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 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!

Sem. [Aside, L.] By heavens, they droop:-
Confusion to the villains !-all is lost.

Cato. Hence, worthless men !—hence, and complain to Cæsar,

You could not undergo the toils of war,

Nor bear the hardships that your general bore.

---

Luci. (R. c.) See, Cato, see-the unhappy men!

they weep:

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 leaders, And pardon shall descend on all the rest.

Sem. (L. c.) Cato, commit these wretches to my care: First, let them each be broken on the rackThen, 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 on a fork, and blackening in the sun.

Cato. Forbear, Sempronius:-see, they suffer death; But, in their deaths, remember they are men.

[The Mutineers retire, R.-SEM. crosses to R.-
CATO goes up the Stage to L.

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 mortals perish,
The gods behold their punishment with pleasure,
And lay the uplifted thunderbolt aside.

3

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, Lu-
CIUS, Senators, Ensign, Lictors, and Guards,
L. and L. S. E.-Traitors stand R.

Jun. Sempronius, you have acted like yourself: One would have thought, you had been half in earnest. Sem. (L.) Villain, stand off!-Base, groveling, worthless wretches!

Mongrels in faction! poor faint-hearted traitors!

Tit. (R. C.) 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 pre

sume

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.—
Guards-

Enter Guards, L. S. E.

Here, take these factious monsters, drag them forth
To sudden death.

Jun. 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 Mutineers, R.

Enter SYPHAX, L. U. E.

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

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 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. (R.) Confusion! I have fail'd of half my pur

pose:

Marcia, the charming Marcia's left behind!

Syph. How! will Sempronius turn a woman's slave? 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.

Sylph. 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 given to none but Juba and her brothers..

Syph. (L. C.) 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. I thank thy friendly zeal :-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 their breast, and vary in her face!
So Pluto, seiz'd of Proserpine, convey'd
To hell's tremendous gloom the affrighted maid ;
There grimly smil'd, pleas'd with the beauteous prize,
Nor envied Jove his sunshine and his skies.

[Exeunt, L.

END OF ACT III

D

ACT IV.

SCENE I-A Portico of the Palace.

Enter MARCIA and LUCIA, R.

Luc. (L. c.) Now tell me, Marcia, tell me from thy soul,

If thou believ'st 'tis possible for woman

To suffer greater ills than Lucia suffers ?

Mar. (R. c.) 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 Sempronius ?
Lucia, I like not that loud boisterous man :

Juba to all the bravery of a hero

Adds softest love and sweetness: he, I own,

Might make indeed the proudest woman happy.

Luc. But, should your father give you to Sempronius?
Mar. I dare not think he will: but, if he should-
I hear the sound of feet:-they march this way.

Let us retire, and try if we can drown
Each softer thought in sense of present danger.
[Goes up the Stage.
When love once pleads admission to our hearts,
In spite of all the virtue we can boast,

The woman that deliberates is lost. [Exeunt, L. S. E.

Enter SEMPRONIUS, R. dressed like JUBA, with Numidian Guards.

Sem. The deer is lodg'd; I've track'd her to her

covert:

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, "Tis Juba's self. There is but one way left: He must be murder'd, and a passage cut

Through those his guards. Hah, dastards, do you tremble?

Or act like men; or, by yon azure heaven

Enter JUBA, R. with Guards.

Juba. What do I see? Who's this, that dares 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!

Sem. My sword shall answer thee-have at thy heart. Juba. Nay, then beware thy own, proud barbarous

man.

[They fight, R. C.-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 fall 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!

[Dies. 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, this mystery of fate.

[Exit, R. with Guards and Prisoners.

Enter MARCIA and LUCIA, L.

Luc. (L.) Sure, 'twas the clash of swords: my troubled heart

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. (R. C.) 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.