University of Virginia Library

SCENE THE FIFTH.

Brutus, having mounted the Rostrum, Valerius, Titus, People, Senators, Patricians.
Bru.
I come, oh fellow-citizens, to make
To you all strict confession of my deeds.
With one consent you have appointed me
And Collatinus to a dignity
Without a precedent in Rome: the lictors,
The fasces, and the hatchets (hitherto
Th'insignia of kings) ye have been pleased
T'annex to our elective annual office.
Yet not for this hath the malignant taint
Of mad ambition crept into my heart;
With honours, no, (though yours are real ones,)
I'm not transported; but with liberty,
With love for Rome, and with implacable,
Fierce, and eternal hatred for the Tarquins.
These are my sole pretensions; and may each
Of you in such a noble strife excel me;
I have no wish beyond.

People.
Thy dignified
And manly aspect, Brutus, thy frank speech,
All, all announce in thee to us the sire
Of Rome and of the Romans.

Bru.
Oh my sons,
My genuine sons, (since with the name of father
Ye have been pleased to honour me,) I hope
Shortly to shew you, by no doubtful proofs,
That beyond all things, e'en myself, I love you.—
My colleague arm'd is from the city gone,
With many heroes, to the camp, to meet
And safely to collect those who have left
Justly the standard of our vile oppressors.
People, patricians, knights, and senators,
I all of you assemble in the forum;
Since the great cause of all I wish to treat
Before you all convened. Now every Roman
Is so inalienably a part of Rome,
That nothing but his own degeneracy
Can from her solemn meetings banish him.—
Noble patricians, ye, the scanty remnant,
Uninjured by th'exterminating sword
Of the despotic king; and ye, their flower,
Oh senators, ye will not be averse
To mingle with a free and manly people.
Ah no, ye are too lofty. All around,
Far as I cast my eyes, I see all Romans;
And there are none of them unworthy you,
Since among us there are no longer kings.—
Trembling and insecure, kings hitherto
Our lips have seal'd: nor was there left for us
Any alternative, except to load
Ourselves with infamy, giving assent
To their iniquitous flagitious laws;
Or, if the courage rose in us, to oppose
Ourselves to them in vain, to be the first
To fall the luckless victims of their rage.

Va.
Brutus, thy words are true.—I, in the name
Of all the senators, appeal to Rome.
Too true indeed are they.—We a long time
On Rome's obscurest citizens reduced
To look with envy; more than any culprit
Forced to despise ourselves; what need more words?
Besides our portion in the common load
Of execrable servitude, compell'd
In the dark mysteries of tyranny
To take a part, we, yes, we sunk ourselves
Below the lowest people; and we were so.
Nor to the multitude should one of us
Hope to seem guiltless, save the many slain
By th'impious royal axe. Nought else remains
To us to-day, then, but to reunite
Our heartiest efforts with the noble people's;
Nor otherwise to covet to surpass them,
Except in hate to kings. This sacred hate
Will be th'eternal, sublime base of Rome.
We then, yes, we, by the infernal gods,
By our own blood, and by our children's blood,
Swear it ferociously with one accord.

People.
Oh noble! oh magnanimous! Oh ye
Alone now worthy to surpass us! We
Gladly accept the noble strife of virtue.
What people now will undertake to cope,
Much less the vanquish'd execrable kings,
(Already vanquish'd by their turpitude,)
With us, at once Romans and citizens?

Bru.
Immortal contest! superhuman words! ...
I die contented: I for once at least
Have utter'd accents worthy of a Roman;
And have indeed with these my ears once heard
True Roman eloquence. Now since Rome trusts
Herself to us wholly for her defence,
Without her walls I instantly depart;
And to you day by day of all our schemes
My colleague or myself will give account;
Until, our arms laid down, in perfect peace
Ye give a stable government to Rome.

People.
'Tis needful first wholly to disconcert
Defeat, and slay the tyrants.

Bru.
I, in this,
And nothing else, will be your chief.—Be pleased
Briefly to hear a messenger of theirs;
He, in their name, solicits to address you.
Would you believe it? Tarquin, and with him
The impious Sextius, and a few more, dared
Erewhile to make incursion with full speed
Almost to Rome; thinking to come to us
As to a timorous flock, vain-glorious fools!
But they in this were much deceived; my son
Tiberius the honour robb'd from me
Of first attacking them. The miscreants
Betook themselves from him by sudden flight:
Descending thence from force to art, they dare
To send to you as an ambassador
Mamilius. What may be the unworthy terms
Will you be pleased to hear?

People.
There are 'twixt us
No other terms except their death or ours.

Bru.
This let him hear then, and report.

People.
To us
Now let this servile herald quickly come.
Let him too hear the sentiments of Rome,
And bear them back to him who sent him hither.