Page:Cato, a tragedy (Addison, 1712).djvu/51

SCENE VII.

Syphax and Sempronius..

Syph.Our first design, my friend, has prov'd abortive;
Still there remains an after-game to play;
My troops are mounted; their Numidian steeds
Snuff up the wind, and long to scour the desart:
Let but Sempronius head us in our flight,
We'll force the gate where Marcus keeps his guard,
And hew down all that would oppose our passage.
A day will bring us into Cesar's camp.

Semp.Confusion! I have fail'd of half my purpose:
Marcia the charming Marcia's left behind!

Syph.How? will Sempronius turn a woman's slave!

Semp.Think not thy friend can ever feel the soft
Unmanly warmth and tenderness of love.
Syphax I long to clasp that haughty maid,
And bend her stubborn virtue to my passion,
When I have gone thus far, I'd cast her off.

Syph.Well said! that's spoken like thyself, Sempronius,
What hinders then, but that thou find her out,
And hurry her away by manly force?

Semp.But how to gain admission? For access
Is giv'n to none but Juba, and her brothers.

Syph.Thou shalt have Juba's dress, and Juba's guards:
The doors will open, when Numidia's prince
Seems to appear before the slaves, that watch them.

Semp.Heav'ns, what a thought is there! Marcia's my own!
How will my bosom swell with anxious joy,
When I behold her struggling in my arms,
With glowing beauty, and disordered charms,
While fear and anger, with alternate grace,
Pant in her breast, and vary in her face!
So Pluto seiz'd of Proserpine, convey'd
To hell's tremendous gloom th'affrighted maid,
There grimly smil'd, pleas'd with the beauteous prize,
Nor envy'd Jove his sun-shine and his skies.