Early Plays | Page 9

born for me,--thus
clearly speaks a voice That never fails and never plays me false. Then
come! Oh, come--and let us heed the call.
CATILINE. What do you mean, my sweet enthusiast?
FURIA. Come,--let us leave this place, flee far away, And seek a new
and better fatherland. Here is the spirit's lofty pride repressed; Here
baseness smothers each auspicious spark Ere it can break into a burning
flame. Come, let us fly;--lo, to the free-born mind The world's wide
compass is a fatherland!

CATILINE. Oh, irresistibly you lure me on--
FURIA. Come, let us use the present moment then! High o'er the hills,
beyond the sea's expanse,-- Far, far from Rome we first will stay our
journey. Thousands of friends will follow you outright; In foreign lands
we shall a home design; There shall we rule; 'twill there be brought to
light That no hearts ever beat as yours and mine.
CATILINE. Oh, wonderful!--But flee? Why must we flee? Here too
our love for freedom can be nourished; Here also is a field for thought
and action, As vast as any that your soul desires.
FURIA. Here, do you say? Here, in this paltry Rome, Where naught
exists but thraldom and oppression? Ah, Lucius, are you likewise one
of those Who can Rome's past recall without confession Of shame?
Who ruled here then? Who rule to-day? Then an heroic race--and now
a rabble, The slaves of other slaves--
CATILINE. Mock me you may;-- Yet know,--to save Rome's freedom
from this babble, To see yet once again her vanished splendor, Gladly I
should, like Curtius, throw myself Into the abyss--
FURIA. I trust you, you alone; Your eyes glow bright; I know you
speak the truth. Yet go; the priestesses will soon appear; Their wont it
is to meet here at this hour.
CATILINE. I go; but only to return again. A magic power binds me to
your side;-- So proud a woman have I never seen.
FURIA. [With a wild smile.] Then pledge me this; and swear that you
will keep Whatever you may promise. Will you, Lucius?
CATILINE. I will do aught my Furia may require; Command me,--tell
me what am I to promise.
FURIA. Then listen. Though I dwell a captive here, I know there lives
a man somewhere in Rome Whom I have sworn deep enmity to death--
And hatred even beyond the gloomy grave.
CATILINE. And then--?
FURIA. Then swear, my enemy shall be Your enemy till death. Will
you, my Lucius?
CATILINE. I swear it here by all the mighty gods! I swear it by my
father's honored name And by my mother's memory--! But, Furia,--
What troubles you? Your eyes are wildly flaming,-- And white as
marble, deathlike, are your cheeks.
FURIA. I do not know myself. A fiery stream Flows through my veins.

Swear to the end your oath!
CATILINE. Oh, mighty powers, pour out upon this head Your
boundless fury, let your lightning wrath Annihilate me, if I break my
oath; Aye, like a demon I shall follow him!
FURIA. Enough! I trust you. Ah, my heart is eased. In your hand now
indeed rests my revenge.
CATILINE. It shall be carried out. But tell me this,-- Who is your foe?
And what was his transgression?
FURIA. Close by the Tiber, far from the city's tumult, My cradle stood;
it was a quiet home! A sister much beloved lived with me there, A
chosen vestal from her childhood days.-- Then came a coward to our
distant valley;-- He saw the fair, young priestess of the future--
CATILINE. [Surprised.] A priestess? Tell me--! Speak--!
FURIA. He ravished her. She sought a grave beneath the Tiber's
stream.
CATILINE. [Uneasy.] You know him?
FURIA. I have never seen the man. When first I heard the tidings, all
was past. His name is all I know.
CATILINE. Then speak it out!
FURIA. Now is it famed. His name is Catiline.
CATILINE. [Taken aback.] What do you say? Oh, horrors! Furia,
speak--!
FURIA. Calm yourself! What perturbs you? You grow pale. My
Lucius,--is this man perhaps your friend?
CATILINE. My friend? Ah, Furia, no;--no longer now. For I have
cursed,--and sworn eternal hate Against myself.
FURIA. You--you are Catiline?
CATILINE. Yes, I am he.
FURIA. My Sylvia you disgraced? Nemesis then indeed has heard my
prayer;-- Vengeance you have invoked on your own head! Woe on you,
man of violence! Woe!
CATILINE. How blank The stare is in your eye. Like Sylvia's shade
You seem to me in this dim candle light.
[He rushes out; the lamp with the sacred fire goes out.]
FURIA. [After a pause.] Yes, now I understand it. From my eyes The
veil is fallen,--in the dark I see. Hatred it was that settled in my breast,
When first I spied him in the