Imatges de pàgina
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And have a thousand times more cause than he
To do this outrage;-and it is now done*.

Sat. What! was she ravish'd? tell who did the deed. Tit. Will't please you eat? will't please your high

ness feed?

Tam. Why hast thou slain thine only daughter thus?
Tit. Not I; 'twas Chiron, and Demetrius:

They ravish'd her, and cut away her tongue,
And they, 'twas they, that did her all this wrong.
Sat. Go, fetch them hither to us presently.

Tit. Why, there they are both, baked in that pie; Whereof their mother daintily hath fed,

Eating the flesh that she herself hath bred.

'Tis true, 'tis true; witness my knife's sharp point. [Killing TAMORA.

Sat. Die, frantic wretch, for this accursed deed.

[Killing TITUS. Luc. Can the son's eye behold his father bleed? There's meed for meed, death for a deadly deed. [Killing SATURNINUS. A great Tumult. The People in confusion disperse. MARCUS, LUCIUS, and their Partisans, ascend the Steps before TITUS's House.

Mar. You sad-fac'd men, people and sons of Rome, By uproar sever'd, like a flight of fowl

Scatter'd by winds and high tempestuous gusts,
O! let me teach you how to knit again

This scatter'd corn into one mutual sheaf,

These broken limbs again into one body.

Roman Lord. Lest Rome herself be bane unto herself";

To do this outrage ;—and it is now done.] This line is wanting in the folio: both the quartos contain it.

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5 Lest Rome herself be bane unto herself ;] Modern editors have sometimes given the four first lines of this speech to a Senator, and the rest of the speech to Marcus. The two quartos assign the whole to a Roman Lord," but the folio gives it to a "Goth," in whose mouth it is very inappropriate. We follow the distribution of the two oldest authorities, correcting Let of the quartos and

And she, whom mighty kingdoms court'sy to,
Like a forlorn and desperate cast-away,
Do shameful execution on herself.
But if my frosty signs and chaps of age,
Grave witnesses of true experience,
Cannot induce you to attend my words,-
Speak, Rome's dear friend; as erst our ancestor,
When with his solemn tongue he did discourse,
To love-sick Dido's sad attending ear,
The story of that baleful burning night,

When subtle Greeks surpris'd king Priam's Troy.
Tell us, what Sinon hath bewitch'd our ears,
Or who hath brought the fatal engine in,
That gives our Troy, our Rome, the civil wound.—
My heart is not compact of flint, nor steel,
Nor can I utter all our bitter grief;

But floods of tears will drown my oratory,

And break my very utterance, even i' the time
When it should move you to attend me most,
Lending your kind commiseration.

Here is a captain, let him tell the tale;

Your hearts will throb and weep to hear him speak.
Luc. Then, noble auditory, be it known to you,
That cursed Chiron and Demetrius

Were they that murdered our emperor's brother;
And they it was that ravished our sister.

For their fell faults our brothers were beheaded,
Our father's tears despis'd, and basely cozen'd
Of that true hand, that fought Rome's quarrel out,
And sent her enemies unto the grave.

Lastly, myself unkindly banished,

The gates shut on me, and turn'd weeping out,
To beg relief among Rome's enemies;

folios to "Lest," as the sense obviously requires, and as it stands altered by Southern, in his copy of the fourth folio, the property of Mr. Holgate.

• THEN, noble auditory,] So the two quartos: the folio reads, erroneously, "This noble auditory."

Who drown'd their enmity in my true tears,
And op'd their arms to embrace me as a friend :
And I am the turn'd-forth', be it known to you,
That have preserv'd her welfare in my blood;
And from her bosom took the enemy's point,
Sheathing the steel in my adventurous body.
Alas! you know, I am no vaunter, I;

My scars can witness, dumb although they are,
That my report is just, and full of truth.
But, soft! methinks, I do digress too much,

Citing my worthless praise. O! pardon me;
For when no friends are by men praise themselves.
Mar. Now is my turn to speak. Behold this child:
Of this was Tamora delivered;

The issue of an irreligious Moor,

Chief architect and plotter of these woes.
The villain is alive in Titus' house,

And, as he is, to witness this is true.
Now judge, what cause had Titus to revenge
These wrongs, unspeakable, past patience,
Or more than any living man could bear.

Now you have heard the truth, what say you, Romans?
Have we done aught amiss? Show us wherein,

And from the place where you behold us now,

The poor remainder of Andronici

Will, hand in hand, all headlong cast us down,
And on the ragged stones beat forth our brains,
And make a mutual closure of our house.
Speak, Romans, speak! and, if you say, we shall,
Lo! hand in hand, Lucius and I will fall.

Emil. Come, come, thou reverend man of Rome,
And bring our emperor gently in thy hand,
Lucius our emperor; for, well I know,

7 I am THE turn'd-forth,] The folio omits "the," found in both quartos. 8 AND, as he is,] Theobald altered this to "Damn'd as he is," but unnecessarily, and in the face of all the old copies, which contain the words of our text. In the next line, "what course" is properly corrected to "what cause" in the folio, 1685.

The common voice do cry, it shall be so.

Mar. Lucius, all hail'! Rome's royal emperor.—

LUCIUS, &c. descend.

Go, go into old Titus' sorrowful house,

[To an Attendant.

And hither hale that misbelieving Moor,
To be adjudg'd some direful slaughtering death,
As punishment for his most wicked life.-
Lucius, all hail! Rome's gracious governor.

Luc. Thanks, gentle Romans: may I govern so,
To heal Rome's harms, and wipe away her woe!
But, gentle people, give me aim awhile',—
For nature puts me to a heavy task.-
Stand all aloof;-but, uncle, draw you near,
To shed obsequious tears upon this trunk.—
O! take this warm kiss on thy pale cold lips,

[Kisses TITUS. These sorrowful drops upon thy blood-stain'd face2, The last true duties of thy noble son!

Mar. Tear for tear, and loving kiss for kiss, Thy brother Marcus tenders on thy lips :

• Lucius, all hail!] There is no sufficient reason for taking this line and the repetition of it below from the tribune, Marcus, who proclaims Lucius on behalf of the people. It has been usual in modern editions (Mr. Knight's is an exception) to give it to the general body of Romans, but the old copies are uniformly like our text. We are to suppose the auditory to confirm Marcus by their shouts and other demonstrations.

1 — GIVE ME AIM awhile,] The usual meaning of “to give aim,” as Gifford has shown in his Massinger, vol. ii. p. 27, is to direct; but here the expression seems to be intended in the sense of "give me leave awhile." In a note (p. 57) to the recent reprint of Armin's "Nest of Ninnies," for the Shakespeare Society, an oversight is committed, when it is said that the phrases, " to cry aim," and " to give aim," seem to have been synonymous of old. "To cry aim meant to encourage, and "to give aim" to direct, though that does not appear to be its meaning in the passage in the text. It is possible that "give me aim" was a misprint for "give me room;" and Lucius afterwards tells those who surrounded him to "stand all aloof." In " King John," Vol. iv. p. 24, we have had "to cry aim" in the sense of to encourage.

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thy blood-STAIN'D face,] All the old copies read blood slaine, an easy misprint for "blood-stain'd;" but the error was not corrected until the third folio. Malone, by mistake, says the fourth.

O! were the sum of these that I should pay
Countless and infinite, yet would I pay

them.

Luc. Come hither, boy: come, come, and learn of us To melt in showers. Thy grandsire lov'd thee well; Many a time he danc'd thee on his knee,

Sung thee asleep, his loving breast thy pillow;
Many a matter hath he told to thee,

Meet and agreeing with thine infancy :

In that respect, then, like a loving child,

Shed yet some small drops from thy tender spring,
Because kind nature doth require it so:

Friends should associate friends in grief and woe.
Bid him farewell; commit him to the grave;
Do him that kindness, and take leave of him3.
Boy. O grandsire, grandsire! even with all my heart
Would I were dead, so you did live again.—
O lord! I cannot speak to him for weeping;
My tears will choke me, if I ope my mouth.

Enter Attendants, with AARON.

1 Rom. You sad Andronici, have done with woes. Give sentence on this execrable wretch,

That hath been breeder of these dire events.

Luc. Set him breast-deep in earth, and famish him; There let him stand, and rave and cry for food:

If any one relieves, or pities him,

For the offence he dies. This is our doom:

Some stay to see him fasten'd in the earth.

Aar. O! why should wrath be mute, and fury dumb?

I am no baby, I, that with base prayers

I should repent the evils I have done.
Ten thousand worse than ever yet I did
Would I perform, if I might have my will:

3 DO HIM that kindness, and take leave of HIM.] The quartos, in both instances

in this line, read them for "him." The folio, 1623, gives it correctly.

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