To save my boy, to nourish and bring him up;
Or else I will discover naught to thee.
LUCIUS.
Even by my god I swear to thee I will.
AARON.
First know thou, I begot him on the empress.
LUCIUS.
O most insatiate and luxurious woman!
AARON.
Tut, Lucius, this was but a deed of charity
To that which thou shalt hear of me anon.
‘Twas her two sons that murder’d Bassianus;
They cut thy sister’s tongue, and ravish’d her,
And cut her hands, and trimm’d her as thou saw’st.
LUCIUS.
O detestable villain! call’st thou that trimming?
AARON.
Why, she was wash’d, and cut, and trimm’d; and ‘twas
Trim sport for them which had the doing of it.
LUCIUS.
O barbarous, beastly villains, like thyself!
AARON.
Indeed, I was their tutor to instruct them:
That codding spirit had they from their mother,
As sure a card as ever won the set;
That bloody mind, I think, they learn’d of me,
As true a dog as ever fought at head.
Well, let my deeds be witness of my worth.
I train’d thy brethren to that guileful hole
Where the dead corpse of Bassianus lay:
I wrote the letter that thy father found,
And hid the gold within that letter mention’d,
Confederate with the queen and her two sons:
And what not done, that thou hast cause to rue,
Wherein I had no stroke of mischief in’t?
I play’d the cheater for thy father’s hand;
And, when I had it, drew myself apart,
And almost broke my heart with extreme laughter:
I pry’d me through the crevice of a wall
When, for his hand, he had his two sons’ heads;
Beheld his tears, and laugh’d so heartily
That both mine eyes were rainy like to his:
And when I told the empress of this sport,
She swooned almost at my pleasing tale,
And for my tidings gave me twenty kisses.
GOTH.
What, canst thou say all this and never blush?
AARON.
Ay, like a black dog, as the saying is.
LUCIUS.
Art thou not sorry for these heinous deeds?
AARON.
Ay, that I had not done a thousand more.
Even now I curse the day,—and yet, I think,
Few come within the compass of my curse,—
Wherein I did not some notorious ill:
As, kill a man, or else devise his death;
Ravish a maid, or plot the way to do it;
Accuse some innocent, and forswear myself;
Set deadly enmity between two friends;
Make poor men’s cattle stray and break their necks;
Set fire on barns and hay-stacks in the night,
And bid the owners quench them with their tears.
Oft have I digg’d up dead men from their graves,
And set them upright at their dear friends’ doors,
Even when their sorrows almost were forgot;
And on their skins, as on the bark of trees,
Have with my knife carved in Roman letters,
‘Let not your sorrow die, though I am dead.’
Tut, I have done a thousand dreadful things
As willingly as one would kill a fly;
And nothing grieves me heartily indeed
But that I cannot do ten thousand more.
LUCIUS.
Bring down the devil; for he must not die
So sweet a death as hanging presently.
AARON.
If there be devils, would I were a devil,
To live and burn in everlasting fire,
So I might have your company in hell
But to torment you with my bitter tongue!
LUCIUS.
Sirs, stop his mouth, and let him speak no more.
[Enter a GOTH.}
THIRD GOTH.
My lord, there is a messenger from Rome
Desires to be admitted to your presence.
LUCIUS.
Let him come near.
[Enter AEMILIUS.]
Welcome, Aemilius. What’s the news from Rome?
AEMILIUS.
Lord Lucius, and you princes of the Goths,
The Roman emperor greets you all by me;
And, for he understands you are in arms,
He craves a parley at your father’s house,
Willing you to demand your hostages,
And they shall be immediately deliver’d.
FIRST GOTH.
What says our general?
LUCIUS.
Aemilius, let the emperor give his pledges
Unto my father and my uncle Marcus.
And we will come.—March away.
[Exeunt.]
SCENE II
Rome. Before TITUS’S House.
[Enter TAMORA, DEMETRIUS and CHIRON, disguised.]
TAMORA.
Thus, in this strange and sad habiliment,
I will encounter with Andronicus,
And say I am Revenge, sent from below
To join with him and right his heinous wrongs.
Knock at his study, where they say he keeps
To ruminate strange plots of dire revenge;
Tell him