Page 2111 - Shakespeare - Vol. 1

ACT I IT

Scene I IT

[Flourish.) Enter the Tribunes and Senators aloft; and then enter
Saturninus and his followers at one door, and Bassianus and his followers

at the other, with drums and trumpets.

SAT URNINUS

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 ware 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, Cæsar’s son, [10]
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.

Marcus Andronicus 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 [20]
A special party, have by common voice,