Or but the smallest Air of Man within him?)
To see them swell with Treasure, which they pour
Out i' their Riots, eating, drinking, building,
I, i' the Sea! plaining of Hills with Valleys,
And raising Valleys above Hills; Whilst we
Have not to give our Bodies Necessaries.
They ha' their change of Houses, Mannors, Lordships;
VVe scarce a Fire, or a poor Houshold Lar!
They buy rare Attick Statues, Tyrian Hangings,
Ephesian Pictures, and Corinthian Plate,
Attalick Garments, and now new-found Gems,
Since Pompey went for Asia, which they purchase
At price of Provinces! The River Phasis
Cannot afford 'em Fowl, nor Lucrine Lake
Oysters enow: Circes too is search'd,
To please the witty Gluttony of a Meal!
Their ancient Habitations they neglect,
And set up new; then, if the Echo like not
In such a Room, they pluck down those, build newer,
Alter them too; and, by all frantick ways,
Vex their wild VVealth, as they molest the People,
From whom they force it! Yet they cannot tame,
Or overcome their Riches! not by making
Baths, Orchards, Fish-pools, letting in of Seas,
Here, and then there forcing 'em out again,
VVith mountainous Heaps, for which the Earth hath lost
Most of her Ribs, as Entrails; being now
VVounded no less for Marble, than for Gold!
VVe, all this while, like calm, benumb'd Spectators,
Sit till our Seats do crack, and do not hear
The thundring Ruins; whilst at home our wants,
Abroad our Debts do urge us; our States daily
Bending to bad, our Hopes to worse; and what
Is left, but to be crush'd? VVake, wake, brave Friends,
And meet the Liberty you oft have wish'd for.
Behold, Renown, Riches, and Glory court you.
Fortune holds out these to you, as Rewards.
Me thinks (though I were dumb) th' Affair it self,
The Opportunity, your Needs, and Dangers,
VVith the brave Spoil the VVar brings, should invite you.
Use me your General, or Soldier; neither
My Mind nor Body shall be wanting to you:
And, being Consul, I not doubt t' effect
All that you wish, if trust not flatter me,
And you'd not rather still be Slaves, than Free.
Cet. Free, free.
Lon. 'Tis Freedom. Cur. Fredom we all stand for.
Cat. VVhy, these are noble Voices! Nothing wants then,
But that we take a solemn Sacrament,
To strengthen our Design. Cet. And so to act it.
Deferring hurts, where Powers are so prepar'd.
Aut. Yet, e're we enter into open act,
(With favour) 'twere no loss, if't might be inquir'd,
What the Condition of these Arms would be.
Var. I, and the Means to carry us through?
Cat. How, Friends!
Think you that I would bid you grasp the Wind,
Or call you to th' embracing of a Cloud?
Put your known Valors on so dear a Business,
And have no other Second than the Danger,
Nor other Garland than the Loss? Become
Your own Assurances. And for the Means,
Consider, first, the stark Security
The Commonwealth is in now; the whole Senate
Sleepy, and dreaming no such violent Blow;
Their Forces all abroad; of which the greatest,
That might annoy us most, is farthest off,
In Asia, under Pompey; those near hand,
Commanded by our Friends; one Army' in Spain,
By Cneus Piso; th' other in Mauritania,
By Nucerinus; both which I have firm,
And fast unto our Plot. My self then standing
Now to be Consul, with my hop'd Colleague
Caius Antonius, one no less engag'd
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By's wants, than we; and whom I've power to melt,
And cast in any Mould. Beside, some others,
That will not yet be nam'd, (both sure, and great ones)
Who, when the time comes, shall declare themselves
Strong for our Party; so that no Resistance
In Nature can be thought. For our Reward then,
First, all our Debts are paid; dangers of Law,
Actions, Decrees, Judgments against us, quitted;
The Rich men, as in Sylla's times, proscrib'd,
And Publication made of all their Goods:
That House is yours; that Land is his; those Waters,
Orchards, and Walks, a third's; he has that Honour,
And he that Office: Such a Province falls
To Vargunteius; this t' Autronius; that
To bold Cethegus; Rome to Lentulus.
You share the World, her Magistracies, Priesthoods,
Wealth, and Felicity, amongst you, Friends;
And Catiline your Servant. Would you, Curius,
Revenge the Contumely stuck upon you,
In being removed from the Senate? Now,
Now is your time. Would Publius Lentulus
Strike, for the like Disgrace? Now is his time.
Would stout Longinus walk the Streets of Rome,
Facing the Prætor? Now has he a time
To spurn and tread the Fasces into Dirt,
Made of the Usurers and the Lictors Brains.
Is there a Beauty, here in Rome, you love?
An Enemy you would kill? What Head's not yours?
Whose Wife, which Boy, whose Daughter, of what Race,
That th' Husband or glad Parents shall not bring you,
And boasting of the Office? Only spare
Your selves, and you have all the Earth beside,
A Field to exercise your Longings in.
I see you rais'd, and read your forward Minds
High, in your Faces. Bring the Wine and Blood
You have prepar'd there. Lon. How!
Cat. I have kill'd a Slave,
And of his Blood caus'd to be mixt with Wine.
Fill every Man his Bowl. There cannot be
A fitter Drink to make this Sanction in.
Here, I begin the Sacrament to all.
O for a Clap of Thunder now, as loud
As to be heard throughout the Universe,
To tell the World the Fact, and to applaud it.
Be firm, my Hand; not shed a drop, but pour
Fierceness into me with it, and fell Thirst
Of more and more, till Rome be lest as Bloodless
As ever her Fears made her, or the Sword.
And when I leave to wish this to thee, Step-dame,
Or stop t' effect it, with my Powers fainting,
So may my Blood be drawn, and so drunk up,
As is this Slaves. Lon. And so be mine. Len. And mine.
Aut. And mine. Var. And mine.
Cet. Swell me my Bowl yet fuller.
Here, I do drink this, as I would do Cato's,
Or the new Fellow Cicero's, with that Vow
Which Catiline hath given. Cur. So do I.
Lec. And I. Bes. And I. Ful. And I. Gab. And all of us.
Cat. Why, now's the business safe, & each man strengthned.
[He spies one of his Boys
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Sirrah, what ail you?
Pag. Nothing. Bes. Somewhat modest.
Cat. Slave, I will strike your Soul out with my Foot,
Let me but find you again with such a Face:
You Whelp — Bes. Nay, Lucius. Cat. Are you coying it,
When I command you to be free, and general
To all? Bes. You'll be observ'd. Cat. Arise, and shew
But any least aversion i' your Look
To him that boards you next, and your Throat opens.
Noble Confederates, thus far is perfect.
Only your Suffrages I will expect
At the Assembly for the chusing Consuls,
And all the Voices you can make by Friends
To my Election. Then let me work out
Your Fortunes, and mine own. Mean while, all rest
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