University of Virginia Library

SCENE III.

CATILINE, FAUSTUS.
FAUSTUS.
Oh! Heavens! what, Catiline!...

CATILINE.
Must I believe
That in this place, where now we've met, my presence
Is painful to the eyes of Faustus; that
His enmity in anger would repulse
The friend, the guardian, pupil of his father?
Faithful to aid his power, zealous to serve him,
Rome learns from me th'example of obedience.
I should be sorry to suppose my zeal,
So faithful to his cause, should but receive
As its reward the hatred of his son.

FAUSTUS.
Ah! if unceasing toils, exploits unheard of
Can give the right to serve one's country, if
In the excess of glory, Freedom dies,
Then that sad victory is surely Sylla's:
But thou, the shame of Rome, what claim hast thou
That joined not in the fight, to rank thyself
Amid this band of heroes? In what camp
Were spent thy days of boyhood? answer me:
Whose blood imbued thy sword? At peace with Greece,
At peace with Germany, with Parthia too,
Thy rage, but free from danger, slew the Romans.
Struck by thy parricidal poniard fell
The youthful Lepidus, and noble Marcus;
Sure a most courteous murder:—Perished thus
Beneath the blows of a young monster's arm,
Our present glory, and our future hope.
Nor could thy furious rage desist e'en there:
Thy household altar own'd thy brother's death;
In vain Night spread her curtain o'er thy crime,
For Catiline himself confess'd the murder.
Twice sacrilegious, in the fane of Vesta
A brother's blood has dull'd the lustral wave.
Such are thy claims to share a hero's honours,
Such are the hideous labours of a senator,
And such is Catiline....

CATILINE.
Thy faithful memory
Will doubtless call to mind, that at all seasons
And in all places, what you term a crime
Was done for Sylla, and avowed by him;
And that, while Faustus so severely turns
'Gainst me his accusations, he but breathes
Curses upon his father. Even now
He bids the senate disannul a law
On which depends the safety of the state.
I go, the echo of his sovereign voice;
And should it ere be deem'd by Faustus cruel,
Or branded with my name, the only boon
I ask, is, to enforce, myself in person,
The law of the Dictator.