 | Julian The Apostate |  |
86
A crowd pass with uproar.
1ST CITIZEN.
Here, neighbour here—we'll take our station here.
2nd.
Ay, there is vantage for the eye here. How now?
Press not upon us so unmannerly.
3rd.
We have as good right to press here as you have.
Make way, make way.
1st.
Good neighbours, do not quarrel,
Good mob, be peaceable. Hark, there 's a shout,
Be quiet now—you'll hear and see the better.
(Mutius passes, affecting a pompous manner.
A SOLDIER.
Hollo there, Mutius! why man, thou wert used
To have a quick ear at a comrade's service—
Mutius, I say.
MUTIUS.
What manner of man art thou?
Whom dost thou take me for? I know thee not.
87
How now, how now! thou dusty specimen
Of an extenuated mummy. What!
Thou shadow, thou—
MUTIUS.
Enough—
(Drawing, the crowd interposes.
CITIZEN.
Put up your swords,
Untimely brawlers.
MUTIUS.
Nay, his plebeian breath
Hath tainted my gentility.
CITIZEN.
Fie, fie!
We shall have need soon of our swords and courage.
MUTIUS.
Prithee expound; I have indeed heard rumours.
Good man of peace—thrice honoured citizen,
Be circumstantial and explicit.
88
Well, Sir,
We shall have war, methinks. Ambassadors
From Sapor, King of Persia, have arrived,
With much remonstrance, many questionings,
To stir our choleric Emperor.
MUTIUS.
There 's hope then—
I'm glad on 't—glad on 't. Comrade, here 's my hand.
We 'll fight together bravely yet. Why, gentlemen,
I would not boast much what I've known or done;
But I have done some service which he knows of—
The Emperor—ay, and hath rewarded too.
And I can tell you he won't stand much chafing.
CITIZEN.
Well, we shall see. Th' Ambassadors just now
Have wound their brave procession by the Hippodrome,
And doubtless will demand free audience.
MUTIUS.
Humph! they'll have sorry satisfaction.
89
Centurion!
MUTIUS.
Sir, accommodate your speech
To the advancement of my dignity,
I now command a cohort.
SOLDIER.
Pardon, brave Captain.
'S blood: why not say so sooner?
MUTIUS.
Circumscribe
Thy terror, thou art awe-struck: I am placable.
Be satisfied—we shall have sport enough yet.
I 'm an old soldier and have swam the Tigris,
And I can tell you, there is that beyond
Would make the blood dance in an old man's vein.
Boy! there is store of golden booty—viands
That my teeth water but to think on: then
What delicate girls—oh, they're delicious creatures!
Look-ye, I've been a learned man in my day,
90
But never Paris plucked so fair a fruit,
Nor when on Ida's top he gave the apple
To the divine shape then unveiled in beauty,
Marked he such loveliness.
CITIZEN.
Your melting phrase
Hath much infection in it.
MUTIUS.
Oh, I can tell you,
For I have had experience: there are your Georgians,
Great Juno! what a race of glorious creatures,
I should say angels. Oh, their shapely limbs
And airy presence; and the melody
Of their rich, melancholy voices, like
The breath of the wind upon a harp; and then
How rosily their blushing cheeks bloom over
Their lily bosoms, and they breathe of flowers.
Their eyes have got the tint of the atmosphere,
And Heaven looks through them. Hymenæus, oh!
91
With their dark tresses, and their eyes, oh, Venus!
How beautiful their eyes are: black as a fawn's
And sparkling as a sun-beam on a spring,
Or stars at midnight. Then their wild expression—
The wicked things!
CITIZEN.
Your eloquence is tempting.
On the strength of 't I could fancy me a man
Of war—you lead fine lives campaigning.
MUTIUS.
So—so;
But passable upon my reputation. Why, Sir,
This life of ours is like an April day,
Sunshine and tempest interchangeably.
'Tis good when comrades gather round the board
And dip their jests in rosy wine: 'tis good
When at the close of a well-foughten field,
The unharmed victor counts the goodly spoil:
'Tis good when the strained limbs expatiate
92
'Tis good to dance a laughing girl on knee—
Ay, ay, you take me there; but see the obverse.
'S death, Sir, what say you to a midnight march,
Through snow and sleet—no fire, no food, no wine:
To plunge into a quagmire for a bed,
Change female laughter for the cry of battle;
For amorous encounters—ambushed foes;
Groans for soft sighs, and sudden blows for kisses!
CITIZEN.
Methinks 't were best to stay at home.
MUTIUS.
For you, Sir,
A most sagacious choice, and argues much
Self-knowledge, meekness, and a sound discretion.
For us—but pardon me, too long I lecture—
It is a science abstruse and complicate,
And needs the true vocation.
(Crowd rushes past.
93
(in passing.)
Haste boys, haste,
The Emperor hath passed the Hippodrome.
1ST CITIZEN.
Good Captain, wilt thou see th' Ambassadors audience?
'Twill be a goodly shew.
2ND CITIZEN.
Ay, and there is
A grand procession of the Nazarenes.
MUTIUS.
The Nazarenes? Oh, ay, they would implore
Augustus for indulgence.
CITIZEN.
That is their purpose;
And Bishop Mark, the Emperor's old tutor,
Means, at their head, to make a stout remonstrance.
MUTIUS.
I know him well, good masters. He should beware.
94
He was too much in the way. I can't afford
To save his life twice. But lead on: I follow.
(Exeunt.
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