there too Were you not chosen Consul by whole Rome Why are you not Saluted too like him Where are your Lictors where your Rods and Axes Or are you but the Ape the Mimic God Of this new Thunderer who appropriates Those Bolts of Power which ought to be divided Tib. Now by the Gods I hath his upstart pride His Rebel thoughts of the Imperial Race His abject Shou that stoops to Court the Vulgar His scorn of Princes and his lust to th' People O Collatine have you not eyes to find him Why are you rais'd but to set off'his honors A Taper by the Sun whose sickly Beams Are swallow'd in the blaze of his full Glory He like a Meteor wades th' Abyss of light While your faint luster adds but to the beard That aws the World When late through Rome he pass'd Fixt on his Courser mark'd you how he bow'd On this on that side to the gazing heads That pav'd the Streets and all imboss'd the Windows That gap'd with eagerness to speak but could not So fast their Spirits flow'd to admiration And that to joy which thus at last broke forth Brutus God Brutus Father of thy Country Hail Genius hail Deliverer of lost Rome Shield of the Common wealth and Sword of Justice Hail scourge of Tyrants lash for Lawless Kings All hail they cry'd while the long Peal of Praises Tormented with a thousand Ecchoing cryes Ran like the Volly of the Gods along Col. No more on 't I grow sick with the remembrance Tib. But when you follow'd how did their bellying Bodies That ventur'd from the Casements more than half To look at Brutus nay that stuck like Snails Upon the Walls and from the Houses tops Hung down like clustring Beds upon each other How did they all draw back at sight of you To laze and loll and yawn and rest from rapture Are you a man have you the blood of Kings And suffer this Col. Ha! is he not his Father Tib. I grant he is Consider this and rouz your selfe at home Commend my fire and rail at your own slackness Yet more remember but your last disgrace When you propos'd with reverence to the Gods A King of Sacrifices should be chosen And from the Consuls did he not oppose you Fearing as well he might your sure election Saying It smelt too much of Royalty And that it might rub up the memory Of those that lov'd the Tyrant Nay yet more That if the people chose yor for the Place The name of King would light upon a Tarquin Of one that 's doubly Royal being descended From two great Princes that were Kings of Rome Col. But after all this whether would'st thou drive Tib. I would to Justice for the Restauration Of our most Lawful Prince Yes Collatine I look upon my Father as a Traytor I find that neither you nor brave Aquilius Nor young Vitellius dare confide in me But that you may and firmly to the hazard Of all the World holds precious once again I say I look on Brutus as a Traytor No more my Father by th' immortal Gods And to redeem the time or fix the King On his Imperial Throne some means propos'd That savor of a govern'd Policy Where there is strength and life to hope a Fortune Not to throw all upon one desperate chance I 'll on as far as he that laughs at dying Col. Come to my armes O thou so truly brave Thou may'st redeem the errors of thy race Aquilius and Vitellius O embrace him And ask his pardon that so long we fear'd To trust so rich a Virtue But behold Enter Brutus and Valerius Brutus appears Youngman be satisfy'd I sound thy Politic Father to the bottom Plotting the assumption of Valerius He means to cast me from the Consulship But now I heard how he Cajol'd the People With his known industry and my remissness That still in all our Votes Proscriptions Edicts Against the King he found I acted faintly Still closing every Sentence He 's a Tarquin Bru. No my Valerius till thou art my mate Joynt master in this great Authority However calm the face of things appear Rome is not safe by the Majestie Gods I swear while Collatine sits at the helm A Universal wrack is to be fear'd I have intelligence of his Transactions He mingles with the young hot blood of Rome Gnaws himself inward grudges my applause Promotes Cabals with highest Quality Such headlong youth as spurning Laws and manners Shar'd in the late Debaucheries of Sextus And therefore wish the Tyrant here again As the inverted Seasons shock wise men And the most fixt Philosophy must start At sultry Winters and at frosty Summers So at this most unnatural stilness here This more than midnight silence through all Rome This deadness of discourse and dreadful Calm Upon so great a change I more admire Than if a hundred Politic heads were met And nodded Mutiny to one another More fear than if a thousand lying Libels Were spread abroad nay dropt among the Senate Val. I have my self employ'd a busy Slave His name Vinditiuss given him Wealth and Freedom To watch the Motions of Vitellius And those of the Aquilian Family Vitellius has already entertain'd him And something thence important may be gather'd For these of all the youth of Quality Are most inclin'd to Tarquin and his Race By Blood and Humor Brut. O Valerius That Boy observ'st thou O I fear My Friend He is a Weed but rooted in my heart And grafted to my Stock if he prove rank By Mars no more but thus away with him I 'll tear him from me though the blood should follow Tiberius Tib. My Lord Brut. Sirrah no more of that Vitellius I warn'd you too of young Aquilius Are my words wind that thus you let 'em pass Hast thou forgot thy Father Tib. No my Lord. Brut. Thou ly'st But tho thou scape a Father Rod The Consul's Ax may reach thee think on that I know thy Vanity and blind Ambition Thou dost associate with my Enemies When I refus'd the Consul Collatine To be the King of Sacrifices strait As if thou had'st been sworn his bosom Fool He nam'd thee for the Office And since that Since I refus'd thy madness that preferment Because I would have none of Brutus Blood Pretend to be a King thou hang'st thy head Contriv'st to give thy Father new displeasure As if Imperial Toyl were not enough To break my heart without thy disobedience But by the Majesty of Rome I swear If after double warning thou despise me By all the Gods I 'll cast thee from my blood Doom thee to Forks and Whips as a Barbarian And leave thee to the lashes of the Lictor Tarquinius Collatinus you are summon'd To meet the Senate on the instant time Ex. Brut. Val. Coll. Lead on my duty is to follow Brutus Tib. Now by those Gods with which he meanc'd me I Here put off all nature since he turns me Thus desperate to the World I do renounce him And
when we meet again he is my Fo. All Blood all Reverence Fondness be forgot Like a grown Savage on the Common wild That runs at all and cares not who begot him I 'll meet my Lion Sire and roar defiance As if he ne're had nurs'd me in his Den. Enter Vinditius with the People and two Fecialian Priests Crown'nd with Laurel two Spears in their hands one blody and half burnt Vin. Make Way there hey news from the Tyrant here come Envoys Heralds Ambassadors whether in the Gods name or in the Divels I know not but here they come your Fecialian Priests well good People I like not these Priests why what the Devil have they to do with State affairs what side soever they are for they 'l have Heaven for their part I 'll warrant you they 'l lug the Gods in whether they will or no. 1. Pri. Hear Iupiter and thou O Iuno hear Hear O Quirinus hear us all you Gods Celestial Terestrial and Infernal 2. Pri. Be thou O Rome our Judge hear all you People Vin. Fine Canting Rogues I told you how they 'd be hooking the Gods in at first dash why the Gods are their Tools and Tackle they work with Heaven and Hell and let me tell you as things go your Priests have a hopeful Trade on 't 1. Pri. I come Ambassador to thee O Rome Sacred and Just the Legate of the King 2. Pri. If we demand or purpose to require A Stone from Rome that 's contrary to Justice May we be ever banish'd from our Country And never hope to taste this vital Air. Tib. Vinditus lead the Multitude away Aquilius with Vitellius and my self Will strait conduct 'em to the Capitol Vin. I go my Lord but have a care of 'em fly Rogues I warrant ' em Mark that first Priest do you see how he leers a lying Elder the true cast of a holy Jugler Come my Masters I would think well of a Priest but that he has a Commission to dissemble a Pattent hypocrite that takes pay to forge lyes by Law and lives by the Sins of the People Exeunt with People Aqu. My life upon 't you may speak out and freely Tiberius is the heart of our design 1. Pri The Gods be prais'd Thus then the King commends Your generous Resolves longs to be with you And those you have ingag'd Divides his heart Amongst you which more clearly will be seen When you have read these Packets as we go I 'll spread the bosom of the King before you Exeunt SCENE II. The Senate Brut. PAtricians that long stood and scap'd the Tyrant The venerable moulds of your Forefathers That represent the wisdom of the Dead And you the Conscript chosen for the People Engines of Power severest Counsellors Courts that examine Treasons to the Head All hail The Consul begs th' auspicious Gods And binds Quirinus by his Tutelar Vow That Plenty Peace and lasting Liberty May be your portion and the Lot of Rome Laws Rules and Bounds prescrib'd for raging Kings Like Banks and Bulwarks for the Mother Seas Tho 't is impossible they should prevent A thousand dayly wracks and nightly ruins Yet help to break those rowling inundations Which else would overflow and drown the World Tarquin to feed whose fathomless ambition And Ocean Luxury the noblest veins Of all true Romans were like Rivers empty'd Is cut from Rome and now he flows full on Yet Fathers ought we much to fear his ebb And strictly watch the Dams that we have rais'd Why should I go about the Roman People All with one voice accuse my fellow Consul Coll. The People may I hope the Nobles will not The People Brutus does indulge the People Bru. Consul in what is right I will indulge 'em And much I think 't is better so to do Than see 'em run in Tumults through the Streets Forming Cabals Plotting against the Senate Shutting their Shops and flying from the Town As if the Gods had sent the Plague among ' em I know too well you and your Royal Tribe Scorn the good People scorn the late Election Because we chose these Fathers for the People To fill the place of those whom Tarquin murder'd And tho you laugh at this you and your Train The irreligious harebrain'd youth of Rome The Ignorant the Slothful and the Base Yet wise men know 't is very rarely seen That a free people should desire the hurt Of Common Liberty No Collatine For those desires arise from their oppression Or from suspicion they are falling to it But put the case that those their tears were false Ways may be found to rectify their Errors For grant the People ignorant of themselves Yet they are capable of being told And will conceive a truth from worthy men From you they will not nor from your adherents Rome's Infamous and Excerable Youth Foes to Religion and the Commonwealth To Virtue Learning and all sober Arts That bring renown and profit to Mankind Such as had rather bleed beneath a Tyrant To become dreadful to the Populace To spread their Lusts and Dissolutness round Tho at the daily hazard of their lives Than live at peace in a Free Government Where every man is Master of his own Sole Lord at home and Monarch of his House Where Rancor and Ambition are extinguish'd Where Universal peace extends her wings As if the Golden Age return'd where all The People do agree and live secure The Nobles and the Princes lov'd and Reverenc'd The World in Triumph and the Gods Ador'd Coll. The Consul Conscript Fathers saies the People For divers Reasons grudge the Dignity Which I posses'd by general approbation I hear their murmurs an would know of Brutus What they would have me do what 's their desire Bru. Take hence the Royal name resign thy Office Go as a Friend and of thy own accord Left thou be forc'd to what may seem thy will The City renders thee what is thy own With vast increase so thou resolve to go For till the name the Race and Family Of Tarquin Be remov'd Rome is not free Coll. Brutus I yield my Office to Valerius Hoping when Rome has try'd my faith by Exile She will recal me So the Gods preserve you Exit Bru. Welcome Publicola true Son of Rome On such a Pilot in the roughest Storm She may securely sleep and rest her cares Enter Tiberius Aquilius Vitellius and the Priests 1. Pri. Hear Iupiter Quirinus all you Gods Thou Father Judge commission'd for the Message Pater Patratus for the Embassy And Sacred Oaths which I must swear for truth Dost thou Commission me to seal the Peace If peace they choose or hurl this bloody Spear Half burnt in fire if they inforce a War 2. Pri. Speak to the Senate and the Alban People The words of Tarquin this is your Commission 1. Pri. The King to show he has more moderation Than those that drove him from his lawful Empire Demands but restitution of his own His Royal Houshold-stuff Imperial
me a year within some horrid Dungeon So deep so near the Hells that I must suffer That I may groan my Torments to the Damn'd I do submit this Traitor this curs'd Villain To all the Stings of most ingenious horror So thou dispatch me ere my Father comes But hark I hear the tread of Fatel Brutus By all the Gods and by the lowest Furies I cannot bear his face away with me Or like a Whirlwind I will tear my way I care not whither Exit with Tiberius Val. Take 'em hence together Enter Vinditius with the Priests Vin. Here here my Lord I have unkennel'd two Those there are Rascals made of Flesh and blood Those are but men but these are the Gods Rogues Val. Go good Vinditius hast and stop the People Get 'em together to the Capitol Where all the Senate with the Consuls early Will see strict Justice done upon the Traytors For thee the Senate shall decree rewards Great as thy Service Vind. I humbly thank your Lordship Why what they 'l make me a Senator at least And then a Consul O th' Immortal Gods My Lord I go To have the Rods and Axes carry'd before me and a long purple Gown trailing behind my honorable heels Well I am made for ever Exit Enter Brutus attended Bru. O my Valerius are these horrors true Hast thou O Gods this night embowel'd me Ransack'd thy Brutus Veins thy Fellow Consul And found two Villains lurking in my blood Val. The blackest Treason that e're darkness brooded And who to hatch these horrors for the World Who to seduce the Noble Youth of Rome To draw 'em to so damn'd a Conjuration To bind 'em too by new invented Oaths Religious Forms and Devilish Sacrifices A Sacrament of blood for which Rome suffer'd In two the worthiest of her Martyr'd Sons Who to do this but Messengers from Heav'n These Holy men that Swore so solemnly Before the Senate call'd the Gods to curse 'em If they intended ought against the State Or harbor'd Treason more than what they utter'd Bru. Now all the Fiends and Furies thank 'em for it You Sons of Murder that get drunk with blood Then Stab at Princes poyson Commonwealths Destroy whole Hecatombs of Innocent Souls Pile 'em like Bulls and Sheep upon your Altars As you would smoke the Gods from out their Dwelling You shame of Earth and Scandal of the Heav'ns You deeper Fiends than any of the Furies That scorn to whisper Envy Hate Sedition But with a blast of Priviledge Proclaim it Priests that are Instruments design'd to Damnus Fit speaking Trumpets for the mouth of Hell Hence with 'em Guards secure 'em in the Prison Of Ancus Martius Read the Packets o're I 'll bear it as I 'm able read 'em out Val. The sum of the Conspiracy to the King It shall begin with both the Consuls deaths And then the Senate every man must bleed But those that have ingaged to serve the King Be ready therefore Sir to send your Troops By twelve to morrow night and come your self In person if you 'll reascend the Throne All that have sworn to serve your Majesty Subscribe themselves by name your faithful Subjects Tiberius Aquiltus Vitellius Trebonius Servilius Minutius Pomponius and your Fecialian Priests Bru. Ha! my Valerius is not Titus there Val. He 's here my Lord a paper by it self Titus to the King Sir you need only know my Brother's mind To judge of me who am resolv'd to serve you What do you think my Lord Bru. Think my Valerius By my heart I know not I 'm at a loss of thought and must acknowledge The Councils of the Gods are fathomless Nay 't is the hardest task perhaps of life To be assur'd of what is Vice or Virtue Whether when we raise up Temples to the Gods We do not then Blaspheme 'em O behold me Behold the Game that laughing Fortune playes Fate or the will of Heav'n call 't what you please That marrs the best designs that Prudence layes That brings events about perhaps to mock At human reach and sport with expectation Consider this and wonder not at Brutus If his Philosophy seems at a stand If thou behold'st him shed unmanly Tears To see his Blood his Children his own Bowels Conspire the death of him that gave 'em being Val. What heart but yours could bear it without breaking Bru. No my Valerius I were a beast indeed Not to be mov'd with such Prodigious suffering Yet after all I justifie the Gods And will conclude Ther 's Reason supernatural That guides us through the World with vast discretion Altho we have not Souls to comprehend it Which makes by wondrous methods the same Causes Produce effects tho of a different nature Since then for Man's Instruction and the Glory Of the Immortal Gods it is Decreed There must be patterns drawn of fiercest Virtue Brutus submits to the eternal Doom Val. May I believe there can be such perfection Such a Resolve in Man Bru. First as I am their Father I pardon both of 'em this black Design But as I am Rome's Consul I abhor 'em And cast 'em from my Soul with detestation The nearer to my blood the deeper grain'd The colour of their fault and they shall bleed Yes my Valerius both my Sons shall dye Enter Teraminta Nay I will stand unbowel'd by the Altar See something dearer to me than my entrails Display'd before the Gods and Roman People The Sacrifice of Justice and Revenge Ter. What Sacrifice what Victim Sir are these Which you intend O you eternal Powers How shall I vent my Sorrows Oh my Lord Yer ere you Seal the death you have design'd The death of all that 's lovely in the World Hear what the witness of his Soul can say The only Evidence that can or dare Appear for your unhappy guiltless Son The Gods command you Virtue Truth and Justice Which you with so much rigor have Ador'd Beg you would hear the wretched Teraminta Bru. Cease thy laments tho of the blood of Tarquin Yet more the Wife of my forgotten Son Thou shalt be heard Ter. Have you forgot him then Have you forgot your self the Image of you The very Picture of your excellence The Portraiture of all your manly Virtues Your visage stampt upon him just those eyes The moving Greatness of 'em all the mercy The shedding goodness not so quite severe Yet still most like and can you then forget him Bru. Will you proceed Ter. My Lord I will know then After your Son your Son that loves you more Than I love him after our common Titus The wealth o' th' World unless you rob 'em of it Had long endur'd th' Assaults of the Rebellious And still kept fix'd to what you had enjoyn'd him I as Fate order'd it was sent from Tullia With my death menac'd ev'n before his eyes Doom'd to be stab'd before him by the Priests Unless he yielded not t' oppose the King Consider Sir Oh make it your own Case Just Wedded just on