Cannot induce you to attend my words,~
Speak, Rome's dear friend; [To LUCIUS.] as erft
our ancestor,

When with his folemn tongue he did difcourfe,
To love-fick Dido's fad attending ear,
The story of that baleful burning night,
When fubtle Greeks furpriz'd king Priam's Troy ;
Tell us, what Sinon hath bewitch'd our ears,
Or who hath brought the fatal engine in,
That gives our Troy, our Rome, the civil wound.-
My heart is not compact of flint, nor steel;
Nor can I utter all our bitter grief,

But floods of tears will drown my oratory,
And break my very utterance; even i'the time
When it should move you to attend me moft,
Lending your kind commiferation :

Here is a captain, let him tell the tale;

Your hearts will throb and weep to hear him fpeak.

Luc. Then, noble auditory, be it known to you, That curfed Chiron and Demetrius

Were they that murdered our emperor's brother;
And they it were that ravished our fifter:

For their fell faults our brothers were beheaded;
Our father's tears defpis'd; and bafely cozen'd 5
Of that true hand, that fought Rome's quarrel out,
And fent her enemies unto the grave.

Laftly, myself unkindly banished,

The gates fhut on me, and turn'd weeping out,
To beg relief among Rome's enemies;
Who drown'd their enmity in my true tears,
And op'd their arms to embrace me as a friend:
And I am the turn'd-forth, be it known to you,
That have preferv'd her welfare in my blood;

and basely cozen'd—] i. e. and he bafely cozened.

MALONE.

And from her bofom took the enemy's point,
Sheathing the steel in my advent'rous body.
Alas! you know, I am no vaunter, I;
My fears can witnefs, dumb although they are,
That my report is juft, and full of truth.
But, foft; methinks, I do digress too much,
Citing my worthless praise: O, pardon me;
For when no friends are by, men praise themselves.
MAR. Now is my turn to fpeak; Behold this
child,

[Pointing to the Child in the arms of an Attendant. Of this was Tamora delivered;

The iffue of an irreligious Moor,

Chief architect and plotter of these woes;
The villain is alive in Titus' house,

Damn'd as he is," to witness this is true.
Now judge, what caufe had Titus to revenge
Thefe wrongs, unspeakable, past patience,
Or more than any living man could bear.
Now you have heard the truth, what fay you, Ro-

mans?

Have we done aught amifs? Show us wherein,
And, from the place where you behold us now,
The poor remainder of Andronici

Will, hand in hand, all headlong caft us down,8

• Damn'd as he is,] The old copies read-And as he is. The emendation was made by Mr. Theobald. The fame expreffion (as he obferved) is used in Othello :

"O thou foul thief, where haft thou ftow'd my daughter? "Damn'd as thou art, thou haft inchanted her." In the play before us the fame epithet is applied to Aaron: "See juftice done on Aaron, that damn'd Moor."

7

MALONE.

what caufe-] Old copies-what courfe. Corrected

in the fourth folio. MALONE.

The poor remainder of Andronici

Will,caft us down,] i. e. We the poor remainder &c

will caft us down. MALONE.

And on the ragged ftones beat forth our brains,
And make a mutual closure of our house.

Speak, Romans, fpeak; and, if you fay, we fhall,
Lo, hand in hand, Lucius and I will fall.

EMIL. Come, come, thou reverend man of
Rome,

And bring our emperor gently in thy hand,
Lucius our emperor; for, well I know,
The common voice do cry, it shall be so.
ROM. [Several Speak.] Lucius, all hail ;' Rome's
royal emperor !

LUCIUS, &c. defcend.

MAR. Go, go into old Titus' forrowful house;

[To an Attendant. And hither hale that misbelieving Moor, To be adjudg'd fome direful flaughtering death, As punishment for his moft wicked life.

ROM. [Several Speak.] Lucius, all hail; Rome's gracious governor!

Luc. Thanks, gentle Romans; May I govern fo,
To heal Rome's harms, and wipe away her woe!
But, gentle people, give me aim awhile,-
For nature puts me to a heavy task ;-

Stand all aloof;-but, uncle, draw you near,
To fhed obfequious tears upon this trunk :-

9 Rom. Lucius, all hail; &c.] This line here, and the fame words below, are given in the old copy by mistake to Marcus. It is manifeft, as Mr. Steevens has obferved, that they both belong to the furrounding concourfe of Romans, who with one voice hail Lucius as their emperor. MALONE.

The fame mistake is in the quarto 1600. TODD.

O, take this warm kifs on thy pale cold lips,

[Kisses TITUS. These forrowful drops upon thy blood-ftain'd face,' The last true duties of thy noble fon!

MAR. Tear for tear, and loving kiss for kifs, Thy brother Marcus tenders on thy lips:

O, were the fum of these that I fhould

pay Countless and infinite, yet would I pay them!

Luc. Come hither, boy; come, come, and learn

of us

To melt in showers: Thy grandfire lov'd thee well :
Many a time he danc'd thee on his knee,
Sung thee afleep, his loving breast thy pillow;
Many a matter hath he told to thee,

Meet, and agreeing with thine infancy;
In that respect then, like a loving child,
Shed yet fome small drops from thy tender spring,
Because kind nature doth require it fo: 2
Friends should affociate friends in grief and woe:
Bid him farewell; commit him to the grave;
Do him that kindness, and take leave of him.

Box. O grandfire, grandfire! even with all my

heart

'Would I were dead, fo you did live again !O lord, I cannot fpeak to him for weeping; My tears will choke me, if I ope my mouth.

I thy blood-ftain'd face,] The old copies have-thy blood-flain face. Corrected in the fourth folio. MALONE. 2 Shed yet fome fmall drops

Because kind nature doth require it fo:] Thus, in Romeo and Juliet:

fond nature bids us all lament." STEEVENS.

Enter Attendants, with AARON.

1. ROM. You fad Andronici, have done with woes; Give fentence on this execrable wretch,

That hath been breeder of these dire events.

Luc. Set him breast-deep in earth, and famish him;

There let him stand, and rave and cry for food:
If any one relieves or pities him,

For the offence he dies. This is our doom:
Some ftay, to fee him faften'd in the earth.3

AAR. O, why fhould wrath be mute, and fury dumb?

I am no baby, I, that, with base prayers,
I should repent the evils I have done;
Ten thousand, worse than ever yet I did,
Would I perform, if I might have my will;
If one good deed in all my life I did,

I do repent it from my very foul.

Luc. Some loving friends convey the emperor hence,

And give him burial in his father's grave:
My father, and Lavinia, fhall forthwith
Be closed in our household's monument.
As for that heinous tiger, Tamora,

No funeral rite, nor man in mournful weeds,
No mournful bell fhall ring her burial;

But throw her forth to beafts, and birds of prey:
Her life was beast-like, and devoid of pity;
And, being fo, shall have like want of pity.

3 to fee him faften'd in the earth.] That juftice and cookery may go hand in hand to the conclufion of this play, in Ravenfcroft's alteration of it, Aaron is at once racked and roafted on the ftage. STERVENS.