Cato: A Tragedy, in Five Acts

Marc. Thy downcast looks, and thy disorder'd thoughts,
Tell me my fate. I ask not the success
My cause has found.

Por. I'm grieved I undertook it.

Marc. What, does the barbarous maid insult my heart,
My aching heart, and triumph in my pains?
That I could cast her from my thoughts for ever!

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 deserved this treatment?

Marc. What have I said? Oh! Portius, Oh, forgive me!
A soul exasperated in ills, falls out
With every thing – its friend, itself – but hah![Shout.
What means that shout, big with the sounds of war?
What new alarm?

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.

SCENE II

Part of the Senate House

Enter Sempronius, with Leaders of the Mutiny

Sem. At length the winds are raised, 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.
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. [Exit.

1 Lead. We are all safe; Sempronius is our friend.
Sempronius is as brave a man as Cato.
But, hark, he 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.

Enter Sempronius, with Cato, Lucius,

Portius, and Marcus

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 astonish'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 injured strike the blow.
Which of you all suspects that he is wrong'd,
Or thinks he suffers greater ills than Cato?
Am I distinguished from you but by toils,
Superior toils, and heavier weight of cares?
Painful pre-eminence!

Sem. Confusion to the villains! all is lost![Aside.

Cato. Have you forgotten Lybia's burning waste,
Its barren rocks, parch'd earth, and hills of sand,
Its tainted air, and all its broods of poison?
Who was the first to explore th' untrodden path,
When life was hazarded in ev'ry step?
Or, fainting in the long laborious march,
When, on the banks of an unlook'd-for stream,
You sunk the river with repeated draughts,
Who was the last of all your host who thirsted?