University of Virginia Library

ACT THE SECOND.

SCENE THE FIRST.

Appius.
Ap.
What is this, Appius? Thou with frantic love
Inflamed? ... With thy high projects for a throne
Dar'st thou to mingle an ignoble fondness
For a plebeian damsel? ... Yes; since she
Presumes to turn a deaf ear to my prayers,
It now becomes a necessary step
To power supreme, to make her yield to force.
But yet the people ... why should they alarm me?
Beyond all credence are the foolish people
Affrighted at the laws: If I beneath
The shelter of those laws to such a pitch
Have risen, to-day they surely may defend me;
First to create, and then abolish them,
Or bend them to my purpose, I have both
The power and skill. Much art it will require
To consummate my scheme of power; but less
Than I possess. 'Twas easier far to me,
Haughty patricians, to make tools of you,
Whose only passion is a lust of gold,
And sooner gold itself would be exhausted,
Than in yourselves the avaricious thirst:
With this I've gorged ye, though not sated yet;
And, for the present, instruments I've made you
For the destruction of the multitude:
For your annihilation afterwards
The day will come; a light task this will be
To him who has bought, oppress'd, degraded you.—
But see, Virginia comes to the tribunal;
With her, her mother and Icilius are,
And a vast multitude! A haughty train;
And perhaps a fearful one to any man
That were not Appius; but the man who feels
Within himself that he is born to reign,
Whose will is fixed on empire, or on death,
Can neither change his purposes, nor fear.

SCENE THE SECOND.

Appius, Icilius, Virginia, Numitoria, People, Lictors.
Ap.
What shouts are these I hear? and dare ye thus
Approach the sacred decemviral throne?

People.
Rome asks for justice from thee.

Ap.
And I ask
Respect and homage from the Roman people.
Not less to check all popular misrule,
Than for the safety of the people, here,
With me, Astræa sits: it seems to me
That these tremendous symbols of my office,
With which I am surrounded, silently
Remind you of this truth. Do ye so soon
Forget the sovereign power ye gave to me?
Say, is not Rome's collected majesty
By you to me transferr'd? Be pleased, I pray ye,
To be respectful to yourselves in me.

Nu.
Appius, thine eyes behold a wretched mother,
Whose only daughter a base miscreant
Would tear from her embrace; my true-born child,
Nourished by me, who in my sight grew up,
The object of her father's love and mine.
There are who dare asperse her with the name
Of Slave, who seek, by force, to seize her person,
To tear her from my arms. Th'unheard-of outrage
Fills Rome with horror, makes it tremble, shudder,
And drives me to distraction ... Here she is:
This is the virgin; this my only hope:
Great is her beauty, but her virtue greater.
Rome knows our manners and our characters:
There's nothing in us that resembles slavery.
A most tremendous question by my means
To-day will be decided: in the name
Of universal Rome I ask it of thee,
Are, or are not, our sons and daughters ours?

Ap.
A mother's vehemence in thee I pardon.
To thee I make reply; and, with thyself,
To universal Rome. Where there are laws,
He need not fear who has not broken them.
To tear from thee thy child, if she be thine,
Would be a vain attempt. Within my heart
Exists no motive to a partial verdict.
Before this high tribunal, hitherto,
No man appears proclaiming her a slave.
But ye, who are ye? be he true, or false,
Who is the imputed father of this damsel?

Nu.
Appius, and art thou ignorant? Behold her:
Virginia is her name; a name derived
From one her father, to thyself and Rome
Well known; known better only to her foes.
Of race plebeian are we, and herein
Do we exult: free was my daughter born,
Free shall she die. Of her unblemished birth
It may be held by thee no doubtful proof,
That of Icilius she's the chosen bride.

Ici.
Know, more than this, that to Icilius she
Is dearer far than life, and dear as freedom.

Ap.
'Tis now my wish alone to know if she
Be free, or not, by birth. Being to thee
Dear, and affianced, cannot change her lot.
Thy scowling aspect, thy ferocious words,
Imbued with bitterness, what can they do?
Icilius and Rome shall quickly hear me,
Whate'er she be, her destiny adjudge.

SCENE THE THIRD.

Marcus, Appius, Virginia, Numitoria, Icilius, People, Lictors.
Mar.
As it behoves a citizen, I come
Before thy eminent tribunal, Appius;
Few are there in my train; the crowd immense,
Encompassing my adversaries here,
Excites no terror in my steady heart.
I adduce proofs and arguments; not cries,
And force, and weapons. Appius nothing hears
Except the right; and of my right it is
No trifling proof, that these have first infringed
All legal usage, and have, ere I spake,
Sought to invalidate an unmade claim.

Ap.
True; this proceeding is unprecedented.

Ici.
But let us hear: do thou now state thy cause.

Mar.
That damsel, named from her pretended father,
Was, from a slave of mine, born in my house.
Hence, while an infant, by maternal fraud
Withdrawn from me, and for a certain price
To Numitoria sold, who cherished her,
Instead of one, who, dying, left her childless.
Virginius was the first caught by the fraud;
Hence he believed her, and believes her still,
To be his daughter. I have hither brought,
And they alone escort me to this place,
Persons who witnessed both the time, the manner,
The price of this transaction. They are ready
To ratify my statement with their oaths.

Nu.
Liars are always most disposed to swear.
Should what a Roman mother dares t'assert,
(Yes, Roman and plebeian) less be trusted
Than the vile evidence of those who make
An infamous traffic of their perjuries?
At least, before these swear that which is not,
For a few moments hear a mother speak.
From my emotion, from my grief, my words,
And from my gestures, let the people judge
Whether or not I am the real mother.

Ap.
I here should judge, and all the rest be silent.
And those especially, who, of revenge,
Of love, or anger, instruments alike,
And foes alone of reason, make themselves
Of all these passions partizans in turn.
These hitherto, too frequently in Rome,
Justice have interrupted or destroyed.

Ici.
Say, is it just to silence evidence?
That which to no man is forbidden, thou
Forbiddest to a mother?

Ap.
Thou wilt, perhaps,
Teach me to judge because thou wert a tribune?
A private individual, like thyself,
I too might feel compassion at the names
Of mother and of daughter. As a judge,
I must withstand these passionate appeals.
Nor is it fitting that I should to tears,
Or threats, here yield attention, but alone
To Reason's voice. The claimant's proofs first heard,
Then should I hear the feigned or real mother.
This is the course of law ... but in the laws
Ye place not now your confidence; I see it.

Ici.
Should we for ever hear the name of law,
Now that the will of few is absolute?
But since who breaks the law dares to adduce it,
I also will adduce its usages,
And say, that 'tis not lawful here to judge
The daughter, in the absence of the father.

People.
Thou speakest well: the father should be present.

Mar.
The father, as erewhile I mentioned to you,
Was never conscious of the mother's fraud.

Ici.
But I of yours am conscious; and if thou
Dost not from thy vile enterprise desist,
All Rome shall hear me, with a thundering voice,
Quickly divulge your impious machinations.

Ap.
Icilius, be silent. What dost hope?
In whom dost trust? In the seditious murmurs
Of a few factious miscreants, who applaud
Thy turbulent harangues? Oh fool, oh fool,
How much art thou deceived! I on myself
Alone repose; the love, e'en as the hate,
Of those who call themselves thy partizans,
Is ineffectual and precarious.
The people, not the Icilii, I esteem;
Their prating moves me not, their rage I fear not;
And their offensive flatteries I despise.

Ici.
'Tis well to scoff at those who must obey.
But on the day, when thou, throughout this Rome,
Intreated'st our vain suffrages; the day
When thou from pride affected'st to be humble;
Magnanimous from baseness; incorrupt,
And just, and pious, from impiety;
That day, in somewhat less audacious terms,
We heard thee speak. To all of us, thou now,
Appius, art known: thou hast made too much haste,
Made haste incautiously, to reassume
Thy real character; in all respects
Thou of a tyrant hast the attributes,
And, except prudence, all a tyrant's virtues:
Yet prudence, to all virtues paramount,
Was always held by men resembling thee,
The key-stone to the arch of tyranny.

People.
He speaks imprudently, but speaks the truth.

Ap.
I thought to-day, to pass a sentence here
Upon a slave; but now I clearly see
That I must first pass sentence on a rebel.

Ici.
I here expected to defend alone
The free birth of a maid to me betrothed:
My rights, the rights of Rome, the rights of all
My fellow citizens, how blest were I
If I were able to defend to-day,
E'en at the expense of my last drop of blood.

People.
Oh, spirit-stirring words! oh noble heart!
He is a Roman.

Ap.
Lictors, stand around him:
O'er his audacious head suspend your hatchets,
And at the least attempt ...

Virginia.
It shall not be,
Oh Heaven, no never! I will be his shield:
Direct to me your hatchets: let thy lictors
Drag me away a slave: my servitude
Is a small evil, and my death is none,
Provided that this hero be unhurt,
Rome's last remaining champion.

Ap.
From his side
Tear her away. A most portentous plot
Lies here conceal'd, and threatens Rome with danger.

Ici.
This is a dagger for herself and me,
If we are attack'd by force: no man shall dare,
While I have life, t'approach us.

People.
He fears nothing.

Ici.
Thou shalt be forced to kill me, ere this virgin
Can from this spot be dragg'd. Ah, Romans, learn
The terrible contrivance here conceal'd:
Learn with what instant danger Rome is threaten'd:
And then let me be slain before your eyes.
This Appius burns with infamous desires
For my Virginia.

People.
He defies all fear.

Ici.
Tried to seduce her; menaces and prayers
He used ... and sought at last with gold to bribe her:
The extremest outrage that to abject virtue,
Vice, when enthroned, dare offer. But her blood
Was not patrician, thence above all price.
Now he attempts to seize on her by force;
And 'tis enough to certify the fraud
To know the claimant's name: now for your children
Tremble, oh fathers; for your wives still more
Tremble, oh husbands. Now, what more remains
That we can lose? Our ill-defended lives?
But what is life, where honour and our children,
Our country, and the heart that makes it dear,
Our liberty, our laws, are taken from us?

People.
For us, and for our children, liberty
Or death.

Ap.
This is a lie ...

People.
Or liberty
Or death.

Nu.
Suspend awhile thy vehemence,
Oh generous people. Ah! may Heaven avert
That one, from me sprung, be the fatal cause
Of shedding rivers of pure Roman blood.
I ask alone, and in your name I ask it,
That in this cause Virginius may be heard.
From the insufferable, false aspersion,
E'en in his presence, and before you all,
If time be granted, I shall clear myself.

Ap.
Cease, cease your importunities, or I,
The stern executor of the law, will shew
That law in all its fiercest majesty.
You rouse yourselves in vain to a vain task;
There is no need of your audacious cries;
They are as useless justice to obtain,
As they are impotent to baffle it.
Icilius lies, and I will prove it. He,
Of every faction, every broil the head,
Long has he panted to shed civil blood.
He was your enemy, as he was ours,
When he was tribune. To destroy the senate,
Deceive the people, to vile servitude
Reduce us all, was his flagitious aim:
Hence towards us is his rage. It was your will
To yield to decemviral hands the reins
Of this most desolate and afflicted city:
Weary yourselves of impious fatal discord,
Ye made me what I am. Returning peace,
So ardently desired, scarce lifts her head,
And at a nod, a word, of him, the worst,
The basest of the citizens of Rome,
Shall I behold you eager for fresh tumults?

People.
'Tis true; he is our judge: but let us hear
The answer of Icilius.

Ici.
'Tis true;
A legislator and a judge ye made him;
But for a year; already long ago
His annual jurisdiction has expired;
And since that period he hath made himself,
By artifice, your judge, by force, your tyrant.
Peace, universal servitude he calls:
This is not peace, but a deep sleep of death.
The blood of our best citizens in streams
Runs in the camp: who, think ye, drinks that blood?
Our enemies perchance? The valiant Siccius,
He who dared in the camp invoke the name
Of ancient liberty, did he not fall
In a pretended contest, in the back,
By an insidious decemviral knife,
Transfix'd?

Ap.
The rebel Siccius presumed ...

Ici.
Why should I speak of murders? They are known.
Blood they have not as yet diffused in Rome,
But gold with lavish hand, which afterwards
Will be the horrible price of human blood.
He is accounted now a foe of Rome,
Who, as a Roman should, both speaks and thinks.
The virgins see themselves unjustly robb'd
Of husbands, parents, liberty, and fame.
What do ye now expect? The horrible yoke,
Far worse than any death, upon yourselves
By yourselves fasten'd; which scarce leaves to you
Man's character, or prostituted name,
Why falls it not to earth by you destroy'd?
Say, are ye Romans? your professions still
Are worthy of the name, but not your deeds.
Say, is there need of blood to goad you on?
Already in the tyrant's countenance
I read th'inflexible decree of death.
Ye satellites of blood, be expeditious,
Why do your weapons slumber? Appius, this,
This is the head, which, sever'd from my body,
The liberty of Rome shall take away,
Or ratify for ever. Appius, tremble
While it remains there; thou shalt ever hear it
Proclaiming vengeance, liberty, and arms.
If Rome contain no Roman but myself,
A second Brutus to a second Tarquin,
Living or dead, am I. Behold, I fly not;
I neither flinch nor tremble: here am I. ...

Virginia.
Oh heavens! oh, Appius, mitigate thy rage:
Shed not his life-blood with your axes: hear;
The people shudder, nor will they permit it.
Thou menacest a life of too much value:
Ah, take my life, the injury to thyself,
To Rome, will then be less ...

Ici.
What art thou doing?
Dost thou entreat? Entreat an Appius?
And in the presence of myself and Rome?
If thou dost love me, learn to banish fear:
And if I here, as a first pledge of love,
Should offer thee my life, do thou receive it
As is befitting for a Roman lady,
Freeborn, and to Icilius betroth'd.

Nu.
Oh dreadful moment! Appius, I pray thee
Yet once, once more; summon Virginius hither;
Let him be waited for, let him be heard.

People.
Appius, ah let Virginius be summon'd;
We all desire it ...

Ap.
And I more than all:
I wish him present here; so shall he be:
I, in the forum, by to-morrow's dawn,
Expect to meet you all. Although by law
His life is forfeited, I do not now
Condemn Icilius; ye might suspect
That he alarm'd me: for the present then
Be his life spared, and at the mighty question
Let him assist; if so he will, in arms;
And ye with him in arms. Ye first shall hear me
Pass sentence on the slave, and then on him.
To see this I invite you here; secure
In his own virtue, Appius trembles not.

Mar.
But the law wills, that meanwhile in my care
The dubious slave remain.

Ici.
The vile abode
Of a bribed satellite, shall that e'er be
Th'asylum of a virtuous virgin? ... Never!
There is no law iniquitous like this;
Or if there be, let it at once be broken.

Mar.
Who meanwhile will be surety for this damsel?

People.
All, all: we pledge ourselves.

Ici.
And I with them:
Let us depart. To-morrow's rising sun
Shall witness all of us assembled here,
Sure of ourselves and of our wives, or dead.

SCENE THE FOURTH.

Appius, Marcus.
Ap.
She loves Icilius? and she is his spouse?
Hence more inflexibly in my design
And more immutably, shall I persist.
Go, headstrong rebel, go, now in the people
Trust, while I. ...

Mar.
Appius, didst thou ever see
The people more inflamed, or more disposed
To insurrection?

Ap.
Nothing did I see
Except Virginia; and she shall be mine.
Thou perhaps would'st tell me that I ought to fear?
Dar'st thou say this to Appius? Did he,
Who fear'd the people, ever govern them?
With their first impulses to temporize;
Their second to anticipate; to wear
An aspect of perpetual defiance;
Subtly with haughty threat'nings to mix
Seductive flatteries: these are the chief arts
By which I am now what I am; and here
Greater than any man ere was before
Shall make myself.

Mar.
So long as lives Icilius,
In vain thou threaten'st or seducest them.
In him, and in his ardent eloquence,
His boldness as a tribune, they discover,
Their ancient rights recalling, powerful fuel
To feed again an unextinguish'd flame,
Which now breaks forth in enterprizing breasts.

Ap.
While there remains aught else for me to do,
Icilius shall live. 'Tis oftentimes
Not profitless to make parade of mercy:
Yes, let him live; and let the people see,
How little he can thwart the schemes of Appius.
Thou shalt behold that fickle people change
Its timid love to hatred and contempt,
And turn their weapons to Icilius' ruin.
Yes, thou shalt see that very populace
Made instrumental to his punishment.

Mar.
But ah, what courage to the multitude,
What strength to Icilius, will not the return
Of this Virginius bring?

Ap.
But the return
Of this Virginius, Marcus, dost expect it?
Come and behold, how, having once gain'd time,
Appius to use it well, wants not the skill.