Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

ACT III. SCENE I.

MARCUS and PORTIUS.

MARCUS.

HANKS to my stars, I have not rang'd about

T.The wilds of life, ere I could find a friend;

Nature first pointed out my Portius to me,
And early taught me, by her fecret force,
To love thy perfon, ere I knew thy merit;
Till, what was inftinct, grew up into friendship.
PORTIU S.

Marcus, the friendships of the world are oft
Confederacies in vice, or leagues of pleasure;
Ours has fevereft virtue for its bafis,

And fuch a friendship ends not but with life.

MARCU S.

Portius, thou know'ft my foul in all its weakness; Then pr'ythee spare me on its tender fide,

Indulge me but in love, my

other paffions

Shall rise and fall by virtue's nicest rules.

PORTIU S.

When love 's well-tim'd, 'tis not a fault to love. The strong, the brave, the virtuous, and the wife, Sink in the foft captivity together.

[ocr errors]

I would not urge thee to dismiss thy passion,

(I know 'twere vain) but to fuppress its force,
Till better times may make it look more graceful.

MARCUS.

MARCUS.

Alas. thou talk'ft like one who never felt
Th' impatient throbs and longings of a foul,
That pants and reaches after distant good.
A lover does not live by vulgar time:
Believe me, Portius, in my Lucia's abfence
Life hangs upon me, and becomes a burden;
And yet when I behold the charming maid
I'm ten-times more undone; while hope, and fear,
And grief, and rage, and love, rife up at once,
And with variety of pain diftract me.

PORTIU S.

What can thy Portius do to give thee help?
MARCUS.

Portius, thou oft enjoy'ft the fair-one's presence:
Then undertake my cause, and plead it to her
With all the strength and heat of eloquence
Fraternal love and friendship can inspire.
Tell her thy brother languishes to death,
And fades away, and withers in his bloom;
That he forgets his fleep, and loaths his food,
That youth, and health, and war, are joyless to him:
Defcribe his anxious days and restlefs nights,
And all the torments that thou feeft me fuffer.

PORTIU S.

Marcus, I beg thee, give me not an office That fuits with me fo ill. Thou know'ft my temper

MARCUS.

Wilt thou behold me finking in my woes?.

And wilt thou not reach out a friendly arm,
To raise me from amidst this plunge of forrows?

PORTIUS.

PORTIUS.

Marcus, thou canst not ask what I'd refuse. But here believe me I 've a thousand reasons

MARCUS.

I know thou 'lt fay, my passion 's out of season,
That Cato's great example and misfortunes

Should both confpire to drive it from my thoughts.
But what 's all this to one who loves like me?
Oh Portius, Portius, from my foul I with
Thou didst but know thyself what 'tis to love!
Then would'st thou pity and affift thy brother.
PORTIU S.

What should I do! If I difclofe my paffion,
Our friendship 's at an end: if I conceal it,
The world will call me falfe to a friend and brother.

MARCU S.

[Afide.

But fee where Lucia, at her wonted hour,

Amid the cool of yon high marble arch,

Enjoys the noon-day breeze! obferve her, Portius! That face, that shape, those eyes, that heaven of beauty! Obferve her well, and blame me if thou canst.

PORTIUS.

She fees us, and advances

MARCUS.

I'll withdraw,

And leave you for a while. Remember, Portius,

Thy brother's life depends upon thy tongue.

[Exit.

Enter

Enter LUCIA.

LUCIA.

Did not I fee your brother Marcus here?
Why did he fly the place, and fhun my presence?

PORTIU S.

Oh, Lucia, language is too faint to fhow
His rage of love; it preys upon his life;
He pines, he fickens, he despairs, he dies:
His paffions and his virtues lie confus'd,
And mix'd together in fo wild a tumult,
That the whole man is quite disfigur'd in him.
Heavens! would one think 'twere poffible for love
To make such ravage in a noble foul!

Oh, Lucia, I'm diftrefs'd! my heart bleeds for him 3
Ev'n now, while thus I stand bleft in thy prefence,
A fecret damp of grief comes o'er my thoughts,
And I'm unhappy, though thou smil'st upon me.

LUCIA.

How wilt thou guard thy honour, in the shock Of love and friendship? Think betimes, my Portius Think how the nuptial tie, that might ensure Our mutual blifs, would raise to fuch a height Thy brother's griefs, as might perhaps destroy him.

PORTIU S.

Alas, poor youth! what doft thou think, my Lucia? His generous, open, undesigning heart

Has begg'd his rival to folicit for him.

Then do not strike him dead with a denial,
But hold him up in life, and cheer his foul

With the faint glimmering of a doubtful hope:
Perhaps, when we have pass'd these gloomy hours,
And weather'd out the ftorm that beats upon us-

LUCIA.

No, Portius, no! I fee thy fifter's tears,
Thy father's anguish, and thy brother's death,
In the pursuit of our ill-fated loves.

And, Portius, here I fwear, to heaven I swear,
To heaven, and all the powers that judge mankind,
Never to mix my plighted hands with thine,
While fuch a cloud of mifchiefs hangs about us:
But to forget our loves, and drive thee out
From all my thoughts, as far—as I am able.

PORTIU S.

What haft thou faid! I'm thunder-ftruck!-Recall Thofe hafty words, or I am loft for ever.

LUCIA.

Has not the vow already pafs'd my lips?
The gods have heard it, and 'tis feal'd in heaven.
May all the vengeance, that was ever pour'd

On perjur'd heads, o'erwhelm me, if I break it!

PORTIU S.

[After a pause.

Fix'd in aftonishment, I gaze upon thee ; Like one just blafted by a stroke from heaven, Who pants for breath, and stiffens, yet alive, In dreadful looks: a monument of wrath!

LUCIA.

At length I 've acted my feverest part; I feel the woman breaking in upon me,

[ocr errors][merged small]
« ПредишнаНапред »