University of Virginia Library

SCENE THE THIRD.

Marcus, Appius, Virginia, Numitoria, Icilius, People, Lictors.
Mar.
As it behoves a citizen, I come
Before thy eminent tribunal, Appius;
Few are there in my train; the crowd immense,
Encompassing my adversaries here,
Excites no terror in my steady heart.
I adduce proofs and arguments; not cries,
And force, and weapons. Appius nothing hears
Except the right; and of my right it is
No trifling proof, that these have first infringed
All legal usage, and have, ere I spake,
Sought to invalidate an unmade claim.

Ap.
True; this proceeding is unprecedented.

Ici.
But let us hear: do thou now state thy cause.

Mar.
That damsel, named from her pretended father,
Was, from a slave of mine, born in my house.
Hence, while an infant, by maternal fraud
Withdrawn from me, and for a certain price
To Numitoria sold, who cherished her,
Instead of one, who, dying, left her childless.
Virginius was the first caught by the fraud;
Hence he believed her, and believes her still,
To be his daughter. I have hither brought,
And they alone escort me to this place,
Persons who witnessed both the time, the manner,
The price of this transaction. They are ready
To ratify my statement with their oaths.

Nu.
Liars are always most disposed to swear.
Should what a Roman mother dares t'assert,
(Yes, Roman and plebeian) less be trusted
Than the vile evidence of those who make
An infamous traffic of their perjuries?
At least, before these swear that which is not,
For a few moments hear a mother speak.
From my emotion, from my grief, my words,
And from my gestures, let the people judge
Whether or not I am the real mother.

Ap.
I here should judge, and all the rest be silent.
And those especially, who, of revenge,
Of love, or anger, instruments alike,
And foes alone of reason, make themselves
Of all these passions partizans in turn.
These hitherto, too frequently in Rome,
Justice have interrupted or destroyed.

Ici.
Say, is it just to silence evidence?
That which to no man is forbidden, thou
Forbiddest to a mother?

Ap.
Thou wilt, perhaps,
Teach me to judge because thou wert a tribune?
A private individual, like thyself,
I too might feel compassion at the names
Of mother and of daughter. As a judge,
I must withstand these passionate appeals.
Nor is it fitting that I should to tears,
Or threats, here yield attention, but alone
To Reason's voice. The claimant's proofs first heard,
Then should I hear the feigned or real mother.
This is the course of law ... but in the laws
Ye place not now your confidence; I see it.

Ici.
Should we for ever hear the name of law,
Now that the will of few is absolute?
But since who breaks the law dares to adduce it,
I also will adduce its usages,
And say, that 'tis not lawful here to judge
The daughter, in the absence of the father.

People.
Thou speakest well: the father should be present.

Mar.
The father, as erewhile I mentioned to you,
Was never conscious of the mother's fraud.

Ici.
But I of yours am conscious; and if thou
Dost not from thy vile enterprise desist,
All Rome shall hear me, with a thundering voice,
Quickly divulge your impious machinations.

Ap.
Icilius, be silent. What dost hope?
In whom dost trust? In the seditious murmurs
Of a few factious miscreants, who applaud
Thy turbulent harangues? Oh fool, oh fool,
How much art thou deceived! I on myself
Alone repose; the love, e'en as the hate,
Of those who call themselves thy partizans,
Is ineffectual and precarious.
The people, not the Icilii, I esteem;
Their prating moves me not, their rage I fear not;
And their offensive flatteries I despise.

Ici.
'Tis well to scoff at those who must obey.
But on the day, when thou, throughout this Rome,
Intreated'st our vain suffrages; the day
When thou from pride affected'st to be humble;
Magnanimous from baseness; incorrupt,
And just, and pious, from impiety;
That day, in somewhat less audacious terms,
We heard thee speak. To all of us, thou now,
Appius, art known: thou hast made too much haste,
Made haste incautiously, to reassume
Thy real character; in all respects
Thou of a tyrant hast the attributes,
And, except prudence, all a tyrant's virtues:
Yet prudence, to all virtues paramount,
Was always held by men resembling thee,
The key-stone to the arch of tyranny.

People.
He speaks imprudently, but speaks the truth.

Ap.
I thought to-day, to pass a sentence here
Upon a slave; but now I clearly see
That I must first pass sentence on a rebel.

Ici.
I here expected to defend alone
The free birth of a maid to me betrothed:
My rights, the rights of Rome, the rights of all
My fellow citizens, how blest were I
If I were able to defend to-day,
E'en at the expense of my last drop of blood.

People.
Oh, spirit-stirring words! oh noble heart!
He is a Roman.

Ap.
Lictors, stand around him:
O'er his audacious head suspend your hatchets,
And at the least attempt ...

Virginia.
It shall not be,
Oh Heaven, no never! I will be his shield:
Direct to me your hatchets: let thy lictors
Drag me away a slave: my servitude
Is a small evil, and my death is none,
Provided that this hero be unhurt,
Rome's last remaining champion.

Ap.
From his side
Tear her away. A most portentous plot
Lies here conceal'd, and threatens Rome with danger.

Ici.
This is a dagger for herself and me,
If we are attack'd by force: no man shall dare,
While I have life, t'approach us.

People.
He fears nothing.

Ici.
Thou shalt be forced to kill me, ere this virgin
Can from this spot be dragg'd. Ah, Romans, learn
The terrible contrivance here conceal'd:
Learn with what instant danger Rome is threaten'd:
And then let me be slain before your eyes.
This Appius burns with infamous desires
For my Virginia.

People.
He defies all fear.

Ici.
Tried to seduce her; menaces and prayers
He used ... and sought at last with gold to bribe her:
The extremest outrage that to abject virtue,
Vice, when enthroned, dare offer. But her blood
Was not patrician, thence above all price.
Now he attempts to seize on her by force;
And 'tis enough to certify the fraud
To know the claimant's name: now for your children
Tremble, oh fathers; for your wives still more
Tremble, oh husbands. Now, what more remains
That we can lose? Our ill-defended lives?
But what is life, where honour and our children,
Our country, and the heart that makes it dear,
Our liberty, our laws, are taken from us?

People.
For us, and for our children, liberty
Or death.

Ap.
This is a lie ...

People.
Or liberty
Or death.

Nu.
Suspend awhile thy vehemence,
Oh generous people. Ah! may Heaven avert
That one, from me sprung, be the fatal cause
Of shedding rivers of pure Roman blood.
I ask alone, and in your name I ask it,
That in this cause Virginius may be heard.
From the insufferable, false aspersion,
E'en in his presence, and before you all,
If time be granted, I shall clear myself.

Ap.
Cease, cease your importunities, or I,
The stern executor of the law, will shew
That law in all its fiercest majesty.
You rouse yourselves in vain to a vain task;
There is no need of your audacious cries;
They are as useless justice to obtain,
As they are impotent to baffle it.
Icilius lies, and I will prove it. He,
Of every faction, every broil the head,
Long has he panted to shed civil blood.
He was your enemy, as he was ours,
When he was tribune. To destroy the senate,
Deceive the people, to vile servitude
Reduce us all, was his flagitious aim:
Hence towards us is his rage. It was your will
To yield to decemviral hands the reins
Of this most desolate and afflicted city:
Weary yourselves of impious fatal discord,
Ye made me what I am. Returning peace,
So ardently desired, scarce lifts her head,
And at a nod, a word, of him, the worst,
The basest of the citizens of Rome,
Shall I behold you eager for fresh tumults?

People.
'Tis true; he is our judge: but let us hear
The answer of Icilius.

Ici.
'Tis true;
A legislator and a judge ye made him;
But for a year; already long ago
His annual jurisdiction has expired;
And since that period he hath made himself,
By artifice, your judge, by force, your tyrant.
Peace, universal servitude he calls:
This is not peace, but a deep sleep of death.
The blood of our best citizens in streams
Runs in the camp: who, think ye, drinks that blood?
Our enemies perchance? The valiant Siccius,
He who dared in the camp invoke the name
Of ancient liberty, did he not fall
In a pretended contest, in the back,
By an insidious decemviral knife,
Transfix'd?

Ap.
The rebel Siccius presumed ...

Ici.
Why should I speak of murders? They are known.
Blood they have not as yet diffused in Rome,
But gold with lavish hand, which afterwards
Will be the horrible price of human blood.
He is accounted now a foe of Rome,
Who, as a Roman should, both speaks and thinks.
The virgins see themselves unjustly robb'd
Of husbands, parents, liberty, and fame.
What do ye now expect? The horrible yoke,
Far worse than any death, upon yourselves
By yourselves fasten'd; which scarce leaves to you
Man's character, or prostituted name,
Why falls it not to earth by you destroy'd?
Say, are ye Romans? your professions still
Are worthy of the name, but not your deeds.
Say, is there need of blood to goad you on?
Already in the tyrant's countenance
I read th'inflexible decree of death.
Ye satellites of blood, be expeditious,
Why do your weapons slumber? Appius, this,
This is the head, which, sever'd from my body,
The liberty of Rome shall take away,
Or ratify for ever. Appius, tremble
While it remains there; thou shalt ever hear it
Proclaiming vengeance, liberty, and arms.
If Rome contain no Roman but myself,
A second Brutus to a second Tarquin,
Living or dead, am I. Behold, I fly not;
I neither flinch nor tremble: here am I. ...

Virginia.
Oh heavens! oh, Appius, mitigate thy rage:
Shed not his life-blood with your axes: hear;
The people shudder, nor will they permit it.
Thou menacest a life of too much value:
Ah, take my life, the injury to thyself,
To Rome, will then be less ...

Ici.
What art thou doing?
Dost thou entreat? Entreat an Appius?
And in the presence of myself and Rome?
If thou dost love me, learn to banish fear:
And if I here, as a first pledge of love,
Should offer thee my life, do thou receive it
As is befitting for a Roman lady,
Freeborn, and to Icilius betroth'd.

Nu.
Oh dreadful moment! Appius, I pray thee
Yet once, once more; summon Virginius hither;
Let him be waited for, let him be heard.

People.
Appius, ah let Virginius be summon'd;
We all desire it ...

Ap.
And I more than all:
I wish him present here; so shall he be:
I, in the forum, by to-morrow's dawn,
Expect to meet you all. Although by law
His life is forfeited, I do not now
Condemn Icilius; ye might suspect
That he alarm'd me: for the present then
Be his life spared, and at the mighty question
Let him assist; if so he will, in arms;
And ye with him in arms. Ye first shall hear me
Pass sentence on the slave, and then on him.
To see this I invite you here; secure
In his own virtue, Appius trembles not.

Mar.
But the law wills, that meanwhile in my care
The dubious slave remain.

Ici.
The vile abode
Of a bribed satellite, shall that e'er be
Th'asylum of a virtuous virgin? ... Never!
There is no law iniquitous like this;
Or if there be, let it at once be broken.

Mar.
Who meanwhile will be surety for this damsel?

People.
All, all: we pledge ourselves.

Ici.
And I with them:
Let us depart. To-morrow's rising sun
Shall witness all of us assembled here,
Sure of ourselves and of our wives, or dead.