University of Virginia Library

SCENE the fifth.

Dumnorix and Tenantius.
Dumnorix.
To thee my inmost bosom I must open,
And to thy friendship trust my tend'rest cares.
Thou must pursue thy journey (heed me well)
Quite through the forest—Dost thou know the pass?

Tenantius.
Yes, where those gushing waters leave the grove
To seek the valley, deeper in the shade
From the same fountain flows a smaller brook
Whose secret channel through the thicket winds
And will conduct me farther down the vale—

Dumnorix.
Which once attain'd, proceed and gain my dwelling.
Give me thy honest hand.—Come nearer, soldier,
Thy faithful bosom would I clasp to mine—
Perhaps thy general and thou may never
Embrace again.

Tenantius.
What means my fearless chief?
Why hast thou call'd this unaccustom'd moisture
Into thy soldier's eyes?

Dumnorix.
Thou dost not weep,
My gallant vet'ran—I have been to blame.
A tenderness, resulting from a care,
Which struggles here, subdu'd me for a moment.
This shall be soon discharg'd, and all be well.
I have two boys—If after all my efforts
(I speak not prompted by despair, but caution)
Rome should prevail against me, and our hopes
Abortive fall, thou take these helpless infants;
With thee transport them to our northern frontier,
And hide them deep in Caledonian woods.
There in their growing years excite and cherish
The dear remembrance of their native fields;
That to redeem them from th'Italian spoiler,
If e'er some kind occasion should invite,
Forth from their covert they may spring undaunted.
Ne'er let the race of Dumnorix divert
One thought from Albion to their own repose.
Remind them often of their father's toils,
Whom thou leav'st grappling to the last with fortune.
And if beneath this island's mould'ring state
I to avoid disgraceful chains must sink,
Fain would my spirit in the hope depart,
That on the ruins, which surround my fall,
A new born structure may hereafter stand,
Rais'd by my virtue, living in my sons.