Who is that? his brother?
The other party.
What new intelligence has he brought him now?
Caf. Some cautions from his wife, how to behave him.
Cic. Place fome of them without, and some bring in.
Thank their kind loves. It is a comfort yet,
That all depart not from their country's cause.
Caf. How now, what means this mufter, conful
Ant. I do not know, afk my collegue, he'll tell you. There is some reason in ftate that I must yield to; And I have promis'd him: indeed he has bought it, With giving me the province.
It grieves me, fathers, that I am compell'd
To draw these arms, and aids for your defence;
And more, against a citizen of Rome,
Born here amongst you, a patrician,
A man, I must confefs, of no mean house,
Nor no small virtue, if he had employ'd
Those excellent gifts of fortune, and of nature,
Unto the good, not ruin, of the state.
But being bred in's father's needy fortunes,
Brought up in's fifter's proftitution,
Confirm'd in civil flaughter, entring firft
The commonwealth, with murder of the gentry;
Since, both by study and custom converfant
With all licentioufnefs, what could be hop'd
In fuch a field of riot, but a course
Extreme pernicious? tho' I muft protest,
I found his mischiefs fooner with mine eyes
Than with my thought; and with these hands of mine,
Before they touch'd at my fufpicion.
Caf. What are his mifchiefs, conful? you declaim Against his manners, and corrupt your own:
No wife man fhould, for hate of guilty men,
Lose his own innocence.
Speaks God-like truth. But when he hears I can
Convince him, by his manners, of his mischiefs,
He might be filent; and not caft away
His fentences in vain, where they scarce look
Toward his fubject.
Cato. Here he comes himself.
If he be worthy any good man's voice,
That good man fit down by him: Cato will not.
[Catiline fits down, and Cato rifes from him.
Catu. If Cato leave him, I'll not keep afide.
Gat. What face is this the fenate here puts on
Against me, fathers? give my modesty
Leave to demand the cause of so much strangeness.
Caf. It is reported here, you are the head
To a ftrange faction, Lucius.
Cic. I, and will
Be prov'd against him.
Cat. Let it be. Why, conful,
If in the commonwealth there be two bodies,
One lean, weak, rotten, and that hath a head
The other strong and healthful, but hath none:
If I do give it one, do I offend?
Restore your felves unto your temper, fathers;
And, without perturbation, hear me speak.
Remember who I am, and of what place,
What petty fellow this is that opposes;
One that hath exercis'd his eloquence
Still to the bane of the nobility:
A boafting infolent tongue-man.
Cato. Peace, lewd traitor,
Or wash thy mouth. He is an honeft man,
And loves his country; would thou didst fo too.
Cat. Cato, you are too zealous for him.
Thou art too impudent.
Catu. Catiline, be filent.
Cat. Nay then, I eafily fear, my just defence
Will come too late to fo much prejudice! (Caf. Will he fit down?)
Cat. Yet let the world forfake me,
My innocence must not.
Cato. Thou innocent?
So are the furies.
Cic. Yes, and Ate too.
Doft thou not blush, pernicious Catiline?
Or hath the palenefs of thy guilt drunk up
Thy blood, and drawn thy veins as dry of that
As is thy heart of truth, thy breast of virtue?
Whither at length wilt thou abuse our patience?
Still fhall thy fury mock us? to what licence
Dares thy unbridled boldness run it self?
Do all the nightly guards, kept on the palace,
The city's watches, with the people's fears,
The concourfe of all good men, this fo ftrong
And fortified feat here of the fenate,
That prefent looks upon thee, ftrike thee nothing?
Doft thou not feel thy counfels all laid open ?
And fee thy wild confpiracy bound in
With each man's knowledge? which of all this order
Canft thou think ignorant (if they will but utter
Their confcience to the right) of what thou didst
Laft night, what on the former, where thou wert,
Whom thou didst call together, what your plots were?
O age and manners! this the conful fees,
The fenate understands, yet this man lives!
Lives? I, and comes here into counsel with us;
Partakes the publick cares: and with his eye
Marks and points out each man of us to flaughter.
And we, good men, do fatisfy the state,
If we can fhun but this man's fword and madness.
There was that virtue once in Rome, when good men
Would, with more fharp coercion, have reftrain'd
A wicked citizen, than the deadlieft foe.
We have that law ftill, Catiline, for thee;
An act as grave, as fharp: the ftate's not wanting,
Nor the authority of this fenate; we,
We that are confuls, only fail our selves.
This twenty days the edge of that decree
We have let dull and ruft; kept it fhut up,
As in a sheath, which drawn, should take thy head.
Yet ftill thou liv'ft: and liv'ft not to lay by
Thy wicked confidence, but to confirm it.
I could defire, grave fathers, to be found
Still merciful, to feem, in these main perils
Grafping the state, a man remifs and flack;
But then I should condemn my self of floth
And treachery. Their camp's in Italy,
Pitch'd in the jaws here of Hetruria;
Their numbers daily increafing, and their general
Within our walls: nay, in our counfel, plotting
Hourly fome fatal mischief to the publick.
If, Catiline, I fhould command thee now,
Here to be taken, kill'd; I make just doubt,
Whether all good men would not think it done
Rather too late, than any man too cruel.
Cato. Except he were of the fame meal and batch.
Cic. But that which ought to have been done long
I will, (and for good reafon) yet forbear.
Then will I take thee, when no man is found
So loft, fo wicked, nay, fo like thy self,
But shall profefs, 'tis done of need and right.
While there is one that dares defend thee, live;
Thou shalt have leave, but fo as now thou liv'st;
Watch'd at a hand, befieged, and oppreft'
From working leaft commotion to the state.
I have those eyes and ears fhall ftill keep guard,
And fpial on thee, as they 've ever done,
3 Watch'd at a hand, befieged, and oppreft.] Cicero's words are, multis meis et firmis præfidiis obfeffus. If this be the poet's translation of these words, 'tis a very bad one. I read then, watch'd at all bands. Mr. SYMPSON.
And thou not feel it. What then canft thou hope?
If neither night can with her darkness hide
Thy wicked meetings, nor a private house
Can in her walls contain the guilty whispers
Of thy confpiracy: if all break out,
All be discover'd, change thy mind at last,
And lofe thy thoughts of ruin, flame and flaughter.
Remember how I told here to the fenate,
That fuch a day thy lictor, Caius Manlius,
Would be in arms. Was I deceived, Catiline,
Or in the fact, or in the time? the hour?
I told too in this fenate, that thy purpose
Was on the fifth o' th' kalends of November
T' have slaughter'd this whole order: which my cau
Made many leave the city. Canft thou here
Deny, but this thy black defign was hinder'd
That very day by me? thy felf clos'd in
Within my strengths, fo that thou could'st not move Against the publick weal? when thou wert heard To fay upon the parting of the rest,
Thou would'ft content thee with the murder of us
Was on the fifth (THE KALENDS) of November
T'have flaughter'd this whole order.] Tully's words are, Dixi ego idem in fenatu, cædem te optimatum contuliffe in ante diem v. kalend. Novembr. So that we have here a flight miftake in the text. The kalends of a month, as every one knows, are the first day of the month. So that the fifth, and the kalends of November cannot poffibly be the fame day. We must read therefore, agreeably to the Latin original, thy purpose
Was on the fifth o' th' kalends of November.
$ So that thou could'ft not move
Against A PUBLIC REED.] It is odd that we should have more errors, or at least seeming errors, in this fpeech, which might have been prevented by turning to the oration, than in any other part of the play befides. The words here are, Commovere te contra remp. non potuiffe: fo that, as Mr. Sympfon ingeniously obferves, to translate Tully, we fhould write,
Thou could ft not move
Against the public weal
|