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Stand gracious to the rites that we intend !
Romans, of five-and-twenty valiant fons,
Half of the number that King Priam had,
Behold the poor remains, alive or dead!
These that furvive let Rome reward with love;
These that I bring unto their latest home,
With burial among their ancestors.

Here Goths have given me leave to sheath my sword:
Titus, unkind, and careless of thine own,
Why fuffereft thou thy fons, unburied yet,
To hover on the dreadful fhore of Styx?
Make way to lay them by their brethren.

[They open the Tomb.
There greet in filence, as the dead are wont,
And fleep in peace, flain in your country's wars:
O facred receptacle of my joys,

Sweet cell of virtue and nobility,

How many fons of mine haft thou in ftore,
That thou wilt never render to me more?

Luc. Give us the proudeft prisoner of the Goths,
That we may hew his limbs, and on a pile,
Ad manes fratrum facrifice his flesh,
Before this earthly prifon of their bones;
That fo the fhadows be not unappeased,
Nor we disturb'd with prodigies on earth.
Tit. I give him you, the nobleft that furvives,
The eldest fon of this diftreffed Queen.

Tam. Stay, Roman brethren, gracious conqueror, Victorious Titus, rue the tears I fhed,

A mother's tears in paffion for her fon:
And if thy fons were ever dear to thee,
O, think my fons to be as dear to me.
Sufficeth not, that we are brought to Rome, (3)

(3) Sufficeth not, that we are brought to Rome,

2

To beautify thy triumphs, and return

Captive to thee and to thy Roman yoke ?] It is evident,

To beautify thy triumphs and return,
Captive to thee and to thy Roman yoke?
But must my fons be flaughtered in the streets,
For valiant doings in their country's cause?
O! if to fight for King and commonweal
Were piety in thine, it is in thefe:

Andronicus, ftain not thy tomb with blood.
Wilt thou draw near the nature of the gods?
Draw near them then in being merciful;
Sweet mercy is nobility's true badge.

Thrice noble Titus, fpare my first-born fon.

Tit. Patient yourself, Madam, and pardon me. These are their brethren, whom you Goths behold Alive and dead, and for their brethren flain Religiously they ask a facrifice;

To this your fon is mark'd, and die he muft, T' appease their groaning fhadows that are gone. Luc. Away with him, and make a fire straight, And with our fwords upon a pile of wood Let's hew his limbs, 'till they be clean confumed. [Exeunt Mutius, Marcus, Quintus and Lucius, with Alarbus.

Tam. O cruel, irreligious piety!

Chi. Was ever Scythia half fo barbarous?
Dem. Oppofe me, Scythia, to ambitious Rome.
Alarbus, go to reft! and we furvive

To tremble under Titus' threatning looks.
Then, Madam, stand refolved; but hope withal,

as this paffage has hitherto been pointed, none of the editors understood the true meaning. If Tamora and her family return captive to Rome, they must have been before prifoners of war to the Romans and that is more than what is hinted or fuppofed any where in the play. But the truth is, return is not a verb but a fubftantive; and relates to Titus and not to Tamora. The regulation I have given the text, I dare warrant, reftores the Author's intention: To beautify thy triumphs and return.

[Troy

(4) The felf fame gods that armed the Queen of
With opportunity of fharp revenge
Upon the Thracian tyrant in her tent,
May favour Tamora, the Queen of Goths,
(When Goths were Goths, and Tamora was Queen)
To quit her bloody wrongs upon her foes.

Enter MUTIUS, MARCUS, QUINTUS and LUCIUS
Luc. See, lord and father, how we have perform'd
Our Roman rites: Alarbus' limbs are lop'd,
And entrails feed the facrificing fire,

Whofe fmoke, like incenfe, doth perfume the sky.
Remaineth nought but to inter our brethren,
And with loud larums welcome them to Rome.
Fit. Let it be fo, and let Andronicus

Make this his lateft farewel to their fouls.

Then found trumpets, and lay the Coffins in
the tomb.

In peace and honour rest you here, my fons,
Rome's readieft champions, repose you here,
Secure from worldly chances and mishaps:
Here lurks no treafon, here no envy fwells;
Here grow no damned grudges, here no ftorms,
No noife; but filence and eternal fleep:

In

peace and honour rest you here, my fons!

(4) The Self-fame gods that armed the Queen of Troy With opportunity of sharp revenge

Upon the Thracian tyrant in his tent, &c.] I read, against the authority of all the copies,in her tent; i. e. in the tent where the and the other Trojan captive women were kept : for thither Hecuba by a wile had decoyed Polymnestor, in or→ der to perpetrate her revenge. This we may learn from Eu ripides's Hecuba; the only Author that I can at prefent remember, from whom our writer must have gleaned this cir cumstance.

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Enter LAVINIA.

Lav. In peace and honour live Lord Titus long, My noble Lord and father, live in fame! Lo! at this tomb my tributary tears I render, for my brethrens obfequies : And at thy feet I kneel, with tears of joy Shed on the earth, for thy return to Rome. O, blefs me here with thy victorious hand, Whofe fortune Rome's beft citizens applaud. Tit. Kind Rome, that haft thus lovingly referved The cordial of mine age, to glad mine heart, Lavinia, live; out-live thy father's days, (5) In fame's eternal date for virtue's praife!

Mar. Long live Lord Titus, my beloved brother, Gracious triumpher in the eyes of Rome !

Tit. Thanks, gentle tribune, noble brother Marcus. Mar. And welcome, nephews, from fuccefsful wars, You that furvive, and you that fleep in fame: Fair Lords, your fortunes are alike in all, (6)

(s) Lavinia, live; outlive thy father's days:

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And Fame's eternal date for Virtue's praife!] Were the text to be admitted genuine, nothing could be fo abfurd as for Titus to wifh his daughter might outlive the eternal date of Fame. This, as my friend Mr Warburton merrily ob ferves, is like the loyal patriot in the last reign, who wished King George might reign for ever, and the Prince and Princefs after him! I have, by the change of a fingle monofyllable, restored the paffage to a fenfible and kind with.

(6) Fair Lords, your fortunes are alike in all.] This is addreffed by the tribune to all his brother's fons, as well dead as alive. But how could it be then faid, that their fortunes were all alike? The expreffion feems liable to an open abfurdity. Perhaps we may reconcile ourfelves to it, thus: "Some of you are returned fafe, and with glory; you, "that have not lived to return, fhare the glory of your.

brethren's fortune, in having died for your country: "and though you cannot partake in the joy of their tri"umph, yet ftill you enjoy a fafer triumph, exempt from * chance and cafualty."

fwords.

That in your country's fervice drew your
But fafer triumph is this funeral pomp,
That hath afpired to Solon's happiness,
And triumphs over chance, in honour's bed.
Titus Andronicus, the people of Rome,
Whofe friend in justice thou haft ever been,
Send thee by me their tribune, and their trust,
This palliament of white and spotless hue;
And name thee in election for the empire,
With thefe our late deceased Emperor's fons:
Be Candidatus then, and put it on;

And help to fet a head on headless Rome.
Tit. A better head her glorious body fits,
Than his, that shakes for age and feebleness:
What! fhould I don this robe, and trouble you?
Be chofe with proclamations to-day,
To-morrow yield up rule, refign my life,
And fet abroach new business for you all?
Rome, I have been thy foldier forty years,
And led my country's ftrength fuccefsfully;
And buried one and twenty valiant fons,
Knighted in field, flain manfully in arms,
In right and fervice of their noble country.
Give me a staff of honour for mine age,
But not a fceptre to controul the world.
Upright he held it, Lords, that held it laft.

Mar. Titus, thou fhalt obtain and afk the empery..
Sat. Proud and ambitious tribune, canft thou tell?
Tit. Patience, Prince Saturninus..

Sat. Romans, do me right..

Patricians, draw your fwords, and fheath them not 'Till Saturninus be Rome's Emperor.

Andronicus, would thou wert fhip'd to hell,.
Rather than rob me of the people's hearts..

Luc. Proud Saturnine, interrupter of the good That noble-minded Titus means to thee,

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