And heap'd with products of Sabeün' springs! And seeds of gold in Ophir's3 mountains glow. 7. No more the rising sun shall gild the morn, 155. SCENE FROM CATILINE. In the Senate. Cicero. Our long dispute must close. Of this rebellion.-Lucius Catiline POPE. Take one proof more 1 Sa be'an, pertaining to Saba, in Arabia, celebrated for producing aromatic plants. I dù' me, or Id u' mæ a, an ancient country of western Asia, comprising the mountainous tract on the E. side of the great valleys of El-Ghor and El-Arabah, and W. and S. W. of the Dead Sea, with a portion of Arabia.- O' phir, an ancient country mentioned in the Scriptures, and renowned from the earliest times for its gold. Some suppose it to be the same as the modern Sofala; and others conjecture it was situated in the East Indies.- CYN' THI A, the moon, a name given to DIANA, derived from Mount Cynthus, her birthplace. See p. 337, note 3.- See Biographical Sketch, p. 227.-' LUCIUS SERGIUS CATILINE, the descendant of an ancient and patrician family in Rome, whose youth and manhood were stained by every vice and crime. He was prætor in B. C. 68, was governor of Africa during the following year, and returned to Rome in 66, to sue for the consulship. Disqualified for a candidate, by an impeachment for oppression in his province, and frustrated in a conspiracy to kill the new consuls, he organized the extensive conspiracy in which the scene here given occurs. The history of this conspiracy, which ended by the death of CATILINE, in a decisive battle fought early in 62, has been written by SALLUST. He was a man of great mental and physical powers, though apparently entirely destitute of moral qualities. Has been commanded to attend the senate. He dares not come. I now demand your votes!— [CATILINE comes in hastily, and flings himself on the bench; all the senators go over to the other side. Cicero [turning to CATILINE]. Here I repeat the charge, to gods and men, Of treasons manifold;-that, but this day, Under his roof, with mystic rites, and oaths, Catiline [rising calmly]. Conscript fathers! Cic. [interrupting him]. Deeds shall convince you! Has the traitor done? Cat. But this I will avow, that I have scorn'd, And still do scorn, to hide my sense of wrong: Who brands me on the forehead, breaks my sword, Wrongs me not half so much as he who shuts The gates of honor on me,-turning out The Roman from his birthright; and for what? [Looking round. To fling your offices to every slave; Vipers that creep where man disdains to climb; And having wound their loathsome track to the top Of this huge moldering monument of Rome, Hang hissing at the nobler man below. Cic. This is his answer! Must I bring more proofs ? [A cry is heard without-" More prisoners!" An officer enters with letters for CICERO; who, after glancing at them, sends them round the Senate. CATILINE is strongly perturbed.] Cic. Fathers of Rome! If man can be convinced By proof, as clear as daylight, here it is! Look on these letters! Here's a deep-laid plot To wreck the provinces: a solemn league, The time Is desperate, all the slaves are up ;-Rome shakes! Cat. [haughtily rising]. Come, consecrated lictors, from your thrones: [To the Senate. Fling down your scepters :--take the rod and ax, And make the murder as you make the law. Cic. [interrupting him]. Give up the record of his banishment. [To an officer. [The officer gives it to the CONSUL.] Cat. [indignantly]. Banish'd from Rome! What's banish'd, but set free From daily contact of the things I loathe? "Tried and convicted traitor!" Who says this? To leave you in your lazy dignities. But here I stand and scoff you: here I fling Your Consul's merciful.-For this, all thanks. [The Consul reads]:-"Lucius Sergius Catiline: by the The Consul. Lictors, drive the traitor from the temple! Cat. [furious]. "Traitor!" I go-but I return. This-trial! Here I devote your Senate! I've had wrongs To stir a fever in the blood of age, Or make the infant's sinews strong as steel. This day's the birth of sorrows!--this hour's work Will breed proscriptions :-look to your hearths,' my lords! [The Senators rise in tumult and cry out, Go, enemy and parricide, from Rome! Cic. Expel him, lictors! Clear the Senate-house! [They surround him. Cat. [struggling through them]. I go, but not to leap the gulf alone. I go-but when I come, 'twill be the burst Of ocean in the earthquake-rolling back 'Hearths (hårths).- Tår' ta rus, in Homer's Iliad, a place beneath the earth, as far below Hades as heaven is above the earth, and closed by iron gates. Later poets describe this as the place in the lower world in which the spirits of wicked men are punished for their crimes; and sometimes they use the name as synonymous with Hades, or the lower world in general. In swift and mountainous ruin. Fare you well! Shall quench its flame. Back, slaves! [To the lictors.]—I will [He rushes out; the scene closes. GEORGE CROLY.' return! 156. SELECT PASSAGES IN VERSE. I. VOICE OF THE WIND.-HENRY TAYLOR. II. MINISTRATIONS OF NATURE.-COLERIDGE. 'See p. 454, note 1. |