SCENE II.

TITUS ANDRONICUS.

And arm the minds of infants to exclaims.
My lord, kneel down with me; Lavinia, kneel;
And kneel, sweet boy, the Roman Hector's hope;
And swear with me,-as with the woeful feere,"
And father, of that chaste dishonor'd dame,
Lord Junius Brutus sware for Lucrece' rape,-
That we will prosecute, by good advice,
Mortal revenge upon these traitorous Goths,
And see their blood, or die with this reproach.
Tit. "Tis sure enough, an you knew how,
But if you hurt these bear-whelps, then beware:
The dam will wake; and, if she wind you once,
She's with the lion deeply still in league,
And lulls him while she playeth on her back,
And, when he sleeps, will she do what she list.
You're a young huntsman, Marcus; let it alone;
And, come, I will go get a leaf of brass,
And with a gad' of steel will write these words,
And lay it by: the angry northern wind
Will blow these sands, like Sibyl's leaves, abroad,
And where's your lesson then?-Boy, what say you?
Boy. I say, my lord, that if I were a man,
Their mother's bed-chamber should not be safe
For these bad bondmen to the yoke of Rome.
Marc. Ay, that's my boy! thy father hath full oft
For this ungrateful country done the like.

Boy. And uncle, so will I, an if I live.
Tit. Come, go with me into mine armory;
Lucius, I'll fit thee; and withal, my boy
Shall carry from me to the empress' sons
Presents, that I intend to send them both:
Come, come; thou'lt do thy message, wilt thou not?
Boy. Ay, with my dagger in their bosoms, grand-
sire.

Tit. No, boy, not so; I'll teach thee another

course.

Lavinia, come:-Marcus, look to my house;
Lucius and I'll go brave it at the court;

Ay, marry, will we, sir: and we'll be waited on.
[Exeunt TITUS, LAVINIA, and Boy.

Marc. O heavens, can you hear a good man groan,
And not relent, or not compassion him?
Marcus, attend him in his ecstasy;
That hath more scars of sorrow in his heart,
Than foe-men's marks upon his batter'd shield:
But yet so just, that he will not revenge:

You may be armed and appointed well:
And so I leave you both, [Aside.] like bloody vil-
[Exeunt Boy and Attendant.
Dem. What's here? A scroll; and written round
about?

Let's see.

lains.

Integer vitæ, scelerisque purus,

Non eget Mauri jaculis, nec arcu.

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

Aar. Ay, just!-a verse in Horace :-right, you
have it.

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,

That wound, beyond their feeling, to the
quick.

Aside.

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 great a 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 amen.
Chi. And that would she for twenty thousand

more.

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
[Aside. Flourish.
o'er.
Dem. Why do the emperor's trumpets flourish
thus?

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

Revenge the heavens for old Andronicus! [Exit. Enter a Nurse, with a Black-a-moor Child in her

SCENE II-A Room in the Palace.

Enter AARON, CHIRON, and DEMETRIUS, at one
Door; at another Door, young Lucius, and an
Attendant, with a bundle of Weapons, and
Verses writ upon them.

Chi. Demetrius, here's the son of Lucius;
He hath some message to deliver us.

Aar. Ay, some mad message from his mad grand-
father.

Boy. My lords, with all the humbleness I may,
I greet your honors from Andronicus;-
And pray the Roman gods confound you both.

[Aside.
Dem. Gramercy, lovely Lucius: What's the news?
Boy.That you are both decipher'd, that's the news,
For villains mark'd with rape. [Aside.] May it

please you,

My grandsire, well advis'd, hath sent by me
The goodliest weapons of his armory,
To gratify your honorable youth,

The hope of Rome: for so he bade me say;
And so I do, and with his gifts present
Your lordships, that whenever you have need,
The point of a spear.
i. e. Grand merci; great thanks.

a Husband.

Nur.

Arms.

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.

Aar.

I mean, she's brought to bed.
Well, God
A devil.
Nur.
Give her good rest! What hath he sent her?
Aar. Why then she's the devil's dam; a joyful
issue.

Nur. A joyless, dismal, black, and sorrowful

issue:

Here 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.

Chi. It shall not live.
Aar.

It shall not die.

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 plough 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,

The ocean 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: Nur. Aaron, it must: the mother wills it so. Shall she live to betray this guilt of ours? Aar. What, must it, nurse? then let no man but I, A long-tongued babbling gossip? no, lords, no. Do execution on my flesh and blood. 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 advanced 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. With all his threat'ning band of Typhon's brood, Hark ye, lords; ye see, that I have given her phy 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-limed walls! ye ale-house 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 vigor 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 in Rome.

Dem. By this our mother is for ever shamed.
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 ignomy."
Aar. Why, there's the privilege your beauty bears:
Fye, treacherous hue! that will betray with blushing
The close enacts and counsels of the heart!
Here's a young lad framed 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,

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

[Exeunt DEMETRIUS and CHIRON bearing

off the Nurse.

SCENE III-A Public Place.
Enter TITUS, bearing Arrows, with Letters at the
Ends of them; with him MARCUS, young Lo
CIUS, and other Gentlemen, with Bows.
Tit. Come, Marcus, come;-Kinsman, 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 remembered, Marcus, she's gone, she's fied.
Sir, 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,
1 Contrive, bargain with.

SCENE III.

TITUS ANDRONICUS.

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

Marc. Kinsmen, his sorrows 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 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, framed 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, 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' my word I have written to effect;
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. [They shoot.] O, well
said, Lucius!

Good boy, in Virgo's lap; give it Pallas.
Marc. My lord, I am 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' horns.
Mar. This was the sport, my lord: when Pub-
lius 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?

2 Strained.

* Since.

• Revenge.

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 not thou the carrier?
Clo. Ay, of my pigeons, sir; nothing else.
Tit. Why, didst thou not 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 empe-
rial'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?

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.

you.

And Tit. Then here is a supplication for 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.

SCENE IV. Before the Palace.

Enter SATURNINUS, TAMORA, CHIRON, DEME-
TRIUS, Lords, and others; SATURNINUS with
the Arrows in his Hand, that TITUS shot.
Sat. Why, lords, what wrongs are these? Was

ever seen

An emperor of 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
Buz 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 injustice every where?
A goodly humor, is it not, my lords?
As who would say, in Rome no justice were.
But, if I live, his feigned ecstacies
⚫ Equal.

3 B

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:
"Tis he the common people love so much;
Myself hath often over-heard them say,
(When I have walked like a private man,)

Whose loss hath pierced him deep, and scarr'd his That Lucius' banishment was wrongfully,

ACT V.

Upon the wasted building, suddenly
I heard a child cry underneath a wall:
I made unto the noise; when soon I heard
The crying babe controll'd with this discourse:
Peace, tawny slave; 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 mightst 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,
Surpriz'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 wouldst 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.

Aar.

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

press.

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 cut her hands; and trimm'd her as thou saw'st.

Luc. O, détestable villain! call'st thou that trimming?

Aar. Why, she was wash'd, and cut, and trimm'd; and 'twas

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.

[A Ladder brought, which AARON is I pry'd me through the crevice of a wall,
obliged to ascend.

Lucius, save the child;

And bear it from me to the emperess.
If thou do this, I'll show 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;
With 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.

Alluding to the proverb, "A black man is a pearl in a fair woman's eye."

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 no

more.