We love thy nobleness.

[Exit DECIUS.

Bond. I thank ye! ye say well; But mercy and love are sins in Rome and hell. Suet. You cannot 'scape our strength; you must yield, lady;

You must adore and fear the power of Rome. Bond. If Rome be earthly, why should any knee

With bending adoration worship her?
She's vicious; and, your partial selves confess,
Aspires the height of all impiety;
Therefore 'tis fitter I should reverence

The thatched houses, where the Britons dwell In careless mirth; where the bless'd household gods

See naught but chaste and simple purity.
'Tis not high power that makes a place divine,
Nor that the men from gods derive their line;
But sacred thoughts, in holy bosoms stored,
Make people noble, and the place adored.
Suet. Beat the wall deeper!
Bond. Beat it to the centre,
We will not sink one thought.
Suet. I'll make ye.

Bond. No.

Dec. There is a breach made; Is it your will we charge, sir? Suet. Once more, mercy, Mercy to all that yield!

Bond. I scorn to answer;
Speak to him, girl, and hear thy sister.
1 Daugh. General,

Hear me, and mark me well, and look upon me,
Directly in my face, my woman's face,
Whose only beauty is the hate it bears ye;
See with thy narrowest eyes, thy sharpest wishes,
Into my soul, and see what there inhabits;
See if one fear, one shadow of a terror,
One paleness dare appear but from my anger,
To lay hold on your mercies. No, ye fools,
Poor Fortune's fools, we were not born for tri-
umphs,

To follow your gay sports, and fill your slaves
With hoots and acclamations.

Pet. Brave behaviour!

1 Daugh. The children of as great as Rome, as noble,

Our names before her, and our deeds her envy, Must we gild o'er your conquest, make your state, That is not fairly strong, but fortunate?

No, no, ye Romans! We have ways to 'scape ye, To make ye poor again, indeed our prisoners, And stick our triumphs full.

Pet. 'Sdeath, I shall love her.

1 Daugh. To torture ye with suffering, like our slaves;

To make ye curse our patience, wish the world Were lost again, to win us only, and esteem The end of all ambitions.

And, mad she could not hold him, bled. Pet. By heaven,

I am in love! I would give an hundred pound now But to lie with this woman's behaviour. Oh, the devil!

1 Daugh. Ye shall see my example: All your Rome,

If I were proud and loved ambition,
If I were lustful, all your ways of pleasure,
If I were greedy, all the wealth ye conquer-
Bond. Make haste.

1 Daugh. I will-could not entice to live,
But two short hours, this frailty. Would ye learn
How to die bravely, Romans, to fling off
This case of flesh, lose all your cares for ever?
Live, as we have done, well, and fear the gods;
Hunt honour, and not nations, with your swords;
Keep your minds humble, your devotions high;
So shall ye learn the noblest part, to die. [Dies.
Bond. I come, wench.-To ye all, Fate's hang-
men, you,

That ease the aged destinies, and cut The threads of kingdoms as they draw them! here,

Here is a draught would ask no less than Cæsar To pledge it for the glory's sake!

Cur. Great lady!

Could I now rack ye! But I pity ye,
Desiring to die quiet: Nay, so much
I hate to prosecutè my victory,
That I will give ye counsel ere I die:
If you will keep your laws and empire whole,
Place in your Roman flesh, a Briton soul. [Dies.
Enter DECIUS.

Suet. Desperate and strange !

Dec. 'Tis won, sir, and the Britons All put to the sword.

Suet. Give her fair funeral;

She was truly noble, and a queen.
Pet. Pox take it,

A love-mange grown upon me? What a spirit!
Jun. I am glad of this! I have found you.
Pet. In my belly,

Oh, how it tumbles!

Jun. Ye good gods, I thank ye!

[Exeunt.

SCENE I.

A house of rest by his blessed' ancestors:
The virgins thou hast robbed of all their wishes,
Blasted their blowing hopes, turned their songs,
Their mirthful marriage-songs, to funerals;
The land thou'st left a wilderness of wretches.
The boy begins to stir; thy safety made,
'Would my soul were in heaven!

Hengo. Oh, noble uncle,

Look out; I dreamed we were betrayed.
Car. No harm, boy; [A soft dead march within.
Tis but thy emptiness that breeds these fancies;
Thou shalt have meat anon.

Hengo. A little, uncle,

And I shall hold out bravely.--What are those, (Look, uncle, look!) those multitudes that march there!

They come upon us stealing by.

Car. I see them;

And prithee be not fearful.
Hengo. Now you hate me;

Would I were dead!

Car. Thou knowest I love thee dearly.
Hengo. Did I e'er shrink yet, uncle? Were
I a man now,

I should be angry with you.

Enter DRUSIUS, REGULUS, and Soldiers with
PENIUS'S hearse, drums, and colours.
Car. My sweet chicken !---

Sce, they have reached us; and, as it seems, they

bear

Of the great captain Penius, by himself
Made cold and spiritless.

Car. Oh, stay, ye Romans,

By the religion, which ye owe those gods,
That lead you on to victories! by those glories,
Which made even pride a virtue in ye!
Drus. Stay.

What's thy will, Caratach?

Car. Set down the body,
The body of the noblest of all Romans
As ye expect an offering at your graves
From your friends' sorrows, set it down awhile,
That with your griefs an enemy may mingle,
(A noble enemy, that loves a soldier)

And lend a tear to virtue! Even your foes,
Your wild foes, as you called us, are yet stored
With fair affections, our hearts fresh, our spirits,
Though sometime stubborn, yet when virtue dies,
Soft and relenting as a virgin's prayers:
Oh, set it down!

Drus. Set down the body, soldiers.

Car. Thou hallowed relic, thou rich diamond, Cut with thine own dust; thou, for whose wide fame

The world appears too narrow, man's all thoughts,
Had they all tongues, too silent; thus I bow
To thy most honoured ashes! Though an enemy,
Yet friend to all thy worth, sleep peaceably;
Happiness crown thy soul, and in thy earth
Some laurel fix his seat, there grow and flourish,
And make thy grave an everlasting triumph!
Farewell all glorious wars, now thou art gone,
And honest arms, adieu! All noble battles,
Maintained in thirst of honour, not of blood,
Farewell for ever!

Hengo. Was this Roman, uncle,
So good a man?

Car. Thou never knewest thy father.
Hengo. He died 'fore I was born.
Car. This worthy Roman

Was such another piece of endless honour,
Such a brave soul dwelt in him; their proportions
And faces were not much unlike, boy. Excel-

lent nature!

Pet. What do I ail, i'th' name of heaven? I
did but see her

And see her die; she stinks by this time strongly,
Abominably stinks. She was a woman,
A thing I never cared for: but to die so,
So confidently, bravely, strongly-Oh, the devil,
I have the bots! by heaven, she scorned us
strangely,

All we could do, or durst do: theatened us
With such a noble anger, and so governed
With such a fiery spirit-The plain bots!
A pox upon the bots, the love-bots! Hang me,
Hang me even out o'th' way, directly hang me!
Oh, penny pipers, and most painful penners
Of bountiful new ballads, what a subject,
What a sweet subject for your silver sounds,
Is crept upon ye!

Enter JUNIUS.

Jun. Here he is; have at him!

She set the sword unto her breast,

Great pity it was to see,

Oh, i hear them coming.

Pet. I have a little business.

Jun. Thou shalt not go, believe it: What! a gentleman

Of thy sweet conversation?
Pet. Captain Junius,

Sweet captain, let me go with all celerity!
Things are not always one; and do not question,
Nor jeer, nor gibe: None of your doleful ditties,
Nor your sweet conversation: you will find then
I may be angered.

Jun. By no means, Petillius;

Anger a man that never knew passion? 'Tis most impossible: A noble captain, A wise and generous gentleman ?

Pet. Tom Puppy,

That three drops of her life-warm blood,
Run trickling down her knee.

Art thou there, bonny boy? And, in faith, how dost thou?

Pet. Well, gramercy; how dost thou? He has found me,

Scented me out; the shame the devil owed me, He has kept his day with. And what news, Junius?

Jun. It was an old tale ten thousand times told, Of a young lady was turned into mould, Her life it was lovely, her death it was bold. Pet. A cruel rogue! now he has drawn pur

suit on me,

He hunts me like a devil. No more singing! Thou hast got a cold: Come, let us go drink some sack, boy.

Enter DECIUS, DEMETRIUS, and CURIUS.
Jun. Yes, forsooth.

Dem. How does the brave Petillius?
Jun. Monstrous merry.

We two were talking what a kind of thing
I was, when I was in love; what a strange mon-

ster

For little boys and girls to wonder at:
How like a fool I looked!

Dec. So they do all,

Like great dull slavering fools.

Jun. Petillius saw too.

Pet. No more of this; 'tis scurvy; peace!
Jun. How nastily,

Indeed how beastly, all I did became me!
How I forgot to blow my nose! There he stands,
An honest and a wise man; if himself

dare avouch it boldly, for I know it) Should find himself in love