University of Virginia Library

ACT V.

SCENE I.

The Stage represents the Forum, on one side of which are placed the Rostra and Tribunal to speak from. Groups of the Populace line the back part of the Stage, and Soldiers occupy the openings.
CATILINE, BALBUS, on the front of the Stage.
CATILINE.
We triumph, Balbus; the approaching dawn
Will see me freed from a detested rival;
The constancy of Fortune's e'en surpass'd
My wishes. Sylla has done more than I
Had hoped for—he gives up to us his son:
Nay more, avenges on him too the laws
The highest majesty of which he's outraged.
The palace opens at the prætor's orders;
I would direct his steps; if Claudius there
Be found, his friend by his sole presence stands
Accused, and both must meet the law alike.
Claudius and Faustus both must seek the Forum,
And Sylla's voice will there pronounce their doom.

BALBUS.
Think'st thou his pride, e'en to his love of power,
Will ever sacrifice a life so cherished?
And that the blood of Claudius be allowed
To swell the life-stream of a son, pour'd out
Before a father's eyes?

CATILINE.
'Twill e'en be so:
Trust me his punishment is near; the axe
Hangs o'er his head, accomplice of a proscript;
And this vast preparation, which himself
Ordain'd, sufficiently denotes the stern
Decree that Sylla is about to issue:
But see, the people from all sides advance!

BALBUS.
And feel'st thou nought of fear from their deep silence?
Let us avoid the first burst of their fury;
Lænas is with them—
[Retires to the back part of the Stage.
We'll rejoin our troops.

SCENE II.

AUFIDIUS, LÆNAS, VALERIA, People.
AUFIDIUS.
What mean these preparations? are they made
To give us warning that affrighted Rome
Reels on the verge of ruin? Pompey's troops
Surround the Forum, and the people run
T'interrogate the oracle of Antium—

VALERIA.
What fear ye, Romans? is there yet a plague
Our country has not known from Sylla's fury?
Beat but your hearts in unison with mine,
This day would see the last of Sylla's crimes.
Say, are ye weary of your chains? ashamed
Of thus degrading Rome's fair majesty,
To meet at last but an ignoble death?
Behold, I offer you my arm to punish
The tyrant. When my country dies, 'tis fit
I should no longer live; but yet, O grant
That my last breath revive the flowers of Freedom!
Here, in this very palace where I 'wait
My husband, my two brothers died for you;
Envying their fate I feel I owe my country
What of the generous blood may yet remain
That ran all-taintless through Cornelia's veins:
Would ye but second me, to-day, e'en here
Should it be shed in sacrificing Sylla.

AUFIDIUS
(aside to VALERIA).
How would so bold a measure aught avail thee?
How could'st thou open for thyself a passage?
Amid such hosts of warriors, victor slaves,
Such bands of lictors, crowds of courtiers,
Nought but the bolt of Heaven can surely strike him.
Then let us wait awhile, and curb our anger:
Let's hate, but hate in silence.

VALERIA.
From the left
What crowd moves onwards hither? it is he!—
It is my husband.—Heaven, accept my thanks!
We are again united.

SCENE III.

The same,—FAUSTUS, CLAUDIUS.
Faustus and Claudius advance, surrounded by Lictors, who compel Lænas to remove to a distance from Claudius, whom, it would seem, he wishes to approach.
CLAUDIUS
to VALERIA.
Oh! cruel Fortune! all that I hold dear
Enchains itself to my sad destiny.

VALERIA.
Whence comes it that my presence thus afflicts
My husband, when his gives me most delight?

FAUSTUS
to CLAUDIUS.
Look on that crowd, my friend, 'tis us they gaze on;
They wait from us a memorable example;—
We shall know how to give it.

CLAUDIUS.
Faustus! what
Must thou too share my fate?

FAUSTUS.
Have I done less
To merit death than thou? victim, like thee,
Of a tyrannic law, for the Republic
We both shall perish; sure that both alike
Will share thy fate, I bless it. Thou had'st raised
Thine arm to strike—it checks the blow, and thus
Saves me the horror in my latest hour
Of hating thee, the murderer of my father.
Nature already had accused my heart
Of partial friendship; but we die together,
The crime is expiate.

CLAUDIUS.
Faustus, you can live
To aid your country yet.

FAUSTUS.
I cannot save her,
But she shall have my life.

CLAUDIUS.
Oh! pardon me
That one remembrance still must mix its griefs,
And dim the glorious sun of my last moments.
[To Valeria.
O thou, the sovereign mistress of my fate!
Valeria, love!

VALERIA.
Valeria's soul is Roman:—
More, she's the wife of Claudius, nor unworthy
Of her high ancestry; she, who with cheek
Unpaled, has listen'd to thy last farewell,
Knows, like thyself—well knows, with brow unchang'd
T'await th'inevitable shaft of death.

CLAUDIUS.
What shouts are those?

SCENE IV.

The same,—Sylla, Metellus, Roscius, train of Soldiers, Lictors, Priests, and People.
People.
There see him! see him! health to the Dictator!
The godlike Sylla!

[Sylla slowly advances into the middle of the crowd.
VALERIA,
(aside.)
Oh! most perfect baseness,
Oh! horrid sacrilege!

[She rushes forward and endeavours to strike
Sylla;
Roscius prevents her.
Die, tyrant!

CLAUDIUS.
Strike!

FAUSTUS.
[Making a movement as if to fly to the assistance of his Father.
Hold there!

SYLLA,
(coolly to his followers.)
Remove that woman—I come here
T'avenge the laws, the Romans, and the state:
She would have frighten'd many from pursuing
The course I've taken.—The worst of criminals
Challenge my justice—one of them is Claudius,
The other is my son; they have betrayed
The laws, and from this moment are become
Alike in crime and punishment united.
I make no use of my high power against them,
The people shall themselves pronounce their fate.

BALBUS,
(aside, to CATILINE.)
Do'st hear?

CATILINE.
Fear nothing, 'tis a specious pretext;
The people ne'er have yet preserved their guardians.

SYLLA.
[Mounting the tribunal and seating himself, whilst the Lictors and Soldiers surround it.
Romans, this glorious day will shew the world
Whether the office of Dictator's been
Conferr'd on one not all unworthy of it;
And whether such a train of ills, which he
To-day prepares to crown, have render'd you
Worthy of him alike too.

ROSCIUS,
(aside.)
Gracious Heaven!
What means the promise of this lofty language!

CATILINE,
(aside to BALBUS.)
Thou seest how dark a horror clouds his features;—
Darting its stern decree around in silence,
His eye has marked, has chosen out its victim.

METELLUS.
Sylla, at thy command th'assembled tribes
Have taken each their seat around the Forum.

SYLLA,
(standing up on the Rostrum.)
Knights, citizens, pontiffs, and senators,
And you, illustrious guardians of your country,
Hear me!—I owe it to myself, to you
To render an account how I have used
My high authority; and to lay open
To your astonished view, how difficult,
How vast the labours I have undertaken.
The Pontus, Bosphorus, Epirus, bow
Beneath our yoke—the streams of Phalaris
Canal our empire—to our laws submiss
Is found the whole of Greece; and Lybia's kings
Have fled before my power.—The fall of Carthage
Had shaken Rome to her foundations—I
Repair'd the evils an illustrious warrior
Had brought upon her—vanquished was Jugurtha,
O'erthrown was Mithridates—Destiny
Exceeded Fortune's fairest, brightest promise.
The laurel-wreath of war I deemed too trifling,
I sought a rarer and a dearer glory:
Rome had become to party rage a prey,
Prostrate beneath the blows of her own children;
She call'd my genius and my arm to aid her—
I rose Dictator—and I saved my country;
Restored the Senate to its ancient rights,
And a rebellious people to their duty.
Slave of the vulgar, you have ne'er beheld me
Court and betray their favour; the sole aim
Of all the toils of Marius—I've but little
Flatter'd the people, yet I've cured their ills:
My rigorous measures were legitimate,
And all my victims to preserve the state.
What I have done for Liberty and Rome
May be termed violence, nay cruelty:
But such a base reproach should not confound me.
I stand prepared to answer for the blood
That I have spilt—yes, if I e'er have stifled
The voice of nature, of humanity,
'Twas but t'enforce obedience to the laws.
With what sur-name posterity will brand me
In History, I know not—she will judge
What Rome examines.—I come here to break
A yoke which galls us both—I feel the weight
Of my proud greatness, far more than ye feel it.
I've conquer'd, reign'd,—but yet I still would live!
I hurl away th'intoxicating cup
Of power. According to my sovereign will
I've swayed the world, and of mine enemies
Silence is all I ask; in vain their hatred
Would strive to reach my memory; I've placed
Betwixt myself and them a wide abyss—
That of my glory.—The Dictator is
No more—I give my power up to the Senate;
Theirs are the reins of empire. Yet, yet hear me!
Let my voice fill th'assembly;—without fear
I've govern'd, without fear I abdicate.
People.
Oh! lofty courage! superhuman greatness!

SYLLA.
I give you back your consuls; choose them, Romans,
[Metellus goes out.
My safeguard is, they say, that I'm Dictator;
Well—I e'en now abjure it here before you,
[He lays aside his purple cloak, and throws away the golden palm, the symbol of the Dictatorship.
And cast aside the purple—lictors, hence!
[They lay down their symbols of office, and intermix with the populace.
See me unarm'd! I offer you my life.
To plots, to poniards, I oppose my genius,
A Brutus' virtue, and a Scipio's soul;
Add Cheroneus, Orchomenes, and
The terror of my name; my fortune, glory,
Are now become the senate's: but let Sylla
Be ever present to their memory!
The conqueror of Marius, I've surpass'd him,
And have acquired the rank in which I'm placed.
Romans, I break the bonds of your obedience,
But I would still claim your remembrances;
Though the Dictatorship may be another's,
Stripp'd of my power, I still am always Sylla.

[He descends from the tribunal.
ROSCIUS.
Rome hitherto but own'd him as her master;
The world to-day proclaims him as the first
Of mortals.

FAUSTUS.
Oh! my father, at thy knees—

SYLLA.
I have no power.

BALBUS,
to CATILINE.
Where will be now our safety?

CLAUDIUS.
I've still one hope; he's pointed out the path
And I may one day profit by the lesson
Of such a master.

SYLLA.
It is fit we end
This bloody struggle; you are tired of fearing,
And I of punishing: a citizen,
One of yourselves, beneath the common law,
Sternly have I laid down my pride of fortune;
And each may now henceforward, free from fear,
[To Valeria, approaching her.
Approach, complain, and be revenged upon me.

VALERIA.
Of crimes, of virtues, O appalling union!
My hatred's conquer'd, and my courage broken;
Ashamed of favours but too dearly purchased
When the oblivion of thy crimes 's the price,
I fear, and I admire thee!

CLAUDIUS,
to SYLLA.
Not till now
Has thy magnanimous soul o'er us acquired
A lawful power.

METELLUS,
entering.
Of the assembled people
The different tribes have for their consuls named
Faustus and Claudius.

SYLLA.
Behold, I now
Perfect a glorious work, a glorious destiny;
I've marked my passage through th'astonished world;
And, Romans, when posterity receives
My name, oh! never let me be reproached
For having giv'n you back your liberty!