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Welcome, ye warlike Goths; welcome, Lucius;
And welcome, all; although the cheer be poor,
"Twill fill your stomachs; please you eat of it.
Sat. Why art thou thus attir'd, Andronicus?
Tit. Because I would be sure to have all well,Nor can I utter all our bitter grief,
To entertain your highness, and your empress.
Tam. We are beholden to you, good Andronicus.
Tit. An if your highness knew my heart, you

Tell us, what Sinon hath bewitch'd our ears,
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;

were.

My lord the emperor, resolve me this;
Was it well done of rash Virginius,

To slay his daughter with his own right hand,
Because she was enforc'd, stain'd, and deflour'd?
Sat. It was, Andronicus.

Tit. Your reason, mighty lord?

Sat. Because the girl should not survive her shame,

And by her presence still renew his sorrows.

Tit. A reason mighty, strong, and effectual;
A pattern, precedent, and lively warrant,
For me, most wretched, to perform the like:-
Die, die, Lavinia, and thy shame with thee;

[He kills Lavinia.
And, with thy shame, thy father's sorrow die!
Sat. What hast thou done, unnatural, and unkind?
Tit. Kill'd her, for whom my tears have made
me blind.

I am as woful as Virginius was:

And have a thousand times more cause than he
To do this outrage;-and it is now done.
Sat. What, was she ravish'd? tell, who did the
deed.

Tit. Will't please you eat; will't please your
highness feed?

Tam. Why hast thou slain thine only daughter
thus?

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.
Sat. Go, fetch them hither to us presently.
Tit. Why, there they are both, baked in that

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Whereof their mother daintily hath fed,
Eating the flesh that she herself hath bred.
'Tis true, 'tis true; witness my knife's sharp point.
[Killing Tamora.
Sat. Die, frantic wretch, for this accursed deed.
[Killing Titus.
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, ascend the steps be-
fore Titus's house.

Mar. 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
This scatter'd corn into one mutual sheaf,
These broken limbs again into one body.

Sen. Lest Rome herself be bane unto herself;
And she, whom mighty kingdoms court'sy to,
Like a forlorn and desperate cast-away,
Do shameful execution on herself.

age,

But if my frosty signs and chaps of
Grave witnesses of true experience,
Cannot induce you to attend my words,-
Speak, Rome's dear friend; [To Lucius.] as erst

our ancestor,

When with his solemn tongue he did discourse,
To love-sick Dido's sad attending ear,

The story of that baleful burning night,

But floods of tears will drown my oratory,
And break my very utterance; even i'the time
When it should move you to attend me most,
Lending your kind commiseration:

Here is a captain, let him tell the tale;
Your 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,
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 :
And 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 advent'rous 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,
Citing my worthless praise: O, pardon me;
For when no friends are by, men praise themselves.
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;
The villain is alive in Titus' house,
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.
Now you have heard the truth, what say you, Ro-
mans?

Have we done aught amiss? Shew us wherein,
And, from the place where you behold us now,
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,
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.
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,
As punishment for his most wicked life.

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 wo!

When subtle Greeks surpris'd king Priam's Troy ; 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,

[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,
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

To melt in showers: Thy grandsire lov'd thee well:
Many a time he danc'd thee on his knee,
Sung thee asleep, his loving breast thy pillow;
Many a matter hath he told to thee,
Meet, and agreeing with thine infancy;
In that respect then, like a loving child,

Shed yet some small drops from thy tender spring,
Because kind nature doth require it so:
Friends should associate friends in grief and wo:
Bid him farewell; commit him to the grave;
Do him that kindness, and take leave of him.
Boy. O grandsire, grandsire! even with all my
heart

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.

There let him stand, and rave and cry for food:
If any one relieves or pities him,

For the offence he dies. This is our doom:
Some stay, to see him fasten'd in the earth.
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;
Ten thousand, worse than ever yet I did,
Would I perform, if I might have my will;
If one good deed in all my life I did,
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:
My father, and Lavinia, shall forthwith
Be closed in our household's monument.
As for that heinous tiger, Tamora,
No funeral rite, nor man in mournful weeds,
No mournful bell shall ring her burial;
But throw her forth to beasts, and birds of prey:
Her life was beast-like, and devoid of pity;
And, being so, shall have like want of pity.
See justice done to Aaron, that damn'd Moor,
By whom our heavy haps had their beginning:
Then, afterwards, to order well the state;
That like events may ne'er it ruinate.

[Exeunt

All the editors and critics agree in supposing this play spurious. I see no reason for differing from them; for the colour of the style is wholly

Luc. Set him breast-deep in earth, and famish|| different from that of the other plays

him;

JOHNSON.

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PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE. Act III.- Scene 2. Vol. II. p. 337.

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ACT I.

Enter Gower. Before the palace of Antioch.

To sing a song of old2 was sung,
From ashes ancient Gower is come;
Assuming man's infirmities,

To glad your ear, and please your eyes.
It hath been sung at festivals,

On ember-eves, and holy ales ;3
And lords and ladies of their lives
Have read it for restoratives:
'Purpose to make men glorious;
Et quo antiquius, eo melius.

If you, born in these latter times,

When wit's more ripe, accept my rhymes,
And that to hear an old man sing,
May to your wishes pleasure bring,
I life would wish, and that I might
Waste it for you, like taper-light.-
This city then, Antioch the great
Built up for his chiefest seat;
The fairest in all Syria;

(I tell you what mine authors say :)
This king unto him took a pheere,4
Who died and left a female heir,
So buxom, blithe, and full of face,
As heaven had lent her all his grace;
With whom the father liking took,
And her to incest did provoke :
Bad father to entice his own
To evil, should be done by none.
By custom, what they did begin,
Was, with long use, accounts no sin.

(1) Chorus, in the character of Gower, an ancient English poet, who has related the story of this play in his Confessio Amantis.

(2) i. e. That of old. (3) Whitsun-ales, &c. (4) Wife, the word signifies a mate or companion.

The beauty of this sinful dame
Made many princes thither frame,
To seek her as a bed-fellow,
In marriage-pleasures play-fellow :
Which to prevent, he made a law
(To keep her still, and men in awe,)
That whoso ask'd her for his wife,
His riddle told not, lost his life:
So for her many a wight did die,
As yon grim looks do testify.6

What now ensues, to the judgment of your eye
I give, my cause who best can justify. [Exit.

SCENE I-Antioch. A room in the palace.
Enter Antiochus, Pericles, and Attendants.
Ant. Young prince of Tyre, you have at large
receiv'd

The danger of the task you undertake.
Per. I have, Antiochus, and with a sonl
Embolden'd with the glory of her praise,
Think death no hazard, in this enterprise. [Music.
Ant. Bring in our daughter, clothed like a bride,
For the embracements even of Jove himself;
At whose conception (till Lucina reign'd,)
Nature this dowry gave, to glad her presence,
The senate-house of planets all did sit,
To knit in her their best perfections.

Enter the Daughter of Antiochus.
Per. See, where she comes, apparell'd like the

spring,
Graces her subjects, and her thoughts the king
Of every virtue gives renown to men!
Her face, the book of praises, where is read
Nothing but curious pleasures, as from thence

(5) Accounted.

(6) Pointing to the scene of the palace gate at Antioch, on which the heads of those unfortunate wights were fixed.

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