Titus Andronicus, Act 4 Scene 3

ACT IV. SCENE III.
Rome. A public place

Enter TITUS, bearing arrows with letters on the ends of them;
with him MARCUS, YOUNG LUCIUS, and other gentlemen,
PUBLIUS, SEMPRONIUS, and CAIUS, with bows

TITUS Come, Marcus, come; kinsmen, this is the way.
  Sir boy, let me see your archery;
  Look ye draw home enough, and 'tis there straight.
  Terras Astrea reliquit,
  Be you rememb'red, 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 O Publius, is not this a heavy case,
  To see thy noble uncle thus distract?

PUBLIUS Therefore, my lords, it highly us concerns
  By day and night t' attend him carefully,
  And feed his humour kindly as we may
  Till time beget some careful remedy.

MARCUS 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 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 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-bon'd men fram'd 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 Kinsmen, shoot all your shafts into the court;
  We will afflict the Emperor in his pride.

TITUS Now, masters, draw.  [They shoot]  O, well said, Lucius!
  Good boy, in Virgo's lap! Give it Pallas.

MARCUS My lord, I aim a mile beyond the moon;
  Your letter is with Jupiter by this.

TITUS Ha! ha!
  Publius, Publius, hast thou done?
  See, see, thou hast shot off one of Taurus' horns.

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

  Enter the 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 Ho, the gibbet-maker? He says that he hath taken them
down
  again, for the man must not be hang'd till the next week.

TITUS But what says Jupiter, I ask thee?

CLOWN Alas, sir, I know not Jupiter; I never drank with him in
all
  my life.

TITUS Why, villain, art not thou the carrier?

CLOWN Ay, of my pigeons, sir; nothing else.

TITUS 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 Emperal's men. 

MARCUS 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 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 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 up
  a supplication?

CLOWN Ay, sir.

TITUS 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 Sirrah, hast thou a knife? Come let me see it.
  Here, Marcus, fold it in the oration;
  For thou hast made it like a humble suppliant.
  And when thou hast given it to the Emperor,
  Knock at my door, and tell me what he says.

CLOWN God be with you, sir; I will.

TITUS Come, Marcus, let us go. Publius, follow me.

Exeunt