ACT V. SCENE I.

Plains near Rome.

Enter Lucius, and Goths, with Drum and Colours.

Luc. Approved warriors, and my faithful friends, I have received letters from great Rome,

Which signify, what hate they bear their emperor,
And how desirous of our sight they are.

Therefore, great lords, be, as your titles witness,
Imperious, and impatient of your wrongs;
And, wherein Rome hath done you any scath",
Let him make treble satisfaction.

1 GOTH. Brave slip, sprung from the great Andronicus,

Whose name was once our terror, now our comfort;
Whose high exploits, and honourable deeds,
Ingrateful Rome requites with foul contempt,
Be bold in us: we'll follow where thou lead'st,—
Like stinging bees in hottest summer's day,
Led by their master to the flower'd fields,—
And be aveng'd on cursed Tamora.

GOTHS. And, as he saith, so say we all with him. Luc. I humbly thank him, and I thank you all. But who comes here, led by a lusty Goth?

Enter a Goth, leading AARON, with his Child in his Arms.

2 GOTH. Renowned Lucius, from our troops I stray'd,

To gaze upon a ruinous monastery;

scath,] i. e. harm. See vol. xv. p. 225, n. 9. STEEVENS.

6 To gaze upon a ruinous monastery;] Shakspeare has so perpetually offended against chronology in all his plays, that no very conclusive argument can be deduced from the particular absurdity

And as I earnestly did fix mine eye
Upon the wasted building, suddenly
I heard a child cry underneath a wall:
I made unto the noise; when soon I heard
The crying babe controll'd with this discourse;
Peace, tawny slave; half me, and half thy dam!
Did not thy hue bewray whose brat thou art,
Had nature lent thee but thy mother's look,
Villain, thou might'st have been an emperor :
But where the bull and cow are both milk-white,
They never do beget a coal-black calf.

Peace, villain, peace!-even thus he rates the babe,

For I must bear thee to a trusty Goth;
Who, when he knows thou art the empress' babe,
Will hold thee dearly for thy mother's sake.
With this my weapon drawn, I rush'd upon him,
Surpriz'd him suddenly; and brought him hither,
To use as you think needful of the man.

Luc. O worthy Goth! this is the incarnate devil,
That robb'd Andronicus of his good hand:
This is the pearl that pleas'd your empress' eye";
And here's the base fruit of his burning lust.-
Say, wall-ey'd slave, whither would'st thou convey
This growing image of thy fiend-like face?

Why dost not speak? What! deaf? No : not a

word?

of these anachronisms, relative to the anthenticity of Titus Andronicus. And yet the ruined monastery, the popish tricks, &c. that Aaron talks of, and especially the French salutation from the mouth of Titus, are altogether so very much out of place that I cannot persuade myself even our hasty poet could have been guilty of their insertion, or would have permitted them to remain, had he corrected the performance for another. STEEVENS.

7 This is the pearl that pleas'd your empress' eye;] Alluding to the proverb, "A black man is a pearl in a fair woman's eye.'

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MALONE.

No:] This necessary syllable, though wanting in the first folio, is found in the second. STEEVENS.

A halter, soldiers; hang him on this tree,
And by his side his fruit of bastardy.

AAR. Touch not the boy, he is of royal blood. Luc. Too like the sire for ever being good. First, hang the child, that he may see it sprawl; A sight to vex the father's soul withal.

Get me a ladder.

[A Ladder brought, which AARON is obliged to

ascend.

9

Lucius, save the child ';

And bear it from me to the emperess.

If thou do this, I'll show thee wond'rous things,
That highly may advantage thee to hear:
If thou wilt not, befall what may befall,

I'll speak no more; But vengeance rot you all!
Luc. Say on; and, if it please me which thou
speak'st,

Thy child shall live, and I will see it nourish'd.
AAR. An if it please thee? why, assure thee,
Lucius,

"Twill vex thy soul to hear what I shall speak;
For I must talk of murders, rapes, and massacres,
Acts of black night, abominable deeds,
Complots of mischief, treason; villainies
Ruthful to hear, yet piteously perform'd':

9 Get me a ladder. Aar. Lucius, save the child;] All the printed editions have given this whole verse to Aaron. But why should the Moor ask for a ladder, who earnestly wanted to have his child .saved? THEOBALD.

"Get me a ladder," may mean, hang me.

STEEVENS.

These words," Get me a ladder," are given to Aaron, in edit. 1600. TODD.

Ruthful to hear, yet PITEOUSLY perform'd:] I suppose we should read-pitilessly, not piteously. M. MASON.

Is there such a word as that recommended? Piteously means, in a manner exciting pity. STEEVENS.

And this shall all be buried by my death",

Unless thou swear to me, my child shall live.

Luc. Tell on thy mind; I say, thy child shall live.

AAR. Swear, that he shall, and then I will begin. Luc. Who should I swear by? thou believ'st no god;

That granted, how canst thou believe an oath?
AAR. What if I do not? as, indeed, I do not:
Yet, for I know thou art religious,

And hast a thing within thee, called conscience;
With twenty popish tricks and ceremonies,
Which I have seen thee careful to observe,-
Therefore I urge thy oath ;-For that, I know,
An idiot holds his bauble" for a god,

And keeps the oath, which by that god he swears*
To that I'll urge him:-Therefore, thou shalt vow
By that same god, what god so'er it be,
That thou ador'st and hast in reverence,-

To save my boy, to nourish, and bring him up;
Or else I will discover nought to thee.

2

Luc. Even by my god, I swear to thee, I will.
AAR. First, know thou, I begot him on the

empress.

Luc. O most insatiate, luxurious woman 5!
AAR. Tut, Lucius! this was but a deed of

charity,

buried By my death,] Edition 1600-in my death.

3 his BAUBLE

TODD.

-] See a note on All's Well that Ends Well, vol. x. p. 460, n. 7. STEEVENS.

4 And keeps the oath, which by that god he swears;] Alluding perhaps to a custom mentioned in Genesis, xxiv. 9: "And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him concerning that matter." STEEVENS.

5- LUXURIOUS woman!] i. e. lascivious woman.

MALONE.

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.
Luc. O, détestable villain! call'st thou that

trimming?

AAR. Why, she was wash'd, and cut, and trimm'd; and 'twas

Trim sport for them that had the doing of it.

Luc. O, barbarous, beastly villains, like thyself! AAR. 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;

6

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 R,

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6 That CODDING spirit-] i. e. that love of bed-sports. Cod is a word still used in Yorkshire for a pillow. See Lloyd's catalogue of local words at the end of Ray's Proverbs.

Thus also, in A. Wyntown's Cronykil, b. ix. ch. vi. 147:

"The Byschape Waltyr, qwhen he wes dede
"That succedyt in his stede,

"Gave twa lang coddis of welwete,

"That on the awtare oft is sete."

COLLINS.

7 As true a dog as ever fought at head.] An allusion to bulldogs, whose generosity and courage are always shown by meeting the bull in front, and seizing his nose, JOHNSON.

So, in A Collection of Epigrams, by J. D. [John Davies] and C. M. [Christopher Marlowe,] printed at Middleburgh, no date: Amongst the dogs and beares he goes;

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Where, while he skipping cries-To head,-to head."

8 I train'd thy brethren to that guileful hole,

STEEVENS.

I wrote the letter, &c.] Perhaps Young had this speech in his thoughts, when he made his Moor say:

"I urg'd Don Carlos to resign his mistress;

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I forg'd the letter; I dispos'd the picture ;
"I hated, I despis'd, and I destroy." MALONE.