Cato: A Tragedy, in Five Acts

Sem. Did not his temples glow
In the same sultry winds and scorching heats?

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.

Lucius. 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 yon 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, impaled, 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.

Cato. Forbear, Sempronius! – see they suffer death,
But in their deaths remember they are men;
Strain not the laws, to make their tortures grievous.
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. Meanwhile, we'll sacrifice to liberty.
Remember, O my friends! the laws, the rights,
The gen'rous plan of power delivered 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, etc.

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!

1 Lead. Nay, now, you carry it too far, Sempronius!

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 their Leaders.

Enter Syphax

Syph. Our first design, my friend, has proved 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
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.

Syph. Well said! that's spoken like thyself, Sempronius!
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. 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. Heavens, what a thought is there! Marcia's my own!