The British Drama: Illustrated

But are thy troops prepar'd for a revolt? Does the sedition catch from man to man, And run among their ranks?

Sem. All, all is ready;

The factious leaders are our friends, and spread
Murmurs and discontents among the soldiers:
Within an hour, they'll storm the senate-house.
Syph. Meanwhile, I'll draw up my Numidian
troops

Within the square, to exercise their arms,
And, as I see occasion, favour thee.

I laugh to think how your unshaken Cato
Will look aghast, while unforeseen destruction
Pours in upon him thus from every side.

So, where our wide Numidian wastes extend,
Sudden th' impetuous hurricanes descend,
Wheel through the air, in circling eddies play,
Tear up the sands, and sweep whole plains away,
The helpless traveller, with wild surprise,
Sees the dry desert all around him rise,
And, smother'd in the dusty whirlwind, dies.

The wilds of life, ere I could find a friend;
Nature first pointed out my Porcius to me,
And early taught me, by her secret force,
To love thy person, ere I knew thy merit;
Till what was instinct, grew up into friendship.
Por. The friendships of the world are oft, my
brothers,

Confed'racies in vice, or leagues of pleasure;
Ours has severest virtue for its basis,

And such a friendship ends not but with life.

Mar. Porcius, thou know'st my soul in all its weakness;

Then, pr'ythee, spare me on its tender side;
Indulge me but in love, my other passions
Shall rise and fall by virtue's nicest rules.

Por. When love's well time d, 'tis not a fault to love:

The strong, the brave, the virtuous, and the wise

Sink in the soft captivity together.

I would not urge thee to dismiss thy passion,
I know 'twere vain, but to suppress its force,
Till better times may make it look more grace-

ful.

Mar. Alas! thou talk'st like one who never felt

The impatient throbs and longings of a soul
That pants and reaches after distant good.
A lover does not live by vulgar time:
In every moment of my Lucia's absence
Life hangs upon me, and becomes a burthen;
And yet, when I behold the charming maid,

I'm ten times more undone; while hope, and fear,

And grief, and rage, and love, rise up at

once,

And with variety of pain distract me.

Por. What can I say, or do, to give thee help?

Mar. Porcius, thou oft enjoy'st the fair one's presence:

With all the strength and heat of eloquence,
Fraternal love and friendship can inspire.
Tell her, thy brother languishes to death,
And fades away, and withers in his bloom;
That he forgets his sleep, and loathes his
food,

That youth, and health, and war, are joyless to him:

Describe bis anxious days, and restless nights, And all the torments that thou see'st me suffer.

Por. I do entreat thee, give me not an office

That suits with me so ili: thou know'st my temper.

Mar. Canst thou beho'd me sinking in my

But hold him up in life, and cheer his soul
With the faint glimmering of a doubtful hope:
Perhaps, when we have pass'd these gloomy
hours,

And weather d out the storm that beats upon us,

Luc. No, Porcius, no: I see thy sister's tears, Thy father's anguish, and thy brother's death, In the pursuit of our ill-fated loves:

And, Forcius, here I swear, to heaven I swear, To heaven, and all the powers that judge mankind,

Never to join my plighted hand with thine,

While such a cloud of mischief bangs about us;
But to forget our loves, and drive thee out
From all my thoughts, as far as I am ablo.

Por. What hast tho said? Recall those hasty words,

Or I am lost for ever.

Lur. Think, Porcius; think thou see'st thy dying Enter SEMPRONIUS, JUNIUS, TITUS, and other

brother

Stabb'd at his heart, and all besmear'd with

blood,

Storming at heaven and thee. Thy awful sire Sternly demands the cause, the accursed cause That robs him of his son. Farewell, my Porcius! Farewell, though death is in the word, for ever! Por. Thou must not go; my soul still hovers o'er

thee,

And can't get loose.

Luc. If the firm Porcius shake

To hear of parting, think what Lucia suffers
But see, thy brother Marcus bends this way:
I sicken at the sight. Once more, farewell!
Farewell! and know, thou wrong'st me, if thou
think'st

Ever was love, or ever grief, like mine.

Enter MARCUS.

[Exit.

Mar. Porcius, what hopes? How stands she? Am I doom'd

To life or death?

Por. What would'st thou have me say?
Mar. Thy downcast looks, and thy disorder'd
thoughts,

Tell me my fate; I ask not the success
My cause has found..

Por. I'm griev'd I undertook it.

Mar. What does the barbarous maid insult my

heart,

And triumph in my pains?

Mutineers.

Sem. At length the winds are rais'd, the storm blows high;

Be it your care, my friends to keep it up
In its full fury, and direct it right,
Till it has spent itself on Cato's head.
Meanwhile, I'll herd among his friends, and seem
One of the number; that, whate'er arrive,
My friends and fellow-soldiers may be safe.

[Exit.

Jun. We are all safe; Sempronius is our friend. (Trumpets sound.)

Hark! Cato enters. Bear up boldly to him;
This day will end our toils, and give us rest.-
Fear nothing; for Sempronius is our friend.

(Trumpets sound.) Enter CATO, PORCIUS, MARCUS, LUCIUS, SENPRONIUS, Se a ors, &c.

Cato. Where are these bold, intrepid sons of war, That greatly turn their backs upon the foe, And to their general send a brave dellance? Sem. (Asile.) Curse on their dastard souls, they stand astonish'd!

Cato. Perfidious men!-and will you thus dishonour

Your past exploits, and sully all your wars?
Do you confess, 'twas not a zeal for Rome,
Nor love of liberty,

-Por. Away! you're too suspicious in your Drew you thus far, but hopes to share the spoil

griefs;

Lucia, though sworn never to think of love, Compassionates your pains, and pities you. Mar. Compassionates my pains, and

me!

pities

Of conquer'd towns, and plunder'd provinces?
Fir'd with such motives, you do well to join
With Cato's foes, and follow Cæsar's banners.
Behold, ungrateful men!-

Behold my bosom naked to your swords.
And let the man that's injur'd strike the blow.
Which of you all suspects that he is wrong'd,
Or thinks he surers greater ills than Cato
Am I distinguish'd from you but by toils?
Superior toils, and heavier weight of cares?
Painful pre-eminence!

Sem. (Aside.) By heavens they droop:-
Confusion to the villains!--all is lost.

Cato. Hence worthless men!-hence, and complain to Cæsar,

You could not undergo the toils of war,
Nor bear the hardships that your general bore.
Luci. See, Cato, see,-the unhappy men!-they

Cato. Learn to be honest men; give up your And hew down all that would oppose our passage. leaders,

And pardon shall descend on all the rest.

Sem. Cato, commit these wretches to my care:
First, let them each be broken on the rack,-
Then, with what life remains, impal'd, and left
To writhe at leisure round the bloody stake;
There let them hang, and taint the southern wind;
The partners of their crime will learn obedience,
When they look up, and see their fellow-traitors
Stuck on a fork, and blackening in the sun.

Cato. Forbear, Sempronius-see they suffer
death;

But, in their deaths, remember they are men.-
[The Mutineers retire.-The four Senators

adrance into their places.

Lucius, the base, degenerate age requires
Severity and justice in its rigour;
This curbs an impious, bold, offending world,
Commands obedience, and gives force to laws.
When by just vengeance guilty mortals perish,
The gods behold their punishment with pleasure,
And lay the uplifted thunderbolt aside.

Sem. Cato, I gladly execute thy will.

Cato. Meanwhile, we'll sacrifice to liberty.
Remember, O my friends, the laws, the rights,
The generous plan of power deliver'd down,
From age to age, by your renown'd forefathers,
So dearly bought, the price of so much blood:
O let it never perish in your hands,
But piously transmit it to your children!
Do thou, great Liberty, inspire our souls,
And make our lives in thy possession happy,
Or our deaths glorious in thy just defence!

[Flourish.-Exeunt Cato, Porcius, Marcus, Lucius,
Senators, &c.

Jun. Sempronius, you have acted like yourself: One would have thought, you had been half in earnest.

Sem. Villain, stand off!-Base, grovelling, worth-
less wretches!

Mongrels in faction! poor faint-hearted traitors!
Tit. Nay, now you carry it too far, Sempronius:
Throw off the mask; there are none here but

friends.

Sem. Know, villains, when such paltry slaves

presume

To mix in treason, if the plot succeeds,
They're thrown neglected by: but, if it fails,
They're sure to die like dogs, as you shall do.-
Guards!-

Enter Guards.

A day will bring us into Cæsar's camp.
Sem. Confusion! I have fail'd of half my pur-
pose:

Marcia, the charming Marcia's left behind!
Syph. How! will Sempronius turn a woman's
slave?

Sem. Think not that I can ever feel the soft
Unmanly warmth and tenderness of love.
Syphax, I long to clasp that haughty maid,
And bend her stubborn virtue to my passion:
When I have gone thus far, I'd cast her off.
Syph. What hinders then, but that thou find her
out,

And hurry her away by mauly force?

Sem. But how to gain admission? for access
Is given to none but Juba and her brothers.
Syph. Thou shalt have Juba's dress and Juba's
guards:

The doors will open when Numidia's prince
Seems to appear before the slaves that watch them.
Sem. I thank thy friendly zeal:-Marcia's my

own!

Luc. Now tell me, Marcia, tell me from thy soul,
If thou believ'st 'tis possible for woman
To suffer greater ills than Lucia suffers ?

Mar. O Lucia, Lucia, might my big-swol'n heart
Vent all its griefs, and give a loose to sorrow,
Marcia could answer thee in sighs, keep pace
With all thy woes, and count out tear for tear.

Luc. I know, thou'rt doom'd alike to be belov'd
By Juba, and thy father's friend, Sempronius:
But which of these has power to charm like
Porcius?

Mar. Still must I beg thee not to name Sempro-
nius?

Lucia, I like not that loud and boisterous man:

Here, take these factious monsters, drag them Juba, to all the bravery of a hero

forth

To sudden death.

Jun. Nay; since it comes to this,

Sem. Despatch them quick; - but first, pluck out
their tongues;

Lest with their dying breath they sow sedition.
[Exeunt Guards, with the Mutineers.
Enter SYPHAX.

Adds softest love and sweetness-he, I own,
Might make indeed the proudest woman happy.
Luc. But, should your father give you to Sem-
pronius ?-

Mar. I dare not think he will: but, if he
should,

I hear the sound of feet:-they march this way.-
Let us retire, and try if we can drown
Each softer thought in sense of present danger.
When love once pleads admission to our hearts,

Syph. Our first design, my friend, has prov'd In spite of all the virtue we can boast,

abortive;

Still there remains an after-game to play.
My troops are mounted; their Numidian steeds
Snuff up the wind, and long to scour the desert:
Let but Sempronius head us in our flight,

We'll force the gate where Marcus keeps his
guard,

The woman that deliberates is lost.

Be sure you mind the word; and, when I give it.
Rush in at once, and seize upon your prey:
Let not her cries or tears have force to move

you.

How will the young Numidian rave, to see.
His mistress lost! If aught could glad my soul
Beyond the enjoyment of so bright a prize,
'Twould be to torture that young gay barbarian.-
But hark, what noise? Death to my hopes! 'tis
he,

'Tis Juba's self. There is but one way left;
He must be murder'd, and a passage cut

Juba. What do I hear? and was the false Sem⚫
pronius

That best of men? O, had I fallen like him,
And could have thus been mourn'd, I had been
happy.

Mar. O Juba! Juba! Juba!

He's dead, and never knew how much I lov'd
him.

Lucia, who knows but his poor bleeding heart,
Amidst its agonies, remember'd Marcia,
And the last words he utter'd call'd me cruel?
Alas! he knew not, hapless youth! he knew not

Through those his guards. Ha! dastards, do you Marcia's whole soul was full of love and Juba.

tremble?

Or act like men, or, by yon azure heaven,

Enter JUBA, with Guards.

Juba. What do I see? usurp

Who's this, that dares

The guards and habit of Numidia's prince?
Sem. One that was born to scourge thy arro-
gance,

Presumptuous youth.

Juba. What can this mean? Sempronius!

Sem. My sword shall answer thee:-have at thy heart.

Juba. Nay, then beware thy own, proud barba

rous man.

(They fight. Sempronius falls. His Guards
surrender to Jula's.)

Juba. Do I live? or am, indeed,

What Marcia thinks? All is Elysium round me.
Mar. Ye dear remains of the most lov'd of
men

Nor modesty, nor virtue, here forbids
A last embrace, while thus-

Juba. (Comes forward.) See, Marcia; see,
The happy Juba lives! he lives to catch
That dear embrace, and to return it, too,
With mutual warmth and eagerness of love.
Mar. With pleasure and amaze I stand trans-
ported.

If thou art Juba, who lies there?
Juba. A wretch,

Disguis'd like Juba, on a curs'd design.

(Signs to his guards, to carry off the body.) The tale is long, nor have I heard it out;

Sem. Curse on my stars! Am I then doom'd to Thy father knows it all. I could not bear fall

By a boy's hand, and for a worthless woman?
This my close of life?-

Oh, for a peal of thunder, that would make
Earth, sea, and air, and heaven, and Cato trem-
ble!

(Dies.) Juba. With what a spring his furious soul broke loose,

And left the limbs still quivering on the ground!
Hence let us carry off those slaves to Cato,
That we may there at length unravel all
This dark design, this mystery of fate.

[Exit, with Guards and Prisoners.

Enter MARCIA and LUCIA.

To leave thee in the neighbourhood of death,
But flew, in all the haste of love, to find thee:
I found thee weeping; and confess, this once,
Am rapt with joy, to see my Marcia's tears.

Mar. I've been surpris'd in an unguarded hour,
But must not now go back: the love that lay
Half smother'd in my breast, has broke through
all

Its weak restraints, and burns in its full lustre;
I cannot, if I would, conceal it from thee.
Juba. My joy! my best belov'd! my only wish!
How shall I speak the transport of my soul?

Mar. Lucia, thy arm: O, let me rest upon it!—
The vital blood that had forsook my heart,
Returns again in such tumultuous tides,
It quite o'ercomes me. Lead to my apartment.-

Luc. Sure, twas the clash of swords: my trou-O prince! I blush, to think what I have said;

bled heart

Is so cast down and sunk amidst its sorrows,
It throbs with fear, and aches at every sound.
O, Marcia, should thy brothers, for my sake-
I die away with horror at the thought.

Mar. See, Lucia, see! here's blood!
What! a Numidian! Heavens preserve the prince!
The face lies muffled up within the garment,-
But hah!-death to my sight!-a diadem?-
O gods! 'tis he! Juba lies dead before us.
Luc. Now, Marcia, now call up to thy

ance

But fate has wrested the confession from me.
Go on, and prosper in the paths of honour:
Thy virtue will excuse my passion for thee,
And make the gods propitious to our love.

[Exit with Lucia.

Juba. I am so bless'd, I fear 'tis all a dream.
Fortune, thou now hast made amends for all
Thy past unkindness: I absolve my stars.
What, though Numidia add her conquer'd towns
And provinces, to swell the victor's triumph?
assist-Juba will never at his fate repine:
Let Cæsar have the world, if Marcia's mine.

Thy wonted strength and constancy of mind.
Mar. Lucia, look there, and wonder at my pa-
tience:

Have I not cause to rave, and beat my breast,
To rend my heart with grief, and run distracted?
Luc. What can I think or say to give thee com-
fort?

Enter JUBA, with Guards.

Mar. Talk not of comfort, 'tis for lighter ills.
Behold a sight that strikes all comfort dead.
I will indulge my sorrows;

That man, that best of men, deserv'd it from me.

[Exit.

SCENE IL-A Square before the palace.
Enter LUCIUS, CATO, Freedmen, &c.
Luci I stand astonish'd. What! the bold Sem-
pronius,

That still broke foremost through the crowd of pa-
triots,

As with a hurricane of zeal transported!
And, virtuous even to madness.
Cato. Trust me, my friend,

I bring such news as will afflict my father.
Cato. Has Cæsar shed more Roman blood?
Por. Not so:

The traitor Syphax, as within the square
He exercis'd his troops, the signal given,
Flew off at once with his Numidian horse
To the south gate, where Marcus holds the watch:
I saw, and call'd to stop him; but in vain:
He toss'd his arm aloft, and proudly told me,
He would not stay and perish like Sempronius.
Cato. Perfidious man! But haste, my son, and

see

Thy brother Marcus acts a Roman's part.

[Exit Porcius with the Freedmen. Lucius, the torrent bears too hard upon me: Justice gives way to force; the conquer'd world Is Cæsar's: Cato has no business in it.

Luci. While pride, oppression, and injustice reign,

The world will still demand her Cato's presence.
In pity to mankind, submit to Cæsar,
And reconcile thy mighty soul to life.

Cato. Would Lucius have me live, to swell the number

Of Caesar's slaves? or, by a base submission,
Give up the cause of Rome, and own a tyrant?
Luc. The victor never will impose on Cato
Ungenerous terms:-his enemies confess,
The virtues of humanity are Cæsar's.

Cato. Curse on his virtues! they've undone his country:

Such popular humanity is treason.

But Juba comes: the ingenuous prince appears
Full of the guilt of his perfidious subjects.

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Grin in the pangs of death, and bite the ground. Cato. Thanks to the gods! my boy has done his duty.

Porcius, when I am dead, be sure you place
His urn near mine.

Por. Long may they keep asunder!

Luci. O Cato, arm thy soul with all its patience!

See where the corpse of thy dead son approaches;

The citizens and senators, alarm'd, Have gather'd round it, and attend it weeping. (A dead march sounds.) Enter Lictors, Senators, Soldiers bearing the body of Marcus on a bier, Freedmen, with his helmet, shield, sword and spear; eagle and other ensigns; and guards with their arms reversed.

Cato. Welcome, my son! Here set him down, my friends,

Full in my sight; that I may view at leisure The bloody corse, and count those glorious wounds.

How beautiful is death, when earn'd by virtue! Who would not be that youth? What pity is

Cato. Lose not a thought on me; I'm out of danger:

Cæsar shall never say, "I've conquer'd Cato,"
But, O my friends, your safety fills my heart
With anxious thoughts. How shall I save my
friends?

'Tis now, O Cæsar, I begin to fear thee.

Luci. Caesar, has mercy, if we ask it of him. Cato. Then ask it, I conjure you: let him know, Whate'er was done against him, Cato did it: Add,if you please, that I request it of him.

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