Page:Cato, a tragedy (Addison, 1712).djvu/17

Semp.The more I see the wonders of thy race,
The more I'm charm'd. Thou must take heed, my Portius!
The world has all its eyes on Cato's son;
Thy father's merit sets thee up to view,
And shews thee in the fairest point of light,
To make thy virtues, or thy faults conspicuous.
Por.Well dost thou seem to check my ling'ring here
In this important hour—I'll straight away,
And while the fathers of the senate meet
In close debate, to weigh th' events of war,
I'll animate the soldiers' drooping courage,
With love of freedom, and contempt of life;
I'll thunder in their ears their country's cause,
And try to rouse up all that's Roman in 'em.
'Tis not in mortals to command success,
But we'll do more, Sempronius; we'll deserve it.[Exit.

Sempronius solus.
Curse on the stripling! how he apes his sire?
Ambitiously sententious———But I wonder
Old Syphax comes not; his Numidian genius
Is well disposed to mischief, were he prompt
And eager on it; but he must be spurr'd,
And ev'ry moment quicken'd to the course.
———Cato has us'd me ill: He has refus'd
His daughter Marcia to my ardent vows.
Besides, his baffled arms, and ruin'd cause
Are bars to my ambition. Cesar's favour,
That show'rs down greatness on his friends, will raise me
To Rome's first honours. If I give up Cato,
I claim, in my reward his captive daughter.
But Syphax comes!———

SCENE III.

Enter Syphax, Sempronius.
Syph.Sempronius! all is ready.
I've found my Numidians, man by man,
And find them ripe for a revolt; they all