University of Virginia Library

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?