University of Virginia Library

SCENE III.

Domitius and Petronia, in Prison.
PETRONIA.
I can no more;—I feel my spirits fail:—
The Romans, and your courage, lent me strength;—
But now the woman reassumes her right.

DOMITIUS.
O, fair as Nature ever fram'd a virgin!
Thou first, sole sovereign of this pang-torn breast!
Dearer to me than conquests to Ambition!
To-day the gods have prov'd us with distress;
But soon they must, believe me, change thy doom,
Nor suffer worth, so like their own, to perish.

PETRONIA.
Something sat heavy on my mind this morning,
And whisper'd, “Stir not; as you prize your freedom,
Petronia, stir not.”—Awe-struck with the warning,
I would have staid.

DOMITIUS.
Yes, Fair-one, I'm to blame.
Whate'er befals you, I'm th' unhappy cause.
Yet sure the Romans, barbarous as they are,
Cannot behold your charms, and bid you die.
By Heaven they shall not, while Domitius lives!
I'll step 'twixt Fate and thee.

PETRONIA.
You are a prisoner.

DOMITIUS.
I am; would Heaven that that were all, Petronia!
I am your lover; you are bound in chains:
Fulvius might kill me, but he could not hurt:
I only feel for you.

PETRONIA.
This proof of love
I could have well dispens'd with.

DOMITIUS.
After so long a martyrdom of courtship,
When you, your parents, and when Fortune smil'd;
When my whole soul was eagerness and hope;
When yellow Hymen pointed to the temple;
Thus to be hurl'd into th' abyss of woe,
Is cruel, cruel: Hold, heart! some Roman enters.

Enter a Lictor.
LICTOR.
I am commanded by the Consul Appius,
To bring Domitius straightway to his presence.

DOMITIUS.
I obey.

[Lictor retires.