Should rip it out, though it entwined my heart.
Val. Then I am with thee, noble, noble Brutus !
Brutus, the new restored! Brutus, by Sibyl,
By Pythian prophetess foretold, shall lead us !

Br. Now take the body up. Bear it before us
To Tarquin's palace; there we'll light our torches,
And, in the blazing conflagration, rear

A pile for these chaste relics, that shall send

Her soul amongst the stars. On! Brutus leads you! [Exeunt; the mob shouting, L.

END OF THE THIRD ACT.

ACT IV.

SCENE I.-A court belonging to TARQUIN's palace. In the front a grand entrance, with folding gates closed.

Enter TULLia, r.

Tul. [Alone.] Gods! whither shall a frantic mother

fly?

Accursed siege of Ardea! Tarquin, Tarquin,

Where art thou? Save thy wife, thy son, thy city!

Enter TITUS, r.

Ti. Where is the prince? where's Sextus?
Tul. Where? Oh, heavens!

His madness hath undone us! Where is Sextus?
Perhaps ev'n now the barbarous ruffians hurl him
Alive into the flames, or piecemeal drag

Along the rebel streets his mangled trunk-
Ti. No more. I'll save him, or avenge-

[Going, HORATIUS meets and stops him.

Hor. Turn, noble Roman, turn;
Set not your life upon a desperate stake!
Hark, they are at thy gates!

Tul. Does my son live!

[Shout.

[Shout.

Hor. Furious he sprang upon the rabble throng,
And hew'd his desperate passage: but the time
Admits no further question-Save yourself!
Tul. Who leads them on?

Hor. Your new-named fool, your Brutus.
Ti. Death! my father!

Tul. Brutus in arms!

Oh, Sibyl! Oh, my fate! farewell to greatness!

I've heard my doom.

Ti. Earth, earth, enclose me!
Tul. Hark! it bursts upon us!

[Shouts are heard.
Hor. Ha! nearer yet! Now be propitious, Mars!
Now, nerve my arm with more than mortal fury
Till the dissembler sink beneath its vengeance.

[Exit HOR. Tul. Fly! save my child-save my-save your Tarquinia!

Ti. Or die defending.

[Exit TITUS. [The shouts and tumult become very violent, and the battering at the gate and wall com

mences.

Ful. Ah! if amidst my legions I might fall, Death were not then inglorious; but to perish By the vile scum of Rome-hunted by dogsBaited to death by brawling, base mechanicsShame insupportable!

[Shouts heard-the gate and wall are shattered down-the palaces behind are in flames-the soldiers and populace rush over the ruins— BRUTUS appears in the midst of them, and advances to the front.

Br. Seize the parricide!

[They advance and surround her.

Tul. Avaunt! I am your queen.

Br. Tarquins! we cast you from us.

Tul. Give me a sword, and let me fall like Tullia. Br. No, we reserve our swords for nobler uses Than to make war with women to the Tarquins, To your adulterous son we leave that shame. Tul. If then 'twill better sate thy cruelty, Precipitate me quick into those flames, And with the wreck of empire mix my ashes.

Br. Take her to Rhea's temple; take her hence, And lodge her with her ancestors!

D

Tul. Ye gods !

My father's sepulchre !I'll not approach it!

Br. "Twill furnish wholesome recollection. Hence ! Tul. Not to that fatal place! Send me not thither! Br. 'Tis fix'd.

Tul. Choose the most loathsome dungeon

confine me,

Or give me death instead. My heart recoils
Against that temple.

Br. There, and only there,

By your dead father's tomb, you must abide
The judgment of the state.

Tul. Then, by the gods

Whom, for the last time, I invoke,--
If no means else

Of ready death present themselves,

No particle of food shall pass these lips,
Till, in the void of nature, hungry madness

With blank oblivion entering, shall confound

And cancel all perception.

here

[Exit TULLIA, guarded, R

Enter TITUS, L., who meets BRUTUS as he is going off, R.

Ti. Turn, oh my father,

And look upon thy son.

Br. What would'st thou? speak!

Ti. If thou hast reason, oh, have mercy also! But if in madness thou hast done this deed

Br. I am not mad, but as the lion is,

When he breaks down the toils that tyrant craft
Hath spread to catch him. Think not we will suffer
These monsters to profane the air of Heaven.

Shall Titus, then, oppose our great design?
Shall Brutus meet a recreant in his son ?

Banish this folly !-Have a care-I know thee

There is a lurking passion at thy heart

Which leaves but half a soul for Rome and me!
Ti. You wrong me. Like a Roman I exult
To see Lucretia's murder thus avenged-
And like a son glory in such a father!

Yet hear me through.-Nay, do not frown, but hear

me.

Br. Go on; confess thy weakness, and dismiss it.

Ti. 'Twas in the sleep of my dear father's reason,

When Tarquin's freed-man in a saucy mood
Vented vile jests at thy unhappy weakness,
Stung to the quick, I snatch'd a weapon up,
And fell'd him to my foot.

Br. Why, twas well done.

The knave was saucy, and you slew him.-On!
Ti. Twas on this very spot Tarquinia stood,
And when the wrathful father had denounced
Immediate death on this my filial act,
She with the tongue of interceding pity,
And tears that stream'd in concert with her suit,
Implored, prevail'd, and gave me life-and love.
Br. "Tis well. Behold, I give her life for life:
Rome may be free, although Tarquinia lives-
This I concede; but more if thou attemptest,-
By all the gods !-Nay, if thou dost not take
Her image, though with smiling Cupids deck'd,
And pluck it from thy heart, there to receive
Rome and her glories in without a rival,
Thou art no son of mine-thou art no Roman.

Enter TARQUINIA, L.

[Exit BRUTUs, r.

Tar. Save, save me, Titus! oh, amid the crash
Of falling palaces, preserve Tarquinia ;
Or, do I meet in thee a double rebel,
Traitor alike to me and to your king?
Speak, I conjure thee! Will the son of Brutus
Now take me to his pity and protection,
Or stab with perfidy the heart that loves him!
Ti. Cruel suspicion! Oh, adored Tarquinia,
I live but to preserve you! You are free:
I have my father's sanction for your safety!
Tar. I scorn a life that is preserved by Brutus !
I scorn to outlive parents, brothers, friends!

I'll die with those

Whom this dire night hath murder'd!

Ti. Who are murder'd?

Whom hath the sword of Brutus slain? Not one
Of all thy kindred-

Tar. Say'st thou? Lives my mother?

Ti. She lives-and Sextus,-even he escapes The storm which he has raised, and flies to Ardea. Tar. Speed him, ye gods, with eagle swiftness thither!

And may those thunders which now shake the walls

Of tottering Ardea, like a whirlwind burst
On this devoted city, whelm its towers,
And crush the traitorous hive beneath their ruins!
[Crosses to R.

Now, Titus, where is now thy promis'd faith?
Didst thou not swear no dangers should divide us?
Ti. I did; and, constant to my oath, behold me
Thy faithful guardian in this night of terrors.

Tar. Be still my guardian; snatch me from these terrors,

Bear me to Ardea, be the friend of nature,
And give the rescued daughter to the arms
Of her protecting parent; thus you gain
The praise of men, the blessings of the gods,
And all that honour, all that love can grant.

Ti. Despair! Distraction! Whither shall I turn me? Tar. Why do you waver? Cast away this weakness; Be glorious in your cruelty, and leave me.

By all the demons who prepare the heart
To rush upon the self-destroying steel,

The same dire moment which gives thee to Brutus,
Gives me to death.

Ti. Horror! Tarquinia, hold!
Tar. Lo! I am arm'd.

Farewell! [crosses to L.]

How I have loved you,

My death shall witness-how you have deceived me,
Let your own conscience tell. Now to your father!
Now go and mingle with the murderers;

Go, teach those fiends what perjury can do,

And show your hands bathed in Tarquinia's blood:
The filial deed shall welcome you to Brutus,

And fill his gloomy soul with savage joy.

Ti. Take, take me hence for ever! Let me lose,

In these dear arms the very name of son,

All claims of nature, every sense but love!

Tar. The gods that guard the majesty of Rome, And that sweet power, whose influence turns thy heart To pity and compliance, shall reward

And bless thee for the deed!

Ti. Can he be blest

On whom a father's direful curse shall fall?
Tar. A madman's imprecation is no curse.

Be a man.

Ti. Oh, while thy love upholds me, I can stand Against the world's contempt; remember, only, For whose dear sake I am undone; remember, My heart was honour's once.