University of Virginia Library

SCENE III.

—A Square, with the Statue of Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus.
Enter Caius Gracchus, Titus, Marcus, and Citizens.
Caius.
What son of Rome may not his country call
To do her service? Romans, you desire
I should defend your laws from abrogation,
And I obey you.

Tit.
Caius! worthy Caius!

Caius.
Some coldness there has been between us; but
We know the cause, and so are friends again.
Our enemies may once prevail by craft,
But not a second time. Now show yourselves
The men you should be. If your liberties
And rights are dear to you, be faithful to them.
Fear not the senate; call upon the tribes;
Be freemen—none will dare to make you slaves!

Enter Flaccus.
Fla.
Caius, the consul is about to pass,
Proceeding to the sacrifice, which he
Has order'd, to give impious sanctity
To his designs against you.

Caius.
Pray you, now,
My friends, observe good order. Let them pass.

[The Citizens retire.
Music.—A Procession of Priests, &c., followed by Opimius as Consul, attended by Drusus and Senators.
Opi.
[Seeing Gracchus.]
What! Do you wait to interrupt us here,—
You, Caius Gracchus, Fulvius, and the rest,
With your lewd rabble?

Caius.
You may see, Opimius,
The way is clear for you.

Opi.
Oh! is it so?
'Tis well, indeed, you give us leave to pass!
You're very humble now, good Caius Gracchus!
Drusus, is this the man that thought to ride
The necks of the senators? This the lawgiver,
That parcell'd out the lands of the patricians?
Why, yes! 'Tis Caius Gracchus!

Caius.
True, Opimius;
'Tis even Caius Gracchus.

Opi.
How! so humble?
What! This the gentleman that rail'd at us
The other day with such a fearless tongue?
Call'd us luxurious, proud—oppressors—tyrants,—
The common robbers of the state? This he?
What knave may not grow honest! Speak your soul, man!
Tell us you hate us,—spurn us, mock us, and
Revile us, as you were wont to do! I hate
The double villain. We are not the consul!
These are not lictors! Gracchus does not fear
To let us know his thoughts.

Caius.
I will not stay
To give you plea of quarrel. Know, Opimius,
The man that loves his country may respect
The shadow of her greatness.

[Goes out.
Opi.
Ha!—Take heed!
Look to your safety! On to the sacrifice.

[Music.—Opimius and his party go out.
Fla.
Is this to be endured? Could Caius brook it?
I have no blood of his within my veins,
And yet they boil!

Mar.
Had he but spoke the word,
He should have been avenged. He rail'd at us,—
Let's follow him!

Tit.
Hold, for the common cause!

Mar.
The common cause were served by any hurt
That we could do Opimius. He's a tyrant!

Fla.
The worst of tyrants!

Mar.
Come, let's follow him, and rid our country of a tyrant!

Tit.
Stay! How are we prepared for such a thing?
Remember, too, it is the time of sacrifice.

Fla.
Caius was tame to bear it. See! he returns,
And chafing like a flood from its embankment
New burst!

Re-enter Caius Gracchus.
Caius.
Endure a life on sufferance
Like this! Why, you must think me water, friends,
Or something farther still removed from blood—
If there's such poverty in nature—that
I seem to have no proper heat in me,
To keep cool veins under the force of that
Whose only sight, I see, sets yours a-boiling.

Tit.
Here comes his lictor with the entrails.

Enter a Lictor, with the entrails.
Lictor.
Way, there, evil citizens!

[Goes out.
Tit.
Down with him! 'Tis an evil word for him.

Citizens.
Down with him!

[Titus and Citizens rush out.
Caius.
Hold! hold! Come back, my friends—my countrymen!
You know not—

[A loud groan without.
Re-enter Titus, with a bloody dagger.
Tit.
You are revenged! He's dead!

Caius.
Blood shed! Blood is not wash'd away except
With blood!
[The Citizens return slowly and sullenly.
Why do you this? Why do you ever that
You should not do? Who bade you take my quarrel
Into your own hands? Who? I did not ask you
For help or counsel. Gods! if I resolve
To stake my life, may I not fix the game
I throw't away on? Had I not here the tyrant
Himself, within arm's reach,—that but a stride
Like this, had made my weapon and his heart
Acquainted? Had I not? If I did think
A gust of spleen, a fit of temper, a
Sour stomach, was a thing to pitch against
The cause,—had I not man enough in me,
Though thrice the number of his satellites
Environ'd him, to smite him to my foot?
And you must smite his slave! Now, look you, for
That slave, the stones we tread on shall weep blood,
And our veins lend the tears!

Fla.
Remember, 'twas
For you they did it.

Caius.
Me? Oh! I retain
The memory of all they have done for me!

Fla.
Observe their looks: they are depress'd and spiritless
From your rebuke. It is not well to bring
Their zeal to such an ebb.

Caius.
It is, indeed,
The tide for ebbing. [Thunder.]
Listen! Do you hear?

Tit.
The heavens lower—

Caius.
On us! There is something awful in their speech,
More than the sound. [Thunder again.]
That's anger!

Enter Vettius, hastily.
Vet.
Disperse! disperse! The consul heavily
Has ta'en his lictor's death. The senate is
Convoked.

[Louder thunder, the Citizens withdraw slowly.
Caius.
Now it speaks out. 'Tis not for naught
They keep that stirring in the heavens. Some foot,
On haste with wrath, hath from Jove's presence now
Gone forth, the bearer of an errand, whose
Dread import hath set all Olympus shaking!

Fla.
You are infusing fear into the crowd:
This is no way to remedy the evil.
Think what can best be done.

Caius.
Nothing is best,
Where nothing can be done.

Fla.
Here comes your brother.

Enter Licinius, hastily.
Lic.
A decree has pass'd the senate, that the consul
Look to the public safety. Caius, you,
And Fulvius Flaccus, are the men they aim at;
You must protect yourselves!

[Thunders still louder.
Fla.
Observe, the citizens fall off from us.

Caius.
Why, let them go! As long as our veins are full,
Why should theirs flow? Let them fall off to one—
To none! Their carrion would but poison Rome,
And breed a mortal, general pestilence!
Let them, I say! It shall be writ in blood,
The man who labours for the people's good,
The people shall give up to sacrifice!
So shall their groans unpitied rend their breasts,—
Unheeded, save of them whose ears confess
No sweeter music! Here, even at the foot
Of my great father's statue, I will brave
The tyrant's wrath alone!

[Kneels at his father's statue, hiding his face with his hands.
Fla.
What! hold your neck
To the axe?

Enter Pomponius, hastily.
Pom.
Caius, the consul's lictors, I'm advised,
Are on the watch for you.

Fla.
Meet force with force!
[The Citizens return in larger numbers.
The people throng to you again. 'Twas but
The storm dispersed them. Not for yourself, alone,
Consent to draw the sword, but for your friends,
As well, proscribed along with you; nor, yet,
For them, but for your country, on whose neck
The tyrant plants his foot! Art thou the man
To let her lie there, when no arm but thine
Can lift her thence? Look on the people!—See!
They stretch their hands to thee! A word, each hand
Will grasp a weapon!

The People.
Caius!

Caius.
You prevail!
Against myself, I pledge myself. O Rome!
The sons do love thee most, must help thy foes
To shed thy blood! To-morrow, friends! to-morrow!

[They go out.