Titus Andronicus: Act 4, Scene 3

tragedy

The same. A public place.

Scene Summary

Titus and his kinsmen shoot arrows into the sky with letters tied to them, addressed to the Roman gods, demanding justice. A Clown (an ordinary man with no idea who Titus is) arrives carrying pigeons. Titus asks him to deliver a message and a knife to the emperor, wrapped with a letter citing a legal precedent. The Clown agrees without fully understanding what he's getting himself into. The scene shows Titus's grief tipping into theatrical madness — or possibly a very calculated performance of madness.

Enter TITUS, bearing arrows with letters at the ends of them; with him, MARCUS, Young LUCIUS, PUBLIUS, SEMPRONIUS, CAIUS, and other Gentlemen, with bows

TITUS ANDRONICUS

Come, Marcus; come, kinsmen; this is the way.

Sir boy, now let me see your archery;

Look ye draw home enough, and 'tis there straight.

Terras Astraea reliquit:

Be you remember'd, Marcus, she's gone, she's fled.

Sirs, take you to your tools. You, cousins, shall

Go sound the ocean, and cast your nets;

Happily you may catch her in the sea;

Yet there's as little justice as at land:

No; Publius and Sempronius, you must do it;

'Tis you must dig with mattock and with spade,

And pierce the inmost centre of the earth:

Then, when you come to Pluto's region,

I pray you, deliver him this petition;

Tell him, it is for justice and for aid,

And that it comes from old Andronicus,

Shaken with sorrows in ungrateful Rome.

Ah, Rome! Well, well; I made thee miserable

What time I threw the people's suffrages

On him that thus doth tyrannize o'er me.

Go, get you gone; and pray be careful all,

And leave you not a man-of-war unsearch'd:

This wicked emperor may have shipp'd her hence;

And, kinsmen, then we may go pipe for justice.

MARCUS ANDRONICUS

O Publius, is not this a heavy case,

To see thy noble uncle thus distract?

PUBLIUS

Therefore, my lord, it highly us concerns

By day and night to attend him carefully,

And feed his humour kindly as we may,

Till time beget some careful remedy.

MARCUS ANDRONICUS

Kinsmen, his sorrows are past remedy.

Join with the Goths; and with revengeful war

Take wreak on Rome for this ingratitude,

And vengeance on the traitor Saturnine.

TITUS ANDRONICUS

Publius, how now! how now, my masters!

What, have you met with her?

PUBLIUS

No, my good lord; but Pluto sends you word,

If you will have Revenge from hell, you shall:

Marry, for Justice, she is so employ'd,

He thinks, with Jove in heaven, or somewhere else,

So that perforce you must needs stay a time.

TITUS ANDRONICUS

He doth me wrong to feed me with delays.

I'll dive into the burning lake below,

And pull her out of Acheron by the heels.

Marcus, we are but shrubs, no cedars we

No big-boned men framed of the Cyclops' size;

But metal, Marcus, steel to the very back,

Yet wrung with wrongs more than our backs can bear:

And, sith there's no justice in earth nor hell,

We will solicit heaven and move the gods

To send down Justice for to wreak our wrongs.

Come, to this gear. You are a good archer, Marcus;

He gives them the arrows

'Ad Jovem,' that's for you: here, 'Ad Apollinem:'

'Ad Martem,' that's for myself:

Here, boy, to Pallas: here, to Mercury:

To Saturn, Caius, not to Saturnine;

You were as good to shoot against the wind.

To it, boy! Marcus, loose when I bid.

Of my word, I have written to effect;

There's not a god left unsolicited.

MARCUS ANDRONICUS

Kinsmen, shoot all your shafts into the court:

We will afflict the emperor in his pride.

TITUS ANDRONICUS

Now, masters, draw.

They shoot

O, well said, Lucius!

Good boy, in Virgo's lap; give it Pallas.

MARCUS ANDRONICUS

My lord, I aim a mile beyond the moon;

Your letter is with Jupiter by this.

TITUS ANDRONICUS

Ha, ha!

Publius, Publius, what hast thou done?

See, see, thou hast shot off one of Taurus' horns.

MARCUS ANDRONICUS

This was the sport, my lord: when Publius shot,

The Bull, being gall'd, gave Aries such a knock

That down fell both the Ram's horns in the court;

And who should find them but the empress' villain?

She laugh'd, and told the Moor he should not choose

But give them to his master for a present.

TITUS ANDRONICUS

Why, there it goes: God give his lordship joy!

Enter a Clown, with a basket, and two pigeons in it

News, news from heaven! Marcus, the post is come.

Sirrah, what tidings? have you any letters?

Shall I have justice? what says Jupiter?

Clown

O, the gibbet-maker! he says that he hath taken

them down again, for the man must not be hanged till

the next week.

TITUS ANDRONICUS

But what says Jupiter, I ask thee?

Clown

Alas, sir, I know not Jupiter; I never drank with him

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

forbid I should be so bold to press to heaven in my

young days. Why, I am going with my pigeons to the

tribunal plebs, to take up a matter of brawl

betwixt my uncle and one of the emperial's men.

MARCUS ANDRONICUS

Why, sir, that is as fit as can be to serve for

your oration; and let him deliver the pigeons to

the emperor from you.

TITUS ANDRONICUS

Tell me, can you deliver an oration to the emperor

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,

But give your pigeons to the emperor:

By me thou shalt have justice at his hands.

Hold, hold; meanwhile here's money for thy charges.

Give me pen and ink. Sirrah, can you with a grace

deliver a supplication?

Clown

Ay, sir.

TITUS ANDRONICUS

Then here is a supplication for you. And when you

come to him, at the first approach you must kneel,

then kiss his foot, then deliver up your pigeons, and

then look for your reward. I'll be at hand, sir; see

you do it bravely.

Clown

I warrant you, sir, let me alone.

TITUS ANDRONICUS

Sirrah, hast thou a knife? come, let me see it.

Here, Marcus, fold it in the oration;

For thou hast made it like an humble suppliant.

And when thou hast given it the emperor,

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.

Exeunt