 | The Banishment of Cicero |  |
SCENE II.
A Street in Rome.CLODIUS and GABINIUS.
CLODIUS.
Now thou shalt feel me, Rome. Come on, my friend;
Loud as the orgies of the God of wine,
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And rock the throne of Jove. I tread on air;
My mounting spirits lift me from the earth,
Gay dancing pleasures play around my heart,
And the full Bacchus revels in my veins.
GABINIUS.
Excellent Piso! O most potent Consul!
Divine philosopher! why, what a lecture
Hath yon old thirsty stoic read us, Clodius,
In the Symposia? Gods! with what a throat
He quaft the rich Falernian, till the fumes
Wrapp'd round the giddy roof, and breath'd a gale
Mix'd with Sabean odors; all the while
A female band of Grecian dancers trod
Their wanton measures to the melting sound
Of breathing flutes, that caught the ravish'd soul,
And sooth'd it into harmony and love.
CLODIUS.
Never did lust and luxury assume
So sanctified a form; by the great Gods!
Methinks your collegue, Aulus, hath a swallow
As deep as Erebus; he is a man
Fit to sit down at a celestial banquet,
And pledge the Gods in nectar.—But behold!
Yon sober orb hath turn'd her back on night,
And leans tow'rds morning;—the choice minutes fly,
My soul is up in arms and pants for action:
Oh! for some master-deed of glorious mischief;
Something, I know not what, but full of wonder,
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A deed to add new terror to my name,
Silence the cavils of proud prying gownsmen,
And fright the world from its dull dream of virtue.
GABINIUS.
Agreed; let's up together to mount Palatine;
Fire Cicero's palace; pull the dreaming dotard
By the long lazy neck, from the stale arms
Of shrill Terentia; force his pale-fac'd daughter
Before his eyes; then send her weeping back
To her beloved Caius; bid him take her
Fresh from her wrongs to his fond foolish bosom,
And glean the sordid refuse of our joys.
CLODIUS.
Hah! that were well; a great and apt revenge
Is my soul's health.—Yet stay—It dawns upon me,
A bold, sublime, and unattempted deed:
By Heaven! the glorious face of danger charms me,
And my soul rushes ardent to embrace it.
GABINIUS.
What is it, speak; oh! how I burn to hear it.
CLODIUS.
If there be thunder, and a Heaven, and Gods,
They must revenge; befall that as it may:
I think not with the vulgar; let Heaven strike,
So shall I perish by no earthly hand;
But if the light'ning sleep, farewell these horrors,
Hell is a dream, Religion is a jest,
And nothing real, but this world we live in.
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Why are you rapt? let me partake your thoughts.
CLODIUS.
My purse, my mistress, and my best of means
Freely partake; in danger and in fame
I brook no rival, and admit no friend:
All else is open to thee.
GABINIUS.
Take, O Clodius,
Take the full glory of thine own attempt,
Give me the merit only to have known it.
CLODIUS.
Honest and brave, I know thee; yet, my friend,
Were this place where we stand a desart waste,
No living creature but thyself to hear me,
And yon pale conscious planet o'er our heads,
I would not tell it in the ears of night,
Lest things inanimate should take a voice
And blazon it to the world: farewell, farewell!
(Exit Clodius.
GABINIUS.
Fortune and fame go with thee, crown thy wishes,
And bring thee back in safety to thy friend.
(Exit.
| The Banishment of Cicero | |