University of Virginia Library

ACT III.

SCENE I.

A Palace.—Lentulus with some Plebeians.
Lentulus.
You know your stations. When the signal's rais'd
Conspicuous from my roof, a lofty standard
With crimson banners floating, fire the piles,
Beneath the capitol, then crowd the ways,
And bar all access to extinguish them.
Look well for me, I shall approach to lead you,
And give your thirsty swords their glut of slaughter.
Shout as I cry, and strike where I command you.
Be resolute, spare none, and earn your drachmas.
What humble virtue, when a drachma bribes it!

[Exeunt.
Sextus
with a crimson Scarf on his Arm.
These fears are well, these secret horrors tell me
I am but half a villain. Every shadow,
Each passing breath that rides th'invisible air
Swells to a terrible form, and with shrill tongue
Appals me as I tread. Rash Lentulus
Speeds to the capitol. He but begins
The bloody business he rejoices in:
And happier so than I am. Cou'd I think,
That I shou'd live to envy Lentulus!
Then yet draw back thy foot. Can love require
A sacrifice of blood, and a friend's blood,
Murder, assassination? no Vitellia!
Thy rage, and not thy nature prompted thee.
Thy soul's a woman's and thy calmer thoughts
Will bless my disobedience. Then prevent it—
What do I see? the capitol on fire.
Already 'tis begun. My curs'd remorse,
May mourn too late, but not prevent his doom.

[As he is rushing out, Annius meets him.
Annius.
Where dost thou rush? why this distemper'd haste,
What means this wild distraction in thy looks?

Sextus.
No questions now—my shame too soon will tell thee.

[Rushes out.
Annius
alone.
What can this mean? “My shame too soon will tell thee.”
Shame finds no harbour in a breast like thine,
The seat of truth and honour. Yet his eyes
Glared wildly, his cheek pale, his trembling palm
Cold as the grasp of death. Some strong convulsion
Too fierce for utterance or concealment shakes him.
Oh what a mournful change in his kind temper!
Gay as the ruddy morning which he met,
Or the rous'd lark, Hyperion's harbinger,
Obvious to all.—Now gloomy, sad, retired,
And shunning with mistrust even love that seeks him
Yet may the balm of friendship.—

To him, Cornelia.
Cornelia.
O my Annius!
Wake ev'ry sense to joy and gratitude.
The antic fortune that with cruel sport,
But mocks us with the approach of happiness,
Weary at length gives o'er the unequal strife,
And baffled owns our stronger destiny.

Annius.
I know it all, thy matchless constancy,
And flew to glad thy brother with the tidings.

Cornelia.
Yet art thou cold to the transporting bliss,
Thy wandering eyes require some other object,
The pressure of thy hand but feebly holds me.
Nay now it bids me leave thee, bids my tongue
For other ears reserve the ungrateful tale,
Or wait thy better leisure to be welcome.

Annius.
I could for ever hear, for ever hold thee.
But now a dearer interest than my own,
Dearer than all but thee, must force me hence.
A little moment in the account of time,
But tedious hours in love's swift calendar,
Must I be absent from thee.

To them, Publius, with a Centurion.
Publius.
Noble Annius!
I grieve to find thee thus. At such a time!
The capitol on fire, all Rome alarmed,
Wild consternation stalking through the streets,
And dangers doubled by men's ignorance,
Thus unconcerned to shun the public care,
And loiter, while thy country claims thy service.

Annius.
Ha! then my friend's distraction when we parted
[Aside.
May have some fatal cause

[Going.
Cornelia.
Stay, Annius stay!
Thou wilt not thus abandon me, exposed
Defenceless to the tumult?

Annius.
For a moment
Good Publius guard her! to thy care I trust
A dearer pledge than yon devouring flames,
Tho' Rome's seven hills smoak'd from their hot embrace,
And all their wealth was mine, could ravish from me.
[Exit Annius.

Remain Cornelia, Publius, and a Centurion.
Cornelia.
But tell me Publius whence this accident?

Publius.
So may it prove. Yet is there cause to fear,
'Twas not the work of chance. Some dark design
Untraced as yet to its pernicious source
Has spread these threat'ning fires. Madam retire,
And banish every fear. This brave Centurion
Will guard your safety. I must speed to find
The destin'd empress. 'Twas the emperor's order
I should take care of both.

Cornelia.
Did Titus then
Think of our safety?

Publius.
He to all attends,
Provides 'gainst all. Had'st thou but seen the hero,
Serene amidst confusion, check the rash,
Confirm the timorous, with threats, with praise,
Quick to discern, now urge, and now restrain,
You would have seen united in one man,
The delegate of Jove, Rome's sword and shield,
The prince, the friend, the citizen, the father.
I must delay no longer. Now 'tis safe
To lead you hence. Valerius will conduct you
Clear from the capitol, he knows the passage.
Madam farewell! I must attend the princess.

[Exit Publius. Centurion conducts Cornelia.
Enter Vitellia, looking about distractedly.
My search is bootless, some propitious ray
Direct me where to find him. 'Tis in vain.
Then let me fly, and warn the emperor.
Sextus! 'tis he—

To her, Sextus, with a bloody dagger.
Sextus.
Inhuman! yes behold him.
Know thy own ensigns: these distracted looks,
These tottering knees this dagger dyed in blood.
Now smile, and gild these horrors if you can.
Thy cruel mandate is too well obey'd.

Vitellia.
What do I hear!

Sextus.
Alas too sure Vitellia!
Titus, oh Gods! pours forth his mighty soul,
And throbs in death's last pangs

Vitellia.
Dies by thy hand?

Sextus.
I did it not. Struck with remorse too late
I strove to save him. Ere I could arrive
A villain of the vile confederacy
Had pierced him from behind. In vain I cried,
“Hold monster! hold!” the fatal blow was sped,
The assassin left his execrable steel
Deep in the wound, and fled. In haste I tried
To wrench it forth, but with the reeking blade
The blood gush'd on my robe, and oh dire fate!
The hero closed his eyes, and lifeless fell.

Vitellia.
Why am not I too dead! Oh tis too much!
Had the same hour that snatch'd his precious life
Seal'd these sad eyes in everlasting night,
Had the same stroke transfix'd this throbbing heart,
How had I bless'd the hour, how clasp'd the wound
What endless misery had this breast escaped.

Sextus.
Pity and rage impell'd me to chastise
The impious murderer. In vain I sought him
He has escaped my fury. Fiends shall find him.
No darkness can conceal it. But oh Princess!
What shades will cover Sextus! Earth nor heaven
Will shelter or receive me. Where's my peace?
See what a price my desperate passion pays
To satisfy thy fury.

Vitellia.
True, too true.
I am a monster. This inhuman breast
Might suckle tigers, give to savage natures
More deadly fierceness. Blood-stain'd as thou art
Thy soul is white as Alpine snow compared
With my deep guilt. From this detested hour,
Mankind, like withering pestilence will shun me.
I am the curse which yon mysterious heaven
Hangs o'er thy destin'd towers, imperial Rome!
Thy sun is set, let darkness veil the earth,
Portentous, terrible; the offended Gods
Tho' hoary Flamens choke their skies with incense,
Ne'er cast one look to this devoted land
Abandoned o'er to man's enormity,
This land of horror, guilt, and parricide.

Sextus.
Oh thou had'st wrongs to mitigate thy crime,
But what had I? I lost no throne by Titus,
Tho' thousands sought, and merited his favour,
Still on my head the precious dew was shower'd.
Honour and wealth thro' all the mighty empire,
In copious streams flow'd from the will of Sextus.
Cherish'd, beloved! and well have I repaid him.
No father's shade like thine, cou'd haunt my slumbers,
To punish in the son, the sire's offence.
Yet villain I contrived.—

Vitellia.
A father's shade!
Oh speak no more—Can base hypocrisy,
Affected reverence for a father's wrongs
Wash out the stains that purple all my soul?
A father's wrongs! a fury's jealousy.
Revenge devised the tale, and hell confirm'd it.
I felt no touch of filial piety.
Deluded man! now be thy anger just.
Why gleams that dagger idly in thy hand?
It reeks with precious blood. Here turn the point.
One drop from that dear stream mix'd in my veins
At least will rise, and plead in Heaven to spare me.

Sextus.
Wou'dst thou then doubly dye my hands in murder,
To wash out blood, by blood? Unhappy princess!
'Twere blessedness to die. The righteous gods
Reserve us both for heavier punishment.
Fruitless remorse, and ever gnawing anguish
We must endure while mortal, and hereafter,
All hell will rouse to wake new torments for us.

Vitellia.
Give me my just pre-eminence in woe.
Can friendship mourn like love. Too long I feign'd,
Struggled too long to hide the secret from thee
Deceived thee most, when most I seem'd to hate him.

Sextus.
'Tis well, 'tis well! let me feel all my horror.

Vitellia.
The first strong passion of my soul was love,
Its first dear object, Titus. Burst poor bosom!
All my fond heart could wish, my fancy form
Was heaven contriving for me. At the moment
My fatal frenzy urged thee to the deed
I was proclaim'd his empress. This curs'd day
Had seal'd him mine. Be merciful, and kill me,
Take pity on me heaven! it chokes devours me.
'Tis insupportable. O Titus! Titus!

Sextus.
Is this the balm thou pour'st into my wounds,
First raise the assassin's arm, and then despise him?
Tho' all the world should cast me forth with scorn,
Abhor, pursue me, thou shou'dst stretch thy hand
And pour the balm of comfort o'er my anguish.

Vitellia.
What balm, what comfort can Vitellia give thee?
Ask it from roaring seas, or burning Ætna,
Their rage is calm as slumb'ring infancy
To the wild passion of this stormy breast.
These hornet sounds already buzz around me,
“An emperor might be spared, but not a Titus.
“The land just panting with recover'd breath,
“Raw from the lash of gory tyranny.
“A balmy prince healing and merciful,
“Snatch'd from the bliss of sweet benevolence,
“To satiate an Alecto's jealous fury.”

Sextus.
'Twas fear, 'twas phantom when I urged his virtues.

Vitellia.
Oh let us meet no more. Each time I view thee,
Again I seem to urge, he bleeds again.
Thou wert too quick, too ready to obey me.
Wou'd I had found some dilatory slave,
Insensible and cold. He wou'd have sooth'd,
Promis'd, but not perform'd, saved me from crimes
Heaven's mercy can't absolve, nor hell can punish.
[Vitellia rushes out.

Sextus
alone.
All is accomplish'd. I have pass'd the brink
Of every hope and fear. Does ought remain?
Is there a friend to trust, and be betray'd?
A mistress to impel my hand to murder,
And then disclaim, revile me, and avoid.
Ye thoughts that drive my whirling brain to madness,
Ye vengeful furies that besiege my soul,
I will not wait your tardy ministry,
But leap the gulph, and plunge at once to darkness.

[Going to stab himself, Annius enters.
Annius.
Hold thy rash hand. The emperor requires.

Sextus.
Requires my blood. He shall be satisfied.

[Struggling.
Annius.
Requires to see thee—

Sextus.
Where, in heaven to see me?
No, those bright portals are for ever bar'd.
There throned with demi-gods the hero sits,
Nor bends his glorious eyes to earth and me.
But I am doom'd to tread the dreary realms
Where sad Cocytus rolls his sullen wave,
Where Phlegeton boils o'er with livid fires,
Where guilty ghosts shall hiss me from their haunts,
And yelling furies through the gloom pursue me.

Annius.
Thy reason is disturb'd. Rouse, rouse for shame,
Decline not thus thy drooping brow to earth.
Why roll thy wandering eyes on vacant air
Shaping a hideous host of threat'ning forms,
From the black coinage of distemper'd fancy?

Sextus.
Think'st thou, these horrors are fantastical?
I feel them here; here is substantial hell,
Here, ever whirling wheels, and gnawing vultures.

[Striking his breast.
Annius.
Come banish in the emperor's embrace
This gloomy brood of thick-eyed melancholy.
Now while the busy throng surround his throne,
When even Indifference wears the face of zeal,
And feels, or feigns officious loyalty,
He wonders much thou art not by his side,
That thou cou'dst leave him in the hour of peril.

Sextus.
That I cou'd leave him! how, is he not slain!

Annius.
Forbid it heaven! No, he returns unhurt,
Safe from the wild commotion.

Sextus.
Can it be!
Are my eyes false? Sure I beheld him fall,
Pierc'd by the assassin's dagger.

Annius.
Where beheld him?

Sextus.
In the frequented pass that leads from hence
To the Flaminian.

Annius.
Then thy eyes deceived thee.
Some other in the throng and wild confusion
Thy sight mistook for Titus.

Sextus.
How some other?
Say who cou'd dare to assume the imperial robe,
The sacred laurel, and the sovereign ensigns
Worn by the emperor only?

Annius.
Nay I know not.
But Titus lives (praise to kind heaven) unhurt.
I left him but this moment, and to seek thee.

Sextus.
Did I hear right? All gracious Jove I thank thee.
[Falling on his knees.
Sound it to lands remote, to air and skies,
Transporting word! again again repeat it!
Hush'd be the winds! no accent breathe but this.
O much-loved prince! Unfold thy arms, receive me.
Thou ever kind and welcome! now more dear
Than all the blessings love cou'd shower upon me,
[Running into his arms.
Teach me to bear this joy. Thou dost not mock me?

Annius.
What still incredulous! convince thyself.
Trust thy own sense, and see if I deceive thee.
This moment come before him.

Sextus.
Come before him!
Shew him the vile perfidious who betray'd him!

Annius.
Amazement!—Thou!

Sextus.
Yes I. 'Twas I betray'd him.
I, the prime mover of the foul sedition,
The master dæmon I. Go, get thee from me.
Contagion strikes from my infectious touch,
My breath will blast thee.

Annius.
I am lost in wonder.
Thou Sextus, thou betray the emperor!

Sextus.
Ask me no more. Spare the reiteration.
One fatal moment Annius has undone me.
Farewell! a long, a last adieu to Rome.
Think sometimes of thy friend, not what he is,
But what he was; and if his crimes will rise
To blot the kind remembrance, oh forget not,
These bitter tears that scald his burning cheek,
How sharp his sufferings, how sincere his sorrow.

Annius.
This is indeed a dreadful cause for sorrow.

Sextus.
Ay is it not, for never ceasing sorrow?
Farewell once more. I go for ever from thee
To mourn, and hide my guilt in solitude.
To fall by my own hand were cowardice.
May every God who sees my deep remorse
Guard him, whom I no more must dare to name.
Thou Annius! with thy courage and thy faith,
'Gainst foreign danger, and domestic treason,
By day, by night, in peace, in war, defend him,
Defend him from the inconstancy of Rome,
But most defend him from his treacherous friends.

Annius.
Another time explain this mystery,
Now let me think. The plot is yet unknown.
The flames 'tis thought were spread by accident,
But thy precipitate flight, unhappy friend!
Will fix on thee the stain.

Sextus.
What canst thou counsel?

Annius.
Do not withdraw, but keep the secret close.
Attend the emperor—think all pass'd a dream,
When dusky spirits ruled the unwholesome air,
And from their vaprous pinions dipt in Styx,
Shook phantoms round thy head.

Sextus.
The wounded wretch
(Whoe'er he was) that fell beneath the stroke
Ere this perhaps has given me up to shame.

Annius.
I'll to the place where you beheld him fall,
Examine who he was, and bring thee tidings
Of all that may concern thy life or safety.
Before the breast of Titus can admit
Suspicion of thy faith, there will be time
To apprise thee of the danger. Then withdraw,
Uncertain is the peril if you stay,
But certain, if you fly.

Sextus.
My scatter'd sense
Scarce comprehends thy reason, tho' my heart
Acknowledges the kindness. Guide me Annius!
I go since you advise it.—But these cheeks
Stript of their wholesome hue, these haggard eyes
Loud as the herald's throat will publish me.

Annius.
The least delay may bring destruction now.

Sextus.
I go, this bloody mantle will betray me.

Annius.
Whence is that blood?

Sextus.
It spouted from the veins
Of the unhappy man I mourned for Titus.

Annius.
Hide it with strictest care from every eye.
Hold, as we pass we may exchange our robes,
I will take thine, these crimson drops wash'd out
(My chamber's near) I'll meet thee with the emperor.
The presence of a friend may bring thee comfort.

Sextus.
'Tis all I have left—wilt thou still call me friend?
As just awaken'd from a hideous trance
The dreadful phantoms still encompass me.
I tread with fear, and doubting every step,
Am lost in the delirium.

Annius.
Oh be gone.