Moor?
Aaron
Well, more or less, or ne’er a whit at all,Here Aaron is; and what with Aaron now?
Nurse
O gentle Aaron, we are all undone!Now help, or woe betide thee evermore!
Aaron
Why, what a caterwauling dost thou keep!What dost thou wrap and fumble in thine arms?
Nurse
O, that which I would hide from heaven’s eye,Our empress’ shame, and stately Rome’s disgrace!She is deliver’d, lords; she is deliver’d.
Aaron
To whom?
Nurse
I mean, she is brought a-bed.
Aaron
Well, God give her good rest! What hath he sent her?
Nurse
A devil.
Aaron
Why, then she is the devil’s dam; a joyful issue.
Nurse
A joyless, dismal, black, and sorrowful issue:Here is the babe, as loathsome as a toadAmongst the fairest breeders of our clime:The empress sends it thee, thy stamp, thy seal,And bids thee christen it with thy dagger’s point.
Aaron
’Zounds, ye whore! is black so base a hue?Sweet blowse, you are a beauteous blossom, sure.
Demetrius
Villain, what hast thou done?
Aaron
That which thou canst not undo.
Chiron
Thou hast undone our mother.
Aaron
Villain, I have done thy mother.
Demetrius
And therein, hellish dog, thou hast undone.Woe to her chance, and damn’d her loathed choice!Accursed the offspring of so foul a fiend!
Chiron
It shall not live.
Aaron
It shall not die.
Nurse
Aaron, it must; the mother wills it so.
Aaron
What, must it, nurse? then let no man but IDo execution on my flesh and blood.
Demetrius
I’ll broach the tadpole on my rapier’s point:Nurse, give it me; my sword shall soon dispatch it.
Aaron
Sooner this sword shall plough thy bowels up.
Takes the Child from the Nurse, and draws
Stay, murderous villains! will you kill your brother?Now, by the burning tapers of the sky,That shone so brightly when this boy was got,He dies upon my scimitar’s sharp pointThat touches this my first-born son and heir!I tell you, younglings, not Enceladus,With all his threatening band of Typhon’s brood,Nor great Alcides, nor the god of war,Shall seize this prey out of his father’s hands.What, what, ye sanguine, shallow-hearted boys!Ye white-limed walls! ye alehouse painted signs!Coal-black is better than another hue,In that it scorns to bear another hue;For all the water in the oceanCan never turn the swan’s black legs to white,Although she lave them hourly in the flood.Tell the empress from me, I am of ageTo keep mine own, excuse it how she can.
Demetrius
Wilt thou betray thy noble mistress thus?
Aaron
My mistress is my mistress; this myself,The vigour and the picture of my youth:This before all the world do I prefer;This maugre all the world will I keep safe,Or some of you shall smoke for it in Rome.
Demetrius
By this our mother is forever shamed.
Chiron
Rome will despise her for this foul escape.
Nurse
The emperor, in his rage, will doom her death.
Chiron
I blush to think upon this ignomy.
Aaron
Why, there’s the privilege your beauty bears:Fie, treacherous hue, that will betray with blushingThe close enacts and counsels of the heart!Here’s a young lad framed of another leer:Look, how the black slave smiles upon the father,As who should say ‘Old lad, I am thine own.’He is your brother, lords, sensibly fedOf that self-blood that first gave life to you,And from that womb where you imprison’d wereHe is enfranchised and come to light:Nay, he is your brother by the surer side,Although my seal be stamped in his face.
Nurse
Aaron, what shall I say unto the empress?
Demetrius
Advise thee, Aaron, what is to be done,And we will all subscribe to thy advice:Save thou the child, so we may all be safe.
Aaron
Then sit we down, and let us all consult.My son and I will have the wind of you:Keep there: now talk at pleasure of your safety.
They sit
Demetrius
How many women saw this child of his?
Aaron
Why, so, brave lords! when we join in league,I am a lamb: but if you brave the Moor,The chafed boar, the mountain lioness,The ocean swells not so as Aaron
Aaron
Well, more or less, or ne’er a whit at all,Here Aaron is; and what with Aaron now?
Nurse
O gentle Aaron, we are all undone!Now help, or woe betide thee evermore!
Aaron
Why, what a caterwauling dost thou keep!What dost thou wrap and fumble in thine arms?
Nurse
O, that which I would hide from heaven’s eye,Our empress’ shame, and stately Rome’s disgrace!She is deliver’d, lords; she is deliver’d.
Aaron
To whom?
Nurse
I mean, she is brought a-bed.
Aaron
Well, God give her good rest! What hath he sent her?
Nurse
A devil.
Aaron
Why, then she is the devil’s dam; a joyful issue.
Nurse
A joyless, dismal, black, and sorrowful issue:Here is the babe, as loathsome as a toadAmongst the fairest breeders of our clime:The empress sends it thee, thy stamp, thy seal,And bids thee christen it with thy dagger’s point.
Aaron
’Zounds, ye whore! is black so base a hue?Sweet blowse, you are a beauteous blossom, sure.
Demetrius
Villain, what hast thou done?
Aaron
That which thou canst not undo.
Chiron
Thou hast undone our mother.
Aaron
Villain, I have done thy mother.
Demetrius
And therein, hellish dog, thou hast undone.Woe to her chance, and damn’d her loathed choice!Accursed the offspring of so foul a fiend!
Chiron
It shall not live.
Aaron
It shall not die.
Nurse
Aaron, it must; the mother wills it so.
Aaron
What, must it, nurse? then let no man but IDo execution on my flesh and blood.
Demetrius
I’ll broach the tadpole on my rapier’s point:Nurse, give it me; my sword shall soon dispatch it.
Aaron
Sooner this sword shall plough thy bowels up.
Takes the Child from the Nurse, and draws
Stay, murderous villains! will you kill your brother?Now, by the burning tapers of the sky,That shone so brightly when this boy was got,He dies upon my scimitar’s sharp pointThat touches this my first-born son and heir!I tell you, younglings, not Enceladus,With all his threatening band of Typhon’s brood,Nor great Alcides, nor the god of war,Shall seize this prey out of his father’s hands.What, what, ye sanguine, shallow-hearted boys!Ye white-limed walls! ye alehouse painted signs!Coal-black is better than another hue,In that it scorns to bear another hue;For all the water in the oceanCan never turn the swan’s black legs to white,Although she lave them hourly in the flood.Tell the empress from me, I am of ageTo keep mine own, excuse it how she can.
Demetrius
Wilt thou betray thy noble mistress thus?
Aaron
My mistress is my mistress; this myself,The vigour and the picture of my youth:This before all the world do I prefer;This maugre all the world will I keep safe,Or some of you shall smoke for it in Rome.
Demetrius
By this our mother is forever shamed.
Chiron
Rome will despise her for this foul escape.
Nurse
The emperor, in his rage, will doom her death.
Chiron
I blush to think upon this ignomy.
Aaron
Why, there’s the privilege your beauty bears:Fie, treacherous hue, that will betray with blushingThe close enacts and counsels of the heart!Here’s a young lad framed of another leer:Look, how the black slave smiles upon the father,As who should say ‘Old lad, I am thine own.’He is your brother, lords, sensibly fedOf that self-blood that first gave life to you,And from that womb where you imprison’d wereHe is enfranchised and come to light:Nay, he is your brother by the surer side,Although my seal be stamped in his face.
Nurse
Aaron, what shall I say unto the empress?
Demetrius
Advise thee, Aaron, what is to be done,And we will all subscribe to thy advice:Save thou the child, so we may all be safe.
Aaron
Then sit we down, and let us all consult.My son and I will have the wind of you:Keep there: now talk at pleasure of your safety.
They sit
Demetrius
How many women saw this child of his?
Aaron
Why, so, brave lords! when we join in league,I am a lamb: but if you brave the Moor,The chafed boar, the mountain lioness,The ocean swells not so as Aaron
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