Is dear Lavinia, dearer than my soul.—
Had I but seen thy picture in this plight,
It would have madded me; what shall I do
Now I behold thy lively body so°?

Thou hast no hands to wipe away thy tears,
Nor tongue to tell me who hath martyr'd thee:
Thy husband he is dead; and for his death,
Thy brothers are condemn'd, and dead by this.
Look, Marcus; ah! son Lucius, look on her:
When I did name her brothers, then fresh tears
Stood on her cheeks, as doth the honey-dew

Upon a gather'd lily, almost wither'd.

Mar. Perchance, she weeps because they kill'd her husband;

Perchance, because she knows them innocent'.

Tit. If they did kill thy husband, then be joyful,
Because the law hath ta'en revenge on them.---
No, no, they would not do so foul a deed;
Witness the sorrow that their sister makes.—
Gentle Lavinia, let me kiss thy lips,

Or make some sign how I may do thee ease.
Shall thy good uncle, and thy brother Lucius,
And thou, and I, sit round about some fountain,
Looking all downwards, to behold our cheeks
How they are stain'd, as meadows yet not dry,
With miry slime left on them by a flood?
And in the fountain shall we gaze so long,
Till the fresh taste be taken from that clearness,
And made a brine-pit with our bitter tears?
Or shall we cut away our hands, like thine?
Or shall we bite our tongues, and in dumb shows
Pass the remainder of our hateful days?

What shall we do? let us, that have our tongues,
Plot some device of farther misery,

To make us wonder'd at in time to come.

Luc. Sweet father, cease your tears; for at your grief,

Now I behold thy LIVELY body so?] "Lively" is altered to living in the corr. fo. 1632; but in reference to "thy picture," in a preceding line, if we do not prefer "lively," we see no sufficient reason for inserting living.

7. she knows THEM innocent.] So the 4to, 1600: other editions read him for "them." We have already seen how frequently this error, and its converse, was committed by the old printer.

- AS meadows yet not dry,] So the corr. fo. 1632: the old copies "in meadows yet not dry." Rowe read "like meadows."

See how my wretched sister sobs and weeps.

Mar. Patience, dear niece.-Good Titus, dry thine eyes.
Tit. Ah, Marcus, Marcus! brother, well I wot,
Thy napkin cannot drink a tear of mine,

For thou, poor man, hast drown'd it with thine own.
Luc. Ah, my Lavinia! I will wipe thy cheeks.
Tit. Mark, Marcus, mark! I understand her signs.
Had she a tongue to speak, now would she say
That to her brother which I said to thee:
His napkin, with his true tears all bewet",
Can do no service on her sorrowful cheeks.
Oh! what a sympathy of woe is this;
As far from help as limbo is from bliss'.

Enter AARON.

Aar. Titus Andronicus, my lord the emperor
Sends thee this word,-that, if thou love thy sons,
Let Marcus, Lucius, or thyself, old Titus,
Or any one of you, chop off your hand,
And send it to the king: he for the same,
Will send thee hither both thy sons alive,
And that shall be the ransom for their fault.

Tit. Oh, gracious emperor! oh, gentle Aaron!
Did ever raven sing so like a lark

That gives sweet tidings of the sun's uprise?
With all my heart I'll send my hand to him '.
Good Aaron, wilt thou help to chop it off?

Luc. Stay, father; for that noble hand of thine,
That hath thrown down so many enemies,
Shall not be sent: my hand will serve the turn.
My youth can better spare my blood than you,

"His napkin, with HIS true tears all bewet,] The reading of all the old copies is "her true tears," but undoubtedly the line ought to run, “His napkin, with his true tears all bewet."

1 — as LIMBO is from bliss.] i. e. The limbus, or limbo patrum. See Vol. iv. p. 460. Here, as in many other places, we see the old rhymes preserved.

2 With all my heart I'll send my hand To HIM.] The line in the ancient editions is absurdly redundant:

"With all my heart I'll send the emperor my hand."

We have amended it by the corr. fo. 1632, which preserves the sense while it restores the measure. Such a line as that in the 4tos. and folios could never have followed so musical a passage as

"Did ever raven sing so like a lark

That gives sweet tidings of the sun's uprise?"

And therefore mine shall save my brothers' lives.

Mar. Which of your hands hath not defended Rome, And rear'd aloft the bloody battle-axe,

Writing destruction on the enemy's castle'?

Oh! none of both but are of high desert.

My hand hath been but idle; let it serve

To ransom my two nephews from their death,
Then, have I kept it to a worthy end.

Aar. Nay, come agree, whose hand shall go along,
For fear they die before their pardon come.

Mar. My hand shall go.

Luc.

By heaven, it shall not go.

Tit. Sirs, strive no more: such wither'd herbs as these Are meet for plucking up, and therefore mine.

Let

Luc. Sweet father, if I shall be thought thy son,

me redeem my brothers both from death.

Mar. And, for our father's sake, and mother's care,
Now let me show a brother's love to thee.

Tit. Agree between you: I will spare my hand.
Luc. Then I'll go fetch an axe.
Mar.

But I will use it1.

[Exeunt LUCIUS and MARCUS.

Tit. Come hither, Aaron; I'll deceive them both :
Lend me thy hand, and I will give thee mine.
Aar. If that be call'd deceit, I will be honest,

And never, whilst I live, deceive men so :-
But I'll deceive you in another sort,
And that you'll say, ere half an hour pass'.

[Aside.

[He cuts off TITUS's hand with his sword.

3 on the enemy's CASTLE?] "It appears (says Steevens) that a 'castle' signified a close helmet. From Grose's Treatise of Ancient Armour,' p. 12, we gather that castle' may only be a corruption of the old French word casquetel." See Vol. iv. p. 580.

But I will use IT.] This hemistich completes the line begun by "Then I'll go fetch an axe:" in the 4tos. and folios “axe” is repeated—“ But I will use the are"- probably caught from the preceding line: at all events, it is in every point of view redundant, and we erase it in accordance with the corr. fo. 1632.

And that you'll say, ere half an hour pass.] Malone, in contradiction to his own theory, that "hour" was often pronounced as a dissyllable, here interpolates can after it, without any authority.

He cuts off Titus's hand WITH HIS SWORD.] The words "with his sword" are from the corr. fo. 1632: the old annotator also inserts with an axe on the reentrance of Lucius: both additions are more or less required.

Re-enter LUCIUS with an axe, and MARCUS.

Tit. Now, stay your strife: what shall be, is dispatch'd.Good Aaron, give his majesty my hand:

Tell him, it was a hand that warded him
From thousand dangers. Bid him bury it:
More hath it merited; that let it have.
As for my sons, say, I account of them
As jewels purchas'd at an easy price;
And yet dear too, because I bought mine own.
Aar. I go, Andronicus; and for thy hand,
Look by and by to have thy sons with thee.-
[Aside.] Their heads, I mean.—Oh, how this villainy
Doth fat me with the very thoughts of it!
Let fools do good, and fair men call for grace,
Aaron will have his soul black like his face.

Tit. Oh! here I lift this one hand up to heaven,
And bow this feeble ruin to the earth:

If any power pities wretched tears,

To that I call.-What! wilt thou kneel with me?

[Exit.

[TO LAVINIA.
Do then, dear heart; for heaven shall hear our prayers,
Or with our sighs we'll breathe the welkin dim,
And stain the sun with fog, as sometime clouds
When they do hug him in their melting bosoms.
Mar. Oh! brother, speak with possibilities',
And do not break into these deep extremes.

Tit. Is not my sorrow deep, having no bottom?
Then, be my passions bottomless with them.
Mar. But yet let reason govern thy lament.
Tit. If there were reason for these miseries,

Then into limits could I bind my woes.

When heaven doth weep, doth not the earth o'erflow?
If the winds rage, doth not the sea wax mad,
Threat'ning the welkin with his big-swoln face?
And wilt thou have a reason for this coil?

8

I am the sea; hark, how her sighs do blow !
She is the weeping welkin, I the earth:
Then, must my sca be moved with her sighs;

with POSSIBILITIES,] The edition, 1600, alone reads, "with possibilitie." do BLOW!] All the old copies anterior to the second folio read, "do blow" is, of course, right.

Then, must my earth with her continual tears
Become a deluge, overflow'd and drown'd;
For why, my bowels cannot hide her woes,
But like a drunkard must I vomit them.
Then, give me leave, for losers will have leave
To ease their stomachs with their bitter tongues.

Enter a Messenger, with two heads and a hand.
Mess. Worthy Andronicus, ill art thou repaid
For that good hand thou sent'st the emperor.
Here are the heads of thy two noble sons;
And here's thy hand, in scorn to thee sent back:
Thy griefs their sports, thy resolution mock'd,
That woe is me to think upon thy woes,
More than remembrance of my father's death.
Mar. Now, let hot Etna cool in Sicily,

And be my heart an ever-burning hell!
These miseries are more than may be borne.
Το

weep with them that weep doth ease some deal,

But sorrow flouted at is double death.

[Exit.

Luc. Ah, that this sight should make so deep a wound,

And yet detested life not shrink thereat!

That ever death should let life bear his name,

Where life hath no more interest but to breathe!

[LAVINIA kisses him. Mar. Alas, poor heart! that kiss is comfortless, As frozen water to a starved snake.

Tit. When will this fearful slumber have an end?
Mar. Now, farewell, flattery: die, Andronicus.
Thou dost not slumber: see, thy two sons' heads;
Thy warlike hand; thy mangled daughter here;
Thy other banish'd son, with this dear sight
Struck pale and bloodless; and thy brother, I,
Even like a stony image, cold and numb.
Ah! now no more will I control thy griefs':
Rend off thy silver hair, thy other hand

Gnawing with thy teeth; and be this dismal sight
The closing up of our most wretched eyes!

Now is a time to storm; why art thou still?

64

Tit. Ha, ha, ha!

Ah! now no more will I control THY griefs:] Theobald fitly altered my to

thy:" all the old copies agree in my.

VOL. V.

E