SEMPRONIUS.

This sober conduct is a mighty virtue

In lukewarm patriots.

САТО.

Come! no more, Sempronius,

All here are friends to Rome, and to each other.
Let us not weaken still the weaker side

By our divisions.

SEMPRONIUS.

Cato, my resentments

Are sacrificed to Rome-I stand reprov'd.

САТО.

Fathers, 'tis time you come to a resolve.

LUCIUS.

Cato, we all go into your opinion.

Cæsar's behaviour has convinced the senate
We ought to hold it out till terms arrive.

SEMPRONIUS.

We ought to hold it out till death; but, Cato,
My private voice is drown'd amid the senate's.

CATO.

Then let us rise, my friends, and strive to fill
This little interval, this pause of life,
(While yet our liberty and fates are doubtful,)
With resolution, friendship, Roman bravery,
And all the virtues we can crowd into it;
That heaven may say, it ought to be prolong'd.
Fathers, farewell-The young Numidian prince
Comes forward, and expects to know our counsels.

SCENE IV.

CATO, JUBA.

САТО.

Juba, the Roman senate has resolv'd,
Till time give better prospects, still to keep
The sword unsheath'd, and turn its edge on Cæsar.

JUBA.

The resolution fits a Roman senate,

But, Cato, lend me for a while thy patience,
And condescend to hear a young man speak.

My father, when some days before his death
He order'd me to march for Utica

(Alas! I thought not then his death so near!) Wept o'er me, press'd me in his aged arms, And, as his griefs gave way, 'My son,' said he, 'Whatever fortune shall befall thy father, Be Cato's friend, he'll train thee up to great And virtuous deeds: do but observe him well, Thou 'lt shun misfortunes, or thou 'lt learn to bear them.'

САТО.

Juba, thy father was a worthy prince,

And merited, alas! a better fate;

But heaven thought otherwise.

JUBA.

My father's fate,

In spite of all the fortitude that shines

Before my face, in Cato's great example,
Subdues my soul, and fills my eyes with tears.

CATO.

It is an honest sorrow, and becomes thee.

JUBA.

My father drew respect from foreign climes:
The kings of Afric sought him for their friend;
Kings far remote, that rule, as fame reports,
Behind the hidden sources of the Nile,

In distant worlds, on t' other side the sun:
Oft have their black ambassadors appeared,
Loaden with gifts, and fill'd the court of Zama.

САТО.

I am no stranger to thy father's greatness.

JUBA.

I would not boast the greatness of my father,
But point out new alliances to Cato.
Had we not better leave this Utica,

To arm Numidia in our cause, and court
Th' assistance of my father's powerful friends?
Did they know Cato, our remotest kings
Would pour embattled multitudes about him;
Their swarthy hosts would darken all our plains,
Doubling the native horror of the war,

And making death more grim.

САТО.

And canst thou think

Cato will fly before the sword of Cæsar?
Reduced like Hannibal, to seek relief

From court to court, and wander up and down,
A vagabond in Afric!

JUBA.

Cato, perhaps

I'm too officious, but my forward cares
Would fain preserve a life of so much value.
My heart is wounded, when I see such virtue
Afflicted by the weight of such misfortunes.

CATO.

Thy nobleness of soul obliges me.

But know, young prince, that valour soars above
What the world calls misfortune and affliction.
These are not ills; else would they never fall
On heaven's first favourites, and the best of men:
The gods, in bounty, work up storms about us,
That give mankind occasion to exert

Their hidden strength, and throw out into practice
Virtues, which shun the day, and lie conceal'd
In the smooth seasons and the calms of life.

JUBA.

I'm charm'd when e'er thou talk'st! I pant for virtue! And all my soul endeavours at perfection.

CATO.

Dost thou love watchings, abstinence, and toil,
Laborious virtues all? learn them from Cato:
Success and fortune must thou learn from Cæsar.

JUBA.

The best good fortune that can fall on Juba,
The whole success, at which my heart aspires,
Depends on Cato.

Tell me thy wish, young prince; make not my ear

A stranger to thy thoughts.

Adieu, young prince: I would not hear a word
Should lessen thee in my esteem: remember
The hand of fate is over us, and heaven
Exacts severity from all our thoughts:
It is not now a time to talk of aught
But chains or conquest, liberty or death.

SCENE V.

SYPHAX, JUBA.

SYPHAX.

How's this, my prince! what, cover'd with confusion? You look as if yon stern philosopher

Had just now chid you.

JUBA.

Syphax, I'm undone!