the expected joys Warm for my bed and rushing to my arms So loving too alas as we did love Granted in hast in heat in flame of passion He knew not what himself and so Subscrib'd But now Sir now my Lord behold a wonder Behold a Miracle to move your Soul Tho in my arms just in the grasps of pleasure His noble heart strook with the thoughts of Brutus Of what he promis'd you till then forgot Leapt in his brest and dash'd him from enjoyment He shriek'd y' immortal Gods what have I done No Teraminta let us rather perish Divide for ever with whole Seas betwixt us Rather than Sin against so good a Father Tho he before had barr'd your life and Fortune Yet would not trust the Traytors with the safety Of him he call'd tho Image of the Gods Val. O Saint-like Virtue of a Roman Wife O Eloquence Divine now all the arts Of Womens tongues the Rhetoric of the Gods Inspire thy soft and tender Soul to move him Ter. On this he rouz'd Swore by the Powers Divine He would fetch back the Paper that he gave Or leave his life amongst 'em kept his word And came to challenge it but oh too late For in the mid'st of all his Piety His strong perswasions to swift repentance His vows to lay their horrid Treasons open His execration of the barbarous Priests How he abhor'd that bloody Sacrament As much as you and curs'd the conjuration Vinditius came that had before alarm'd The wise Valerius who with all the Guards Found Titus here believ'd him like the rest And seiz'd him too as guilty of the Treason Val. But by the Gods my Soul does now acquit him Blest be thy tongue blest the auspicious Gods That sent thee O true pattern of perfection To plead his bleeding Cause There needs no more I see his Father 's mov'd Behold a joy A watry comfort rising in his eyes That sayes 'T is more than half a Heav'n to hear thee Bru. Hast O Valerius hast and send for Titus Ter. For Titus Oh that is a word too distant Say for your Son for your beloved Son The Darling of the World the joy of Heav'n The hope of Earth your eyes not dearer to you Your Soul's best wish and comfort of your age Enter Titus with Valerius Tit. Ah Sir Oh whither shall I run to hide me Where shall I lower fall how shall I lye More groveling in your View and howl for mercy Yet 't is some comfort to my wild despair Some joy in death that I may kiss your feet And swear upon 'em by these streaming tears Black as I am with all my guilt upon me I never harbor'd ought against your person Ev'n in the height of my full fraught distraction Your life my Lord was Sacred ever dear And ever pretious to unhappy Titus Bru. Rise Titus rise my Son Tit. Alas I dare not I have not strength to see the Majesty Which I have brav'd if thus far I aspire If on your knees I hang and vent my groans It is too much too much for thousand lives Bru. I pity thee my Son and I forgive thee And that thou may'st believe my mercy true I take thee in my arms Tit. O all the Gods Bru. Now rise I charge thee on my blessing rise Ter. Ah! See Sir see against his will behold He does obey tho he would choose to kneel An Age before you see how he stands and trembles Now by my hopes of mercy he 's so lost His heart 's so full brimful of tenderness The Sence of what you 've done has strook him Speechless Nor can be thank you now but with his tears Bru. My dear Valerius let me now intreat thee Withdraw a while with gentle Teraminta And leave us to our our selves Ter. Ah Sir I fear you now Nor can I leave you with the humble Titus Unless you promise me you will not chide Nor fall again to anger Do not Sir Do not upbraid his soft and melting temper With what is past Behold he sighs again Now by the Gods that hitherto have blest us My heart forebodes a storm I know not why But say my Lord give me your God-like word You 'l not be cruel and I 'll not trust my heart How e're it leaps and fills me with new horror Bru I promise thee Ter. Why then I thank you Sir Ev'n from my Soul I thank you for this goodness The great good gracious Gods reward and bless you Ah Titus ah my Soul 's eternal treasure I fear I leave thee with a hard Usurer But I perforce must trust thee Oh Farewell Exit with Val. Bru. Well Titus speak how is it with thee now I would attend awhile this mighty motion Wait till the Tempest were quite o'verblown That I might take thee in the Calm of Nature With all thy gentler Virtues brooding on thee So hush'd a stilness as if all the Gods Look'd down and listn'd to what we were saying Speak then and tell me O my best belov'd My Son my Titus is all well again Tit. So well that saying how must make it nothing So well that I could wish to dye this moment For so my heart with pow'erful throbs perswades me That were indeed to make you reparation That were my Lord to thank you home to dye And that for Titus too would be most happy Bru. How 's that my Son would death for thee be happy Tit. Most certain Sir for in my Grave I scape All those affronts which I in life must look for All those reproaches which the eyes and fingers And tongues of Rome will daily cast upon me From whom to a Soul so sensible as mine Each single Scorn would be far worse than dying Besides I scape the stings of my own Conscience Which will for ever Rack me with remembrance Haunt me by day and torture me by night Casting my blotted honor in the way Where e're my melancholy thoughts shall guide me Bru. But is not death a very dreadful thing Tit. Not to a mind resolv'd No Sir to me It seems as natural as to be born Groans and Convulsions and discolour'd faces Friends weeping round us blacks and obsequies Make it a dreadful thing the Pomp of death Is far more terrible than Death it self Yes Sir I call the Powers of Heav'n to witness Titus dares dye if so you have Decreed Nay he shall dye with joy to honor Brutus To make your Justice famous through the World And six the Liberty of Rome for ever Not but I must confess my weakness too Yet it is great thus to resolve against it To have the frailty of a mortal man But the Security of th' immortal Gods Bru. O Titus Oh thou absolute young man Thou flatt'ring Mirror of thy Father's Image Where I behold my self at such advantage Thou perfect Glory of the Iunian Race Let me indear thee once more to my bosom Groan an eternal Farewel to thy Soul Instead of tears weep blood if possible Blood
Lucrece Tho on they Bridal night thou wilt not touch her Tit. I swear ev'n by the Soul of her you nam'd The Ravish'd Lucrece Oh th' Immortal Gods I will not touch her Brut. So I trust thy Virtue And by the Gods I thank thee for the Conquest Once more with all the blessings I can give thee I take thee to my arms thus on my brest The hard and rugged Pillow of thy Honor I wean thee from thy Love Farewel be fast To what thou 'st sworn and I am thine for ever Exit Tit. solus To what thou 'st sworn Oh Heaven and Earth What 's that What have I sworn to part with Teraminta To part with something dearer to my heart Than my Life's drops What! not this night enjoy her Renounce my Vows the Rights the Dues of Marriage Which now I gave her and the Priest was witness Bless'd with a floud that stream'd from both our eyes And seal'd with sighs and smiles and deathless kisses Yet after this to swear thou wilt not touch her Oh all the Gods I did forswear my self In swearing that and will forswear again Not touch her O thou perjur'd Braggard where Where are thy Vaunts thy Protestations now Enter Teraminta She comes to strike thy staggering Duty down 'T is fall'n 't is gone Oh Teraminta come Come to my arms thou only joy of Titus Hush to my cares thou mass of hoarded sweets Selected hour of all Life 's happy moments What shall I say to thee Ter. Say any thing For while you speak methinks a sudden calm In spight of all the horror that surrounds me Falls upon every frighted faculty And puts my Soul in Tune O Titus Oh! Methinks my Spirit shivers in her house Shrugging as if the long'd to be at rest With this foresight to dye thus in your arms Were to prevent a world of following ills Ter. What ills my Love what power has Fortune now But we can brave 'T is true my Teraminta The Body of the World is out of frame The vast distorted limbs are on the Rack And all the Cable Sinews stretch'd to bursting The Blood ferments and the Majestick Spirit Like Hercules in the invenom'd Shirt Lies in a Fever on the horrid Pile My Father like an Aesculapius Sent by the Gods comes boldly to the Cure But how my Love by violent Remedies And saies that Rome ere yet she can be well Must purge and cast purge all th' infected humors Through the whole mass and vastly vastly bleed Ter. Ah Titus I my self but now beheld Th'expulsion of the Queen driv'n from her Palace By the inrag'd and madding Multitude And hardly scap'd my self to find you here Tit. Why yet my Teraminta we may smile Come then to bed ere yet the night descends With her black wings to brood o're all the World Why what care we let us enjoy those pleasures The Gods have giv'n lock'd in each others arms We 'll lye for ever thus and laugh at Fate Ter. No no my Lord there 's more than you have nam'd There 's something at your heart that I must find I claim it with the priviledge of a Wife Keep close your joys but for your griefs my Titus I must not will not lose my share in them Ah the good Gods what is it stirs you thus Speak speak my Lord or Teraminta dies Oh Heav'ns he weeps nay then upon my knees I thus conjure you speak or give me death Tit. Rise Teraminta Oh if I should speak What I have rashly sworn against my Love I fear that I should give thee death indeed Ter. Against your Love No that 's impossible I know your God-like truth nay should you swear Swear to me now that you forswore your Love I would not credit it No no my Lord I see I know I read it in your eyes You love the wretched Teraminta still The very manner of your hiding it The tears you shed your backwardness to speak What you affirm you swore against your Love Tell me my Lord you love me more than ever Tit. By all the Gods I do Oh Teraminta My heart's discerner whether wilt thou drive me I 'll tell thee then My Father wrought me up I know not how to swear I know not what That I would send thee hence with Tullia Swear not to touch thee though my Wife yet Oh Had'st thou been by thy self and but beheld him Thou would'st have thought such was his Majesty That the Gods Lightned from his awful eyes And Thunder'd from his tongue Ter. No more my Lord I do conjure you by all those Powers Which we invok'd together at the Altar And beg you by the love I know you bear me To let this passion trouble you no farther No my dear Lord my honor'd God-like Husband I am your Wife and one that seeks your Honor By Heaven I would have sworn you thus my self What on the shock of Empire on the turn Of State and universal change of things To lye at home and languish for a Woman No Titus he that makes himself thus vile Let him not dare pretend to ought that 's Princely But be as all the Warlike World shall judge him The Droll of th' People and the scorn of Kings Enter Horatius Hor. My Lord your Father gives you thus in Charge Remember what you swore the Guard is ready And I am ordered to conduct your Bride While you attend your Father Tit. Oh Teraminta Then we must part Ter. We must we must my Lord Therefore be swift and snatch your self away Or I shall dye with lingring Tit. Oh a kiss Balmy as Cordials that recover Souls Chast as Maids sighs and keen as longing Mothers Preserve thy self look well to that my Love Think on our Covenant when either dyes The other is no more Ter. I do remember But have no language left Tit. Yet we shall meet In spight of sighs we shall at least in Heaven Oh Teraminta once more to my heart Once to my lips and ever to my Soul Thus the soft Mother tho her Babe is dead Will have the Darling on her bosom lay'd Will talk and rave and with the Nurses strive And fond it still as if it were alive Knows it must go yet struggles with the Croud And shrieks to see 'em wrap it in the Shroud ACT III. SCE. I. Collatinus Tiberius Vitellius Aquitius Col. TH' expulsion of the Tarquin now must stand Their Camp to be surpris'd while Tarquins here Was scolded from our Walls I blush to think That such a Master in the art of War Should so forget himself Vit. Triumphant Brutus Like Iove when follow'd by a Train of Gods To mingle with the Fates and Doom the World Ascends the Brasen steps o' th Capitol With all the humming Senate at his heels Ev'n in that Capitol which the King built With the expence of all the Royal Treasure Ingrateful Brutus there in pomp appears And sits the Purple Judge of Tarquin's downfal Aquil. But why my Lord why are not you
Mr. Percival Mr. Freeman Vindicius Mr. Nokes Fabritius Mr. Ieron Citizens c. WOMEN Sempronia Lady Slingsby Lucretia Mrs. Betterton Teraminta Mrs. Barrey Scene ROME LUCIUS JUNIUS BRUTUS FATHER of his COUNTRY ACT I. SCE. I. Titus Teraminta Tit. O Teraminta why this face of tears Since first I saw thee till this happy day Thus hast thou past thy melancholly hours Ev'n in the Court retir'd stretch'd on a bed In some dark room with all the Cortins drawn Or in some Garden o're a Flowry bank Melting thy sorrows in the murmuring Stream Or in some pathless Wilderness a musing Plucking the mossy bark of some old Tree Or poring like a Sybil on the Leaves What now the Priest should joyn us O the Gods What can you proffer me in vast exchange For this ensuing night Not all the days Of Crowning Kings of Conquering Generals Not all the expectation of hereafter With what bright Fame can give in th' other World Should purchase thee this night one minute from me Ter. O Titus if since first I saw the light Since I began to think on my misfortunes And take a prospect of my certain woes If my sad Soul has entertain'd a hope Of pleasure here or harbor'd any joy But what the presence of my Titus gave me Add add you cruel Gods to what I bear And break my heart before him Tit. Break first th' eternal Chain for when thou' rt gone The World to me is Chaos Yes Teraminta So close the everlasting Sisters wove us When e're we part the Strings of both must crack Once more I do intreat thee give the Grave Thy sadness let me press thee in my arms My fairest Bride my only lightness here Tune of my heart and Charmer of my eyes Nay thou shalt learn the extasie from me I 'll make thee smile with my extravagant passion Drive thy pale fears away and e're the morn I swear O Teraminta O my Love Cold as thou art I 'll warm thee into blushes Tir. O Titus may I ought I to believe you Remember Sir I am the blood of Tarquin The basest too Tit. Thou art the blood of Heav'n The kindest influence of the teeming Stars No seed of Tarquin no 't is forg'd t' abuse thee A God thy Father was a Goddess was his Wife The Wood-Nymphs found thee on a bed of Roses Lapt in the sweets and beauties of the Spring Diana foster'd thee with Nectar dews Thus tender blooming chast she gave thee me To build a Temple sacred to her Name Which I will do and wed thee there again Ter. Swear then my Titus swear you 'l ne're upbraid me Swear that your Love shall last like mine for ever No turn of State or Empire no misfortune Shall e're estrange you from me Swear I say That if you should prove false I may at least Have something still to answer to my Fate Swear swear my Lord that you will never hate me But to your death still cherish in your bosom The poor the fond the wretched Teraminta Tit. 'Till death nay after death if possible Dissolve me still with questions of this nature While I return my answer all in Oaths More than thou canst demand I swear to do This night this night shall tell thee how I love thee When words are at a loss and the mute Soul Pours out her self in sighs and gasping joys Life grasps the pangs of bliss and murmuring pleasures Thou shalt confess all language then is vile And yet believe me most without my vowing Enter Brutus with a Flamen But see my Father with a Flamen here The Court comes on let 's slip the busie Croud And steal into the eternal knot of Love Exeunt Brut. Did Sextus say'st thou ly at Collatia At Collatin's house last night Fla. My Lord he did Where he with Collatine and many others Had been some nights before Brut. Ha! if before Why did he come again Fla. Because as Rumor spreads He fell most passionately in love with her Brut. What then Fla. Why is 't not strange Brut. Is she not handsom Fla. O very handsom Brut. Then 't is not strange at all What for a King's Son to love another man's Wife Why Sir I 've known the King has done the same Faith I my self who am not us'd to caper Have sometimes had th'unlawful Itch upon me Nay pr'ythee Priest come thou and help the number Ha! my old Boy the company is not scandalous Let 's go to Hell together confess the truth Did'st thou ne're steal from the Gods an hour or so To mumble a new Prayer With a young fleshy Whore in a baudy corner ha Fla. My Lord your Servant Is this the Fool the Madman Let him be what he will he spoke the truth If other Fools be thus they 're dangerous fellows Exit Brut. solus Occasion seems in view something there is In Tarquin's last abode at Collatine's Late entertain'd and early gone this morning The Matron ruffled wet and dropping tears As if she had lost her wealth in some black Storm As in the Body on some great surprise The heart still calls from the discolour'd face From every part the life and spirits down So Lucrece comes to Rome and summons all her blood Lucrece is fair but chast as the fann'd Snow Twice bolted o're by the bleak Northern blasts So lies this Starry cold and frozen Beauty Still watch'd and guarded by her waking Virtue A pattern tho I fear inimitable For all succeeding Wives O Brutus Brutus When will the tedious Gods permit thy Soul To walk abroad in her own Majesty And throw this Vizor of thy madness from thee O what but infinite Spirit propt by Fate For Empire's weight to turn on could endure As thou hast done the labours of an Age All follies scoffs reproaches pities scorns Indignities almost to blows sustain'd For twenty pressing years and by a Roman To act deformity in thousand shapes To please the greater Monster of the two That cries bring forth the Beast and let him tumble With all variety of Aping madness To bray and bear more than the Asse's burden Sometimes to whoot and scream like midnight Owls Then screw my Limbs like a distorted Satyr The World's Grimace th' eternal Laughing-stock Of Town and Court the Block the Jest of Rome Yet all the while not to my dearest Friend To my own Children nor my bosome Wife Disclose the weighty Secret of my Soul O Rome O Mother be thou th' impartial Judge If this be Virtue which yet wants a name Which never any Age could parallel And worthy of the foremost of thy Sons Enter Horatius Mutius Mut. Horatius heard'st thou where Sextus was last night Hor. Yes at Collatia 't is the buz of Rome 'T is more than guess'd that there has been foul play Else why should Lucrece come in this sad manner To old Lucretius house and summon thither Her Father Husband each distinct Relation Enter Fabritius with Courtiers Mut. Scatter it through the City raise the People
me a year within some horrid Dungeon So deep so near the Hells that I must suffer That I may groan my Torments to the Damn'd I do submit this Traitor this curs'd Villain To all the Stings of most ingenious horror So thou dispatch me ere my Father comes But hark I hear the tread of Fatel Brutus By all the Gods and by the lowest Furies I cannot bear his face away with me Or like a Whirlwind I will tear my way I care not whither Exit with Tiberius Val. Take 'em hence together Enter Vinditius with the Priests Vin. Here here my Lord I have unkennel'd two Those there are Rascals made of Flesh and blood Those are but men but these are the Gods Rogues Val. Go good Vinditius hast and stop the People Get 'em together to the Capitol Where all the Senate with the Consuls early Will see strict Justice done upon the Traytors For thee the Senate shall decree rewards Great as thy Service Vind. I humbly thank your Lordship Why what they 'l make me a Senator at least And then a Consul O th' Immortal Gods My Lord I go To have the Rods and Axes carry'd before me and a long purple Gown trailing behind my honorable heels Well I am made for ever Exit Enter Brutus attended Bru. O my Valerius are these horrors true Hast thou O Gods this night embowel'd me Ransack'd thy Brutus Veins thy Fellow Consul And found two Villains lurking in my blood Val. The blackest Treason that e're darkness brooded And who to hatch these horrors for the World Who to seduce the Noble Youth of Rome To draw 'em to so damn'd a Conjuration To bind 'em too by new invented Oaths Religious Forms and Devilish Sacrifices A Sacrament of blood for which Rome suffer'd In two the worthiest of her Martyr'd Sons Who to do this but Messengers from Heav'n These Holy men that Swore so solemnly Before the Senate call'd the Gods to curse 'em If they intended ought against the State Or harbor'd Treason more than what they utter'd Bru. Now all the Fiends and Furies thank 'em for it You Sons of Murder that get drunk with blood Then Stab at Princes poyson Commonwealths Destroy whole Hecatombs of Innocent Souls Pile 'em like Bulls and Sheep upon your Altars As you would smoke the Gods from out their Dwelling You shame of Earth and Scandal of the Heav'ns You deeper Fiends than any of the Furies That scorn to whisper Envy Hate Sedition But with a blast of Priviledge Proclaim it Priests that are Instruments design'd to Damnus Fit speaking Trumpets for the mouth of Hell Hence with 'em Guards secure 'em in the Prison Of Ancus Martius Read the Packets o're I 'll bear it as I 'm able read 'em out Val. The sum of the Conspiracy to the King It shall begin with both the Consuls deaths And then the Senate every man must bleed But those that have ingaged to serve the King Be ready therefore Sir to send your Troops By twelve to morrow night and come your self In person if you 'll reascend the Throne All that have sworn to serve your Majesty Subscribe themselves by name your faithful Subjects Tiberius Aquiltus Vitellius Trebonius Servilius Minutius Pomponius and your Fecialian Priests Bru. Ha! my Valerius is not Titus there Val. He 's here my Lord a paper by it self Titus to the King Sir you need only know my Brother's mind To judge of me who am resolv'd to serve you What do you think my Lord Bru. Think my Valerius By my heart I know not I 'm at a loss of thought and must acknowledge The Councils of the Gods are fathomless Nay 't is the hardest task perhaps of life To be assur'd of what is Vice or Virtue Whether when we raise up Temples to the Gods We do not then Blaspheme 'em O behold me Behold the Game that laughing Fortune playes Fate or the will of Heav'n call 't what you please That marrs the best designs that Prudence layes That brings events about perhaps to mock At human reach and sport with expectation Consider this and wonder not at Brutus If his Philosophy seems at a stand If thou behold'st him shed unmanly Tears To see his Blood his Children his own Bowels Conspire the death of him that gave 'em being Val. What heart but yours could bear it without breaking Bru. No my Valerius I were a beast indeed Not to be mov'd with such Prodigious suffering Yet after all I justifie the Gods And will conclude Ther 's Reason supernatural That guides us through the World with vast discretion Altho we have not Souls to comprehend it Which makes by wondrous methods the same Causes Produce effects tho of a different nature Since then for Man's Instruction and the Glory Of the Immortal Gods it is Decreed There must be patterns drawn of fiercest Virtue Brutus submits to the eternal Doom Val. May I believe there can be such perfection Such a Resolve in Man Bru. First as I am their Father I pardon both of 'em this black Design But as I am Rome's Consul I abhor 'em And cast 'em from my Soul with detestation The nearer to my blood the deeper grain'd The colour of their fault and they shall bleed Yes my Valerius both my Sons shall dye Enter Teraminta Nay I will stand unbowel'd by the Altar See something dearer to me than my entrails Display'd before the Gods and Roman People The Sacrifice of Justice and Revenge Ter. What Sacrifice what Victim Sir are these Which you intend O you eternal Powers How shall I vent my Sorrows Oh my Lord Yer ere you Seal the death you have design'd The death of all that 's lovely in the World Hear what the witness of his Soul can say The only Evidence that can or dare Appear for your unhappy guiltless Son The Gods command you Virtue Truth and Justice Which you with so much rigor have Ador'd Beg you would hear the wretched Teraminta Bru. Cease thy laments tho of the blood of Tarquin Yet more the Wife of my forgotten Son Thou shalt be heard Ter. Have you forgot him then Have you forgot your self the Image of you The very Picture of your excellence The Portraiture of all your manly Virtues Your visage stampt upon him just those eyes The moving Greatness of 'em all the mercy The shedding goodness not so quite severe Yet still most like and can you then forget him Bru. Will you proceed Ter. My Lord I will know then After your Son your Son that loves you more Than I love him after our common Titus The wealth o' th' World unless you rob 'em of it Had long endur'd th' Assaults of the Rebellious And still kept fix'd to what you had enjoyn'd him I as Fate order'd it was sent from Tullia With my death menac'd ev'n before his eyes Doom'd to be stab'd before him by the Priests Unless he yielded not t' oppose the King Consider Sir Oh make it your own Case Just Wedded just on
inhuman barbarous bloody Father O bear me to him Tit. Ha! my Teraminta Is 't possible the very top of Beauty This perfect face drawn by the Gods at Council Which they were long a making as they had reason For they shall never hit the like again Defil'd and mangled thus What barbarous wretch Has thus blasphem'd this bright Original Ter. For me it matters not nor my abuses But Oh for thee why have they us'd thee thus Whipt Titus whipt and could the Gods look on The glory of the World thus basely us'd Lash'd whipt and beaten by these upright Dogs Whose Souls with all the Virtue of the Senate Will be but Foyls to any fault of thine Who hast a beauty ev'n in thy offending And did thy Father Doom thee thus Oh Titus Forgive thy dying part if she believes A wretch so barbarous never could produce thee Some God some God my Titus watch'd his absence Slipt to thy mothers bed and gave thee to the World Tit. O this last wound this stab to all my courage Had'st thou been well I could have born more lashes And is it thus my Father does protect thee Ter. Ah Titus what thy murd'rer my Protector No let me fall again among the People Let me be whooted like a common strumpet Toss'd as I was and drag'd about the streets The Bastard of a Tarquin foil'd in Dirt The cry of all those Bloodhounds that did hunt me Thus to the Goal of death this happy end Of all my miseries here to pant my last To wash thy gashes with my Farewel tears To murmur sob and lean my aking head Upon thy breast thus like a Cradle Babe To suck thy wounds and bubble out my Soul Enter Sempronia Aquilia Vitellia Mourners c. Semp. Come Ladies hast and let us to the Senate If the Gods give us leave we 'll be to day Part of the Council Oh my Son my Titus See here the bloody Justice of a Father See how the Vengeance rains from his own bowels Is he not mad If he refuse to hear us We 'll bind his hands as one bereft of reason Hast then Oh Titus I would stay to moan thee But that I fear his orders are gon out For something worse for death to take the heads Of all the Kindred of these wretched Women Ter. Come then I think I have some Spirits left To joyn thee o most pious best of Mothers To melt this Rocky heart give me your hand Thus let us march before this wretched Host And offer to that God of blood our vows If there be ought that 's human left about him Perhaps my wounds and horrible abuses Helpt with the tears and groans of this sad Troop May batter down the best of his resolves Tit. Hark Teraminta Ter No my Lord away Exeunt Tit. Oh my Valerius was there ever day Through all the Legends of recorded time So sad as this But see my Father comes Enter Brutus Tiberius Lictors Tiberius too has undergone the Lash Give him the patience Gods of Martyr'd Titus And he will bless those hands that have chastis'd him Tib. Enjoy the bloody Conquest of thy Pride Thou more Tyrannical than any Tarquin Thou fiercer Sire of these unhappy Sons Than impious Saturn or the gorg'd Thiestes This Cormorant sees and owns us for his Children Yet preyes upon his entrails tears his bowels With thirst of blood and hungar fetch'd from Hell Which Famish'd Tantalus would start to think on But end Barbarian end the horrid vengeance Which thou so impiously hast begun Perfect thy Justice as thou Tyrant call'st it Sit like a Fury on thy black Tribunal Grasp with thy monstrous hands these gory heads And let thy Flatt'ring Orators adore thee For Triumphs which shall make the smile at horror Bru. Lead to the Senate Tib. Go then to the Senate There make thy boast how thou hast doom'd thy Children To Forks and Whips for which the Gods reward thee Away my Spirit scorns more conference with thee The Ax will be as laughter but the whips That drew these stains for this I beg the Gods With my last breath for every drop that falls From these vile wounds to Thunder curses on thee Exit Bru. Valerius hast the Senate does attend us Exit Tit. Valerius ere you go let me conjure thee By all the Earth holds great or honorable As thou art truly Roman stampt a man Grant to thy dying Titus one request Val. I 'll grant thee any thing but do not talk Of dying yet for much I dare confide In that sad company that 's gone before I know they 'l move him to preserve his Titus For tho you mark'd him not as hence he parted I could perceive with joy a silent shower Run down his silver beard therefore have hope Tit. Hope say'st thou O the Gods what hope of life To live to live and after this dishonor No my Valerius do not make me rave But if thou hast a Soul that 's sensible Let me conjure thee when we reach the Senate To thrust me through the heart Val. Not for the World Tit. Do 't or I swear thou hast no Friendship for me First thou wilt save me from the hated Ax The Hangman's hand for by the Gods I tell thee Thou may'st as well stop the eternal Sun And drive him back as turn my Father's purpose Next and what most my Soul intreats thee for I shall perhaps in death procure his pity For to dye thus beneath his killing frown Is damning me before my execution Valer. 'T is granted by the Gods I swear to end thee For when I weigh with my more serious thought Thy Father's conduct in this dreadful Justice I find it is impossible to save thee Come then I 'll lead thee O thou glorious Victim Thus to the Altar of untimely death Thus in thy trim with all thy bloom of youth This Virtues on thee whose eternal Spring Shall blossom on thy Monumental Marble With never fading glory Tit. Let me clasp thee Boyl out my thanks thus with my Farewel Spirits And now away the Taper's almost out Never Valerius to be kindled moreâ— Or if it be my friend it shall continue Burn through all winds against the pusf of Fortune To dazle still and Shine like the fix'd Stars With beams of glory that shall last for ever Exeunt Scena ultima Senate Bru. Health to the Senate To the Fathers hail Iupiter Horscius and Diespiter Hospital and Feretrian Iove the Stayer With all the hundred Gods and Goddesses Guard and defend the Liberty of Rome It has been found a famous truth in Story Left by the ancient Sages to their Sons That on the change of Empires or of Kingdoms Some sudden Execution fierce and great Such as may draw the World to admiration Is necessary to be put in Act Against the Enemies to the present State Had Hector when the Greeks and Trojans met Upon the Truce and mingled with each other Brought to the Banquet of those Demy-Gods The Fatal
head of that illustrious Whore Troy might have stood till now but that was wanting Iove having from eternity set down Rome to be head of all the under-World Rais'd with this thought and big with Prophesie Of what vast good may grow by such examples Brutus stands forth to do a dreadful Justice I come O Conscript Fathers to a deed Wholly Portentous New and Wonderful Such as perhaps has never yet been found In all Memorials of Former Ages Nor ever will again My Sons are Traytors Their Tongues and Hands are Witnesses confest Therefore I have already past their Sentence And wait with you to see their Execution Hor. Consul the Senate does not ask their deaths They are content with what 's already done And all intreat you to remit the Ax. Bru. I thank you Fathers but refuse the offer By the assaulted Majesty of Rome I swear there is no way to quit the Grace To right the Common-wealth and thank the Gods But by the Sacrifycing of my Bowels Take then you sad revengers of the Publick These Traytors hence strike off their heads and then My Sons No More their Doom is past Away Thus shall we stop the mouth of loud Sedition Thus show the difference betwixt the Sway Of partial Tyrants and of a Free-born People Where no man shall offend because he 's great Where none need doubt his Wives or Daughter's honor Where all injoy their own without suspicion Where there 's no innovation of Religion No change of Laws nor breach of Priviledge No desperate Factions gaping for Rebellion No hopes of Pardon for Assassinates No rash advancements of the Base or stranger For Luxury for Wit or glorious Vice But on the contrary a Balanc'd Trade Patriots incourag'd Manufactors cherish'd Vagabonds Walkers Drones and Swarming Braves The Froth of States scum'd from the Common-wealth Idleness banish'd all excess reprofâ—'d And Riots check'd by Sumptuary Laws O Conscript Fathers 't is on these Foundations That Rome shall build her Empire to the Stars Send her Commanders with her Armies forth To Tame the World and give the Nations Law Consuls Proconsuls who to the Capitol Shall ride upon the Necks of Conquer'd Kings And when they dye mount from the gorgeous Pile In Flames of Spice and mingle with the Gods Hor. Excellent Brutus all the Senate thanks thee And says that Thou thy self art half a God Enter Sempronia Teraminta with the rest of the Mourners Titus Valerius Junius Sem. Gon gon to death already Sentenc'd Doom'd To lose the light of this dear World for ever What my Tiberius too Ah Barbarous Brutus Send hast revoke the Order of their Fate By all the pledges of our Marriage bed If thou Inhuman Judge hast left me one To put the yet in mind thou art a Father Speak to him Oh you Mothers of sad Rome Sisters and Daughters ere the Execution Of all your blood hast hast and run about him Groan sob howl out the terrors of your Souls Nay fly upon him like rob'd Savages And tear him for your young Bru. Away and leave me Sem. Or if you think it better for your purpose Because he has the pow'r of Life and Death Intreat him thus throw all your heartless brests Low at his feet and like a God Adore him Nay make a Rampier round him with your Bodies And block him up I see he would be going Yet that 's a Sign that our complaints have mov'd him Continu'd falls of ever streaming tears Such and so many and the chastest too Of all the pious Matrons throughout Rome Perhaps may melt this Adamantine temper Not yet nay hang your Bodies then upon him Some on his arms and some upon his knees And lay this Innocent about his neck This little smiling Image of his Father See how he bends and stretches to his bosom Oh all you pittying pow'rs of the Darling weeps His pretty eyes ruddy and wet with tears Like two burst Cherries rowling in a storm Plead for our griefs more than a thousand Tongues Iun. Yes yes my Father will be good to us And spare my Brothers Oh I know he will Why do you think he ever was in earnest What to cut off their heads I warrant you He will not no he only meant to fright 'em As he will me when I have done a fault Why Mother he has whipt 'em for 't already And do you think he has the heart to kill ' em No no he would not cut their little fingers For all the World or if he should I 'm sure The Gods would pay him for 't Bru. What hoa without there Slaves Villains Ha! are not my Orders heard Hor. Oh Brutus see they are too well perform'd See here the Bodies of the Roman youth All headless by your Doom and there Tiberius Ter. See Sir behold is not this horrid Slaughter This cutting off one limb from your own Body Is 't not enough Oh will it not suffice To stop the mouth of the most bloody Law Oh it were highest Sin to make a doubt To ask you now to save the Innocent Titus The common wish and general Petition Of all the Roman Senate Matrons Wives Widdows and Babes nay ev'n the madding People Cry out at last that Treason is reveng'd And ask no more Oh therefore spare him Sir Bru. I must not hear you Hark Valerius Ter. By all these wounds upon my Virgin breast Which I have suffer'd by your cruelty Altho you promis'd Titus to defend me Sem. Yet hold thy bloody hand Tyrannick Brutus And I 'll forgive thee for that headless horror Grant me my Titus Oh in death I ask thee Thou hast already broke Sempronia's heart Yet I will pardon that so Titus live Ah cruel Judge thou pittyless avenger What art thou whisp'ring Speak the horror out For in thy glaving eyes I read a Murder Bru. I charge thee by thy Oath Valerius As thou art here Deputed by the Gods And not a Subject for a Woman's folly Take him away and drag him to the Ax. Val. It shall be thus then not the Hangman's hand Runs him through the Women shriek Tit. Oh bravely strook thou hast hit me to the Earth So nobly that I shall rebound to Heav'n Where I will thank thee for this galiant wound Semp. swoons Bru. Take hence this-Woman hast and bear her home Why my Valerius did'st thou rob my Justice Tit. I wrought him to it Sir that thus in death I might have leave to pay my last obedience And beg your blessing for the other World Ter. Oh do not take it Titus what e're comes From such a monstrous nature must be blasting Ah thou inhuman Tyrant but alas I loiter here when Titus stayes for me Look here my Love thou shalt not be before me Stabs her self Thus to thy arms then Oh make hast my Titus I 'm got already in the Grove of Death The Heav'n is all benighted not one Star To light us through the dark and pathless Maze I' have lost thy Spirit Oh I grope