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 believ’st 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 nourish 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.
LUCIUS.
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.