University of Virginia Library

ACT THE FIFTH.

SCENE THE FIRST.

People, Valerius, Senators, Patricians, all seated. Collatinus and Brutus in the Rostrum.
Col.
Romans, to you the sun of yesterday
Triumphantly and joyfully arose;
When, at this hour exactly, from yourselves
The earliest cries of liberty resounded
Through the wide air; I, in my grief absorb'd,
Meanwhile stood mute. But on this horrible day
A part quite different, alas! on me
Devolves by lot, since, with the noble Brutus,
Ye have been pleased t'elect me for your consul.—
All swore, (I hope ye recollect it well,)
All of ye, in the forum, yesterday,
Swore to the gods, that, sooner than return
To the vile yoke of monarchs, ye would die.
And not alone the execrable Tarquins,
But every man that dared to make himself
Superior to the laws, by this your oath
Expressly was proscribed.—Would ye believe it?
I, in your presence, I am now constrain'd,
'Mong the most powerful noble citizens,
To impeach many, infamous and perjured,
Who have, 'gainst Rome and 'gainst themselves, (too much so!)
Been plotting for the Tarquins.

People.
For the Tarquins!
Who are they? Who are the flagitious traitors,
Unworthy to be Romans? Quickly, name them;
We will, they all be slain ...

Col.
Ah! ... who can tell ...
Perhaps ... when ye hear the names? ... When I attempt
To utter them, I tremble ... And far more
Shall I implore from you your clemency
Than your stern justice. Almost all of these
Are youths: they have not, from their unripe age,
Yet felt the ills, so countless and so bitter,
Of civil servitude: the greater part,
Enervated by indolence, brought up
In a corrupted court's pestiferous shade,
Have only tasted tyranny's sweet bait,
Yet unacquainted with the lurking poison.

People.
Whoe'er they be indeed, they're traitors, perjured;
Compassion they deserve not; let them perish:
The corrupt, putrid, vitiating members
Of a new city, liberty decrees
That they be first lopp'd off.—Pronounce their names.

Va.
And we, although too thoroughly convinced
That this disgrace (their permanent dishonour)
To the patrician tribe belongs, yet now
We with the people emulously seek
To know the culprits' names.—Oh noble people!
For high achievements born! Oh happy ye!
Ye only did sustain the tyrant's yoke;
But to the coveted impediment
Of fetters well deserved, in us were join'd,
Debased patricians! their disgrace and shame.
We, nearer to the tyrant, more enslaved,
And less regretting slavery than you;
We thence assuredly more worthy slavery:
I feel the presage; yes, we, we have been
The first in perjury.—Oh Collatinus,
I ask it of thee, whosoe'er they be,
Divulge the criminals. What terrible,
What inextinguishable thirst of honour
Pervades her citizens, Rome should to-day
Acknowledge from a memorable proof.

People.
Oh worthy ye of better fate! ... May heaven
Grant, that the few to servitude seduced,
Either plebeian or patrician names
No longer bear! The trait'rous and the perjured
Cease to be Romans.

Col.
Many are the guilty;
But different their degrees of guilt. There are
Among them those who servitude abhor,
And who have elevated courteous hearts;
But in a thousand ways assail'd, entrapp'd,
By base Mamilius ...

People.
Where is the impostor?
Oh rage! where is he? ...

Col.
Ere the night was closed,
From Rome I banish'd him; the sacred rights
Of hospitality required his safety,
Though he were culpable. Religiously
The citizens of Rome each right observe:
Faith is the basis of our sacred freedom.

People.
In truth thou hast done well from our first rage
To wrest him: justice thus is not by us
Attainted. We shall have, in fair array,
The gods themselves and virtue with us listed:
But round the banners of the heart-struck tyrants
Treason, dissimulation, abject fear,
The appalling ministers of heavenly vengeance,
Eternally shall lour ...

Va.
But shall we give them,
That so they may avail themselves of it
To injure Rome, their vitiating wealth?
Far more than steel, gold in the tyrant's hands
We've reason now to deprecate.

People.
'Tis true;
We will not to their baseness lend such arms:
But hence shall we another's make our own?
What boots to us, who in our hands have swords,
And at our breasts a mail of liberty,
What boots to us the ministry of gold?

Va.
Let it be burn'd; let all the tyrant's wealth
Be burn'd, or to the Tyber's whelming waves
Committed.

People.
And with these eternally
May their remembrance perish ...

Va.
Likewise perish
All recollection of our servitude.

Col.
Magnanimous, and worthy of yourselves,
Is the decision; your decree in this
Shall quickly be fulfill'd.

People.
Yes; but meanwhile
The names of the conspirators divulge,
And the conspiracy.

Col.
... Oh heaven! ... I tremble
In undertaking such a cruel office ...

People.
And Brutus stands immoveable and silent.
He seems to have his eyes suffused with tears,
Though shedding none, and fierce his downcast looks
He fixes on the earth.—Oh Collatinus,
Do thou then quickly speak.

Col.
... Oh heaven! ...

Va.
But what
Then ails thee? The deliverer of Rome,
The husband of Lucretia, and our consul,
Art thou not, Collatinus? Canst thou be
The traitors' friend? And canst thou feel compassion
Towards those who for their country felt it not?

Col.
—When you shall hear me speak, those very pangs
Which tear my heart and paralize my tongue
Will speedily assail you: weeping, mute,
Alarm'd, with pity and amazement stricken,
Already I behold you—To the king
Mamilius went the bearer of this scroll:
I caused it to be taken from his hands,
Ere he from Rome departed: and the traitor
Confess'd, affrighted, that the citizens
Herein inscribed had sworn, the following night
To open to the king the gates of Rome.

People.
Oh treason! Let the guilty perish ...

Va.
Death
Were a light punishment for such a crime.

Col.
The fatal paper let Valerius read
To you assembled. See it; take it: ... I
Cannot pronounce these names.

Va.
What do I see? ...
Oh execrable list! ... With his own hand
Each one his name has written? ... Romans, hear.—
Aquilius the sire, and his six sons,
Head the conspiracy; they first are written.
Oh heaven! ...

Col.
To each of them, the paper shewn,
They all confess'd it. They are now in chains;
And ye will see them dragg'd, ere long, before you.

Va.
... Alas! ... There follow ...

People.
Who does follow? Speak.

Va.
... Alas! ... It is incredible. I read ...
Four names ...

People.
Whose names? Proceed ...

Va.
They were the brothers
Of Brutus' consort ...

People.
The Vitellii?

Col.
Ah! ...
Soon will ye hear far other names than these.
—And in your presence, one by one, ere long ...

Va.
What boots it then, that one by one I name them?
Marcii, Octavii, Fabii, I read,
And many, many more, alas!—The last
Make e'en my hair to stand on end with horror ...
Yes ... from my hands ... at such a sight as this ...
The paper falls ...

People.
Who can they be?

Va.
Oh heaven! ...
Ye ... never will believe ...

(UNIVERSAL SILENCE.)
Bru.
—The names last written,
Are Titus and Tiberius.

People.
Thy sons! ...
Unhappy father! Inauspicious day! ...

Bru.
Oh day, to you auspicious! Brutus knows
No other sons but Roman citizens;
And these are such no longer. Yesterday
I swore for Rome's sake to shed all my blood:
This oath I'm ready, and at every risk,
To-day to consummate ...

People.
Ah wretched father!

(UNIVERSAL SILENCE.)
Bru.
—But what, with horror stupified, and dumb,
Do I see universal Rome? For Brutus
Does every individual tremble here?—
But say, whom does the fiercest peril menace,
Brutus or Rome? Each man that hears my voice
Wills beyond all things, or he ought to will,
To make his country free, secure, and great;
Whate'er the consequence he ought to will it.
Chains are in store for us, and cruel slaughter;
For Rome her consul trembles; hence her people
Cannot now tremble for a single father.
The soft affections, and the gush of tears,
(That in the forum from a Roman eye
Can never start, save when they're shed for Rome,)
The soft affections and the gush of tears,
In the profound recesses of our hearts
Are now suppress'd.—I first should shew to you
(Thus destiny ordains) what permanent
And lofty base 'tis indispensable
For us to give to an eternal city.—
Lictors, advance; and let the criminals
Be quickly dragg'd in chains into the forum.—
Now thou'rt the only, the true king of Rome,
People of Mars. Thy majesty by these
Hath been offended; signal punishment
Is now their due; and the avenging thee
Devolves upon the consuls ...

SCENE THE SECOND.

Brutus and Collatinus in the Rostrum. Valerius, People, Senators, Patricians. The Conspirators all in Chains among the Lictors; the last of these Titus and Tiberius.
People.
Ah! how many,
How many may the traitors be? ... Oh heaven!
Behold the sons of Brutus! ...

Col.
Ah! I cannot
Longer restrain my tears ...

Bru.
—A great day,
A noble day is this, and evermore
Will be a memorable one for Rome.—
Oh ye, perfidiously base, who dared
Your scarce-awaken'd country to betray,
Behold ye all before assembled Rome.
Let each of you, if it be possible,
Defend himself before her.—All are silent.—
Rome and the consuls ask of you yourselves,
Whether to you, convicted criminals,
The punishment of death be due?—

(UNIVERSAL SILENCE.)
Bru.
—To death
Then all of you are equitably sentenced.
The people's majesty, with one consent,
Pronounces th'irreversible decree.
Why should we longer tarry?—Oh! my colleague
Weeps, and is silent ... Silent is the senate ...
Silent the citizens.

People.
Oh fatal moment! ...
Yet just and necessary is their death.

Tit.
One innocent alone, amongst us all,
Now dies; and this is he.

People.
Oh pity! See,
He of his brother speaks.

Tib.
Believe him not:
Or we are both equally innocent,
Or equally transgressors. In the paper
My name is written next to his.

Bru.
No one
Whose name is written in that fatal scroll
Can be call'd innocent. Some may, perchance,
Have been less culpable in their intent,
But only to the gods the intent is known;
And it would be an arbitrary judgment,
And thence unjust, the guilty to absolve,
As to condemn them from the inference
Drawn from profess'd intention. It would be
A spurious judgment, such as kings assume;
Not such as by a just and simple people
Is held in reverence: people who alone
To the tremendous sacred laws submit;
And who, save of the letter of those laws,
In their decrees, of nought avail themselves.

Col.
... Romans, 'tis true, that these unhappy youths
Were with the rest of the conspirators
Involved; but that they were solicited,
Confounded, tamper'd with, and finally,
By the iniquitous Mamilius
In an inextricable snare entrapp'd,
Is also as indubitably true.
He made them think that all was in the power
Of the expell'd Tarquinii: thence their names
(Would you believe it?) also they subscribed
Only to save their sire from death ...

People.
Oh heaven! ...
And is this true indeed? We should then save
These two alone ...

Bru.
Alas! what do I hear? ...
Is this the people's voice? Just, free, and strong,
Ye now would make yourselves, and how? would ye
Lay, as the base of such an edifice,
A partial application of your laws?
That I, a father, might not weep, would ye
Now make so many other citizens,
Sons, brothers, fathers, weep? To the keen axe,
Which they have merited, shall now so many,
So many others yield their passive necks,
And shall two culprits only be exempt
From this, because they seem not what they are?
They were the consul's sons, although in deeds
They were not so: 'mong the conspirators
With their own hand were they enroll'd: or all
Or none of them should die. Absolve them all,
And at once ruin Rome; save two alone,
And if it seem so, it would be unjust.
Now, less a just than a compassionate judge,
Hath Collatinus these two youths defended,
Asserting, that they wish'd to save their father;
Perhaps this was true; but perhaps the others wish'd,
Their fathers some, their brothers some, and some
Their sons to save; and not on this account
Are they less guilty, since they rather chose
To sacrifice their country than their friends.
The father in his heart may weep for this;
But in the first place should the genuine consul
Secure the safety of his native country ...
And afterwards, by mighty grief o'erwhelm'd,
Fall on the bodies of his lifeless sons.—
Ye will behold, ere many hours are past,
To what excess of danger, by these men,
Ye have been brought: to fortify our hearts
In strength imparted by the strength of others,
In individual strength to make us strong,
Inflexible as champions of freedom,
Cruel, though just, 'tis indispensable
That we abide this memorable test.—
Depart, oh lictors; be the culprits all
Bound to the columns; let the hatchet fall
Upon them.—I have not a heart of steel ...
Ah! Collatinus, this is the time for thee
To pity me: perform for me the rest.

People.
Oh cruel sight! ... The wretched father dare
Not look at them ... And yet, their death is just.

Bru.
—The punishment approaches.—The delinquents
Have heard the sentence of the consuls ... Now
Think on the pangs of the distracted father ...
The cleaving hatchet o'er each neck impends ...
Oh heaven! my very heart is rent in twain! ...
I with my mantle am constrain'd to hide
Th'insufferable sight! ... This may, at least,
Be granted to the father ...
But ye, fix ye on them your eyes: now Rome
Free and eternal rises from that blood.

Col.
Oh superhuman strength! ...

Va.
Of Rome is Brutus
The father and the god ...

People.
Yes, Brutus is
The father and the god of Rome ...

Bru.
I am
The most unhappy man that ever lived.