 | The Tragedy of Sertorius |  |
SCEN. V.
Crassus, Ligurius, Norbanus, Decius, Tribunius; to Perpenna.Trib.
Hail, noble Roman!
Crass.
Hail noble Cneius!
Lig.
Hail the great Perpenna!
Dec.
Hail the great Perpenna!
Nor.
Hail the great Perpenna!
Perp.
The Omen's well, that, with a mind unite
To carry on this great deliv'ering work,
We here are met, as at a Signal given:
Tribunius, Crassus, and Ligurius,
Norbanus, and good Decius, use no speech;
But seat your selves. Now, Roman Lords, and Friends,
Once great in Fortune, not in emty sound;
The all that we enjoy; tho we may feign,
Like melancholy men who Reign in thought,
Revel in joyes, the meer Idea's form'd
From Fancy, wrought into a height by words,
But the effect is Air: Can you, my Friends,
Tho we may credit, in our fulness, things
Which stupid ease creates, be or secure or great?
We call our selves a Senate, and beget
Thoughts we are truly so. Sertorius says,
When barbarous Gaul's sack'd Rome and lay'd it wast,
Camillus unto Vei made retreat,
Gave out, that Rome it self was thither mov'd;
40
“Where e're the Senate was, there Rome was still;
Alluding to our abject States, to please
A few, once Senators, now Exil'd men.
Say then, if Cneius may be bold to speak
The plainest of his thoughts.
Nor.
You have, Perpenna.
Crass.
VVe expect from thee, as from an Oracle.
Lig.
Speak free, Perpenna; for thou art our Fate.
Perp.
Say we have fought, and gain'd a Victory,
If I may call it so; but which of you,
From public hands receiv'd the benefit?
Or did the Croud eccho your names from far;
Or to your Houses carry you with shouts?
If any such be here, then I am mute.
Omnes.
None; none, Perpenna.
Perp.
Know you why it was?
For great Sertorius, like a boundless Sea,
Swallows the many Riv'lets in his Main.
VVhich of your Swords cut not as deep as His?
I saw you fight, and stood amaz'd at it.
VVhat have the Barbarous giv'n you in return
For such expense? If praise will cure your wounds,
The Soldier's purchase; whether since, or no,
They've thought you worthy merit?
Trib.
VVe all fought:
They look'd upon us, rais'd a shout, and cry'd,
The Gods reward the noble Roman Chiefs.
Perp.
I, there it is; the Gods must pay you thanks,
VVhile, like a Tyrant, he ingrosses all;
And leaves us not our fame. But now I'll hast
To search our hidden griefs. Sertorius says
Sylla's a Fury; truly, so it seems,
For, maugre all opposers, still he Rules;
His Fame mounts with the Chariot of the Sun,
Rises and sets with his Etherial light:
Yet we despise him, and contemn his pow'r,
Content with sound, and lull'd with flattery.
Is not the beaten Pompey at our walls?
41
Sylla threatn'd to be here? yet we sleep,
Surrounded with these dangers. Noble Friends,
If any of you think I use this speech
To alienate your Loyalty; or form
Language that bears a bane unto your worths;
Speak, and Perpenna shall be ever mute.
Lig.
Th'hast freed us from the Lethargie, and added
Long-absent heat: Go on, thou noble Roman,
Who, while we slept, beheld our certain Fate.
Perp.
This City, which, to Rome, is like a Star
In magnitude, unto the Moon at full,
He calls New Rome; the Superstitious Croud,
Pleas'd with the novelty, count him a God:
And pay him Adoration. Don't we find,
While we exclaim 'gainst Sylla, Sylla here?
Here, in Sertorius? is he not Lord of Rule?
Does he not write himself Dictator too?
Saves, or destroys? are not his words as Laws?
And, tho he Lures us with the name of Friends,
Are we not under his Authority?
When I consider, noble Romans, Jove
Rive me with Thunder, if it irks me not,
To see our selves thus, by our selves, deceiv'd.
Nor.
Thoulst read the mystic Character of Fate,
And found the number of the Sacred Writ:
Now lead the path, remote from Slavery.
Perp.
I were not, Romans, worthy of your loves,
Could I not shun, as well as see the danger.
Consider, Friends, now, as your latest choice;
For Freedom is't, or Slavery we toil?
If Freedom we desire, as I believe
No Roman breaths a Soul, or holds a Life
Worthy enjoying, without the blessed Name;
It must be (pardon me, for Gods command)
By bloud: Nay, start not, worthy Roman Friends;
We all must suffer, if he lives; if dyes,
We've all the World to rove in, or divide
The Provinces amongst us. Old Metellus
42
Lest, staying in their pow'r, we joyn with Pompey;
Whom, well I know that, he both hates and fears.
Speak then, my Friends, and ease me from my doubts:
If, by my freeness, I am odious grown;
This hand, which willingly should aid your cause,
Shall ease me of the weight of life I bear.
Trib.
Oft have I serv'd him, in the fiercest fights,
And think no man e're courted more his love;
But, since the general good requires his fall,
I willingly assent to't.
(Crass.)
So do I.
Nor., Lig., Dec.
And all.
Perp.
Give me your hands. First yours, Ligurius;
Now, noble Tribune, yours; honor'd Norbanus:
Tribunius, tho last, yet Chief of all.
Since Heav'n has put into our hands a Shield,
To ward the body from distress, Oh, Friends,
Watchful with cares, retiring to the Cave
Sacred to Fortune, which in Gaul I found,
Off'ring the Sacred Rites, lo, from her mouth
This sound was heard: “Awake, thou sleepy man,
“And dissipate those heavy clods of Earth;
“Whose pitchy vapors do, like Meteors, hang
“About thy Soul; Gods have decreed the fall
“Of proud Sertorius, and have chose thee out
“To free the Romans from their Slavish State:
“I'll move before thee, and prepare thy way;
“Into their minds instil the lost desire
“Of Liberty. This said, the God was mute.
By the concurrence, well I know the pow'r
That the indulgent Gods unto our Fates
By this effect have giv'n. Death is the word;
But how, and when, and where, you noble Romans,
Shall this great Act which gives us Liberty,
By Gods commanded, be by us perform'd?
Trib.
Fortune has chose thee out to lead us on:
Thou, who conversest with a Deity,
43
Crass.
Perpenna's thoughtful, wise, and valiant,
Bends all his Study for the Roman good;
And, in this cause, must lead us forth to act.
Nor.
Do, noble Cneius; for we're vow'd to thee:
Point out the way, tho circled with the Fates,
We'd gain the prize, or perish in th'attemt.
Perp.
Secure in all your loves, I dare disclose
The secrets of my brest; and form a way
Subtil and sure, as what the Gods Decree.
What think you, Friends, if that he fall this night,
Deluded with a Tale of Victory?
I have the Engins ready for the work;
The fire is kindled, and the Forge compleat:
And we the many hands to batter down
This vast Colossus. But, with him, must fall
Bebricius; who, with jealous eyes, inspects
Into the very marrow of our Plot:
The real Argus; and a trusty Villain.
Trib.
Delay is dangerous; since we are confirm'd,
Why should our Swords, ready to act our wills,
Grow to the Scabbards? Freedom is the prize
For which we fight: now, in the face of Day,
The Sun should view the glory of the deed.
Perp.
Brave Spirit! that's so forward in the Cause,
Signal from Heav'n to fan us into flame!
But that the Gods decree it otherwise,
Blest would my Optics be, to see thy Sword
Hew Slavery in pieces. This I've thought;
When high in hope, pleas'd with the splendid Tale
Of Vict'ry, won from Sylla's Officers:
He sups with me to night; and that's his last.
The Lusitanian who admires him so
As the dull Clown the Thunder-making God,
Not knowing that the warring Elements
Create the same without the Thund'rer's hands,
Must with him fall. Draw all your Swords. Now swear,
By all the Pow'rs which sat when Man was made;
By all the Beings abstract from those Po'wrs,
44
And by th'Eternal Flames of Pluto's Realm:
When Time the happy minute points out,
You Swords cut deep into the Monster's heart.
Omnes.
We swear.
Perp.
Methinks, I see the Landscape of his Fate,
By angry Dæmons, stretch'd to a full length;
While the pleas'd Gods their heav'nly Curtins draw,
And from the Christal Casements of the Sky
With purer light Illuminate the Moon,
Pale with the greatness of the glorious deed
Which makes an Empire, and subverts a State,
And, from my breath, Takes the Decrees of Fate.
[Exeunt.
| The Tragedy of Sertorius | |