Keep there: now talk at pleasure of your safety. Dem. How many women saw this child of his? [They sit. Aar. Why, so, brave lords! when we (67) join in league, I am a lamb: but if you brave the Moor, Aar. The empress, the midwife, and yourself:- Go to the empress, tell her this I said :— [He stabs her, and she dies. Weke, weke !—so cries a pig prepar'd to the spit. Dem. What mean'st thou, Aaron? wherefore didst thou this? Aar. O Lord, sir, 'tis a deed of policy: [Pointing to the Nurse. And you must needs bestow her funeral; 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 dead Nurse. 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-lipp'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 (69) on curds and whey, and suck the goat, 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, and other Gentlemen, with bows. Tit. Come, Marcus, come :-kinsmen, this is the way. Sir boy,(70) let me see your archery; Look ye draw home enough, and 'tis there straight.— Be you remember'd, Marcus, she's gone, she's fled.- And that it comes from old Andronicus, On him that thus doth tyrannize o'er me.- Pub. Therefore, my lord,() it highly us concerns And feed his humour kindly as we may, Till time beget some careful remedy. Marc. Kinsmen, his sorrows are past remedy. Tit. Publius, how now! how now, my masters! Pub. No, my good lord; but Pluto sends you word, If you will have Revenge from hell, you shall: Marry, for Justice, she is so employ'd, He thinks, with Jove in heaven, or somewhere else, So that perforce you must needs stay a time. Tit. He doth me wrong to feed me with delays. And pull her out of Acheron by the heels.- Yet wrung with wrongs more than our backs can bear: Ad Jovem, that's for you:-here, ad Apollinem : Ad Martem, that's for myself: Here, boy, to Pallas :-here, to Mercury :- To it, boy.-Marcus, loose when I bid.— Marc. Kinsmen, shoot all your shafts into the court: Tit. Now, masters, draw. [They shoot.] O, well said, 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? See, see, thou hast shot off one of Taurus' horns. Marc. This was the sport, my lord: when Publius shot, The Bull, being gall'd, gave Aries such a knock That down fell both the Ram's horns in the court; And who should find them but the empress' villain? She laugh'd, and told the Moor he should not choose But give them to his master for a present. Tit. Why, there it goes: God give his lordship 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? Clo. Ho, the gibbet-maker? he says that he hath taken them down again, for the man must not be hanged till the next week. 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. 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. 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. Tit. Tell me, can you deliver an oration to the emperor with a grace? Clo. Nay, truly, sir, I could never say grace in all my life. But give your pigeons to the emperor: By me thou shalt have justice at his hands. Hold, hold; meanwhile here's money for thy charges.and ink. Give me pen Sirrah, can you with a grace deliver a supplication? Clo. Ay, sir. Tit. Then here is a supplication for you. And when you come to him, at the first approach you must kneel; then kiss his foot; then deliver up your pigeons; and then look for your reward. I'll be at hand, sir; see you do it bravely. Clo. I warrant you, sir, let me alone. Tit. Sirrah, hast thou a knife? come, let me see it.- For thou hast made it like an humble suppliant:- Knock at my door, and tell me what he says. Clo. God be with you, sir; I will. Tit. Come, Marcus, let us go.-Publius, follow me. SCENE IV. The same. Before the palace. [Exeunt. Enter SATURNINUS, TAMORA, DEMETRIUS, CHIRON, Lords, and others; SATURNINUS with the arrows in his hand that TITUS shot. 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 do the mightful gods,(74) Buzz in the people's ears, there naught hath pass'd, Of old Andronicus. And what an if |