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!1 the old man hath found their guilt; And sends the weapons wrapped about with lines, That wound, beyond their feeling, to the quick. Aside. But were our witty empress well afoot, Aar. Had he not reason, lord Demetrius? 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 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? 1 This mode of expression was common formerly. So in King Henry IV. Part I.:-"Here's no fine villany!" 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 delivered, lords, she is delivered. Aar. To whom? Nur. Aar. I mean, she's brought to bed. 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. 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. 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. Canst not undo. Chi. Done! that which thou 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 damned her loathed choice! Accursed 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 broach1 the tadpole on my rapier's point; Nurse, give it me; my sword shall soon despatch it. 1 In Lust's Dominion, by Marlowe, a play in its style bearing a near resemblance to Titus Andronicus, Eleazar, the Moor, a character of 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, Shall seize this prey out of his father's hands. In that it scorns to bear another hue; Can never turn a swan's black legs to white, 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 forever 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.3 unmingled ferocity, like Aaron, and, like him, the paramour of a royal mistress, exclaims: 66 Run, and with a voice Erected high as mine, say thus, thus threaten To Roderigo and the Cardinal, Seek no queens here; I'll broach them, if they do, 1 A giant, the son of Titan and Terra. 2 i. e. this foul, illegitimate child. So in King John: - Aar. Why, there's the privilege your beauty bears; Nay, he's your brother by the surer side, Nur. Aaron, what shall I say unto the empress ? Aar. Then sit we down, and let us all consult. 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, Nur. Cornelia the midwife, and myself, 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? 1 Complexion. A long-tongued, babbling gossip? No, lords, no. The midwife, and the nurse, well made away, 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-lipped 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, To be a warrior, and command a camp. [Exit. 1 The word lives, which is wanting in the old copies, was supplied by Rowe. Steevens thinks Muliteus a corruption for "Muly lives." 2 To pack is to contrive insidiously. |