Page:Cato, a tragedy (Addison, 1712).djvu/50

Cato.Mean while we'll sacrifice to liberty.
Remember, O my friends, the laws, the rights,
The gen'rous plan of power deliver'd down,
From age to age, by your renown'd forefathers,
(So dearly bought, the price of so much blood)
O let it never perish in your hands!
But piously transmit it to your children.
Do thou, great liberty, inspire our souls,
And make our lives in thy possession happy,
Or our deaths glorious in thy just defence.
[Exit Cato, &c.

SCENE VI.
Sempronius, and the leaders of the mutiny.

1. Lead.Sempronius, you have acted like yourself.
One wou'd have thought you had been half in earnest.

Semp.Villain, stand off; base grov'ling worthless wretches,
Mongrels in faction, poor faint-hearted traitors.

2. Lead.Nay, now, you carry it too far, Sempronius:
Throw off the mask, there are none here but friends.
 
Semp. Know, villains, when such paultry slaves presume
To mix in treason, if the plot succeeds,
They're thrown neglected by: But if it fails,
They're sure to die like dogs, as you shall do.
Here, take these factious monsters, drag 'em forth
To sudden death.

Enter Guards.

1. Lead.Nay, since it comes to this ———

Semp.Dispatch 'em quick, but first pluck out their tongues,
Left with their dying breath they sow sedition.
[Exeunt Guards with their Leaders.