AARON. Ay, just- a verse in Horace. Right, you have it.
[Aside] Now, what a thing it is to be an a.s.s!
Here"s no sound jest! The old man hath found their guilt, And sends them weapons wrapp"d about with lines That wound, beyond their feeling, to the quick.
But were our witty Empress well afoot, 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.
DEMETRIUS. But me more good to see so great a lord Basely insinuate and send us gifts.
AARON. Had he not reason, Lord Demetrius?
Did you not use his daughter very friendly?
DEMETRIUS. I would we had a thousand Roman dames At such a bay, by turn to serve our l.u.s.t.
CHIRON. A charitable wish and full of love.
AARON. Here lacks but your mother for to say amen.
CHIRON. And that would she for twenty thousand more.
DEMETRIUS. Come, let us go and pray to all the G.o.ds For our beloved mother in her pains.
AARON. [Aside] Pray to the devils; the G.o.ds have given us over.
[Trumpets sound]
DEMETRIUS. Why do the Emperor"s trumpets flourish thus?
CHIRON. Belike, for joy the Emperor hath a son.
DEMETRIUS. Soft! who comes here?
Enter NURSE, with a blackamoor CHILD
NURSE. Good morrow, lords.
O, tell me, did you see Aaron the Moor?
AARON. Well, more or less, or ne"er a whit at all, Here Aaron is; and what with Aaron now?
NURSE. O gentle Aaron, we are all undone!
Now help, or woe betide thee evermore!
AARON. Why, what a caterwauling dost thou keep!
What dost thou wrap and fumble in thy arms?
NURSE. O, that which I would hide from heaven"s eye: Our Empress" shame and stately Rome"s disgrace!
She is delivered, lord; she is delivered.
AARON. To whom?
NURSE. I mean she is brought a-bed.
AARON. Well, G.o.d give her good rest! What hath he sent her?
NURSE. A devil.
AARON. Why, then she is the devil"s dam; A joyful issue.
NURSE. A joyless, dismal, black, and sorrowful issue!
Here is the babe, as loathsome as a toad Amongst the fair-fac"d breeders of our clime; The Empress sends it thee, thy stamp, thy seal, And bids thee christen it with thy dagger"s point.
AARON. Zounds, ye wh.o.r.e! Is black so base a hue?
Sweet blowse, you are a beauteous blossom sure.
DEMETRIUS. Villain, what hast thou done?
AARON. That which thou canst not undo.
CHIRON. Thou hast undone our mother.
AARON. Villain, I have done thy mother.
DEMETRIUS. And therein, h.e.l.lish dog, thou hast undone her.
Woe to her chance, and d.a.m.n"d her loathed choice!
Accurs"d the offspring of so foul a fiend!
CHIRON. It shall not live.
AARON. It shall not die.
NURSE. Aaron, it must; the mother wills it so.
AARON. What, must it, nurse? Then let no man but I Do execution on my flesh and blood.
DEMETRIUS. I"ll broach the tadpole on my rapier"s point.
Nurse, give it me; my sword shall soon dispatch it.
AARON. 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, With all his threat"ning band of Typhon"s brood, Nor great Alcides, nor the G.o.d of war, Shall seize this prey out of his father"s hands.
What, what, ye sanguine, shallow-hearted boys!
Ye white-lim"d walls! ye alehouse 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 the 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.
DEMETRIUS. Wilt thou betray thy n.o.ble mistress thus?
AARON. My mistress is my mistress: this my self, The vigour 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.
DEMETRIUS. By this our mother is for ever sham"d.
CHIRON. Rome will despise her for this foul escape.
NURSE. The Emperor in his rage will doom her death.
CHIRON. I blush to think upon this ignomy.
AARON. Why, there"s the privilege your beauty bears: Fie, treacherous hue, that will betray with blushing The close enacts and counsels of thy heart!
Here"s a young lad fram"d 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 your womb where you imprisoned were He is enfranchised and come to light.
Nay, he is your brother by the surer side, Although my seal be stamped in his face.
NURSE. Aaron, what shall I say unto the Empress?
DEMETRIUS. 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.
AARON. 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]
DEMETRIUS. 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 delivered Empress.
AARON. The Emperess, the midwife, and yourself.
Two may keep counsel when the third"s away: Go to the Empress, tell her this I said. [He kills her]
Weeke weeke!
So cries a pig prepared to the spit.
DEMETRIUS. What mean"st thou, Aaron? Wherefore didst thou this?
AARON. O Lord, sir, "tis 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: Not far, one Muliteus, 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 circ.u.mstance of all, And how by this their child shall be advanc"d, And be received for the Emperor"s heir And subst.i.tuted 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. 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, But send the midwife presently to me.
The midwife and the nurse well made away, Then let the ladies tattle what they please.
CHIRON. Aaron, I see thou wilt not trust the air With secrets.
DEMETRIUS. For this care of Tamora, Herself and hers are highly bound to thee.