Now to be conful, with my hop'd colleague
Caius Antonius, one no less engag'd

By his wants, than we; and whom I've power to melt, And cast in any mould. Befide, fome others,

That will not yet be nam'd, (both fure, and great ones)
Who, when the time comes, fhall declare themselves
Strong for our party; fo that no resistance

In nature can be thought. For our reward then,
First, all our debts are paid; dangers of law,
Actions, decrees, judgments against us, quitted;
The rich men, as in Sylla's times, profcrib'd,
And publication made of all their goods:
That houfe is yours; that land is his; thofe waters,
Orchards, and walks, a third's; he has that honour,
And he that office: fuch a province falls

To Vargunteius; this t' Autronius; that
To bold Cethegus; Rome to Lentulus.

You fhare the world, her magiftracies, priesthoods,
Wealth and felicity, amongst you, friends;
And Catiline your fervant. Would you, Curius,
Revenge the contumely ftuck upon you,
In being removed from the fenate? now,
Now is your time. Would Publius Lentulus
Strike for the like difgrace? now is his time:
Would ftout Longinus walk the streets of Rome,
Facing the Prætor? now has he a time

To fpurn and tread the fafces into dirt,
Made of the ufurers and the lictors brains.

Is there a beauty, here in Rome, you love?
An enemy you would kill what head's not yours ?
Whofe wife, which boy, whofe daughter, of what race,
That th' hufband, or glad parents, fhall not bring you,
And boafting of the office? only spare

Your felves, and you have all the earth befide,
A field to exercife your longings in.

I fee you rais'd, and read your forward minds
High in your faces. Bring the wine and blood

L 2

You

You have prepar'd there.

Lon. How!

Cat. I have kill'd a flave,

And of his blood caus'd to be mix'd with wine.
Fill every man his bowl. There cannot be
A fitter drink to make this fanction in.
Here I begin the facrament to all12.
O for a clap of thunder now, as loud
As to be heard throughout the universe,
To tell the world the fact, and to applaud it.
Be firm, my hand; not fhed a drop; but pour
Fiercenefs into me with it, and fell thirst
Of more and more, till Rome be left as bloodlefs
As ever her fears made her, or the fword.
And when I leave to wifh this to thee, ftepdame,
Or ftop t'effect it, with my powers fainting,
So may my blood be drawn, and so drunk up,
As is this flave's.

Lon. And fo be mine.

Len. And mine.

Aut. And mine.

Var. And mine.

Cet. Swell me my bowl yet fuller.

[They drink.

Here, I do drink this, as I would do Cato's,
Or the new fellow Cicero's, with that vow
Which Catiline hath given.

Cur. So do I.

Lec. And I.

12 Here I begin the SACRAMENT to all] Jonfon ufes the word sacrament in the fame fenfe which belongs to the Latin original. Sacramentum was the oath the foldiers took when they were inlifted : the horrid ceremony now attending it is recorded by Salluft, who does not indeed relate it for a certainty: Fuere ea tempeftate, qui dicerent Catilinam oratione habitâ, cum ad jujurandum populares fui fceleris adigerit, humani corporis fanguinem vino permixtum in pateris circumtuliffe, &c. The circumftances of this confpiracy are in general fo well known, and our author hath fo closely adhered to the hiftory, that it is unneceffary to point out every imitation; which would be only tranfcribing whole pages and whole orations.

Bef.

Bef. And I.

Ful. And I.

Gab. And all of us.

Cat. Why now's the bufinefs fafe, and each man

Sirrah, what ail you?

Pag. Nothing.

Bef. Somewhat modeft.

[ftrengthen'd.

[He fpies one of his boys

not answer

Cat. Slave, I will ftrike your foul out with my foot,

Let me but find you again with fuch a face:

You whelp

Bef. Nay, Lucius.

Cat. Are you coying it,

When I command you to be free, and general

To all?

Bef. You'll be observ'd.

Cat. Arife, and fhew

But any leaft averfion in your look

To him that bourds you next13, and your throat opens. Noble confederates, thus far is perfect.

13To him that BOARDS you next, and your throat opens.] The groffity of this image may be a little fhaded by refloring the true text, which former editors feem to have mifunderstood. The first folio reads bourds you next, and that is the true word. To bourd is to joke, or to be familiarly merry with any one. Bourde, fays Junius in his Etymologicon, eft oblectabilium facetiarum hilaritate, variaque urbanitatis lepore, familiarium confortia detinere; and hence it is fometimes taken in the fame fenfe in which the word play is often used by our old poets; and which the Greeks alfo give to the verb aid, and the Latins to ludere. The Scots yet ufe bourd, in the fenfe of dallying and playing the wanton. Spenfer applies it to the waters of a river which glide in gentle murmurs.

"The next the ftubborn Neure, whofe waters grey
"By fair Kilkenny and Roffeponte bourd."

Fairy Queen, 1. 4. cant. 11. The fame miftake feems to poffefs a paffage in Shakespear's Twelfth Night, act 1. fc. 4. "Sir Tob. You miftake, knight: accoft, is "front her, board her, woo her, affail her." Where it fhould probably be read, bourd her.

L 3

Only

Only your fuffrages I will expect

At the affembly for the chufing confuls,
And all the voices you can make by friends
To my election. Then let me work out

Your fortunes and mine own. Mean while, all reft
Seal'd up, and filent, as when rigid frofts

Have bound up brooks and rivers, forc'd wild beasts

Unto their caves, and birds into the woods,
Clowns to their houses, and the country fleeps ;
That, when the fudden thaw comes, we may break
Upon them like a deluge, bearing down

Half Rome before us, and invade the reft
With cries, and noife, able to wake the urns
Of those are dead, and make their afhes fear.
The horrors that do ftrike the world, fhould come
Loud, and unlook'd for; till they strike, be dumb,
Cet. Oraculous Sergius!
Len. God-like Catiline!

CAN

CHORUS.

AN nothing great, and at the height, Remain fo long, but its own weight "Will ruin it? or is't blind chance,

"That ftill defires new ftates t' advance,
"And quit the old? elfe why must Rome
"Be by it felf now overcome?

"Hath fhe not foes enow of those
"Whom he hath made fuch, and enclofe
"Her round about? or are they none,
"Except fhe first become her own?
"O wretchednefs of greateft ftates,
"To be obnoxious to these fates!
"That cannot keep what they do gain;
"And what they raife fo ill fuftain!
"Rome now is miftrefs of the whole
"World, fea and land, to either pole;

"And

"And even that fortune will deftroy
"The pow'r that made it: fhe doth joy
"So much in plenty, wealth, and eafe,
"As now th' excefs is her disease.

"She builds in gold, and to the stars,
"As if the threaten'd heav'n with wars;
"And feeks for hell in quarries deep,
"Giving the fiends, that there do keep,
"A hope of day. Her women wear
"The fpoils of nations in an ear,

Chang'd for the treasure of a fhell; "And in their loose attires do fwell,

"More light than fails, when all winds play: "Yet are the men more loofe than they; "Morekemb'd, and bath'd, and rubb'd, and trimm'd, "More fleek, more foft, and flacker limb'd;

"As prostitute; fo much, that kind 14

"May feek it felf there, and not find.

"They eat on beds of filk and gold,
"At iv'ry tables, or wood fold
"Dearer than it; and leaving plåte,
"Do drink in ftone of higher rate.
"They hunt all grounds, and draw all feas,
"Fowl every brook and bufh, to please
"Their wanton tafte; and in request
"Have new and rare things, not the best.
"Hence comes that wild and vaft expence,
"That hath enforc'd Rome's virtue thence,
"Which fimple poverty firft made :
"And now ambition doth invade

"Her state, with eating avarice,

"Riot, and ev'ry other vice.

"Decrees are bought, and laws are fold, "Honours, and offices, for gold;

14 So much, that KIND.] i. e. Nature.