TITUS ANDRONICUS. ACT I. 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 age2 with this indignity. BAS. Romans,-friends, followers, favourers of my right, If ever Bassianus, Cæsar's son, my SUCCESSIVE title - i. e. my title to the succession. MALONE. Thus also Raleigh: "The empire being elective, and not successive, the emperors, in being, made profit of their own times." STEEVENS. 2-mine AGE-] My seniority in point of age. Tamora, in a subsequent passage, speaks of him as a very young man : "If Saturnine advance the queen of Goths, "She will a handmaid be to his desires; "A loving nurse, a mother to his youth.” BOSWELL. 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 special party, have, by common voice, Chosen Andronicus, surnamed Pius For many good and great deserts to Rome : Lives not this day within the city walls: From weary wars against the barbarous Goths; Hath yok'd a nation strong, train'd up in arms. And now at last, laden with honour's spoils, Let us entreat,-By honour of his name, Whom you pretend to honour and adore,— That you withdraw you, and abate your strength; Dismiss your followers, and, as suitors should, BAS. Marcus Andronicus, so I do affy And so I love and honour thee and thine, And her, to whom my thoughts are humbled all, [Exeunt the Followers of BASSIANUS. SAT. Friends, that have been thus forward in my right, I thank you all, and here dismiss you all; [Exeunt the Followers of SATURNINUS. Rome, be as just and gracious unto me, 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 Andronicus, 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, 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 TAMORA, with ALARBUS, CHIRON, DEMETRIUS, AARON, and other Goths, prisoners; Soldiers and People, following. The Bearers set down the Coffin, and TITUS speaks. TIT. Hail, Rome, victorious in thy mourning weeds 3 ! Lo, as the bark, that hath discharg'd her fraught*, From whence at first she weigh'd her anchorage, Stand gracious to the rights that we intend! 3 Hail, Rome, victorious in THY mourning weeds!] I suspect that the poet wrote: in my mourning weeds!" i. e. Titus would say: Thou, Rome, art victorious, though I am a mourner for those sons which I have lost in obtaining that victory.' WARBURTON. Thy is as well as my. We may suppose the Romans in a grateful ceremony, meeting the dead sons of Andronicus with mournful habits. JOHNSON. Or that they were in mourning for their emperor who was just dead. STEEVENS. 4- HER fraught.] Old copies-his fraught. Corrected in the fourth folio. 66 Malone. MALONE. his fraught," As in the other old copies noted by Mr. It will be proper here to observe, that the edition of 1600 is not paged. TODD. 5 Thou great defender of this Capitol,] Jupiter, to whom the Capitol was sacred. JOHNSON. Romans, of five and twenty valiant sons, With burial amongst their ancestors: Here Goths have given me leave to sheath my sword. Titus, unkind, and careless of thine own, [The Tomb is opened. Sweet cell of virtue and nobility, How many sons of mine hast thou in store, Luc. Give us the proudest prisoner of the Goths, TAM. Stay, Roman brethren ;-Gracious conqueror, 6 To hover on the dreadful shore of Styx?] Here we have one of the numerous classical notions that are scattered with a pedantick profusion through this piece. MALONE. 7-EARTHLY prison-] Edit. 1600—“ earthy prison." Todd. Nor we disturb'd with prodigies on earth.] It was supposed by the ancients, that the ghosts of unburied people appeared to their friends and relations, to solicit the rites of funeral. STEEVENS. |