Early Plays | Page 7

of old, The magnanimity of former ages;--
Security and life are favors sold, Which must be bargained for with hire
and wages. Not righteousness, but power here holds sway; The noble
man is lost among the gilded--
AMBIORIX. But say,--who then are you to tear away The pillars of the
hope on which we builded?
CATILINE. A man who burns in freedom's holy zeal; An enemy of all
unrighteous power; Friend of the helpless trodden under heel,-- Eager
to hurl the mighty from their tower.
AMBIORIX. The noble race of Rome--? Ah, Roman, speak-- Since we
are strangers here you would deceive us? Is Rome no more the
guardian of the weak, The dread of tyrants,--ready to relieve us?
CATILINE. [Points towards the city and speaks.] Behold the mighty
Capitol that towers On yonder heights in haughty majesty. See, in the
glow of evening how it lowers, Tinged with the last rays of the western
sky.-- So too Rome's evening glow is fast declining, Her freedom now
is thraldom, dark as night.-- Yet in her sky a sun will soon be shining,
Before which darkness quick will take its flight.
[He goes.]
* * * * *
[A colonnade in Rome.]
[LENTULUS, STATILIUS, COEPARIUS, and CETHEGUS enter, in
eager conversation.]
COEPARIUS. Yes, you are right; things go from bad to worse; And
what the end will be I do not know.
CETHEGUS. Bah! I am not concerned about the end. The fleeting
moment I enjoy; each cup Of pleasure as it comes I empty,--letting All
else go on to ruin as it will.

LENTULUS. Happy is he who can. I am not blessed With your
indifference, that can outface The day when nothing shall be left us
more, Nothing with which to pay the final score.
STATILIUS. And not the faintest glimpse of better things! Yet it is true:
a mode of life like ours--
CETHEGUS. Enough of that!
LENTULUS. Today because of debt The last of my inheritance was
seized.
CETHEGUS. Enough of sorrow and complaint! Come, friends! We'll
drown them in a merry drinking bout!
COEPARIUS. Yes, let us drink. Come, come, my merry comrades!
LENTULUS. A moment, friends; I see old Manlius yonder,-- Seeking
us out, I think, as is his wont.
MANLIUS. [Enters impetuously.] Confound the shabby dogs, the
paltry scoundrels! Justice and fairness they no longer know!
LENTULUS. Come, what has happened? Wherefore so embittered?
STATILIUS. Have usurers been plaguing you as well?
MANLIUS. Something quite different. As you all know, I served with
honor among Sulla's troops; A bit of meadow land was my reward. And
when the war was at an end, I lived Thereon; it furnished me my daily
bread. Now is it taken from me! Laws decree-- State property shall to
the state revert For equal distribution. Theft, I say,-- It is rank robbery
and nothing else! Their greed is all they seek to satisfy.
COEPARIUS. Thus with our rights they sport to please themselves.
The mighty always dare do what they will.
CETHEGUS. [Gaily.] Hard luck for Manlius! Yet, a worse mishap Has
come to me, as I shall now relate. Listen,--you know my pretty mistress,
Livia,-- The little wretch has broken faith with me, Just now when I
had squandered for her sake The slender wealth that still remained to
me.
STATILIUS. Extravagance--the cause of your undoing.
CETHEGUS. Well, as you please; but I will not forego My own desires;
these, while the day is fair, To their full measure I will satisfy.
MANLIUS. And I who fought so bravely for the glory And might
which now the vaunting tyrants boast! I shall--! If but the brave old
band were here, My comrades of the battlefield! But no; The greater
part of them, alas, is dead; The rest live scattering in many lands.--

MANLIUS. Oh, what are you, the younger blood, to them? You bend
and cringe before authority; You dare not break the chains that bind
you fast; You suffer patiently this life of bondage!
LENTULUS. By all the Gods,--although indeed he taunts us, Yet,
Romans, is there truth in what he says.
CETHEGUS. Oh, well,--what of it? He is right, we grant, But where
shall we begin? Ay, there's the rub.
LENTULUS. Yes, it is true. Too long have we endured This great
oppression. Now--now is the time To break the bonds asunder that
injustice And vain ambition have about us forged.
STATILIUS. Ah, Lentulus, I understand. Yet hold; For such a thing we
need a mighty leader,-- With pluck and vision. Where can he be found?
LENTULUS. I know a man who has the power to lead us.
MANLIUS. Ah, you mean Catiline?
LENTULUS. The very man.
CETHEGUS. Yes, Catiline perchance is just the man.
MANLIUS. I know him well. I was his father's friend; Many a battle