 | The Roman Revenge |  |
65
SCENE III.
PORTIA.(alone.)
(After an astonish'd Pause.)
—Some dreadful Meaning!
And my too wakeful Fears confirm it just:
Cassius, of late, with warm, assiduous Art,
Flatters my Brutus, whom his Envy shun'd:
Cassius is wily, proud, malicious, bitter!
Burns, with ungovern'd Hate: and brooks not Cæsar.
Associate Vice may taint the soundest Virtue:
And Honour bleeds, shou'd Cæsar fall by Brutus!
Not that my patriot Heart disclaims the Roman!
I, who was born to Liberty's great Guardian,
By right of Nature, shun tyrannic Sway:
Yet Brutus—twice offending—twice forgiven,
Twice, forfeited to Cæsar's Clemency,
His own lost rights to Justice:—shou'd he, then,
Quench the kind Light, he lives by, the rash Murderer
Kills his own Fame, and dies to every Virtue;
| The Roman Revenge | |