Original: Hear me, grave fathers! noble tribunes, stay!
Modern: Listen to me, serious leaders! Noble judges, wait!

Original: For pity of mine age, whose youth was spent
Modern: Have pity on me because of my old age—I spent my youth

Original: In dangerous wars, whilst you securely slept;
Modern: Fighting in dangerous wars while you slept safely at home;

Original: For all my blood in Rome’s great quarrel shed;
Modern: For all the blood I’ve shed fighting for Rome’s causes;

Original: For all the frosty nights that I have watch’d;
Modern: For all the freezing nights I’ve stood guard on watch;

Original: And for these bitter tears, which now you see
Modern: And for these painful tears that you now see

Original: Filling the aged wrinkles in my cheeks;
Modern: Filling the old wrinkles in my face;

Original: Be pitiful to my condemned sons,
Modern: Show mercy to my sons who have been sentenced to death,

Original: Whose souls are not corrupted as ‘tis thought.
Modern: Whose souls are not evil as people think.

Original: For two and twenty sons I never wept,
Modern: For twenty-two sons I never cried,

Original: Because they died in honour’s lofty bed.
Modern: Because they died honorably in battle.

Original: For these, these, tribunes, in the dust I write
Modern: For these sons, judges, I write in the dirt

Original: My heart’s deep languor and my soul’s sad tears:
Modern: My heart’s deep sorrow and my soul’s grieving tears:

Original: Let my tears stanch the earth’s dry appetite;
Modern: Let my tears satisfy the earth’s thirst;

Original: My sons’ sweet blood will make it shame and blush.
Modern: My sons’ innocent blood will make the earth ashamed and embarrassed.

Original: O earth, I will befriend thee more with rain,
Modern: Oh earth, I will water you more with tears,

Original: That shall distil from these two ancient urns,
Modern: That will pour from these two old vessels (my eyes),

Original: Than youthful April shall with all his showers:
Modern: Than the spring month of April will with all its rain showers:

Original: In summer’s drought I’ll drop upon thee still;
Modern: During summer’s dry season I’ll still drip tears on you;

Original: In winter with warm tears I’ll melt the snow
Modern: In winter I’ll melt the snow with my warm tears

Original: And keep eternal spring-time on thy face,
Modern: And keep you looking like it’s always spring,

Original: So thou refuse to drink my dear sons’ blood.
Modern: If only you will refuse to drink my beloved sons’ blood.

Original: O reverend tribunes! O gentle, aged men!
Modern: Oh respected judges! Oh kind, elderly men!

Original: Unbind my sons, reverse the doom of death;
Modern: Release my sons, cancel the death sentence;

Original: And let me say, that never wept before,
Modern: And let me tell you, even though I’ve never cried before,

Original: My tears are now prevailing orators.
Modern: My tears are now the most persuasive arguments I have.

In Act III, Scene 1 of “Titus Andronicus,” Titus appears with his remaining family members as they plead for the lives of his sons Quintus and Martius, who have been falsely accused of murdering Bassianus. Titus, Marcus, and young Lucius lie prostrate before the judges and tribunes as they pass by, begging for mercy, but their pleas are ignored. Lavinia enters in her mutilated state, having been raped and had her tongue cut out and hands cut off by Chiron and Demetrius. Titus and Marcus express their horror and grief at her condition, with Titus noting that she can no longer even embrace him or write her thoughts without hands.

Aaron the Moor arrives and informs Titus that the Emperor will spare his sons’ lives if either Titus, Marcus, or Lucius will cut off one of their own hands and send it to the court. All three men volunteer, but Titus tricks the others into leaving so he can have Aaron cut off his hand privately. After Aaron departs with the severed hand, a messenger returns with Titus’s hand along with the heads of his two executed sons, revealing that Aaron’s promise was a cruel deception. Overcome with grief but determined to seek revenge, Titus laughs at the absurdity of his suffering while his brother Marcus and son Lucius vow vengeance. Titus sends Lucius to raise an army among the Goths, and the scene concludes with the family carrying off the heads and hand to bury them.

Titus Andronicus opens with the Roman general Titus returning victorious from war against the Goths, bringing with him prisoners including Tamora, Queen of the Goths, and her three sons. Despite Tamora’s pleas, Titus sacrifices her eldest son Alarbus in revenge for his own sons killed in battle. The Emperor Saturninus chooses Tamora as his bride, and she secretly plots revenge against Titus. Meanwhile, Titus’s daughter Lavinia is betrothed to Bassianus, the Emperor’s brother, though Saturninus had wanted to marry her himself.

Tamora’s sons Demetrius and Chiron, aided by the villainous Aaron the Moor, murder Bassianus and brutally assault Lavinia, cutting off her hands and tongue to prevent her from identifying them. Aaron tricks two of Titus’s sons, Quintus and Martius, into falling into the pit where Bassianus’s body lies, and they are arrested for his murder. Aaron then deceives Titus into believing that if he cuts off his own hand and sends it to the Emperor, his sons will be spared. Titus complies, but receives back his severed hand along with the heads of his executed sons.

Lavinia manages to reveal her attackers’ identities by writing in the dirt with a stick held in her mouth. Titus feigns madness while plotting revenge and sends weapons with threatening messages to Tamora’s sons. When Tamora gives birth to Aaron’s child, Aaron flees with the baby but is eventually captured. In the final act, Titus kills Tamora’s sons and serves them to her baked in a pie at a banquet. He then kills Lavinia to end her suffering, murders Tamora, and is immediately killed by Saturninus. Titus’s surviving son Lucius kills Saturninus and is proclaimed the new Emperor, ordering Aaron to be buried alive and vowing to restore order to Rome.