But, by the gods I fwear, millions of worlds
Should never buy me to be like that Cæfar.

DECIUS.

Does Cato fend this anfwer back to Cæfar, For all his generous cares, and proffer'd friendship?

CATO.

His cares for me are infolent and vain :
Prefumptuous man! the gods take care of Cato.
Would Cæfar show the greatness of his soul,
Bid him employ his care for these my friends,
And make good ufe of his ill-gotten power
By fheltering men much better than himself.

DECIUS.

Your high unconquer'd heart makes you forget 'That you 're a man. You rush on your deftruction. But I have done. When I relate hereafter

The tale of this unhappy embaffy,

All Rome will be in tears.

[Exit.

Cato, we thank thee.

SEMPRONIUS.

The mighty genius of immortal Rome

Speaks in thy voice, thy foul breathes liberty:
Cæfar will fhrink to hear the words thou utter'st,
And fhudder in the midft of all his conquests.

LUCIUS.

The fenate owns its gratitude to Cato,

Who with fo great a foul confults its safety,

And guards our lives while he neglects his own.

SEMPRONIUS.

Sempronius gives no thanks on this account.

Lucius feems fond of life; but what is life?
'Tis not to stalk about, and draw fresh air
From time to time, or gaze upon the fun;
'Tis to be free. When liberty is gone,
Life grows infipid, and has loft its relish.
O could my dying hand but lodge a sword
In Cæfar's bofom, and revenge my country,
By heavens I could enjoy the pangs of death,
And fmile in agony.

LUCIU S.

Others perhaps

May ferve their country with as warm a zeal,
Though 'tis not kindled into fo much rage.

SEMPRONIUS.

This fober condu& is a mighty virtue

In luke-warm patriots.

САТО.

Come! no more, Sempronius:

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

By our divifions.

SEMPRONIUS.

Cato, my refentments

Are facrific'd to Rome-I ftand reprov'd.

САТО.

Fathers, 'tis time you come to a resolve.

LUCIUS.

Cato, we all go into your opinion. Cæfar's behaviour has convinc'd the fenate We ought to hold it out till terms arrive.

SEM

SEMPRONIUS.

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

САТО.

Then let us rife, my friends, and strive to fill
This little interval, this paufe of life,

(While yet our liberty and fates are doubtful)
With refolution, 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 councils.

Enter JUBA.

САТО.

Juba, the Roman fenate has refolv'd,

[Ex. SEN

Till time give better profpects, ftill to keep
The sword unfheath'd, and turn its edge on Cæfar.
JUBA.

The refolution fits a Roman fenate.

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

My father, when fome 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, prefs'd me in his aged arms,
And as his griefs gave way, My son, said he,
Whatever fortune fhall befal thy father,
Be Cato's friend; he'll train thee up to great

And

And virtuous deeds: do but obferve him well,

Thou 'lt fhun misfortunes, or thou 'It 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 fhines

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

САТО.

It is an honeft forrow, and becomes thee.

JUBA.

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

In diftant worlds, on t'other fide the fun :
Oft have their black ambassadors appear'd,
Loaden with gifts, and fill'd the courts of Zama.

САТО.

I am no stranger to thy father's greatness.

JUBA.

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

To arm Numidia in our caufe, and court
Th' affiftance of my father's powerful friends?

Did they know Cato, our remotest kings
Would pour embattled multitudes about him;
Their fwarthy hofts would darken all our plains,
Doubling the native horror of the war,
And making death more grim.

CATO.

And canft thou think

Cato will fly before the fword of Cæfar?
Reduc'd, like Hannibal, to feek 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 fee fuch virtue
Afflicted by the weight of fuch misfortunes.

CATO.

Thy nobleness of foul obliges me.

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

Their hidden ftrength, and throw out into practice
Virtues, that fhun the day, and lie conceal'd

In the smooth seasons, and the calms of life.

5

JUBA.