Sound drums and trumpets, &c. Enter MARTIUS and MUTIUS: after them, two Men bearing a coffin covered with black; then LUCIUS and QUINTUS. After them, TITUS ANDRONICUS; and then TAMORA, with ALARBUS, CHIRON, DEMETRIUS, AARON, and other Goths, prisoners; Soldiers and People, following". The Bearers set down the coffin, and Trrus speaks.

1

Tit. Hail, Rome, victorious in thy mourning weeds!
Lo! as the bark that hath discharg'd her fraught '
Returns with precious lading to the bay,
From whence at first she weigh'd her anchorage,
Cometh Andronicus, bound with laurel boughs,
To re-salute his country with his tears;
Tears of true joy for his return to Rome.
Thou great defender of this Capitol,
Stand gracious to the rites that we intend!
Romans, of five-and-twenty valiant sons,
Half of the number that king Priam had,
Behold the poor remains, alive, and dead!

These that survive let Rome reward with love;

These that I bring unto their latest home,

With burial amongst their ancestors :

Here Goths have given me leave to sheath my sword.
Titus, unkind, and careless of thine own,
Why suffer'st thou thy sons, unburied yet,
To hover on the dreadful shore of Styx ?-
Make way to lay them by their brethren.

[The tomb is opened.

There greet in silence, as the dead are wont,
And sleep in peace, slain in your country's wars!
Oh sacred receptacle of my joys,

Sweet cell of virtue and nobility,

How many sons hast thou of mine in store,

That thou wilt never render to me more?

Luc. Give us the proudest prisoner of the Goths,

That we may hew his limbs, and on a pile

Ad manes fratrum sacrifice his flesh,

9

Soldiers and People, following.] "As many as can be," adds the stagedirection of the old copies, 4to. and folio.

1

- HER fraught] All the old copies, "his fraught ' '-a frequent error of the press, corrected in the fourth folio: his and her were not, of old, always applied as we now use them.

2

Before this earthy prison of their bones;
That so their shadows' be not unappeas'd,
Nor we disturb'd with prodigies on earth.

Tit. I give him you; the noblest that survives,
The eldest son of this distressed queen.

Tam. Stay, Roman brethren!-Gracious conqueror,
Victorious Titus, rue the tears I shed,

A mother's tears in passion for her son:
And, if thy sons were ever dear to thee,
Oh! think my son to be as dear to me.
Sufficeth not, that we are brought to Rome,
To beautify thy triumphs, and return
Captive to thee, and to thy Roman yoke;
But must my sons be slaughter'd in the streets,
For valiant doings in their country's cause?
Oh! if to fight for king and common weal
Were piety in thine, it is in these.
Andronicus, stain 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, spare my first-born son.

Tit. Patient yourself, madam, and pardon me.
These are their brethren, whom you Goths beheld
Alive, and dead; and for their brethren slain,
Religiously they ask a sacrifice:

To this your son is mark'd; and die he must,

T' appease their groaning shadows that are gone

2 Before this EARTHY prison] The folio has earthly; but the 4tos. of 1600 and 1611 as in our text.

3 That so THEIR shadows] We have had "their bones" in the preceding line, and "their shadows" in this line is probably correct: "their" is from the corr. fo. 1632; and we may readily imagine that in the MS., "their" having been expressed by the abbreviation y', it was read y and printed the. We also have "their groaning shadows" farther on.

These are THEIR brethren,] So the 4tos: the folio the. Steevens adduces several instances of the use of "patient" (in the preceding line) as a verb. T' appease their groaning shadows that are GONE.] "That are dust," says the old annotator of the corr. fo. 1632, which ends the speech less flatly than the words "that are gone," as the text appears in all the extant old editions, 4to. and folio. We apprehend that the MS. emendations in this play, at least such as appear to restore rhymes, whether in couplets or in stanzas, represent some older text than we have in the 4to, 1600-possibly that of 1594 mentioned by Langbaine, or even a still more antiquated copy. Blank-verse came into use for the stage soon after Shakespeare joined a theatrical company in London, and in order to adapt "Titus Andronicus" to the improved taste of the town, he may

Luc. Away, with him! and make a fire straight; And with our swords, upon a pile of wood,

Let's hew his limbs, till they be clean consum'd.

[Exeunt LUCIUS, QUINTUS, MARTIUS, and MUTIUS, with ALARBUS.

Tam. Oh cruel, irreligious piety!

Chi. Was ever Scythia half so barbarous ?
Dem. Oppose not Scythia to ambitious Rome.
Alarbus goes to rest; and we survive

To tremble under Titus' threatening look.
Then, madam, stand resolv'd; but hope withal,
The self-same gods, that arm'd the queen of Troy
With opportunity of sharp revenge

6

Upon the Thracian tyrant in his tent,

May favour Tamora, the queen of Goths,

(When Goths were Goths, and Tamora was queen)

To quit the bloody wrongs upon her foes.

Re-enter LUCIUS, QUINTUS, MARTIUS, and MUTIUS, with their swords bloody.

Luc. See, lord and father, how we have perform'd Our Roman rites. Alarbus' limbs are lopp'd,

And entrails feed the sacrificing fire,

Whose smoke like incense doth perfume the sky.
Remaineth nought but to inter our brethren,
And with loud 'larums welcome them to Rome.
Tit. Let it be so; and let Andronicus
Make this his latest farewell to their souls.

[Trumpets sounded, and the coffins laid in the tomb.

In peace and honour rest you here, my sons;

Rome's readiest champions, repose you here in rest,
Secure from worldly chances and mishaps!
Here lurks no treason, here no envy swells,

[Kneeling.

Here grow no damned grudges'; here are no storms,

have altered many of the rhyming lines, as well as other portions of the tragedy. It is not, however, beyond the range of possibility, that, when the old corrector of the folio, 1632, saw the drama, some of the rhymes had been restored; but this is not a question we are at all in a condition to decide, and our object is, as far as we can form a judgment, to present the play such as our great dramatist left it. the Thracian tyrant] Polymnestor, assailed by Hecuba.

6

Here grow no damned GRUDGES;] So the 4to, 1611, and the folio: the 4to, 1600, has drugs (spelt drugges) for "grudges."

No noise, but silence and eternal sleep.

In peace and honour rest you here, my sons!

[Rising.

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 brethren's obsequies;
And at thy feet I kneel, with tears of joy
Shed on the earth for thy return to Rome.
Oh! bless me here with thy victorious hand,
Whose fortunes Rome's best citizens applaud.

Tit. Kind Rome, that hast thus lovingly reserv'd
The cordial of mine age to glad my heart!—
Lavinia, live; outlive thy father's days,

And fame's eternal date, for virtue's praise!

Enter MARCUS ANDRONICUS, SATURNINUS, BASSIANUS, and

others.

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 successful wars, You that survive, and you that sleep in fame.

Fair lords, your fortunes are alike in all,

That in your country's service drew your swords;
But safer triumph is this funeral pomp,
That hath aspir'd to Solon's happiness,

And triumphs over chance in honour's bed.-
Titus Andronicus, the people of Rome,
Whose friend in justice thou hast 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 these our late-deceased emperor's sons.
Be candidatus then, and put it on,
And help to set a head on headless Rome.

Tit. A better head her glorious body fits,
Than his, that shakes for age and feebleness:

8 Rising.] This stage-direction, and Kneeling, which precedes it, are from the corr. fo. 1632, and show what was the old custom of the stage.

What! should I don this robe, and trouble you?
Be chosen with proclamations to-day';
To-morrow yield up rule, resign my life,
And set abroad new business for you all ?—
Rome, I have been thy soldier forty years,
And led my country's strength successfully,
And buried one and twenty valiant sons,
Knighted in field, slain manfully in arms,
In right and service of their noble country.
Give me a staff of honour for mine age,
But not a sceptre to control the world:
Upright he held it, lords, that held it last.
Mar. Titus, thou shalt obtain the empery'.

Sat. Proud and ambitious tribune, canst thou tell?-
Tit. Patience, prince Saturninus.

Romans, do me right.

Sat.
Patricians, draw your swords, and sheath them not
Till Saturninus be Rome's emperor.—
Andronicus, would thou wert shipp'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!

Tit. Content thee, prince: I will restore to thee The people's hearts, and wean them from themselves. Bas. Andronicus, I do not flatter thee,

But honour thee, and will do till I die:

My faction if thou strengthen with thy friends,
I will most thankful be; and thanks, to men

Of noble minds, is honourable mecd.

Be chosen with PROCLAMATIONS to-day;] The corr. fo. 1632 gives the line thus:

"Be chose with acclamations to-day;"

and though we feel considerable confidence that it is right, since an emperor was not "chosen with proclamations," yet we adhere to our rule of not altering where the sense does not, with some authority, require it. For the same reason, in the next line but one, we allow "abroad" to remain in the text, though the corr. fo. 1632 alters it to abroach, and the misprint was extremely easy and probable. Professor Mommsen renders "with acclamations" mit lautem Beifall.

1 Titus, thou shalt obtain the empery.] So the corr. fo. 1632: in the ordinary text and ask is made to follow "obtain," to the injury of the verse as well as of the sense; for if and ask be intruded into the line, at all events it ought to precede "obtain." Titus was not likely to obtain "the empery," until he had asked it, and Saturnine's question shows that and ask ought to be omitted.

2

with thy FRIENDS,] The two 4tos, and the folios of 1623 and 1632, have friend for "friends," a trifling correction made in the folio, 1664, and not in the fourth folio, as stated by Malone.