CAIUS GRACCHUS. ACT I. SCENE I-A Street in Rome.-Six Citizens discovered. Enter MARCUs and TITUS, looking occasionally back, as if observing something passing behind them, R. Marc. Who is that next him in mourning? Marc. Peace! they are coming on.. Enter VETTIUS, and his four friends, in mourning, followed by PROBUS, and twelve other Citizens, R. 歌 -for Rome-for l'et. Weep not, my friends, for me Rome Reserve your tears. Her pride is turned to shame, Which owns no grace of virtue. [Crosses to L.] "Who would thrive In Rome, let him forget what honour is, Truth, reverence for the gods, respect for man; Let him have hands consort with deeds, whose names The doer whispers, while he cannot force His eyes to go the way of his hands."-Ay, gaze! Ye poor despis'd and outcast sons of Rome That crouch to your own power by men more strong, Cut off!-and never curse, unless it be Your own hands that you dare not stretch to save them. [Exit VETTIUS and Friends, L. the twelve Citizens L. S. E. Tit. Masters, we are in a sorrowful plight indeed, when such a friend as Vettius spurns us. Marc. See! Who is that he stops to speak to ? Tit. Know you not? Why, you've seen him as often as you've seen your own hand. "Tis the Senator Fannius-that Fannius, that looks so sweetly on the people, and, for all that, never yet did them a good turn. Marc. O! is it he? Tit. To be sure it is!-See how he leans to Vettius, and seems to pity him. I warrant you there's a tear in his eye now, although his heart would laugh to tell you how it came there. See, he puts his hand upon his breast! That's an appeal to his honesty-which is always sure to be out of the way, whenever any one else happens to call upon it.-O, he's a proper Patrician! Marc. Think you they will condemn Vettius ? Tit. Think you he is a friend to the people? Marc. Who doubts that he is? Tit. Who doubts, then, they will condemn him? Tit. And he's as much his friend as ever he was. His absence will profit him just as much as his presence. Yonder comes Licinius, the brother-in-law of Caius Gracchus. Who knows but Caius will speak for Vettius, who was his brother Tiberius's friend. Marc. Not he! He never appears in the assemblies of the people. Prob. (L.) No! He loves to keep house better. He is married, you know; and his wife is a fair woman. No wonder he prefers her company to our's. Marc. (R.) Do they say he is a man of any parts. Tit. (c.) Yes; he assisted his brother Tiberius once, when he was Tribune; and he was thought to be of great promise. "Tis said he is much given to study. Marc. 'Twould seem so, indeed; and that he had not yet found out it was the Patricians who murdered his brother. I would have taken more revenge for a cur of mine that had been lamed, than Caius took for his brother that was murdered! What revenge did he take? None! He kept house, while the Patricians buried his brother in the Tiber! Rome has nothing to hope from him. Prob. Nay, that's certain. He'll never die for the people. Marc. Die! No, nor live neither. Tit. Silence! Licinius is here, Enter LICINIUS and CAIUS GRACCHUS, R. Licin. Health to you, masters! Marc. Health to Licinius! "C. Grac. [TO LICINIUS.] The people look coldly on me. Licin. Hang them! They show fine airs at their own handywork. I'll speak to them. C. Grac. Gently, I pray you! they are bare and hungry, Houseless and friendless, and my heart bleeds for them." Licin. What is the cause of your collecting? Tit. We come to see Vettius condemned. Licin. Why do you say "condemned?" The laws are to try him! He will have justice! Marc. Ay, from the Patricians ! Licin. What of the Patricians? Are not the Patricians just? Marc. Not to the people. Licin. Why not? Marc. Because they have the power to be otherwise. They have as great dominion over the people, as over their oxen; and so they treat them like their oxen;unhide them, hack them up, and feed upon them. Licin. Are the people, then, no better than their oxen, that they endure all this? Marc. What can the people do? They have no friends that will speak, or act for them. The people can do nothing of themselves-they have no power. If the people could find friends Licin. Peace! Peace!-If you gain friends, you lose them straight. Whoe'er would die for you, may die for you. That pities you, has need himself of pity. You make a big shout, and a frightful face, But in your acts are little to be feared. Marc. Are you against us too? You, that were Tiberius's friend! Licin. Who but his friend should be against you? You! That fell from him in danger, who to you In danger clung? Who would not be against you? That booms upon you-idiots in your fear!— [Crosses to L. Licin. Ask you for friends, who to your friends are foes? I would that Caius Gracchus now were here, Whose brother you gave up to death. Licin. Yegave! When, in the exercise of your rights, With clubs and levers from the market-place- "C. Grac. No more, Licinius; Pray you no more; you are too stern with them. Licin. Too stern! Would the Patricians learn of me, I'd teach them how to cater for the people. They should not have a vote! If free-born men Will crouch like slaves, why would you have them free men! C. Grac. It is his mood, friends-Let him be-Ne'er mind him. [Exit LICINIUS.-CAIUS GRACCHUS follows him.” Marc. "Tis plain Licinius is no friend of ours. Tit. He says truth. You suffered the Patricians and their slaves to murder Tiberius. Marc. If Licinius is so bitter against us, what must we expect from Caius ? " Tit."Yet would he have stopped Licinius when he railed at us. Who knows but Caius would befriend the people if he could? Marc. Not he! He'd hang the people if he could! Come, masters! To the Forum. Farewell, Tiberius ! He would not see Vettius accused without defending him. "Twill be long before we shall see such another friend as Tiberius! [Exeunt, L. |