Original Text |
Translated Text |
| Source: Folger Shakespeare Library |
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Enter Lucius, Marcus, and the Goths, with Aaron,
Guards, and an Attendant carrying the baby. | At Titus's house, everyone has gathered for the much-anticipated dinner banquet. |
LUCIUS
Uncle Marcus, since ’tis my father’s mind
That I repair to Rome, I am content. FIRST GOTH
And ours with thine, befall what fortune will. LUCIUS
Good uncle, take you in this barbarous Moor,
This ravenous tiger, this accursèd devil. 5
Let him receive no sust’nance. Fetter him
Till he be brought unto the Empress’ face
For testimony of her foul proceedings.
And see the ambush of our friends be strong.
I fear the Emperor means no good to us. 10 AARON
Some devil whisper curses in my ear
And prompt me that my tongue may utter forth
The venomous malice of my swelling heart. LUCIUS
Away, inhuman dog, unhallowed slave!—
Sirs, help our uncle to convey him in. 15 Sound trumpets. The trumpets show the Emperor is at hand. Guards and Aaron exit. | Lucius, who knows Saturninus's promise of a peace treaty is probably a setup, tells his men to tie Aaron up and starve him until Tamora can be confronted. |
Enter Emperor Saturninus and Empress Tamora
with Aemilius, Tribunes, Attendants, and others. SATURNINUS
What, hath the firmament more suns than one? LUCIUS
What boots it thee to call thyself a sun? MARCUS
Rome’s emperor, and nephew, break the parle.
These quarrels must be quietly debated. 20
The feast is ready which the careful Titus
Hath ordained to an honorable end,
For peace, for love, for league and good to Rome.
Please you therefore draw nigh and take your places. SATURNINUS Marcus, we will. 25 | Saturninus shows up. He and Lucius proceed to insult each other until Marcus steps in and tries to make peace. |
Trumpets sounding, enter Titus like a cook, placing the
dishes, with young Lucius and others, and Lavinia
with a veil over her face. TITUS
Welcome, my lord;—welcome, dread queen;—
Welcome, you warlike Goths;—welcome, Lucius;—
And welcome, all. Although the cheer be poor,
’Twill fill your stomachs. Please you eat of it. They begin to eat. | Titus enters in a chef's get-up and places the tasty entrees on the banquet table. |
SATURNINUS
Why art thou thus attired, Andronicus? 30 TITUS
Because I would be sure to have all well
To entertain your Highness and your empress. TAMORA
We are beholding to you, good Andronicus. TITUS
An if your Highness knew my heart, you were.—
My lord the Emperor, resolve me this: 35
Was it well done of rash Virginius
To slay his daughter with his own right hand
Because she was enforced, stained, and deflowered? | Over dinner, Titus chit-chats with his guests, asking them what they think about the story of Virginius. (FYI – Virginius, a Roman centurion, killed his daughter in order to prevent her rape. But in the play, the characters seem to think that Virginius killed his daughter after she was raped.) |
SATURNINUS It was, Andronicus. TITUS Your reason, mighty lord? 40 SATURNINUS
Because the girl should not survive her shame,
And by her presence still renew his sorrows. | Saturninus says Virginius was right to kill his daughter because the girl wouldn't "survive her shame" (whatever that means). Plus, he says, if she lived, she would be a burden on her father, who would feel bad every time he looked at her. (We wouldn't want that, now would we?) |
TITUS
A reason mighty, strong, and effectual;
A pattern, precedent, and lively warrant
For me, most wretched, to perform the like. 45
Die, die, Lavinia, and thy shame with thee,
And with thy shame thy father’s sorrow die. He kills Lavinia. | Titus says he couldn't agree more, then shocks everyone by killing Lavinia. |
SATURNINUS
What hast thou done, unnatural and unkind? TITUS
Killed her for whom my tears have made me blind.
I am as woeful as Virginius was, 50
And have a thousand times more cause than he
To do this outrage, and it now is done. SATURNINUS
What, was she ravished? Tell who did the deed. TITUS
Will ’t please you eat?—Will ’t please your Highness
feed? 55 TAMORA
Why hast thou slain thine only daughter thus? TITUS
Not I; ’twas Chiron and Demetrius.
They ravished her and cut away her tongue,
And they, ’twas they, that did her all this wrong. | Tamora is all, "what'd you do that for?" Titus says it's Demetrius's and Chiron's fault because they raped her and then cut out her tongue.
|
SATURNINUS
Go fetch them hither to us presently. 60 TITUS
Why, there they are, both bakèd in this pie,
Whereof their mother daintily hath fed,
Eating the flesh that she herself hath bred.
’Tis true, ’tis true! Witness my knife’s sharp point. | Saturninus demands that Chiron and Demetrius be brought forward – they have some serious explaining to do.
Titus says, oh, they're here all right. They're baked into this pie. For serious. |
SATURNINUS
Die, frantic wretch, for this accursèd deed. 65 He kills Titus. LUCIUS
Can the son’s eye behold his father bleed? He kills Saturninus. There’s meed for meed, death for a deadly deed. A great tumult. Lucius, Marcus, and
others go aloft to the upper stage. | Saturninus leaps up and stabs Titus. And Lucius doesn't want to be left out, so he leaps up and stabs Saturninus. |
MARCUS
You sad-faced men, people and sons of Rome,
By uproars severed as a flight of fowl
Scattered by winds and high tempestuous gusts, 70
O, let me teach you how to knit again
This scattered corn into one mutual sheaf,
These broken limbs again into one body,
Lest Rome herself be bane unto herself,
And she whom mighty kingdoms curtsy to, 75
Like a forlorn and desperate castaway,
Do shameful execution on herself.
But if my frosty signs and chaps of age,
Grave witnesses of true experience,
Cannot induce you to attend my words, 80 He turns to Lucius. Speak, Rome’s dear friend, as erst our ancestor,
When with his solemn tongue he did discourse
To lovesick Dido’s sad-attending ear
The story of that baleful burning night
When subtle Greeks surprised King Priam’s Troy. 85
Tell us what Sinon hath bewitched our ears,
Or who hath brought the fatal engine in
That gives our Troy, our Rome, the civil wound.—
My heart is not compact of flint nor steel,
Nor can I utter all our bitter grief, 90
But floods of tears will drown my oratory
And break my utterance even in the time
When it should move you to attend me most
And force you to commiseration.
Here’s Rome’s young captain. Let him tell the tale, 95
While I stand by and weep to hear him speak. | With all the dead bodies littering the stage, Marcus makes a big speech about how Rome is an absolute mess and needs to be restored. First, though, Lucius should tell everyone about what Tamora and Aaron have been up to. |
LUCIUS
Then, gracious auditory, be it known to you
That Chiron and the damned Demetrius
Were they that murderèd our emperor’s brother,
And they it were that ravishèd our sister. 100
For their fell faults our brothers were beheaded,
Our father’s tears despised, and basely cozened
Of that true hand that fought Rome’s quarrel out
And sent her enemies unto the grave;
Lastly, myself unkindly banishèd, 105
The gates shut on me, and turned weeping out
To beg relief among Rome’s enemies,
Who drowned their enmity in my true tears
And oped their arms to embrace me as a friend.
I am the turned-forth, be it known to you, 110
That have preserved her welfare in my blood
And from her bosom took the enemy’s point,
Sheathing the steel in my advent’rous body.
Alas, you know I am no vaunter, I;
My scars can witness, dumb although they are, 115
That my report is just and full of truth.
But soft, methinks I do digress too much,
Citing my worthless praise. O, pardon me,
For when no friends are by, men praise themselves. MARCUS
Now is my turn to speak. Behold the child. 120
Of this was Tamora deliverèd,
The issue of an irreligious Moor,
Chief architect and plotter of these woes.
The villain is alive in Titus’ house,
And as he is to witness, this is true. 125
Now judge what cause had Titus to revenge
These wrongs unspeakable, past patience,
Or more than any living man could bear.
Now have you heard the truth. What say you,
Romans? 130
Have we done aught amiss? Show us wherein,
And from the place where you behold us pleading,
The poor remainder of Andronici
Will, hand in hand, all headlong hurl ourselves,
And on the ragged stones beat forth our souls, 135
And make a mutual closure of our house.
Speak, Romans, speak, and if you say we shall,
Lo, hand in hand, Lucius and I will fall. AEMILIUS
Come, come, thou reverend man of Rome,
And bring our emperor gently in thy hand, 140
Lucius our emperor, for well I know
The common voice do cry it shall be so. | Lucius obliges and Marcus holds up Aaron and Tamora's love child as proof that they are bad people and that the Andronici have been completely justified in their recent actions. |
ROMANS
Lucius, all hail, Rome’s royal emperor! MARCUS, to Attendants
Go, go into old Titus’ sorrowful house,
And hither hale that misbelieving Moor 145
To be adjudged some direful slaught’ring death
As punishment for his most wicked life. Attendants exit. Lucius and Marcus
come down from the upper stage. ROMANS
Lucius, all hail, Rome’s gracious governor! | Everyone begins to shout that Lucius is awesome and should be Rome's new emperor. |
LUCIUS
Thanks, gentle Romans. May I govern so
To heal Rome’s harms and wipe away her woe! 150
But, gentle people, give me aim awhile,
For nature puts me to a heavy task.
Stand all aloof, but, uncle, draw you near
To shed obsequious tears upon this trunk. He kisses Titus. O, take this warm kiss on thy pale cold lips, 155
These sorrowful drops upon thy bloodstained face,
The last true duties of thy noble son. MARCUS
Tear for tear, and loving kiss for kiss,
Thy brother Marcus tenders on thy lips.
He kisses Titus.
O, were the sum of these that I should pay 160
Countless and infinite, yet would I pay them. LUCIUS, to Young Lucius
Come hither, boy. Come, come, and learn of us
To melt in showers. Thy grandsire loved thee well.
Many a time he danced thee on his knee,
Sung thee asleep, his loving breast thy pillow; 165
Many a story hath he told to thee,
And bid thee bear his pretty tales in mind
And talk of them when he was dead and gone. MARCUS
How many thousand times hath these poor lips,
When they were living, warmed themselves on thine! 170
O, now, sweet boy, give them their latest kiss.
Bid him farewell; commit him to the grave.
Do them that kindness, and take leave of them. YOUNG LUCIUS
O grandsire, grandsire, ev’n with all my heart
Would I were dead so you did live again! 175 He kisses Titus. O Lord, I cannot speak to him for weeping.
My tears will choke me if I ope my mouth. Enter Aaron with Guards. ROMAN
You sad Andronici, have done with woes.
Give sentence on this execrable wretch
That hath been breeder of these dire events. 180 LUCIUS
Set him breast-deep in earth and famish him.
There let him stand and rave and cry for food.
If anyone relieves or pities him,
For the offense he dies. This is our doom.
Some stay to see him fastened in the earth. 185 AARON
Ah, why should wrath be mute and fury dumb?
I am no baby, I, that with base prayers
I should repent the evils I have done.
Ten thousand worse than ever yet I did
Would I perform, if I might have my will. 190
If one good deed in all my life I did,
I do repent it from my very soul. Aaron is led off by Guards. | |
LUCIUS
Some loving friends convey the Emperor hence,
And give him burial in his fathers’ grave.
My father and Lavinia shall forthwith 195
Be closèd in our household’s monument.
As for that ravenous tiger, Tamora,
No funeral rite, nor man in mourning weed;
No mournful bell shall ring her burial;
But throw her forth to beasts and birds to prey. 200
Her life was beastly and devoid of pity,
And being dead, let birds on her take pity. They exit, carrying the dead bodies. | Lucius announces that Titus and Lavinia will be placed in the family tomb. Tamora, on the other hand, doesn't get a burial. Instead, her body will be left for the animals to devour. |