And honour bids proceed, if I should falter,'
I were unworthy of the name of Roman,

Unworthy of the sacred trust I bear,

And of thy love, Servilia.

SERVILIA.

Ah, Sempronia,

Thou hast no more a brother, I, alas,

No more a husband, and my hapless children.
No father, no protector! poor Cornelia,
Soon shall thy age be childless! Oh, I see thee,
I see thee, Caius, mangled in the tumult,
Proclaim'd a traitor, nor these wretched hands
Shall cull thine ashes, nor these widow'd eyes
Shall pour their streams on thy untimely urn.
But, with thy brother's, shall thy bloody corse,
Borne by the rapid Tiber to the sea,
Feed the insatiate monsters of the deep.

GRACCHUS.

Servilia, shake not thus my soul. Thy tears

Unman me. I shall play the woman too.

Be comforted.

And doubt not, dear Servilia,

But that whatever caution may consist

With honour, and my duty, I shall use

To guard my life. Expect me in the evening,

Dismiss thy fears. Our party has been muster'd,
And shews a brave appearance. My Servilia,
Once more farewell. Sister, sustain her spirits,
We part but for a season.

SERVILIA.

Oh ye Gods,

Ye heavenly guardians of connubial faith,

Confirm the word! But, ah, my boding heart

АСТ II.

SCENE I.

An apartment in the house of Gracchus.

CORNELIA, SEMPRONIA, SERVILIA, ATTENDANTS.

CORNELIA. [To an attendant.

The consul, didst thou say, would speak to me,

On matter of importance to the state,
Commission'd by the senate? Oh, my daughters,

I fear some new misfortune. This rash youth
Plunges at every step more deep in guilt.
And now perhaps the measure of his crimes

Is full. The venerable fathers, mov'd

By strong necessity, decree at length

His death, or banishment. Else why this message?
Why should the sovereign magistrate of Rome

Thus break upon the privacy of grief?

Acquaint the consul, though my afflicted soul

Seek in retreat and solitude to bide

Its cares, I wait the orders of the senate.

[The attendant goes out.

It must be so. My son would push the people

To some new violence: the sacred barrier
Of law to trample under foot, and spurn
At just authority. Or what, if mov'd
By the example of Tiberius, who
Entangled in the maze of policy

Fell to his foes a victim, with bold arm

He grasps at sovereignty?

SERVILIA.

Alas, alas

Who shall defend my Caius? Who protect him From the insidious malice of his foes?

When ev'n his mother, ev'n the good Cornelia,

Thus, thus condemns unheard her only son,

Imputes his conduct to the vilest motives,
And with the murderers of Tiberius joins
Against his very life.

CORNELIA.

It is the doom

Of heaven's eternal ruler which impels me
To this necessity. And though my tears
Still flow incessant o'er Tiberius' urn;

And though my anxious soul has still pursued
With constant care my last surviving son;
(Whom I had fondly hop'd to have reserved

The staff and prop of my declining age)
Yet ere I shall forget the sacred duty
I owe to Rome, ere the republic perish;
Perish that son I have so dearly lov'd,
Perish Sempronia, perish all my race.
I ever wish'd my sons might bravely bleed
To do their country service. If they fall
Class'd with its enemies, and justly victims
Of its offended laws, I only mourn

That they have liv'd.

SEMPRONIA.

On the Sempronian name

As yet I trust no stain of guilt remains.
Tiberius with a just, and patriot zeal,

Mov'd by the sufferings of the Roman people
By legal methods sought to do them right,
And fell by violence. My brother Caius―

CORNELIA,

Should from the recent madness of Tiberius

Have learn'd how rash, and factious innovation
Might shake the deep foundations of the state

And spar'd his country; but a private vengeance
Goads him to desperate daring, and postpones
The public good,