In Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, Roman laws are replaced by a barbarian logic of revenge. It is a play about the collapse of an exemplary legal order and therefore of civilization as such. At a first glance, the barbarian Goths provoke the conflict: they come from the outside and subvert the state by occupying key positions in Rome’s administration. However, something else determines Rome’s downfall. On closer inspection, it becomes clear that the reason for the downfall derives from the nature of the Roman order itself and its conflicting claims of ‘piety’ (as fidelity to the law) and ‘pity’ (as human compassion). My interpretative approach is based on this discrepancy between piety and pity. It addresses the inner tension within English law in Shakespeare’s time. This tension is based on a conflict of law and equity and the differences between Roman civil law and English common law. With the help of Derrida’s understanding of justice, I will interpret this irresolvable aporia of law as a tragic structure.