunity of sharp revenge

  Upon the Thracian tyrant in his tent,

  May favour Tamora, the queen of Goths,

  When Goths were Goths and Tamora was queen,

  To quit the bloody wrongs upon her foes.147

  Re-enter the sons of ANDRONICUS, with their swords bloody

  LUC. See, lord and father, how we have perform’d

  Our Roman rites: Alarbus’ limbs are lopp’d,

  And entrails feed the sacrificing fire, 150

  Whose smoke, like incense, doth perfume the sky.

  Remaineth nought but to inter our brethren,

  And with loud ’larums welcome them to Rome.

  TIT. Let it be so; and let Andronicus

  Make this his latest farewell to their souls.

  [Trumpets sounded, and the coffin laid in the tomb.

  In peace and honour rest you here, my sons;

  Rome’s readiest champions, repose you here in rest,

  Secure from worldly chances and mishaps!

  Here lurks no treason, here no envy swells, 160

  Here grow no damned drugs; here are no storms,

  No noise, but silence and eternal sleep:

  In peace and honour rest you here, my sons!

  Enter LAVINIA

  LAV. In peace and honour live Lord Titus long;

  My noble lord and father, live in fame!

  Lo, at this tomb my tributary tears

  I render, for my brethren’s obsequies;

  And at thy feet I kneel, with tears of joy

  Shed on the earth, for thy return to Rome:

  O, bless me here with thy victorious hand, 170

  Whose fortunes Rome’s best citizens applaud!

  TIT. Kind Rome, that hast thus lovingly reserved

  The cordial of mine age to glad my heart!174

  Lavinia, live; outlive thy father’s days,

  And fame’s eternal date, for virtue’s praise!

  Enter, below, MARTIUS ANDRONICUS and Tribunes; re-enter SATURNINUS,. and BASSIANU, attended

  MARC. Long live Lord Titus, my beloved brother,

  Gracious triumpher in the eyes of Rome!

  TIT. Thanks, gentle tribune, noble brother Marcus.

  MARC. And welcome, nephews, from successful wars,

  You that survive, and you that sleep in fame! 180

  Fair lords, your fortunes are alike in all,

  That in your country’s service drew your swords:

  But safer triumph is this funeral pomp,

  That hath aspired to Solon’s happiness,184

  And triumphs over chance in honour’s bed.

  Titus Andronicus, the people of Rome,

  Whose friend in justice thou hast ever been,

  Send thee by me, their tribune and their trust,188

  This palliament of white and spotless hue;189

&n
bsp; And name thee in election for the empire, 190

  With these our late-deceased emperor’s sons:

  Be candidatus then, and put it on,

  And help to set a head on headless Rome.

  TIT. A better head her glorious body fits194

  Than his that shakes for age and feebleness:

  What should I don this robe, and trouble you?196

  Be chosen with proclamations to-day,

  To-morrow yield up rule, resign my life,

  And set abroad new business for you all?199

  Rome, I have been thy soldier forty years, 200

  And led my country’s strength successfully,

  And buried one and twenty valiant sons,

  Knighted in field, slain manfully in arms,

  In right and service of their noble country:

  Give me a staff of honour for mine age,

  But not a sceptre to control the world:

  Upright he held it, lords, that held it last.

  MARC. Titus, thou shalt obtain and ask the empery.208

  SAT. Proud and ambitious tribune, canst thou tell?

  TIT. Patience, Prince Saturninus. 210

  SAT. Romans, do me right;

  Patricians, draw your swords, and sheathe them not

  Till Saturninus be Rome’s emperor.

  Andronicus, would thou wert shipp’d to hell,

  Rather than rob me of the people’s hearts!

  LUC. Proud Saturnine, interrupter of the good

  That noble-minded Titus means to thee!

  TIT. Content thee, prince; I will restore to thee

  The people’s hearts, and wean them from themselves.

  BAS Andronicus, I do not flatter thee, 220

  But honour thee, and will do till I die:

  My faction if thou strengthen with thy friends,

  I will most thankful be; and thanks to men

  Of noble minds is honourable meed.

  TIT. People of Rome, and people’s tribunes here,

  I ask your voices and your suffrages:

  Will you bestow them friendly on Andronicus?

  TRIBUNES. To gratify the good Andronicus,

  And gratulate his safe return to Rome,

  The people will accept whom he admits. 230

  TIT. Tribunes, I thank you: and this suit I make,

  That you create your emperor’s eldest son,

  Lord Saturnine; whose virtues will, I hope,

  Reflect on Rome as Titan’s rays on earth,

  And ripen justice in this commonweal:

  Then, if you will elect by my advice,

  Crown him, and say “Long live our emperor!”