- Luc. Proud Saturnine, interrupter of the good That noble-minded Titus means to thee!

TIT. Content thee, prince; I will restore to thee The people's hearts, and wean them from themselves.

BAS. Andronicus, I do not flatter thee, But honour thee, and will do till I die; My faction if thou strengthen with thy friends, I will most thankful be: and thanks, to men Of noble minds, is honourable meed.

TIT. People of Rome, and people's tribunes here, I ask your voices, and your suffrages; Will you bestow them friendly on Andronicus?

TRIB. To gratify the good Andronicus, And gratulate his safe return to Rome, The people will accept whom he admits.

TIT. Tribunes, I thank you: and this suit I make,
That you create your emperor's eldest son,
Lord Saturnine; whose virtues will, I hope,
Reflect on Rome, as Titan's rays on earth,
And ripen justice in this common-weal:
Then if you will elect by my advice,
Crown him, and say,-Long live our emperor!
MAR. With voices and applause of every sort,
Patricians, and plebeians, we create

Lord Saturninus, Rome's great emperor;
And say,-Long live our emperor Saturnine!

[A long Flourish.

SAT. Titus Andronicus, for thy favours done

thy friends,] Old copies-friend. Corrected in the fourth folio. MALONE.

Edition 1600, friend, as in other old copies noted by Mr. Malone. TODD.

To us in our election this day,

I give thee thanks in part of thy deserts,
And will with deeds requite thy gentleness:
And, for an onset, Titus, to advance
Thy name, and honourable family,
Lavinia will I make my emperess,

Rome's royal mistress, mistress of my heart,
And in the sacred Pantheon her espouse:
Tell me, Andronicus, doth this motion please thee?
TIT. It doth, my worthy lord; and, in this match,
I hold me highly honour'd of your grace:
And here, in sight of Rome, to Saturnine,-
King and commander of our common-weal,
The wide world's emperor,-do I consecrate
My sword, my chariot, and my prisoners;
Presents well worthy Rome's imperial lord:1
Receive them then, the tribute that I owe,
Mine honour's ensigns humbled at thy feet.

SAT. Thanks, noble Titus, father of my life!
How proud I am of thee, and of thy gifts,
Rome shall record; and, when I do forget
The least of these unspeakable deserts,
Romans, forget your fealty to me.

TIT. Now, madam, are you prisoner to an em

peror;

[TO TAMORA. To him, that for your honour and your state, Will use you nobly, and your followers.

9

SAT. A goodly lady, trust me; of the hue

-Pantheon-] The quarto, 1611, and the first folioPathan; the second folio-Pantheon. STEEVENS.

Edition 1600-Pathan, as in other copies noted by Mr. SteeTodd.

yens.

imperial lord:] Edition 1600:
-imperious lord. TODD.

That I would choose, were I to choose anew.
Clear up, fair queen, that cloudy countenance;
Though chance of war hath wrought this change
of cheer,

Thou com'st not to be made a scorn in Rome:
Princely shall be thy usage every way.
Rest on my word, and let not discontent
Daunt all your hopes; Madam, he comforts
Can make you greater than the queen of Goths.-
Lavinia, you are not displeas'd with this?

LAV. Not I, my lord; sith true nobility
Warrants these words in princely courtesy.

you,

SAT. Thanks, sweet Lavinia.-Romans, let us go: Ransomeless here we set our prisoners free: Proclaim our honours, lords, with trump and drum. BAS. Lord Titus, by your leave, this maid is [Seizing LAVINIA.

mine.

TIT. How,sir? Are you in earnest then, my lord? BAS. Ay, noble Titus; and resolv'd withal, To do myself this reason and this right.

[The Emperor courts TAMORA in dumb show. MAR. Suum cuique is our Roman justice : This prince in justice seizeth but his own. Luc. And that he will, and shall, if Lucius live.

Lav. Not I, my lord;] It was pity to part a couple who seem to have corresponded in disposition so exactly as Saturninus and Lavinia. Saturninus, who has just promised to espouse her, already wishes he were to choose again; and she who was engaged to Bassianus (whom she afterwards marries) expresses no reluctance when her father gives her to Saturninus. Her subsequent raillery to Tamora is of so coarse a nature, that if her tongue had been all she was condemned to lose, perhaps the author (whoever he was) might have escaped censure on the score of poetick justice. STEEVENS.

TIT. Traitors, avaunt! Where is the emperor's

guard?

Treason, my lord; Lavinia is surpriz❜d,

SAT. Surpriz'd! By whom?

BAS. By him that justly may Bear his betroth'd from all the world away.

Exeunt MARCUS and BASSIANUS, with La

VINIA.

MUT. Brothers, help to convey her hence away, And with my sword I'll keep this door safe.

[Exeunt LUCIUS, QUINTUS, and MARTIUS. TIT. Follow my lord, and I'll soon bring her

back.

MUT. My lord, you pass not here.

Luc. My lord, you are unjust; and, more than

So,

In wrongful quarrel you have slain your son.

TIT. Nor thou, nor he, are any sons of mine: My sons would never so dishonour me: Traitor, restore Lavinia to the emperor.

Luc. Dead, if you will; but not to be his wife, That is another's lawful promis'd love.

[Exit.

SAT. No, Titus, no; the emperor needs her not, Not her,3 nor thee, nor any of thy stock :

Not her,] Edition 1600-Nor her. TODD,

I'll trust, by leisure, him that mocks me once;
Thee never, nor thy traitorous haughty sons,
Confederates all thus to dishonour me.

Was there none else in Rome to make a stale of,*
But Saturnine? Full well, Andronicus,

Agree these deeds with that proud brag of thine,
That said'st, I begg'd the empire at thy hands.
TIT. O monstrous! what reproachful words are
these?

SAT. But

go thy ways; go, give that changing
piece

To him that flourish'd for her with his sword:
A valiant son-in-law thou shalt enjoy;

One fit to bandy with thy lawless sons,

To ruffle in the commonwealth of Rome."

Was there &c.] The words, there, else, and of, are not found in the old copies. This conjectural emendation was made by the editor of the second folio.

Dele the word of, which was inserted by the editor of the second folio, from ignorance of ancient phraseology. See Vol. IV. p. 322, n. 7; and Vol, XVIII. p. 647, n. 2. MALONE.

I must excuse myself from ejecting any one of these monosyllables, being convinced that they were all inserted from an authorized copy, and by a judicious hand. STEEVENS.

5-changing piece-] Spoken of Lavinia. Piece was then, as it is now, used personally as a word of contempt.

So, in Britannia's Pastorals, by Brown, 1613:

66

her husband, weaken'd piece,

JOHNSON,

"Must have his cullis mix'd with ambergrease;
"Pheasant and partridge into jelly turn'd,
"Grated with gold."

Again, in the old play of King Leir, 1605:

66

when did you see Cordella last,

"That pretty piece?

"" STEEVENS,

To ruffle in the commonwealth of Rome.] A ruffler was a kind of cheating bully; and is so called in a statute made for the punishment of vagabonds in the 27th year of King Henry VIII,