[sea,
With language that would make me spurn the
If it could roar so to me: I cut off's head;
And am right glad he is not standing here
To tell this tale of mine.
Cym.

I am sorry for thee:
By thine own tongue thou art condemn'd, and
Endure our law: Thou art dead. [must
Imo.
That headless man

I thought had been my

Bind the offender,
And take him from our presence.
Bel.

Stay, sir king:
This man is better than the man he slew,
As well descended as thyself; and hath
More of thee merited than a band of Clotens
Had ever scar for.-Let his arms alone;
[To the Guard.

My boys,
Gui.
This is sure, Fidele. [from you?
Imo. Why did you throw your wedded lady : Cym.

They were not born for bondage.

Wilt thou undo the worth thou art unpaid for, | Most worthy prince, as yours, is true, Guide-
By tasting of our wrath? How of descent

As good as we?
Arv.
In that he spake too far.
Cym. And thou shalt die for't.
Bel.
We will die all three:
But I will prove, that two of us are as good
As I have given out him. My sons, I must,
For mine own part, unfold a dangerous speech,
Though, haply, well for you.

This gentleman, my Cadwal, Arvirágus, [rius;
Your younger princely son; he, sir, was lapp'd
In a most curious mantle, wrought by the hand
Of his queen mother, which, for more proba-
I can with ease produce.
[tion,
Cym.

Guiderius had
Upon his neck a mole, a sanguine star;
It was a mark of wonder.

This is he;
Who hath upon him still that natural stamp;
It was wise nature's 'end in the donation,
To be his evidence now.
Cym.

O, what am I
A mother to the birth of three? Ne'er mother
Rejoiced deliverance more:-Bless'd may you
be,

That, after this strange starting from your orbs,
You may reign in them now!-0 Imogen,
Thou hast lost by this a kingdom.

No, my lord; I have got two worlds by't.-O my gentle broHave we thus met? O never say hereafter, [ther, But I am truest speaker: you call'd me brother, When I was but your sister; I you brothers, When you were so indeed.

ti. e., Which ought to be rendered distinct by an ample narrative.

Sooth. Here, my good lord. Luc. Read, and declare the meaning. Sooth. [Reads.] When as a lion's whelp shall, to himself unknown, without seeking find, and be embraced by a piece of tender air; and when from a stately cedar shall be lopped branches, which, being dead many years shall after revive, be jointed to the old stock, and freshly grow; then shall Posthumus end his miseries, Britain be fortunate, and flourish in peace and plenty. Thou, Leonatus, art the lion's whelp; The fit and apt construction of thy name,

* Ghostly appearances.

This play has many just sentiments, some natural dialogues, and some pleasing scenes, but they are obtained at the expense of much incongruity. To remark the folly of the fiction, the absurdity of the conduct, the confusion of the names, and manners of different times, and the impossibility of the events in any system of life, were to waste criticism upon unresisting imbecility, upon faults too evident for detection, and too gross for aggravation.— JOHNSON.

SCENE I. Rome. Before the Capitol. The Tomb of the Andronici appearing: the Tribunes and Senators aloft, as in the Senate. Enter, below, SATURNINUS and his Followers, on one side; and BASSIANUS and his Followers, on the other;

with Drum and Colours.

Sat. Noble patricians, patrons of my right,
Defend the justice of my cause with arms;
And, countrymen, my loving followers,
Plead my successive title* with your swords:
I am his first-born son, that was the last
That ware the imperial diadem of Rome;
Then let my father's honours live in me,
Nor wrong mine age with this indignity.
Bas. Romans,-friends, followers, favourers
of my right,-

If ever Bassianus, Cæsar's son,

Were gracious in the eyes of royal Rome,
Keep then this passage to the Capitol;
And suffer not dishonour to approach
The imperial seat, to virtue consecrate,
To justice, continence, and nobility:
But let desert in pure election shine;
And, Romans, fight for freedom in your choice.
Enter MARCUS ANDRONICUs aloft, with
the Crown.

Mar. Princes, that strive by factions and
by friends

Ambitiously for rule and empery,
Know that the people of Rome, for whom
we stand

A spécial party, have, by their common voice,
In election for the Roman empery,
>it Jedi bag

quintindie., My title to the succession.

Chosen Andronicus, surnamed Pius,

For many good and great deserts to Rome;
Lives not this day within the city walls:
A nobler man, a braver warrior,
He by the senate is accited + home,
From weary wars against the barbarous Goths;
That, with his sons, a terror to our foes,
Hath yoked a nation strong, train'd up in arms.
Ten years are spent since first he undertook
This cause of Rome, and chastised with arms
Our enemies' pride. Five times he hath re-
turn'd

Bleeding to Rome, bearing his valiant sons
In coffius from the field;

And now, at last, laden with honour's spoils,
Returns the good Andronicus to Rome,
Renowned Titus, flourishing in arms.
Let us entreat,-By honour of his name,
Whom, worthily, you would have now succeed,
And in the Capitol and senate's right,
Whom you pretend to honour and adore,-
That you withdraw you, and abate your
strength;

Dismiss your followers, and, as suitors should,
Plead your deserts in peace and humbleness.
Sat. How fair the tribune speaks to calm
my thoughts!

Bas. Marcus Andronicus, so I do affy
In thy uprightness and integrity,
And so I love and honour thee and thine,
Thy nobler brother Titus, and his sons, [all
And her, to whom my thoughts are humbled
Gracious Lavinia, Rome's rich ornament,
That I will here dismiss my loving friends;
And to my fortunes, and the people's favour,
Summoned. 20 »dat

Commit my cause in balance to be weigh'd.

[Exeunt the Followers of BASSIANUS. Sat. Friends that have been thus forward in my right,

1 thank you all, and here dismiss you all;
And to the love and favour of my country
Commit myself, my person, and the cause,
[Exeunt the Followers of SATURNINUS.
Rome, be as just and gracious unto me,
As I am confident and kind to thee,-
Open the gates, and let me in.

Bas. Tribunes! and me, a poor competitor.
[SAT. and BAs. go into the Capitol, and
exeunt with Senators, MARCUS, &c.

SCENE II. The same.

Enter a Captain, and Others.
Cap. Romans, make way; the good An-
dronicus,

Patron of virtue, Rome's best champion,
Successful in the battles that he fights,
With honour and with fortune is return'd,
From where he circumscribed with his sword,
And brought to yoke, the enemies of Rome.
Flourish of Trumpets, &c., enter MUTIUS
and MARTIUS: after them, two Men
bearing a Coffin covered with black;
then QUINTUS and Lucius. After them,
TITUS ANDRONICUS; and then'

That we may hew his limbs, and, on a pile,
Ad manes fratrum sacrifice his flesh,
Before this earthly prison of their bones;
That so the shadows be not unappeased,
Nor we disturbed with prodigies on earth.
Tit. I give him you; the noblest that sur-
vives,

The eldest son of this distressed queen.
Tam. Stay, Roman brethren;-Gracious
conqueror,

Victorious Titus, rue the tears I shed,
A mother's tears in passion for her son:
And, if thy sons were ever dear to thee,
O, think my son to be as dear to me.
Sufficeth not, that we are brought to Rome,
To beautify thy triumplis, and return,
Captive to thee, and to thy Roman yoke;
But must my sons 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, stain 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, spare my first-born son.

with ALARBUS, CHIRON, DETRA Tit. Patient yourself, madam, and pardon

AARON, and other Goths, prisoners,
Soldiers and People, following. The
Bearers set down the Coffin, and TITUS
speaks.

weeds!

Tit. Hail, Rome, victorious in thy mourning [fraught, Lo, as the bark that hath discharged her Returns with precious lading to the bay, From whence at first she weigh'd her anchorage,

Cometh Andronicus, bound with laurel boughs,
To re-solute his country with his tears;
Tears of true joy for his return to Rome,-
Thou great defender of this Capitol+,
Stand gracious to the rite; that we intend!--
Romans, of five-and-twenty valiant song,
Half of the number that king Priam had,
Behold the poor remains, alive, and dead!
These, that survive, let Rome reward with
love;

These, that I bring unto their latest home,
With burial amongst their ancestors:
Here Goths have given me leave to sheath
my sword.

Titus, unkind, and careless of thine own,
Why suffer'st thou thy sons, unburied yet,
To hover on the dreadful shore of Styx 3-
Make way to lay them by their brethren.

[The Tomb is opened.
There greet in silence, as the dead are wont,
And sleep in peace, slain in your country's
O sacred receptacle of my joys,' [wars!
Sweet cell of virtue and nobility,
How many sons of mine hast thou in store,
That thou wilt never render to me more?

me.

[beheld These are their brethren, whom you Goths Alive, and dead; and for their brethren slain, Religiously they ask a sacrifice:

To this your son is mark'd; and die he must, To appease their groaning shadows that are [straight;

gone.

Lue. Away with him! and make a fire And with our swords, upon a pile of wood, Let's hew his limbs, till they be clean consumed.

[Exeunt LUCIUS, QUINTUS, MARTIUS, and MUTIUS, with ALARBUS. Tam. O cruel, irreligious piety!

Chi. Was ever Scythia half so barbarous!
Dem. Oppose not Scythia to ambitions
Alarbus goes to rest; and we survive [Rome.
To tremble under Titus's threatening look.
Then, madam, stand resolved; but hope
withal,
[Troy
The self-same gods, that arm'd the queen of
With opportunity of sharp revenge
Upon the Thracian tyrant in his tent,
May fayour Tamora, the queen of Goths,
(When Goths were Goths, and Tamora was
queen,)

To quit the bloody wrongs upon her foes.
Re-enter LucIUS, QUINTUS, MARTIUS, and
AMUTIUS, with their Swords bloody.

Luc. See, lord and father, how we have
perform'd

Our Roman rites: Alar bus' limbs are lopp'd,
And entrails feed the sacrificing fre,
Whose smoke, like incense, doth perfume the
sky.

Bemaineth nought, but to inter our brethren

It was supposed that the
Suffering.

• Freight, + Jupiter, to whom the Capitol was sacred.
ghosts of unburied people appeared to solicit the sites of funeral. "

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