The dam will wake; and, if she wind you once, And lulls him whilst she playeth on her back, And with a gad of steel will write these words, Come, come; thou'lt do thy message, wilt thou not? sire. Tit. No, boy, not so; I'll teach thee another course. Lavinia, come:-Marcus, look to my house; Ay, marry, will we, sir; and we'll be waited on. [Exeunt Titus, Lavinia, and Boy. Mar. O heavens, can you hear a good man groan, And not relent, or not compassion him? That hath more scars of sorrow in his heart, SCENE II. The Same. 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 to us. Aar. Ay, some mad message from his mad grandfather. Boy. My lords, with all the humbleness I may, I greet your honours from Andronicus ; And pray the Roman gods, confound you both. [Aside. Dem. Gramercy, lovely Lucius: What's the news? Boy. That you are both decypher'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 To gratify your honourable youth, The hope of Rome; for so he bade me say; And so I leave you both, [Aside.] like bloody villains. [Exeunt Boy and Attendant. Dem. What's here? A scroll; and written round about? Let's see; Integer vitæ, scelerisque purus, Non eget Mauri jaculis, neque 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. But were our witty empress well a-foot, But let her rest in her unrest awhile.- Aside, 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. 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? 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; 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. hue? Sweet blowse, you are a beauteous blossom, sure. 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 damn'd her loathed choice! Accurs'd 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. |