Brew'd with her sorrows, mesh'd upon her cheeks :-- As begging hermits in their holy prayers: Thou shalt not sigh, nor hold thy stumps to heaven, And, by still practice, learn to know thy meaning. Tit. Peace, tender sapling; thou art made of tears, And tears will quickly melt thy life away.— [MAR. strikes the Dish with a Knife. What dost thou strike at, Marcus, with thy knife? Mar. At that that I have kill'd, my lord; a fly. Tit. Out on thee, murderer! thou kill'st my heart;8 Mine eyes are cloy'd with view of tyranny: A deed of death, done on the innocent, Becomes not Titus' brother: Get thee gone; I see, thou art not for my company. 5 Mar. Alas, my lord, I have but kill'd a fly. Tit. But how, if that fly had a father and mother?9 mesh'd upon her cheeks:] A very coarse allusion to brewing. Steevens. 6 by still practice,] By constant or continual practice. Johnson. 7 Peace, tender sapling; thou art made of tears,] So, in Cori olanus: thou boy of tears." Steevens. 8 Out on thee, murderer! thou kill'st my heart;] So, in King Henry V: "The king hath kill'd his heart." Again, in Venus and Adonis: "That they have murder'd this poor heart of mine." Malone. 9 a father and mother?] Mother perhaps should be omitted, as the following line speaks only in the singular number, and Titus most probably confines his thoughts to the sufferings of a father. Steevens. Mr. Steevens judiciously conjectures that the words-and mother, should be omitted. We might read: But!-How if that fly had a father, brother? How would he hang his slender gilded wings, And buz lamenting doings in the air?1 Poor harmless fly! That with his pretty buzzing melody, Came here to make us merry; and thou hast kill'd him. Then pardon me for reprehending thee, For thou hast done a charitable deed. Yet I do think we are not brought so low,2 That comes in likeness of a coal-black Moor. Mar. Alas, poor man! grief has so wrought on him, He takes false shadows for true substances. Tit. Come, take away.-Lavinia, go with me: I'll to thy closet; and go read with thee Come, boy, and go with me; thy sight is young, [Exeunt. The note of exclamation seems necessary after-But, from what Marcus says, in the preceding line: "Alas! my lord I have but kill'd a fly." Ritson. 1 And buz lamenting doings in the air?] Lamenting doing's is a very idle expression, and conveys, no idea. I read-dolings. The alteration which I have made, though it is but the addition of a single letter, is a great increase to the sense; and though, indeed, there is somewhat of tautology in the epithet and substantive annexed to it, yet that 's no new thing with our author. Theobald. There is no need of change. Sad doings for any unfortunate event, is a common though not an elegant expression. Steevens. 2 Yet I do think &c.] Do was inserted by me for the sake of the metre. Steevens. Enter TITUS and MARCUS. Then enter young Luctus, LAVINIA running after him. Boy. Help, grandsire, help! my aunt Lavinia Follows me every where, I know not why :Good uncle Marcus, see how swift she comes! Alas, sweet aunt, I know not what you mean. Mar. Stand by me, Lucius; do not fear thine aunt. Read to her sons, than she hath read to thee, Canst thou not guess wherefore she plies thee thus? Ran mad through sorrow: That made me to fear; I will most willingly attend your ladyship. 3 Mar. Lucius, I will. [Lav. turns over the Books which Luc. has let fall. ·Tully's Orator.] The moderns-oratory. The old copies read-Tully's oratour; meaning, perhaps, Tully De oraSteevens. tore. Tully's Orator.] Tully's Treatise on Eloquence, addressed to Brutus, and entitled Orator. The quantity of Latin words was formerly little attended to. Mr. Rowe and all the subse quent editors read-Tully's oratory. Malone. VOL. XVII. G Tit. How now, Lavinia ?-Marcus, what means this? Some book there is that she desires to see :Which is it, girl, of these?-Open them, boy.But thou art deeper read, and better skill'd ; Come, and take choice of all my library, And so beguile thy sorrow, till the heavens Reveal'd the damn'd contriver of this deed.Why lifts she up her arms in sequence thus? Mar. I think, she means, that there was more than one Confederate in the fact ;-Ay, more there was :Or else to heaven she heaves them for revenge. Tit. Lucius, what book is that she tosseth so? Boy. Grandsire, 'tis Ovid's Metamorphosis; My mother gave 't me. Mar. For love of her that 's gone, Perhaps she cull'd it from among the rest. Tit. Soft! see, how busily she turns the leaves !4 Help her: What would she find?-Lavinia, shall I read? This is the tragick tale of Philomel, And treats of Tereus' treason, and his rape; And rape, I fear, was root of thine annoy. Mar. See, brother, see; note, how she quotes the leaves.5 Tit. Lavinia, wert thou thus surpriz'd, sweet girl, Forc'd in the ruthless, vast, and gloomy woods ?— Ay, such a place there is, where we did hunt, Pattern'd by that the poet here describes, Mar. O, why should nature build so foul a den, Unless the gods delight in tragedies! Tit. Give signs, sweet girl,-for here are none but friends, What Roman lord it was durst do the deed: Or slunk not Saturnine, as Tarquin erst, 4 Soft! see, how busily &c.] Old copies—Soft,"so busily, &c. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. Malone. 5 how she quotes the leaves.] To quote is to observe. See a note on Hamlet, Act II, sc. ii. Steevens. That left the camp to sin in Lucrece' bed? Mar. Sit down, sweet niece ;-brother, sit down by me. Apollo, Pallas, Jove, or Mercury, Inspire me, that I may this treason find!— [He writes his Name with his Staff, and guides it with Curs'd be that heart, that forc'd us to this shift!— [She takes the Staff in her Mouth, and guides it with Tit. O, do you read, my lord, what she hath writ? Stuprum-Chiron-Demetrius. Mar. What, what !—the lustful sons of Tamora Performers of this heinous, bloody deed? Tit. Magne Dominator poli, Tam lentus audis scelera ? tam lentus vides? To stir a mutiny in the mildest thoughts, 6 Magne Dominator poli, &c.] Magne Regnator Deum, &c. is the exclamation of Hippolytus when Phædra discovers the secret of her incestuous passion in Seneca's tragedy. Steevens. Magne Dominator poli.] The edition 1600 reads-Magni Dominator poli Todd. 7 And swear with me,-as with the woful feere,] The old copies do not only assist us to find the true reading by conjecture. I will give an instance, from the first folio, of a reading (incontestibly the true one) which has escaped the laborious researches of the many most diligent criticks, who have favoured the world with editions of Shakspeare: My lord, kneel down with me; Lavinia, kneel; |