LITMIR.BIZ

       Rome. Before the Capitol.

       [The Tomb of Andronic appearing; the Tribunes and Senators aloft. Enter, below, SATURNINUS and his Followers on one side, and BASSIANUS and his Followers at the other, with drums and colours.]

      SATURNINUS.

       Noble patricians, patrons of my right,

       Defend the justice of my cause with arms;

       And, countrymen, my loving followers,

       Plead my successive title with your swords:

       I am his first born son that was the last

       That wore the imperial diadem of Rome:

       Then let my father’s honours live in me,

       Nor wrong mine age with this indignity.

      BASSIANUS.

       Romans,—friends, followers, favourers of my right,—

       If ever Bassianus, Caesar’s son,

       Were gracious in the eyes of royal Rome,

       Keep then this passage to the Capitol;

       And suffer not dishonour to approach

       The imperial seat, to virtue consecrate,

       To justice, continence, and nobility:

       But let desert in pure election shine;

       And, Romans, fight for freedom in your choice.

       [Enter MARCUS ANDRONICUS aloft, with the crown.]

      MARCUS.

       Princes,—that strive by factions and by friends

       Ambitiously for rule and empery,—

       Know that the people of Rome, for whom we stand

       A special party, have by common voice,

       In election for the Roman empery

       Chosen Andronicus, surnamed Pius

       For many good and great deserts to Rome:

       A nobler man, a braver warrior,

       Lives not this day within the city walls.:

       He by the senate is accited home

       From weary wars against the barbarous Goths;

       That with his sons, a terror to our foes,

       Hath yok’d a nation strong, train’d up in arms.

       Ten years are spent since first he undertook

       This cause of Rome, and chastised with arms

       Our enemies’ pride: five times he hath return’d

       Bleeding to Rome, bearing his valiant sons

       In coffins from the field;

       And now at last, laden with honour’s spoils,

       Returns the good Andronicus to Rome,

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