University of Virginia Library

ACT IV.

SCENE I.

The Street near the Temple.
Valerius enters, attended by Heralds, Officers, and Soldiers.
Valer.
Go, rouse our senators—
[To the Heralds.
Convene them instantly!—We have been told
There is commotion in the camp to-night.
Dispatch an officer and band of soldiers
[To the chief Captain.
To every gate, and double its assurance!
Pretors! divide the city watch, and place
A guard at every avenue—while the rest
Patrole the streets, to seize on all suspected.

[Exeunt severally.

SCENE II.

The Inside of the Temple.
Lavinia reading by a Taper—She rises.
Lavin.
How still, how peaceful, all around!—O death,
If such is thy asylum—so I might
Shake off these thoughts, these inward perturbations,
In thy dark mansion—O, how pleased I would,
This instant, lay me in thine icey arms,
Shut out the glare and bustle of the world,
And sink into my long, long sleep!—

[OMITTED]

SCENE III.

[OMITTED] Lavin.
By what enchantment could you enter here?—

Favon.
Strong love can force a way thro' all obstructions.

Lavin.
Ah me! I fear—I tremble for your safety!
Do you not know to what a horrid death,
Painful as ignominious, you are doom'd,
Should you be found?—For me, it matters not—
With hope all fear has vanish'd!

Favon.
Heavenly maid!
I come not here without due warrant—no—
Credentials of high import!—Know you not
The character of Fabius?
[Delivers the contract, and the tablet.
Of your late mother too?

Lavin.
Alas!—what say you?—
Terentia dead!—

Favon.
No, no—you are the daughter
Of Fabius and Lavinia!—Read the tablet.

[She reads.
Lavin.
Yes, nature vouch'd it!—I may well believe,
I was her offspring—her acts, her accents,
Her looks that hung with such endearment o'er me,
Confess'd her all the mother—while my grief
That would not have survived her, proved the child!

Favon.
Come love, the season wanes—let us escape!
Your father wakes to bless you—and my legions
Are all impatient to behold you!

Lavin.
How!—
Shall I, whom Cimbrius honours with his hand,
Bring infamy on both?

Favon.
Wealth of my soul, there's no alternative—
To-morrow cannot save you from destruction!
The tyrant Pretor, the remorseless Pontiff,
Is absolute in Rome.—The noble Fabius,
Commits you wholly unto my protection.

Lavin.
But then, the fearful hazard of our flight!—

Favon.
Not far from hence, there waits a chosen band
Of faithful followers—every life among them
Devoted to your safety—Come!—

Lavin.
O Junius!—
By that loved name I knew you first—I swear,
My life, my fame itself is yours—this moment
I would with pleasure yield them, willing victims
Or to your peace, or honour!—Yet, I know not—
My heart, my heart misgives me!—But, go on!—
Surely the guardian powers of truth and innocence
Are with us, and around us!—

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV.

The noise of a gate burst open is heard; and Domestics enter in alarm.
1st Dom.
The southern gate is forced—some votary fled!—

2d Dom.
Send for the Pontiff—Alarm the city!—

[Exeunt.

SCENE V.

Favonius and Lavinia re-enter.
Favon.
Prevented thus, we try another way,
For noise and violence are not our friends.

Guards without.
Guard.
Stand, sir!—you pass not here!—

Favon.
Nay, then I must!—
[Draws his sword.
Fear not, Lavinia!—follow closely on,
Where I make way, undaunted!

Lavin.
Yes, my hero,
Through life and death I follow, to partake
The fate of him I love!

SCENE VI.

The Guards give way at the assault of Favonius— Valerius advances with his sword drawn.
Favon.
My father here!—O Heavens! I must not shed a father's blood!—

Valer.
Disarm this traitor to his country's peace!

[The Guards seize and disarm Favonius.
Favon.
Give me my sword again!—I had forgot—
O my lost love, Lavinia, I have betrayed thee!

[Casts off, and struggles with the Guards.
Valer.
Hold, hold him firm!—Call in the second watch,
[More enter.
To keep this raging lion in the toils.
Prepare the seats of justice!—
By the dread sword and scales of chaste Astræa,
We will not stir till we have tried these criminals!

[Seats brought in.
Inferior Pontiffs enter.
Lavinia, we do grieve to see a virgin,
Of senatorial rank, and fair repute,
Break from her consecrated sphere of duty,
And with her minion stroll the streets of Rome
At such an hour as this.

Lavin.
At any hour,
To 'scape the hard oppression of a tyrant.

Valer.
You have a better plea—this traitor here,
'Tis he who has seduced you!

Lavin.
Romans, no!—
He is no seducer!
He is at once the glory and eclipse
Of his degraded kin, degraded country!
This sun of brightness has no spot, no blemish—
Save that he is the offspring of Valerius!
[Valerius and inferior Pontiffs take their seats.
Favonius, stand before us!—You do need
No plea, young man, for I am seated here
Not as your judge, but father—not for trial,
But sentence absolute.—Attach him, lictors!—
Bind, bind him!—harder yet!—
Now take him to the dungeon's deepest cavern!

Favon.
O, unknown Father both of gods and men!
Is this my triumph?—Yet, 'tis thy decree—
Make me to triumph in it!

[Exit with Lictors.
Valer.
Now to a task,
Far, far more grievous, than the condemnation
Of my own child!—Lavinia, come before us!
You stand impeached, for that in violation
Of duty to great Jove and awful Vesta,
You did by night depart the sacred Fane,
To whose dread goddess thou wast consecrate.

Lavin.
I do not know by what authority
Of gods or men, the criminal should sit
In judgment o'er the party he has injured—
I therefore shall not plead at your tribunal!
But as my soul knows not a single thought
To closet from the world, I do avow,
To these free men of Rome, I did depart
The place in which your rapine had immured me.

Valer.
Record her free confession!

Lavin.
'Tis confess'd—
I did depart my prison, to restore
A free born Roman to the Commonwealth,
A free born daughter to the longing arms
Of a fond father; that by deeds of justice,
I might undo the deeds of violence,
Of stern oppression!

Valer.
You stand here, Lavinia,
Not to charge others, but defend yourself!
And then you take no note, in your strong pleadings,
Of your associate, lady—the Endymion,
With whom, like wandering Dian, you have put
Your honour in eclipse!

Lavin.
O Romans, hear him—
This base detractor!—who, not satisfied
With having rent me from the noble stock
Of my great ancestors, proceeds to strike
At my immortal fame, my life of honour!
But ye beheld the associate—the Endymion,
With whom your cruel Pontiff would reproach me—
He is the very man, to whose protection
My noble father, Fabius, did consign me,
Under his signet here!

Valer.
And could your father
Consign you to the heir of the Valerii?
Write down—“Confess'd—eloped, by her consent,
“With her inamorato.”

Lavin.
I appeal
To gods and men, the Senate and the people—
To the free people of the state of Rome,
I here make my appeal!

Valer.
Lavinia, Rome,
Senate and people, have consigned, to me,
Their great palladium, their Eternal Fire,
With all the rites and sanctions of their worship,
Without appeal!—Lictors, bring forth the levers,
And raise the lid of death!—I'll not depart,
Till, by the justice of our laws, I see thee
Inhumed alive!

Lavin.
Where are ye, Romans?—O, there was a time,
When such a deed as this had overthrown
Your tyrants to the dust!—when such a trespass
On Lucrece, on Virginia, blew to flames
The smother'd embers of expiring Liberty,
And cast the Tarquins and Decemvirs forth
To banishment, to death!

SCENE VII.

Fabius enters, attended by a few Romans.
Fab.
How!—sentenced, say you?—Where is my injured child?—
Lord Pretor, I do claim a private conference
With this, my only offspring, my lost daughter!

Valer.
Granted.—Though Fabius is no more our brother,
Lavinia is his child.

[Fabius embraces Lavinia in silence.
Lavin.
Alas, my father!
Why are you here?—your presence has debased me!
Had you not come, I had confronted death,
As would become a Roman—a true daughter
Of the immortal Fabii!

Fab.
O, my child!—
Altho' three hundred of our line, at once,
Have fallen in Rome's defence—
Altho' unpillar'd by the Fabian prowess,
She had not been a name—
In vain have I implored the torpid Senate—
The frost of their hoar heads has reach'd their hearts!
Nor will they interfere in sacred rites!

Lavin.
Retire, my father!
And leave me to support, the best I may,
The honour of our house!

Fab.
Alas, alas!
How can your tender frame bear up, when mine,
My veteran heart, once arm'd to all events,
Sinks into infancy! O, you know not
What they prepare!—a simple death were nothing!—
But I have brought my child a sure relief,
Tho' a sad present from a father's hand!—
If, in the during dark that shall surround thee,
Your thoughts should turn to horror, or to frenzy,
Not sufferable—take this cordial, love!
It will, as when you sink to peaceful sleep,
Give your pure soul to Heaven.

Lavin.
I thank, I thank
My bless'd physician! Now I dare their utmost!

Fab.
O then farewell!—farewell, my child, my child!
I shall not tarry here—for life, already,
Is gone with my Lavinia!

[Embracing.
Lavin.
Till we do meet
In bliss—farewell, my father!

Fab.
List, proud Pontiff—
Now list, Valerius!—I do prophecy,
Shortly the boasted name of the Valerii,
Shall not be heard in Rome—But that is nothing.—
Guilt, general guilt, an all diffusing cloud,
Shall cover earth and heaven!—the Patriot-light,
That, like the galaxy, the etherial way,
Spread from the common fire of mutual virtue,
Commingling blaze with blaze, shall be extinct!
Scarce a few glimmering stars shall then appear,
Throughout Rome's darken'd hemisphere, till all
Shall sink in undistinguish'd ruin!—Lo,
Proud-propertied, flint-hearted, thankless Rome!—
To Nether Jove, and all the Infernal gods,
I here devote thee!

[Exit.
Valer.
He's frantic, let him on!—Draw near, Lavinia!
Thou seest the dread devouring gulph lies open—
Thou seest thy pains or pardon, life or death,
Are in my mandate.—Hadst thou, now, the offer,
Either to famish in yon fearful cavern,
Circled with horrors and eternal darkness,
Or take the noble comfort I have provided—
What were thy option?

Lavin.
Patience—let me ponder!—
To die—to lose the sense of light and life,
Perhaps for ever—fearful!—nature shrinks,
She shudders at the thought!—But then again,
To break the faith, that gratitude, that love
Must still avow through life, and yield my self
To loathed embraces!—horrible, most horrible!—
No, subtle tempter!—thou who wouldst ensnare
My soul in such a length of guilt and misery,
Hasten thy deadly sentence—I am ready!

Valer.
Bring in her loaf and pitcher!—let her take
Her own election!

SCENE VIII.

Valeria enters attended.
Valeria.
Where's my Lord Pretor?—O, dread tidings!

Valer.
What?

Valeria.
My mother heard Favonius and Lavinia
Had 'scaped the Temple—when, with sudden passion,
She blacken'd and expired!

Valer.
Most dreadful—yet, how natural, thus to close
The tenor of a life for ever vehement!

Valeria.
Ah, what a scene is here!—For whom, I pray,
This fearful apparatus?—How!—Lavinia!—
O, Lamb of Peace! art thou the sacrifice,
These savages intend?

Lavin.
Indeed, my sister,
You timely came to take a last embrace!
My arms are open—you were ever gentle,
[They embrace.
And precious to my nature.—Can you pardon
The involuntary sorrows which I caused you?
My sister, pardon me!—This hapless barrier
Will quickly be removed!—

Valeria.
Not so, not so—
I could not bear it; I should sleep no more!—
Curst be the hour in which imperious parents
Thrust me between your loves!—My Lord, my uncle,
My only parent now, have mercy!—Mark,
I yield him—your contested hero!—I
Restore him to his blessedness, this dove
Of Heaven, his just election!

Valer.
Off, weak girl!—
Wouldst thou intrude between the gods, and me
Their substitute?—Your office, lictors!—Down,
Down with the ladder and the short lived lamp!

Valeria.
Yet stay.—I will not part her!—By the gods
Celestial and infernal, I'll not part her!
Lavinia—I have no mother now—no love,
But thee, my sister!—spight of selfish jars,
And love wrought-jealousies, thou ever wert
The chosen of my heart—throughout the world
My chiefest good!—leave me not now!—Come lictors,
And bury us together!

Lavin.
Ah, Valeria!
I give thee place—thou hast deserved the laurel!
I now perceive my veryest littleness
In thy uprising.—O, may Favonius
Behold you with my eyes!—and, when you are blest,
Seated in pleasing intercourse together,
If your Lavinia's name should chance to come
Amid your converse, drop a pitying tear,
And take her spirit to your circle!—Ah!
My sister's pale!—her breath comes quick and faintly!
Support her!—bear her hence!—I cannot want,
At this tremendous hour, a further weight
To sink me!

[Valeria is taken away.
Valer.
On, Lavinia!

Lavin.
Yes, my Lord,
Exalted as the conqueror on his car;
Meek as the lamb, when laid upon the altar!—
O Maker of my Junius! if these worlds,
As he affirms, are all thy doings—if
Thou art, Thyself, the beauty of thy works,
Grace to the eye, and music to the ear,
Thrilling the soul to rapture—if Thou art
The heart's sweet prompter, tuning all its cords
To goodness—O preserve the soul Thou hast given!—
Though now I die to all things else, Blest Power,
Still let me live to Thee!

[Lavinia descends—The iron cover is replaced, and the scene closes.