Fire the cursed forest, where these Roman wolves A false, perfidious people, who, beneath The genuine seed of outlaws and of robbers. Cor. The sccu of gods! "T is not for thee, vain boaster "T is not for such as thou, so often spared By her victorious sword, to speak of Rome Of Roman story, than your Volscian annals Can boast through all their creeping, dark duration. Auf. I thank thy rage: - This full displays the traitor, [Cor. Traitor! How now? Auf. Ay, traitor, Marcius. Cor. Marcius! Auf. Ay, Marcius, Caius Marcius: dost thou think You lords, and heads of the state, perfidiously A twist of rotten silk; never admitting If Cor. Hearest thou, Mars? Auf. Name not the god, thou boy of tears! THE RESOLVE OF REGULUS. Auf. I court The worst thy sword can do; while thou from me Quit, then, this hostile camp: once more I tell thee, 195 IV. THE RESOLVE OF REGULUS. Rěg'ulus, a Roman consul, having been defeated in battle and taken prisoner by the Carthaginians, was detained in captivity five years, and then sent on an embassy to Rome to solicit peace, under a promise that he would return to Carthage if the proposals were rejected. These, it was thought, he would urge in order to obtain his own liberty; but he urged contrary and patriotic measures on his countrymen; and then, having carried his point, resisted the persuasions of his friends to remain in Rome, and returned to Carthage, where a martyr's death awaited him. Some writers say that he was thrust into a cask covered over on the inside with iron spikes, and thus rolled down hill. The following scene presents Regulus just as he has made known to his friends in Rome his resolution to return to Carthage, Enter REGULUS, followed by SERTORIUS. Sertorius. Stay, Roman, in pity!—if not for thy life, Regulus. To my captors one pledge, and one only, I Rome's Senate and people from war to dissuade. If the vengeance of Carthage be stored for me now, I have reaped no dishonor, have broken no vow. gave: Sert. They released thee, but dreamed not that thou wouldst fulfill A part that would leave thee a prisoner still; They hoped thy own danger would lead thee to sway Would induce thee to urge the conditions they crave, No hope sheds its ray on thy death-pointing track! Reg. With the consciousness fixed in the core of my heart, That I had been playing the perjurer's part? With the stain ever glaring, the thought ever nigh, Or turn for a refuge to guilt from despair! Sert. O, think of the kindred and friends who await To fall on thy neck, and withhold thee from fate; O, think of the widow, the orphans to be, And let thy compassion plead softly with me. Reg. O, my friend, thou canst soften, but canst not subdue To the faith of my soul I must ever be true. If my honor I cheapen, my conscience discrown, All the graces of life to the dust are brought down ; All creation to me is a chaos once more No heaven to hope for, no God to adore! And the love that I feel for wife, children, and friend, Sert. Let thy country determine. Reg. My country? Her will, Were I free to obey, would be paramount still. I go to my doom for my country alone; My life is my country's; my honor, my own! Sert. O, Regulus! think of the pangs in reserve! To daunt and disable the loftiest mind. Reg. And 't is to a Roman thy fears are addressed! Reg. Thou know'st me but human as weak to sustain As thyself, or another, the searchings of pain. This flesh may recoil, and the anguish they wreak Chase the strength from my knees, and the hue from my cheek; But the body alone they can vanquish and kill; The spirit immortal shall smile at them still. Their spike-bristling cask, and their torturing bed; ANTONY AND VENTIDIUS. Their cunning in torture and taunt shall defy, 197 ORIGINAL. V. ANTONY AND VENTIDIUS. Enter ANTONY, Right, meeting VENTIDIUS, who enters Left. Antony. Art thou Ventidius? Ventidius. Are you Antony? I'm liker what I was, than you to him When that I left you last. Ant. I'm angry. Ven. So am I. Ant. I would be private; leave me. Ven. Sir, I love you, And therefore will not leave you. Ant. Will not leave me? Where have you learnt that answer? Who am I? Ven. My emperor; the man I love next heaven. If I said more, I think 't were scarce a sin; Ant. All that 's wretched! Το Ven. "T was too presuming say I would not, but I dare not leave you; And, if a foe, too much. Ven. Look, emperor, this is no common dew; I have not wept these forty years; but now My mother comes afresh into my eyes; I can not help her softness. Ant. Sure, there's contagion in the tears of friends. See, I have caught it too. Believe me, 't is not For my own griefs, but thine. Nay, father Ven. Emperor! Ant. Emperor! Why, that's the style of victory. The conquering soldier, red with unfelt wounds, Salutes his general so; but never more Shall that sound reach my ears. I lost a battle. Ven. So has Julius done. Ant. Thou favor'st me, and speak'st not half thou think'st; For Julius fought it out, and lost it fairly: Ven. Nay, stop not! Ant. Antony (Well, thou wilt have it) — like a coward, fled, - Ven. I did. Ant. I'll help thee. I have been a man, Ventidius. Ven. Yes, and a brave one; but Ant. I know thy meaning. But I have lost my reason, have disgraced Of what you've done, too conscious of your failings; Ant. Dost thou think me desperate Without just cause? No; when I found all lost And learned to scorn it here; which now I do So heartily, I think it is not worth The cost of keeping. Ven. Cæsar thinks not so. He'll thank you for the gift he could not take. You would be killed like Tully, would you? Why, then, Hold out your throat to Cæsar, and die tamely. Ant. No, I can kill myself; and so resolve. Ven. I can die with you too, when time shall serve ; But fortune calls upon us now to live, To fight, to conquer. Ant. Sure thou dream'st, Ventidius. Ven. No; 't is you dream; you sleep away your hours In desperate sloth, miscalled philosophy. Up, up, for honor's sake! Twelve legions wait you, And long to call you chief. Ant. Where left you them? Ven. I say, in Lower Syria. Ant. Bring 'em hither; There may be life in these. |