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-falute 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 fons,
Half of the number that king Priam had,
Behold the poor remains, alive, and dead!
Thefe, that furvive, let Rome reward with love;
Thefe, that I bring unto their latest home,

With burial among their ancestors:

Here Goths have given me leave to fheath my fword.

Titus, unkind, and careless of thine own,
Why fuffer'ft 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 were 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 prifoner 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 unappeas'd,
Nor we disturb'd with prodigies on earth".

• Thou great defender of this Capitol,] Jupiter, to whom the Capitol was facred. JOHNSON.

Nor we difturb'd by prodigies on earth.] It was fuppofed by the ancients, that the ghofts of unburied people appeared to their friends and relations, to folicit the rites of funeral. STEEVENS.

Tit. I give him you; the nobleft that furvives, The eldest son of this diftreffed queen.

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

A mother's tears in paffion for her fon:
And, if thy fons were ever dear to thee,
O, think my fon 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 muft my fons be slaughter'd in the streets,
For valiant doings in their country's cause?
O! if to fight for king and common weal
Were piety in thine, it is in these;

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 firit-born son.

Tit. Patient yourself", madam, and pardon me. These are their brethren, whom you Goths behold Alive, and dead; and for their brethren flain,

• Wilt thou draw near the nature of the gods?
Draw near them then in being merciful:]

"Homines enim ad deos nulla re propius accedunt, quam falutem hominibus dando." Cicero pro Ligario.

From this paffage Mr. Whalley infers the learning of Shakfpeare, but our author might have found a tranflation of it in England's Parnaffus. STEEVENS.

The fame fentiment is in Edward III. 1596:

kings approach the nearest unto God,

By giving life and fafety unto men."

EDITOR.

Patient yourself, &c.] This verb is used by other dramatic

writers. So, in Arden of Feversham, 1592:

"Patient yourfelf, we cannot help it now."

Again, in K. Edward I. 1599:

"Patient your highness, 'tis but mother's love." Again, in Warner's Albion's England, 1602, b. xii. ch. 75: Her, weeping ripe, he laughing, bids to patient her awhile." STEEVENS.

66

Religiously they ask a facrifice:

To this your fon is mark'd; and die he muft,
To 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 confum'd.
[Exeunt Mutius, Marcus, Quintus,

and Lucius, with Alarbus.

Tam. O cruel, irreligious piety!

Chi. Was ever Scythia half fo barbarous ?
Dem. Oppofe not Scythia to ambitious Rome.
Alarbus goes to reft; and we furvive

To tremble under Titus' threatening look.
Then, madain, stand refolv'd; but hope withal,
The felf-fame gods, that arm'd the queen of Troy,
With opportunity of sharp revenge

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.

The felf fame gods, that arm'd 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 fhe and the other Trojan captive women were kept for thither Hecuba by a wile had decoyed Polymneftor, in order to perpetrate her revenge. This we may learn from Euripides's Hecuba; the only author, that I can at prefent remember, from whom our writer must have gleaned this circumftance. THEOBALD.

Mr. Theobald fhould firft have proved to us that our author understood Greek, or elfe that this play of Euripides had been tranflated. In the mean time, becaufe neither of these particulars are verified, we may as well fuppofe he took it from the old story-book of the Trojan War, or the old tranflation of Ovid. See Mctam. xiii. The writer of the play, whoever he was, might have been misled by the paffage in Ovid: "vadit ad artificem, and therefore took it for granted that the found him in bis tent. STEEVENS.

Enter

Enter Mutius, Marcus, Quintus, and Lucius.

Luc. See, lord and father, how we have perform'd
Our Roman rites: Alarbus' limbs are lopp'd,
And entrails feed the facrificing fire,

Whose smoke, like incenfe, doth perfume the fky.
Remaineth nought, but to inter our brethren,
And with loud 'larums welcome them to Rome.
Tit. Let it be fo; and let Andronicus

Make this his latest farewel to their fouls.

[Then found trumpets, and lay the coffins in the tomb. In peace and honour reft you here, my fons; Rome's readieft champions, repofe you here, Secure from worldly chances and mishaps! Here lurks no treason, here no envy fwells, Here grow no damned grudges; here no florm, No noise, but filence and eternal fleep:

In

Enter Lavinia.

peace and honour reft you here my fons! 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 obfequies; And at thy feet I kneel, with tears of joy Shed on the earth, for thy return to Rome: O, bless me here with thy victorious hand, Whose fortune Rome's beft citizens applaud. Tit. Kind Rome, that has thus lovingly referv'd The cordial of mine age, to glad my heart!Lavinia, live; out-live thy father's days,

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

:

Mar.

And fame's eternal date, for virtue's praife!] This abfurd wish is made fenfe of, by changing and into in. WARBURTON. To live in fame's date is, if an allowable, yet a harsh expreflion.

Το

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 fuccessful

wars,

fwords:

You that furvive, and you that fleep in fame.
Fair lords, your fortunes are alike in all,
That in your country's fervice drew your
But fafer triumph is this funeral pomp,
That hath afpir'd to Solon's happiness,
And triumphs over chance, in honour's bed.-
Titus Andronicus, the people of Rome,
Whose friend in justice thou haft ever been,
Send thee by me, their tribune, and their trust,
This palliament of white and fpotlefs hue;
And name thee in election for the empire,
With these our late-deceafed 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 abroad 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 ftaff of honour for mine age,

To outlive an eternal date, is, though not philofophical, yet poetical fenfe. He wishes that her life may be longer than his, and her praife longer than fame. JOHNSON.

1

-don this robe, &c.] i. e. do on this robe, put See p. 169. STEEVENS.

it on

But