 | Regulus |  |
SCENE XI.
Regulus, Corvus, Decius, Mutius, Quintus, &c.Decius.
Romans, rejoice—Treason is brought to Light:—
Hail God-like Regulus! receive these Papers,
And if thou can'st, peruse the black Contents.
Corvus.
Ruin and Death!—but why do I complain?
Fear is unmanly, and 'tis vain to hope;—
I will despair—'tis equal, come what may—
Success were glorious—the Attempt was noble.
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If any Guilt can equal thy Design,
'Tis thus to own no Shame at its Detection:
What shall I call thee—there is wanting yet—
(At least in Rome) a Name to do thee Justice:
Had'st thou Remorse, thou might'st have look'd about,
To find the Comfort of a Fellow-Crime;—
But wanting that, thou'rt so supremely wicked,
No Punishment they yet have try'd in Hell,
Can equal thy Desert—they must invent one.—
And yet this Day thou talk'd of Truth and Honour—
Where are they fled?
Corvus.
To thy romantick Brain;
Where the feign'd Names of Virtue and of Fame,
Are wrote on every Table—shadows all!—
Curse on thy moral Precepts!—Every Good
That greets us here, finds Entrance at the Sense:
I tell thee, Roman, all your fine Distinctions
That call this Man divine, and that a Villain,
Are but Religion's Cheat—what Sense bestows,
Is all we know, and all we can receive.
Regulus.
What ceaseless Labour must this Man have taken
To reach his Height of Guilt?—Elaborate Villain?—
Each Time thou act'st, and every Time thou speak'st,
The more I find thee a Disgrace to Nature:
Wou'dst thou destroy the Dignity of Man,
And level him with Brutes?—depose fair Reason,
And substitute wild, warring Appetites,
Disgracing her mild Sway?—But thou dost best—
The Man who dares to act as thou hast done,
Is in the right to banish his Reflection—
Thinking wou'd make him mad.
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What, not yet done?
Am I bound up here to be Sentence-baited?
To hear thee preach by Rule, and by the Hour?
Why stay we here?—hop'st thou to gain a Convert?
Prithee be gone—thou wilt but lose thy Labour.
Regulus.
I do believe thee—Decius bear these Papers,
Together with those Wretches to the Senate:
Together with those Wretches to the Senate:
Quintus, do thou attend, and to the Fathers,
Relate a full Detail of all their Treasons:
Look on these Men, and thank the gracious Gods,
That thou had'st Honesty enough to leave 'em!
Half enter'd in Perdition's darken'd Cell,
Praise the kind Pow'r that sent a Ray of Light
To shew thee back into the House of Virtue.
Relate a full Detail of all their Treasons:
Look on these Men, and thank the gracious Gods,
That thou had'st Honesty enough to leave 'em!
Half enter'd in Perdition's darken'd Cell,
Praise the kind Pow'r that sent a Ray of Light
To shew thee back into the House of Virtue.
Corvus.
Ha!—Quintus my Betrayer?—but no matter—
Why shou'd I vainly hope for Truth from others,
Who never had that Merit in myself?
Had I succeeded in my great Design,
I cou'd have wanton'd in the Pains of Hell;
To fail is Punishment enough for me—
Worse than ten thousand Hells—Perdition seize thee!
| Regulus | |