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 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, [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, He knows not how to wink at human frailty, 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. Thy brother Marcus, whom we both lament- And ever fhall lament, unhappy youth! Has fet my foul at large, and now I ftand MARCI A. Let him but live! commit the reft to heaven. Enter LUCIUS. LUCIU S. Sweet are the flumbers of the virtuous man! 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 Enter JUBA. JUBA. Lucius, the horsemen are return'd from viewing 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 But hark? what means that groan? O give me way, 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! 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! 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 |