Por. Away, you're too suspicious in your griefs;
Lucia, though sworn never to think of love,
Compassionates your pains, and pities you.

Marc. Compassionates my pains, and pities me!
What is compassion when 'tis void of love?
Fool that I was to choose so cold a friend
To urge my cause!-Compassionates my pains!
Pr'ythee what art, what rhet'ric didst thou use
To gain this mighty boon?-She pities me!
To one that asks the warm returns of love,
Compassion's cruelty, 'tis scorn, 'tis death-

Por. Marcus, no more; have I deserv'd this treat

ment?

Marc. What have I said? Oh, Portius, oh forgive me! A soul, exasperate in ills, falls out With every thing its friend, itself-but, hah!

[Shouts and Trumpets. What means that shout, big with the sounds of war? What new alarm? [Shouts and Trumpets repeated. Por. A second, louder yet,

Swells in the wind, and comes more full upon us.
Marc. Oh, for some glorious cause to fall in battle!
Lucia, thou hast undone me: thy disdain
Has broke my heart: 'tis death must give me ease.
Por. Quick, let us hence. Who knows if Cato's life
Stands sure? Oh, Marcus, I am warm'd; my heart
Leaps at the trumpet's voice, and burns for glory.
[Exeunt. Trumpets and shouting.

SCENE II. Before the Senate-house.

Enter SEMPRONIUS, with the Leaders of the Mutiny. Sem. At length the winds are rais'd, the storm blows

high!

Be it your care, my friends, to keep it up
In all its fury, and direct it right,

Till it has spent itself on Cato's head.

Mean while, I'll herd among his friends, and seem

One of the number, that, whate'er arrive,

My friends and fellow-soldiers may be safe.

[Exit. 1 Lead. We are all safe; Sempronius is our friend.

[Trumpets.

Bat, hark, Cato enters. Bear up boldly to him ;
Be sure you beat him down, and bind him fast;
This day will end our toils.

Fear nothing, for Sempronius is our friend.

Trumpets. Re-enter SEMPRONIUS, with CATO, LUCIUS, PORTIUS, MARCUS, and Guards.

Cato. Where are those bold, intrepid sons of war, That greatly turn their backs upon the foe, And to their general send a brave defiance?

Sem. Curse on their dastard souls, they stand aston

ish'd!

[Aside.

Cato. Perfidious men! And will you thus dishonour Your past exploits, and sully all your wars? Why could not Cato fall

Without your guilt? Behold, ungrateful men, Behold my bosom naked to your swords, And let the man that's injur'd strike the blow. Which of you all suspects that he is wrong'd, Or thinks he suffers greater ills than Cato? Am I distinguish'd from you but by toils, Superior toils, and heavier weight of cares? Painful pre-eminence!

[Aside.

Sem. Confusion to the villains! all is lost!
Cato. Hence, worthless men! hence! and complain to

Cæsar,

You could not undergo the toil of war,

Nor bear the hardships that your leader bore.
Luc. See, Cato, see the unhappy men! they weep!

Fear and remorse, and sorrow for their crime,
Appear in ev'ry look, and plead for mercy.

Cato. Learn to be honest men, give up your leaders, And pardon shall descend on all the rest.

Sem. Cato, commit these wretches to my care;
First let them each be broken on the rack,
Then, with what life remains, impal'd, and left
To writhe at leisure, round the bloody stake;

1

There let them hang, and taint the southern wind.
The partners of their crime will learn obedience.

Cato. Forbear, Sempronius!-see they suffer death,
But in their deaths remember they are men;
Lucius, the base, degen'rate age requires
Severity.

When by just vengeance guilty mortals perish,
The gods behold the punishment with pleasure,
And lay th' uplifted thunderbolt aside.

Sem. Cato, I execute thy will with pleasure.
Cato. Mean while, we'll sacrifice to liberty.
Remember, O my friends! the laws, the rights,
The gen'rous plan of power deliver'd down
From age to age by your renown'd forefathers
(So dearly bought, the price of so much blood):
Oh, let it never perish in your hands!
But piously transmit it to your children.
Do thou, great liberty, inspire our souls,
And make our lives in thy possession happy,
Or our deaths glorious in thy just defence.

[Exeunt Cato, &c.

1 Lead. Sempronius, you have acted like yourself. One would have thought you had been half in earnest. Sem. Villain, stand off; base, grov'ling, worthless

wretches,

Mongrels in faction, poor faint-hearted traitors!

2 Lead. Nay, now you carry it too far, Sempronius! Throw off the mask, there are none here but friends.

Sem. Know, villains, when such paltry slaves presume
To mix in treason, if the plot succeeds,
They're thrown neglected by; but, if it fails,
They're sure to die like dogs, as you shall do.
Here, take these factious monsters, drag them forth
To sudden death.

1 Lead. Nay, since it comes to this-
Sem. Dispatch them quick, but first pluck out their

tongues,

Lest with their dying breath they sow sedition.

[Exeunt Guards, with the Leaders of the Mutiny.

Enter SYPHAX.

Syph. Our first design, my friend, has prov'd abortive;

Still there remains an after-game to play;

My troops are mounted;

Let but Sempronius head us in our flight,

We'll force the gate where Marcus keeps his guard, And hew down all that would oppose our passage. A day will bring us into Cæsar's camp.

Sem. Confusion! I have fail'd of half my purpose: Marcia, the charming Marcia's left behind! Syph. How! will Sempronius turn a woman's slave? Sem. Think not thy friend can ever feel the soft of love.

Unmanly warmth and tenderness

long to clasp that haughty maid, --And bend her stubborn virtue to my passion: When I have gone thus far, I'd cast her off.

Syph. What hinders, then, but that thou find her out, And hurry her away by manly force?

Sem. But how to gain admission? For access

Is giv'n to none but Juba and her brothers.

Syph. Thou shalt have Juba's dress and Juba's guards; The doors will open, when Numidia's prince Seems to appear before the slaves that watch them.

Sem. Heav'ns, what a thought is there! Marcia's my

own!

How will my bosom swell with anxious joy,
When I behold her struggling in my arms,
With glowing beauty, and disorder'd charms,
While fear and anger, with alternate grace,
Pant in her breast, and vary in her face!
So Pluto seiz'd off Proserpine, convey'd
To hell's tremendous gloom th' affrighted maid;
There grimly smil'd, pleas'd with the beauteous prize,
Nor envy'd Jove his sunshine and his skies. [Exeunt.

4

SCENE I. A Chamber.

Enter LUCIA and MARCIA.

Lucia. Now tell me, Marcia, tell me from thy soul,
If thou believ'st 'tis possible for woman
To suffer greater ills than Lucia suffers?

Marcia. Oh, Lucia, Lucia, might my big swoln heart
Vent all its griefs, and give a loose to sorrow,
Marcia could answer thee in sighs, keep pace
With all thy woes, and count out tear for tear.

Lucia. I know thou'rt doom'd alike to be belov'd
By Juba, and thy father's friend, Sempronius:
But which of these has pow'r to charm like Portius?
Marcia. Still I must beg thee not to name Sempronius.

Lucia, I like not that loud, boist'rous man.
Juba, to all the brav'ry of a hero,
Adds softest love and sweetness: he, I own,
Might make indeed the proudest woman happy.

Lucia. But should this father give you to Sempronius?
Marcia. I dare not think he will: but if he should-

Why wilt thou add to all the griefs I suffer,