University of Virginia Library

SCENE THE FIRST.

Tiberius, Mamilius.
Tib.
Mamilius, come, I must obey my father:
This moment hath he sent to me a message,
Which peremptorily insists on this:
Thou with the setting sun must go from hence.

Ma.
Oh! how can he presume to abrogate
That which himself with universal Rome
Granted to me this morning? ...

Tib.
He alone
Forbids thy longer tarriance here: ere long
The hoarded wealth, solicited and granted,
Shall from the gates pursue thee.—Let us go ...

Ma.
Say, in what manner am I authorized
To greet unhappy Aruns in thy name?

Tib.
Tell him, ... that he alone deserveth not
To be by birth a Tarquin; and that I,
Still mindful of our friendship, feel no small
Compassion for his fate.—For him I can
Do nothing ...

Ma.
For thyself, thou canst do much.

Tib.
What dost thou mean?

Ma.
That if compassion yet
Find an admission in thy youthful breast,
Thou for thyself and for thy friends should'st feel it.

Tib.
What sayest thou?

Ma.
That Aruns' pity, (and soon,)
More than thine him, may benefit thyself.
Dangers and obstacles thou seest not,
Intoxicate with freedom: but canst thou
Think that they ever can be permanent,
These innovating, undigested plans,
These mere chimeras of a government?

Tib.
I easily believe, since thou'rt a slave,
That freedom seems impossible to thee:
But the unanimous consent of Rome ...

Ma.
Th'authentic wishes of another Rome
Have I since heard: thou dost excite my pity;
Thou who with thy infatuated father
Dost rush towards the fatal precipice.—
But Titus comes to join us.—Ah! perchance,
Thy brother may himself expose to thee,
Better than me, the dubious state of things.