Lavinia’s deep wrongs (_Titus Andronicus_, act iv. sc. 1, l. 85, vol. vi. p. 490) were written by her on the sand, to inform Marcus and Titus what they were and who had inflicted them; and Marcus declares,— “There is enough written upon this earth To stir a mutiny in the mildest thoughts And arm the minds of infants to exclaims.” Marcus is for instant revenge, but Titus knows the power and cruel nature of their enemies, and counsels (l. 102),— “You are a young huntsman, Marcus; let alone; And, come, I will go get a leaf of brass. And with a gad of steel will write these words, And lay it by: the angry northern wind Will blow these sands, like Sibyl’s leaves, abroad. And where’s your lesson then?” The Italian and French Emblems as pictures to be looked at would readily supply Shakespeare with thoughts respecting the record of “men’s evil manners,” and of “their virtues,” but there is a closer correspondence between him and Whitney; and allowing for the easy substitution of “brass” and of “water” for “marble” and “dust,” the parallelism of the ideas and words is so exact as to be only just short of being complete. We must not, however, conceal what may have been a common origin of the sentiment for all the four writers,—for the three Emblematists and for the dramatist, namely, a sentence written by Sir Thomas More, about the year 1516, before even Alciatus had published his book of Emblems. Dr. Percy, as quoted by Ayscough (p. 695), remarks that, “This reflection bears a great resemblance to a passage in Sir Thomas More’s _History of Richard III._, where, speaking of the ungrateful turns which Jane Shore experienced from those whom she had served in her prosperity, More adds, ‘Men use, if they have an evil turne, to write it in marble, and whoso doth us a good turne, we write it in duste.’” But the thought is recorded as passing through the mind of Columbus, when, during mutiny, sickness, and cruel tidings from home, he had, on the coast of Panama, the vision which Irving describes and records. A voice had been reproving him, but ended by saying, “Fear not, Columbus, all these tribulations are written in marble, and are not without cause.” “To write in dust,” however, has sometimes a simple literal meaning in Shakespeare; as when King Edward (_3 Henry VI._, act v. sc. 1, l. 54, vol. v. p. 319), uses the threat,— “This hand, fast wound about thy coal-black hair, Shall, while thy head is warm and new cut off, Write in the dust this sentence with thy blood,— Wind-changing Warwick now can change no more.” But in the _Titus Andronicus_ (act iii. sc. 1, l. 12, vol. vi. p. 472), the phrase is of doubtful meaning: it may denote the oblivion of injuries or the deepest of sorrows,— “In the dust I write My heart’s deep languor, and my soul’s sad tears.”