University of Virginia Library

ACT I.

SCENE I.

—A Street in Rome—six Citizens discovered.
Enter Marcus and Titus, looking occasionally back, as if observing something passing behind them.
Mar.
Who is that next him in mourning?

Tit.
His nephew; the rest are common friends.
Poor Vettius! no one will plead for him.

Mar.
Peace! they are coming on.

Enter Vettius and his four Friends, in mourning, followed by Probus and twelve other Citizens.
Vet.
Weep not, my friends, for me; for Rome—for Rome
Reserve your tears. Her pride is turn'd to shame;
Her wealth to poverty; her strength to weakness;
Her fair report into a blasted name;
Her freedom into thraldom. Who would thrive
In Rome, let him forget what honour is,
Truth, reverence for the gods, respect for man!
Ay, gaze, ye poor, despised sons of Rome!
That crouch to your own power, by men more strong,
Only because more daring, wrenched from you!
Ay, gaze; and see your lovers, one by one,
Cut off; and never curse, unless it be
Your own hands, that you dare not stretch to save them!

[Vettius and his Friends go out.
Tit.

Masters, we are in a sorrowful plight indeed, when
such a friend as Vettius spurns us.

Mar.

See! who is that he stops to speak to?

Tit.

Know you not? Why, you've seen him as often as
you've seen your own hand. 'Tis the senator Fannius—that
Fannius, that looks so sweetly on the people, and, for all that,
never yet did them a good turn.

Mar.

Oh! is it he?

Tit.

To be sure it is! See how he leans to Vettius, and
seems to pity him. I warrant you there's a tear in his eye
now, although his heart would laugh to tell you how it came
there. See, he puts his hand upon his breast; that's an appeal
to his honesty, which is always sure to be out of the way,

whenever any one else happens to call upon it. Oh, he's a
proper patrician!

Mar.

Think you they will condemn Vettius?

Tit.

Think you he is a friend to the people?

Mar.

Who doubts that he is?

Tit.

Who doubts, then, they will condemn him?

Mar.

See! Fannius quits him.

Tit.

And he's as much his friend as ever he was. His
absence will profit him just as much as his presence.—Yonder
comes Licinius, the brother-in-law of Caius Gracchus. Who
knows but Caius will speak for Vettius, who was his brother
Tiberius's friend?

Mar.

Not he! He never appears in the assemblies of the
people.

Pro.

No; he loves to keep house better. He is married,
you know; and his wife is a fair woman. No wonder he prefers
her company to ours.

Mar.

Do they say he is a man of any parts?

Tit.

Yes; he assisted his brother Tiberius once, when he
was tribune; and he was thought to be of great promise. 'Tis
said he is much given to study.

Mar.

'Twould seem so, indeed; and that he had not yet
found out it was the patricians who murdered his brother. I
would have taken more revenge for a cur of mine that had
been lamed, than Caius took for his brother that was murdered.
What revenge did he take? None! He kept house,
while the patricians buried his brother in the Tiber! Rome
has nothing to hope from him.

Pro.

Nay, that's certain. He'll never die for the people.

Mar.

Die! No, nor live neither.

Tit.

Silence! Licinius is here.

Enter Licinius and Caius Gracchus.
Lic.

Health to you, master!

Mar.

Health to Licinius!

Caius.
[To Licinius.]

The people look coldly on me.

Lic.

Hang them! They show fine airs at their own handiwork.
I'll speak to them.

Caius.

Gently, I pray you; they are bare and hungry,
houseless and friendless, and my heart bleeds for them.

Lic.

What is the cause of your collecting?

Lit.

We come to see Vettius condemned.

Lic.

Why do you say condemned? The laws are to try
him. He will have justice.

Mar.

Ay, from the patricians!

Lic.

What of the patricians? Are not the patricians just?

Mar.

Not to the people.

Lic.

Why not?

Mar.

Because they have the power to be otherwise. They
have as great dominion over the people, as over their oxen;
and so they treat them like their oxen,—unhide them, hack
them up, and feed upon them.

Lic.

Are the people, then, no better than their oxen, that
they endure all this?

Mar.

What can the people do? They have no friends that
will speak or act for them. The people can do nothing of
themselves—they have no power. If the people could find
friends—

Lic.
Peace! peace! If you gain friends, you lose them straight.
Whoe'er would die for you, you let him die!
You shrug, you shiver, and you whine; but he
That pities you, has need, himself, of pity.
You make a big shout, and a frightful face;
But in your deeds are little to be feared.

Mar.

Are you against us, too? You that were Tiberius's
friend?

Lic.
Who but his friend should be against you? You
That fell from him in danger, who to you
In danger clung? Who would not be against you?
Drowning, you make a cry; and when a hand
Is found to keep your head above the flood,
And bear you safe to land, at the first wave
That booms upon you—idiots in your fear!
You mar his skill, and sink him to the bottom!

Mar.
Is that our way?

Lic.
Ask you for friends, who to your friends are foes?
In presence, too, of Caius Gracchus, here,
Whose brother you gave up to death?

Mar.
We gave!

Lic.
Ye gave! When, in the exercise of your rights,
The nobles, with their herd of slaves and clients,
Drove you—a base herd to be so driven!—
With clubs and levers from the market-place,
What did you then? Like spectres, with your fear,
Livid and purged of substance, you glared on,
And saw Tiberius, mangled with their staves,
Into the Tiber thrown, as butchers cast
The offal to the tide.

Caius.
No more, Licinius;
Pray you, no more; you are too stern with them.

Lic.
Too stern! Would the patricians learn of me,
I'd teach them how to cater for the people.
They should not have a vote. If free-born men
Will crouch like slaves, why would you have them freemen?

Caius.
It is his mood, friends; let him be; ne'er mind him.

[Licinius and Caius Gracchus go out.
Mar.
'Tis plain Licinius is no friend of ours.

Tit.

He says the truth. You suffered the patricians and
their slaves to murder Tiberius.

Mar.

If Licinius is so bitter against us, what must we
expect from Caius?

Tit.

Yet would he have stopped Licinius when he railed at us.
Who knows but Caius would befriend the people if he could?

Mar.

Not he! He'd hang the people if he could.—Come,
masters; to the Forum. Farewell, Tiberius! He would not
see Vettius accused without defending him.—'Twill be long
before we shall see such another friend as Tiberius!

[They go out.

SCENE II.

—The Forum—the Tribunal, on which is the Curule Chair, six Lictors on each side—an Altar—a Rostrum.
Flaminius, Opimius, Tuditanus, Fannius, and Senators discovered.
Opi.
How would you cure a state o'errun with evils,
But as you'd cleanse a garden rank with weeds?
Up with them by the roots! The slothful hand
That will not bend it to the needful work,
Mars its own ease, and profitless expends
The labour which it grudges. Why falls Tiberius,
If not his coadjutor? Vettius free,
Gracchus should have been free, and Rome a slave.

Fla.
Know you what friend he trusts with his defence?

Tud.
'Tis rumour'd, but I say not with what truth,
That, hopeless of acquittal, he will plead
Guilty, and throw himself upon our mercy.

Opi.
Our mercy, then, is mercy to ourselves;
In showing which, we dare not pardon him.
Caius, I trust, will not appear for him.

Fan.
Not he; he shuns all care of public questions,
And seems to be a mild retiring man.
He is not of the temper of Tiberius;
Or, if he is, he does not emulate
His fate.

Opi.
I would not have him speak for Vettius:
His voice would be omnipotent against us.

Fan.
See, Vettius is at hand! Opimius,
You will conduct the prosecution.

[Flaminius ascends the tribunal—the Patricians follow, and remain at the foot of the steps—Opimius goes and ascends the rostrum.
Enter Vettius with his Friends, followed by Titus, Marcus, and Citizens.
Opi.
Vettius, stand forth!

Vet.
[Advancing.]
Behold, Opimius,
The sacrifice is ready!

Opi.
The false man
Is his own sacrificer. Gentle Romans,
When shall we live as brothers? Is not Rome
Our common mother? Why should we, her sons,
Be foes? Ye powers that favour civil concord,
Prepare your vengeance, for the fratricide
Foments distrust among us.

Tit.
Opimius pays the people court.

Mar.

Yes, he rides us well. He strokes us when we do not
need the spur. Oh, we are gentle beasts!

Opi.
You, Spurius Vettius, I accuse of treason.
What answer you?

Vet.
That, since the times decree
To innocence, what was in ancient days
The penalty of guilt, I am prepared
To suffer your award, and answer—guilty!

[Goes under the rostrum.
Fla.
And waive you all defence?

Vet.
When knew you, consul,
A man, already cast, to make defence?
I seem at large, but well am I advised
My cause is tried, and final sentence pass'd.
If you would have me use a Roman's right,
Show me the Romans I shall claim it of.
Call you these Romans? Why, your very slaves
Put on a prouder port, and cower not thus
Before you!

Opi.
Hear you his seditious speech?
But he convicts himself. Say, Romans, say,
What penalty do you adjudge the traitor?

Tud.
Let it be death.

Tit.
Nay, good Tuditanus, name some other punishment.
We will consent to banish him.

Opi.
It is too mild a sentence. Let it be death!

Senators.
Ay, death!

Fla.
Come down, Opimius, help us to collect
The votes.

[Opimius descends from the rostrum, and goes down behind the Citizens.
Vet.
O, Romans! he that is content
To live among you, prostrate as you are,
Should suffer worse than death!

Opi.
Your votes!

Caius Gracchus appears in the rostrum.
Caius.
Opimius, hold!

[Upon hearing Caius Gracchus the people shout, press round the rostrum, and cry, “Caius! Caius Gracchus! Caius! Caius!”]
Opi.
How! Gracchus in the rostrum!

Caius.
Hold, good Opimius, do not yet collect
The votes.

Tit. & Citizens.
No! no!—No votes!

Mar.
Speak, Caius Gracchus! speak!

Caius.
I come to plead for Vettius.

Tit.
Go on! go on!

Caius.
The brother of Tiberius for the friend!

Mar.
Noble Caius, go on!

Caius.
I pray you, gentle friends, if I should make you
A poor, confused, disjointed, graceless speech,
Let it not hurt the man for whom I plead.
If I should falter—if my heart should rise
Into my throat, and choke my utterance,
Or if my eyes should with a torrent drown
My struggling words, let it not, I beseech you,
Let it not hurt the man for whom I plead!

Mar.
Tiberius lives again! Tiberius speaks!

Caius.
Tiberius lives again! Alas, my friends!
Go ask the Tiber if he lives again;
Cry for him to its waters; they do know
Where your Tiberius lies, never to live
Again. Their channel was his only grave,
Where, still, they murmur o'er him; but, with all
The restless chafing of their many waves,
Cannot awake one throb in the big heart
That wont to beat so strong, when struggling for
Your liberties!

Tit.
Noble Tiberius!

Mar.
Noble Caius! See how he weeps for his brother!

Opi.
Their hearts are his already. Our labour 's lost.

Caius.
What is't you do? Is it to banishment
Or death, you are about to doom that man?
Know you no heavier punishment for those
That love you? Rather let them live, to hear
You groan beneath the burdens of the great,
And bear it!—To behold you vilely spurn'd
By clients, bondsmen, hirelings, and bear it!
To see you griped by heartless usury!
To hear your children cry to you for food,
Without a shelter for your wretched heads,
Or land enough to serve you for a grave,
And bear it! To a Roman, such as Vettius,
What banishment, what death, were suffering
Equal to life like this?

Tit.
Most true! most true!

Mar.

Vettius is a friend to the people, and therefore he is
accused.

First Citizen.
Ay, that's his crime.

Second Citizen.
He's innocent.

Tit. & Mar.
Vettius is innocent!

Opi.
Have you done, Caius?
For, by your leave, I will produce my witnesses.

Vet.
They are the creatures of thy tampering;
Wretches that feed upon the victims of
Thy cruelty.

Opi.
Hoa, there! My witnesses!

Mar.
No witnesses! no witnesses!

Tit.
Speak, Gracchus, speak!
We'll hear you, Gracchus, before a thousand witnesses.—Go on!

Citizens.
Go on! go on!

Caius.
Romans! I hold a copy of the charge,
And depositions of the witnesses.
Upon three several grounds he is arraign'd:
First, that he strove to bring the magistracy
Into contempt; next, that he form'd a plot,
With certain slaves, to raise a tumult; last,—
And were there here the slightest proof, myself
Would bid him sheathe a dagger in his breast,—
That he conspired with enemies of Rome—
With foreigners, barbarians—to betray her!
The first, I'll answer: Vettius is a Roman,
And 'tis his privilege to speak his thoughts.
The next, I'll answer: Vettius is a freeman,
And never would make compact with a slave.
The last, I'll answer: Vettius loves his country;
And who that loves his country would betray her?
But, say they, “We have witnesses against him.”
Name them! Who stands the first upon the list?
A client! I'll oppose to him a senator.
Who next? A slave! Set down a Roman knight!
Who follows last? The servant of a questor!
I'll place a tribune opposite to him!
How stand we now? Which weighs the heavier?
Their questor's servant, or my tribune?—Their
Slave, or my Roman knight?—Their client, or
My senator? Now, call your witnesses.

Mar.
We'll have no witnesses!

Tit.
For your sake, Caius, we acquit him.

Mar.
Vettius is innocent.

Citizens.
Ay! ay! ay!

Mar.
The tribes acquit Vettius by acclamation.

Citizens.
We do! we do!

Opi.
Hear me, I say!

Citizens.
No! no! no!

Caius.
[Descending from the rostrum.]
Their voices are against you, good Opimius!

Fla.
To please the people, we withdraw our charge.

Citizens.
Huzza! huzza!

Caius.
Come, Vettius, come! my brother's friend is free!

Citizens.
Huzza! huzza!

[Caius Gracchus, Vettius, and Citizens go out.
Fla.
This was their policy!—What's to be done?

Opi.
Remove him from the city, and you nip
The danger in the bud. I'll take him for
My questor, if you'll name him to the office,
And render good account of him. Who waits
Until a reptile stings him, ere he crushes it?
Tread on it at once!

Fla.
Your counsel pleases me.
Here's the commission I designed for Carbo,
All but the name, filled up. In Carbo's place,
I'll insert Caius, and despatch it to him.

Opi.
I leave Rome ere an hour.

Fla.
He shall have orders
Most positive to bear you company.

Opi.
Of your decision you shall reap the fruits,
Or, when you name your friends, leave out Opimius!

[Opimius and Tuditanus go out, the scene closes on the rest.

SCENE III.

—Caius Gracchus's House.
Enter Livia and Licinia.
Lici.
I am the happiest wife in Rome, my Livia!
The happiest wife in Rome.

Livia.
I doubt it not!
But there's Flaminius' wife, the other day,
Scarce from the Forum to her house could pass
For salutations, that her husband won
The consulate.

Lici.
That day, my Caius sat
At home with me, and read to me, my Livia.
Little cared I who won the consulate!

Livia.
And there's Lectorius has obtained a government;
His wife will be a queen!

Lici.
Well, let her be so!
My queendom is, to be a simple wife.
This is my government, my husband's house,
Where, when he sits beside me, I'm enthroned.
Enough. You'll smile; but, Juno be my witness!
I'd rather see him, with his boy upon
His knee, than seated in the consul's chair,
With all the senate round him.

[During this speech she pulls forward the table, &c. and places her embroidery.
Livia.
Yet his greatness
Must needs be thine.

Lici.
I do not care for greatness:
It is a thing lives too much out of doors;
'Tis anywhere but at home; you will not find it
Once in a week, in its own house, at supper
With the family. Knock any hour you choose,
And ask for it; nine times in ten they'll send you
To the senate, or the Forum, or to such
Or such a one's, in quest of it! 'Tis a month
Since Caius took a meal from home, and that
Was with my brother. If he walks, I walk
Along with him, if I choose; or if I stay
Behind, it is a race 'twixt him and the time
He promised to be back again, which is first;
And when he's back, and the door shut on him,
Consummate happy in my world within,
I never think of any world without.

Livia.
Well, then, you are the happiest wife in Rome.

Lici.
Tell me, and did Flaminius' wife weep, Livia,
That day when Rome did salutation to her?

Livia.
Weep!—No. Why should she weep?

Lici.
For happiness.
Do you see? I cannot talk of Caius, but
I weep, so happy am I! Here's Cornelia;
That stately step is hers. She loves me, Livia,
Though oft she chides me, that I'd have my Caius
Live for his wife alone.

Enter Cornelia.
Cor.
Good day, my Livia.
Now would I lose my head, could I not tell
What this fair thing, that calls me mother, has
Been talking of: if not her husband, then
For once hath the hundredth chance turn'd up, with all
The ninety-nine against it!

Lici.
Well, a wife
May talk of her husband.

Cor.
Did I not tell you so?
Well, well! I've just now come from thy young Caius;
We've almost quarrell'd; would you think it? Mind,
Licinia, what I say. That boy's the making
Of a man that will not keep on humble terms
With Fortune, but walk up to her, and challenge her
To smile or frown her most.

Lici.
It must content me,
His father is not such a one.

Cor.
May be!

Lici.
Ay, but I'm sure of it!

[Sits down to her embroidery.
Livia.
Good day, Licinia!
Cornelia, health be with you!

Lici.
Must you go?
You have not told me yet the morning's news.

Livia.
Indeed I've heard none, save that Vettius,
They say, is to be banish'd, which no doubt
You know already.

Lici.
Not a word of it.
What is the time of day?

Livia.
'Tis the third hour,
And past. Good day again.

[Goes out.
Cor.
Good day, my Livia!
Why, my Licinia, what's the matter with you?
You've suffered Livia to depart, without
Saying good-bye to her.

Lici.
'Tis past the time
Caius should have been back, almost an hour.

Cor.
Well, what and if it is? Go on with your work,
And while the time away; the sooner he'll
Be with you.
[Advancing towards her, and looking over her shoulder.
Why you've done that rose to the life.
A musk-rose, is it not? 'Tis everything
Except the scent, and that almost I think
I can perceive with looking on't. Indeed,
You are a skilful needle!

Lici.
Do you think
Caius hath aught to do with Vettius' trial?

Cor.
Think what is passing on Olympus! One way
Or the other, what concerns it us? Men have
Their proper business, which no part it is
Of ours to help to manage. Why, that thread's
A crimson one you're taking to the leaf?

Lici.
[Rising.]
Cornelia! Mother! Know you anything
About Caius? I'm sure you do. You praise
My work when I discourse of him; when I question you
Concerning him, your answer but puts off
The proper one, which, were it good to have,
Would you not give it me? I fear, I know
Not what! Oh, tell me what have I to fear?
Keep me not in the dark! A thing, we see not,
Stirring will startle us, which, when light comes,
We smile to find it nothing.

Cor.
Take your seat,
And I'll sit down by you; and listen to me.

Lici.
I thank you now, Cornelia!

Cor.
Thank me by-and-by;
You should, but I doubt you will not. I know nothing
Of Caius' measures.

Lici.
Measures!—Hath he measures?

Cor.
Hath he hands and feet?—Hath he brains and heart?—Is he
A man?—What do you take him for?—Have men
No parts to play but lovers?—What! are they
Not citizens as well?—Have they not crafts,
Callings, professions? Women act their parts,
Then, when they make their order'd houses know them.
Men must be busy out of doors,—must stir
The city,—yea, make the great world aware
That they are in it; for the mastery
Of which they race, and wrestle, and such feats
Perform, the very skies, in wonderment,
Echoing Earth's acclaim, applaud them, too!
Enter Licinius.
What want you with me, my Licinius? [Rising and taking him aside.]
You
Have come to tell me something. Caius hath spoken
For Vettius? I was sure he would! 'Tis done!
He has enter'd the lists—he has stripp'd for the course! I know
He will not get fair play, no more than his brother.
These fears are not good omens, my Licinius!
But let him run it nobly!

Lic.
Nobly he
Has started! Vettius is acquitted.

Cor.
So far
So well. Away! Hurry him home to us,—
The sooner here the better!

Lici.
[Rising.]
Stay, Licinius!

Cor.
I'll tell you all, Licinia; let him go.
Caius hath spoken in the Forum for
[Licinius goes out.
His brother's friend, and they've acquitted him.

Lici.
[Bursting into tears.]
An hour ago I was the happiest wife
In Rome!

Cor.
Licinia, if you are Caius' wife,
I am his mother. Is he not dear to me,—
My youngest son, and last? Yet do I bear
That which I know must come. I know my son:
Know thou thy husband—know our Caius Gracchus!
He loves his mother well—Licinia better,—
His country best! As I, his mother, grudge not
That he prefers thee, thou, his wife, repine not
That he prefers his country. Both of us
Make up our minds to whatsoe'er may follow.

Enter Lucius.
Luc.

My master 's coming, Cornelia, attended by a crowd
of citizens, who rend the air with shouts. They say he has
procured the acquittal of the noble Vettius. Rome is all joy
and exultation.

Cor.
Run to the door, and wait upon thy master.
[Lucius goes out.
Hear you, Licinia? Away with these sad looks;
Damp not your husband's triumph! Can you hear
The people's shouts, and not partake their joy?

Lici.
I can remember, when Tiberius fell,
Not one of all of them had voice enough
To bid his murderers hold!

Cor.
'Tis well, Licinia!
Had he not fallen in a most generous cause,
I should have thought of that as well as you!
[Shouts without.
Enter Caius Gracchus, Lucius, and Attendants.
My son—my Caius! give you joy!—You've saved
The life of your brother's friend!

Caius.
Licinia knows it?

Cor.
She does; go to her.

Caius.
She has more to learn.
Scarce had I left the Forum, when a message
From the consul follow'd, giving me the post
Of questor, and requiring me on the instant
To join Opimius.

[Lucius and Attendants go out.
Cor.
What! and must you leave us?
I did not look for this. At once, my Caius?
Well, son, I'm ready. Go, prepare thy wife.

Caius.
What, my Licinia! don't you speak to Caius?

Lici.
You never said a word of it to me!

Re-enter Licinius.
Lic.
Come, Caius, are you ready?

Lici.
Ready for what?

Caius.
To take a ride, wife, and a long one, too.

Lic.
The general waits.

Re-enter Lucius and Attendants, bearing Caius's helmet, sword, and cloak.
Lici.
The general waits!—What general?
Where are you going, Caius?—Oh, ye gods!
What else do ye intend?—Tell me the worst!

Caius.
Love, I'm appointed questor to Opimius;
And but a moment have for the farewells
'Twould take a day to speak! Do you trust your Caius?

Lici.
Do I love thee!

Cor.
Ay, Licinia, if you love him!
Wouldst have thy husband be the lowest man
In Rome? Thou knowest none may hope to gain
The honours of the state, who have not shown
Their prowess in the field. A Roman wife
Is married to her husband's glory, not
His ease and pleasure. Come, take leave of him.

Lici.
I'll see you to your horse.

Cor.
What, with that face?

Lici.
Will you not see your boy before you go?

Caius.
I saw him, Sweet, as I came in.

Lici.
Well, Caius,
Farewell!

Caius.
Now, that's my own Licinia!
I'll send you letters, love, day after day.
Now, that's my own brave girl, to smile! 'Tis like
A sunny morning to a traveller
At setting out, which fills him with fair omens.
Farewell!

Lici.
I'll see you to the door.

Caius.
So do.
Keep up your heart, love; I can come to you,
You know, at a day's warning!—Think of that.
Or you can come to me!—and you will write
Dear letters, won't you! every word of which
I'll kiss, and think I press the hand that traced them!
There now;—and, love, remember, as I shall,
Sad parting makes sweet meeting. Now, my Licinia!

[They go out.