ABSTRACT
Turning to the Life of Coriolanus the dramatist took from it several ideas which would distinguish the Titus story from that of Scipio. Coriolanus is a candidate for the consulship; Titus is named as candidatus for the imperial throne, but whereas Coriolanus behaves arrogantly, Titus refuses the honour because he is old and loyal to the last Emperor's son.2 The friends of Titus who in the prose story help him in his revenge are not described as Goths. The dramatist however takes another hint from Plutarch's Coriolanus, and since Titus cannot leave Rome, gives him a son, Lucius, who would be exiled (III.I.50-1) like Coriolanus (and like Lucius Scipio) and, like Coriolanus, march against Rome with a foreign army (V.I). Tamora's scheme (IV.4) 'To pluck proud Lucius from the warlike Goths' was suggested by the attempts made to win over Coriolanus ere he reached the city, and Aemilius declares that Lucius
And from her bosom took the enemy's point, Sheathing the steel in my adventurous body.
