Context: Titus, a noble Roman, has just returned to Rome from war, in the midst of discussion about who will succeed the late Emperor. Titus bears with him a coffin containing the remains of some of his sons, "These that I bring unto their latest home / With burial amongst their ancestors." He pours out his grief on the coffin as it is lowered into the opened tomb:

TITUS:
. . .
There greet in silence, as the dead are wont,
And sleep in peace, slain in your country's wars.
A sacred receptacle of my joys,
Sweet cell of virtue and nobility,
How many sons hast thou of mine in store,
That thou wilt never render to me more.