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Warrants these words in princely courtesy.

Sat. Thanks, sweet Lavinia.-Romans, let us go:
Ransomeless here we set our prisoners free:
Proclaim our honours, lords, with trump and drum.
Bas. Lord Titus, by your leave, this maid is mine.
[Seizing LAV.
Tit. How, sir? Are you in earnest then, my lord?
Bas. Ay, noble Titus; and resolv'd withal,

To do myself this reason and this right.

[The Emperor courts TAM. in dumb show.

Mar. Suum cuique is our Roman justice:

This prince in justice seizeth but his own.
Luc. And that he will, and shall, if Lucius live.
Tit. Traitors, avaunt! Where is the emperor's guard?
Treason, my lord; Lavinia is surpriz'd.

Sat. Surpriz'd! By whom?

Bas.

By him that justly may Bear his betroth'd from all the world away.

[Exeunt MAR. and BAs. with Lav.

Mut. Brothers, help to convey her hence away,

And with my sword I'll keep this door safe.

[Exeunt Luc. QUIN. and MAR.

Tit. Follow my lord, and I'll soon bring her back.
Mut. My lord, you pass not here.

Tit.

Barr'st me my way in Rome ?

Mut.

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Re-enter LUCIUS.

Luc. My lord, you are unjust; and, more than so,
In wrongful quarrel you have slain your son.
Tit. Nor thou, nor he, are any sons of mine;
My sons would never so dishonour me:
Traitor, restore Lavinia to the emperor.

Luc. Dead, if you will; but not to be his wife,
That is another's lawful promis'd love.

[Exit.

Lavinia. Saturninus, who has just promised to espouse her, already wishes he were to choose again; and she who was engaged to Bassianus (whom she afterwards marries) expresses no reluctance when her father gives her to Saturninus. Her subsequent raillery to Tamora is of so coarse a nature, that if her tongue had been all she was condemned to lose, perhaps the author (whoever he was) might have escaped censure on the score of poetick justice.. Steervers.

Sat. No, Titus, no; the emperor needs her not,
Not her, nor thee, nor any of thy stock:

I'll trust, by leisure, him that mocks me once;
Thee never, nor thy traitorous haughty sons,
Confederates all thus to dishonour me.

Was there none else in Rome to make a stale of,1
But Saturnine? Full well, Andronicus,

Agree these deeds with that proud brag of thine,
That said'st, I begg'd the empire at thy hands.

Tit. O monstrous! what reproachful words are these? Sat. But go thy ways; go, give that changing pieces To him that flourish'd for her with his sword:

A valiant son-in-law thou shalt enjoy ;

One fit to bandy with thy lawless sons,

To ruffle in the commonwealth of Rome.6

Tit. These words are razors to my wounded heart.

3 Not her,] Edition 1600-Nor her. Todd.

4 Was there &c.] The words, there, else, and of, are not found in the old copies. This conjectural emendation was made by the editor of the second folio.

Dele the word of, which was inserted by the editor of the second folio, from ignorance of ancient phraseology. See the last Act of Cymbeline, Vol. XVI. Malone.

I must excuse myself from ejecting any one of these monosyllables, being convinced that they were all inserted from an authorized copy, and by a judicious hand. Steevens.

5

changing piece-] Spoken of Lavinia. Piece was then, as it is now, used personally as a word of contempt. Johnson. So, in Britannia's Pastorals, by Brown, 1613:

66

her husband, weaken'd piece,

"Must have his cullis mix'd with ambergrease;
"Pheasant and partridge into jelly turn'd,
"Grated with gold."

Again, in the old play of King Leir, 1605:

when did you see Cordella last,
Steevens.

"That pretty piece?

6 To ruffle in the commonwealth of Rome.] A ruffler was a kind of cheating bully; and is so called in a statute made for the punishment of vagabonds in the 27th year of King Henry VIII. See Greene's Groundwork of Coneycatching, 1592. Hence, I suppose, this sense of the verb, to ruffie. Rufflers are likewise enumerated among other vagabonds, by Holinshed, Vol. I, p. 183. Steevens.

To ruffle meant, to be noisy, disorderly, turbulent. A ruffler was a boisterous swaggerer. Malone.

Sat. And therefore, lovely Tamora, queen of Goths,-
That, like the stately Phoebe 'mongst her nymphs,
Dost overshine the gallant'st dames of Rome,—
If thou be pleas'd with this my sudden choice,
Behold, I choose thee, Tamora, for my bride,
And will create thee emperess of Rome.

Speak, queen of Goths, dost thou applaud my choice?
And here I swear by all the Roman Gods,—

Sith priest and holy water are so near,

And tapers burn so bright, and every thing
In readiness for Hymeneus stand,-

I will not re-salute the streets of Rome,

Or climb my palace, till from forth this place

I lead espous'd my bride along with me.

Tam. And here, in sight of heaven, to Rome I swear, If Saturnine advance the queen of Goths, She will a handmaid be to his desires,

A loving nurse, a mother to his youth.

Sat. Ascend, fair queen, Pantheon :-Lords,

pany

Your noble emperor, and his lovely bride,
Sent by the heavens for prince Saturnine,
Whose wisdom hath her fortune conquered:
There shall we cónsummate our spousal rites.

accom

[Exeunt SAT. and his followers; TAM. and her Sons; AARON and Goths. Tit. I am not bid to wait upon this bride ;Titus, when wert thou wont to walk alone, Dishonour'd thus, and challenged of wrongs?

Re-enter MARCUS, LUCIUS, QUINTUS, and MARTIUS. Mar. O, Titus, see, O, see, what thou hast done!

7

That, like the stately Phoebe 'mongst her nymphs,

Dost overshine the gallant'st dames of Rome,]
Micat inter omnes

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"Julium sidus, velut inter ignes

"Luna minores." Hor. Malone.

From Phaer's Virgil, 1573: [Æneid, B. I.]

"Most like unto Diana bright when she to hunt goth

out

"Whom thousands of the ladie nymphes awaite to do her

will;

"She on her armes her quiuer beres, and al them ouershynes." Ritson.

I am not bid i. e. invited. Malone.

In a bad quarrel slain a virtuous son.

Tit. No, foolish tribune, no; no son of mine,-
Nor thou, nor these, confederates in the deed
That hath dishonour'd all our family;
Unworthy brother, and unworthy sons!

Luc. But let us give him burial, as becomes;
Give Mutius burial with our brethren.

Tit. Traitors, away! he rests not in this tomb.
This monument five hundred years hath stood,
Which I have sumptuously re-edified:

Here none but soldiers, and Rome's servitors,
Repose in fame; none bascly slain in brawls :—
Bury him where you can, he comes not here.
Mar. My lord, this is impiety in you:

My nephew Mutius' deeds do plead for him;
He must be buried with his brethren.

Quin. Mart. And shall, or him we will accompany.
Tit. And shall? What villain was it spoke that word?
Quin. He that would vouch 't in any place but here.
Tit. What, would you bury him in my despite?
Mar. No, noble Titus; but entreat of thee

To pardon Mutius, and to bury him.

Tit. Marcus, even thou hast struck upon my crest, And, with these boys, mine honour thou hast wounded: My foes I do repute you every one;

So trouble me no more, but get you gone.

Mart. He is not with himself; let us withdraw.?
Quin. Not I, till Mutius' bones be buried.

[MAR. and the sons of TIT. knee?.
Mar. Brother, for in that name doth nature plead.
Quin. Father, and in that name doth nature speak.
Tit. Speak thou no more, if all the rest will speed.
Mar. Renowned Titus, more than half my soul,
Luc. Dear father, soul and substance of us all,-
Mar. Suffer thy brother Marcus to interr

His noble nephew here in virtue's nest,
That died in honour and Lavinia's cause.

9 He is not with himself; let us withdraw.] Read: He is not now himself; -.

Ritson.

Perhaps the old reading is a mere affected imitation of Roman phraseology. See Æneid XI, 409, though the words there are otherwise applied:

habitet tecum, & sit pectore in isto." Steevens.

Thou art a Roman, be not barbarous.
The Greeks, upon advice, did bury Ajax
That slew himself; and wise Laertes' son
Did graciously plead for his funerals.1

Let not young Mutius then, that was thy joy,
Be barr'd his entrance here.

Tit.

Rise, Marcus, rise:

The dismall'st day is this, that e'er I saw,
To be dishonour'd by my sons in Rome !—
Well, bury him, and bury me the next.

[MUT. is put into the Tomb. Luc. There lie thy bones, sweet Mutius, with thy

friends,

Till we with trophies do adorn thy tomb!

All. No man shed tears for noble Mutius;2
He lives in fame that died in virtue's cause.
Mar. My lord, to step out of these dreary dumps,*
How comes it, that the subtle queen of Goths
Is of a sudden thus advanc'd in Rome?

Tit. I know not, Marcus; but, I know, it is;
Whether by device, or no, the heavens can tell:
Is she not then, beholden to the man

That brought her for this high good turn so far?
Yes, and will nobly him remunerate.3

1 The Greeks, upon advice, did bury Ajax That slew himself; and wise Laertes' son

Did graciously plead for his funerals.] This passage alone would sufficiently convince me, that the play before us was the work of one who was conversant with the Greek tragedies in their original language. We have here a plain allusion to the Ajax of Sophocles, of which no translation was extant in the time of Shakspeare. In that piece, Agamemnon consents at last to allow Ajax the rites of sepulture, and Ulysses is the pleader, whose arguments prevail in favour of his remains. Steevens. 2 No man shed tears &c.] This is evidently a translation of the distich of Ennius:

"Nemo me lacrumeis decoret: nec funera fletu

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Facsit, quur? volito vivu' per ora virûm." Steevens. *See Mr. Steevens's note on doleful dumps. Vol. II. p. 205, n. 6. Am. Ed.

3

Yes, &c.] This line is not in the quarto. I suspect, when it was added by the editor of the folio, he inadvertently omitted to prefix the name of the speaker, and that it belongs to Marcus. In the second line of this speech the modern editors read -If by device, &c. Malone.

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