intimate intercourse with Titus. Her love grows into eager passion. For, while in Racine she only longs for a meeting with Titus to exchange, after a long separation, their hearts' desires, Otway makes her say to Phaenicia: „I can no longer for his Coming wait. My eager Wishes drive me wildly on; Nor will be temper'd till my Joy's begun.“

This may be an authorisation of the assertion made somewhere else„that Otway by the great Force in his Expressions sometimes falls into too great a Familiarity of Phrase in those Parts, which, by Aristotle's Rule, ought to have been raised and supported by the Dignity of Expression.“ This judgment may be justified, but we must not loose sight of the character of that time in which Otway lived and wrote, the time in which immorality had become fashionable and had particularly occupied the stage.

The silence of Titus, the meaning of which she cannot explain, troubles her. Every word of his is dear to her, especially in her present situation. By most fervently imploring she tries to move Antiochus to impart to her the commission of Titus. When she finds that her imploring him is quite in vain, she even threatens with eternal hatred. And in what brilliant colours Otway paints the consequences of the report given at last by Antiochus! Berenice, entirely dejected at her misfortune, is sitting in her appartment with„ruffled dress and dishevel'd Locks“ and waits impatiently for Phaenicia, whom she has sent for the third time to Titus in order to be admitted, after having twice in vain applied for admittance. In the ensuing discourse between Titus and Berenice the English poet follows in general the original; but it is of Otway's own invention that Titus sends a letter to Berenice, in which he reveals to her his resolution, appoints the day of her departure, and bids his last farewell, and that Berenice in her exasperation now shows him this letter to prove his perfidy.

Let us pass over to Titus, who occupies one of the foremost places in Racine's tragedy. Titus has been sent by his father, the Roman emperor, in order to suppress the rebellion, to Palestine. There he has become acquainted with queen Berenice, loves her and is loved in return. After having been on friendly terms with her for five years, he intends to marry her. Then dies his father, and Titus, who has come off conqueror in all battles and has considerably enlarged the boundaries of the empire, is proclaimed Roman emperor. In the accession to the throne he swears to the constitution, orders, in honour of the memory of his late father, a time of mourn- ing for eight days, and leads the ceremony of deification, in person. But a great obstacle now presents itself to his union with Berenice. He knows the Roman marriage-aw and therefore, asks his consident Panlinus if the Roman people would allow Berenice to be made empress. Paulinus cannot but answer in the negative. So, Titus, incited by Paulinus, and after having been uncer- tain for a long while what to do, resolves at last to do his duty and renounce Berenice. But, when she appears in the palace, his love is inflamed again. In seeing her, he feels unable to tell her his resolution, for he knows that it will hurt her. So he flees and bids his friend Antio- chus to deliver to her his resolution and his last adieu. This resolution, notwithstanding, is shaken again, and his love is so great, that he will renounce rather the government than his beloved Berenice, though he should be obliged to live with her far from Rome,„au bout de l'univers,“ as he says. The exhortation of Paulinus, however, recalls again to his mind his im- perial duty, which finally triumphs over his love: