And we will all subscribe to thy advice:
Save thou the child, so we may all be safe.
Aaron. Then sit we down, and let us all con-
sult.

My son and I will have the wind of you:
Keep there; now talk at pleasure of your safety.
Demet. How many women saw this child of his?
Aaron. Why, so brave lords: When we join
in league

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

Nurse. Cornelia the midwife, and myself,
And no one else but the deliver'd empress.
Aaron. The empress, the midwife, and your-
self:

Two may keep counsel when the third's away: Go to the empress, tell her this I said:

[He kills her. Weke, weke-so cries a pig prepar'd to the spit. Demet. What mean'st thou, Aaron? wherefore didst thou this?

Aaron. Oh, lord, sir, 't is a deed of policy; Shall she live to betray this guilt of ours? A long-tongued 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 advano'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 I have given her physic, [Pointing to the Nurse. And must needs bestow her funeral; you 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, I see thou wilt not trust the air with secrets.

Demet. For this care of Tamora, Herself and hers are highly bound to thee.

[Exeunt DEMETRIUS and CHIRON, bearing off the Nurse.

a The ordinary reading was, "all join."

b Chafed, in the old copies; the variorum reading, chased. eLives, which is not in the old copies, was inserted by Rowe.

d Pack-contrive, arrange.

Aaron. 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.—A public Place in Rome.

Enter TITUS, MARCUS, Young LUCIUS, and other Gentlemen, with bows, and TITUS bears the arrows with letters on them.

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

Sir boy, let me see your archery;

Look ye draw home enough, and 't is 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 b
her in the sea;

Yet there's as little justice as at land:!
No; Publius and Sempronius, you must do it;
"T is 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.
Marc. O, Publius, is not this a heavy case,
To see thy noble uncle thus distract?
Pub. Therefore, my lords, it highly us con-

cerns,

By day and night t' attend him carefully;

a The reading of the second folio is, Sir boy, now. Find. So the folio, and quarto of 1611; that of 1600 catch.

And feed his humour kindly as we may,
Till time beget some careful remedy.

Marc. Kinsmen, his sorrows are past remedy.
Join with the Gothis, and with revengeful war
Take wreak on Rome for his ingratitude,
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 bear:

And sith there is no justice in earth nor hell,
We will solicit heaven, and move the gods,
To send down justice for to wreak our wrongs.
Come to this gear; you are a good archer, Mar-
[He gives them the arrows.
Ad Jovem, that's for you; here, ad Apollinem:
Ad Martem, that's for myself;

cus.

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: Of word, I have written to effect, my

There's not a god left unsolicited.

Marc. Kinsmen, shoot all your shafts into the court:

We will afflict the emperor in his pride. Tit. Now, masters, draw. Oh, well said, [They shoot.

Lucius !

Good boy, in Virgo's lap; give it Pallas.
Marc. My lord, I aim a mile beyond the

moon;

Your letter is with Jupiter by this.

Tit. Ha, ha! Publius, Publius, what hast thou done?

See, see, thou hast shot off one of Taurus' horns. · Marc. This was the sport, my lord: when Publius shot,

a The old copies read

"To Saturnine, to Caius, not to Saturnine." Rowe corrected the passage.

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 Clown, with a basket, and two pigeons in it.

Tit. News, news from heaven! Marcus, the post is come.

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

Clown. 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?
Clown. Alas, sir, I know not Jupiter:
I never drank with him in all my life.

Tit. Why, villain, art not thou the carrier? Clown. Ay, of my pigeons, sir; nothing else. Tit. Why, didst thou not come from heaven? Clown. 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 imperial's men.

Marc. 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?

Clown. 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; meanwhile, here's money for thy charges. Give me pen and ink.

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

you.

Tit. Then here is a supplication for 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.

a The quarto of 1600, "his lordship." That of 1611 omits the line, which we print as in the folio.

An emperor in Rome thus overborne,
Troubled, confronted thus; and, for the extent
Of egal justice, used in such contempt ?
My lords, you know, as do the mightful gods,
However these disturbers of our peace

Buzz in the people's ears, there nought hath pass'd,

But even with law, against the wilful sons
Of old Andronicus. And what an if.
His sorrows have so overwhelm'd his wits;
Shall we be thus afflicted in his wreaks,
His fits, his frenzy, and his bitterness?
And now, he writes to heaven for his redress;
See, here's to Jove, and this to Mercury,
This to Apollo, this to the god of war:
Sweet scrolls to fly about the streets of Rome!
What's this, but libelling against the senate,
And blazoning our unjustice everywhere?
A goodly humour, is it not, my lords ?

As who would say, in Rome no justice were:
But if I live, his feigned ecstasies
Shall be no shelter to these outrages;
But he and his shall know that Justice lives
In Saturninus' health, whom, if heb sleep,
He'll so awake, as he in fury shall
Cut off the proud'st conspirator that lives.

Tam. My gracious lord, my lovely Saturninc,
Lord of my life, commander of my thoughts,
Calm thee, and bear the faults of Titus' age,
Th' effects of sorrow for his valiant sons,
Whose loss hath pierc'd him deep, and scarr'd
his heart;

And rather comfort his distressed plight,

a As do. These words were inserted by Rowr.

b He, So the original copies. The antecedent being considered Justice, the modern reading is she. The Cambridge editors have retained the original he.

Clown. "T is he. God and saint Stephen give you good den; I have brought you a letter and a couple of pigeons here.

[SATURNINUS reads the letter. Sat. Go, take him away, and hang him presently.

Clown. How much money must I have? Tam. Come, sirrah, you must be hang'd. Clown. Hang'd! by'r lady, then I have brought up a neck to a fair end. [Exit, guarded. Sat. Despiteful and intolerable wrongs! Shall I endure this monstrous villainy?

I know from whence this same device proceeds:
May this be borne, as if his traitorous sons,
That died by law for murther of our brother,
Have by my means been butcher'd wrongfully?
Go, drag the villain hither by the hair;
Nor age, nor honour, shall shape privilege:
For this proud mock I'll be thy slaughter-man ;
Sly frantic wretch, that holpst to make me great,
In hope thyself should govern Rome and me.

Enter EMILIUS.

Sat. What news with thee, Emilius? Emil. Arm, my lord; Rome never had more cause!

The Goths have gather'd head, and with a

power

Of high-resolved men, bent to the spoil,
They hither march amain, under conduct
Of Lucius, son to old Andronicus;
Who threats in course of this revenge to do
As much as ever Coriolanus did.

Sat. Is warlike Lucius general of the Goths ?
These tidings nip me; and I hang the head
As flowers, with frost, or grass beat down with

storms:

Ay, now begin our sorrows to approach: "T is he the common people love so much!

Myself hath often heard them say, (When I have walked like a private man,) That Lucius' banishment was wrongfully, And they have wish'd that Lucius were their emperor.

Tam. Why should you fear? is not your city strong?

Sat. Ay, but the citizens favour Lucius, And will revolt from me, to succour him.

Tam. King, be thy thoughts imperious, like thy name.

Is the sun dimm'd, that gnats do fly in it?
The eagle suffers little birds to sing,

And is not careful what they mean thereby, Knowing that with the shadow of his wing

He can at pleasure stint their melody.
Even so mayst thou the giddy men of Rome!
Then cheer thy spirit: for know, thou emperor,
I will enchant the old Andronicus,

With words more sweet, and yet more dangerous
Than baits to fish, or honey-stalks to sheep;
When as the one is wounded with the bait,
The other rotted with delicious feed.

a Wing. The originals, wings. But the lines are meant to rhyme alternately.

Sat. But he will not entreat his son for us. Tam. If Tamora entreat him, then he will; For I can smooth and fill his aged ear With golden promises, that, were his heart Almost impregnable, his old ears deaf, Yet should both ear and heart obey my tongue. Go thou before to be our embassador;

[To EMILIUS. Say that the emperor requests a parley Of warlike Lucius, and appoint the meeting, Even at his father's house, the old Andronicus. Sat. Emilius, do this message honourably: And if he stand on hostage for his safety, Bid him demand what pledge will please him best. Emil. Your bidding shall I do effectually. [Exit EMILIUS. 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, sweet emperor, be blithe again, And bury all thy fear in my devices.

Sat. Then go successantly, and plead to him. [Exeunt.

& This line is not in the folio, but in the earlier quartos.

Flourish. Enter LUCIUS, with an army of Goths, with drum.

Luc. Approved warriors, and my faithful friends,

I have received letters from great Rome,
Which signify what hate they bear their em-
peror,

And how desirous of our sight they are.
Therefore, great lords, be, as your titles witness,
Imperious and impatient of your wrongs;
And wherein Rome hath done you any scathe,
Let him make treble satisfaction.

Goth. Brave slip, sprung from the great Andronicus,

Whose name was once our terror, now our com

fort, Whose high exploits, and honourable deeds,

Ingrateful Rome requites with foul contempt,
Be bold in us; we'll follow where thou lead'st,
Like stinging bees in hottest summer's day,
Led by their master to the flower'd fields,
And be aveng'd on cursed Tamora:
And, as he saith, so say we all with him.

Luc. I humbly thank him, and I thank you all.

But who comes here, led by a lusty Goth?

Enter a Goth, leading AARON with his child in

his arms.

Goth. Renowned Lucius, from our troops I stray'd,

To gaze upon a ruinous monastery,
And as I earnestly did fix mine eye
Upon the wasted building, suddenly

I heard a child cry underneath a wall:
I made unto the noise, when soon I heard