Tam. If Tamora intreat him, then he will:
For I can smooth, and fill his aged ear
With golden promifes; that were his heart
Almoft impregnable, his old ears deaf,

Yet fhould both ear and heart obey my tongue.
Go thou before as our ambassador; [To Æmilius.
Say that the Emperor requests a parley
Of warlike Lucius, and appoint the meeting.
Sat. Emilius, do this meffage honourably;
And if he ftand on hoflage for his fafety,

Bid him demand what pledge will please him best.
Emil. Your bidding thall I do effectually. [Exit.
Tam. Now will I to that old Andronicus,
And temper him, with all the art I have,
To pluck proud Lucius from the warlike Goths.
And now, fweet Emperor, be blith again,
And bury all thy fear in my devices.

Sat. Then go fuccefsfully, and plead to him.

[Exit.

ACT V.

SCENE, a Camp, at a fmall Diftance from Rome. Enter LUCIUS, with Goths, with Drum and Soldiers.

LUCIUS.

APPROVED warriors, and my faithful friends,

received letters from great Rome,

Which fignify what hate they bear their Emperor,
And how defirous of our fight they are.

Therefore, great Lords, be as your titles witness,
Imperious and impatient of your wrongs;
And wherein Rome hath done you any fcathe,
Let him make treble fatisfaction.

[nicus, Goth. Brave flip, fprung from the great Andro

(Who'e name was once our terror, now our com-
Whole high exploits and honourable deeds [fort,}
Ingrateful Rome requites with foul contempt,
Be bold in us; we'll follow where thou leadeít:
Like ftinging bees in hottest fummer's day,
Led by their mafter to the flowered fields,
And be avenged on curfed Tamora.

Omn. And, as he faith, so say we all with him. Luc. I humbly thank him, and I thank you all. But who comes here led by a lufty Goth?

Enter a Goth leading AARON, with his Child in his Arms.

Gath. Renowned Lucius, from our troops I ftray'd To gaze upon a ruined monaftery; And as I earneftly did fix mine eye Upon the wasted building, fuddenly I heard a child cry underneath a wall; I made unto the noife, when foon I heard The crying babe controuled with this difcourfe; Peace, tawny flave, half me and half thy dam, "Did not thy hue bewray whose brat thou art, "Had Nature lent thee but thy mother's look, "Villain, thou might'ft 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 fake." With this, my weapon drawn, I rushed upon him, Surprised him fuddenly, and brought him thither, To ufe as you think needful of the man.

Luc. O worthy Goth, this is th' incarnate devil, That robbed Andronicus of his good hand; This is the pearl that pleafed your Emprefs' eye,

And here's the bafe fruit of his burning luft.
Say, wall-eye'd flave, whither would't thou convey
This growing image of thy fiend-like face?
Why doft not speak? what! deaf? no, not a word?
A halter, foldiers; hang him on this tree,
And by his fide his fruit of bastardy.

Aar. Touch not the boy, he is of royal blood.
Luc. Too like the fire for ever being good.
First, hang the child that he may fee it fprawl,
A fight to vex the father's foul withal.
Get me a ladder. (25)

Aar. Lucius, fave the child,

And bear it from me to the Emprefs;

If thou do this, I'll fhew thee wondrous things,
That highly may advantage thee to hear;
If thou wilt not, befal what may befal,

I'll speak no more; but vengeance rot you all! Luc. Say on, and if it please me which thou fpeakeft,

Thy child fhall live, and I will fee it nourished.
Aar. And if please thee? why, affure thee, Lucius,
'Twill vex thy foul to hear what I fhall speak:
For I must talk of murders, rapes, and massacres,
Acts of black night, abominable deeds,

Complots of mifchief, treafon, villainies,

(15) Aar. Get me a ladder. Lucius, fave the child,} All the printed editions have given this whole verfe to Aaron. But why fhould the Moor here ask for a ladder, who earnestly wanted to have his child faved? Unless the Poet is fuppofed to mean for Aaron, that if they would get him a ladder, he would refolutely hang himself out of the way, fo they would fpare the child. But I much rather fufpect there is an old error in prefixing the names of the perfons; and that Lucius ought to call for the ladder, and then Aaron very properly entreats of Lucius to fave the child. I ventured to make this regulation in my Shakespeare Restored, and Mr Pope has embraced it in his laft edition.

Ruthful to hear, yet piteoufly performed:
And this fhall all be buried by my death,
Unless thou fwear to me my child shall live.
Luc. Tell on thy mind; I fay, thy child fhall livé.
Aar, Swear that he shall; and then I will begin.
Luc. Who fhould I swear by? thou believest no
god:

That granted, how can'ft thou believe an oath?
Aar. What if I do not? as, indeed, I do not:
Yet, for I know thou art religious,

And haft a thing within thee called confcience,
With twenty popish tricks and ceremonies
Which I have feen thee careful to obferve;
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 fwears,
To that I'll urge him ;)---therefore thou fhalt vow
By that fame god, what god foe'er it be,
That thou adoreft and haft in reverence,
To fave my boy, nourish and bring him up;
Or elfe I will difcover 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 moft infatiate, luxurious woman!
Aar. Tut, Lucius, this was but a deed of charity,
To that which thou fhalt hear of me anon.
'Twas her two fons that murdered Baffianus;
They cut thy fifter's tongue, and ravished her,
And cut her hands, and trimmed her as thou faweft.
Luc. Oh, deteftable villain! calleft thou that

trimming?

Aar. Why, fhe was wafhed, and cut, and trimmed; And 'twas trim fport for them that had the doing of't. Luc. Oh, barbarous beaftly villains like thyfelf! Aar. Indeed, I was their tutor to inftruct them: That codding fpirit had they from their mother,

As fure a card as ever won the fet;

-----

worth.

That bloody mind, I think, they learned of me,
As true a dog, as ever fought at head.
Well, let my deeds be witnefs of my
I trained thy brethren to that guileful hole,,
Where the dead corps of Baffianus lay:

I wrote the letter that thy father found,
And hid the gold within the letter mentioned;
Confederate with the Queen, and her two fons.
And what not done, that thou haft caufe to rue,
Wherein I had no ftroke: of mifchief in't?
I played the cheater for thy father's hand,
And when I had it, drew myfelf 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 fons heads
Beheld his tears, and laughed fo heartily,
That both mine eyes were rainy like to his:
And when I told the Emprefs of this fport,
She fwooned almost at my pleafing tale,
And for my tidings gave me twenty kiffes.
Goth. What! can't thou fay all this, and never
blush!

Aar. Ay, like a black dog, as the faying is. Luc. Art thou not forry for these heinous deeds? Aar. Ay, that I had not done a thousand more! Even now I curfe the day (and yet, I think, Few come within the compafs of my curfe). Wherein I did not fome notorious ill, As kill a man, or elfe devife his death; Ravish a maid, or plot the way to do it ;: Accufe fome innocent, and forfwear myself; Set deadly enmity between two friends; Make poor men's cattle break their necks; Set fire on barns and hay-ftacks in the night, And bid the owners quench them with their tears: