University of Virginia Library

SCENE Changes to Favonia's Appartment.
[Favonia leaning on her hand in a Chair. Virginius leading Junius into the Room.
Vir.
Favonia—

Fav.
Ha! who calls?

Jun.
I can no more: I must end here,

[Faints at the sight of Favonia, She Shrieks at sight of Him.
Fav.
Ha!

Vir.
Fall into these Arms,
They never will refuse to bear thee up.
Favonia, call for help; he comes again;
Stay; lend your hand; soft, gently, set him down.
[In the Chair She rises out of.
How is it now?

Jun.
Conofunded in my shame,
That my infirmity should here intrude.
Your pardon, Madam, will recover me.

Vir.
Rally your routed spirits to your aid,
Rest will compose and bring 'em back again.
I cannot stay with you, but will return
To cheer, to comfort you, and to renew
The past endearments of our former Friendship.
I will provide you Balm for all your Wounds:
My Wife her self, your kind Physician,
Will wait upon you, till I come again.

[Exit.
Favonia, and Junius.
Jun.
I'm hunted to the brink of the Abyss:
Plunge in I must, and to the bottom now.
But first upon my Knees let me fall down.
Trembling, and aw'd, and fearful of your Frown,
Bespeaking pardon, if I wildly should,
In questioning the Gods upon my Fate,
Say any thing towards disturbing you.

Fav.
O rise, I must not hear you on your Knees.

Jun.
I'm blest, that you will hear me any way.
But O! the Accent of my Voice is chang'd:
You cannot know it now in misery.
There was a time, in the gay Spring of Life,
When every Note was as the mounting Lark's
Merry, and cheerful, to salute the Morn;
When all the day was made of Melody.
But it is past, that day is spent, and done,
And it has long been night, long night with me.
I have been happier, you have known me so.

Fav.
Alas! there is no Fortune perfect here.

Jun.
Indeed I find it: When I enter'd first
Into the List of this contending World,
I promis'd fair for a more prosperous course:
The Favourite of Fortune, and the Friend,
To perfect all, of my Virginius:
We liv'd the envy of our Capuan Youth,
The most aspiring to the Glorious Fame
Of Friendship, only imitated us.
So blest you found us.

Fav.
Would to all the Gods,
I ne're had come between you, to divide,
To part such Friends.

Jun.
O! had we parted there:
He to the rich possession of your Charms;
I to a poorer Fortune in my Love;
Yet rich enough, and happy in content,
All had been well: But he would have me home.

Fav.
O! I remember his impatience.

Jun.
To be a Witness of his happiness.
And so I was. I hear'd him every day
Transported in the Riot of the Theme;
Full of the ravishing Discoveries
He hourly made in that blest Land of Love:
The ever rising Springs of flowing Joy;
The hoarded Mines of treasures, yet unborn:
With such a rapture of variety
Of Pleasures that were ever growing there.
It was not safe to hear, I found it so.

Fav.
O Curs'd effect of foolish Vanity!

Jun.
What was it to approach then, to behold,
And face to face examine and compare
The Copied Beauties with the Original?
O! they were faint, and the description cold,
Heavy and dead, to the inspiring Life:
And what I thought Extravagance before,
Prov'd easie to the Wonders I saw there.

Fav.
What will this end in?

Jun.
Can we resolve to gaze upon the Sun
With steady Eyes? soon blinded by that Pride
I lost my way; and found my self too late,
Born down the torrent of a Passion,
That always ended in a Sea of Woe:
I plainly saw Ruin attend my Steps;
Therefore resolv'd to lead 'em far away,
Where they might never come to trouble you.
But O! it was with all the violence
Of Pangs, in Death, that I at last resolv'd,
And yielded to that only Remedy:
A Remedy worse than the worst of Deaths
To fly the Place, where I must die for Love,
Or live a Traitor to my Friend and Fame.

Fav.
What have you said?

Jun.
If I have said too much,
Believe, I rather had in silence dy'd,
Than to have spoke at all: This was the fate
I labour'd to avoid. But who can shun
His Destiny? it follows every where:
Capua, or Rome, or Cannæ, still the same.
I would have welcom'd it, that fatal day;
But there it lost me in the Crowd of Death.
This was the place of Execution;
And it has caught, and seiz'd, and bound me here:
I'm on the Rack: What I discover now,
Is only the expression of my Pain,
Wrung from my heart, long overcharg'd, and full,
Which else should burst with its Convulsive throws,
Rather than ease its Labour by a Groan,
A trembling Sigh, that might offend your Ear.

Fav.
O Junius! whither are you going? hold.

Jun.
A little farther, and I shall arrive
At my long home, the Goal of my Despair.
To ask your Pardon, wou'd repeat my Fault:
To ask your Pity, were to draw you in,
By steps of mercy, to a tenderness,
Criminal, and guilty, to reprieve a Wretch,
Who, for the Common Peace, and yours, must die.
There is no Ward against such Blows as these;
They stagger me, and I at last must fall.
Since I am doom'd to be a Sacrifice
Of fatal friendship, and of hopeless love.
Here let me fall, I wou'd be offer'd here;
[Falls at her Feet, she breaks his Fall, and kneels by him to recover him.
Allow me dying to confess my Love
In my last Sigh, and at your feet expire.

Fav.
Women enter, run to assist Junius, and lead him off.

[Exit at another Door.