University of Virginia Library

SCENE III.

Part of the Etrurian Camp.
Enter Guards with Silvia.
SILVIA
(addressing SERVIUS, the head guard).
In pity hear me.

SERVIUS.
Young man I dare not:
Our general's orders have forbid all speech.

SILVIA.
Is it not painful then to witness grief—
To be the partner of thy captive's woe.

SERVIUS.
The soldier's duty never is a pain,
Tho' fate omnipotent and worldly ills
Encounter him on every side.—What then
Save pleasure must the soldier feel, who thus
In ignominious chains a wretch secures,
Whose trait'rous soul cou'd harbour black intents,
And war against a monarch just and good;
A king protected by his country's laws;
A king enthron'd in ev'ry subject's love?

SILVIA.
Next to the rev'rence I owe the gods,
Is that I bear my king. To prove myself
The champion of Porsenna and my land,
I'd face the worst of ills, and smile at fate,
That cou'd no tortures find to shake my love.
—Oh! let thy reason own the voice of truth,
Nor bar soft mercy's passage to thy soul.
Give ear, my friend; and if my simple tale
Move not thy breast to pity, and relieve,
Then henceforth brand me with a traitor's name.

GUARD.
Thy prayers are vain:
Our lives were forfeit did we dare comply;
Therefore no more; but patient bear thy lot.

SILVIA.
It must be so—resign'd, I place my trust
Where justice never sleeps. The eye of heav'n,
Watchful, can read the very thought of guilt,
And for a term o'er virtue give it sway,
Till, dreadfully retributive, at once
It blast the bloom of vice with virtue's beam,
And bury all its glories in disgrace.

Enter Manlius.
MANLIUS.
Just gods! and do I thus behold my friend?

SILVIA.
Then heav'n's propitious to its votary's pray'rs.
Manlius! thy Silvia's true; thy friend sincere,
Lentellus is a villain.

MANLIUS.
There's in thy words a charm that speaks them true:
Give way, ye servile ministers of vice,
Give freedom to the innocent, nor bar
The course of ardent friendship such as mine.

[Takes Silvia, and advances to the entrance of the tent, Guard intercepting him.
SERVIUS.
Dare not advance; for tho' we know thy worth,
Yet as the traitor's friend we must regard
That being who would intercept our course.

MANLIUS
(unsheathing his sword).
Base wretch, no more.

Enter Lentellus hastily, followed by Guards.
LENTELLUS.
Secure this new found traitor to the state,
[Guards seize Manlius.
Who boldly would the course of justice check,
And free the partner of his villany.

SILVIA.
Oh, Manlius ador'd, my friend, my love,
Not Junius, but thy Silvia, thou behold'st.

LENTELLUS.
Guards, away, bear him from my sight.

[Silvia is borne off by Guard.
MANLIUS.
That voice, those words! delusion is no more.
A thousand fancies rush upon my brain:
It must be so. (Addressing Lentellus)
Villain, thy base designs
Stand naked to my view. I know thee now:
Thy lavish'd praises were but wily snares;
Thy proffer'd friendship and thy specious words
So many lures to catch my thoughtless youth:
But now I solve thy traitorous intent:
The mystery's clear'd, and in his villain's garb
Lentellus stands before me.

LENTELLUS.
Presumptuous boy! thou may'st awhile indulge
This speech unbridled: for thy crimes ere long
Shall seal thy tongue in ignominious death.

MANLIUS.
My soul defies thy threats: for all in vain
Shall I be branded with a traitor's deeds,
And die the victim of thy tyrant pow'r.
My love, my Silvia, never will be thine:
Her steady virtue will defy the shock
Of malice, treachery, or brutal force:
Her bosom beats in honor's sacred cause:
She has a mind to prompt—a hand to act,
Shou'd dire necessity demand the blow.

LENTELLUS
(sarcastically).
What means this frantic rage? Is this the youth;
Is this Etruria's friend, whose deeds in arms
Shone forth conspicuous in his country's cause?
Is this that Manlius whom Porsenna prais'd?
The same that wrought upon my easy soul?

MANLIUS.
The same that was deceiv'd—but knows thee now:
And, tho' in bondage, dares defy thy arts,
And tell thee thou'rt a villain.

LENTELLUS
(to the guards, haughtily).
Conduct the strippling traitor from my sight.
Remote from the companion of his crimes,
Let him in chains against his fortune rail,
Till I in pity grant him an ignoble death.

MANLIUS
(contemptuously).
I go; and with thee leave my soul's contempt.
My bondage or my death with joy I greet,
Since from thy fellowship I thus am freed.

[Exit guarded.
LENTELLUS.
Why, so, my dearest wish is thus attain'd,
And Manlius falls an easy prey. His breast,
With friendly glow inspir'd, by force of arms
Wou'd fain have rescued Silvia from the guard,
Spurning the course of justice and his chief.
For this bold act he dies; and Silvia thus,
Of lover and of friend at once bereft,
Becomes the victim of my arts. This night
Our sev'ral chiefs within my tent will meet
To plan the morrow's sackage of proud Rome.
I'll then Porsenna's clemency dispraise,
And shou'd I find them apt, in plainer terms
The darling purpose of my soul unfold.
I've sounded some more lowly in command,
But they are all so bounden to their chiefs,
That none without their sanction dare to act.
Shou'd secret measures fail, this hand at least
Shall rid me of Porsenna's hated life,
And force enthrone me in his royal seat.
I wou'd the time were come: for night decides
By general sanction, or my sole resolve,
The final doom of great Etruria's king.