Complete Plays, The Read Free Page B

aloft,Secure of thunder’s crack or lightning flash;Advanced above pale envy’s threatening reach.As when the golden sun salutes the morn,And, having gilt the ocean with his beams,Gallops the zodiac in his glistering coach,And overlooks the highest-peering hills;So Tamora:Upon her wit doth earthly honour wait,And virtue stoops and trembles at her frown.Then, Aaron, arm thy heart, and fit thy thoughts,To mount aloft with thy imperial mistress,And mount her pitch, whom thou in triumph longHast prisoner held, fetter’d in amorous chainsAnd faster bound to Aaron’s charming eyesThan is Prometheus tied to Caucasus.Away with slavish weeds and servile thoughts!I will be bright, and shine in pearl and gold,To wait upon this new-made empress.To wait, said I? to wanton with this queen,This goddess, this Semiramis, this nymph,This siren, that will charm Rome’s Saturnine,And see his shipwreck and his commonweal’s.Holloa! what storm is this?
    Enter Demetrius and Chiron, braving
    Demetrius
    Chiron, thy years want wit, thy wit wants edge,And manners, to intrude where I am graced;And may, for aught thou know’st, affected be.
    Chiron
    Demetrius, thou dost over-ween in all;And so in this, to bear me down with braves.’Tis not the difference of a year or twoMakes me less gracious or thee more fortunate:I am as able and as fit as thouTo serve, and to deserve my mistress’ grace;And that my sword upon thee shall approve,And plead my passions for Lavinia’s love.
    Aaron
    [Aside]   Clubs, clubs! these lovers will not keep the peace.
    Demetrius
    Why, boy, although our mother, unadvised,Gave you a dancing-rapier by your side,Are you so desperate grown, to threat your friends?Go to; have your lath glued within your sheathTill you know better how to handle it.
    Chiron
    Meanwhile, sir, with the little skill I have,Full well shalt thou perceive how much I dare.
    Demetrius
    Ay, boy, grow ye so brave?
    They draw
    Aaron
    [Coming forward]   Why, how now, lords!So near the emperor’s palace dare you draw,And maintain such a quarrel openly?Full well I wot the ground of all this grudge:I would not for a million of goldThe cause were known to them it most concerns;Nor would your noble mother for much moreBe so dishonour’d in the court of Rome.For shame, put up.
    Demetrius
      Not I, till I have sheathedMy rapier in his bosom and withalThrust these reproachful speeches down his throatThat he hath breathed in my dishonour here.
    Chiron
    For that I am prepared and full resolved.Foul-spoken coward, that thunder’st with thy tongue,And with thy weapon nothing darest perform!
    Aaron
    Away, I say!Now, by the gods that warlike Goths adore,This petty brabble will undo us all.Why, lords, and think you not how dangerousIt is to jet upon a prince’s right?What, is Lavinia then become so loose,Or Bassianus so degenerate,That for her love such quarrels may be broach’dWithout controlment, justice, or revenge?Young lords, beware! and should the empress knowThis discord’s ground, the music would not please.
    Chiron
    I care not, I, knew she and all the world:I love Lavinia more than all the world.
    Demetrius
    Youngling, learn thou to make some meaner choice:Lavinia is thine elder brother’s hope.
    Aaron
    Why, are ye mad? or know ye not, in RomeHow furious and impatient they be,And cannot brook competitors in love?I tell you, lords, you do but plot your deathsBy this device.
    Chiron
      Aaron, a thousand deathsWould I propose to achieve her whom I love.
    Aaron
    To achieve her! how?
    Demetrius
    Why makest thou it so strange?She is a woman, therefore may be woo’d;She is a woman, therefore may be won;She is Lavinia, therefore must be loved.What, man! more water glideth by the millThan wots the miller of; and easy it isOf a cut loaf to steal a shive, we know:Though Bassianus be the emperor’s brother.Better than he have worn Vulcan’s badge.
    Aaron
    [Aside]   Ay, and as good as Saturninus may.
    Demetrius
    Then why should he despair that knows to court