Act 2, Scene 1

Rome. Before the palace.

[Enter AARON.]
Aaron
502 Now climbeth Tamora Olympus' top,
503 Safe out of fortune's shot; and sits aloft,
504 Secure of thunder's crack or lightning's flash;
505 Advanc'd above pale envy's threatening reach.
506 As when the golden sun salutes the morn,
507 And, having gilt the ocean with his beams,
508 Gallops the zodiac in his glistening coach,
509 And overlooks the highest-peering hill;
510 So Tamora:
511 Upon her wit doth earthly honour wait,
512 And virtue stoops and trembles at her frown.
513 Then, Aaron, arm thy heart and fit thy thoughts
514 To mount aloft with thy imperial mistress,
515 And mount her pitch, whom thou in triumph long
516 Hast prisoner held, fett'red in amorous chains,
517 And faster bound to Aaron's charming eyes
518 Than is Prometheus tied to Caucasus.
519 Away with slavish weeds and servile thoughts!
520 I will be bright, and shine in pearl and gold,
521 To wait upon this new-made empress.
522 To wait, said I? to wanton with this queen,
523 This goddess, this Semiramis, this nymph,
524 This siren, that will charm Rome's Saturnine,
525 And see his shipwreck and his commonweal's.—
526 Holla! what storm is this?
[Enter DEMETRIUS and CHIRON braving.]
Demetrius
527 Chiron, thy years wants wit, thy wit wants edge
528 And manners, to intrude where I am grac'd;
529 And may, for aught thou know'st, affected be.
Chiron
530 Demetrius, thou dost over-ween in all;
531 And so in this, to bear me down with braves.
532 'Tis not the difference of a year or two
533 Makes me less gracious or thee more fortunate:
534 I am as able and as fit as thou
535 To serve and to deserve my mistress' grace;
536 And that my sword upon thee shall approve,
537 And plead my passions for Lavinia's love.
[Aside.]
Aaron
538 Clubs, clubs! These lovers will not keep the peace.
Demetrius
539 Why, boy, although our mother, unadvis'd,
540 Gave you a dancing-rapier by your side,
541 Are you so desperate grown to threat your friends?
542 Go to; have your lath glu'd within your sheath
543 Till you know better how to handle it.
Chiron
544 Meanwhile, sir, with the little skill I have,
545 Full well shalt thou perceive how much I dare.
Demetrius
546 Ay, boy, grow ye so brave?
[They draw.]
[Coming forward.]
Aaron
547 Why, how now, lords!
548 So near the emperor's palace dare ye draw,
549 And maintain such a quarrel openly?
550 Full well I wot the ground of all this grudge:
551 I would not for a million of gold
552 The cause were known to them it most concerns;
553 Nor would your noble mother for much more
554 Be so dishonour'd in the court of Rome.
555 For shame, put up.
Demetrius
556 Not I, till I have sheath'd
557 My rapier in his bosom, and withal
558 Thrust those reproachful speeches down his throat
559 That he hath breath'd in my dishonour here.
Chiron
560 For that I am prepar'd and full resolv'd,—
561 Foul-spoken coward, that thunder'st with thy tongue,
562 And with thy weapon nothing dar'st perform.
Aaron
563 Away, I say!—
564 Now, by the gods that warlike Goths adore,
565 This pretty brabble will undo us all.—
566 Why, lords, and think you not how dangerous
567 It is to jet upon a prince's right?
568 What, is Lavinia then become so loose,
569 Or Bassianus so degenerate,
570 That for her love such quarrels may be broach'd
571 Without controlment, justice, or revenge?
572 Young lords, beware! and should the empress know
573 This discord's ground, the music would not please.
Chiron
574 I care not, I, knew she and all the world:
575 I love Lavinia more than all the world.
Demetrius
576 Youngling, learn thou to make some meaner choice:
577 Lavina is thine elder brother's hope.
Aaron
578 Why, are ye mad? or know ye not in Rome
579 How furious and impatient they be,
580 And cannot brook competitors in love?
581 I tell you, lords, you do but plot your deaths
582 By this device.
Chiron
583 Aaron, a thousand deaths
584 Would I propose to achieve her whom I love.
Aaron
585 To achieve her!—How?
Demetrius
586 Why mak'st thou it so strange?
587 She is a woman, therefore may be woo'd;
588 She is a woman, therefore may be won;
589 She is Lavinia, therefore must be lov'd.
590 What, man! more water glideth by the mill
591 Than wots the miller of; and easy it is
592 Of a cut loaf to steal a shive, we know:
593 Though Bassianus be the emperor's brother,
594 Better than he have worn Vulcan's badge.
[Aside.]
Aaron
595 Ay, and as good as Saturninus may.
Demetrius
596 Then why should he despair that knows to court it
597 With words, fair looks, and liberality?
598 What, hast not thou full often struck a doe,
599 And borne her cleanly by the keeper's nose?
Aaron
600 Why, then, it seems some certain snatch or so
601 Would serve your turns.
Chiron
602 Ay, so the turn were serv'd.
Demetrius
603 Aaron, thou hast hit it.
Aaron
604 Would you had hit it too!
605 Then should not we be tir'd with this ado.
606 Why, hark ye, hark ye,—and are you such fools
607 To square for this? Would it offend you, then,
608 That both should speed?
Chiron
609 Faith, not me.
Demetrius
610 Nor me, so I were one.
Aaron
611 For shame, be friends, and join for that you jar:
612 'Tis policy and stratagem must do
613 That you affect; and so must you resolve
614 That what you cannot as you would achieve,
615 You must perforce accomplish as you may.
616 Take this of me,—Lucrece was not more chaste
617 Than this Lavinia, Bassianus' love.
618 A speedier course than lingering languishment
619 Must we pursue, and I have found the path.
620 My lords, a solemn hunting is in hand;
621 There will the lovely Roman ladies troop:
622 The forest walks are wide and spacious;
623 And many unfrequented plots there are
624 Fitted by kind for rape and villainy:
625 Single you thither, then, this dainty doe,
626 And strike her home by force if not by words:
627 This way, or not at all, stand you in hope.
628 Come, come, our empress, with her sacred wit
629 To villainy and vengeance consecrate,
630 Will we acquaint with all what we intend;
631 And she shall file our engines with advice
632 That will not suffer you to square yourselves,
633 But to your wishes' height advance you both.
634 The emperor's court is like the house of fame,
635 The palace full of tongues, of eyes, and ears:
636 The woods are ruthless, dreadful, deaf, and dull;
637 There speak and strike, brave boys, and take your turns;
638 There serve your lust, shadowed from heaven's eye,
639 And revel in Lavinia's treasury.
Chiron
640 Thy counsel, lad, smells of no cowardice.
Demetrius
641 Sit fas aut nefas, till I find the stream
642 To cool this heat, a charm to calm these fits,
643 Per Styga, per manes vehor.
[Exeunt.]

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Notes

TLN 502classical allusion
“climbeth Tamora Olympus' top”
Olympus was the mountain in northern Greece where the Greek and Roman gods were said to live, far above the mortal world. Aaron means Tamora, now empress of Rome, has risen to the very peak of power, as high as the gods themselves.
TLN 508classical allusion
“Gallops the zodiac in his glistening coach”
The Roman sun-god (Phoebus/Helios) was imagined driving a chariot of fire across the sky each day, tracing the arc of the zodiac — the belt of constellations through which the sun appears to travel. Aaron uses this image to compare Tamora's new radiance and power to the sun blazing at its highest.
TLN 517classical allusion
“faster bound to Aaron's charming eyes Than is Prometheus tied to Caucasus”
Prometheus was a Titan who stole fire from the gods and gave it to mankind; Zeus punished him by chaining him to a rock on Mount Caucasus, where an eagle ate his liver each day (it regrew overnight). Aaron means Tamora is bound to his eyes — enslaved by love — as completely and inescapably as Prometheus is chained to that cliff.
classical Prometheus and the Promethean fire
TLN 519archaic vocab
“Away with slavish weeds and servile thoughts”
'Weeds' here means clothing or garments, not plants. 'Slavish weeds' are the plain or degraded clothes of a captive or servant. Aaron resolves to shed the dress of his enslaved status and clothe himself in the finery that suits a queen's favourite.
TLN 523classical allusion
“this Semiramis, this nymph, This siren”
Semiramis was a legendary Assyrian queen famous in Renaissance Europe for her beauty, military power, and unbridled sexuality — a byword for a powerful, dangerous woman who ruled men through desire. A 'siren' was a sea-creature of Greek myth whose singing lured sailors to their deaths. Together these names mark Tamora as dangerously seductive and destructive.
TLN 538historical topical
“Clubs, clubs! These lovers will not keep the peace.”
'Clubs!' was the cry Londoners shouted to break up a street fight — apprentices and citizens would seize their clubs and wade in to separate brawlers. Aaron mutters it as an aside, ironically applying the London street-cry to two Roman noblemen drawing swords before the emperor's palace.
TLN 565archaic vocab
“this pretty brabble will undo us all”
'Brabble' means a noisy, petty quarrel or brawl. Aaron dismisses the brothers' sword-drawing as trivial squabbling that nonetheless risks exposing his entire scheme.
TLN 587rhetorical device
“She is a woman, therefore may be woo'd; She is a woman, therefore may be won; She is Lavinia, therefore must be lov'd.”
Demetrius's three-line sequence is an anaphora — the deliberate repetition of 'She is' at the start of each clause — driving toward a conclusion with the force of a logical proof. The mock-logic is sinister: because she is a woman she may be 'won,' and that 'winning' is about to mean rape.
TLN 616classical allusion
“Lucrece was not more chaste Than this Lavinia”
Lucrece (Lucretia) was the Roman noblewoman whose rape by Sextus Tarquinius was the most famous exemplum of violated chastity in classical history; she killed herself afterward rather than live dishonoured. Aaron's ironic comparison — Lavinia is as chaste as Lucrece — is his way of telling Chiron and Demetrius that 'winning' her by soft words is impossible, and force will be needed.
classical Tarquin and the rape of Lucrece
TLN 625cultural context
“Single you thither, then, this dainty doe, And strike her home by force if not by words”
Aaron translates the plan for rape into the language of deer-hunting: 'single' means to separate one deer from the herd (a standard hunting term), and a 'doe' is a female deer. The hunters 'strike' their quarry, a word that slides from hunting to violence. The hunting metaphor was a common Elizabethan way of speaking about pursuing women — here it masks and enables Aaron's explicit instruction to use force.
TLN 634classical allusion
“The emperor's court is like the house of fame, The palace full of tongues, of eyes, and ears”
The 'House of Fame' is a classical and medieval image of the palace where Rumour lives — a place where everything is heard, nothing is secret, and information spreads instantly in every direction. Aaron is telling the brothers that in the palace they cannot act without being seen and reported; the forest, 'ruthless, dreadful, deaf, and dull' (TLN 636), offers the necessary cover.
TLN 641classical allusion
“Sit fas aut nefas, till I find the stream To cool this heat, a charm to calm these fits, Per Styga, per manes vehor.”
Demetrius closes with two Latin tags that were well-known from Seneca's tragedies. 'Sit fas aut nefas' means 'Be it right or wrong' — acknowledging that what he plans is an act he knows may be sinful. 'Per Styga, per manes vehor' means 'I am carried through the Styx, through the shades of the dead' — a line from Seneca's Phaedra (1180) in which the speaker is swept headlong by passion beyond all moral bounds.
historical Seneca and the revenge tragedy