Approved warriors and my faithful friends,
I have received letters from great Rome
Which signifies what hate they bear their emperor
And how desirous of our sight they are.
Therefore, great lords, be, as your titles witness,
Imperious, and impatient of your wrongs;
And wherein Rome hath done you any scath,
Let him make treble satisfaction.
Worthy warriors and faithful friends, I have received letters from great Rome that show how much they hate their emperor and how eager they are to see us.
My brave soldiers, my loyal friends—Rome has sent me letters. They hate their emperor, and they want to see us coming.
rome sent letters. they hate saturnine. they want us.
Brave slip, sprung from the great Andronicus,
Whose name was once our terror, now our comfort,
Whose high exploits and honourable deeds
Ingrateful Rome requites with foul contempt,
Be bold in us. We’ll follow where thou lead’st,
Like stinging bees in hottest summer’s day
Led by their master to the flowered fields,
And be avenged on cursed Tamora.
Brave young leader, sprung from great Andronicus, whose name was once Rome's terror and now is our comfort—ungrateful Rome repays his noble deeds with shameful contempt, yet we will make him great again.
You're Titus Andronicus's son—his name used to terrify Rome, now it's our hope. Rome treated his noble service with shameful contempt, but we'll restore his honor.
you're andronicus's son. his name was rome's terror. they shamed him. we'll make him great.
And as he saith, so say we all with him.
And as he says, so say we all.
We agree. All of us.
yes. we all agree.
I humbly thank him, and I thank you all.
But who comes here, led by a lusty Goth?
I humbly thank you, and thank you all. But who comes here, led by a Goth?
Thank you all. I'm grateful. But who's that coming, being led by one of our men?
thank you. who's coming?
Renowned Lucius, from our troops I strayed
To gaze upon a ruinous monastery;
And as I earnestly did fix mine eye
Upon the wasted building, suddenly
I heard a child cry underneath a wall.
I made unto the noise, when soon I heard
The crying babe controlled with this discourse:
“Peace, tawny slave, half me and half thy dame!
Did not thy hue bewray whose brat thou art,
Had nature lent thee but thy mother’s look,
Villain, thou mightst have been an emperor.
But where the bull and cow are both milk-white,
They never do beget a coal-black calf.
Peace, villain, peace!” even thus he rates the babe,
“For I must bear thee to a trusty Goth,
Who, when he knows thou art the empress’ babe,
Will hold thee dearly for thy mother’s sake.”
With this, my weapon drawn, I rushed upon him,
Surprised him suddenly, and brought him hither
To use as you think needful of the man.
Renowned Lucius, I strayed from our troops to gaze on a ruined monastery, and as I looked at the broken building, I suddenly heard a child crying in the vault—a devil child, black as coal, shrieking in the dark. I bring it to you as a sign from heaven of your father's vindication.
Lucius, I wandered from the army to look at some old ruins, and I heard a child screaming from underground—a black newborn, crying in the darkness. It's a sign from heaven that your father will be avenged.
i heard a child screaming in the dark. a black baby in the ruins. heaven sent it. as a sign.
O worthy Goth, this is the incarnate devil
That robbed Andronicus of his good hand;
This is the pearl that pleased your empress’ eye;
And here’s the base fruit of her burning lust.
Say, wall-eyed slave, whither wouldst thou convey
This growing image of thy fiend-like face?
Why dost not speak? What, deaf? Not a word?
A halter, soldiers, hang him on this tree,
And by his side his fruit of bastardy.
O worthy Goth, this is the devil incarnate who robbed Andronicus of his hand. This is the precious one who pleased the empress's eye, and here's the shameful fruit of her lust.
That's the devil who cut off my father's hand. That's the one the empress loved, and here's the proof of their affair.
that's aaron's bastard. the proof. the empress's shame.
Touch not the boy, he is of royal blood.
Don't touch the boy—he is of royal blood.
Don't hurt the child. He's of royal blood.
don't touch him. royal blood.
Too like the sire for ever being good.
First hang the child, that he may see it sprawl,
A sight to vex the father’s soul withal.
Get me a ladder.
Too much like his father to ever be good. Hang the child first so he'll watch his father die. Get me a ladder.
He's too much like Aaron. Hang the boy first—let Aaron watch. Get a ladder.
hang the kid. let aaron watch. get a ladder.
Aaron's confession in 5-1 is not a dramatic reveal — the audience already knows everything he tells Lucius. Its function is not informational. It is characterological. Aaron delivers his crimes as a curriculum vitae: evidence of his worth, a catalogue of his art.
The speech distinguishes crimes he planned (the letter, the gold, the hand) from crimes of pleasure (digging up corpses, setting barns on fire, carving messages on dead skin). Some crimes served Tamora's political aims; others served only Aaron's appetite for causing pain. He doesn't distinguish between them morally.
The final clause — 'nothing grieves me heartily indeed / But that I cannot do ten thousand more' — is a formal statement of values. Aaron's regret is not about harm done but about a finite capacity to do harm. His only disappointment is limitation.
What makes the speech remarkable is its consistency with the rest of his character. He has been honest throughout: honest about his ambitions (2-1), honest about his contempt for Chiron and Demetrius (4-2), honest about his paternity (4-2), honest about his atheism (5-1). His confession is simply the last and most comprehensive installation of that honesty. He has never hidden what he is. The play just hasn't asked him to display it all at once until now.
Lucius, save the child;
And bear it from me to the empress.
If thou do this, I’ll show thee wondrous things
That highly may advantage thee to hear.
If thou wilt not, befall what may befall,
I’ll speak no more but “Vengeance rot you all!”
Lucius, spare the child and take him to the empress. If you do this, I'll reveal wondrous secrets that will greatly advantage you to hear.
Lucius, save the boy and give him to the empress. Do that, and I'll tell you things worth knowing—really important things.
save the boy. get him to the empress. i'll tell you secrets. important ones.
Say on, and if it please me which thou speak’st,
Thy child shall live, and I will see it nourished.
Speak on. If what you say pleases me, the child will live, and I will see him cared for.
Go ahead. If I like what I hear, the boy lives and I'll take care of him.
talk. if i like it, the kid lives.
And if it please thee? Why, assure thee, Lucius,
’Twill vex thy soul to hear what I shall speak;
For I must talk of murders, rapes, and massacres,
Acts of black night, abominable deeds,
Complots of mischief, treason, villainies,
Ruthful to hear, yet piteously performed.
And this shall all be buried in my death,
Unless thou swear to me my child shall live.
And if it pleases you? Lucius, I swear, what I'm about to say will torment your soul. I must speak of murders, rapes, massacres—the black deeds of night, abominable crimes that I have plotted with the empress and her sons.
Will it please you? Lucius, what you're about to hear will destroy you. Murders, rapes, massacres—all the evil I plotted with the empress and her sons.
you won't like it. murders. rapes. masacres. i plotted it all. with tamora and her sons.
Tell on thy mind; I say thy child shall live.
Tell everything. The child will live.
Talk. The boy lives.
say it all. the kid stays alive.
Swear that he shall, and then I will begin.
Swear that he will, and then I'll begin.
Swear it. Then I'll talk.
swear it.
Who should I swear by? Thou believ’st no god.
That granted, how canst thou believe an oath?
Who should I swear by? You don't believe in God. If you don't believe in Him, how can you believe in an oath?
Who do I swear by? You don't believe in God, so how's an oath meaningful to you?
who do i swear by? you don't believe in god. an oath is meaningless to you.
What if I do not? As indeed I do not;
Yet, for I know thou art religious,
And hast a thing within thee called conscience,
With twenty popish tricks and ceremonies
Which I have seen thee careful to observe,
Therefore I urge thy oath; for that I know
An idiot holds his bauble for a god,
And keeps the oath which by that god he swears,
To that I’ll urge him. Therefore thou shalt vow
By that same god, what god soe’er it be
That thou adorest and hast in reverence,
To save my boy, to nourish and bring him up;
Or else I will discover naught to thee.
You're right—I don't believe in God. But I know you're religious, that you have a conscience. So I'll accept your oath with all its ceremonies and priests. Swear to me the child will live, and I'll reveal everything.
True—I don't believe. But you do, and you have a conscience. So swear to me with all your religious rituals. Swear the child will live, and I'll tell you everything.
i don't believe. but you do. swear by your god. swear the kid lives. then i'll talk.
Even by my god I swear to thee I will.
By my god I swear to you—the child will live.
I swear by God the boy will live.
i swear. by god. the kid lives.
First know thou, I begot him on the empress.
First, know that I fathered him on the empress.
First: the empress and I made this child together.
the empress. and me. this is our child.
Aaron's baby is the most structurally efficient device in the play. Consider what it accomplishes:
In 4-2, it reveals Aaron's only genuine human attachment, complicates his villainy, and drives the cover-up plot. In 4-3 and 4-4, it is indirectly present in Tamora's anxiety about Aaron being 'wise.' In 5-1, it provides the leverage Lucius needs to extract a full confession.
Without the baby, Aaron has no reason to bargain. He might simply refuse to speak, or speak only to taunt. The baby creates the one vulnerability a man with Aaron's psychology could have: not his life, not his safety, but his child's.
The baby also creates the play's most explicit moral inversion. Aaron, who has orchestrated more suffering than any other character, is caught because of love. The villainous characters who want to kill the baby — Tamora, Chiron, Demetrius, and in a way Lucius — are all, in that specific moment, behaving worse than Aaron. Shakespeare doesn't resolve this. He leaves it.
The baby's ultimate fate — saved, raised by Lucius's word — is the play's only successful act of mercy toward an innocent.
O most insatiate and luxurious woman!
O most insatiable and lustful woman!
What a greedy, lustful woman!
disgusting. how luxurious. how wanton.
Tut, Lucius, this was but a deed of charity
To that which thou shalt hear of me anon.
’Twas her two sons that murdered Bassianus;
They cut thy sister’s tongue, and ravished her,
And cut her hands, and trimmed her as thou sawest.
That was just charity compared to what's coming. It was her two sons who murdered Bassianus. They cut your sister's tongue and ravished her, then threw her mangled body into the pit.
That's nothing compared to what's next. Her sons murdered Bassianus. They cut out your sister's tongue, raped her, and threw her ruined body in a pit.
that's minor. her sons murdered bassianus. cut lavinia's tongue. raped her. threw her in a pit.
O detestable villain, call’st thou that trimming?
O detestable villain, do you call that trimming?
Detestable villain—you call that 'trimming'?
trimming? they destroyed her.
Why, she was washed, and cut, and trimmed; and ’twas
Trim sport for them which had the doing of it.
Yes, she was washed, cut, and trimmed. It was fine sport for those who did it.
She was washed, cut, trimmed—fine entertainment for the boys.
washed. cut. trimmed. fun for them.
O barbarous beastly villains, like thyself!
O barbarous, beastly villains, like yourself!
Barbarous beasts! Like you!
monsters. like you.
Indeed, I was their tutor to instruct them.
That codding spirit had they from their mother,
As sure a card as ever won the set;
That bloody mind I think they learned of me,
As true a dog as ever fought at head.
Well, let my deeds be witness of my worth.
I trained thy brethren to that guileful hole
Where the dead corpse of Bassianus lay.
I wrote the letter that thy father found,
And hid the gold within that letter mentioned,
Confederate with the queen and her two sons.
And what not done, that thou hast cause to rue,
Wherein I had no stroke of mischief in’t?
I played the cheater for thy father’s hand,
And, when I had it, drew myself apart,
And almost broke my heart with extreme laughter.
I pried me through the crevice of a wall
When, for his hand, he had his two sons’ heads;
Beheld his tears, and laughed so heartily
That both mine eyes were rainy like to his.
And when I told the empress of this sport,
She sounded almost at my pleasing tale,
And for my tidings gave me twenty kisses.
Indeed, I was their teacher. They had that coddling spirit from their mother, as sure as a card winning the game. But the bloody mind—I think they learned that from me. And I instructed them further in their crimes.
I taught them. They got their softness from their mother, but the cruelty? That came from me. And I showed them how to make it worse.
i was their tutor. i taught them cruelty. i made them worse.
What, canst thou say all this and never blush?
Can you say all this and not blush?
You can talk about this and not feel shame?
how are you not ashamed?
Ay, like a black dog, as the saying is.
Yes, like a black dog—that's the saying.
Yes, I'm shameless. Like a black dog.
shameless. like a black dog.
Art thou not sorry for these heinous deeds?
Are you not sorry for these heinous crimes?
Don't you regret any of this?
any regrets?
Ay, that I had not done a thousand more.
Even now I curse the day, and yet, I think,
Few come within the compass of my curse,
Wherein I did not some notorious ill,
As kill a man, or else devise his death;
Ravish a maid, or plot the way to do it;
Accuse some innocent, and forswear myself;
Set deadly enmity between two friends;
Make poor men’s cattle break their necks;
Set fire on barns and haystalks in the night,
And bid the owners quench them with their tears.
Oft have I digged up dead men from their graves,
And set them upright at their dear friends’ door,
Even when their sorrows almost was forgot,
And on their skins, as on the bark of trees,
Have with my knife carved in Roman letters,
“Let not your sorrow die, though I am dead.”
But I have done a thousand dreadful things
As willingly as one would kill a fly,
And nothing grieves me heartily indeed
But that I cannot do ten thousand more.
Sorry? I wish I had committed a thousand more evil deeds. Even now I curse the day, and yet few days have passed where I didn't do something notoriously wicked. If I had more time, I would have done worse still.
Sorry? I wish I'd done a thousand more. I curse the day, but I've barely scratched the surface. If I had time, I'd do worse.
i wish i did more. a thousand more. if i had time. i'd do worse.
Lucius is the play's designated survivor and new emperor. He is also a man who, in this scene, casually orders a newborn hanged 'that he may see it sprawl' as a torture device against the father. The line is not softened or apologised for.
Shakespeare gives Lucius the moral authority of the avenger while refusing to make him morally comfortable. He has banished Titus's sons (1-1), pursued revenge with a foreign army, and now threatens infanticide as an interrogation technique.
The ending of the play raises questions the text doesn't answer: What kind of Rome will Lucius build? He has Aaron — a man he made a promise to and will presumably keep — in custody. He has the baby. He is becoming emperor of a city whose streets have been poisoned by the Saturninus-Tamora regime.
The critical literature on Lucius is extensive and divided. Some scholars read him as a genuine restoration figure, others as a figure whose means contaminate his ends. The scene in which he threatens the baby is usually cited as the key piece of evidence for the latter reading. Shakespeare does not resolve it.
Bring down the devil, for he must not die
So sweet a death as hanging presently.
Bring down the devil. He must not die so sweetly as by hanging now.
Get him down. Hanging is too easy for him.
get him down. hanging is too sweet.
If there be devils, would I were a devil,
To live and burn in everlasting fire,
So I might have your company in hell
But to torment you with my bitter tongue!
If there are devils, I wish I were one—to live and burn in hell forever just to have your company there and torment you with my tongue.
If hell exists, I wish I were damned to burn there forever—just to be with you and torture you with my words.
if there's a hell i'd burn forever just to torment you with my words.
Sirs, stop his mouth, and let him speak no more.
Gag him. Let him speak no more.
Stop him. No more talking.
shut him up.
My lord, there is a messenger from Rome
Desires to be admitted to your presence.
My lord, there is a messenger from Rome requesting to see you.
My lord, Rome sent a messenger who wants to see you.
rome sent a messenger.
Let him come near.
Welcome, Aemilius. What’s the news from Rome?
Let him come. Welcome, Aemilius. What news from Rome?
Let him through. Aemilius—welcome. What's Rome saying?
welcome, aemilius. what news?
Lord Lucius, and you princes of the Goths,
The Roman emperor greets you all by me;
And, for he understands you are in arms,
He craves a parley at your father’s house,
Willing you to demand your hostages,
And they shall be immediately delivered.
Lord Lucius and princes of the Goths, the Roman emperor sends you his greetings through me. Understanding that you are armed, he requests a parley at your father's house, with his soldiers distant, to make peace.
Lucius and Goth princes, Saturnine greets you. He knows you're armed, but he wants to talk at your father's house—his soldiers will stay back so you can make peace.
saturnine greets you. he wants to talk. at your father's house. peace, he says.
What says our general?
What does our general say?
What's your answer, sir?
what do you say?
Aemilius, let the emperor give his pledges
Unto my father and my uncle Marcus,
And we will come. March away.
Aemilius, the emperor must give his pledges to my father and uncle Marcus, and then we will come. March forward.
Aemilius, tell Saturnine to give hostages to my father and uncle. Then we'll come. Let's move.
he gives hostages. to my father and uncle. then we come. let's go.
The Reckoning
The scene's emotional centre is Aaron's confession — the most sustained piece of amoral self-disclosure in Shakespeare before Iago. He confesses to everything not in remorse but in pride. His list of crimes includes things never shown in the play — digging up corpses, carving messages on their skins, setting fire to haystacks — and the excess is deliberate: Aaron is performing the role of supervillain for an audience that would prefer a category. The baby complicates this. Aaron fought to save this child in 4-2; now the child is the leverage used against him. He bargains for it without hesitation. He is consistent: the child comes first.
If this happened today…
A person who has done terrible things is caught — not because of brilliant police work but because he refused to abandon the one person he loved. When interrogated, instead of minimising or expressing remorse, he catalogues every bad thing he's ever done with visible satisfaction. Then he bargains for his child's safety using that catalogue as currency. What do you do with a person like that?