And I will look on Death indifferently:
For let the gods so speed me, as I love
The name of Honor more than I fear death.
Cas. I know that virtue to be in you, Brutus,
As well as I do know your outward favor.
Well, honor is the subject of my story.—
I cannot tell what you and other men
Think of this life; but for my single self,
I had as lief not be, as live to be
In awe of such a thing as I myself.

I was born free as Cæsar; so were you;
We both have fed as well; and we can both
Endure the winter's cold as well as he.
For once upon a raw and gusty day,
The troubled Tiber chafing with his shores,
Cæsar said to me, Darest thou, Cassius, now
Leap in with me into this angry flood,
And swim to yonder point?-Upon the word,
Accoutred as I was, I plunged in,

And bade him follow; so indeed he did.
The torrent roared, and we did buffet it
With lusty sinews; throwing it aside,
And stemming it with hearts of controversy.
But, ere we could arrive the point proposed,
Cæsar cried, help me, Cassius, or I sink.
Then, as Æneas, our great ancestor,

Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder

The old Anchises bear; so from the waves of Tiber

Did I the tired Cæsar; and this man

Is now become a god; and Cassius is

A wretched creature, and must bend his body,
If Cæsar carelessly but nod on him.

He had a fever when he was in Spain,

And when the fit was on him, I did mark

How he did shake. 'Tis true, this god did shake;
His coward lips did from their color fly,

And that same eye whose bend doth awe the world,
Did lose its lustre ; I did hear him groan :
Aye, and that tongue of his, that bade the Romans
Mark him, and write his speeches in their books,
Alas! it cried-Give me some drink, Titinius—
As a sick girl. Ye gods, it doth amaze me,
A man of such a feeble temper should

So get the start of the majestic world,
And bear the palm alone.

Bru. Another general shout!

I do believe, that these applauses are

For some new honors that are heaped on Cæsar.
Cas. Why man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus; and we petty men

Walk under his huge legs, and peep about
To find ourselves dishonorable graves.
Men at sometime are masters of their fate:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.

Brutus and Cæsar-what should be in that Cæsar?
Why should that name be sounded, more than your's?
Write them together; your's is as fair a name :
Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well;
Weigh them, it is as heavy; conjure with them,
Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Cæsar.
Now, in the names of all the gods at once,
Upon what meats doth this our Cæsar feed,

That he is grown so great? Age, thou art shamed;
Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods.
When could they say, till now, that talked of Rome,
That her wide walls encompassed but one man?
Oh! you and I have heard our fathers say,
There was a Brutus once that would have brooked
A whip-galled slave to keep his state in Rome
As easily as a king.

Bru. That you do love me, I am nothing jealous;
What you would work me to, I have some aim:
How I have thought of this, and of these times,
I shall recount hereafter: for this present,
I would not (so with love I might entreat you)
Be any further moved. What you have said,
I will consider; what you have to say,
I will with patience hear; and find a time
Both meet to hear, and answer such high things.
'Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this:
Brutus had rather be a villager,

Than to repute himself a son of Rome,
Under such hard conditions as this time
Is like to lay upon us.

SERIOUS AND SENTIMENTAL.

XVI.-FROM TAMERLANE.-Rowe.

OMAR TAMERLANE.

Omar. Honor and fame (Bowing.) Forever wait the Emperor; may our prophet Give him ten thousand thousand days of life, And every day like this. The captive sultan, Fierce in his bonds, and at his fate repining, Attends your sacred will.

Tamerlane. Let him approach.

(Enter Bajazet and other Turkish prisoners in chains, with a guard.)

When I survey the ruins of this field,

The wild destruction which thy fierce ambition
Has dealt among mankind: (so many widows

And helpless orphans has thy battle made,

That half our eastern world this day are mourners :)
Well may I, in behalf of heaven and earth,
Demand from thee atonement for this wrong.

Baj. Make thy demand of those that own thy power.
Know I am still beyond it; and though fortune
Has stripped me of the train and pomp of greatness,
That outside of a king, yet still my soul,
Fixed high, and on itself alone dependent,
Is ever free and royal; and even now,
As at the head of battle, does defy thee.

I know what power the chance of war has given,
And dare thee to the use on't.

This vile speeching,

This after game of words, is what most irks me;
Spare that, and for the rest 'tis equal all,

Be it as it may.

Tam. Well was it for the world,

When, on their borders, neighboring princes met,
Frequent in friendly parle, by cool debates

Preventing wasteful war: such should our meeting
Have been, hadst thou but held in just regard
The sanctity of leagues so often sworn to.
Canst thou believe thy prophet, or what's more,

That Power Supreme, which made thee and thy prophet,
Will with impunity, let pass that breach

Of sacred faith given to the royal Greek?

Baj. Thou pedant talker! ha! art thou a king
Possessed of sacred power, Heaven's darling attribute,
And dost thou prate of leagues, and oaths, and prophets?
I hate the Greek, (perdition on his name!)

As I do thee, and would have met you both,
As death does human nature, for destruction.
Tam. Causeless to hate, is not of human kind:
The savage brute that haunts in woods remote,
And desert wilds, tears not the fearful traveler,
If hunger, or some injury, provoke not.

Baj. Can a king want a cause, when empire bids
Go on? What is he born for, but ambition?
It is his hunger, 'tis his call of nature,

The noble appetite which will be satisfied,

And, like the food of gods, makes him immortal.

Tam. Henceforth I will not wonder we were foes,
Since souls that differ so, by nature hate,
And strong antipathy forbids their union.

Baj. The noble fire that warms me does indeed
Transcend thy coldness. I am pleased we differ,
Nor think alike.

Tam. No: for I think like man ;

Thou, like a monster, from whose baleful presence
Nature starts back; and though she fixed her stamp
On thy rough mass, and marked thee for a man,
Now, conscious of her error, she disclaims thee,
As formed for her destruction.

'Tis true, I am a king, as thou hast been;
Honor and glory too, have been my aim;
But though I dare face death, and all the dangers
Which furious war wears in its bloody front,
Yet would I choose to fix my name by peace,
By justice, and by mercy; and to raise
My trophies on the blessings of mankind :
Nor would I buy the empire of the world
With ruin of the people whom I sway,
Or forfeit of my honor.

Baj. Prophet, I thank thee.

M

Confusion! couldst thou rob me of my glory,
To dress up this tame king, this preaching dervise!
Unfit for war, thou shouldst have lived secure
In lazy peace, and with debating senates
Shared a precarious sceptre; sat tamely still,

2

And let bold faction canton out thy power,

And wrangle for the spoils they robbed thee of;
Whilst I, (O blast the power that stops my ardor,)
Would, like a tempest, rush amidst the nations,
Be greatly terrible, and deal, like Alha,

My angry thunder on the frighted world.

Tam. The world! 'twould be too little for thy pride: Thou wouldst scale heaven.

Baj. I would. Away! my soul

Disdains thy conference.

Tam.

Thou vain, rash thing,

That, with gigantic insolence, has dared

To lift thy wretched self above the stars,

And mate with power Almighty, thou art fallen!

Baj. 'Tis false! I am not fallen from aught I have been!

At least my soul resolves to keep her state,

And scorns to make acquaintance with ill fortune.
Tam. Almost beneath my pity art thou fallen;
Since, while the avenging hand of Heaven is on thee,
And presses to the dust thy swelling soul,
Fool-hardy, with the stronger thou contendest.
To what vast heights had thy tumultuous temper
Been hurried, if success had crowned thy wishes!
Say, what had I to expect if thou hadst conquered?

Baj. Oh, glorious thought! Ye powers, I will enjoy it, Though but in fancy: imagination shall

Make room to entertain the vast idea.
Oh! had I been master but of yesterday,
The world, the world had felt me; and for thee,
I had used thee, as thou art to me, a dog,
The object of my scorn and mortal hatred.
I would have caged thee for the sport of slaves.
I would have taught thy neck to know my weight,
And mounted from that footstool to the saddle,
Till thou hadst begged to die; and even that mercy
I had denied thee. Now thou knowest my mind,
And question me no farther.

Tam. Well dost thou teach me

What justice should exact from thee. Mankind,

With one consent, cry out for vengeance on thee;

Loudly they call to cut off this league-breaker,

This wild destroyer, from the face of earth.

Baj. Do it, and rid thy shaking soul at once Of its worst fear.