The Historic page records the most energetic and luminous
examples of public and private virtue, while it is also shadowed
with the ebon tints of moral delinquency.—Combining thus
every trait of human conduct, it becomes an instructive guide,
and offers a fertile source for dramatic composition.
The reader will no doubt feel an interest in those facts which
form the basis of our play, the outlines of which are as
follow:—
Mutius Scævola, surnamed Cordus, was a Roman famous
for his courage and intrepidity. When Porsenna, king of
Etruria, had besieged Rome, to re-instate Tarquin in his
rights and privileges, Mutius determined to deliver his country
from so dangerous an enemy. Having disguised himself in
the habit of a Tuscan, and being perfect master of that language,
he gained an easy introduction into the camp, and
thence into the royal tent; where finding Porsenna conversing
alone with his secretary, he immediately rushed on the latter,
and mistaking him for his royal master, plunged a dagger into
his heart. He then surrendered himself to the guard, who,
alarmed at the noise, had just entered the tent.
When interrogated respecting the motives that had urged
him to so desperate an act, Mutius boldly replied:—That he
was a Roman;—that he had thus entered the camp in disguise,
to deliver his countrymen from the tyranny of Porsenna;—
and that three hundred Roman youths, like himself, had sworn
to destroy him, or perish in the attempt. Then sternly fixing
his eyes on the king, he laid his right hand on an altar of
burning coals, and without uttering a groan suffered the flames
to consume it. This extraordinary act of heroism, added to
the confession made by Mutius, so astonished Porsenna, that
he made peace with Rome, and retired from the city.
Mutius obtained the surname of Scævola, for having lost
the use of his right hand, by burning it in the presence of the
Etrurian king.
History farther instructs us, that the generosity of Porsenna's
behaviour to the captives was so much admired by the Romans,
that to record his humanity, they erected a brazen statue to
his memory.
The author has deviated in some few particulars from the
original story, and has blended other incidents, to form, as he
hopes, an interesting Drama.
W. H. I.
LONDON,
June 27th, 1801.
