SCENE II.
brutus, senators, aruns, lictors.
aruns.
How long, insulting Romans,
Will you thus violate the sacred rights
Of all mankind? How long by faction led
Thus in their ministers dishonor kings?
Your lictors have with insolence detained me:
Is it my master you thus treat with scorn,
Or Aruns? Know, my rank respectable
In every nation—
brutus.
The more sacred that,
More guilty thou: talk not of titles here.
aruns.
A king’s ambassador—
brutus.
Thou art not one:
Thou are a traitor, with a noble name,
Emboldened by impunity: for know
That, true ambassadors interpret laws,
But never break them; serve their king, but ne’er
Dishonor him: with them reposed in safety
Lie the firm ties of faith ’twixt man and man;
And of their holy ministry the fruit
Is grateful peace: they are the sacred bonds
That knit the sovereigns of the earth together;
And, as the friends of all, by all revered.
Ask thy own heart if thou art such; thou darest not:
But if thy master bade thee learn our laws,
Our virtues, and our treasures, we will teach thee
Now what Rome is, and what a Roman senate:
Will teach thee that this people still respects
The law of nations, which thou hast dishonored:
The only punishment inflicted on thee,
Shall be to see thy vile associates bleed,
And tell thy king their folly and their fate.
When thou returnest, be sure inform thy friends
Of Rome’s resentment, and thy own disgrace:
Lictors, away with him.
SCENE III.
brutus, valerius, proculus, senators.
Well, my Valerius,
They’re seized, I hope, at least you know the traitors:
Ha! wherefore is that melancholy gloom
Spread o’er thy face, presaging greater ills?
Thou tremblest too.
valerius.
Remember thou art Brutus.
brutus.
Explain thyself.
valerius.
I dare not speak it: take
[Gives him the tablets.
These tablets, read, and know the guilty.
brutus.
Ha!
My eyes deceive me; sure it cannot be!
O heavy hour! and most unhappy father!
My son! Tiberius! pardon me, my friends,
Unlooked for misery! Have you seized the traitor?
valerius.
My lord, with two of the conspirators,
He stood on his defence, and rather chose
To die than yield himself a prisoner: close
By them he fell all covered o’er with wounds:
But O there still remains a tale more dreadful
For thee, for Rome, and for us all.
brutus.
What is it?
valerius.
Once more, my lord, look on that fatal scroll
Which Proculus had wrested from Messala.
brutus.
I tremble, but I will go on: ha! Titus!
[He sinks into the arms of Proculus.
valerius.
Disarmed I found him, wandering in despair
And horror, as if conscious of a crime
Which he abhorred.
brutus.
Return, ye conscript fathers,
Straight to the senate; Brutus hath no place
Amongst you now: go, pass your judgment on him,
Exterminate the guilty race of Brutus;
Punish the father in the blood of him
Who was my child: I shall not follow you,
Or to suspend or mitigate the wrath
Of injured Rome.
SCENE IV.
brutus.
[Alone.
Great gods! to your decrees
I yield submissive, to the great avengers
Of Rome, and of her laws: by you inspired
I reared the structure of fair liberty
On justice and on truth; and will you now
O’erthrow it? will you arm my children’s hands
Against your own work? Was it not woe enough
That fierce Tiberius, blind with furious zeal,
Should serve the tyrant, and betray his country?
But that my Titus too, the joy of Rome,
Who, full of honor, but this very day
Enjoyed a triumph for his victories,
Crowned in the capitol by Brutus’ hand,
Titus, the hope of my declining years,
The darling of mankind, that Titus—gods!
SCENE V.
brutus, valerius, lictors, attendants.
valerius.
My lord, the senate has decreed, yourself
Should pass the sentence on your guilty son.
brutus.
Myself!
valerius.
It must be so.
brutus.
Touching