Shall make their harbour in our town, till we
Have seal'd thy full desire.

Alcib. Then there's my glove; Descend, and open your uncharged ports; Those enemies of Timon's, and mine own, Whom you yourselves shall set out for reproof, Fall, and no more: and,-to atone your fears With my more noble meaning,-not a man Shall pass his quarter, or offend the stream Of regular justice in your city's bounds, But shall be remedied, to your public laws At heaviest answer.

Both.

'Tis most nobly spoken.

Alcib. Descend, and keep your words.

[The Senators descend, and open the gatea.

Enter a Soldier.

Sol. My noble general, Timon is dead;
Entomb'd upon the very hem o'the sea:
And, on his grave-stone, this insculpture; which
With wax I brought away, whose soft impression
Interprets for my poor ignorance.

Alcib. [Reads.] Here lies a wretched corse, of wretched soul bereft:

Seek not my name: A plague consume you wicked caitiff's left!

Here lie I Timon; who, alive, all living men did hate: Pass by, and curse thy fill; but pass, and stay not here thy gait.

These well express in thee thy latter spirits:
Though thou abhorr'dst in us our human griefs,
Scorn'dst our brain's flow, and those our droplets which

From niggard nature fail, yet rich conceit

Taught thee to make vast Neptune weep for aye
On thy low grave, on faults forgiven. Dead

Is noble Timon; of whose memory

Hereafter more.-Bring me into your city,

And I will use the olive with my sword:

Make war breed peace; make peace stint war; make

each

Prescribe to other, as each other's leech.

Let our drums strike.

TITUS ANDRONICUS.

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

Saturninus, son to the late emperor of Rome, and after wards declared emperor himself.

Bassianus, brother to Saturninus ; in love with Lavinia. Titus Andronicus, a noble Roman, general against the Goths.

Mares Andronicus, tribune of the people; and broth er to Titus.

Alarbus,

Chiron,

Demetrius,

sons to Tamora.

Aaron, a Moor, beloved by Tamora.

A Captain, Tribune, Messenger, and Clown; Romans Goths and Romans.

Tamora, queen of the Goths.

Lavinia, daughter to Titus Andronicus.

A Nurse, and a Black Child.

Kinsmen of Titus, Senators, Tribunes, Officers, Soi diers, and Attendants.

SCENE, Rome; and the country near it.

TITUS ANDRONICUS.

ACT I.

SCENE 1.-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.

Saturninus.

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 age with this indignity.

Bas. Romans,-friends, followers, favourers of my
right,

-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.