 | Caius Marius, The Plebeian Consul |  |
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ACT V.
SCENE I.
—One of the Gates of Rome.(Flourish of trumpets.)
Enter Marius, Valerius, Young Marius, Sulpicius, Officers, and others.
MARIUS.
They are repuls'd then?
YOUNG MARIUS.
Scatter'd, like the leaves
By a November whirlwind.
MARIUS.
It is well.
Let them flee back to Sylla; and to him
Tell their mishap! What news of him?
YOUNG MARIUS.
He is
Within ten leagues of Rome, 'tis said—
VALERIUS
(aside).
But ten!
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Cannot but think so—
YOUNG MARIUS.
They report, he left
Prænestè garrison'd—and I fear his strength
Sanction'd as much—too well. What are his plans,
Perchance we 've brought you one can better say.
MARIUS.
Whom?
YOUNG MARIUS.
Tubero—the senator—his friend!
Him we have ta'en—hard on his road to Sylla;
And in disguise! I fear me as a missive
From traitors, here, in Rome.
MARIUS.
What! i' th' Senate?
Ah! Aristocracy—sleek homicide—
As hollow as the hemlock, and more deadly;
Furr'd like the ermine—talon'd like the pard—
With heart of venom, and with breath of balm;
Still wilt thou tear the hand that pats thee? Race,
Born to lap blood; let blood then be your doom!
Bring in the traitor.
(Tubero is brought in.)
Welcome! sir! Thou com'st
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And as our need is, so must be our means.
Tell what thou know'st. 'Tis well! Refuse. The rack
Shall wring it from thee. Now thou know'st our mind.
TUBERO.
I knew 't before! Think'st thou the Marian kind
Can be mistaken? Or that any man
Ere coupled mercy with the sound of Marius?
I see my fate; and am prepared to meet it.
Enough. Know then, my errand was to Sylla!
To hasten his approach; and well assure,
No man in Rome, unless for fear or gold,
Will strike a blow for Marius!
MARIUS.
Say'st thou so?
Insolent slave! But he shall soon try that.
Where is he? Speak.
TUBERO.
He is within ten leagues
I know of Rome; and with a pow'r that thou
And thy stall-fed plebeians shall wax pale at.
Farewell. I speak no more.
MARIUS.
Thou hast said enough!
Your best intelligence is ever brief.
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Take him away! and let the axe forestall
His place in Sylla's triumph!
(Tubero is taken out.)
Gentlemen,
Time presses. We must act. Son, go, take order
Within the Capitol. And thou, Valerius,
See that the walls are triply mann'd. Dispose
Strong out-posts, east, from the Flaminian gate,
And change them every hour. By such relief
Treachery may best be baffled. To thy zeal
I trust this service. See to 't well. Take heed
Such charge be not misused—and let no cause
Tempt thee to quit thy post, ev'n for an hour.
Farewell!
[Exit Valerius.
Come son!
[Exit Marius.
YOUNG MARIUS.
I follow,—sir,—in a breath!
[He walks about disturbed.
'Tis said—those in the crisis of their fate
Are buoyant oft of spirit, and mount high,
Or ere they sink—as if the soul elate—
Rose on the waves of fortune.
Shipwreck'd wretches,—
Men shut in plague-struck cities,—will, they say,
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Amid fate's very billows. Even thus,
Methinks, it is with me. If in this conflict
I perish, I will sneak not to my urn
Like a gull'd priest of Cybele! but die
Satiate (if that may be) with fierce delight;
The greatest—if the last—that fate can give me;
And sweeter, because hard to be obtain'd,
And dash'd with perturbation. I am tost
Upon a sea of passion: but my course
There are two burning stars to guide. The one
Oh! Love is thine,—the other is—Revenge!
Enter Ctesiphon.
Ha! art thou there?
CTESIPHON.
I am, my lord.
YOUNG MARIUS.
Speak quickly;
For I am rack'd—am mad with this suspense!
Hast trac'd out her concealment?
CTESIPHON.
Sir, I have.
YOUNG MARIUS.
Art sure on't—or art sure that, if thou hast,
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May'st not be track'd?
CTESIPHON.
Sir, all is safe—all sure!
And as an earnest of this certainty,
I give you here my hand, and promise you
They 're in your power this night—this very night!
And here 's the earnest.
YOUNG MARIUS.
Rapture! ecstacy!—
Methought he chang'd, when he receiv'd his charge.—
Hand did'st thou say? Aye, give it me! Nor shall it
For this—perhaps, last service—part from me
Unguerdon'd. Take this gold. Until to night
I part not from thee. Then; when we have sped
As thou assurest me,—I'll give thee means
To quit this scene of blood and violence—
Whate'er becomes of Marius. Come with me;
And let us make success a thing of fate.—
If I must perish now, let Marius die
Triumphant to the last. Favour'd of love,
And in such sort as man was never yet!
Or, if not that, victorious in revenge.—
Come, counsellor.
[Exeunt.
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SCENE II.
—A Garden and Villa. Night.Enter Valerius, with a cloak.
VALERIUS.
Now, oh! ye stars—that gaze on this drear night
From out yond shadowy dome, if it be possible,
As men do say, that some of ye can be
Malignant—hide your lights—and if those question,
Who spell the heav'ns for words of fate, and read,
Writ in your course, the doom of enemies,
Answer not—I beseech ye. But oh! suffer
Your beams, ye orbs, that smile on innocence,
To lamp our darkling steps, and, 'mid the snares
Of lust and murder, guide our umber'd way.—
She comes?—not yet. How is 't with thee, oh Rome,
That those, who would die for thee, seek to leave thee?
Oh! that thou should'st become a den for factions
To tear each other—and men seek to rule thee
Whose empire still is ruin! I'st not thus?
E'en as the wintry gusts and ruins contend
Which shall be master—that fell masterdom
Whichever has 't, is ravage!—the wide waste
Of giant inundation—or the sweep
And reckless triumph of the winged wind!
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O'ermaster thee who may.
Flavia! she comes!
Too bright a beam for such a night as, Rome,
Doth now enshroud thee; fallen queen o' the world,
Obscured in blood and tears—
FLAVIA
(entering).
Valerius!
VALERIUS.
My Flavia! Tremble not. Do not yond stars
Look down on this dark hour? and innocence
In heav'n, if not in Rome, is sacred. Flavia,
Time presses, and ere morn we must be far
From danger and from Rome.
FLAVIA.
But one last look at this beloved home!—
And then I go, Valerius!
Enter Young Marius and Attendants.
YOUNG MARIUS.
Save you, lady;—
And, you, sir!—We 're well met! although, methinks,
'Tis a new hour for travel—in such times,
And without passports, too! At least I cannot
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Were bent on open journey. If mistaken,
Tis easily put right.
VALERIUS.
Wretch
YOUNG MARIUS.
Ha!—Be this
As 't may, this is no hour—no path for beauty
To venture forth unguarded. This fair lady
I will protect as doth become her. Thou
May'st take thy way, e'en as it pleaseth thee.
I shall not condescend to stop thy course,
Deserter!—Patron leaver!—Fugitive!
Sylla, perchance, may need thee. Marius, haply,
Can shift without such succour!
VALERIUS.
Art thou a Roman?
Art of that noble race who have inscribed
Those banners, waved so oft in victory,
“Peace to the cottage; to the tyrant war;
“We spare the lowly, and strike down the proud!”
Call'st thyself “Roman”—and wilt do a deed
Accurs'd by all Rome's Gods,—whose temples, sure,
Are the best guards of innocence and virtue?—
Thou canst not do this, Marius!
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Prate no more!
I came not here to listen to thy whine!
Quit thou the lady, and e'en take thy course
Whither thou wilt. If not, ye are attach'd
The spies of Sylla and the Consul's foes,
And traitors to the Senate and the State.
Now;—take thy choice.
FLAVIA.
My choice is ta'en, Valerius!
Let him arrest us,—let his savage father
Doom us to death, or torment,—or to both!
There is no terror in such death, Valerius,
To those who truly love—believe 't there is not—
No agony—no pain!—'Tis but to bless them,
To join two souls, in essence one already;
And the last sigh that wafts them to each other
Is sweeter far than zephyr's, and more kindly
E'en than the gentle spring's. Oh! in such breath
Live twenty summers, in their bloom of beauty,
With all their smiling suns; and to die thus
Is then to live indeed. Mine own, my brave,
My dear Valerius, thou—thou hesitate!
VALERIUS.
I do not, Flavia—no! no!
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No, no. It cannot be. Thou dost but try me.
There are some deeds impossible on earth,
Or how should there be hell? Thou dar'st not do it.
And hast, methinks, hardly the heart to say it.
YOUNG MARIUS.
Fool not thyself, Valerius. Yield her to me,
Or all those hopes are dreams;—false as the winds;
Fleeting and unsubstantial, as the foam
Left on the bright shore of some summer sea.
Speak but the word. She lives.
FLAVIA.
An if he did,—
If that 't were possible such baseness could
Exist in aught that Flavia says she loves,
Think'st thou he 'd speak for me? Oh! no, no, no
Rather than that, I'd do as Lucrece did,
But quicker far than Lucrece. Dost thou shrink,
Valerius? Oh! an if I thought thou could'st,—
Much—(and there is no shame to say it now)—
As I have lov'd thee,—I should deem of thee
But as that blotch'd, rank flow'r, toad-like, that seems
As nature made it to shew how a flower
May out-do e'en things loathsome—and even thus
Turn from thee, could I think that such a thought
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(To Marius.).
Threaten'st thou
Death?—Foolish ruffian, to imagine e'en
That death out-uglied thee! I do defy thee,
Thee and thy race; and if ye think to mend
Your blood by spilling better than your own,
Seize the occasion! Come, Valerius.
YOUNG MARIUS.
Have then thy will. Away with them!
VALERIUS.
One moment.
Caius,—we have been friends. That 's little. For
Myself I reck not; but I would save thee,
Ev'n for that friendship's sake, from such a deed
As men, however black, would tremble at.
Look on that face—And whatsoe'er become
Of me, oh! injure not a bosom, which
Innocence self might make her latest refuge,
And grace make doubly gracious, when disgrac'd
In every heart beside. Oh! can such beauty
Sort with such sound as death?
YOUNG MARIUS.
Sir! If that death
Be doom'd,—that doom fell from no lip of mine.
Silence I say—I'll hear no more. Death hath
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Can follow. 'Tis revenge!
Take them away!
If love be scorn'd—then why should fury stay!
[Exeunt.
SCENE III.
—The Capitol.Enter Marius armed, Saturninus, and others.
MARIUS.
Let all the walls be mann'd, without more pause,
And let Cecilius and his chosen cohorts
Be drawn within the Capitol. This rock
Ere now hath been Rome's saviour; and again
Shall be—so please the Gods—if Marius
Be narrow'd to its confines.
Saturninus.
SATURNINUS.
Great Sir!
MARIUS.
I'll perish on this rocky heart
Of Rome, ere budge one inch to Sylla. S'life!
Is order sent to bid Cecilius
Bring in his cohorts?
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It is done, Lord Consul.
[Trumpet sounds.
MARIUS.
'Tis well.
Enter Sulpicius.
Sulpicius, welcome! What's the news?
SULPICIUS.
Sylla 's at hand, Lord Consul; and his power
Is not to be contemn'd. E'en at this moment,
Rome is environ'd from the Cœlian
To the Flaminian gate!—and o'er the walls
They have lanced this proclamation, setting price
On both the Consuls' heads.
[Gives a paper.
MARIUS
(reading aside).
So. They have priced me, as they would a wolf!
No matter. Yet, methinks, the head of Marius
Were worth a few denarii more than his
They 've honour'd by a like proscription! Well:
When they have got them, they 'll be little worth,
And of most even value!
(Aloud.)
Is this all?
To pay for murder is not new in Rome!—
Is there nought else?
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There is, my lord: and that
More nearly touches us. I fear me treason
Lurks 'mid our troops; and some that should be true
Are making peace with Sylla.
MARIUS.
“Traitors,” say 'st thou?
Amongst our nearest? Then all 's over! Death
Shall be our pass-word now; and Marius die
As he hath liv'd, stern to his enemies!
Enter Young Marius, with Valerius, Flavia, and Attendants.
What 's here?
YOUNG MARIUS.
I know not. But I fear me treason.
[Marius starts.
Well may you start, my lord, at such a sound,
At such a time, of one so lov'd—so trusted!
Such is the world; at least so 'tis at Rome!
This gallant here—to whom—if gratitude
Were now a thing in fashion, such a course
Were worse than death—we have waylaid and ta'en
Upon his road to Sylla; who, it seems,
Is now again the Orient, and so worshipp'd
Of all who knee the rising sun.
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'Tis false!
And thou, who say'st it know'st that I am true.
I may have sought to save beauty and virtue
From fangs like thine; but treason never yet
Was inmate with Valerius.
MARIUS.
Beauty, forsooth!
Ha! And whence comes this syren who hath caused
This sudden zeal for chastity? Whence comes she?
Answer me that— (pauses)
By heavens the foolish boy
Is right enough; there 's poison in her eye.
The true patrician guile. Hold up thy head.
By Jove, the rainbow eyebrow—and the lashes
Like silken fringe of finest woof—I 've seen
Ere now!—Whence com'st thou, damsel?
FLAVIA.
From the house
Of Lucius Sylla. Start'st thou?—Never think
I heed thy frown, old man! Oh! no. The blood
That 's in these veins knows not of fear—like that!
This let me say—and freely I do say it,
Despite thee, Caius Marius—if there be treason
I am the traitress! I did lure this youth;
By the fond love he bears me—and which love
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Which thou hast made a theatre for blood,
For cruelty!—Aye! rage—and gnash thy teeth,
Base, heartless, hoary-headed ruffian!
MARIUS.
Girl!
Beware!—This is no place—this is no hour
For woman's trifling. Mark!—Tempt not thy fate;
Tis on a breath. Be wise, and speak no more.
FLAVIA.
Yes! I will speak! I scorn thee and thy mercy—
If that thy race could know what mercy is!
[Marius beckons a Soldier.
Aye—whet thy knife upon thy villain's heart,
Stony with murder. Let it have its way!
MARIUS.
This is thy last. Out with thy blade, thou fellow.
This is the last act of the seven-times Consul!
Thinks't thou, thine eyes of diamond, and that hue,
Would match the Alpine snows, when the young morn
Doth tint their coldness with a roseate blush,
Shall dazzle Marius? Thou dost speak to one
Pric'd like a wolf—and like a wolf he shall
Lap all the blood he meets.
[To Young Marius
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This is no time for dalliance! Kneel down, syren,
And ask the Gods what wilt. One single minute
I give thee. 'Tis thy last.
VALERIUS.
Oh! break my heart!
Marius!—thou art a father. I was wont
To call thee so in far-gone, happier hours
Look on her. Thou'rt a man?
MARIUS.
I was a man;
But Rome's patricians can work miracles,
And I am man no longer. Talk no more:
Thy turn comes on apace.
[To Flavia.
Quick! make thee ready
VALERIUS.
Flavia!—my Flavia!
FLAVIA.
Tremble not, Valerius;
I tremble not! Believe 't 'tis nought, Valerius,
Or but the acting of a marriage rite
That leads us to Elysium. Oh! so view it;
And see thou bid me not “farewell!” But rather
Think that we only meet—now—in this hour!
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A woman's fantasy,—but do not look
On me, Valerius, when that I am dead.
Thou can'st not see me then,—unless 't were possible
That thou could'st see my heart;—then thou would'st know,
That I did die, with my last thought on thee.
Oh! grasp my hand till I shall kneel. I would not
Their ruffian touch should aid one step of mine;
And when that I have knelt—then turn away
Thy face, and speak no more—
[She kneels.
One kiss—'tis over!
Enter Officer in haste.
OFFICER.
Consul, the city's yielded! all is treason!
Cecilius is slaughter'd, and his cohorts
Make strong the opposite ranks—all 's on the cast,
And Sylla near at hand. The Senate hath
Proclaim'd thee traitor—thee and thine; and offer'd
Gold unto him or them shall bring you in,
Dead or alive!
MARIUS
(in a transport of rage).
Slaves! Cowards! Ermin'd wolves!
Alive!—what? know not, yet, the dotards, Marius?
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Let me have breath, oh! rage! Stop me not yet!
Sleek, brindl'd tiger! He, at least, shall feel;
And blood be paid for blood. Oh! vengeance! vengeance!
I'll drink thee to the dregs; for thou art sweet.
Now for one blow, that shall avenge thee, Caius!
Make ready, slave. Aye, if the very heavens
Should weep to see this deed; yea, earth turn sick,
And hell itself shrink from 't;—it should be done,
Despite of even hell! Aye; blood! I choke—
Oh! hate,—bar not thyself; and in thy rage
Change place with whining pity! Scorpion-like
Die not by thine own venom! But one breath,
Ye Furies!—one breath more—give 't me. My brain
Doth burst—methinks! One breath—but one—one—word—
Stri—Strike!
[As he utters the last words, he reels, and falls down dead at Flavia's feet. Valerius seizes the Soldier's sword.
VALERIUS.
Ruffian! Hell shrinks from this, and mighty heaven
Doth strike for innocence now. You, soldiers! Romans!
And murther helpless women!
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Strike him down!
Seize him, I say! Traitors!
VALERIUS.
Keep off! I warn you.
In such a cause I can lose twenty lives!
Who closes with me—dies!
(A crash of trumpets, and loud shouts of “Sylla! Sylla!” Young Marius drops his sword!)
SYLLA
(without).
Turn thee! thine hour is come,
Marius—thou man of blood! 'T is Sylla calls.
Make way, I say. Where art thou, Caius Marius?
Enter Sylla, Soldiers, &c.
(Valerius stepping forward; taking the sword from his hand, pointing to Marius' body.
There!
[Curtain drops.
FINIS.
| Caius Marius, The Plebeian Consul | |