University of Virginia Library

ACT THE SECOND.

SCENE THE FIRST.

Cicero, Cimber.
Cic.
There does not now remain a safe asylum
Save this, where we may treat o' the fate of Rome.

Cim.
Ah! little now is left for us to say;
Actions alone remain for us. I have
Invited hither to us in thy name
Brutus and Cassius; soon will they be here.
The exigence admits of no delay;
Our country by to-morrow's rising sun
Too certainly, alas! will undergo
The last extreme of danger.

Cic.
'Tis most true
That the secure audacity of Cæsar,
Allowing no more to his vile designs
Any delay, doth render on our part
Further delay impossible. At length
For nought he wishes but his troops in arms;
Since from experience he is convinced
That universal terror will do more
To further his attempts, than the bribed love
Of the unstable people. In his heart
He laughs at our misfortunes; and lets us
At leisure rail, provided he obtain
His army: and of this he is secure
From the majority of votes which he
Has purchased in the senate. Afterwards
At his return he'll be avenged on us
For our last efforts in the cause of freedom
His warriors he marches to the Parthians,
To give the last shock to expiring Rome
At his return, as formerly he gave
To her, returning from the Rhine, the first.
He hath advanced too far now to retract:
Now even I confess that we cannot
Longer delay with safety. But, alas!
As a good citizen should do, I tremble:
I shudder, to reflect, that, on an hour
Fleeting, perchance, as that of our debate,
The fate of Rome depends.

Cim.
Behold to us
Cassius repairs.

SCENE THE SECOND.

Cassius, Cicero, Cimber.
Cas.
Have I come late? But ah,
Brutus is not yet here.

Cim.
He comes ere long.

Cas.
Here many of our friends would follow me:
But in these melancholy walls, are spies
So much more numerous than good citizens,
That, all suspicion wholly to prevent,
I rather chose to come here unattended.
To the unbending rectitude of Cimber,
To Cicero's perspicuous intellect,
Lastly to my implacable revenge,
'Twere now sufficient could we only add
The sublime energy of Brutus' rage.
Can e'er another council be convened
Of nobler temperament than this, and hence
Better adapted to exert itself
For Rome's prosperity?

Cic.
Ah! may the Gods
That watch o'er Rome will that it thus may prove!
I, far as in me lies, do hold myself
With hand, voice, heart, ready to serve my country.
And I regret that there remains to me
But a weak remnant of declining years
To sacrifice for her. My wasted strength
Can with my hand but little serve her cause;
But if this tongue hath ever in the forum
Or in the senate, the high sentiments
Of freedom utter'd; more than ever yet,
On this day Rome shall hear me thunder forth
The same high sentiments of freedom: Rome,
Whom I will not a single day survive,
If she is doom'd to fall amid her chains.

Cas.
Thou always wert the sincere orator
Of liberty; and by thy eloquence hath Rome
Oft from her abject lethargy been roused:
But who remains now that deserves to hear thee?
All now are apprehensive, or are bribed;
Nor, if they heard them, could they comprehend
Thy elevated sentiments ...

Cic.
The people,
Though no more Roman, is a people still:
And though each man be in himself debased
As far as man can be, the greater part,
Soon as the multitude collects, is changed:
I further would assert, that we may give them,
When in the forum they're assembled all,
A spirit altogether different
From that which each 'mid his own Lares feels.
Truth, falsehood, anger, pity, reason, grief,
Justice, and honour, glory even yet,
Are impulses, which, by the man who has them
All truly in his heart, as on his lips,
May be, yes all of them, at will transfused
(Whate'er their individual character)
Into the hearts of congregated thousands.
I hope to-day to ascend, and not in vain,
The rostrum, if indignant eloquence,
Fervid and free, may aught avail; and there,
If it be needful, I'm resolved to die.
Say on what base was that prodigious power
Of Cæsar founded, which we all now fear?
Th'opinion of the many. With the sword,
'Tis true, he conquer'd Gaul, but with his tongue,
With plausible insinuating words,
First o'er his legions the ascendency
He gain'd, and o'er the people then in part:
He could not purchase, or exterminate all,
He only: but he easily could make,
All those whom he had first inveigled, slaves.
And cannot we then equally with him
Make language instrumental to our purpose?
Cannot we undeceive, illuminate,
And medicate the heart and intellect
Of all our fellow citizens? The truth,
In such a contest, 'twixt my eloquence,
And that of the tyrannical dictator,
The truth would be on my side, force on his.
And in the noble drift of my discourse
Do I so much confide, that if but once
I gain a hearing, I his weapons scorn.
To hearts and ears that have been Roman once,
Such fervid language I may yet address,
That for a while at least they may become
Romans once more. The character of Cæsar
Fully disclosed, and Cæsar is no more.

Cim.
There is no doubt, but that if Rome could hear thee,
Thy manly speech might rouse her to new life:
But if thou also generously chose
To ascend alone, and die upon the rostrum,
For now to him 'tis fatal who dare breathe
The name of freedom thence; if also thou
Dared to do this alone; by the infamous,
And purchased howlings of base parasites
All means of being heard would be cut off.
Those wretches now exclusively possess
The bar of eloquence, and banish thence
All upright orators. On Tyber's banks
Rome stands no longer: it behoves us now
In the remotest provinces to seek
For arms, for virtues, and for citizens.
A dire necessity, and this alone,
Could justify us in recurring now
T'intestine war; but yet this is not peace.
We are compell'd once more with blood to purge
Those rankling humours, which, oppressing Rome,
Keep her exanimate 'twixt life and death.
The illustrious Cato was a real Roman,
And he detested uselessly to shed
The blood of citizens: yet that most just
Among just men, profess'd, that, “nursed in arms,
And now by arms exhausted, arms alone
Can now regenerate Rome.” What else remains
For us to do? Or Rome is overcome,
And with her fall all her true citizens;
Or she's victorious, and the guilty ones
Are all dispersed, annihilate, or changed.
Has Cæsar quite chain'd victory to his car?
Let him be only once discomfited,
And e'en his very partizans, convinced
That he is not invincible, will then
With other eyes behold him; with one voice
All will then dare to execrate his name,
And, as an impious tyrant, to proscribe him.

Cas.
Why first by us should he not be proscribed?
When we ourselves should give it, when ourselves
Should be the first to execute the sentence,
From a vile populace should we expect it?
While at our will, e'en in the midst of Rome,
Within her dwellings, in the very senate,
We may thus cope with Cæsar, and obtain
O'er him a complete victory; in the camp,
Ought he, and at the risk of many lives
Less impious than his own, to be provoked
By us to dangerous and uncertain fight,
Perhaps to be the victor?—Where a sword,
This sword of mine alone, and this my fierce,
Inexorable rage that makes me wield it,
Suffice, more than suffice, to annihilate
That despicable life, which holds all Rome
In tears, unworthily enslaved and chain'd;
Where nought is wanting to destroy the tyrant
Whoe'er he be, except a single sword,
And one, a Roman, that may brandish it;
Wherefore should we unsheathe so many?—Ah!
Let others sit in council, weigh, discuss,
Delay, and waver till they miss the time:
I, among all schemes, deem the briefest best;
And now especially since the most brief
Will be the boldest, noblest, and most sure.
Worthy it is of Rome to slay this one
Openly; and by the hand of Cassius
Cæsar deserves to die. To the just rage
Of other men I leave the punishment
Of th'infamous slave—consul Anthony.—
Lo, Brutus comes: ah, let us, let us hear,
If he dissents from me.

SCENE THE THIRD.

Brutus, Cicero, Cassius, Cimber.
Cic.
Does Brutus come
So late to such a lofty conference? ...

Bru.
Ah! I had been the first there, if erewhile
I had not been prevented ...

Cim.
And by whom?

Bru.
Not one of you could guess.—'Twas Anthony
That would at length address me.

Cic.
Anthony!

Cas.
And the vile satellite of Cæsar gain'd
An audience from Brutus?

Bru.
Yes, he gain'd it,
And in his Cæsar's name. He would confer
With me, at all events; and he invites me,
If I consent to it, to come to him;
Or he to me ...

Cim.
His offer was rejected? ...

Bru.
No. Cæsar as a friend, in my pure heart
Wakes no more fear, than Cæsar as a foe.
Hence I will hear him, and ere long, and in
This very temple.

Cas.
What can be his wish?

Bru.
Perhaps, to bribe me.—But ye still, I hope,
Confide in Brutus.

Cas.
More than in ourselves.

Cim.
In Brutus all confide; e'en the most vile.

Bru.
And to provoke me, in respect of deeds,
(As if I slept) I met with on my road
Exciting exhortations scatter'd round me,
Strong, brief, and Roman; and at once expressive
Of praise and blame towards me, as if I were
Slow to do that which Rome expected of me.
This I am not: and every stimulus
Applied to me is idle.

Cas.
But, I pray thee,
What hop'st thou from this interview with Cæsar?

Cic.
Thou hop'st perhaps to change him ...

Bru.
I am pleased
That the sagacity of the great Cicero,
My scheme in part conjectures.

Cas.
Oh! what say'st thou?
We all, long time expecting thee, have here
At length express'd our sentiments: we all,
In hating Cæsar, and in loving Rome,
In being willing for her sake to die,
Were as one man: the end of all the same.
But in the best means to obtain that end
Our sentiments were threefold. To resort
To legislative strife; to rouse from sleep
The people, by imposture drugg'd, to arms;
Or with the private sword to immolate
Cæsar in Rome: now which of these would be
The choice of Brutus?

Bru.
Mine?—Not one of these
At present. If mine afterwards proved vain,
I would undoubtedly adopt the last.

Cas.
And thine?—What other then remains to us?

Bru.
To you I'm known: I am not wont to speak
In vain; be pleased to hear me.—Rome is now
Far too infirm to be in one day cured.
The people might be roused, but briefly roused,
To virtue: never with the bait of gold
Are they, as they are drawn to baseness, drawn
To rectitude. Can real excellence
Be ever purchased? The corrupted people
Would form a treacherous basis for fresh freedom.
Perhaps the senators are less infected?
One may enumerate the upright ones;
The guilty also in their hearts hate Cæsar,
Not because he robs all of liberty;
But because he prevents, (a single tyrant,)
Their being tyrants in their turn. To him
They would succeed; they envy, hence, and hate him.

Cic.
Ah, were this not, as 'tis indeed, too true!

Bru.
Amid such vices the good citizen
Should steer with care, lest he to bad add worse.
Cæsar, though now a tyrant, was not once so.
The impious wish to be lord paramount
Hath only lately risen in his heart:
And the vile Anthony, by stratagems,
Adds fuel to his flame, to drag him on
To his perdition, that he thus may rise
Upon his ruin'd fortunes. Friends like these
Fall to the lot of tyrants.

Cas.
In his breast,
Connatural with his being, evermore
Cæsar possess'd the thirst to be supreme.

Bru.
No; not to reign supreme: he never dared
To wish for so much. Now thou deemest him
More bold, more lofty, than he ever was.
Ambition, a necessity for fame,
An ardent spirit, and no lofty wish
To be avenged on private enemies,
And lucky opportunity, at last,
More than aught else, have to that height impell'd him,
At which when now arrived, he feels himself
Astonish'd at his own temerity.
A thirst for honour more than thirst for power
Still, in his heart, maintains ascendency.
Should I prove this to you? Does he not now
Pant to attack the Parthians, and to quit
Rome where he still possesses many foes?

Cim.
He hopes to purchase with the Parthian laurels
The royal crown.

Bru.
Then he would rather be
To valour than to force indebted for it:
He is thence more ambitious than corrupt ...

Cas.
Dost thou to us pronounce his eulogy? ...

Bru.
Hear the conclusion.—Cæsar wavers still
Within himself; he wishes yet for fame;
He is not therefore yet, in heart at least,
Consummately a tyrant: but, he now
Begins to tremble, and a short time since
He knew not fear; He then approaches near
The brink of tyranny. A few days since
Terror assail'd him, when he saw the crown
By his bribed people from his grasp withheld.
But Cæsar, be he what he may, as yet
Is not contemptible, is not unworthy
That others should facilitate for him
The path of reformation—For myself
I must despise myself, or him esteem,
Since I consented for the gift of life
To be indebted to him, on the day
When, in Pharsalia's fields, a vanquish'd foe,
Within his power I fell.—I live; and this
My life is a sufficient blot to Brutus;
But without baseness or ingratitude
I will devise the means that blot to cancel.

Cic.
Such often is the fate of war: thou thus
Hadst also used thy victory o'er him,
If thou had'st conquer'd. Did not he himself,
Once as a gift receive that life, to Rome
Now so disastrous? Yes, did not he also
Receive it as a gift from Scylla's hands
By express grace, and far more express error?

Bru.
'Tis true; but never does my mind forego
The recollection of a benefit.
Yet at the same time do my country's claims,
And my own duties, in my heart sink deep.
In short, to Brutus, Cæsar such appears,
That, (as he is, as now from day to day
He more becomes,) a tyrannous dictator,
Brutus, on no condition, will permit
His life to be prolong'd; or he will kill him,
Or he himself in the attempt will fall ...
But such to Brutus Cæsar also seems,
That he alone to Rome can now restore,
If he once more become a citizen,
Liberty, empire, energy, and life.
He is e'en now the idol of the people;
Let him become a model to the good;
Let him against the guilty arm the laws
With added terrors; till the whole returns
To its original state, be all his power
Concentred to prevent those sons of faction,
From ruining those laws. He was endow'd
With lofty thoughts; he was a citizen:
For fame he burns yet: he is blinded, yes;
But such from prosperous fate, and impious friends,
Who have alone made him forsake the path
Of real glory, such from these alone
Is he become.—Or nothing is my speech,
Or I shall know how from my breast to draw
Such strenuous and impressive words, to use
To him such true, such strong, tremendous reasons,
And in such numbers use them, that I hope,
Yes I indulge the hope, to force e'en Cæsar;
To make him great indeed, so pure in virtue,
That he o'er every man, o'er every Roman,
Will rise unparallel'd in excellence,
Yet be a simple citizen of Rome.—
I only do prefer his fame to mine,
Hoping that fame may benefit his country:
And this my enterprize, methinks, affords
Convincing proof of my sincerity.—
But, if in vain Brutus speaks now to Cæsar,
Thou seest it, Cassius, thus I ever wear it;
Behold the dagger, which will be more swift
To slay him than thy sword ...

Cic.
Oh genuine patriot!
Thou art too great; ill canst thou comprehend
The tyrant Cæsar, judging from thyself.

Cas.
Illustrious Brutus, an impossible thing,
But worthy of thee, thou projectest: one
Thou only could'st attempt. I oppose not
Myself to thee. Ah, Cæsar fully can,
And he alone, divest thee of thy error.
To change a tyrant to a citizen?
'Tis in itself proof, this thy generous hope,
Oh Brutus, that thou ne'er could'st be a tyrant.

Bru.
That will be soon made clear: myself hereafter
Will give you full account of all my deeds.
If I, a vain, abortive orator,
Oh Cassius, prove; so much more shalt thou have me,
I swear to thee, obedient to thy orders,
A lusty and a fierce tyrannicide.