I am cold in every member of my
If 'tis prophetic, Lucius, of thy news,
Give me such token as her tomb would, Lucius—
I'll bear it better.-Silence.
Vir. I thank thee, Jupiter! I am still a father!
Luc. You are, Virginius, yet.
Vir. What, is she sick?
Vir. Neither dead nor sick! All well! No harm! Nothing amiss! Each guarded quarter safe, That fear may lay him down and sleep, and yet This sounding the alarm! I swear thou tell 'st A story strangely.-Out with 't! I have patience For any thing, since my Virginia lives,
And lives in health!
Luc. You are required in Rome,
To answer a most novel suit.
Vir. Whose suit?
Luc. The suit of Claudius.
Vir. Claudius!
Luc. Him that 's client
To Appius Claudius, the Decemvir.
That pander! Ha! Virginia! you appear
To couple them. What makes my fair Virginia
In
company with Claudius? Innocence
Beside lasciviousness! His suit! What suit?
Answer me quickly!-Quickly! lest suspense
Beyond what patience can endure, coercing,
Drive reason from his seat!
Luc. He has claimed Virginia.
Vir. Claimed her! Claimed her!
On what pretence?
Luc. He says she is the child
Of a slave of his, who sold her to thy wife.
Vir. Go on ;-you see I'm calm.
Luc. He seized her in
The school, and dragged her to the Forum, where Appius was giving judgment.
Vir. Dragged her to
The Forum! Well?-I told you, Lucius,
Luc. Numitorius there confronted him!
Vir. Did he not strike him dead?
True, true, I know it was in presence of
The Decemvir-O! had I confronted him!
Well! well! the issue-Well! o'erleap all else,
And light upon the issue! Where is she?
Luc. I was dispatched to fetch thee, ere I could learn.
Vir. The claim of Claudius-Appius' client-Ha!
I see the master-cloud--this ragged one,
That lowers before, moves only in subservience
To the ascendant of the other-Jove,
With its own mischief break it and disperse it,
And that be all the ruin! Patience! Prudence!
Nay, prudence, but no patience.-Come! a slave
Dragged through the streets in open day! my child!
My daughter! my fair daughter, in the eyes
Of Rome! O! I'll be patient. Come! the essence
Of my best blood in the free common ear
Condemned as vile! O! I'll be patient. Come!
O they shall wonder.-I will be so patient.
Ex. CCXXXVI.-SCENE FROM RIENZI.
RIENZI, ANGELO, AND PEOPLE.
[ANGELO, incited by RIENZI, joins the conspiracy.]
FRIENDS,
Rienzi.
I come not here to talk. Ye know too well
The story of our thraldom. We are slaves!
The bright sun rises to his course, and lights
A race of slaves! He sets, and his last beam
Falls on a slave: not such as, swept along
By the full tide of power, the conqueror
To crimson glory and undying fame;
But base, ignoble slaves-slaves to a horde
Of petty tyrants, feudal despots; lords;
Rich in some dozen paltry villages-
Strong in some hundred spearmen-only great
In that strange spell-a name. Each hour, dark fraud,
Or open rapine, or protected murder,
Cry out against them. But this very day,
An honest man, my neighbor-there he stands-
Was struck-struck like a dog, by one who wore
The badge of Ursini; because, forsooth,
He tossed not high his ready cap in air,
Nor lifted up his voice in servile shouts,
At sight of that great ruffian. Be we men,
And suffer such dishonor? Men, and wash not
The stain away in blood? Such shames are common.
I have known deeper wrongs. I, that speak to ye,
I had a brother once, a gracious boy,
Full of all gentleness, of calmest hope-
Of sweet and quiet joy-there was the look
Of heaven upon his face, which limners give
To the beloved disciple. How I loved
That gracious boy! Younger by fifteen years,
Brother at once and son! He left my side,
A summer bloom on his fair cheeks-a smile
Parting his innocent lips. In one short hour
The pretty, harmless boy was slain !
I saw
The corse, the mangled corse, and then I cried
For vengeance!-Rouse, ye Romans!-Rouse, ye slaves!
Have ye brave sons? Look in the next fierce brawl
To see them die. Have ye fair daughters? Look
To see them live, torn from your arms, distained,
Dishonored; and, if ye dare call for justice,
Be answered by the lash. Yet, this is Rome,
That sate on her seven hills, and from her throne
Of beauty ruled the world! Yet, we are Romans.
Why, in that elder day, to be a Roman
Was greater than a king! And once again—
Hear me, ye walls, that echoed to the tread
Of either Brutus! once again, I swear,
The eternal city shall be free! her sons
Shall walk with princes.
That thus in stern and watchful mystery
Cluster beneath the vail of night, and start
To hear a stranger's foot?
I knew thee by the words. Who, save thyself, in this bad age, when man Lies prostrate, like yon temple, dared conjoin
The sounds of Rome and freedom?
Rie.
I shall teach
The world to blend those words, as in the days
Before the Cæsars. Thou shalt be the first
To hail the union. I have seen thee hang
On tales of the world's mistress, till thine eyes
Flooded with strong emotion, have let fall
Big tear drops on thy cheeks, and thy young hand
Hath clenched thy maiden sword. Unsheath it now-
Now, at thy country's call! What, dost thou pause?
Is the flame quenched? Dost falter? Hence with thee,
Pass on! pass whilst thou may!
Ang.
Hear me, Rienzi.
Even now my spirit leaps up at the thought
Of those brave storied days-a treasury
Of matchless visions, bright and glorified,
Paling the dim lights of this darkling world
With the golden blaze of heaven, but past and gone,
As clouds of yesterday, as last night's dream.
Rie. A dream! Dost see yon phalanx, still and stern?
An hundred leaders, each with such a band,
So armed, so resolute, so fixed in will,
Wait with suppressed impatience till they hear
The great bell of the Capitol, to spring
At once on their proud foes. Join them.
Ang.
Rie. Already he hath quitted Rome.
Ang.
Rie. We are too strong for contest. Thou shalt see
No other change within our peaceful streets
Than that of slaves to freemen. Such a change
As is the silent step from night to day,
From darkness into light. We talk too long.
Ang. Yet reason with them-warn them.
Rie.
Will be the jail, the gibbet, or the axe-
The keen retort of power. Why, I have reasoned;
And, but that I am held, amongst your great ones,
Half madman and half fool, these bones of mine
Had whitened on yon wall. Warn them? They met
At every step dark warnings. The pure air,
Where'er they passed, was heavy with the weight
Of sullen silence; friend met friend, nor smiled,
Till the last footfall of the tyrant's steed
Had died upon the ear; and low and hoarse
Hatred came murmuring like the deep voice
Of the wind before the tempest.
[Gives his hand to Rienzi.]
Rie. [To the people.] Friends, comrades, countrymen,
I bring you unhoped-for aid. Young Angelo,
The immediate heir of the Colonna, craves
By Rome-by freedom-by Rienzi! Comrades,
How have ye titled your deliverer? Consul-
Dictator-emperor?
Those names have been so often steeped in blood,
So shamed by folly, so profaned by sin,
The sound seems ominous-I'll none of them.
Call me the tribune of the people; there
My honoring duty lies. Hark! the bell, the bell!
The knell of tyranny-the mighty voice,
That to the city and the plain-to earth,
And listening heaven, proclaims the glorious tale
Of Rome re-born, and freedom. See, the clouds
Are swept away, and the moon's boat of light
Sails in the clear blue sky, and million stars
Look out on us, and smile.
Ex CCXXXVII-DIALOGUE FROM DOUGLAS.
[GLENALVON is watching NORVAL, who is looking towards the army, and does not observe GLENALVON, till the latter addresses him.]
Glen. His port I love: he's in a proper mood
To chide the thunder, if at him it roared.
Has Norval seen the troops?
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