Woe to her chance, and damn'd her loathed choice, Accurs'd the offspring of fo foul a fiend!

Chi. It fhall not live.

Aar. It fhall not die.

Nur. Aaron, it must, the mother wills it fo. Aar. What, must it, nurse? then let no man but I Do execution on my flesh and blood.

Dem. I'll broach the tadpole on my rapier's point. Nurse, give it me, my fword fhall foon dispatch it.

Aar. Sooner this fword fhall plow thy bowels up.
Stay, murderous villains, will you kill your brother?
Now, by the burning tapers of the sky,
That fhone fo brightly when this boy was got,
He dies upon my Scymitar's fharp point,
That touches this my first-born son and heir.
I tell you, Younglings, not Enceladus
With all his threatning band of Typhon's brood,
Nor great Alcides, nor the God of war,

Shall feize this prey out of his father's hands.
What, what, ye fanguine fhallow-hearted boys,
Ye white-lim'd walls, ye ale-house painted figns,
Coal-black is better than another hue,

*In that it seems to bear another hue:
For all the water in the ocean

Can never turn the fwan's black legs to white,
Although fhe lave them hourly in the flood.
Tell the Emprefs from me, I am of age
To keep mine own; excufe it, how the can.
Dem. Wilt thou betray thy noble mistress thus?
Aar. My mistress is my miftrefs; this, myfelf;
The vigour and the picture of my youth.
This, before all the world, do I prefer;
This, maugre all the world, will I keep fafe;
Or fome of you fhall fmoke for it in Rome.

5 I'll broach the tadpole-] A broach is a pit. I'll pit the tad-pole.

6 In that it feems to bear ano

ther bue:] We may better read,

In that it fcorns 10 bear another

bue.

Dem

Dem. By this our mother is for ever 'sham'd.
Chi. Rome will defpife her for this foul escape.
Nur. The Emperor in his rage will doom her death.
Chi. I blufh to think upon this ignominy.

Aar. Why, there's the privilege your beauty bears.
Fy, treacherous hue, that will betray with blushing
The clofe enacts and counfels of the heart!

Here's a young lad fram'd of another leer.

Look, how the black flave fmiles upon the father;
As who should say, "Old lad, I am thine own."
He is your brother, Lords; fenfibly fed
Of that felf-blood, that first gave life to you;
And from that womb, where you imprifon'd were,
He is infranchifed and come to light;

Nay, he's your brother by the furer fide;
Although my feal is ftamped in his face.

Nur. Aaron, what fhall I fay unto the Emprefs?
Dem. Advife thee, Aaron, what is to be done,
And we will all fubscribe to thy advice.
Save you the child, fo we may be all fafe.

Aar. Then fit we down, and let us all confult.
My fon and I will have the wind of you.
Keep there; now talk at pleasure of your fafety.
[They fit on the ground.
Dem. How many women faw this child of his ?
Aar. Why fo; brave Lords. When we all join in
league,

I am a lamb; but if you brave the Moor,
The chafed boar, the mountain lionefs,
The ocean, fwells not fo as Aaron torms.
But fay again, how many faw the child?
Nur. Cornelia the midwife, and myself,
And no one else but the deliver'd Emprefs.

Aar. The Emprefs, the midwife, and yourself-
Two may keep counfel, when the third's away:
Go to the Emprefs, tell her this I faid-

[He kills her. Week,-week!-So cries a pig, prepar'd to th' fpit.

337

Dem. What mean'ft thou, Aaron? wherefore didft

thou this?

Aar. O Lord, Sir, 'tis a deed of policy:
Shall the live to betray this guilt of ours?
A long-tongu'd babling goffip? no, Lords, no.
And now be it known to you my full intent:
Not far, one Muliteus lives, my country-man,
His wife but yefternight 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 circumftance of all;
And how by this their child fhall be advanc'd,
And be received for the Emp'ror's heir,
And substituted in the place of mine,
To calm this tempeft whirling in the Court;
And let the Emp'ror dandle him for his own.
Hark ye, my Lords, ye fee, I have given her phyfic;
[Pointing to the Nurfe.
And you must needs beftow her funeral;
The fields are near, and you are gallant grooms.
This done, fee, that you take no longer days,
But fend the midwife prefently to me.

The midwife and the nurfe well made away,
Then let the ladies tattle what they please.
Chi. Aaron, 1 fee, thou wilt not truft the air
With fecrets.

Dem. For this care of Tamora,

Herself and hers are highly bound to thee.

[Exeunt.

Aar. Now to the Goths, as fwift as Swallow flies,

There to dispose this treasure in my arms,
And fecretly to greet the Emprefs' friends.
Come on, you thick-lip'd flave, I bear you hence,
For it is you that put us to our fhifts;
I'll make you feed on berries, and on roots,

6 Go pack with him,-] Pack here feems to have the meaning of make a bargain. Or it may mean, as in the phrafe of moVOL. VI.

dern gamefters, to act collufively.

And mighty Dukes pack knaves for half a crown. POPE.

And

And feed on curds and whey, and fuck the goat,-
And cabin in a cave; and bring you up
To be a warrior, and command a camp.

SCENE IV.

A Street near the Palace.

[Exit.

Enter Titus, old Marcus, young Lucius, and other Gentlemen with bows; and Titus bears the arrows wab letters on the end of them.

Tit.

YOME, Marcus, come; kinfmen, this is the

COME

way.

Sir boy, now let me fee your archery.

Look, ye draw home enough, and 'tis there straight; Terras Aftrea reliquit-be you remember'd, Marcus She's gone, fhe's filed-Sirs, take you to your tools. You, coufins, fhall go found the ocean,

And caft your nets; haply, you may find her in the fea,
Yet there's as little juftice as at land-

No, Publius and Sempronius; you must do it,
'Tis you must dig with mattock and with fpade,
And pierce the inmoft centre of the earth;
Then, when you come to Pluto's region,
I pray you, deliver this petition,
Tell him it is for juftice, and for aid;
And that it comes from old Andronicus,
Shaken with forrows in ungrateful Rome.
Ah, Rome!-Well, well, I made thee miferable.
What time I threw the people's fuffrages
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 ship'd her hence,
And, kinfmen, then we may go pipe for justice.
Mar. Oh Publius, is not this a heavy cafe,
To fee thy noble uncle thus diftract?

Pub.

Pub. Therefore, my Lord, it highly us concerns,
By day and night t'attend him carefully,
And feed his humour kindly as we may,
'Till time beget fome careful remedy.

Mar. Kinimen, his forrows 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 mafters,
What, have you met with her?

Pub. No, my good Lord, but Pluto fends you word, If you will have revenge from hell, you shall. Marry, for juftice, fhe is fo employ'd,

He thinks, with Jove in heav'n, or fomewhere else, So that perforce you needs muft 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, fram'd of the Cyclops' fize,
But metal, Marcus, fteel to th' very back;

7 Yet wrung with wrongs, more than our backs can bear.

And fith there is no juftice in earth nor hell,
We will folicit heav'n, and move the Gods,
To fend down justice for to wreak our wrongs:
Come, to this gear; you're 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 and to Calus-not to Saturnine-
You were as good to shoot against the wind.
To it, boy; Marcus-loose when I bid:
my word, I have written to effect,

7 Yet wrong with wrongs,-] To wring horfe is to press or Brain his back.