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

160

To melt in showers: thy grandsire loved thee well:

Many a time he danced 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;

165

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 woe:
Bid him farewell; commit him to the grave;

170

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.

Re-enter Attendants with AARON.

A Roman. 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:

If any one relieves or pities him,

For the offence he dies. This is our doom:

175

180

Some stay to see him fasten'd in the earth.

I am no baby, I, that with base prayers

Aar. O, why should wrath be mute, and fury dumb?

185

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.

190

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,

195

No funeral rite, nor man in mourning weeds,

No mournful bell shall ring her burial;

But throw her forth to beasts and birds of prey:
Her life was beastly and devoid of pity,
And, being so, shall have like want of pity.
See justice done on 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.

of prey] Ff. to pray Q. to

199. beastly] Qq. beast-like Ff.
200. shall] she shall Hanmer.

201.

on Aaron] to Aaron Steevens

(1793).
202. Byl Qq. From Ff.

haps] QqF3F4. happes F..

happee Fa

203.

Then] Than Q,

200

197. mournful bell] solemn bell Staunton conj.

198. beasts] QqF,F4. beast F2F3.

to order] we'll order Rowe

(ed. 2).
204. [Exeunt.] Exeunt omnes. Ff.
om. Qq.

NOTES.

NOTE I.

II. I. The Quartos have no distinction of act or scene here or elsewhere. After Exeunt comes immediately a stage direction Sound Trumpets, manet Moore. The first Folio, after Aus Secunda, has Flourish. Enter Aaron alone. The Editor of the second Folio seeing the impropriety of introducing Aaron alone with a flourish of trumpets, omitted the word Flourish. Capell was doubtless right in supposing that it had been displaced from the end of the last

scene.

act.

Johnson is of opinion that this scene ought to continue the first

NOTE II.

II. I. 134. Mr Collier, reading 'these,' says, 'The Quartos give the text correctly.' The Quarto of 1611 has 'their.'

NOTE III.

III. 1. 170. In the copy of Theobald's edition before us, which belonged to Warburton, the latter has written 'Mr Warburton' opposite Theobald's note in defence of his emendation, thereby claiming for himself the merit of the conjecture. But in his own edition he retains the old reading 'castle,' while in a note he assigns the emendation to Theobald, and ridicules him for adopting it. Theobald first proposed it in a letter to Concanen (Nichols' Illustrations, 11. 220).

NOTE IV.

III. 1. 277, 278. Perhaps the original MS. had as follows:

'And thou, Lavinia, shalt be imployd,

Beare thou my hand sweet wench betweene thy teeth.'

The Author, or some other corrector, to soften what must have been ludicrous in representation, wrote 'Armes' above 'teeth' as a substitute for the latter. The printer of the first Quarto took 'Armes' to belong to the first line, and conjecturally filled up the lacuna with ‘in these,' making, also, an accidental alteration in the position of 'thou.' Then a corrector of the second Quarto, from which the first folio was printed, made sense of the passage by substituting 'things' for 'Armes.'

NOTE V.

III. 2. 81. The first Folio has: An. Come, take away:'

the true reading was not restored before Capell.

Mr Collier, in his second edition, says: 'In the Folio of the Earl of Ellesmere, this speech has no prefix; but the conjunction 'And' for And, was mistakenly put before 'Come." Mr Staunton however tells us that there is a full stop after 'And,' and that though not in italics the word is clearly meant for Andronicus.

NOTE VI.

IV. I. 46. Mr Dyce says that Theobald omitted the words 'Help her' but this is a mistake. They are retained by Theobald, and by every other editor we know of.

IV. 2. 100.

NOTE VII.

'Seems' is an error of Johnson's own printer. In his note on the passage, he conjectures that 'scorns' is the true reading,