Titus Andronicus Glossary

Glossary of Terms

"Ad manes fratrum"

to our brothers' spirits

"Integer vitae scelerisque purus Non egat Mauri iaculis nec arcu"

he who is of upright life and free from crime does not need the javelins or bow of the Moor

"Magni dominator poli, Tam lentus audis scelera? tam lentus vides?"

ruler of the great heavens, are you so slow to hear crimes? and so slow to see?

"Per Stygia, per manes vehor"

Through Stygian realms I am carried (see: Stygian)

"Sit fas aut nefas"

be it right or wrong

"Solon's happiness"

Solon said, "Call no man happy until he is dead."

"Suum cuique"

to each his own

"swart Cimmerian"

"swart" means "swarthy", as in dark, and Cimmerians were said to live in darkness

"Terras Astraea reliquit"

Astraea (the goddess of justice) has quit the earth

"The wandering prince and Dido"

a reference to Dido and Aeneas, characters in Virgil's Aeneid

Acheron

a river in Hades

affy

trust

Ajax

a Greek champion in Homer's Iliad

Alcides

Hercules

bootless

without result

Cerberus

three-headed guard dog of Hades

continence

self-restraint

Coriolanus

an exiled Roman general who led an army against Rome; later the subject of one of Shakespeare's tragedies

Cornelia

mother of the Gracchi, who were famous Roman tribunes

Enceladus

a legendary Titan who fought the Olympians

gloze

speak deceptively

habiliment

clothes

Hector

a champion of Troy

Hymanaeus

the marriage god

Hyperion

the sun god

King Priam

the mythic king of Troy, who is said to have had fifty sons

Laertes' son

Odysseus

Limbo

region just before hell

Lucrece

a chaste Roman maiden who was raped by Tarquin

Nilus

the Nile

palfreys

horses

palliament

robe

Philomel

raped by Terseus in Greek myth; he cut out her tongue to prevent her from identifying him

Phoebe

the moon goddess

Pluto's region

Hades

pretend

claim

Procne

Tereus' wife and Philomel's sister; when Tereus rapes Philomel Procne feeds their son, Itys, to Tereus

Prometheus

a Titan who stole fire from heaven and gave it to humankind

Pyramus

lover of Thisbe, predecessor to Romeo

Queen of Troy

Hecuba, who went mad and avenged the death of her sons

Saturn

god associated with gloomy, sombre temperaments

Semiramis

Assyrian queen noted in legend for her beauty and sensuousness

Sibyl's leaves

the Sibyl's prophecies were written on leaves which were then scattered in the wind

Sinon

a cunning Greek who persuaded the Trojans to let the Trojan Horse through their gates

Stuprum

rape

Stygian

hellish

Styx

the river surrounding Hades

Tereus

a mythic rapist who cut out Philomel's tongue so that she could not say who raped her

Thracian poet

Orpheus, who charmed Cerebus to sleep with his music

Titan

the sun god

Virginius

a Roman general who killed his daughter for shame after she was raped

Vulcan's badge

a cuckold's proverbial horns; Vulcan's wife, Venus, had an affair with Mars

weeds

clothes