Caf. Yet the fenate own'd his caufe!

Which gave it, to the world, the stamp of virtue :
There his ambition got the ftart of Cafar.

Dec. Virtue, like gold, will take the ftamp from pow'r
Yet truth must own, in what has pafs'd this day,
Had Cato's felf been witnefs of your conduct,
He muft with praife, or envy, have beheld it.
Caf. Cato would term it but a specious bribe
For power: That Pompey's blood was, in regard
To Rome, reveng'd, to court her fenate's favour:
That Cleopatra's beauty, not her cause,

Regain'd her crown: Yet Cato has his merits:
And nien, one day, may change their thoughts of Cafar.
The time may come, when his destructive arms
Shall well repay this ravage of the world,
And force them, by obedience, to be happy.
So when the fwelling Nile contemns her bounds,
And with extended waste the valleys drowns,
At length her ebbing ftreams refign the field,
And to the pregnant foil a ten-fold harvest yield.

END OF THE SECOND ACT

CESAR in
in EGYPT.

Effoffum tumulis cupidè defcendit in antrum ;,
Illic Pellai poles vejana Philippi

Falix prædo jacet, terrarum vindice fato

Raptus

Luc. lib. 10.

SCENE, Before the Tomb of Alexander

CESAR, DECIUS, ACHOREUS..

CESAR.

portal.

Obferve the ftricteft order, in our watch:
Thefe fons of Nile are faithlefs, fervile, dangerous.

The fate of Pompey warns us to be wary.
When Antony returns, here let him find me.

[Exit Decius..

Believe me, good Achoreus, thy difgrace
Commends thee to the breast of Cæfar: Here,
Thy virtue feems a greater prodigy,

Than all the brood, or monuments of Egypt.
Thy just humanity, thy zeal for Pompey,
Became thy venerable years, thy function.

When holy guides neglect themselves for heaven,.
Nor fear t' advance their precepts by example,

'Tis then the gods are righteously rever'd.

Acho. Cajar, thy virtues, knowledge, and thy power,,

Incite me now to bolder acts of duty:

And fince I find not, in thy calmer foul,.
That fierce, untractable, remorfeiefs nature,
Wherewith thy enemies afperfe thy fame,,

Let not my zealous grief offend thee, Cæfar,

If I confefs I figh for thy ambition!

Caf. Where it oppofes virtue, charge me freely! Be bold! If I am juftify'd to one

Good man, the millions I offend are railers.

Virtue, like the fun, fhines not for applaufe.

Acho. Ambition was my charge! which when it climbs

O'er violated laws, tramples on virtue;

Yet of the narrow mountain when poffefs'd,
The footing how unfure! the fall how dreadful!
Perhaps by treafon! Treafon has ambition!
Or fay thou wert fecure, how vain the glory!
To ftand in clouds, on eminence, alone!
And view thy happier focial flaves beneath thee.
E'en then must thou defcend! Cafar, behold,
Fix on this mouldring monument thy eyes;
Amidst the wonders that our Nile can boaft,
This beft might fuit ambition's meditation!
Of all the fpacious earth his sword subdu'd,
Great Alexander, now commands but this.

Caf. Soft, Achoreus! Lies Alexander here?
Acho. Here reft his bones! His bounds of empire, now.
Caf. Here might indeed the moralift declaim.
Acho. Here, when his ruthless defolation ceas'd,
When his tumultuous foul cou'd waste no more,
Himself receiv'd, and gave his flaves, repofe.

Caf. Thus, when the awful gods wou'd fcourge, or blefs

Mankind, they give unbounded power to one.
The vice, or virtues, of the prince, create

Their woes, or happiness.

Acho. Woud'ft thou from hence

Infer, that Rome's obedience to thy fway

Might make her, with the lofs of freedom, happy?

E'en benefits impos'd, are gentler chains.

Or fay the yoke of Cafar might fit eafy;

Yet, who fhall hold the reins when Cafar is no more?
Perhaps a Tarquin, or a Ptolomey !

A prince of favage, or too ductile nature.
Why, then, O Cafar! this difcordant rage?
Why is imperial Rome, that fway'd the earth,

Herfelf at variance with posterity?

Why wage thy veterans war, without a foe?
Why are her fires by fons, brothers by brothers flain?
As mutual murder were the public welfare.
But, Cafar, I am bold; pardon these tears!

Think that benevolence deplores, not envy chides thee.
Caf. What thou haft urg'd, Achoreus, heaves my heart!
Cafar forgets not nature, tho' victorious:

I grieve to think the innocent involv'd
In ruins which the guilty have deferv'd!
Had Rome her ancient virtue, with her pow'r,
Cæfar had trembled at her civil wars :
But luxury, corruption, vice and fraud

Have drain'd her down, e'en to the lees of Rome.
Her honours, now, by public price are bought;
Her magiftrates, by blows, not votes, elected:
Thus is the carcase of her freedom torn

By beasts of prey, each scrambling for his share.
Where men are wolves, what wretch wou'd be the lamb ?
Where laws are violated, arms are virtue.

Acho. Is Cæfar arin'd to guard her laws ?
Caf. Be patient.

Pompey, in war, was great: Cafar, fuccessful:
We fought, 'till Rome was glutted with our fpoils ;-
'Till fhe grew jealous of the fwords that ferv'd her..
While I was abfent, Pompey's arts prevail'd;
He wrought the fenate to a partial vote,
That Cafar from his charge fhou'd be recall'd,
And glorious Pompey in his pow'rs confirm'd."
And to give greater luftre to his honours,
They robb'd my conquests of their due demands;
Nor triumph, nor a province, was affign'd me.

Acho. Rome to her generals ever had been grateful..
This look'd, indeed, as if fhe fear'd her Pompey.
Caf. On this I paus'd:-And to affert my right,
By their own Tribunes fent my grievances,
With gentle terms of peace, and due fubmiffion :
Their haughty Confuls, in contempt of Cafar,
And of thofe laws that make the Tribunes facred,
Drove them with violence from out the fenate :
And, at the hazard of their lives, from Rome::

Then call'd forth Pompey to oppofe me. Him,
Because the fear'd, Rome chofe her general;
And her, because I knew not fear, my arms
Defy'd. I pafs'd the Rubicon-She trembled!
Pharfalia, fince, has prov'd which gen❜ral's fword
Might better have advanc'd her glory.-Cato,
"Tis known, no lefs oppos'd the power of Pompey;
Or if his virtues fince have join'd his caufe,

'Twas that he thought, fince one must be her master,
Rome wou'd have gentler chains from Pompey's nature.
This-Cafar dares deny; and time fhall prove.
If Cafar, then, is question'd why his arms
Oppose the virtues he admits in Cato,

Or why he makes them not his practice? Cafar
Replies,-He will-but will firft have power:
When that, like fate, is unconteftable,
Then Cato's lectures fhall give laws to Cæfar.

Acho. Cafar, the gods, alone, can read the heart:
Thy words, 'tis true, confirm me to revere
Thy virtues; heav'n best knows their fecret motive.
On this depend ;- -the merits of thy caufe
Will prove, at laft, the measure of thy fate.
Caf. When fate fhall call him, Cafar is prepar'd.

Enter Decius.

Now, my Decius! why wear thy looks this fadness ?
Dec. When Roman matrons wear the chains of war,
What Roman bofom but regrets the triumph?
Never did Pompey's fate, as now, affect me!
Pardon then, Cæfar! if my fighs inform thee,
The fair diftrefs'd Cornelia is thy captive.

Caf. Cornelia! ha! thy fighs become thee, Decius
Dec. The fell Septimius, who purfu'd her flight,
Demanding, at the port, immediate entrance,
To lead his boafted captive on to Cæfar:
I thought a Roman matron's bonds unfit
To grace the vaunting of a Roman traitor!

And, therefore, stopp'd his triumph, with a guard, 'Till Cajar's further pleafure might be known.

Caf. Cafar fhall thank thee, Decius! and himself

Will make his pleasure to Septimius known.