Original: Why, lords, what wrongs are these! was ever seen
Modern: My lords, what insults are these! Have you ever seen

Original: An emperor in Rome thus overborne,
Modern: An emperor in Rome so disrespected and overpowered,

Original: Troubled, confronted thus; and, for the extent
Modern: Harassed and challenged like this; and when trying to enforce

Original: Of egal justice, used in such contempt?
Modern: Equal justice for all, treated with such disrespect?

Original: My lords, you know, as know the mightful gods,
Modern: My lords, you know—just as the mighty gods know—

Original: However these disturbers of our peace
Modern: That no matter what these troublemakers

Original: Buz in the people’s ears, there nought hath pass’d,
Modern: Whisper in the people’s ears, nothing has happened

Original: But even with law, against the willful sons
Modern: Except what was completely legal against the stubborn sons

Original: Of old Andronicus. And what an if
Modern: Of old Andronicus. And so what if

Original: His sorrows have so overwhelm’d his wits,
Modern: His grief has driven him so crazy—

Original: Shall we be thus afflicted in his wreaks,
Modern: Should we have to suffer because of his revenge schemes,

Original: His fits, his frenzy, and his bitterness?
Modern: His outbursts, his madness, and his anger?

Original: And now he writes to heaven for his redress:
Modern: And now he’s writing to heaven asking for justice:

Original: See, here’s to Jove, and this to Mercury;
Modern: Look, here’s one to Jupiter, and this one to Mercury;

Original: This to Apollo; this to the god of war;
Modern: This one to Apollo; this one to Mars, the god of war;

Original: Sweet scrolls to fly about the streets of Rome!
Modern: What lovely letters to be flying around the streets of Rome!

Original: What’s this but libelling against the senate,
Modern: This is nothing but slander against the senate,

Original: And blazoning our injustice every where?
Modern: And publicly advertising our supposed injustice everywhere?

Original: A goodly humour, is it not, my lords?
Modern: A fine joke, isn’t it, my lords?

Original: As who would say, in Rome no justice were.
Modern: As if to say there’s no justice in Rome.

Original: But if I live, his feigned ecstasies
Modern: But as long as I’m alive, his fake fits of madness

Original: Shall be no shelter to these outrages:
Modern: Won’t protect him from punishment for these insults:

Original: But he and his shall know that justice lives
Modern: He and his family will learn that justice is alive and well

Original: In Saturninus’ health, whom, if she sleep,
Modern: As long as Saturninus is healthy—and if justice seems asleep,

Original: He’ll so awake as she in fury shall
Modern: I’ll wake her up so that in her fury she’ll

Original: Cut off the proud’st conspirator that lives.
Modern: Execute the most arrogant conspirator alive.

In Act IV, scene iv of “Titus Andronicus,” Saturninus receives news that has thrown Rome into turmoil. A clown has delivered arrows with messages attached to various Roman gods, which were shot by Titus Andronicus in the previous scene. The Emperor is greatly disturbed by this act and interprets it as a sign of Titus’s dangerous madness and potential threat to his authority. Saturninus declares that Titus has gone too far and must be stopped, viewing the old general’s behavior as increasingly threatening to the stability of his reign.

The scene shifts focus when a messenger arrives with urgent news: the Goths, led by Titus’s son Lucius, are approaching Rome with a substantial army. This development alarms Saturninus, who realizes he faces a serious military threat from the exiled Lucius and his Gothic allies. Tamora attempts to calm the Emperor’s fears, suggesting that she can manage the situation with Titus and proposing a strategy to deal with the approaching forces. The scene establishes the mounting external pressure on Saturninus’s rule while highlighting the growing power of Lucius’s revenge-seeking coalition outside Rome’s walls.

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.