University of Virginia Library

SCENE I.

The German Camp.
Veleda, Segimund.
Veleda.
Oh! Segimund, to see you thus my brother,
Arm'd in your country's cause; to see you here,
Here in Arminius's camp, once more restor'd
To your best friends, your country, and your gods,
Expands my tow'ring soul above all bounds.
My joy wants words: 'tis speechless ecstacy.

Segimund.
Thanks to the gods, who lent a ray of truth
To light and guide me to the paths of honour.
I saw my father's guilt; I saw him join'd
In a flagitious league against his country.
There ceas'd a father's power; there clos'd for ever
All his authority: in vice and treason
I ow'd him no obedience.

Veleda.
Your first duty
You owe your country; and you now discharge it,
Dear to your friends, ennobled by your virtue.

Segimund.
Oh! had my father, and Arminius's brother,
Glow'd with due feeling for their country's wrongs,
And in their bosoms own'd the sacred flame
Of public liberty; we then together
Might join Arminius, and together tread
The paths of war, with mutual ardour fir'd,
All gen'rous rivals in the field of glory.

Veleda.
Alas! vain hope: Segestes views Arminius
With deadly hate, implacable, and fierce,
Fix'd in his heart: it gangrees there like poison.
With that fell fury he made me his pris'ner.

Segimund.
And did he mean to drag you in his train,
Through all the horrors of wide wasting war?

Veleda.
No; I was destin'd to a distant clime,
To some Italian city; there, he said,
Perpetual spring, and sun-enliven'd scenes
Would teach me to abhor our northern tempests;
There wean me from my friends, and from the love
I bear Arminius. But, oh! not for me
Gay gilded scenes, and bright Italian suns;
No, let me wander on the mountains' ridge;
Roam through the forest; in the rapid bark
Ply the tough oar, and glide along the stream;
Give me my humble clay-built tenement;
Free from a master let me call it mine;
That thought, though tempests gather o'er my head,
Will warm my heart amidst eternal snows.

Segimund.
Arminius by his care those rights will guard.
Ere long he means to give a loose to war.
Gods! should my father join the hostile ranks!
My heart recoils with horror at the thought.

Veleda.
Dispel your fears, nor thus anticipate
Imaginary ills.