QUOTES FROM THE BARD

PLAY: Titus Andronicus
ACT/SCENE: 1.1
SPEAKER: Tamora
CONTEXT:
TAMORA
Stay, Roman brethren! Gracious conqueror,
Victorious Titus, rue the tears I shed,
A mother’s tears in passion for her son:
And if thy sons were ever dear to thee,
O, think my son to be as dear to me!
Sufficeth not that we are brought to Rome,
To beautify thy triumphs and return,
Captive to thee and to thy Roman yoke,
But must my sons be slaughtered in the streets,
For valiant doings in their country’s cause?
O, if to fight for king and commonweal
Were piety in thine, it is in these.
Andronicus, stain not thy tomb with blood:
Wilt thou draw near the nature of the gods?
Draw near them then in being merciful:
Sweet mercy is nobility’s true badge:
Thrice noble Titus, spare my first-born son.
TITUS ANDRONICUS
Patient yourself, madam, and pardon me.
These are their brethren, whom you Goths beheld
Alive and dead, and for their brethren slain
Religiously they ask a sacrifice:
To this your son is marked, and die he must,
To appease their groaning shadows that are gone.

DUTCH:
Wilt gij in aard den goden nader komen,
Zoo kom hun nader in barmhartigheid;
Want deernis is des adels echtste merk;
Hoogeed’le Titus , spaar mijn eerstgeboor’ne!

MORE:
Rue=Pity
Passion=Grief
Sufficeth not=Is not enough
Commonweal=The common good (‘commonwealth’, community)
Patient yourself=Calm down
Brethren=Brothers
Religiously=Solemnly
Growning shadows that are gone=Ghosts of the dead
Compleat:
Passion=Lyding, hartstogt, drift, ingenomenheyd, zydigheyd, zucht
Suffice=Genoeg zyn
It suffices that it is so=’t Is genoeg dat het zo is
Commonwealth=Gemeenebest

Topics: grief, sorrow, mercy, revenge