Aar. Sooner this Sword shall plough thy Bowels up.
Stay, murtherous 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 Cymitar's sharp point,
That touches this my first-born Son and Heiro
I tell you, Younglings, not Enceladus
With all his threatning Band of Typhon's Brood,
Nor great Alcides, nor the God of War,
Shall seize this Prey out of his Father's Hands:
What, what, ye sanguine shallow-hearted Boys,
Ye white-limb'd Walls, ye A'ehouse painted Signs
Coal-black is better than another hue,
In that it scorns to bear another hue:
For all the water in the Ocean

ii
Can never turi 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.

Dem. Wilt thou betray thy noble Mistress thus?

Aar. 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 fall smoke for it in Rome.

Dem. By this our Mother is for ever sham'd.
Chi. Rome will defpise her for this foul Escape.
Nur. The Emperor in his rage will doom her Death.
Chi. I blush to thiok upon this Ignominy,

Aar. Why there's the privilege your Beauty bears':
Fie treacherous hue, that will betray with blushing
The close Enacts and Counsels of the Heart:
Here's a young Lad fram'd of another leer,
Look how the black Slave (miles upon the Father;
As who sho ld say,, old Lad I am thine own,
He is your Brother, Lords; fenfibly fed
Of hát felf-blood that first gave life to you,
And from that Womb where you imprisoned were,
He is infranchised and come to light:
Nay, he is your Brother by the surer fide,
Although my Ścal be ftamped on his Face.
VOL. IV.

LI

Nuri

Nur. Aaron, what shall I say unto the Empress?

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 fit 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 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, 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 my self. And none else but the delivered Empress.

Aar. The Empress, the Midwife, and your selfTwo may keep Counsel, when the third's away: Go to the Empress, tell her, this I said

[He kills her. Week, week, so cries a Pig prepard to th' 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?
A long-tongu'd babling Gossip? No, Lords, no.
And now be it known to you my full intent:
Not far, one Muliteus lives, my Country.man,
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 circumstance of all,
And how by this their Child shall be advanc'd,
And be received for the Emperor's Heir, r
And substituted in the place of mine,
To calm tis Tempest whirling in the Court;
And let the Emperor dandle him for his own.
Hark ye, Lords, ye fee I have given her Physick,
,

I
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 prefently to me.

The

a

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,
Her self and hers are highly bound to thee. [Exeunt.

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-lip'd 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,
And Cabin in a Cave, and bring you up
To be a Warrior, and command a Camp.

[Exit. Enter Titus, old Marcus, young Lucius, and other Gentle

men with Bows, and Ticus bears the Arrows with Letters
on the end of them.

Tit. Come, Marcus, come Kinsmen, this is the way.
Sir Boy, now let me see your Archery,
Look ye draw home enough, and 'tis there straight;
Terras Astrea reliquito be you remembred, Marcus .
She's gone, she's fled-Sirs, take you to your Tools,
You, Cousins, shall go found the Ocean,
And cast your Nets, haply you may find her in the Sea,
Yet there's as little Justice as at Land.
No Publius and Sempronius, you must do it,
'Tis you must dig with Mattock and with Spade,
And pierce the inmost Center of the Earth:
Then when you come to Pluto's Region,
I pray you to 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 Peoples 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 un search'd,
This wicked Emperor may have ship'd her hence,
And Kinsmen then we may go pipe for Justice.

L) 2

Mar.

Mar. O, Publius, is not this a heavy case,
To see thy noble Unkle chus distract ?

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 some careful Remedy.

Mar. Kinsmen, his Sorrows 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 Masters,
What have you met with her?

Pub. No, my good Lord, but Pluto sends you word, If you will have Revenge from Hell, you Mall: Marry for Justice she is so imploy'd, He thinks with Jove in Heav'n, or some where else;

"
So that perforce you must needs 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-bond Men, fram'd of the Cyclops size,
But Metal, Marcus, Steel to the very Back,
Yet wrung with wrongs more than our Backs can bear.
And fith there's no Justice in Earth nor Hell,
We will follicit Heay'n, and move the Gods,
To fend down Justice for to wreak our wrongs:
Come to this gear, you are a good Archer, Marcus.

[He gives them the Arrows. Ad Jovem, that's for you here ad Apollonem. Ad Mariem, that's for my fell;

,
Here Boy, to Pallas here to Mercury-
T. Cælus and to Saturn not to Saturnine-
You were as good to shoot against the Wind.
Toit, Boy, Marcus loose when I bid :

-
Ofmy word, I have written to effect,
There's not a God left unfollicited.

Mar. Kinfin.en, soot all your Shafts into the Court, We will aliet the Emperor in his Pride. [They shoot.

Tit. Now, Masters, draw; Oh well said, Lucius: Good Boy in Virgo's Lap, give it Pallas.

Mar.

Mar. My Lord, I am a mile beyond the Moon;
Your Letter is with Jupiter by this.

Tit. Ha, ha, Publius, Publiu's, what halt thou done?
See, fee, thou haft shot off one of Taurus's Horns.

Mar. This was the sport, my Lord, when Publius shot,
The Bull being galld, gave Aries such a knock,
That down fell both the Rams Horns in the Court,
And who should find them but the Empress Villain:
She laugh'd, and told the Moor he should not chuse
But give them to his Master for a present.
Tit. Why there it goes, God give your Lordship joy.

Enier a Clown wiih a Basket and two Pigeons.
News, News from Heav'n;
Marcus, the Post is come.
Sirrah, what Tydings? have you any Letters?
Shall I have Justice, what says Jupiter?

Clow. Who?the Gibbet-maker? he fiys that he hath taken them down again, for the Man must not be hang'd 'till the next Week.

Tit. Tut, what says Jupiter, I ask thee?

Clow. Alas, Sir, I know not Jupiter,
I never drank with him in all my Life. ?

Tit. Why Villain, art not thou the Carrier?
Clow. Ay, of my Pigeons, Sir, nothing else.
Tit. Why, didst thou not come from Heav'n?
Clow. From Heav'n? Alas, Sir, I never campe

there,
God forbid I should be so bold to press into Heav'n in my
young Days. Why I am going with my Pigeons to ihe
Tribunal Plebs, to take up a matter of brawl betwixt my
Uncle and one of the Emperials Men.

Mar. Why, Sir, that is as fie as can be to serve for your Oration, and let him deliver the Pigeons to the Emperor

from you.

Tit. Tell me, can you deliver an Oration to the Emperor with a Grace?

Clow. Nay, truly, Sir, I could never f.y. Grace in all my
Life.

Tit. Sirrah, come hither, make ro more adó,
But give your Pigeons to the Emperor.
By me thou shale have Justice at his Hands.
Hold, hold-mean while here's Mony furthy Charges.

LI3

Give