University of Virginia Library

SCENE THE FIRST.

Appius, Marcus.
Ap.
Virginius in Rome?

Mar.
'Tis but too true.

Ap.
Hast thou beheld him?

Mar.
With these eyes I saw him.
Thou also wilt behold him here ere long,
For he is seeking thee.

Ap.
How from the camp
Could he depart, if an express command
Of mine detain'd him there?

Mar.
Thy interdict
Perchance arrived too late; the generals
Perchance were loath t'enforce it ...

Ap.
The commands
Of Appius, who e'er was loath t'obey?
I rather guess Icilius forestall'd me ...
Thence shall he reap the recompence he merits.
Already, ere Virginia had been dragged
To the tribunal, had a messenger
Been to her sire dispatch'd. At his approach
The aspect of our enterprize is changed:
Yet not for this ...

Mar.
Already, bathed in tears,
The parents, with their daughter, through the streets,
Through every pathway, suppliantly run,
Muffled in squalid garb, and in their course
They leave behind a formidable track
Of tears and indignation: here, perchance
Ere long, thou wilt behold them. But in guise
Far different to theirs, by multitudes,
Encreasing instantaneously, begirt,
The fierce Icilius, throughout the city,
Clad in habiliments of battle, speeds.
He menaces, adjures, exhorts, attests.—
The mother's tears, the virgin's loveliness,
The hoary valour of the warlike father,
The factious outcries of their former tribune,
A formidable aliment provide
To a more formidable flame:—take heed.

Ap.
Do thou take heed, and tremble for thyself;
And if thou wilt, for me: since for myself
I shall not tremble.—Go, I see Virginius
Coming towards me; leave me with him alone.