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Aar. Some devil whifper curfes in my ear,
And prompt me, that my tongue may utter forth
The venomous malice of my fwelling heart!
Luc. Away, inhuman dog, unhallow'd flave.
[Exeunt Goths with Aaron.

Sirs, help my uncle to convey him in.
The trumpets fhew the Emperor is at hand.

[Flourish.

Sound trumpets. Enter Emperor and Empress, with Tri

bunes and others.

Sat. What, hath the firmament more funs than one?
Luc. What boots it thee to call thyfelf a fun?
Mar. Rome's Emperor, and nephew, break the parley;
Thefe quarrels must be quietly debated:

The feat is ready, which the careful Titus
Hath ordain'd to an honourable end,

For peace, for love, for league, and good to Rome:
Please you therefore draw nigh, and take your places.
Sat. Marcus, we will.
[Hautboys
A Table brought in. Enter Titus like a Cook, placing the
meat on the table, and Lavinia with a veil over her face.
Tit. Welcome,, my gracious Lord; welcome, dread
Welcome, ye warlike Goths, welcome Lucius, [Queen,
And welcome all; although the cheer be poor,
'Twill fill your ftomachs, please you eat of it.

Sat. Why art thou thus attir'd, Andronicus? Tit. Because I would be fure to have all well, To entertain your Highnefs, and your Empress. Tam. We are beholden to you, good Andronicus. Tit. And if your Highnefs knew my heart, you were. My Lord the Emperor, refolve me this;

Was it well done of rafh Virginius,

To lay his daughter with his own right hand,
Because he was enforc'd, ftain'd, and deflour'd?

Sat. It was, Andronicus.

Tit. Your reafon, mighty Lord?

Sat. Because the girl fhould not furvive her fhamé,

And by her prefence ftill renew his forrows.

Tit. A reafon mighty, ftrong, and effectual,

A

A pattern, precedent, and lively warrant,
For me, moft wretched, to perform the like:
Die, die, Lavinia, and thy fhame with thee,

And with thy fhame thy father's forrow die! [He kills her.
Sat. What haft thou done, unnatural and unkind?
Tit. Kill'd her, for whom my tears have made me blind.
I am as woeful as Virginius was,

And have a thousand times more caufe than he
To do this outrage. And it is now done.

Sat. What, was fhe ravifh'd? tell, who did the deed? Tit. Will't please you eat, will't please your Highness feed?

Tam. Why haft thou flain 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 pye, Whereof the mother daintily hath fed;

Eating the flesh, that the herfelf hath bred. 'Tis true, 'tis true; witness, my knife's fharp point. [He ftabs the Emprefs Sat. Die, frantick wretch, for this accurfed deed.

[He ftabs Titus. Luc. Can the fon's eye behold his father bleed? There's meed for meed, death for a deadly deed.

[Lucius ftabs the Emperor.
Mar. You fad fac'd men, people and fons of Rome,
By uproar fever'd, like a flight of fowl
Scatter'd by winds and high tempeftuous gufts,
Oh, let me teach you how to knit again
This fcatter'd corn into one mutual theaf,
These broken limbs again into one body.

Goth. Let Rome herfelf be bane unto herfelf;
And fhe, whom mighty kingdoms curtly to,
Like a forlorn and defperate caft-away,
Do fhameful execution on herself.

Mar. But if my frofty figns and chaps of age,
Grave witneffes of true experience,

Cannot induce you to attend my words,

Speak,

Speak, Rome's dear friend; as erft our ancestor,

[To Lucius.

When with his folemn tongue he did discourse
To love-fick Dido's fad attending ear,
The flory of that baleful burning night,

When fubtle Greeks furpriz'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 feel;
Nor can I utter all our bitter grief,

But floods of tears will drown my oratory,

And break my very utt'rance; even in the time
When it should move you to attend me most,
Lending your kind commiferation.

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 curfed Chiron and Demetrius

Were they, that murdered our Emperor's brother;
And they it were, that ravished our sister :
For their fell faults our brothers were beheaded,
Our father's tears defpis'd, and basely cozen'd
Of that true hand, that fought Rome's quarrel out,
And fent her enemies into the grave.
Laftly, myself unkindly banished,

The gates fhut on me, and turn'd weeping out,
To beg relief among Rome's enemies;
Who drown'd their enmity in my true tears,
And op'd their arms t'embrace me as a friend :
And I am turn'd forth, be it known to you,
That have preferv'd her welfare in my blood,
And from her bosom took the enemy's point,
Sheathing the steel in my advent'rous body.
Alas!-you know, I am no vaunter, I;
My fcars can witness, dumb although they are,
That my report is juft, and full of truth.
But, foft, methinks, I do digress too much,
Citing my worthless praise: oh, pardon me,

For when no friends are by, men praise themselves.

Mar.

Mar. Now is my tongue to speak: behold this child, Of this was Tamora delivered;

The iffue of an irreligious Moor,

Chief architect and plotter of thefe woes;
The villain is alive in Titus' house, (27)
Damn'd as he is, to witness this is true.
Now judge, what caufe had Titus to revenge
Thefe wrongs, unfpeakable, paft patience,
Or more than any living man could bear.

Now you have heard the truth, what fay you, Romans ?
Have we done aught amifs? fhew us wherein,
And from the place where you behold us now,
The poor remainder of Andronicus,

We'll hand in hand all head-long caft us down,
And on the ragged ftones beat out our brains,
And make a mutual closure of our houfe:
Speak, Romans, fpeak; and, if you fay, we fhall,
Lo, hand in hand, Lucius and I will fall.

Em. Come, come, thou reverend man of Rome,
And bring our Emperor gently in thy hand,
Lucius our Emperor: for, well I know,
The common voice do cry, it fhall be fo.

Mar. Lucius, all hail, Rome's royal Emperor!
Go, go, into old Titus' forrowful house,
And hither hale that misbelieving Moor,
To be adjudg'd some direful flaughtering death;

(27) The villain is alive in Titus' house,

And as he is, to witness this is true.] The villain alive, and as he is, furely, can never be right. The manufcript must have been ob fcure and blindly writ, fo that the firft editors could not make out the word which I have ventur'd to reftore. The epithet, I have replac'd, admirably forts with the Moor's character: and Lucius ufes it again, fpeaking of him at the conclufion of the play.

See juftice done on Aaron that dann'd Moor.

Befides, damn'd as beis--is a mode of expreffion familiar with our author, So in Othello:

O thou foul thief! where ha'ft thou ftow'd my daughter? : Damn'd as thou art, thou ha'ft enchanted her.

And the fame fashion of expreffing himself he likewife ufes in beftow ing praife.

2 Henry VI.

But, noble as be is, look, where he comes,

As

As punishment for his most wicked life.
Lucius, all hail, Rome's gracious governor !

Luc. Thanks, gentle Romans: may I govern fo,
To heal Rome's harm, and drive 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 fhed obfequious tears upon this trunk:
Oh, take this warm kifs on thy pale cold lips,
These forrowful drops upon thy blood-ftain'd face;
The laft true duties of thy noble fon.

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

O, were the fum of these that I fhould pay

Countless and infinite, yet would I

pay them.

Luc. Come hither, boy; come, come, and learn of us
To melt in showers; thy grandfire lov'd thee well;
Many a time he danc'd thee on his knee;
Sung thee afleep, his loving breaft thy pillow:
Many a matter hath he told to thee,

Meet and agreeing with thy infancy;
In that refpect then, like a loving child,
Shed yet fome fmall drops from thy tender fpring,
Because kind nature doth require it fo;

Friends fhould affociate friends, in grief and woe:
Bid him farewel, commit him to the grave;
Do him that kindness, and take leave of him.

Boy. O grandfire, grandfire! ev'n with all my heart,
Would I were dead, fo you did live again—
O Lord, I cannot speak to him for weeping-
My tears will choak me, if I ope my mouth.
Enter Romans with Aaron.

Ram. You fad Andronici, have done with woes :

Give fentence on this execrable wretch,

That hath been breeder of thefe dire events.

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

If any one relieves or pities him,

For the offence he dies: this is our doom.

Some

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