Sat. Friends, that have been thus forward in my

right,

I thank you all, and here difmifs you all,
And to the love and favour of my country
Commit myfelf, my perfon and the cause;
Rome be as juft and gracious unto me,
As I am confident and kind to thee.

Open the gates and let me in.

Baf. Tribunes! And me, a poor competitor.

[They go up into the fenate-bouse.

SCENE II.

Enter a Captain.

Cap. Romans, make way. The good Andronicus, Patron of virtue. Rome's beft champion, Successful in the battles that he fights,

With honour and with fortune is return'd,
From whence he circumfcribed with his fword,
And brought to yoke the enemies of Rome.

Sound drums and trumpets, and then enter Mutius and Marcus: after them, two men bearing a coffin cover'd with black; then Quintus and Lucius. After them, Titus Andronicus; and then Tamora, the queen of Goths, Alarbus, Chiron, and Demetrius, with Aaron the Moor, prifoners; foldiers, and other attendants. They fet down the coffin, and Titus Speaks.

Tit. Hail, Rome, victorious in thy mourning weeds! Lo, as the bark, that hath difcharg'd her freight, Returns

2 Hail, Rome, victorious in thy mourning weeds!] I fufpect that the poet wrote,

-in my mourning weeds!

i. e. Titus would fay; Thou, Rome, art victorious, tho' I am

a

Returns with precious lading to the bay,
From whence at firft fhe weigh'd her anchorage;
Cometh Andronicus 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 sheath
Titus, unkind, and carelefs 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.

my

fword:

[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;

a mourner for thofe fons which I have loft in obtaining that victory. WARBURTON. Thy is as well as my. We may fuppofe the Romans in a grateful ceremony, meeting the dead fous of Andronicus with mourning habits. JOHNSON.

Or that they were in mourning for their emperor who was just dead. STEEVENS.

3 Thou great defender of this Capitel,] Jupiter, to whom the Capitol was facred.

JOHNSON.

That so the shadows be not unappeas'd,
Nor we disturb'd with prodigies on earth.
Tit. I give him you, the nobleft that furvives;
The eldest fon 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 fons 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 flaughter'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 first-born fon.

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

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 ftraight.
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

To tremble under Titus' threatening looks.
Then, madam, ftand refolv'd; but hope withal,
+ The felf-fame Gods, that arm'd the queen of Troy,
With opportunity of fharp revenge

Upon the Thracian tyrant in her tent,

May favour Tamora, the queen of Goths,
When Goths were Goths, and Tamora was queen,
To quit her bloody wrongs upon her foes.

Enter Mutius, Marcus, Quintus, and Lucius.

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

Whose smoke, like incenfe, doth perfume the sky.
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 lateft farewell 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, repose you here,

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 the 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 circumstance

THEOBALD.

Mr. Theobald fhould first 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 thefe particulars are verified, we may as well fuppofe he took it from the old story-book of the Trojan War. STEEVENS.

Secure

Secure from worldly chances and mishaps :
Here lurks no treafon, here no envy fwells;
Here grow no damned grudges, here no ftorms,
No noife, but filence and eternal fleep.

Enter Lavinia.

In 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, blefs me here with thy victorious hand,
Whose fortune Rome's beft citizens applaud.
Tit. Kind Rome, that haft thus lovingly referv'd
The cordial of mine age, to glad mine heart!
Lavinia, live; out live thy father's days.

And fame's eternal date for virtue's praife!
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,
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 swords;
But fafer triumph is this funéral pomp,
That hath afpir'd to Solon's happiness;
And triumphs over chance, in honour's bed.
Titus Andronicus, the people of Rome,

ར

5 And fame's eternal date, for virtue's praife!] This abfurd with is made fenfe of, by changing and into in.

WARBURTON.

To live in fam's date is, if an allowable, yet a harsh expreffion. To outlive an eternal date, is, though not philofophical, yet poetical fenfe. He wishes that her life may be longer than his, and her Fraife longer than fame.

JOHNSON.

Whofe