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 sheath
Till 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.
Why, how now, lords!
So near the emperor’s palace dare ye draw,
And maintain such a quarrel openly?
Full well I wot the ground of all this grudge.
I would not for a million of gold
The cause were known to them it most concerns;
Nor would your noble mother for much more
Be so dishonoured in the court of Rome.
For shame, put up.
DEMETRIUS.
Not I, till I have sheathed
My rapier in his bosom, and withal
Thrust those reproachful speeches down his throat
That he hath breathed in my dishonour here.
CHIRON.
For that I am prepared and full resolved,
Foul-spoken coward, that thund’rest with thy tongue,
And with thy weapon nothing dar’st perform.
AARON.
Away, I say!
Now, by the gods that warlike Goths adore,
This pretty brabble will undo us all.
Why, lords, and think you not how dangerous
It 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 broached
Without controlment, justice, or revenge?
Young lords, beware! And should the empress know
This 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.