 | Sylla |  |
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SCENE VI.
The same, and Lænas.[He addresses Sylla.
LÆNAS.
Deputed by the Roman people, I
Here in thy presence do make bold to ask
Some questions.
SYLLA.
Ask some questions! what, of me!
Thy boldness, Lænas, hath, in truth, surprised me.
Yet speak,—I do consent to hear thee.
LÆNAS.
Sylla,
Uncertainty is worse than death; then tell,
Tell us what fate awaits us; cannot yet
So many funerals satisfy thee? wouldst thou
O'erthrow our very city in our blood?
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And wilt thou set no limits to thy fury?
SYLLA.
You see I know, too, to command my feelings;
It is perhaps sufficient that I give
Thee audience.
LÆNAS.
When I came within these walls,
Not for a moment did I cherish hopes
That I should ever have the power to leave them.
SYLLA.
I hear thee, Lænas.
LÆNAS.
What dost thou ordain?
To what decision art thou come?—speak out!
Let one day see unrolled the deathful list:
Tell us the fate of all thou hast condemn'd.
Sylla, how many are proscribed?
SYLLA.
I know not—
With thee I share the doubt on which thou build'st
Thy confidence.
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Well, but announce the names
Of those decreed to live.
SYLLA.
Lænas, return;
And by returning shew to those that sent thee
That I know e'en to spare mine enemies.
LÆNAS.
I know my fate; that order tells me it,
And to the Roman people it shall be
Mine answer.
SYLLA.
Hence, I say then, lest my rage
Should punish, and with justice, in thy person,
The legate of the proscripts.
[Addressing Metellus, after the exit of Lænas.
Asia, consul,
Murena holds, and 'gainst Sertorius
I have bid Pompey march; 'tis time, methinks,
To punish that ambitious traitor, one
Alike deserter of our laws, our Gods.
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Who raised 'gainst Rome his parricidal hand,
And sullying his last rays of life with treason,
Implores the succour of a foreign sword.
CATULUS.
But he with Mithridates is in league.
[To Metellus.
SYLLA.
I fear not in the least their base alliance:
A traitor sure can suffer the example
Himself has set.—Perpenna holds his camp
Hard by Sertorius—Cesar has asked Gaul;
And far from Italy his steps are turned,
He marches in Bithynia. Nicomedes
Demands no frail support, and it is fit
That Cesar make the best use of his valour.
But I go soon to join th'assembled senate;
I will there hear you, for 'tis best we there
Should treat of matters of such high importance.
[Upon a motion of the hand from Sylla, the whole Assembly depart. The Kings and the
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