Chi. O, 'tis a verse in Horace; I know it well: I read it in the grammar long ago.

[have it. Aar. Ay, just!-a verse in Horace;-right, you Now, what a thing it is to be an ass! Here's no sound jest! the old man hath found their guilt;

And sends the weapons wrapp'd about with
lines,
[quick. Aside.
That wound, beyond their feeling, to the
But were our witty empress well a-foot,
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.
Dem. But me more good, to see so a great lord
Basely insinuate, and send us gifts.

Aar. Had he not reason, lord Demetrius ?
Did you not use his daughter very friendly?

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

Chi. A charitable wish, and full of love. Aar. Here lacks but your mother for to say [more.

amen.

Chi. And that would she for twenty thousand Dem. Come, let us go! and pray to all the gods For our beloved mother in her pains.

Aar. Pray to the devils; the gods have given us o'er. (Aside. Flourish.) Dem. Why do the emperor's trumpets flourish thus?

Chi. Belike, for joy the emperor hath a son. Dem. Soft; who comes here?

Enter a Nurse, with a black-a-moor child in her arms.
Nur.
Good-morrow, lords:
O, tell me, did you see Aaron the Moor.
Aar. Well, more, or less, or ne'er a whit at all,
Here Aaron is; and what with Aaron now?
Nur. O gentle Aaron, we are all undone!
Now help, or woe betide thee evermore!

Aar. Why, what a caterwauling dost thou keep? What dost thou wrap and fumble in thine arms?

Nur. O, that which I would hide from heaven's eye,

Our empress' shame, and stately Rome's disgrace;She is deliver'd, lords, she is deliver'd.

Aar. To whom?

Nur.

I mean, she's brought to bed. Aar. Well, God Give her good rest! What hath he sent her? Nur.

A devil.

Aar. Why, then she's the devil's dam; a joyful issue. [sue:

Nur. A joyless, dismal, black, and sorrowful isHere is the babe, as loathsome as a toad Amongst the fairest breeders of our clime. The empress sends it thee, thy stamp, thy seal, And bids thee christen it with thy dagger's point.

Aar. Out, out, you whore! is black so base a hue ?Sweet blowse, you are a beauteous blossom, sure. Dem. Villain, what hast thou done? Aar. Done! that which thou

Canst not undo.

Chi.
Thou hast undone our mother.
Aar. Villain, I have done thy mother.
Dem. And therein, hellish dog, thou hast undone.
Woe to her chance, and damn'd her loathed choice!
Accurs'd the offspring of so foul a fiend!

Chi. It shall not live.
Aar.

It shall not die.

Nur. Aaron, it must: the mother wills it so. Aar. What, must it, nurse? then let no man, but I, Do execution on my flesh and blood. Dem. I'll broach the tadpole on my rapier's point: Nurse, give it me; my sword shall soon despatch it

Aar. Sooner this sword shall plow 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 threat'ning 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-lim'd 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 a 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.

Dem. Wilt thou betray thy noble mistress thus?
Aar. 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 i
Rome.
Dem. By this our mother is for ever sham'd.
Chi. Rome will despise her for this foul escape.
Nur. The emperor, in his rage, will doom her
death.

Chi. I blush to think upon this ignominy.
Aar. Why, there's the privilege your beauty

bears:

Fy, treacherous hue! that will betray with blushing
The close enacts and counsels of the heart!
Here's a young lad fram'd of another leer:
Look, how the black slave smiles upon the father;
As who should say, Old lad, I am thine own.
He is your brother, lords; sensibly fed
Of that self-blood that first gave life to you;
And, from that womb, where you imprison'd were,
He is enfranchised and come to light:
Nay, he's your brother by the surer side,
Although my seal be stamped in his face.

Nur. Aaron, what shall I say unto the empress?
Dem. 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.

Aar. Then sit we down, and let us all consult. My son and I will have the wind of you: Keep there: Now talk at pleasure of your safety. (They sit on the ground.) Dem. How many women saw this child of his? Aar. Why, so, brave lords: When we all join in league,

I am a lamb: but if you brave the Moor,
The chafed boar, the mountain lioness,
The oceans swells not so as Aaron storms.-
But, say again, how many saw the child?

Nur. Cornelia the midwife, and myself,
And no one else, but the deliver'd empress.

Aar. The emperess, the midwife, and yourself: Two may keep counsel, when the third's away: Go to the empress; tell her, this I said :(Stabbing her.) Weke, weke !-so cries a pig prepared to the spit. Dem. What mean'st thou, Aaron? Wherefore didst thou this?

Aar. O lord, sir, 'tis a deed of policy: Shall she live to betray this guilt of ours? A long-tongu'd babbling gossip? no, lords, no. And now be it known to you my full intent. Not far, one Muliteus lives, my countryman, His wife but yesternight was brought to bed; His child is like to her, fair as you are: Go pack with him, and give the mother gold, And tell them both the circumstance of all; And how by this their child shall be advanc'd, And be received for the emperor's heir, And substituted in the place of mine,

To calm this tempest whirling in the court;
And let the emperor dandle him for his own.
Hark ye, lords; ye see that I have given her phy-
sic,
(Pointing to the Nurse.)
And you must needs bestow her funeral;
The fields are near, and you are gallant grooms:
This done, see that you take no longer days,
But send the midwife presently to me.
The midwife, and the nurse, well made away,
Then let the ladies tattle what they please.

Chi. Aaron, see, thou wilt not trust the air
With secrets.
Dem.
For this care of Tamora,
Herself, and hers, are highly bound to thee.

[Exeunt Dem. and Chi. bearing off the Nurse.
Aar. Now to the Goths, as swift as swallow flies;
There to dispose this treasure in mine arms,
And secretly to greet the empress' friends.-
Come on, you thick-lipp'd slave, I'll bear you hence;
For it is you that puts us to our shifts:
I'll make you feed on berries and on roots,
And feed on curds and whey, and suck the goat,
And cabin in a cave; and bring you up
To be a warrior, and command a camp.

[Exit.

SCENE III.-The same. A public Place. Enter TITUS, bearing arrows, with letters at the ends of them; with him MARCUS, young LUCIUS, and other Gentlemen, with bows.

Tit. Come, Marcus, come;-Kinsmen, this is the way:

Sir boy, now let me see your archery;
Look ye draw home enough, and 'tis there straight:
Terras Astræa reliquit:

Be you remember'd, Marcus, she's gone, she's fled.
Sirs, take you to your tools. You, cousins, shall
Go sound the ocean, and cast your nets:
Happily you may find her in the sea;
Yet there's as little justice as at land :—
No; Publius and Sempronius, you must do it;
'Tis you must dig with mattock, and with spade,
And pierce the inmost centre of the earth;
Then, when you come to Pluto's region,
I pray you, deliver him this petition;
Tell him, it is for justice, and for aid;
And that it comes from old Andronicus,
Shaken with sorrows in ungrateful Rome.-
Ah, Rome!-Well, well; I made thee miserable,
What time I threw the people's suffrages
On him that thus doth tyrannize o'er me.-
Go, get you gone; and pray be careful all,
And leave you not a man of war unsearch'd;
This wicked emperor may have shipp'd her hence,
And, kinsmen, then we may go pipe for justice.
Mar. O, Publius, is this a heavy case,

To see thy noble uncle thus distract?

Pub. Therefore, my lord, it highly us concerns, By day and night to attend him carefully; And feed his humour kindly as we may, Till time beget some careful remedy.

Mar. Kinsmen, his sorrows are past remedy. Join with the Goths; and with revengeful war Take wreak on Rome for this iugratitude, And vengeance on the traitor Saturnine.

Tit. Publius, how now? how now, my masters? What, have you met with her?

Pub. No,my good lord; but Pluto sends you word, If you will have revenge from hell, you shall: Marry, for Justice, she is so employ'd, He thinks, with Jove in heaven, or somewhere else, So that perforce you must needs stay a time.

Tit. He doth me wrong, to feed me with delays. I'll dive into the burning lake below, And pull her out of Acheron by the heels.Marcus, we are but shrubs, no cedars we; No big-bon'd men, fram'd of the Cyclops' size: But metal, Marcus, steel to the very back; Yet wrung with wrongs, more than our backs can

We will solicit heaven; and move the gods,
To send down justice for to wreak our wrongs:
Come, to this gear. You are an archer, Marcus.
(He gives them the arrows.)
Ad Jovem, that's for you:-Here, ad Apollinem :—
Ad Martem, that's for myself:-
Here, boy, to Pallas-Here, to Mercury:
To Saturn, Caius, not to Saturnine,

You were as good to shoot against the wind.-
To it, boy. Marcus, loose when I bid:
O'ny word, I have written to effect:
There's not a god left unsolicited.

Mar. Kinsmen, shoot all your shafts into the court:
We will afflict the emperor in his pride,
Tit. Now, masters, draw. (They shoot.) O, well
said, Lucius!

bear:

And, sith there is no justice in earth nor hell,

Good boy, in Virgo's lap; give it Pallas.
Mar. My lord, I aim a mile beyond the moon;
Your letter is with Jupiter by this.

Tit. Ha! Publius, Publius, what hast thou done? See, see, thou hast shot off one of Taurus' horas. Mar. This was the sport, my lord: when Publias shot,

The bull being gall'd gave Aries such a knock,
That down fell both the ram's horns in the court,
And who should find them but the empress' villain?
She laugh'd, and told the Moor, he should not choose
But give them to his master for a present.
Tit. Why, there it goes: God give your lordship
joy!

Enter a Clown, with a basket, and two pigeons. News, news from heaven! Marcus, the post is

come.

Sirrah, what tidings? have you any letters?
Shall I have justice? what says Jupiter?

Clo. Ho! the gibbet-maker? he says, that he hath taken them down again, for the man must not be hanged till the next week.

Tit. But what says Jupiter, I ask thee?

Clo. Alas, sir, I know not Jupiter; I never drank with him in all my life.

Tit. Why, villain, art thou not the carrier? Clo. Ay, of my pigeons, sir; nothing else. Tit. Why, didst not thou come from heaven? Clo. From heaven? alas, sir, I never came there: God forbid, I should be so bold to press to heaven in my young days. Why, I am going with my pigeons to the tribunal plebs, to take up a matter of brawl betwixt my uncle and one of the emperial's

men.

Mar. Why, sir, that is as fit as can be, to serve for your oration; and let him deliver the pigeons to the emperor from you.

Tit. Tell me, can you deliver an oration to the emperor with a grace?

Clo. Nay, truly, sir, I could never say grace in all my life.

Tit. Sirrah, come hither; make no more ado, But give your pigeons to the emperor: By me thou shalt have justice at his hands. Hold, hold;-mean while, here's money for thy charges. Give me a pen and ink.—

Sirrah, can you with a grace deliver a supplication? Clo. Ay, sir.

Tit. Then here is a supplication for you. And when you come to him, at the first approach, you must kneel; then kiss his foot; then deliver up your pigeons; and then look for your reward: I'll be at hand, sir; see you do it bravely.

Clo. I warrant you, sir; let me alone.

Tit. Sirrah, hast thou a knife? Come, let me see it. Here, Marcus, fold it in the oration; For thou hast made it like an humble suppliant: And when thou hast given it to the emperor, Knock at my door, and tell me what he says. Clo. God be with you, sir; I will.

Tit. Come, Marcus, let's go :-Publius, follow [Exeunt.

me.

Did not thy hue bewray whose brat thou art,
Had nature lent thee but thy mother's look,
Villain, thou might'st have been an emperor :
But where the bull and cow are both milk-white,
They never do beget a coal-black calf.
Peace,villain, peace!-even thus he rates the babe,-
For I must bear thee to a trusty Goth;
Who, when he knows thou art the empress' babe,
Will hold thee dearly for thy mother's sake.
With this, my weapon drawn, I rush'd upon him,
Surpris'd him suddenly; and brought him hither,
To use as you think needful of the man.

Luc. O worthy Goth! this is the incarnate devil,
That robb'd Andronicus of his good hand:
This is the pearl that pleas'd your empress' eye;
And here's the base fruit of his burning lust.-
Say, wall-ey'd slave, whither would'st thou convey
This growing image of thy fiend-like face?
Why dost not speak? What! deaf? No; not a word?
A halter, soldiers: hang him on this tree,
And by his side his fruit of bastardy.

Aar. Touch not the boy, he is of royal blood. Luc. Too like the sire for ever being good.First hang the child, that he may see it sprawl; A sight to vex the father's soul withal. Get me a ladder.

(A ladder brought, which Aaron is obliged to ascend.)

Aar. Lucius, save the child; And bear it from me to the emperess. If thou do this, I'll shew thee wond'rous things, That highly may advantage thee to hear: If thou wilt not, befall what may befall, I'll speak no more; but vengeance rot you all! Luc. Say on; and, if it please me which thou speak'st,

Thy child shall live, and I will see it nourish'd. Aar. An if it please thee? why, assure thee, Lucius,

'Twill vex thy soul to hear what I shall speak:
For I must talk of murders, rapes, and massacres,
Acts of black night, abominable deeds,
Complots of mischief, treason; villanies
Ruthful to hear, yet piteously perform'd:
And this shall all be buried by my death,
Unless thou swear to me, my child shall live.

Luc. Tell on thy mind; I say, thy child shall live.
Aar. Swear, that he shall, and then I will begin.
Luc. Who should I swear by? thou believ'st no
god;
That granted, how canst thou believe an oath?
Aar. What if I do not? as, indeed, I do not:
Yet, for I know thou art religious,
And hast a thing within thee, called conscience;
And twenty popish tricks and ceremonies,
Which I have seen thee careful to observe,-
Therefore I urge thy oath: For that, I know,
An idiot holds his bauble for a god,
And keeps the oath, which by that god he swears;
To that I'll urge him:-Therefore, thou shalt vow
By that same god, what god soe'er it be,
That thou ador'st and hast in reverence,-
To save my boy, to nourish, and bring him up,
Or else I will discover nought to thee.

Luc. Even by my god, I swear to thee, I will. Aar. First, know thou, I begot him on the empress.

Luc. O most insatiate, luxurious woman! Aar. Tut, Lucius! this was but a deed of charity, To that which thou shalt hear of me anon. 'Twas her two sons that murder'd Bassianus: They cut thy sister's tongue, and ravish'd her, And out her hands; and trimm'd her as thou saw'st. Luc. O, détestable villain! call'st thou that trimming? [and 'twas Aar. Why, she was wash'd, and cut, and trimm'd; Trim sport for them that had the doing of it.

Luc. O, barbarous, beastly villains, like thyself! Aar. Indeed, I was their tutor to instruct them; That codding spirit had they from their mother,

As sure a card as ever won the set;
That bloody mind, I think, they learn'd of me,
As true a dog as ever fought at head.—
Well, let my deeds be witness of my worth.
I train'd thy brethren to that guileful hole,
Where the dead corpse of Bassianus lay:
I wrote the letter that thy father found,
And hid the gold within the letter mention'd,
Confederate with the queen, and her two sons;
And what not done, that thou hast cause to rue,
Wherein I had no stroke of mischief in it?
I play'd the cheater for thy father's hand;
And when I had it, drew myself apart,
And almost broke my heart with extreme laughter.
I pry'd me through the crevice of a wall,
When, for his hand, he had his two sons' heads;
Beheld his tears, and laugh'd so heartily,
That both mine eyes were rainy like to his;
And when I told the empress of this sport,
She swounded almost at my pleasing tale,
And, for my tidings, gave me twenty kisses.
Goth. What! canst thou say all this, and never
blush?

Aar. Ay, like a black dog, as the saying is. Luc. Art thou not sorry for these heinous deeds? Aar. Ay, that I had not done a thousand more. Even now I curse the day, (and yet, I think, Few come within the compass of my curse,) Wherein I did not some notorious ill: As kill a man, or else devise his death; Ravish a maid, or plot the way to do it; Accuse some innocent, and forswear myself; Set deadly enmity between two friends; Make poor men's cattle break their necks; Set fire on barns and hay-stacks in the night, And bid the owners quench them with their tears. Oft have I digg'd up dead men from their graves, And set them upright at their dear friends" doors, Even when their sorrows almost were forgot; And on their skins, as on the bark of trees, Have with my knife carved in Roman letters, Let not your sorrow die, though I am dead. Tut, I have done a thousand dreadful things, As willingly as one would kill a fly; And nothing grieves me heartily indeed, But that I cannot do ten thousand more.

Luc. Bring down the devil; for he must not die So sweet a death as hanging presently.

Aar. If there be devils, "would I were a devil, To live and burn in everlasting fire; So I might have your company in hell, But to torment you with my bitter tongue! Luc. Sirs, stop his mouth, and let him speak

more.

Enter a Goth.

Goth. My lord, there is a messenger from Rome, Desires to be admitted to your presence. Luc. Let him come near.

Enter EMILIUS.

Welcome, Æmilius, what's the news from Rome!
Emil. Lord Lucius, and you princes of the Goths,
The Roman emperor greets you all by me:
And, for he understands you are in arms,
He craves a parley at your father's house,
Willing you to demand your hostages,
And they shall be immediately deliver❜d.
1 Goth. What says our general?

Luc. Æmilius, let the emperor give his pledges
Unto my father and my uncle Marcus,
And we will come.-March away.

[Exeun! SCENE II.-Rome. Before Titus's House. Enter TAMORA, CHIRON, and Demetrius, disguised.

Tam. Thus, in this strange and sad habiliment, I will encounter with Andronicus; And say, I am Revenge, sent from below, To join with him, and right his heinous wrongs,

Knock at his study, where, they say, he keeps,
To ruminate strange plots of dire revenge;
Tell him, Revenge is come to join with him,
And work confusion on his enemies. (They knock.)
Enter TITUS, above.

Tit. Who doth molest my contemplation? Is it your trick, to make me ope the door; That so my sad decrees may fly away, And all my study be to no effect? You are deceiv'd: for what I mean to do, See here, in bloody lines I have set down; And what is written shall be executed.

Tam. Titus, I am come to talk with thee. Tit. No, not a word: How can I grace my talk, Wanting a hand to give it action? Thou hast the odds of me, therefore no more. Tam. If thou did'st know me, thou would'st talk with me.

Tit. I am not mad; I know thee well enough: Witness this wretched stump, these crimson lines; Witness these trenches, made by grief and care; Witness the tiring day, and heavy night; Witness all sorrow, that I know thee well For our proud empress, mighty Tamora: Is not thy coming for my other hand?

Tam. Know thou, sad man, I am not Tamora; She is thy enemy, and I thy friend:

I am Revenge; seut from the infernal kingdom,
To ease the gnawing vulture of thy mind,

By working wreakful vengeance on thy foes.
Come down, and welcome me to this world's light;
Confer with me of murder and of death:
There's not a hollow cave, nor lurking-place,
No vast obscurity, or misty vale,
Where bloody murder, or detested rape,
Can couch for fear, but I will find them out;
And in their ears tell them my dreadful name,
Revenge, which makes the foul offender quake.

Tit. Art thou Revenge? and art thou sent to me, To be a torment to mine enemies?

[me.

Tam. I am; therefore come down, and welcome Tit. Do me some service, ere I come to thee. Lo, by thy side where Rape, and Murder, stands; Now give some 'surance that thou art Revenge, Stab them, or tear them on thy chariot wheels; And then I'll come, and be thy waggoner, And whirl along with thee about the globes. Provide thee proper palfries, black as jet, To hale thy vengeful waggon swift away, And find out murderers in their guilty caves. And, when thy car is loaden with their heads, I will dismount, and by the waggon wheel Trot, like a servile footman, all day long; Even from Hyperion's rising in the east, Until his very downfall in the sea. And day by day I'll do this heavy task, So thou destroy Rapine and Murder there. Tam. These are my ministers, and come with me. Tit. Are they thy ministers? what are they call'd?

Tam. Rapine, and Murder; therefore called so, 'Cause they take vengeance of such kind of men. Tit. Good lord, how like the empress' sons they

are!

And you the empress! But we worldly men
Have miserable, mad, mistaking eyes.
O sweet Revenge, now do I come to thee:
And, if one arm's embracement will content thee,
I will embrace thee in it by and by.
[Exit Titus, from above.
Tam. This closing with him fits his lunacy:
Whate'er I forge, to feed his brain-sick fits,
Do you uphold and maintain in your speeches.
For now he firmly takes me for Revenge;
And, being credulous in this mad thought,
I'll make him send for Lucius, his son;
And, whilst I at a banquet hold him sure,
I'll find some cunning practice out of hand,

To scatter and disperse the giddy Goths,
Or, at the least, make them his enemies.
See, here he comes, and I must ply my theme.

Enter TITUS.

Tit. Long have I been forlorn, and all for thee: Welcome, dread fury, to my woful house ;Rapine, and Murder, you are welcome too :How like the empress and her sons you are! Well are you fitted, had you but a Moor;Could not all hell afford you such a devil? For, well I wot, the empress never wags, But in her company there is a Moor; And, would you represent our queen aright, It were convenient you had such a devil: But welcome, as you are. What shall we do? Tam. What would'st thou have us do, Andronicus?

Dem. Shew me a murderer, I'll deal with him. Chi. Shew me a villain, that hath done a rape, And I am sent to be reveng'd on him.

Tam. Shew me a thousand, that have done thee wrong,

And I will be revenged on them all.

[Rome; Tit. Look round about the wicked streets of And when thou find'st a man that's like thyself, Good Murder, stab him; he's a murderer.Go thou with him; and when it is thy hap, To find another that is like to thee, Good Rapine, stab him; he is a ravisher.Go thou with them; and in the emperor's court There is a queen, attended by a Moor; Well may'st thou know her by thy own proportion, For up and down she doth resemble thee; I pray thee, do on them some violent death, They have been violent to me and mine.

Tam. Well hast thou lesson'd us; this shall we do. But would it please thee, good Andronicus, To send for Lucius, thy thrice valiant son, Who leads towards Rome a band of warlike Goths, And bid him come and banquet at thy house: When he is here, even at thy solemn feast, I will bring in the empress and her sons, The emperor himself, and all thy foes; And at thy mercy shall they stoop and kneel, And on them shalt thou ease thy angry heart. What says Andronicus to this device?

Tit. Marcus, my brother!-'tis sad Titus calls.

Enter MARCUS.

Go, gentle Marcus, to thy nephew Lucius;
Thou shalt inquire him out among the Goths;
Bid him repair to me, and bring with him
Some the chiefest princes of the Goths;
Bid him encamp his soldiers where they are:
Tell him, the emperor and the empress too
Feast at my house: and he shall feast with them.
This do thou for my love: and so let him,
As he regards his aged father's life.

Mar. This will I do, and soon return again. [Exit.
Tam. Now will I hence about thy business,
And take my ministers along with me.

Tit. Nay, nay, let Rape and Murder stay with me; Or else I'll call my brother back again, And cleave to no revenge but Lucius,

Tam. (To her Sons.) What say you, boys? will you abide with him, Whiles I go tell my lord the emperor, How I have govern'd our determin'd jest? Yield to his humour, smooth and speak him fair, (Aside.)

And tarry with him, till I come again.

Tit. I know them all, though they suppose me mad; And will o'er-reach them in their own devices; A pair of cursed hell-hounds, and their dam.

(Aside.) Dem. Madam, depart at pleasure, leave us here. Tam. Farewell, Andronicus: Revenge now goes To lay a complot to betray thy foes. [Exit,