A stone is soft as wax,--tribunes more hard than stones;
A stone is silent, and offendeth not,
And tribunes with their tongues doom men to death.
[Rises]
But wherefore stand'st thou with thy weapon drawn?
LUCIUS To rescue my two brothers from their death:
For which attempt the judges have pronounced
My everlasting doom of banishment.
TITUS ANDRONICUS O happy man! they have befriended thee.
Why, foolish Lucius, dost thou not perceive
That Rome is but a wilderness of tigers?
Tigers must prey, and Rome affords no prey
But me and mine: how happy art thou, then,
From these devourers to be banished!
But who comes with our brother Marcus here?
[Enter MARCUS and LAVINIA]
MARCUS ANDRONICUS Titus, prepare thy aged eyes to weep;
Or, if not so, thy noble heart to break:
I bring consuming sorrow to thine age.
TITUS ANDRONICUS Will it consume me? let me see it, then.
MARCUS ANDRONICUS This was thy daughter.
TITUS ANDRONICUS Why, Marcus, so she is.
LUCIUS Ay me, this object kills me!
TITUS ANDRONICUS Faint-hearted boy, arise, and look upon her.
Speak, Lavinia, what accursed hand
Hath made thee handless in thy father's sight?
What fool hath added water to the sea,
Or brought a faggot to bright-burning Troy?
My grief was at the height before thou camest,
And now like Nilus, it disdaineth bounds.
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