University of Virginia Library

SCENE THE FOURTH.

Appius, Numitoria, Virginia.
Ap.
While time remains to you, and it is short,
Withdraw a little from that boisterous train,
Which rather may endanger than protect you.
You see me not at present as a judge:
Approach, Virginia; hear me; thou wilt see me
Wearing ere long a different aspect here.

Virginia.
Hast thou, oh Appius, spoken with my father?

Nu.
Hast thou repented? Hast thou, taught by fear,
Learned to be more discreet?

Ap.
By fear, say'st thou? ...
No, but by pity. Hear me; and my words
Will prove my heart is not impress'd by fear.
Virginia, I love thee; with my lips
I ratify my fondness: violence
There can be none, to snatch thee from my power;
But many reasons why thou shouldst submit.

Virginia.
Is this thy change? ah, mother, let us go.

Ap.
Remain, and hear me. Art thou then, Virginia,
For thy Icilius so infatuated?
In him, if enterprising ardour please thee,
Am I perchance less passionate than he?
Does his rank charm thee? Though he be once more
A tribune, could he thus with me compare?
If his free heart and independent feelings?
Does not my breast a nobler heart contain,
More independent feelings? I, who mean
To make himself, and all his partisans,
Submit to my authority; while they
Obey my nod ...

Nu.
And dost thou thus presume
To unveil thy purposes? ...

Ap.
I am advanced
So far; so little now remains to do,
That I dare manifest them openly.
How great I am, your thought cannot conceive:
The tongue of Marcus, as the sword of thousands,
Is under my controul. If thou refuse
To be Icilius' spouse, I instantly
The process set aside.

Virginia.
Abandon him? ...
Ah, rather ...

Nu.
Oh, audacious turpitude!
Oh, miscreant! ...

Ap.
Dost thou think that his regard
Can bear comparison with mine? His tales
Of liberty, his tribunitial office,
Conspiracies and tumults, are his passion.
Long was he silent; now he deems thyself
A means once more of reinstalling him:
His turbulent ambition makes him speak,
And not his love for thee. But grant, that I
Should also, in this undertaking, brave
Imminent danger; thence thou mayest infer
Th'immeasurable ardour of my love:
Power, life, and fame, for thee I have endanger'd.
All am I ready, for thy dear love's sake,
To sacrifice; Icilius from that love
Hopes all to gain.

Virginia.
No more.—Icilius vile,
By this comparison of thyself with him,
Nor thyself noble, canst thou ever make.
Short is the parellel: within himself
He has the all, of which thou hast no part:
Nothing of him can ever be in thee:
As much as I hate thee, I love Icilius.
Why dost thou speak of love? Dar'st thou bestow
A name so sacred on thy impious lust?
Not that I e'er would be so, but in thought
It never yet hath entered in thy heart
To seek me as a spouse? ...

Ap.
The time perchance ...

Virginia.
Think not that I shall ever ...

Nu.
Thou didst mean
To mock us: oh indignity! ...

Virginia.
Thou miscreant,
To no condition canst thou make me listen.

Ap.
'Tis well: thou shalt at last fall in my power,
All sprinkled with the life-blood of thy lover.

Virginia.
Oh Heaven! ...

Ap.
Yes, sprinkled with thy lover's blood,
And with thy sire's.

Nu.
Oh impious!

Virginia.
My father!

Ap.
All. At my nod falls whomsoe'er I will:
The fate of Siccius proclaim'd this truth.
One hour is wanting now, or ere I give
A signal for the massacre.

Virginia.
Icilius! ...
One hour! one hour alone! Oh, Appius, pity!
My lover ... and my father ...

Nu.
Two such heroes
Expiring at thy nod? And dost thou think
That thence thy power will be impregnable?

Ap.
And should the whole with me be overturn'd,
Would such an universal crash restore
Virginius and Icilius?

Virginia.
Appius,
Thou mak'st me tremble ...

Nu.
... Ah! ... do listen to me.
What, if I supplicate?

Ap.
With but one word
She saves the lives of both.

Virginia.
... Appius ... suspend
For this one day the blow ... I do conjure thee.
Meanwhile I'll banish every thought of marriage ...
Severed from me, ah let Icilius live;
I will endeavour from my heart to tear
His image ... and from him I will withdraw
My hopes, all placed in him so many years;
Perchance ... meanwhile ... the power of time ... alas!
What can I more? Ah! let Icilius live:
Before thy feet I prostrate fall. But I,
Alas! what do I do? ... what do I say?
Time will still make me hate thee more and more,
And more Icilius love. I will fear nothing;
We are Romans: and my lover and my father
Would never keep a life that was the fruit
Of their dishonour: if they once are slain,
Nothing remains for me to lose. In time
Wilt thou not give to me a sword, oh mother?

Nu.
Come ... come ... oh daughter ... gods there are in Heaven,
The avengers of oppressed innocence;
Come: let us trust in them ...

Virginia.
Ah, do thou be
The prop of my weak frame ... my footsteps faulter ...