 | Julian The Apostate |  |
21
Mutius and other Soldiers.
MUTIUS.
Heard you the news?
SOLDIER.
No, what is 't?
MUTIUS.
Heard you not?
You should know then; and every man, methinks,
Who boasts the name of Roman or of soldier,
Should have his heart in mutiny.
2D SOLDIER.
Ay, Mutius?
Why, what 's the matter now, man? There is not
A rumour, on its swallow wing, that flits
About our summer camp, but you attend
Its idle flight.
22
'Tis true, your mouth is ever
The herald of bad tidings. Scarce a week
Has passed since thou didst tell a ghastly tale
Of pillage, rape, and murder: some wild tribe,
Some locust horde of Belgians, that thou saidst
Had swam the Rhine at night, and like a tempest
Swept in our rear. Oh! 'twas most circumstantial.
Shame! shame!
MUTIUS.
Kind Sirs, have mercy. I confess
Sometimes too zealously I do interpret
Rumours that lack precision, and have been
To fame a hasty midwife; but just now
The jade hath brought a brat forth, whose shrill cry
Will fill the world with wailing yet.
1ST SOLDIER.
Nay, Mutius;
Thou hast a quick ear and a ready tongue,
Prithee expound. What is the news?
23
No matter:
I 'm but an idle loiterer at the skirts
Of rumour, the mere mouth-piece of false fame.
I 'll not disturb your equanimity
With my vain breath.
2D SOLDIER.
Good Mutius, think not so.
In truth we meant no imputation:
'Twas but the jesting of good fellowship.
MUTIUS.
Methinks you love the Cæsar?
1ST SOLDIER.
Ay, Heaven guard him!
MUTIUS.
I take it too, that he acquits his debt
Of love to you with interest. He pays back
Your service with good deeds, and deals to all
The glory he but shares.
24
Ay, bless him! bless him!
MUTIUS.
Why have you left your homes, your bridal beds,
The hearths on which you played in infancy?
Your vineyards are unpruned, your leas unploughed,
Your pastures run to waste. Your wives sit weeping
'Neath the neglected porch, and watch in vain
The wished return, till they are sick with longing.
Why have ye not returned? Did you not promise,
When you had chased the spoiler from your gates,
When you had freed your country (as you have done
Beneath his glorious guidance), did you not promise
Back to return in triumph and in peace?
SOLDIERS.
'Twas our assurance.
MUTIUS.
Ye are trusty fools.
Go to—we are betrayed. Cæsar and people.
SOLDIERS
(tumultuously.)
Betrayed? speak out, speak out!
25
Ay, that I will.
There is an old man on a tottering throne,
An Emperor in the east, who thinks our lives here
Too much secluded; we must see the world;
And, at his will, track half its zone, to make
Acquaintance with the bears of Caucasus.
SOLDIERS (tumultuously.]
1st.
'Tis false, he dare not do it.
2nd.
We would not go.
3rd.
By Hercules, I would not move a foot.
4th.
Nay, we would march with arms in our good hands.
1st.
Our contract 's broke.
2d.
'Tis manifest.
1st.
Let 's run
To our good Cæsar's tent and ask redress.
MUTIUS.
'Twere vain. We have seen him lately, as a man
Fretted by some immedicable ill,
Worn down by care. He hath estranged himself
26
And whence is this? Say, they break faith with us,
Then are they false to him. If they forget
Our service, they neglect his fame and blight
His honour. We are linked by fate: our sacrifice
Unites him as a victim.
1ST SOLDIER.
Haste to the Cæsar.
We'll know the worst at once.
2nd.
We 're but the sport
Of women and smooth eunuchs.
3rd.
'Twere as well
To owe allegiance to the Antipodes!
1st.
Would that our own brave Julian were our Emperor!
2nd.
Huzza, huzza! 'Tis a brave thought!
3d.
Away!
Run and salute him at his tent.
(Exeunt.
| Julian The Apostate | |