Speeches (Lines) for Demetrius
in "Titus Andronicus"
Total: 39

1

I,1,150

Chiron. Was ever Scythia half so barbarous?

Demetrius. Oppose not Scythia to ambitious Rome.
Alarbus goes to rest; and we survive
To tremble under Titus' threatening looks.
Then, madam, stand resolved, but hope withal
The self-same gods that arm'd the Queen of Troy
With opportunity of sharp revenge
Upon the Thracian tyrant in his tent,
May favor Tamora, the Queen of Goths—
When Goths were Goths and Tamora was queen—
To quit the bloody wrongs upon her foes.
[Re-enter LUCIUS, QUINTUS, MARTIUS and MUTIUS, with]
their swords bloody]

2

II,1,574

(stage directions). [Enter DEMETRIUS and CHIRON, braving]

Demetrius. Chiron, thy years want wit, thy wit wants edge,
And manners, to intrude where I am graced;
And may, for aught thou know'st, affected be.

3

II,1,587

Aaron. [Aside] Clubs, clubs! these lovers will not keep
the peace.

Demetrius. Why, boy, although our mother, unadvised,
Gave you a dancing-rapier by your side,
Are you so desperate grown, to threat your friends?
Go to; have your lath glued within your sheath
Till you know better how to handle it.

4

II,1,594

Chiron. Meanwhile, sir, with the little skill I have,
Full well shalt thou perceive how much I dare.

Demetrius. Ay, boy, grow ye so brave?

5

II,1,605

Aaron. [Coming forward] Why, how now, lords!
So near the emperor's palace dare you draw,
And maintain such a quarrel openly?
Full well I wot the ground of all this grudge:
I would not for a million of gold
The cause were known to them it most concerns;
Nor would your noble mother for much more
Be so dishonour'd in the court of Rome.
For shame, put up.

Demetrius. Not I, till I have sheathed
My rapier in his bosom and withal
Thrust these reproachful speeches down his throat
That he hath breathed in my dishonour here.

6

II,1,625

Chiron. I care not, I, knew she and all the world:
I love Lavinia more than all the world.

Demetrius. Youngling, learn thou to make some meaner choice:
Lavinia is thine elder brother's hope.

7

II,1,635

Aaron. To achieve her! how?

Demetrius. Why makest thou it so strange?
She is a woman, therefore may be woo'd;
She is a woman, therefore may be won;
She is Lavinia, therefore must be loved.
What, man! more water glideth by the mill
Than wots the miller of; and easy it is
Of a cut loaf to steal a shive, we know:
Though Bassianus be the emperor's brother.
Better than he have worn Vulcan's badge.

8

II,1,645

Aaron. [Aside] Ay, and as good as Saturninus may.

Demetrius. Then why should he despair that knows to court it
With words, fair looks and liberality?
What, hast not thou full often struck a doe,
And borne her cleanly by the keeper's nose?

9

II,1,652

Chiron. Ay, so the turn were served.

Demetrius. Aaron, thou hast hit it.

10

II,1,659

Chiron. Faith, not me.

Demetrius. Nor me, so I were one.

11

II,1,691

Chiron. Thy counsel, lad, smells of no cowardice,

Demetrius. Sit fas aut nefas, till I find the stream
To cool this heat, a charm to calm these fits.
Per Styga, per manes vehor.

12

II,2,728

Titus Andronicus. And I have horse will follow where the game
Makes way, and run like swallows o'er the plain.

Demetrius. Chiron, we hunt not, we, with horse nor hound,
But hope to pluck a dainty doe to ground.

13

II,3,825

(stage directions). [Enter DEMETRIUS and CHIRON]

Demetrius. How now, dear sovereign, and our gracious mother!
Why doth your highness look so pale and wan?

14

II,3,852

Tamora. Have I not reason, think you, to look pale?
These two have 'ticed me hither to this place:
A barren detested vale, you see it is;
The trees, though summer, yet forlorn and lean,
O'ercome with moss and baleful mistletoe:
Here never shines the sun; here nothing breeds,
Unless the nightly owl or fatal raven:
And when they show'd me this abhorred pit,
They told me, here, at dead time of the night,
A thousand fiends, a thousand hissing snakes,
Ten thousand swelling toads, as many urchins,
Would make such fearful and confused cries
As any mortal body hearing it
Should straight fall mad, or else die suddenly.
No sooner had they told this hellish tale,
But straight they told me they would bind me here
Unto the body of a dismal yew,
And leave me to this miserable death:
And then they call'd me foul adulteress,
Lascivious Goth, and all the bitterest terms
That ever ear did hear to such effect:
And, had you not by wondrous fortune come,
This vengeance on me had they executed.
Revenge it, as you love your mother's life,
Or be ye not henceforth call'd my children.

Demetrius. This is a witness that I am thy son.

15

II,3,860

Tamora. Give me thy poniard; you shall know, my boys
Your mother's hand shall right your mother's wrong.

Demetrius. Stay, madam; here is more belongs to her;
First thrash the corn, then after burn the straw:
This minion stood upon her chastity,
Upon her nuptial vow, her loyalty,
And with that painted hope braves your mightiness:
And shall she carry this unto her grave?

16

II,3,877

Lavinia. Sweet lords, entreat her hear me but a word.

Demetrius. Listen, fair madam: let it be your glory
To see her tears; but be your heart to them
As unrelenting flint to drops of rain.

17

II,3,921

Tamora. So should I rob my sweet sons of their fee:
No, let them satisfy their lust on thee.

Demetrius. Away! for thou hast stay'd us here too long.

18

II,4,1063

(stage directions). [Enter DEMETRIUS and CHIRON with LAVINIA, ravished;]
her hands cut off, and her tongue cut out]

Demetrius. So, now go tell, an if thy tongue can speak,
Who 'twas that cut thy tongue and ravish'd thee.

19

II,4,1067

Chiron. Write down thy mind, bewray thy meaning so,
An if thy stumps will let thee play the scribe.

Demetrius. See, how with signs and tokens she can scrowl.

20

II,4,1069

Chiron. Go home, call for sweet water, wash thy hands.

Demetrius. She hath no tongue to call, nor hands to wash;
And so let's leave her to her silent walks.

21

II,4,1072

Chiron. An 'twere my case, I should go hang myself.

Demetrius. If thou hadst hands to help thee knit the cord.

22

IV,2,1687

Young Lucius. My lords, with all the humbleness I may,
I greet your honours from Andronicus.
[Aside]
And pray the Roman gods confound you both!

Demetrius. Gramercy, lovely Lucius: what's the news?

23

IV,2,1701

(stage directions). [Exeunt Young LUCIUS, and Attendant]

Demetrius. What's here? A scroll; and written round about?
Let's see;
[Reads]
'Integer vitae, scelerisque purus,
Non eget Mauri jaculis, nec arcu.'

24

IV,2,1722

Aaron. Ay, just; a verse in Horace; right, you have it.
[Aside]
Now, what a thing it is to be an ass!
Here's no sound jest! the old man hath found their guilt;
And sends them weapons wrapped about with lines,
That wound, beyond their feeling, to the quick.
But were our witty empress well afoot,
She would applaud Andronicus' conceit:
But let her rest in her unrest awhile.
And now, young lords, was't not a happy star
Led us to Rome, strangers, and more than so,
Captives, to be advanced to this height?
It did me good, before the palace gate
To brave the tribune in his brother's hearing.

Demetrius. But me more good, to see so great a lord
Basely insinuate and send us gifts.

25

IV,2,1726

Aaron. Had he not reason, Lord Demetrius?
Did you not use his daughter very friendly?

Demetrius. I would we had a thousand Roman dames
At such a bay, by turn to serve our lust.

26

IV,2,1731

Chiron. And that would she for twenty thousand more.

Demetrius. Come, let us go; and pray to all the gods
For our beloved mother in her pains.

27

IV,2,1735

(stage directions). [Trumpets sound within]

Demetrius. Why do the emperor's trumpets flourish thus?

28

IV,2,1737

Chiron. Belike, for joy the emperor hath a son.

Demetrius. Soft! who comes here?

29

IV,2,1762

Aaron. 'Zounds, ye whore! is black so base a hue?
Sweet blowse, you are a beauteous blossom, sure.

Demetrius. Villain, what hast thou done?

30

IV,2,1766

Aaron. Villain, I have done thy mother.

Demetrius. And therein, hellish dog, thou hast undone.
Woe to her chance, and damn'd her loathed choice!
Accursed the offspring of so foul a fiend!

31

IV,2,1774

Aaron. What, must it, nurse? then let no man but I
Do execution on my flesh and blood.

Demetrius. I'll broach the tadpole on my rapier's point:
Nurse, give it me; my sword shall soon dispatch it.

32

IV,2,1796

Aaron. Sooner this sword shall plough thy bowels up.
[Takes the Child from the Nurse, and draws]
Stay, murderous villains! will you kill your brother?
Now, by the burning tapers of the sky,
That shone so brightly when this boy was got,
He dies upon my scimitar's sharp point
That touches this my first-born son and heir!
I tell you, younglings, not Enceladus,
With all his threatening band of Typhon's brood,
Nor great Alcides, nor the god of war,
Shall seize this prey out of his father's hands.
What, what, ye sanguine, shallow-hearted boys!
Ye white-limed walls! ye alehouse painted signs!
Coal-black is better than another hue,
In that it scorns to bear another hue;
For all the water in the ocean
Can never turn the swan's black legs to white,
Although she lave them hourly in the flood.
Tell the empress from me, I am of age
To keep mine own, excuse it how she can.

Demetrius. Wilt thou betray thy noble mistress thus?

33

IV,2,1802

Aaron. My mistress is my mistress; this myself,
The vigour and the picture of my youth:
This before all the world do I prefer;
This maugre all the world will I keep safe,
Or some of you shall smoke for it in Rome.

Demetrius. By this our mother is forever shamed.

34

IV,2,1819

Nurse. Aaron, what shall I say unto the empress?

Demetrius. Advise thee, Aaron, what is to be done,
And we will all subscribe to thy advice:
Save thou the child, so we may all be safe.

35

IV,2,1826

(stage directions). [They sit]

Demetrius. How many women saw this child of his?

36

IV,2,1839

Aaron. The empress, the midwife, and yourself:
Two may keep counsel when the third's away:
Go to the empress, tell her this I said.
[He kills the nurse]
Weke, weke! so cries a pig prepared to the spit.

Demetrius. What mean'st thou, Aaron? wherefore didst thou this?

37

IV,2,1864

Chiron. Aaron, I see thou wilt not trust the air
With secrets.

Demetrius. For this care of Tamora,
Herself and hers are highly bound to thee.
[Exeunt DEMETRIUS and CHIRON bearing off the]
Nurse's body]

38

V,2,2401

Tamora. What wouldst thou have us do, Andronicus?

Demetrius. Show me a murderer, I'll deal with him.

39

V,2,2456

Titus Andronicus. [Aside] I know them all, though they suppose me mad,
And will o'erreach them in their own devices:
A pair of cursed hell-hounds and their dam!

Demetrius. Madam, depart at pleasure; leave us here.