 | The Tragedy of Sertorius |  |
SCEN. I.
Bebricius, Sertorius.Bebr.
If the Decrees of Jove, in Thunder spoke,
Or the sad Character of warning Gods,
In ample Prodigies inlarge themselves;
You must not hence, unless unto your Fate:
Osca, till now, was stranger to these sights,
Which fright the vulgar, and confound the wise.
Last night, when Horror did in darkness Reign,
When Graves gave up their dead to trace the Earth,
And the unquiet Ghosts, as robb'd of rest,
With horrid Schreams and howlings of the Damn'd,
Fill'd every Soul with terror of the change:
Our Priests (as when Neptune his Trident struck
The angry Element, and call'd the Springs
To vomit up a Deluge o're the Earth,)
To every Pow'r Divine they Sacrifice;
While angry Heav'n in Thunder drowns their Pray'rs
And with repeated Storms, does threaten end
To the World's frame.
Sert.
'Tis strange indeed, Bebricius;
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Why should we dread what first or last will com?
Jove, from the Earth, form'd us to what we are;
Infus'd a noble fire within our Souls,
Whose heat gave life, and wrought our stupid Sense
Unto the glorious actions, which create
Envy in Gods, and Honor in us Men,
And makes our Fame out-live us in our deeds.
Bebr.
That Glory is the Soul of noble men
Living to merit, justly I believe;
But when on Earth, as once was 'gainst the Heav'ns
The Beings which from Chaos were produc'd
Rose in Rebellion 'gainst the Lord of all:
The kinder Gods, by glorious actions won,
Speak loud, as far as Fate will give 'em leave,
To save the mortal lov'd from sudden harm.
Sert.
Thou would'st persuade me then, that this portends
Danger to me; pointed to me alone?
Would'st in my brest infuse I know not what,
And make me Subject to an idle fear?
Bebr.
The Gods declare, that we may shun that Storm
Which gathers in the Wind, and threats from far:
Not with a Natural war divides the Clouds;
But, speaking, forms a Thunder with his voice;
Which, did not Fate oppose, would Eccho here
The Revolutions known in Skyes above.
I, as a Prophet, and by Friendship fir'd,
Swell with the object; which my thoughts unravel:
And now, the visits, vail'd by Night and shame,
Appear at full; made by Perpenna's guile:
Crassus, Ligurius, could not shun my sight,
Tho wing'd by fear, and muffled with their Cloaks;
'Twas there I hous'd 'em; and am confident
A nest of Villains brood within the walls.
Sert.
It is impossible. Can they, my Friends,
Equal in greatness and in pow'r, as when
Marius did awe in Rome, contrive the fall
Of him who rais'd 'em to that height of pow'r
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The melancholy which Norbanus bears
Deep in his bloud, promts him to change! Oh, no:
They court the lonely places, and do hate
Human Society, the joy of Earth!
Or that Ligurius lightness in discourse
May give occasion to distrust him! I've,
In numerous dangers, seen him act as far
As the loud-talking Hero of the Field.
Tribunius merit rais'd him to that seat
Which now he holds; next thee, and my dead Cassius,
The man I prize; Can these my best of Friends,
Conspire against the man that they divide?
Bebr.
Pray Heav'n the Nation feel not the effects.
This I am sure, There is no good intended;
For, when I was devoted unto Love,
Admir'd the beauteous creature of her Sex,
That Sodom Apple, whose fair outside temts
Death in the tast, Plots and contrives like Fate,
Has numerous visitants of hot-brain'd youth,
Coveting danger for a smile from her;
Decius, the chief, who leads the pleasing Maze;
While she, adorn'd like Venus, shoots her beams
Into their Souls; which in a mighty blaze,
As subject Flames commanded by the Winds,
Threatens destruction: Can Sertorius think
Perpenna ign'orant of this work of Night?
No; I have seen him, unconcern'd, behold
Such amorous glances, and such liberty,
With his fair Wife; that, were it not design'd
To lure 'em with the specious bait of Beauty,
It were above an honest man to bear.
Sert.
The ag'd, Bebricius, always look on youth
With thoughts of danger and of Jealousy;
And, from the gayness (which they think adorns,)
That makes 'em light and Airy in their Meen,
Take too severe a judgment. Oh, Friend! in Love
VVe know not what we say; but if the Sex
Command a deed ignoble, then the brave
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And loath the object which affected change.
Bebr.
'Tis fix'd in Fate. Sooner the Adamant,
By vernal dew, shall all its hardness lose;
Than the lost minute call from hoary Time,
VVhose Scythe has cut deep into ignorance.
'Tis not my fault, you Gods; for, as a Friend,
And call'd to speak, I've utter'd every thought.
Hast then, Sertorius, struggle with thy Fate,
Roar like a Lyon catch'd within the Toyl,
Neglecting the poor Beast that gave him warning:
Then, when inclos'd, I'll summon all my strength;
Or set thee free, or perish in the Snare.
Sert.
Something thou'st said, like Ice, sits chilling here;
And the rash thought, tho light as Air before,
Now, like a weight hurl'd in som quiet stream,
In many circles wreaths th'adjacent floud,
And from the bottom raises flakes of Ouze:
The clearness of my mind, once void of fear,
Thou hast infected with the poys'nous sound.
Oh Doubt, that tortur'st more than points of Swords!
By Heav'n, these shapes of fear, these dreams of night,
Thus I discard, for ever banish hence,
And live above the reach of envious men.
| The Tragedy of Sertorius | |