Beware, my Lord, beware of jealousy, That ghastly green-ey'd monster, which doth make Who certain of his fate, loves not his traitress : Who dotes, yet doubts; suspects, yet strongly loves. Oth. O misery! [A side] Iago. Poor, and content, is rich, and rich But wealth unbounded is as poor as winter Caution. Horror. Anguish. Extreme anguith. Pretended fympathy. Pretended indifference Why did I marry? this honest fellow, doubtless, Jealoufy. less, Anguifh. Tho' that her charms were bodied with my heart, Threat'ning I'd rend it into twain, to throw her from me. LXVII. INTREATING. COMPLAINT. The speech of Adherbal, son of Micipsa, king of Numidia, complaining to the Roman senate, and imploring assistance against the violence of Jugurtha, adopted, and left co-heir of the kingdom, by Micipsa, with himself and Hiempsal, which last Jugurtha had procured to be murdered. [SAL. BELL. JUGURTHIN.] FATHERS, It is known to you, that king Micipsa, my fa- Explaining. ther, on his death-bed, left in charge to Jugurtha, (1) doth make the meat it feeds on) That is, " jealoufy creates to itself, out of nothing, grounds of fufpicion.". T his adopted son, conjunctly with my unfortunate brother Hiempsal, and myself, the children of his iron body, the administration of the kingdom of Numidia; directing us to consider the senate and Submiflion people of Rome, as proprietors of it. He charged us to use our best endeavours to be serviceable to the Roman commonwealth, in, peace and war; assuring us, that your protection would prove to us a defence against all enemies, and would be instead of armies, fortifications, and treasures... Grief. While my brother and I were thinking of nothing, but how to regulate ourselves according to the directions of our deceased father;-Jugurtha Complaint. the most infamous of mankind !-breaking through all ties of gratitude, and of common humanity, and trampling on the authority of the Roman commonwealth, procured the murder of my unfortunate brother, and has driven me from my throne, and native country, though he knows I inherit, from my grandfather Masinissa, and my father Micipsa, the friendship and alliance of the Romans. Grief. For a prince to be reduced, by villainy, to distressful circumstances, is calamity enough; but my misfortunes are heightened by the consideration, that I find myself obliged to solicit your assistance, Fathers, for the services done you by my ancestors; not for any I have been able to render Complaint. you in my own person. Jugurtha has put it out of my power to deserve any thing at your hands, and has forced me to be burthensome, before I could be be useful, to you. And yet if I had no plea,but my undeserved misery, who from a powerful prince, the descendant of a race of illustrious monarchs, find myself, without any fault of my own, destitute of every support, and reduced to the necessity of Submiffion. begging foreign assistance against an enemy, who has seized my throne and kingdom, if, my Intreaty. unequalled distresses were all I had top ead, it would become the greatness of the Roman commonwealth, the arbitress of the world, to protect Exciting. the injured, and to check the triumph of daring wickedness over helpless innocence. But, to provoke your vengeance to the utmost, Jugurtha has driven me from the very dominions, which the senate and people of Rome gave to my ancestors, and from whence my grandfather, and my father, under your umbrage, expelled Syphax, and the Carthaginians. Thus, Fathers, your kindness to our family is defeated, and Jugurtha in injuring me, throws contempt on you. Horror. Lamentation, O wretched prince! O cruel reverse of fortune! LamentaO father Micipsa! Is this the consequence of tion. your generosity; that he, whom your goodness raised to an equality with your own children, should be the murderer of your children! Must then, the royal house of Numidia always be a Scene of havock and blood? While Carthage reinained, we suffered, as was to be expected, all sorts of hardships from their hostile attacks; our enemy near; our only powerful ally, the Roman commonwealth, at a distance; while we were so circumstanced, we were always in arms and in action. When that scourge of Africa was no more, we congratulated ourselves on the prospect of establishing peace. But instead of peace, behold the kingdom of Numidia, drenched with royal blood, and the only surviving son of its late king flying from an adopted murderer, and seeking that safety in foreign parts, which he cannot command in his own kingdom. Hope. Horror. Dread. Whither!-O whither shall I fly ? If I return Distracting to the royal palace of my ancestors, my father's anguith. throne is seized by the murderer of my brother. What can I there expect, but that Jugurtha should hasten to imbrue in my blood, those hands which are now reeking with iny brother's? If I were to fly for refuge, or for assistance, to any other court, from what prince can I hope for protection, if the Roman commonwealth gives me up? From my own family or friends, I have no Ilor.or. Grief Horror. Submiffive Distress. Caution. Horror. expectations. My royal father is no more. Не is beyond the reach of violence, and out of hearing of the complaints of his unhappy son. Were my brother alive, our mutual sympathy would be some alleviation. But he is hurried out of life in his early youth, by the very hand, which should have been the last to injure any of the royal family of Numidia. The bloody Jugurtha has butchered all whom he suspected to be in my interest. Some have been destroyed by the lingering torment of the cross; others have been given a prey to wild beasts, and their anguish made the sport of men more cruel than wild beasts. If there be any yet alive, they are shut up in dungeons, there to drag out a life more intolerable than death. Look down, illustrious senators of Rome, from that height of power, to which you are raised, on the unexampled distresses of a prince, who is, by the cruelty of a wicked intruder, become an outcast from all mankind! Let not the crafty insinuations of him, who returns murder for adoption, prejudice your judgment. Do not listen to the wretch who has butchered the son and relations of a king, who gave him power to sit on the same throne with his own sons. I have been Accufiag. informed that he labours by his emissaries, to prevent your determining any thing against him in his absence, pretending that I magnify my distress, and might, for him, have staid in peace in my own kingdom. But if ever the time comes, Antic when the due vengeance, from above, shall overtion of ven- take him, he will then tremble in the very same manner as I do. Then he, who now, hardened in wickedness, triumphs over those whom his violence has laid low, will, in his turn, feel distress, and suffer for his impious ingratitude to my father, and his blood thirsty cruelty to my brother. Affecting O murdered, butchered brother! O dearest to lacientation my heart-mov gone for ever from my sight. But why should I lament his death? He is indeed deprived of the blessed light of heaven, of life and kingdom, at once, by the very person, who ought to have been the first to hazard his own life in defence of any one of Micipsa's family; But as things are, my brother is not so much deprived of these comforts, as delivered from terror, from flight, from exile, and the endless train of miseries, which render life to me a burden. He lies full low, gored with wounds, and festering in his own blood. But he lies in peace. He feels none of the miseries which rend my soul with agony and distraction; whilst I am set up a spectacle to all mankind, of the uncertainty of human affairs. So far from having it in my power to revenge his death, I am not master of the means of securing my own life. So far from being in a condition to defend my kingdom from the violence of the usurper, I am obliged to apply for foreign protection for my own person. folicitation. Fathers! Senators of Rome! the arbiters of Vehement the world! To you I fly for refuge from the murderous fury of Jugurtha. By your affection for your children, by your love for your country, by your own virtues, by the majesty of the Ro man commonwealth, by all that is sacred, and all that is dear to you; deliver a wretched prince from undeserved, unprovoked injury; and save the kingdom of Numidia, which is your own property, from being the prey of violence, usurpation, and cruelty. Pleading of Lysias the orator, in favour of certain orphans, defrauded by an uncle, executor to the will of their father. [Dion. Halicarn.] VENERABLE JUDGES! IF the cause, which now comes under your cognizance, were not of extraordinary importance, Apology. |
