Sol. By all description, this should be the place. Who's here? speak, ho!-No answer?-What is this?

Timon is dead, who hath out-stretch'd his span:
Some beast read this; there does not live a man.
Dead, sure; and this his grave. What's on this
tomb?

I cannot read; the character I'll take with wax;
Our captain hath in every figure skill;
An ag'd interpreter, though young in days:
Before proud Athens he's set down by this,
Whose fall the mark of his ambition is.

[Exit.

Before the Walls of Athens.

Trumpets sound. Enter Alcibiades, with his powers.
Alcib. Sound to this coward and lascivious
Our terrible approach.
[town
[Sound a parley. The Senators appear upon the walls.
Till now you have gone on, and fill'd the time
With all licentious measure, making your wills
The scope of justice; 'till now, myself, and such
As slept within the shadow of your power,
Hlave wander'd with our traverst arms, and
breath'd

Our sufferance vainly: Now the time is flush 3,
When crouching marrow, in the bearer strong,
Cries of itself, No more:' now breathless wrong
shall sit and pant in your great chairs of ease;
And pursy insolence shall break his wind,
With fear, and horrid flight.

1 Sen. Noble and young,

When thy first griefs were but a meer conceit,
Ere thou hadst power, or we had cause to fear,
We sent to thee; to give thy rages balin,
To wipe out our ingratitudes with loves
25 Above their " quantity.

2 Sen. So did we woo

Transformed Timon to our city's love,

By humble message, and by promis'd means; We were not all unkind, nor all deserve 30 The common stroke of war.

35

1 Sen. These walls of ours

Were not erected by their hands, from whom
You have receiv'd your griefs: nor are they such,
That these great towers, trophies, and schools
should fall

For private faults in them.

2 Sen. Nor are they living,

Who were the motives that you first went out;
Shame, that they wanted cunning, in excess

40 Hath broke their hearts". March, noble lord,
Into our city with thy banners spread:

45

By decimation, and å tithed death,

If thy revenges hunger for that food,

Which nature loaths) take thou the destin'd tenth;
And by the hazard of the spotted die,
Let die the spotted.

1 Sen. All have not offended;

For those that were, it is not square', to take, On those that are, revenges: crimes, like lands, 50Are not inherited. Then, dear countryman, Bring in thy ranks, but leave without thy rage: Spare thy Athenian cradle, and those kin, Which, in the bluster of thy wrath, must fall

1 Dr. Warburton observes, that dear, in the language of that time, signified dread, and is so used by Shakspeare in numberless places.-Mr. Steevens says, that dear may in this instance signify immediate; and that it is an enforcing epithet with not always a distinct meaning. 2 Arms across.

3A bird is flush when his feathers are grown, and he can leave the nest.-Flush means mature. 4 The marrow was supposed to be the original of strength.-The image is from a camel kneeling to take up his load, who rises immediately when he finds he has as much laid on as he can bear. • Their refers to rages. The meaning is, "Shame in excess (i.e. extremity of shame) that they wanted cunning (i. e. that they were not wise enough not to banish you) hath broke their hearts." ? i, e. not regular, not equitable.

With

Our brain's flow is our tears.

SCENE I.

A C T I.

Before the Capitol, in Rome.

Enter the Tribuneș and Senators aloft, as in the Se-
nate. Then enter Saturninus and his followers,
at one door; and Bassianus and his followers,
at the other; with drum and colours.
Sat.

JOBLE 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,—

5

10

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.
Marc. Princes, that strive by factions, and by
friends,

Ambitiously for rule and empery!

Know, that the people of Rome, for whom we
stand,

15 A special party, have, by common voice,
In election for the Roman empery,
Chosen Andronicus, surnamed Pius
For many good and great deserts to Rome;

'Mr. Theobald says, This is one of those plays which he always thought, with the better judges, ought not to be acknowledged in the list of Shakspeare's genuine pieces. Dr. Johnson observes, That all the editors and critics agree with Mr. Theobald in supposing this play spurious, and that he sees" no reason for differing from them: for the colour of the style is wholly different from that of the other plays, and there is an attempt at regular versification, and artificial closes, not always inelegant, yet seldom pleasing. The barbarity of the spectacles, and the general massacre, which are here exhibited, can scarcely be conceived tolerable to any audience; yet we are told by Jonson, that they were not only borne, but praised." Mr. Farmer and Mr. Steevens are also of the same opinion with Dr. Johnson.

A noble

1

A nobler man, a braver warrior,
Lives not this day within the city walls:
He by the senate is accited home,
From weary wars against the barbarous Goths;
That, with his sons, a terror to our foes,
Hath yok'd 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 return'd
Bleeding to Rome, bearing his valiant sons
In coffins 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 intreat,-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 noble brother Titus, and his sons,
And her, to whom our thoughts are humbled all,
Gracious Lavinia, Rome's rich ornament,
That I will here dismiss my loving friends;
And to my fortunes, and the people's favour,
Commit my cause in balance to be weigh'd.
[Exeunt Soldiers.

Sat. Friends, that have been thus forward in
my right,

I thank you all, and here dismiss you all;
And to the love and favour of my country
Commit myself, my person, and the cause:
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.
[They go up into the senate-house.

SCENE II.
Enter a Captain.

Lo, as the bark, that hath discharg'd her fraught,
Returns with precious lading to the bay,
From whence at first she weigh'd her anchorage,
Cometh Andronicus, bound with laurel boughs,
5 lo re-salute his country with his tears;
Tears of true joy for his return to Rome.-
Thou great defender of this Capitol',
Stand gracious to the rites that we intend!-
Romans, of five-and-twenty valiant sons,
10 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 among their ancestors: [sword.
15 Here Goths have given me leave to sheath my
Titus, unkind, and careless of thine own,
Why suffer'st thou thy sons, unbury'd yet,
To hover on the dreadful shore of Styx?—
Make way to lay them by their brethren.

20

[They open the tomb.
There greet in silence, as the dead were wont,
And sleep in peace, slain in your country's wars!
O sacred receptacle of my joys,
Sweet cell of virtue and nobility,

25 How many sons of mine hast thou in store,
That thou wilt never render to me more?

Luc. Give us the proudest prisoner of the Goths,
That we may hew his limbs, and, on a pile,
Ad manes fratrum sacrifice his flesh,
30 Before this earthly prison of their bones;
I hat so their shadows be not unappeas'd,
Nor we disturb'd with prodigies on earth'.

135

Tit. I give him you; the noblest that survives,
The eldest son of this distressed queen. [queror,
Tam. Stay; Roman brethren,-Gracious con-
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.
40 Sufficeth not, that we are brought to Rome,
To beautify thy triumphs, 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!
430! 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:
50 Sweet mercy is nobility's true badge;

Capt. Romans, make way; The good AndroPatron of virtue, Rome's best champion, [nicus, 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. Sound drums and trumpets, and then enter Mutius and Marcus; after them, two men bearing 455 coffin covered with black; then Quintus and Lucius. After them, Titus Andronicus; and then Tamora, the queen of the Goths, Alarbus, Chiron, and Demetrius, with Aaron the Moor, prisoners; Soldiers, and other Attendants. They 60 set down the coffin, and Titus speaks. Tit. Hail! Rome, victoriousinthymourningweeds.

Jupiter, to whom the Capitol was sacred.

2

Thrice-noble Titus, spare my first-born son.

Tit. Patient yourself, madam, and pardon me.
These are their brethren, whom you Goths behold
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 gone.
Luc. Away with him! and make a fire straight;
And with our swords, upon a pile of wood,
Let's hew his limbs, 'till they be clean consum'd.
[Exeunt Mutius, Marcus, Quintus, and
Lucius, with Alarbus.

This

It was supposed by the ancients, that the ghosts of unburied people appeared to their friends and relations, to solicit the rites of funeral. verb is used by other dramatic writers.

Tam.