Miscellaneous Works

Now, Cafar, let thy troops befet our gates,
And bar each avenue, thy gathering fleets
O'erfpread the fea, and ftop up every port;
Cato fhall open to himself a paffage,

And mock thy hopes

PORTIU S.

O Sir, forgive your fon,

• Whose grief hangs heavy on him! O my father!
How am I fure it is not the last time

I e'er fhall call you so ? be not displeased,
O be not angry with me whilft I weep,

And, in the anguish of my heart, beseech you
To quit the dreadful purpose of your foul !

CATO.

Thou haft been ever good and dutiful. [Embracing him Weep not, my fon. All will be well again. The righteous gods, whom I have fought to please, Will fuccour Cato, and preserve his children.

PORTIU S.

Your words give comfort to my drooping heart.
CATO.

Portius, thou may'ft rely upon my conduct.
Thy father will not act what misbecomes him.
But go, my fon, and fee if aught be wanting
Among thy father's friends; fee them embarked;:
And tell me if the winds and feas befriend them.
My foul is quite weigh'd down with care, and asks
The soft refreshment of a moment's fleep.

POR

PORTIU S.

My thoughts are more at eafe, my heart revives.

SCENE III.

PORTIUS and MARCIA.

PORTIU S.

O Marcia, O my fifter, "ftill there's hope t

Our father will not caft away a life

So needful to us all, and to his country.

He is retir'd to rest, and seems to cherish

Thoughts full of peace. He has dispatcht me hence
With orders, that bespeak a mind composed,

And studious for the fafety of his friends,
Marcia, take care that none difturb his flumbers.
MARCI A.

O ye immortal powers, that guard the just,
Watch round his couch, and foften his repose,
Banish his forrows, and becalm his foul

With easy dreams; remember all his virtues!
And show mankind that goodness is your care,

SCENE

IV.

LUCIA and MARCIA.

LUCIA.

Where is your father, Marcia, where is Cato ?
MARCI A...

Lucia, fpeak low, he is retire'd to reft.
Lucia, I feel a gently-dawning hope

Rife in my foul. We fhall be happy ftill.
LUCIA,

Alas, I tremble when I think on Cato,
In every view, in every thought I tremble!
Cato is ftern, and awful as a God;

He knows not how to wink at human frailty,
Or pardon weakness that he never felt.
MARCI A.

Though ftern and awful to the foes of Rome,
He is all goodness, Lucia, always mild,
Compaffionate, and gentle to his friends.
Fill'd with domeftic tenderness, the beft,

The kindeft father! I have ever found him
Easy, and good, and bounteous to my wishes.

LUCIA.

"Tis his confent alone can make us bleft.

Marcia, we both are equally involv'd
In the fame intricate, perplext, diftress.

The cruel hand of fate, that has destroy'd

Thy brother Marcus, whom we both lament

MARCI A.

And ever fhall lament, unhappy youth!

LUCIA.

Has fet my foul at large, and now I stand Loofe of my Vow. But who knows Cato's thoughts; Who knows how yet he may difpofe of Portius, Or how he has determin'd of thyfelf?`

MARCI A.

Let him but live! commit the reft to heaven.

Enter LUCIU S.

LUCIU S.

Sweet are the flumbers of the virtuous man!
O Marcia, I have feen thy godlike father:
Some power invifible fupports his foul,
And bears it up in all its wonted greatness.
A kind refreshing fleep is fallen upon him:
I faw him ftretcht at ease, his fancy loft

In pleafing dreams; as I drew near his couch,
He fmil'd, and cry'd, Cæfar thou canst not hurt me.

MARCIA.

His mind ftill labours with fome dreadful thought.
LUCIU S.

Lucia, why all this grief, these floods of forrow?

Dry up thy tears, my child, we are all safe

While Cato lives his prefence will protect us.

Enter

Lucius, the horsemen are return'd from viewing
The number, ftrength, and pofture of our foes,
Who now incamp within a short hour's march.
On the high point of yon bright western tower
We ken them from afar, the setting Sun
Plays on their fhining arms and burnish'd helmets,
And covers all the field with gleams of fire.

LUCIU S.