University of Virginia Library

Scene XIX.

—Scipio's camp at Tunes. His tent, into which enter Scipio and Lælius.
Scip.
The Carthaginian deputies, I guess,
Are here, as I appointed?

Læl.
Even so;
And much, I doubt me, troubled in their mind,
With expectation of their interview.
The poor men have awaited you some days.
As for the soldiers, they no whit refrained
From jeers and tauntings at the sight of them.

Scip.
I shall not keep them now much longer waiting.
But I must dine first, ere I give them audience.

Læl.
Doubtless you had a joyous voyage hither?

Scip.
I told you, did I not, I turned aside
Into their pleasant harbour, and surveyed
The city at my leisure? There it was,
The galley which conveyed these deputies
Met me all wreathed about with olive boughs.
I bade them meet me here, and so passed on.

Læl.
I doubt 'tis long since they have come to dinner
With such a hearty appetite as yours.
Scipio, shall it be vain once more to urge
That which in council you have overruled?
May I not once more tell you, there are those
Will blame you that you have admitted Carthage
Too easily to terms? I will be bold
To say, you rob yourself of half your glory;
And it may be, that after-times will think
In this you too much followed Hannibal,
Whose lingerings after Cannæ saved our Rome.

Scip.
If Rome was saved so, I ne'er knew as much.

Læl.
If I were Scipio, I should scarce be glad
To come to Rome with nothing but a treaty,
Instead of marching glorious through the streets,
With the great spoil of Carthage.

Scip.
I shall have
Wherewith to triumph nobly, as it is,
In the brave pageant I shall show to Rome.
Not but in Sophonisba I have lost
Its rarest ornament.

Læl.
And yet there are
As fair as she, still hidden from the day,
In all the gorgeous palaces of Carthage.
Pass but the city gates, and you may choose
As many of these beauties as you will,
To dazzle Rome with in your hour of triumph.
To lead the daughters of the land in chains,
To offer up to Jove Capitoline
Censors and flagons torn from Moloch's altar,
Would be the crowning glory after Zama.
With one hand might you point and say, Behold
The spoils I took from Hannibal's own camp!
And with the other, Lo, the sack of Carthage!
If this nought moves you, would you not desire
To punish to the uttermost extreme
The long o'erweening pride of Hannibal,
Which, for requital, should have nothing less
Than the entire extinction of his state?

Scip.
My greedy rivals will not wait for that;
The envious fathers that did first oppose
My coming hither, are already restless
With haste to send me out my successor.
I should be superseded long before
The painful siege of Carthage were achieved.
This business, to be well accomplished, must
Be soon accomplished. I'll not trust another;
For Hannibal is there to forge despair
Into a deadly weapon of resistance.
I choose to think I am the man, by fate
Designed, to put him down, and mean to bit
His fiery ambition whilst I may,
Nor run the risk that some unpractised hand
May let it go unbridled hence again.
Enter an Attendant.
Go, bring those Carthaginians to my presence.

[Exit Attendant, and re-enter with the Carthaginian Deputies.
Scip.
You, sirs, it seems, are those your senate sends
With her submission?

1st Dep.
Noble Scipio, yes.

Scip.
I have not yet forgot a former day
When some of you on a like embassy,
And with a like abasement, sought my camp.
Nor have I yet forgotten that which followed
My ready acquiescence in their prayer.

2nd Dep.
Most noble Scipio, then forget it now;
Or but remember it to enhance your triumph,
That so you may the more incline to mercy.

Scip.
Let me, in brief, hear what you have to say.

1st Dep.
This only, Scipio, that we beg for peace!
Upon your clemency we fling ourselves
In utter failure of all other hope.
We own we have been wrong from first to last;
Wrong in the first beginning of the war,
Misled by Hannibal's ambition and
Hereditary hate; and, lastly, wrong
In breaking through the truce you granted us
In our late terror. Yet have mercy now!
For we are humbled to the dust before you!
Oh, be contented with earth's greatest triumph!
You have already surpassed Hannibal—
Stay, then, your hand, nor urge us to despair!

Scip.
I am aware, sirs, this will ever be
The fashion of your nation, insolent
In their success, and abject in defeat;
And, lastly, quick to break the promises
Through fear extorted.

2nd Dep.
What then shall we say?
How further shall we humble ourselves before you?

Scip.
I have fixed my part already, wholly moved
By my own will and pleasure, by regard
To the uncertainty of human greatness
And to the sovereign dignity of Rome,
To me this day committed; not at all
By anything that you have said to me,
Or any pity for deserved misfortune.
I mean to spare your city; on what terms
You shall hear from me in yon inner chamber.
Await me there one instant. I will follow.
[The Deputies pass within.]
Think you these men are enough humbled, Lælius?

Læl.
Ay, for a time; but once your sword withdrawn,
They will break out in curses. Wait and see
What then shall follow. Clemency is wasted
On hounds like these.

Scip.
Well, they shall now learn from me
How great is this same clemency you speak of.
Pray you, if Masanissa comes, receive him
With kindly welcome.

[Scipio passes within.]
Enter Octavius.
Oct.
How fares Scipio, pray thee,
After his voyage?

Læl.
Marvellously well.
But that he is somewhat sunburned, I can see
No change in him after his victory.
He is within there, with those Carthaginians,
Giving them lessons of humility.
Vainly I urged him to deny them peace,
And instantly begin the siege of Carthage.

Oct.
He knows his business best. He has subdued
And humbled Hannibal, has crushed his Carthage,
And won himself a triumph. He may rest.

Læl.
I dare not hope they will be mad enough,
Though Hannibal should urge, to spurn these terms.

Oct.
If it be madness, Hannibal himself
Will save them from it; and if he resists,
Hard is the task before us; though I know
Thou burn'st to drive the ploughshare o'er the ashes
Of Esmun's temple and Hamilcar's palace.

Læl.
If a true lasting peace is to be looked for,
The foremost article insisted on
Should have been this same Hannibal's surrender.

Oct.
Nay, base and pitiful as Carthage is,
It were impossible that even she
Should, whilst the breath is left in her, abandon
The man in whom alone she can find help—
The man whose life has been devoted to her;
Cruel, perfidious, mischievous to Rome,
But faithful to his country.

Læl.
On which country
He has brought utter ruin.

Re-enter Deputies and pass out.
Oct.
These, I think,
Have scarcely found our Scipio too forgiving!

Re-enter Scipio.
Scip.
I greet thee well, Octavius.

Oct.
And I thee.

Scip.
Thou smilest, Lælius.

Læl.
As I stood but now,
By the tent-door, I heard the soldiers mock
Those hapless deputies. One said, “Poor souls!
Has Scipio soundly buffeted their ears
To teach them manners?” And another—Ha!
In good time; here comes the Numidian king.

Enter Masanissa.
Scip.
I greet thee heartily, King Masanissa!
How fares thy wound?

Mas.
That wound has ceased to pain me.

Scip.
Then, has thy soul a wound?

Mas.
More than one, Scipio.

Scip.
I know that his escape has troubled you.

Mas.
It had been better far that he had left
His proud heart's blood upon the field of Zama.

Scip.
For us, assuredly. Yet he, methinks,
Did well to live after his great defeat.
I know our Roman heroes are ashamed
To outlive their calamities; and I,
Perhaps, myself had followed the old fashion,
If his case had been mine. Yet Hannibal,
Having done all that lay in man, before
And during battle, to insure success,
Did surely act more nobly not to sink
Under a shame, his fate, not his deserts,
Procured him.

Mas.
Scipio, 'twill be found that Rome
Shall have no peace nor safety whilst he lives,
Nor whilst his city stands on her foundations.

Scip.
His city stands, indeed; but such a State,
So maimed, so crushed, can only serve to us
For a perpetual triumph, and to you.
You may content your hatred whilst you live,
With seeing your proud enemy abased,
And with the thought of all that you have done,
By your own arms, to bring her down thus low.—
Tell me, I pray you, did you recognize
Your friends amongst those Punic deputies?

Mas.
Not one, but I remembered face and name.

Læl.
I guessed as much, Octavius, by his eye,
When he came into us. It was not loving.

Scip.
'Tis time to make the circuit of the camp.
I pray you, friends, give me your company.

[Exeunt omnes.