Chi. It fhall not live.
Aar. It fhall not die..
Nur. Aaron, it muft; the mother wills it fo. Aar. What, muft 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 fword fhall foon dispatch it. Aar. Sooner this fword fhall plough thy bowels up. Stay, murderous villains, will you kill your brother? Now by the burning tapers of the tky,
That fhone fo brightly when this boy was got,
He dies upon my fcymitar's fharp point,
That touches this my first-born fon and heir.
I tell you, younglings, not Enceladus ; ›
With all his threatning band of Typhon's brood,.
Nor
great Alcides, nor the god of war,
Shall feize this prey out of his father's hands.
What, what, ye fanguine fhallow hearted boys,.
Ye white-limed walls, ye alehouse painted figns,
Coal-black is better than another hue,
In that it fcorns to bear another hue:
For all the water in the ocean
Can never turn the swan's black legs to white,
Although the lave them hourly in the flood.
Tell the Emprefs from me, I am of age
To keep mine own; excufe it how he can.
Dem. Wilt thou betray thy noble mistress thus
Aar. My mistress is my miftrefs; this, myself;
The vigour and the picture of my youth.
This, before all the world do I prefer ;
This, maugre all the world, will keep fafe;
Or fome of you fhall fmoke for it in Rome.
Dem. By this our mother is for ever fhamed.
Chi. Rome will defpife her for this foul efcape.
Nur. The Emperor in his rage will doom her death.
Chi. I blufh to think upon this ignominy.
Aar. Why, there's the privilege your beauty bears:
Fy, treacherous hue, that will betray with blufhing
The clofe enacts and counfels of the heart!
Here's a young lad framed of another leer..
Look, how the black flave. fmiles upon the father;
As who fhould fay, "old lad, I am thine own."-
He is your brother, Lords; fenfibly fed
Of that felf-blood that first gave life to you;
And from that womb, where you imprisoned were,
He is infranchifed and come to light:
Nay, he's your brother by the furer fide,
Although my feal be stamped in his face.
Nur. Aaron, what shall I fay unto the Empress?
Dem. Advise thee, Aaron, what is to be done,
And we will all fubfcribe to thy advice.
Save thou the child, fo we may be all fafe.
Aar. Then fit we down, and let us all confult. My fon and I will have the wind of you: Keep there: now talk at pleasure of your fafety. [They fit on the ground. Dem. How many women faw this child of his? Aar. Why, fo, 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 ocean fwells not fo as Aaron ftorms:
But fay again, how many faw the child?
Nur. Cornelia the midwife, and myself-
And no one elfe but the delivered Emprefs.
Aar. The Emprefs, the midwife, and yourselfTwo may keep counfel, when the third's away: Go to the Emprefs, tell her, this I faid
[He kills her. Week,-week!--fo cries a pig, prepared to th' fpit. Dem. What meanest thou, Aaron? wherefore didit thou this?
Aar. O Lord, Sir, 'tis a deed of policy:
Shall fhe live to betray this guilt of ours?
A long-tongued babling goffip? no, Lords, no
And now be it known to you my full intent:
Not far, one Muliteus lives, my countryman,
His wife but yefternight 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 circumftance of all;
And how by this their child shall be advanced,
And be received for the Emperor's heir,
And fubftituted in the place of mine,
To calm this tempeft whirling in the court;
And let the Emperor dandle him for his own.
Hark ye, my Lords, ye fee I have given her phyfic;
And you must needs beftow her funeral;
The fields are near, and you are gallant grooms:
This done, fee that you take no longer days,
But fend the midwife prefently to me.
The midwife and the nurfe well made away,
Then let the ladies tattle what they please.
Chi. Aaron, I fee thou wilt.not truft the air
With fecrets.
Dem. For this care of Tamora,
Herfelf and hers are highly bound to thee. [Exeunt.
Aar. Now to the Goths, as fwift as fwallow flies,
There to difpofe this treasure in my arms,
And fecretly to greet the Emprefs' friends.
Come on, you thick-lip'd flave, I bear you
For it is you that put us to our fhifts:
I'll make you feed on berries, and on roots,
And feed on curds and whey, and fuck the goat,
And cabin in a cave, and bring you up
To be a warrior, and command a camp,
SCENE, a Street near the Palace.
Enter TITUS, old MARCUS, young LUCIUS, and other Gentlemen with bows; and TITUS bears the arrows with letters on the end of them.
Tit. Come, Marcus, come; kinfmen, this is the Sir boy, now let me fee your archery [way. Look ye draw home enough, and 'tis there straight; Terras Aftreareliquit--be you remembered, Marcus-She's gone, fhe's fled-Sirs, take you to your tools; You, coufins, fhall go found the ocean, And caft your nets; haply you may find her in Yet there's as little juftice as at land
[the fea, No, Publius and Sempronius; you must do it, 'Tis you mult 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 this petition,
Tell him, it is for justice, and for aid;
And that it comes from old Andronicus,
Shaken with forrows in ungrateful Rome.
Ah, Rome!-Well, well, I made thee miferable,`
What time I threw the people's fuffrages
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 unfearched;
This wicked Emperor may have fhipped her hence,
And, kinfmen, then we may go pipe for justice.
Mar. Oh Publius, is not this a heavy cafe,
To fee thy noble uncle thus distract ?
Pub. Therefore, my Lord, it highly us concerns, By day and night t' attend him carefully,
And feed his humour kindly as we may,
'Till time beget fome careful remedy.
Mar. Kinfmen, his forrows are past remedy..
Join with the Goths, and with revengeful war
Take wreak on Rome for this ingratitude,
And vengeance on the traitor Saturnine,
Tit. Publius, how now? how now, my
What, have you met with her?
Pub. No, my good Lord, but Pluto fends you word, If you will have revenge from hell, you shall : Marry, for justice, she is fo employed,
He thinks, with Jove in heaven, or fomewhere else; So that perforce you must needs ftay 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 th' heels.
Marcus, we are but shrubs, no cedars we,
No big-boned men, framed of the Cyclops fize;
But metal, Marcus, fteel to th' very back;
Yet wrung with wrongs, more than our backs can
And fith there's no justice in earth nor hell, [bear:
We will folicit heaven, and move the gods,
To fend down justice for to wreak our wrongs:
Come, to this geer; you're a good archer, Marcus.
[He gives them the arrows.
Ad Jovem, that's for you-here, ad Apollinem
Ad Martem, that's for myfelf;
Here, boy, to Pallas here, to Mercury-
To Saturn and to Calus-not to Saturnine-
You were as good to shoot against the wind.
To it, boy; Marcus-
Of my word I have written to effect,
There's not a god left unfolicited.
Mar. Kinfmen, shoot all your shafts into the
We will afflict the Emperor in his pride. [They fhoot. Tit. Now, masters, draw; oh, well faid, Lucius: Good boy, in Virgo's lap, give it Pallas.
Mar. My Lord, I am a mile beyond the moon;
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