‘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 rushed upon him,

Surprised him suddenly, and brought him hither

To use as you think needful of the man.

LUCIUS

O worthy Goth, this is the incarnate devil

That robbed Andronicus of his good hand.

This is the pearl that pleased your Empress’ eye,

And here’s the base fruit of her burning lust.

(To Aaron) Say, wall-eyed slave, whither wouldst thou

convey

This growing image of thy fiendlike face?

Why dost not speak? What, deaf? What, not a word?

A halter, soldiers! Hang him on this tree,

And by his side his fruit of bastardy.

AARON

Touch not the boy; he is of royal blood.

LUCIUS

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 Goth brings a ladder which Aaron climbs⌉

AARON

Lucius, save the child,

And bear it from me to the Empress.

If thou do this, I’ll show thee wondrous 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!’

LUCIUS

Say on, and if it please me which thou speak’st

Thy child shall live, and I will see it nourished.

AARON

And 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 performed,

And this shall all be buried in my death

Unless thou swear to me my child shall live.

LUCIUS

Tell on thy mind. I say thy child shall live.

AARON

Swear that he shall, and then I will begin.

LUCIUS

Who should I swear by? Thou believest no god.

That granted, how canst thou believe an oath?

AARON

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 soe’er it be,

That thou adorest and hast in reverence,

To save my boy, to nurse 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.

LUCIIJS

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 murdered Bassianus.

They cut thy sister’s tongue, and ravished her,

And cut her hands, and trimmed her as thou sawest.

LUCIUS

O detestable villain! Call’st thou that trimming?

AARON

Why, she was washed and cut and trimmed, 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 learned of me,

As true a dog as ever fought at head.

Well, let my deeds be witness of my worth.

I trained 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 mentioned,

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 it?

I played the cheater for thy father’s hand,

And when I had it drew myself apart,

And almost broke my heart with extreme laughter.

I pried me through the crevice of a wall

When for his hand he had his two sons’ heads,

Beheld his tears, and laughed so heartily

That both mine eyes were rainy like to his;

And when I told the Empress of this sport

She swoonèd almost at my pleasing tale,

And for my tidings gave me twenty kisses.

A 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 break their necks;

Set fire on barns and haystacks in the night,