Our mutual bliss, would raise to such a height
Thy brother's griefs, as might, perhaps, destroy him.
Por Alas, poor youth! What dost thou think,
my Lucia?
His generous, open, undesigning heart
Has begg'd his rival to solicit for him :
Then do not strike him dead with a denial;
But hold him up in life, and cheer his soul
With the faint glimmering of a doubtful hope :
Perhaps, when we have pass'd these gloomy hours,
And weather'd out the storm that beats upon us--
Luc. No, Porcius, no: I see thy sister's tears,
Thy father's anguish, and thy brother's death,
In the pursuit of our ill-fated loves:
And, Porcius, here I swear-[Kneels.]—to heaven I
What means that sound, big with the threat of war?
What new alarm?
[Trumpets again.
Por. A second, louder yet,
Swells in the wind, and comes more full upon us.
Mar. 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
Stands sure? O, Marcus, I am on fire; my heart
Leaps at the trumpet's voice, and burns for glory.
[Exeunt.-Trumpets, &c. till SEMPRONIUS enters.
SCENE II-A Square before the Palace.
Enter SEMPRONIUS, JUNIUS, TITUs, and other
Mutineers.
Sem. At length the winds are rais'd, the storm
blows high!
Be it your care, my friends, to keep it up
In its full fury, and direct it right,
Luc Think, Porcius, think thou see'st thy dying Till it has spent itself on Cato's head.
Stabb'd at his heart, and all besmear'd with blood,
Storming at heaven and thee. Thy awful sire
Sternly demands the cause, the accursed cause
That robs him of his son.-Farewell, my Porcius!
Farewell, though death is in the word, for ever!
Meanwhile, I'll herd among his friends, and seem
One of the number; that, whate'er arrive,
My friends and fellow soldiers may be safe. [Erit.
Jun. We are all safe; Sempronius is our friend.
[Trumpets.
Por. Thou must not go; my soul still hovers o'er Enter CATO, PORCIUS, MARCUS, LUCICS, SEMPRO
And can't get loose.
Luc. If the firm Porcius shake
To hear of parting, think what Lucia suffers.
But see, thy brother Marcus bends this way;
I sicken at the sight. Once more, farewell!
Farewell!-and know, thou wrong'st me, if thou
Ever was love, or ever grief, like mine.
Mar. Porcius, what hopes? How stands she?
Am I doom'd
Por. What would'st thou have me say?
Mar. Thy downcast looks, and thy disorder'd thoughts,
Tell me my fate: I ask not the success
My cause has found.
Por. I'm griev'd I undertook it.
Your past exploits, and sully all your wars?
Do you confess, 'twas not a zeal for Rome,
Nor love of Liberty,
Drew you thus far, but hopes to share the spoil
Of conquer'd towns, and plunder'd provinces?
Fir'd with such motives, you do well to join
With Cato's foes, and follow Cæsar's banners.
Behold-ungrateful men!-
Behold my bosom naked to your swords,
And let the man that's injured strike the blow,—
Which of you all suspects that he is wrong'd
Or thinks he suffers greater ills than Cato?
Mar. What does the barbarous maid insult my Am I distinguish'd from you but by toils,
And triumph in my pains?
Por. Away! you're too suspicious in your griefs:
Lucia, though sworn never to think of love,
Compassionates your pails, and pities you.
Mar. 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!
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 ?
Mar. What have I said ?-O, Porcius! 0,
forgive me!-
A soul exasperated in ills, falls out
With every thing, its friends, itself.-
Superior toils, and heavier weight of cares?
Painful pre-eminence!
Sem. [Aside.] By heavens, they droop :-
Confusion to the villains!-all is lost.
Cato. Hence, worthless men!-hence, and com-
plain to Cæsar,
You could not undergo the toils of war,
Nor bear the hardships that your general bore.
Luci. See, Cato, see-the unhappy men!-they
Fear and remorse, and sorrow for their crime
Appear in every look, and plead for mercy.
"Cato. Learn to be honest men; give up your lea-
ders,
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
[Trumpets &c. Then, with what life remains, impal'd, and left
To writhe at leisure round the bloody stake;There let them hang, and taint the southern wind; The partners of their crime will learn obedience, When they look up, and see their fellow-traitors Stuck onfork, a and blackening in the sun.
Cato. Forbear, Sempronius-see, they suffer death
But, in their deaths, remember they are men.—
Lucius, the base degenerate age requires
Severity and justice in its rigour;
This curbs an impious, bold, offending world,
Commands obedience, and gives force to laws.
When by just vengeance guilty moftals perish,
The gods behold their punisment with pleasure,
And lay the uplifted thunderbolt aside.
Sem. Cato, I gladly execute thy will.
Cato. Meanwhile, we'll sacrifice to liberty.
Remember, O my friends, the laws, the rights,
The generous plan of power deliver'd down,
From age to age, by your renown'd forefathers,
So dearly bought, the price of so much blood:-
O 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!
[Flourish.-Exeunt CATO, PORCIUS, MARCUS,
LUCIUS, Senators, Ensign, Lictors, and
Guards.
Jun. Sempronius, you have acted like yourself; One would have thought, you had been half in earnest. Sem. Villain, stand off-Base, groveling, worthless wretches!
Mongrels in faction! poor faint-hearted traitors!
Tit. 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
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If thou believ'st 'tis possible for woman
Luc. Now tell me, Marcia, tell me from thy soul,
To suffer greater ills than Lucia suffers ?
Mar. O, 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.
Luc. I know, thou'rt doom'd alike to be belov'd
By Juba, and thy father's friend Sempronius:
But which of these has power to charm like Porcius?
Mar. Still must I beg thee not to name Sempro-
Mar. I dare not think he will: but, if he should
Syph. Our first design, my friend, has prov'd I hear the sound of feet:-they march this way.
Still there remains an after-game to play:
My troops are mounted: their Numidian steeds
Snuff up the wind, and long to scour the desert:
Let but Sempronius head us in our fight,
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
Sem. Think not that I can ever feel the soft Unmanly warmth and tenderness of love. Syphax, I 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.
Let us retire, and try if we can drown
Each softer thought in sense of present danger.
When love once pleads admission to our hearts,
In spite of all the virtue we can boast,
The woman that deliberates is lost.
Enter SEMPRONIUS, dressed like JUBA, with
Numidian Guards.
Sem. The deer is lodg'd; I've track'd her to her
Be sure you mind the word; and, when I give it,
Rush in at once, and seize upon your prey:
Let not her cries or tears have force to move you.
How will the young Numidian rave, to see
His mistress lost! If aught could glad my soul
Beyond the enjoyment of so bright a prize,
'Twould be to torture that young gay barbarian.
But hark, what noise? Death to my hopes! 'tis he, Alas, he knew not-hapless youth!--he knew not
'Tis Juba's self. There is but one way left:
Marcia's whole soul was full of love and Juba.
He must be murder'd, and a passage cut
Juba. Do I live-or am indeed
Through those his guards. Hah, dastards, do you What Marcia thinks? All is Elysium round me.
Or act like men; or, by yon azure heaven
Enter JUBA, with Guards.
Juba. What do I see? Who's this, that dare usurp
The guards and habit of Numidia's prince?
Sem. One that was born to scourge thy arrogance, Presumptuous youth.
Juba. What can this mean? Sempronius!
[Aside. Mar. Ye dear remains of the most lov'd of men, Nor modesty nor virtue here forbids
A last embrace, while thus▬▬▬▬
Juba. [Comes forward.] See, Marcia, see,
The happy Juba lives: [She rises.] he lives, to catch
That dear embrace, and to return it too
With mutual warmth and eagerness of love.
[They embrace. Mar. With pleasure and amaze I stand transported.
Sem. My sword shall answer thee:-have at thy If thou art Juba, who lies there?
heart. Juba. Nay, then beware thy own, proud barbarous
[They fight.-SEMPRONIUS falls.-His Guards
surrender to JUBA's.-Their swords are taken
from them.
Sem. Curse on my stars! Am I then doom'd to
By a boy's hand, and for a worthless woman?
This my close of life!
Oh, for a peal of thunder, that would make
Earth, sea, and air, and heaven, and Cato tremble!
Juba. With what a spring his furious soul broke
loose,
And left the limbs still quivering on the ground!
Hence let us carry off those slaves to Cato,
That we may there at length unravel all
This dark design, his mystery of fate,
[Exit with Guards and Prisoners.
Enter MARCIA and LUCIA.
Disguis'd like Juba on a curs'd design.
The tale is long, nor have I heard it out;
Thy father knows it all. I could not bear
To leave thee in the neighbourhood of death,
But flew, in all the haste of love, to find thee:
I found thee weeping; and confess, this once,
Am rapt with joy, to see my Marcia's tears.
Mar. I've been surpris'd in an unguarded hour,
But must not now go back; the love that lay
Half smother'd in my breast, has broke through all
Its weak restraints, and burns in its full lustre :
I cannot, if I would, conceal it from thee.
Juba. My joy! my best belov'd! my only wish!
How shall I speak the transport of my soul!
Mar. Lucia, thy arm; O let me rest upon it!
The vital blood that had forsook my heart,
Returns again in such tumultuous tides,
It quite o'ercomes me. Lead to my apartment.
O prince! I blush, to think what I have said;
But fate has wrested the confession from me.
Luc. Sure, 'twas the clash of swords: my troubled Go on, and prosper in the paths of honour:
Is so cast down and sunk amidst its sorrows,
It throbs with fear, and aches at every sound.
O, Marcia, should thy brothers, for my sake-
I die away with horror at the thought.
Mar. See, Lucia, see! here's blood!
What! a Numidian! Heavens preserve the prince!
The face lies muffled up within the garment-
But hah!-death to my sight!-a diadem ?—
O gods! 'tis he! Juba lies dead before us.
Luc. Now, Marcia, now call up to thy assistance
Thy wonted strength and constancy of mind.
Mar. Lucia, look there, and wonder at my
patience:
Have I not cause to rave, and beat my breast,
To rend my heart with grief, and run distracted?
Luc. What can I think or say to give thee comfort?
Enter JUBA, with Guards.
Mar. Talk not of comfort, 'tis for lighter ills
Behold a sight that strikes all comfort dead.
I will indulge my sorrows;
That man, that best of men, deserv'd it from me.
Thy virtue will excuse my passion for thee,
And make the gods propitious to our love.
[Exit with LUCIA,
Juba. I am so bless'd, I fear 'tis all a dream.
Fortune, thou now hast made amends for all
Thy past unkindness: I absolve my stars-
What, though Numidia add her conquer'd towns
And provinces, to swell the victor's triumph?
Juba will never at his fate repine :
Let Cæsar have the world, if Marcia's mine. [Exit
SCENE II-A Square before the Palace.
Trumpets.
Enter LUCIUS, CATO, and Freedmen.
Luci. I stand astonish'd. What! the bold Sem-
pronius,
That still broke foremost thro' the crowd of patriots,
As with a hurricane of zeal transported!
And, virtuous even to madness-
Cato. Trust me, my friend,
Our civil discords have produced such crimes,
Such monstrous crimes, I am surpris'd at nothing.
Juba. What do I hear? and was the false Sem-O Lucius, I am sick of this bad world:
That best of men? O, had I fall'n like him,
And could have thus been mourn'd, I had been
Mar. O Juba! Juba! Juba! [Kneels by SEM.
He's dead, and never knew how much I lov'd him.
Lucia, who knows but his poor bleeding heart,
Amidst its agonies, remember'd Marcia,
And the last words he utter'd call'd me cruel ?
The daylight and the sun grow painful to me.
The traitor Syphax, as within the square
He exercised his troops, the signal given,
Flew off at once with his Numidian horse
To the south gate, where Marcus holds the watch:
I saw, and call'd to stop him; but in vain;
He toss'd his arm aloft, and proudly told me,
He would not stay and perish like Sempronius.
Cato. Perfidious men!– But haste, my son, and
Thy brother Marcus acts a Roman's part.
[Exit PORCIUS, and the Freedmen, with drawn
swords.
Lucius, the torrent bears too hard upon me:
Justice gives way to force; the conquer'd world
Is Caesar's: Cato has no business in it.
Luci. While pride, oppression, and injustice reign,
The world will still demand her Cato's presence,
In pity to mankind, submit to Caesar,
And reconcile thy mighty soul to life.
Enter Lictors, Senators. - Soldiers, bearing the body of MARCUS on a bier.-Freedmen, bearing his helmet, shield, sword, and spear.-Eagle and other ensigns S.P.Q.R. and Guards with their arms reversed.— Enter six Lictors with fasces.-CATO stands in front of the bier.
Cato. Welcome, my son!-Here set him down,
my friends,
Full in my sight; that I may view at leisure
The bloody corse, and count those glorious wounds.
How beautiful is death, when earn'd by virtue!
Cato. Would Lucius have me live, to swell the Who would not be that youth? What pity is it
Of Cæsar's slaves ?-or, by a base submission,
Give up the cause of Rome, and own a tyrant?
Luci. The victor never will impose on Cato
Ungenerous terms:-his enemies confess,
The virtues of humanity are Caesar's.
That we can die but once, to serve our country !
Why sits this sadness on your brows, my friends?
I should have blush'd, if Cato's house had stood
Secure, and flourish'd in a civil war.
Porcius, behold thy brother; and remember,
Cato. Curse on his virtues! they've undone his Thy life is not thy own, when Rome demands it.
Por. Misfortune on misfortune! grief on grief!
My brother Marcus-
Cato. Hah! what has he done?
Has he forsook his post? Has he given way?
Did he look tamely on, and let them pass?
Por. Scarce had I left my father, but I met him,
Borne on the shields of his surviving soldiers,
Breathless and pale, and cover'd o'er with wounds.
Long, at the head of his few faithful friends,
He stood the shock of a whole host of foes,
Till, obstinately brave, and bent on death,
Oppress'd with multitudes, he greatly fell.
Cato. I'm satisfied.
Por. Nor did he fall, before
His sword had piere'd thro' the faise heart of Syphax.
I saw the hoary traitor
Grin in the pangs of death, and bite the ground.
Cato. Thanks to the gods! my boy has done his
When Rome demands? [Advances to the front.] But
The Roman empire's fall'n-0, curs'd ambition!-
Fall'n into Cæsar's hands:-our great forefathers
Had left him nought to conquer, but his country.
Juba. Behold that generous man! Rome fills his
With tears, that flow'd not o'er his own dead son.
Por. While Cato lives, Cæsar will blush to see
Mankind enslav'd, and be asham'd of empire.
Cato. Cæsar asham'd! Has he not seen Pharsalia?
Luci. Cato, 'tis time, thou save thyself and us.
Cato. Lose not a thought on me; I'm out of
danger;
Cæsar shall never say, "I've conquer'd Cato."
But, O my friends, your safety fills my heart
With anxious thoughts.-How shall I save my
Por. I hope, my father does not recommend A life to Porcius, that he scorns himself. Cato. Farewell, my friends! [LUCIUS and Senators join the other Senators.] If there be any of you
Who dare not trust the victor's clemency,
Know, there are ships prepar'd by my command,
Their sails already opening to the winds,
That shall convey you to the wish'd-for port.
Is there aught else, my friends, I can do for you?
The conqueror draws near. Once more, farewell!
If e'er we meet hereafter, we shall meet
In happier climes, and on a safer shore,
Where Cæsar never shall approach us more.
There the brave youth, with love of virtue fir'd Who greatly in his country's cause expir'd, Shall know he conquer'd. The firm patriot there, Who made the welfare of mankind his care, Though still by faction, vice, and fortune cross'd, Shall find the generous labour was not lost. [The four Soldiers take up the Bier.-A dead March-Exeunt Lucics and Senators, two by two-CATO-Bier, attended as before -PORCIUS and JUBA-Eagle-Fasces, two by two-Ensigns S.P.Q.R.-Ensigns, Pateras-Guards, &c.
SCENE I-A Chamber in the Palace.-CATO dis covered, sitting as in deep meditation, holding in his hand Plato's book on the Immortality of the Soul-a drawn sword lying by him on the table.
Cato. It must be so ;-Plato, thou reasonest well;Else whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, This longing after immortality?
Or whence this secret dread and inward horror
Of falling into nought? Why shrinks the soul
Back on herself and startles at destruction?
"Tis the divinity that stirs within us;
"Tis Heaven itself that points out an hereafter,
And intimates eternity to man.
Eternity![Rises and comes forward.]-Thou pleas-
ing, dreadful, thought!-
Through what variety of untried being,
Through what new scenes and changes must we pass!
The wide, the unbounded prospect lies before me,
But shadows, clouds, and darkness rest upon it.-
Here will I hold: If there's a Power above us-
(And that there is, all nature cries aloud
Through all her works) he must delight in virtue;
And that which he delights in must be happy.
But when? or where This world was made for
Cæsar.-
I'm weary of conjectures: This must end 'em.
[Goes back to the table, laying his hand on his
sword.]
Thus am I doubly arm'd: my death and life,
My bane and antidote, are both before me:
This in a moment brings me to an end;
But this informs me, I shall never die.
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[CATO takes the sword,
Now, Caesar, let thy troops beset our gates,
And bar each avenue; thy gathering fleets
O'erspread the sea, and stop up every port;
Cato shall open to himself a passage,
And mock thy hopes.
Por. [Kneels] O sir, forgive your son,
Whose grief hangs heavy on him! O, my father-
How am I sure it is not the last time
I e'er shall call you so:-be not displeas'd,
O, be not angry with me, whilst I weep,
And, in the anguish of my heart, beseech you
To quit the dreadful purpose of your soul.
Cato. Thou hast been ever good and dutiful.
[Lays his hand on his head.
Weep not, my son; all will be well again :
The righteous gods, whom I have sought to please,
Will succour Cato, and protect his children.
Por. Your words give comfort to my drooping
[Rises.
Cato. Porcius, thou mayst rely upon my conduct: Cato will never act what misbecomes him.But go, my son; take care that nought be wanting Among thy father's friends; see them embark'd; And tell me if the winds and seas befriend 'em.My soul is quite weigh'd down with care, and asks The soft refreshments of a moment's sleep.
[CATO goes up the Stage.-PORCIUS follows him and kneels at his feet.-CATO looks kindly upon him, and then exit. Por. My thoughts are more at ease; my heart revives.
[Cames forward with a roll of paper and a sword.] 0, Marcia, O, my sister, still there's hope;
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