To see them die. Have ye fair daughters? Look Was greater than a king! And once again, From daily contact of the things I loathe? "Tried and convicted traitor!"- Who says this? Who'll prove it, at his peril, on my head? "Banished! I thank you for't. It breaks my chain ! I held some slack allegiance till this hour; But now my sword 's my own. Smile on, my lords; I scorn to count what feelings, withered hopes, Strong provocations, bitter, burning wrongs, I have within my heart's hot cell shut up, To leave you in your lazy dignities. But here I stand and scoff you: here I fling Hatred and full defiance in your face. Your consul 's merciful. For this all thanks. "Traitor!" I go- -but I return. This trial! Here I devote your senate! I've had wrongs, Or make the infant's sinews strong as steel. This day's the birth of sorrows! This hour's work Will breed proscriptions. Look to your hearths, my lords, For there henceforth shall sit, for household gods, Shapes hot from Tartarus! — all shames and crimes; Wan Treachery, with his thirsty dagger drawn ; Suspicion, poisoning his brother's cup; Naked Rebellion, with the torch and axe, Making his wild sport of your blazing thrones ; Till Anarchy comes down on you like night, And Massacre seals Rome's eternal grave. LESSON CXXII. Cato's Soliloquy on the Immortality of the Soul. ADDISON SCENE.CATO sitting in a thoughtful posture, with Plato's book on the Immortality of the Soul in his hand; and a drawn sword on the table by him. IT must be so- Plato, thou reasonest well! Or whence this secret dread, and inward horror, Eternity!— thou pleasing, dreadful thought! Through what new scenes and changes must we pass! The wide, th' unbounded prospect lies before me; Through all her works,) he must delight in virtue; But when? or where? - This world was made for Cæsar. I'm weary of conjectures this must end them. [Laying his hand on his sword Thus am I doubly armed: my death* and life,t The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds. LESSON CXXIII. Edward and Warwick. FRANKLIN'S TRANSLATION. Edward. LET me have no intruders; above all, Keep Warwick from my sight [Enter Warwick.] Warwick. Behold him here; No welcome guest, it seems, unless I ask Edw. There was a time, perhaps, When Warwick more desired, and more deserved it. All my best years, the morning of my life, What Who trust in princes should be thus rewarded. Edw. I thought, my lord, I had full well repaid Your services with honors, wealth, and power Unlimited: thy all-directing hand Guided in secret every latent wheel Of government, and moved the whole machine : War. Who gave that cipher worth, and seated thee On England's throne? Thy undistinguished name Had rotted in the dust from whence it sprang, And mouldered in oblivion, had not Warwick Dug from its sordid mine the useless ore, And stamped it with a diadem. Thou knowest, Which you no longer want; but know, proud youth, Edw. Know, too, reproach for benefits received A thrifty, saving knowledge: when the debt You may remember next the injuries Which I have done you let me know them all, And I will make you ample satisfaction. War. Thou canst not; thou hast robbed me of a jewel It is not in thy power to restore. I was the first, shall future annals say, That haunt your court, could none be found but Warwick, To be the shameless herald of a lie? Edw. And wouldst thou turn the vile reproach on me? If I have broke my faith, and stained the name Of England, thank thy own pernicious counsels That urged me to it, and extorted from me A cold consent to what my heart abhorred. War. I've been abused, insulted, and betrayed: Edw. These gusts of passion Will but inflame them. If I have been right Edw. Nay, start not: I have cause |