Compaffionates your pains, and pities you.
Compaffionates my pains, and pities me!
What is compaffion when 'tis void of love!
Fool that I was to choose fo cold a friend
To urge my caufe! Compaffionates my pains!
Pr'ythee what art, what rhetoric didst thou use
To gain this mighty boon? She pities me!
To one that afks the warm return of love,
Compaffion's cruelty, 'tis fcorn, 'tis death-
Marcus, no more! have I deferv'd this treatment ?
MARCU S.
What have I faid! O Portius, O forgive me!
A foul exasperated in ills falls out
With every thing, its friend, its felf-but hah! What means that fhout, big with the founds of war ? What new alarm?
Swells in the winds, and comes more full upon us.
Oh, for fome glorious cause to fall in battle.!
Lucia, thou haft undone me! thy disdain
Has broke my heart: 'tis death must give me ease.
PORTIU S.
Quick, let us hence; who knows if Cato's life
Stands fure? O Marcus, I'm warm'd, my heart
Leaps at the trumpet's voice, and burns for glory.
SCENE
SEMPRONIUS with the leaders of the mutiny.
SEMPRONIUS.
At length the winds are rais'd, the ftorm blows high; Be it your care, my friends, to keep it up In its full fury, and direct it right,
"Till it has spent itself on Cato's head.
Mean while I'll herd among his friends, and feem
One of the number, that what-e'er arrive,
My friends and fellow-foldiers may be fafe.
I LEADER.
We all are safe, Sempronius is our friend.
Sempronius is as brave a man as Cato.
But hark! he enters. Bear up boldly to him;
Be fure you beat him down, and bind him fast.
This day will end our toils, and give us reft!
Fear nothing, for Sempronius is our friend.
CATO, SEMPRONIUS, LUCIUS, PORTIUS, MARCUS, &c..
Where are thefe bold intrepid fons of war, That greatly turn their backs upon the foe, And to their General fend a brave defiance?
SEMPRONIUS.
Curfe on their daftard fouls, they ftand aftonish'd! [Afide.
CATO.
Perfidious men and will you thus difhonour
Your paft exploits, and fully all your wars ?
Do you confefs 'twas not a zeal for Rame,
Nor love of liberty, nor thirst of honour,
Drew you thus far; but hopes to share the spoil
Of conquer'd towns, and plunder'd provinces ?
Fire'd with fuch motives you do well to join
With Cato's foes, and follow Cafar's banners..
Why did I 'scape th' invenom'd Afpic's rage,
And all the fiery monsters of the desert,
To fee this day? why could not Cato fall
Without your guilt? behold, ungrateful men,
Behold my bofom naked to your swords,
And let the man that's injure'd ftrike the blow.
Which of you all fufpects that he is wrong'd,
Or thinks he suffers greater ills than Cate?
Am I diftinguish'd from you but by toils,
Superior toils, and heavier weight of care?
Painful preeminence !
SEMPRONIUS.
By heavens they droop!
Confufion to the villains all is loft.
Have you forgotten Libya's burning wafte,
Its barren rocks, parch'd earth, and hills of fand,
Its tainted air, and all its broods of poison ?
Who was the first t'explore th' untroden path,
When life was hazarded in every step?
Or, fainting in the long laborious march,
When on the banks of an unlook'd-for stream
You fank the river with repeated draughts,
Who was the laft in all your host that thirfted ?
SEMPRONIUS.
If fome penurious fource by chance appear'd
Scanty of waters, when you scoop'd it dry,
And offer'd the full helmet up to Cato,
Did he not dash th' untafted moisture from him
Did he not lead you through the mid-day Sun,
And clouds of duft? did not his temples glow
In the fame fultry winds and fcorching heats?
Hence, worthlefs men! hence! and complain to Cafar
You could not undergo the toils of war,
Nor bear the hardships that your leader bore.
See, Cato, fee th' unhappy men! they weep! Fear, and remorse, and forrow for their crime,} Appear in every look, and plead for mercy. САТО.
Learn to be honeft men, give up your leaders, And pardon fhall defcend on all the reft.
SEMPRONIUS.
Cato, commit these wretches to my care.
Firft let 'em each be broken on the rack,
Then, with what life remains, impale'd, and left
To writhe at leifure round the bloody stake.
There let 'em hang, and taint the fouthern wind.
The partners of their crime will learn obedience,
When they look up and see their fellow traitors
Stuck on a fork, and blackening in the Sun.
LUCIUS.
Sempronius, why, why wilt thou urge the fate
SEMPRONIUS.
would't thou clear rebellion!
Lucius (good man) pities the poor offenders,
That would imbrue their hands in Cato's blood.
Forbear, Sempronius!fee they fuffer death,
But in their deaths remember they are Men.
Strain not the laws to make their tortures grievous.
Lucias, the bafe degenerate age requires
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