He is enfranchised and come to light.
Nay, he is your brother by the surer side,
Although my seal be stamped in his face.
Nur. Aaron, what shall I say unto the Em-
press?

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 con-
sult.

My son and I will have the wind of you; Keep there. Now talk at pleasure of your safety. [They sit.] Dem. How many women saw this child of

his?

136

Aar. Why, so, brave lords! when we join in league,

140

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?
Nur. Cornelia the midwife and myself;
And no one else but the delivered empress.
Aar. 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.

145

[He kills 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, 't is a deed of policy.
Shall she live to betray this guilt of ours,
A long-tongu'd babbling gossip? No, lords, no;
And now be it known to you my full intent. 15
Not far, one Muli 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, 156
And tell them both the circumstance of all;
And how by this their child shall be advanc'd,
And be received for the Emperor's heir,
And substituted in the place of mine
To calm this tempest whirling in the court; 160
And let the Emperor dandle him for his own.
Hark ye, lords; you see I have given her physic,
[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, 185
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 [Dem. and Chi., bearing
off the Nurse's body].
Aar. Now to the Goths, as swift as swallow

flies;

170

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.

175

I'll make you feed on berries and on roots, And feed on curds and whey, and suck the goat,

179

And cabin in a cave, and bring you up
To be a warrior, and command a camp. [Exit.

[SCENE III. The same. A public place.] Enter TITUS, bearing arrows with letters at the ends of them: with him, MARCUS, young LuCIUS, PUBLIUS, SEMPRONIUS, CAIUS] and other Gentlemen, with bows.

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

Sir boy, let me see your archery. Look ye draw home enough, and 'tis there straight.

Terras Astræa reliquit ;

Be you rememb'red, Marcus, she's gone, she's fled.

5

15

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;

20

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

We will afflict the Emperor in his pride.
Tit. Now, masters, draw. [They shoot.] 0,
well said, 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?

65

But give them to his master for a present.
Tit. Why, there it goes; God give his lord-

ship joy!

Enter a CLOWN, with a basket, and two pigeons in it.

News, news from heaven! Marcus, the post is

come.

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

79

Clo. O, the gibbet-maker! he says that he hath taken them down again, for the man must not be hang'd till the next week.

83

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. 87 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 emperial's men.

94

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.

Here, Marcus, fold it in the oration;
For thou hast made it like an humble suppliant.
And when thou hast given it the Emperor,
Knock at my door, and tell me what he says.
Clo. God be with you, sir; I will. [Exit. 120
Tit. Come, Marcus, let us go. Publius, fol-
low me.
[Exeunt.

[SCENE IV. The same. Before the palace.] Enter SATURNINUS, TAMORA, DEMETRIUS, CHIRON [Lords, and others]; SATURNINUS brings the arrows in his hand that Titus shot at him.

Sat. Why, lords, what wrongs are these!
Was ever seen

An emperor in Rome thus overborne,
Troubled, confronted thus; and, for the extent
Of egal justice, us'd in such contempt?

My lords, you know, [as know] the mightful gods,

5

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

10

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?

15

As who would say, in Rome no justice were. 20
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 he sleep,
He'll so awake as he in fury shall
Cut off the proud'st conspirator that lives.

25

Tam. My gracious lord, my lovely Saturnine, Lord of my life, commander of my thoughts, Calm thee, and bear the faults of Titus' age,

The 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
Than prosecute the meanest or the best
For these contempts. (Aside.) Why, thus it
shall become

High-witted Tamora to gloze with all;
But, Titus, I have touch'd thee to the quick.
Thy life-blood out, if Aaron now be wise,
Then is all safe, the anchor in the port.
Enter CLOWN.

How now, good fellow! wouldst thou speak with us?

Clo. Yea, forsooth, an your mistership be emperial.

40

Tam. Empress I am, but yonder sits the

Emperor.

Clo. "Tis he. God and Saint Stephen give you god-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.

Clo. How much money must I have? Tam. Come, sirrah, you must be hang'd. Clo. 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 murder 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 holp'st to make me great,

In hope thyself should govern Rome and me, se
Enter Nuntius ÆMILIUS.

What news with thee, Æmilius ?
Emil. Arm, my lords! Rome never had

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,

100

105

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

110

And almost broke my heart with extreme laughter.

I pried me through the crevice of a wall When, for his hand, he had his two sons' heads;

115

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. 1 [1.] 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