The foft refreshment of a moment's fleep.

PORTIUS.

[Exit.

My thoughts are more at eafe, my heart revives.

O Marcia, O my fifter, ftill there's hope!

Our father will not caft away a life

So needful to us all, and to his country.

He is retired to reft, and feems to cherish

Thoughts full of peace. He has difpatch'd me hence
With orders, that befpeak a mind compofed,

And ftudious for the fafety of his friends.

Marcia, take care that none difturb his flumbers.

MARCIA.

O ye immortal powers, that guard the juft,
Watch round his couch, and foften his repofe,
Banish his forrows, and becalm his foul
With easy dreams; remember all his virtues,
And fhow mankind that goodness is your care.

[Exit.

SCENE.

SCENE IV.

LUCIA, and MARCIA.

LUCIA.

Where is your father, Marcia, where is Cato?

MARCI A.

Lucia, fpeak low, he is retired to reft. Lucia, I feel a gentle dawning hope

Rife in my foul. We shall be happy still.

LUCIA.

Alas, I tremble when I think on Cato,
In every view, in every thought I tremble!
Cato is ftern, and awful as a God,

He knows not how to wink at human frailty,
Or pardon weakness, that he never felt.

MARCI A.

Though ftern and awful to the foes of Rome, He is all goodness, Lucia, always mild, Compaffionate and gentle to his friends. Fill'd with domeftic tenderness, the beft, The kindeft father! I have ever found him Easy, and good, and bounteous to my wishes. LUCIA.

"Tis his confent alone can make us blefs'd.

Marcia, we both are equally involv'd

In the fame intricate, perplex'd distress.
The cruel hand of fate, that has destroy'd

Thy brother Marcus, whom we both lament-
MARCI A.

And ever fhall lament, unhappy youth!
LUCIA.

Has fet my foul at large, and now I ftand
Loofe of my vow. But who knows Cato's thoughts
Who knows how yet he may difpose of Portius,
Or how he has determin'd of thy felf?

MARCI A.

Let him but live! commit the reft to heaven.

Enter LUCIUS.

LUCIU S.

Sweet are the flumbers of the virtuous man!
O Marcia, I have feen thy godlike father:
Some power invifible fupports his foul,
And bears it up in all, its wonted greatness.
A kind refreshing sleep is fallen upon him:
I faw him ftretch'd at ease, his fancy loft
In pleasing dreams; as I drew near his couch,

He fmil'd, and cry'd, Cæfar, thou can'ft not hurt me.

MARCIA.

His mind ftill labours with fome dreadful thought.

LUCIU S.

Lucia, why all this grief, thefe floods of forrow?

Dry

Dry up thy tears, my child, we all are fafe
While Cato lives-His prefence will protect us.

Enter JUBA.

JUBA.

Lucius, the horsemen are return'd from viewing
The number, ftrength, and pofture of our foes,
Who now encamp within a fhort hour's march.
On the high point of yon bright western tower
We ken them from afar, the setting fun
Plays on their fhining arms and burnish'd helmets,
And covers all the field with gleams of fire.

LUCIUS.

Marcia, 'tis time we should awake thy father. Cafar is ftill difposed to give us terms,

And waits at diftance 'till he hears from Cato.

Enter PORTIUS.

Portius, thy looks fpeak fomewhat of importance. What tidings doft thou bring? methinks I fee

Unusual gladness sparkling in thine eyes.

PORTIU S.

As I was hafting to the port, where now My father's friends, impatient for a passage, Accufe the ling'ring winds, a fail arrived

From Pompey's fon, who through the realms of Spain

Calls out for vengeance on his father's death,

And roufes the whole nation up to arms.

Were

Were Cato at their head, once more might Rome
Affert her rights, and claim her liberty.

But hark? what means that groan? O give me way,
And let me fly into my father's prefence.

LUCIU S.

Cato, amidst his flumbers thinks on Rome,

And in the wild diforder of his foul

Mourns o'er his country-Hah! a fecond groan!
Heav'n guard us all---

MARCI A.

Alas, 'tis not the voice

Of one who fleeps! 'tis agonizing pain,

'Tis death is in that found

O Marcia, what we fear'd is come to pass!
Cato is fallen upon his sword-

O Portius,

LUCIUS.

Hide all the horrors of thy mournful tale,

And let us guefs the rest.

PORTIUS.

I've rais'd him up,

(Exit.

And placed him in his chair, where pale, and faint, He gafps for breath, and, as his life flows from him,

Demands