'Living up to nature's rules,

Not deprav'd by knaves and fools,

Happily we all might live, and harmless as our sheep; Then at length as calmly die, as infants fall asleep.

Second SONG after the second Act. The Genius of Rome.

L

O, to prevent this awful empire's doom,

From bright unknown abodes of bliss I come,

The mighty genius of majestick Rome.

Her fate approaches! yet, I will engage
Some few, the mafter fouls of all this age,
To do an act of just heroic rage.

Tis hard fo brave a man fhould fall fo low;
But worfe to let fo great a people bow

To one themselves have rais'd, who fcorns them now.

Yet oh! I grieve that Brutus fhould be ftain'd,
Whofe life, excepting this one act, remain'd
So pure, that future times will think it feign'd.

*The fall of the Commonwealth when it was chang'd'inté Tyranny.

But

But only he can make the reft combine;
The very life and foul of their design:
The centre where thofe mighty fpirits join.

Unthinking men no fort of fcruples make;
And fome are bad, only for mischief's fake;
But ev'n the best are guilty by mistake.

Thus, while they all for publick good intend,

To bring a tyrant to untimely end,

The over-zealous Brutus ftabs his friend.

Third SONG after the third A&t.

D

Chorus of Roman Senators.

ARK is the path poor mortals tread:

Wifdom itself a guide does need:

We little thought, when Cafar bled,

That a worfe Cafar would fucceed.

And are we under fuch a hopeless curfe,

That we can never change but for the worfe?

3

Under

Under prétence of neceffary force

By which we our own felves enthrall,
Thefe, without blushes or remorse,
Profcribe the beft, impov'rifh all.
The Gauls themselves, our greatest foes,
Could offer terms no worse than those.

That Cafar with ambitious thoughts

Had virtues too, his very foes cou'd find:

These equal him in all his faults,

But never in his noble mind.

That free-born fpirits fhou'd obey,

Wretches who know not how to sway!

Too late we now repent our hafty choice;
In vain bemoan fo quick a turn;
Dejected Rome cries with united voice,

Better, a thousand times, that we had born

Our ills a while, with patience, and with eafe,
Than try'd a fatal cure much worse than our disease.

Fourth

Fourth SONG after the fourth Act.

Chorus of Soldiers in the Army of Brutus and Caffius.

Ο

UR vows thus chearfully we fing,

'Till the fierce clangor fires our blood:

Let all the neighb'ring echoes ring

With wishes for our country's good:

And, for reward, of the juft Gods we claim
A life with freedom, or a death with fame.

May Rome be freed from war's alarms,
And mules too heavy to be born:

May the beware of foreign arms,

And fend them back with noble scorn.

And, for reward, c.

May the no more confide in friends

Who nothing farther understood,

Than only, for their private ends,

To wafte her wealth, and spill her blood. And, for reward, &c.

Our

Our greatest patriots Jove reftrain

From faction, which they wisdom call; From the low thoughts of little gain,

And hazarding the lofing all.

And, for reward, c.

Our arms we'll eagerly prepare,
Then, to the glorious combat fly;
All difengag'd from future care,
Except to overcome, or dye.
And, for reward,

c.

They fight, oppreffion to increase:
We, for our liberties and laws;

It were a fin to doubt fuccefs,

When freedom is the noble cause.

And, for reward, of the juft Gods we claim
A life with freedom, or a death with fame.