| ACT V SCENE I | Plains near Rome. | |
| [Enter LUCIUS with an army of Goths, with drum and colours] |
| LUCIUS | 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, | 5 |
| Imperious and impatient of your wrongs, |
| And wherein Rome hath done you any scath, |
| Let him make treble satisfaction. |
| First Goth | Brave slip, sprung from the great Andronicus, |
| Whose name was once our terror, now our comfort; | 10 |
| 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 flowered fields, | 15 |
| And be avenged on cursed Tamora. |
| All the Goths | And as he saith, so say we all with him. |
| LUCIUS | 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] |
| Second Goth | Renowned Lucius, from our troops I stray'd | 20 |
| To gaze upon a ruinous monastery; |
| 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 | 25 |
| 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 mightst have been an emperor: | 30 |
| 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; | 35 |
| 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, |
| Surprised him suddenly, and brought him hither, |
| To use as you think needful of the man. | 40 |
| LUCIUS | O worthy Goth, this is the incarnate devil |
| That robb'd Andronicus of his good hand; |
| This is the pearl that pleased your empress' eye, |
| And here's the base fruit of his burning lust. |
| Say, wall-eyed slave, whither wouldst thou convey | 45 |
| This growing image of thy fiend-like face? |
| Why dost not speak? what, deaf? 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. | 50 |
| 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 ladder brought, which AARON is made to ascend] |
| AARON | Lucius, save the child, | 55 |
| 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!' | 60 |
| LUCIUS | Say on: an if it please me which thou speak'st |
| Thy child shall live, and I will see it nourish'd. |
| AARON | 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, | 65 |
| Acts of black night, abominable deeds, |
| Complots of mischief, treason, villanies |
| Ruthful to hear, yet piteously perform'd: |
| And this shall all be buried by my death, |
| Unless thou swear to me my child shall live. | 70 |
| 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; | 75 |
| 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 | 80 |
| 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, | 85 |
| To save my boy, to nourish and bring him up; |
| Or else I will discover nought 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! | 90 |
| 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. | 95 |
| 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 that had the doing of it. |
| LUCIUS | O barbarous, beastly villains, like thyself! |
| AARON | Indeed, I was their tutor to instruct them: | 100 |
| 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. | 105 |
| 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 the letter mention'd, |
| Confederate with the queen and her two sons: | 110 |
| And what not done, that thou hast cause to rue, |
| Wherein I had no stroke of mischief in it? |
| 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: | 115 |
| 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, | 120 |
| She swooned almost at my pleasing tale, |
| And for my tidings gave me twenty kisses. |
| First 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? | 125 |
| 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, | 130 |
| 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 hay-stacks in the night, | 135 |
| 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, | 140 |
| 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 | 145 |
| 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, | 150 |
| 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. | 155 |
| 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, | 160 |
| 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 | 165 |
| Unto my father and my uncle Marcus, |
| And we will come. March away. |
| [Exeunt] |