Mar. Why dost thou laugh? it fits not with this hour. And would usurp upon my watery eyes, Even in their throats that have committed them. That I may turn me to each one of you, And swear unto my soul to right your wrongs.- [Exeunt TITUS, MARCUS, and LAVINIA. 3 1 Lavinia, thou shalt be employed in these THINGS;] So the folio, 1623; but we omit "And," there found at the commencement of the line, on the authority of the folio, 1632. The two 4tos. have arms for things:" "things" is certainly a poor word; but if we read "arms "aims (as proposed by the Rev. Mr. Dyce), we gain little or nothing by the change: the measure is still wofully bad. We have no authority for it, but we might restore "And" from the folio, 1623, and, leaving out "Lavinia," read thus: "And thou shalt be employed in these things." ? And, if you love me, as I think you do,] The old corrector of the fo. 1632, tells us to read, "And, if you love me, as I think 'tis true," in order that it may rhyme with the next line, "Let's kiss and part, for we have much to do;" but, even if a rhyme were required, it not very unfrequently happens, in poems of that date, that the same word is made its own rhyme. Therefore, if for no other reason, we decline to make a change. 3 HE LEAVES, &c.] All the old copies, "He loves:" corrected by Rowe. Oh, would thou wert as thou 'tofore hast been! If Lucius live, he will requite your wrongs, [Exit. SCENE II.' A Room in TITUS's House. A Banquet set out. Enter TITUS, MARCUS, LAVINIA, and young LUCIUS, a Boy. Tit. So, so, now sit; and look, you eat no more With folded arms. This poor right hand of mine Is left to tyrannize upon my breast; And when my heart, all mad with misery, Beats in this hollow prison of my flesh, Then, thus I thump it down. Thou map of woe, that thus dost talk in signs, [To LAVINIA. Thou canst not strike it thus to make it still. Or get some little knife between thy teeth, Scene ii.] This scene is not found in the impressions of 1600 or 1611. It was, probably, not an omission in the 4tos, but a subsequent addition in the folio. it may have been by a different hand on some revival. The portion of it from the stage-direction "Marcus strikes the dish with a knife," down to the line, "That comes in likeness of a coal-black Moor," is struck out in the corr. fo. 1632: perhaps it was the practice of the stage to omit it. 46 5 AND when my heart, &c.] The reading till the time of Rowe was Who when my heart." Mar. Fie, brother, fie! teach her not thus to lay Such violent hands upon her tender life. Tit. How now! has sorrow made thee dote already? What violent hands can she lay on her life? How Troy was burnt, and he made miserable? She says, she drinks no other drink but tears, As begging hermits in their holy prayers: But I of these will wrest an alphabet, And by still practice learn to know thy meaning. Doth weep to see his grandsire's heaviness. Tit. Peace, tender sapling: thou art made of tears, And tears will quickly melt thy life away. [MARCUS strikes the dish with a knife. A deed of death, done on the innocent, gone; I see, thou art not for my company. 6 with THY knife?] "Thy" is obtained from the second folio: the first folio omits it. In the next line but two, "are" is also wanting in the first, but in no other folio. Tit. But how, if that fly had a father and mother, Poor harmless fly! That with his pretty buzzing melody, Came here to make us merry; and thou hast kill'd him. Then pardon me for reprehending thee, There's for thyself, and that's for Tamora. Ah, sirrah!— But that between us we can kill a fly, That comes in likeness of a coal-black Moor. Mar. Alas, poor man! grief has so wrought on him, He takes false shadows for true substances. Tit. Come, take away ".-Lavinia, go with me: Come, boy, and go with me: thy sight is young, [Exeunt. ACT IV. SCENE I. The Same. Before TITUS's House. Enter TITUS and MARCUS. Then enter young LUCIUS, LAVINIA running after him. Boy. Help, grandsire, help! my aunt Lavinia Follows me every where, I know not why.— Good uncle Marcus, see how swift she comes! Alas! sweet aunt, I know not what you mean. 7 Tit. Come, take away.] In the folio of the Earl of Ellesmere, this speech has no prefix; but the conjunction "And" for And. was mistakenly put before "Come." This error is corrected in the Duke of Devonshire's folio. Mar. Stand by me, Lucius: do not fear thine aunt. Canst thou not guess wherefore she plies thee thus? Ran mad through sorrow: that made me to fear; I will most willingly attend your ladyship. Mar. Lucius, I will. [LAVINIA turns over the books, which LUCIUS had let fall. Tit. How now, Lavinia !-Marcus, what means this? Some book there is that she desires to see. --- Which is it, girl, of these ?-Open them, boy.- And so beguile thy sorrow, till the heavens Why lifts she up her arms in sequence thus ? Mar. I think, she means, that there was more than one Confederate in the fact.-Ay, more there was; Or else to heaven she heaves them to revenge. Tit. Lucius, what book is that she tosseth so ? 8 What book?] This interrogatory is not in the 4tos, nor does it seem very necessary; but as we find it in the folio, 1623, we insert it. It is clearly not a stage-direction. |