Tell us, what Sinon hath bewitch'd our ears, That gives our Troy, our Rome, the civil wound.- But floods of tears will drown my oratory, Here is a captain, let him tell the tale ; You hearts will throb and weep to hear him speak. 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 were that ravished our sister: For their fell faults our brothers were beheaded 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, For when no friends are by, men praise themselves. and BASELY COZEN'D-] i. e. and he basely cozened. MALONE. MAR. Now is my turn to speak; Behold this child, [Pointing to the Child in the arms of an Attendant. Of this was Tamora delivered; The issue of an irreligious Moor, Chief architect and plotter of these woes; Have we done aught amiss? Show us wherein, Will, hand in hand, all headlong cast us down, Speak, Romans, speak; and, if you say, we shall, EMIL. Come, come, thou reverend man of And bring our emperor gently in thy hand, 6 DAMN'D as he is,] The old copies read-“And as he is." The emendation was made by Mr. Theobald. The same expression (as he observed) is used in Othello: "O thou foul thief, where hast thou stow'd my daughter? "Damn'd as thou art, thou hast inchanted her." In the play before us the same epithet is applied to Aaron: "See justice done on Aaron, that damn'd Moor." 7 MALONE. what CAUSE- -] Old copies-what course. Corrected in the fourth folio. MALONE. 8 The poor REMAINDER of Andronici Will- -cast us down,] i. e. We the poor remainder, &c. will cast us down. MALONE. ROM. [Several speak.] Lucius, all hail '; Rome's royal emperor ! LUCIUS, &c. descend. MAR. Go, go into old Titus' sorrowful house; [To an Attendant. And hither hale that misbelieving Moor, To be adjudg'd some direful slaughtering death, ROM. [Several speak.] 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, [Kisses TITUS. These sorrowful drops upon thy blood-stain'd face', The last true duties of thy noble son! MAR. Tear for tear, and loving kiss for kiss, Luc. Come hither, boy; come, come, and learn of us To melt in showers: Thy grandsire lov'd thee well: Many a time he danc'd thee on his knee, 9 Rom. Lucius, all hail; &c.] This line here, and the same words below, are given in the old copy by mistake to Marcus. It it manifest, as Mr. Steevens has observed, that they both belong to the surrounding concourse of Romans, who with one voice hail Lucius as their emperor. MALONE. This same mistake is in the quarto 1600. ToDd. thy blood-slain face. Corrected in the fourth folio. MALONE. Sung thee asleep, his loving breast thy pillow; In that respect then, like a loving child, Bor. O grandsire, grandsire! even with all my 'Would I were dead, so you did live again!— O lord, I cannot speak to him for weeping; My tears will choke me, if I ope my mouth. Enter Attendants, with AARON, 1 ROM. You sad Andronici, have done with woes; Give sentence on this execrable wretch, That hath been breeder of these dire events. Luc. Set him breast-deep in earth, and famish him; There let him stand, and rave and cry for food: For the offence he dies. This is our doom: AAR. O, why should wrath be mute, and fury dumb? I am no baby, I, that, with base prayers, I should repent the evils I have done; 2 Shed yet some small drops Because kind nature doth require it so:] and Juliet: Thus, in Romeo fond nature bids us all lament-." STEEVENS. 3 to see him fasten'd in the earth.] That justice and cookery may go hand in hand to the conclusion of this play, in Ravenscroft's alteration of it, Aaron is at once racked and roasted on the stage. STEEVENS. Would I perform, if I might have my will; I do repent it from my very soul. Luc. Some loving friends convey the emperor hence, And give him burial in his father's grave: Be closed in our household's monument. No funeral rite, nor man in mournful weeds, But throw her forth to beasts, and birds of prey: [Exeunt. 4 See justice done To Aaron,] The quarto 1600 reads-done on Aaron. TODD. 5 Then, afterwards, To order, &c.] selves to regulate the state. MALONE. • Then will we apply our This is one of those plays which I have always thought, with the better judges, ought not to be acknowledged in the list of Shakspeare's genuine pieces. And, perhaps, I may give a proof to strengthen this opinion, that may put the matter out of question. Ben Jonson, in the Introduction to his BartholomewFair, which made its first appearance in the year 1614, couples Jeronymo and Andronicus together in reputation, and speaks of them as plays then twenty-five or thirty years standing. Consequently Andronicus must have been on the stage before Shakspeare left Warwickshire, to come and reside in London: and I never heard it so much as intimated, that he had turned his genius to stage-writing before he associated with the players, and became one of their body. However, that he afterwards introduced it a-new on the stage, with the addition of his own masterly touches, is incontestable, and thence, I presume, grew his title to it. The diction in general, where he has not taken the pains to raise it, is even beneath that of the Three Parts of Henry VI. The story we are to suppose merely fictitious. Andronicus is a sur-name of pure Greek derivation. Tamora is neither men, |