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For me, most wretched, to perform the like.
Die, die, Lavinia, and thy shame with thee;
And with thy shame thy father's sorrow die!

45

[Kills Lavinia.

Sat. What hast thou done, unnatural and unkind?
Tit. Kill'd her, for whom my tears have made me blind.
I am as woeful as Virginius was,

And have a thousand times more cause than he

To do this outrage: and it now is done.

Sat. What! was she ravish'd? tell who did the deed.

50

Tit. Will 't please you eat? will 't please your highness feed ? Tam. Why hast thou slain thine only daughter thus ? 55 Tit. Not I; 'twas Chiron and Demetrius :

They ravish'd her, and cut away her tongue;

And they, 'twas they, that did her all this wrong.

60

Sat. Go fetch them hither to us presently. Tit. Why, there they are both, baked in that pie; Whereof their mother daintily hath fed, Eating the flesh that she herself hath bred. 'Tis true, 'tis true; witness my knife's sharp point. [Kills Tamora.

Sat. Die, frantic wretch, for this accursed deed!

[Kills Titus.

65

Luc. Can the son's eye behold his father bleed? There's meed for meed, death for a deadly deed! [Kills Saturninus. A great tumult. The people in confusion disperse. Marcus, Lucius, and their partisans, go up into the balcony.

66. meed for meed] measure for measure, probably a proverbial expression. The rhymed lines as here were used by Shakespeare even in his

later work, when he wanted to emphasise or clinch a point or mark the termination of an important speech or dialogue.

Marc. You sad-fac'd men, people and sons of Rome,
By uproar sever'd, like a flight of fowl
Scatter'd by winds and high tempestuous gusts,
O! let me teach you how to knit again

70

This scatter'd corn into one mutual sheaf,

These broken limbs again into one body;

Lest Rome herself be bane unto herself,

And she whom mighty kingdoms court'sy to,
Like a forlorn and desperate castaway,

75

Do shameful execution on herself.

But if my frosty signs and chaps of age,

Grave witnesses of true experience,

Cannot induce you to attend my words,

[To Lucius.] Speak, Rome's dear friend, as erst our

ancestor.

When with his solemn tongue he did discourse

To love-sick Dido's sad attending ear

80

The story of that baleful burning night

When subtle Greeks surpris'd King Priam's Troy;
Tell us what Sinon hath bewitch'd our ears,

85

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,

68. flight of fowl] See MidsummerNight's Dream, 111. ii. 105-107.

70. knit] unite, as often in Shake

[blocks in formation]

instance is right in attributing the whole to Marcus. This speech recalls some of Friar Laurence's in Romeo, III. iii.

77. chaps] wrinkles or cracks, as we say chapped hands. See Sonnet, lxii.

10.

83. baleful burning] Shakespeare satirises this excessive alliteration in Midsummer-Night's Dream.

85. Sinon] This author is steeped in mythologic lore. Lucrece, 1521, 1529.

But floods of tears will drown my oratory,

And break my utterance, even in the time

When it should move you to attend me most,
Lending your kind commiseration.

Here is a captain, let him tell the tale;

90

Your hearts will throb and weep to hear him speak. 95

Luc. Then, noble auditory, be it known to you,

That cursed Chiron and Demetrius

Were they that murdered our emperor's brother;

And they it was that ravished our sister.

For their fell faults our brothers were beheaded, 100
Our father's tears despis'd, and basely cozen'd

Of that true hand that fought Rome's quarrel
out,

And sent her enemies unto the grave:

Lastly, myself unkindly banished,

The gates shut on me, and turn'd weeping out, 105

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 :

I am the turn'd forth, be it known to you,
That have preserv'd her welfare in my blood,
And from her bosom took the enemy's point,
Sheathing the steel in my adventurous body.
Alas! you know I am no vaunter, I;

My scars can witness, dumb although they are,
That my report is just and full of truth.
But soft! methinks I do digress too much,

96. auditory] probably a trisyllable here=auditry.

100. fell] cruel. A.-S. fel. Stratmann. In Scotch "fell" is used like

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115

sair, or the Greek devós, as a mere
intensive.
As Merry

IOI. cozen'd] cheated.
Wives, Iv. ii. 180, etc.

Citing my worthless praise: O! pardon me;

For when no friends are by, men praise themselves.
Behold this child;

Marc. Now is my turn to speak.

Of this was Tamora delivered,

The issue of an irreligious Moor,

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

I 20

Damn'd as he is, to witness this is true.

Now judge what cause had Titus to revenge
These wrongs, unspeakable, past patience,
Or more than any living man could bear.

125

Now you have heard the truth, what say you, Romans?
Have we done aught amiss, show us wherein,

And, from the place where you behold us now, 130
The poor remainder of Andronici

Will hand in hand all headlong cast us down,

And on the ragged stones beat forth our brains,

And make a mutual closure of our house.

Speak, Romans, speak! and if you say we shall, 135
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.
Marc. Lucius, all hail! Rome's royal emperor!

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140

131. of Andronici] Perhaps "th"" has dropped out here.

134. mutual] common. See above. 134. closure] end.

140. The common voice] the unanimous people; hence plural verb.

141. Lucius, all hail !] Steevens says this line should be given to the Romans who were present. But we may under

[To Attendants.] Go, go into old Titus' sorrowful house,
And hither hale that misbelieving Moor,

To be adjudg'd some direful slaughtering death,
As punishment for his most wicked life.

145

[Exeunt Attendants.

LUCIUS, MARCUS, and the Others descend.

All. Lucius, all hail! Rome's gracious governor!
Luc. Thanks, gentle Romans: may I govern so,
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 shed obsequious tears upon this trunk.
O! take this warm kiss on thy pale cold lips,

150

[Kisses Titus.

These sorrowful drops upon thy blood-stain'd face,
The last true duties of thy noble son.

155

Marc. Tear for tear, and loving kiss for kiss,

Thy brother Marcus tenders on thy lips:

O were the sum of these that I should pay
Countless and infinite, yet would I pay them.

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

stand that the company signified assent, and that Marcus, as in the opening of the play, was their spokesman.

143. hale] haul. Kluge derives "hale" from a supposed A.-S. gehalian, "haill" from A.-S. geholien. German, holen (English Etymology).

144. direful slaughtering] killing in a cruel manner. See Othello, v. ii. 332: "For this slave (Iago), If there be any cunning cruelty That can torment him much, and hold him long," etc.

160

149. give me aim] "give room and scope to my thoughts.' Schmidt.

152. obsequious tears] tears of devotion and affection, or such tears as are fitting a funeral. Shakespeare never uses the word in the modern derogatory

sense.

155. noble son] Surely Lucius would not call himself noble! might not this line be said by Marcus? or noble may have meant merely "well-born," being Titus' son.

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