Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare
Act 4 - Scene 3
The same. A public place.
Titus Andronicus : Come, Marcus; come, kinsmen; this is the way.
[p]Sir boy, now let me
see your archery;
[p]Look ye draw home enough, and 'tis there
straight.
[p]Terras Astraea reliquit:
[p]Be you remember'd, Marcus,
she's gone, she's fled.
[p]Sirs, take you to your tools. You, cousins,
shall
[p]Go sound the ocean, and cast your nets;
[p]Happily you may
catch her in the sea;
[p]Yet there's as little justice as at
land:
[p]No; Publius and Sempronius, you must do it;
[p]'Tis you must
dig with mattock and with spade,
[p]And pierce the inmost centre of
the earth:
[p]Then, when you come to Pluto's region,
[p]I pray you,
deliver him this petition;
[p]Tell him, it is for justice and for
aid,
[p]And that it comes from old Andronicus,
[p]Shaken with sorrows
in ungrateful Rome.
[p]Ah, Rome! Well, well; I made thee
miserable
[p]What time I threw the people's suffrages
[p]On him that
thus doth tyrannize o'er me.
[p]Go, get you gone; and pray be careful
all,
[p]And leave you not a man-of-war unsearch'd:
[p]This wicked
emperor may have shipp'd her hence;
[p]And, kinsmen, then we may go
pipe for justice.
Marcus Andronicus : O Publius, is not this a heavy case,
[p]To see thy noble uncle thus
distract?
Publius : Therefore, my lord, it highly us concerns
[p]By day and night to
attend him carefully,
[p]And feed his humour kindly as we may,
[p]Till
time beget some careful remedy.
Marcus Andronicus : Kinsmen, his sorrows are past remedy.
[p]Join with the Goths; and with
revengeful war
[p]Take wreak on Rome for this ingratitude,
[p]And
vengeance on the traitor Saturnine.
Titus Andronicus : Publius, how now! how now, my masters!
[p]What, have you met with
her?
Publius : No, my good lord; but Pluto sends you word,
[p]If you will have
Revenge from hell, you shall:
[p]Marry, for Justice, she is so
employ'd,
[p]He thinks, with Jove in heaven, or somewhere else,
[p]So
that perforce you must needs stay a time.
Titus Andronicus : He doth me wrong to feed me with delays.
[p]I'll dive into the burning
lake below,
[p]And pull her out of Acheron by the heels.
[p]Marcus, we
are but shrubs, no cedars we
[p]No big-boned men framed of the
Cyclops' size;
[p]But metal, Marcus, steel to the very back,
[p]Yet
wrung with wrongs more than our backs can bear:
[p]And, sith there's
no justice in earth nor hell,
[p]We will solicit heaven and move the
gods
[p]To send down Justice for to wreak our wrongs.
[p]Come, to this
gear. You are a good archer, Marcus;
[p][He gives them the
arrows]
[p]'Ad Jovem,' that's for you: here, 'Ad Apollinem:'
[p]'Ad
Martem,' that's for myself:
[p]Here, boy, to Pallas: here, to
Mercury:
[p]To Saturn, Caius, not to Saturnine;
[p]You were as good to
shoot against the wind.
[p]To it, boy! Marcus, loose when I bid.
[p]Of
my word, I have written to effect;
[p]There's not a god left
unsolicited.
Marcus Andronicus : Kinsmen, shoot all your shafts into the court:
[p]We will afflict the
emperor in his pride.
Titus Andronicus : Now, masters, draw.
[p][They shoot]
[p]O, well said, Lucius!
[p]Good
boy, in Virgo's lap; give it Pallas.
Marcus Andronicus : My lord, I aim a mile beyond the moon;
[p]Your letter is with Jupiter
by this.
Titus Andronicus : Ha, ha!
[p]Publius, Publius, what hast thou done?
[p]See, see, thou
hast shot off one of Taurus' horns.
Marcus Andronicus : This was the sport, my lord: when Publius shot,
[p]The Bull, being
gall'd, gave Aries such a knock
[p]That down fell both the Ram's horns
in the court;
[p]And who should find them but the empress'
villain?
[p]She laugh'd, and told the Moor he should not choose
[p]But
give them to his master for a present.
Titus Andronicus : Why, there it goes: God give his lordship joy!
[p][Enter a Clown, with
a basket, and two pigeons in]
[p]it]
[p]News, news from heaven!
Marcus, the post is come.
[p]Sirrah, what tidings? have you any
letters?
[p]Shall I have justice? what says Jupiter?
Clown : O, the gibbet-maker! he says that he hath taken
[p]them down again,
for the man must not be hanged till
[p]the next week.
Titus Andronicus : But what says Jupiter, I ask thee?
Clown : Alas, sir, I know not Jupiter; I never drank with him
[p]in all my
life.
Titus Andronicus : Why, villain, art not thou the carrier?
Clown : Ay, of my pigeons, sir; nothing else.
Titus Andronicus : Why, didst thou not come from heaven?
Clown : From heaven! alas, sir, I never came there God
[p]forbid I should be
so bold to press to heaven in my
[p]young days. Why, I am going with
my pigeons to the
[p]tribunal plebs, to take up a matter of
brawl
[p]betwixt my uncle and one of the emperial's men.
Marcus Andronicus : Why, sir, that is as fit as can be to serve for
[p]your oration; and
let him deliver the pigeons to
[p]the emperor from you.
Titus Andronicus : Tell me, can you deliver an oration to the emperor
[p]with a grace?
Clown : Nay, truly, sir, I could never say grace in all my life.
Titus Andronicus : Sirrah, come hither: make no more ado,
[p]But give your pigeons to the
emperor:
[p]By me thou shalt have justice at his hands.
[p]Hold, hold;
meanwhile here's money for thy charges.
[p]Give me pen and ink.
Sirrah, can you with a grace
[p]deliver a supplication?
Clown : Ay, sir.
Titus Andronicus : Then here is a supplication for you. And when you
[p]come to him, at
the first approach you must kneel,
[p]then kiss his foot, then deliver
up your pigeons, and
[p]then look for your reward. I'll be at hand,
sir; see
[p]you do it bravely.
Clown : I warrant you, sir, let me alone.
Titus Andronicus : Sirrah, hast thou a knife? come, let me see it.
[p]Here, Marcus, fold
it in the oration;
[p]For thou hast made it like an humble
suppliant.
[p]And when thou hast given it the emperor,
[p]Knock at my
door, and tell me what he says.
Clown : God be with you, sir; I will.
Titus Andronicus : Come, Marcus, let us go. Publius, follow me.
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Next: Act 4 - Scene 4
