Within.] Liberty! Liberty! Marius and Sulpitius!
Liberty! Liberty! Liberty! &c.

Enter METELLUS, ANTONIUS, CINNA,

W

SENATORS.

METELLUS.

and

HEN will the Tut'lar Gods of Rome awake,
To fix the Order of our wayward State,

That we may once more know each other; know
'Th' extent of Laws, Prerogatives and Dues;

The Bounds of Rules, and Magiftracy; who
Ought firft to govern, and who must obey?
It was not thus when Godlike Scipio held
The Scale of Power; he who with temp'rate Poise
Knew how to guide the People's Liberty

In its full Bounds, nor did the Nobles wrong,
For he himself was one-

CI

CINNA.

He was indeed

A Noble born; and ftill in Rome there are
Moft worthy Patrons of her ancient Honour.
Such as are fit to fill the Seat of Pow'r,
And awe this riotous unruly Rabble,
That bear down all Authority before 'em,
Were we not fold to Ruin.

METELLUS.

Cinna, there

Thou'ft hit my Mark: We are to Ruin fold;
In all things fold; Voices are fold in Rome:
And yet we boast of Liberty. Juft Gods!
That Guardians of an Empire fhould be chofen
By the lewd Noife of a licentious Rout!

The sturdieft Drinker makes the ableft Statesman.
ANTONIUS.

Would it not anger any true born Roman,
To fee the giddy Multitude together,

Never confulting who 'tis best deferves,
But who feafts higheft to obtain their Suffrage?
As 'tis not many Years fince two great Men
In Rome ftood equal Candidates together,
For High Command: In every House was Riot.
To-day the drunken Rabble reel'd to one;
To-morrow they were mad again for t'other;
Changing their Voices with their Entertainment :
And none could guess on whom the Choice would fettle s
Till at the last a Sratagem was thought of.

A mighty Veffel of Falernian Wine

Was brought into the Forum crown'd with Wreaths
Of Ivy, facred to the Jolly God.

The Monster-people roar'd aloud for Joy:
When freight the Candidate himself appears
In Pomp to grace the Present he had made 'em.
The Fools all gap'd. Then when a while he had
With a smooth Tale tickled their Affes Ears,

He

He at both ends tapp'd his Butt, and got the Confulfhip.

CINNA.

This Curfe we owe to Marius's Pride,

That made him firft moft bafely bribe the People
For Conful in the War against Jugurtha:
Where he went out, Metellus, your Lieutenant.
And how the Kindness was return'd, all know.
I never lov'd his rough untoward Nature,
And wonder fuch a Weed got growth in Rome.
METELLUS.

What fays my Cinna?

CINNA.

Nor love him

That I like not Marius,

METELLUS.

There Rome's better Genius spoke.

Let us confult and weigh this Subject well.
O Romans, here's the Thorn that galls us all.
Our harass'd State is crippled with the weight
Of his Ambition: we're not fafe in Marius.
Do I not know his Rife, his low beginning,
From what a wretched despicable Root
His Greatnefs grew ? Gods! that a Peafant's Brat.
Born in the outmoft Cottages of Arpos,
And fofter'd in a Corner, should by Bribes,
By Covetousness, and all the hateful Means
Of working Pride, advance his little Fate
So high, to vaunt it o'er the Lords of Rome!
ANTONIUS.

Ambition, raging like a Damon in him,
Distorts him to all ugly Forms, the'as need to use :
In his firft ftart of Fortune, O how vile

Were his Endeavours and Submiffions then!

When fuing to be chosen first Edilis,

He was by general Vote repuls'd, yet bore it;
And in the fame Day fhamefully return'd,
T'obtain the fecond Office of that Name."

VOL. III.

F

Equal

Equal was his Succefs, deny'd in both:
Yet could he condescend at last to ask
The Prætorship, and but with Bribes got that."
Yet this is he that has disturb'd the World,
Rome's Idol, and the Darling of her Wishes.
METELLUS.

I must confefs it burdens much my Age,
To fee the Man I hate thus ride my Country:
For, Romans, I have mighty Caufe to hate him.
I was the first (and I am well rewarded)
That lent my Hand to raise his feeble State.
When first I made him Tribune by my Voice,
I thought there might be fomething in his Nature
That promis'd well. His Parents were most honest,
And ferv'd my Father justly in their Trust.
Then as his Fortunes grew, when I was Conful,
And went against Jugurtha into Africk,

I took him with me one of my Lieutenants.
'Twas there his Pride firft fhew'd itself in actions,
Opprefs'd my Friends, and robb'd me of my Honour.
CINNA.

The Story's famous. Bafe Ingratitude,
Diffimulation, Cruelty, and Pride,
Ill Manners, Ignorance, and all the Ills
Of one bafe born, in Marius are join'd.

METELLUS.

Even Age can't heal the Rage of his Ambition
Six times the Conful's Office has he borne :
How well, our prefent Discords best declare.
Yet now again, when time has worn him low,
Confum'd with Age, and by Diseases prefs'd,
He courts the People to be once more chosen,
To lead the War against King Mithridates.
ANTONIUS.

For this each Day he rifes with the Sun,
And in the Field of Mars appears in Arms,
Excelling all our Youth in warlike Exercife:

He

He rides and tilts, and when the Prize he'as won,
He brings it back with Triumph into Rome,
And there prefents it to the fordid Rabble;
Who fhout to Heav'n, and cry, Let Marius live.
METELLUS.

་

He shall not have it, by the Gods he shall not.
There is a Roman, noble, just and valiant,

Sylla's his Name, fprung from the ancient Stock
Of the Cornelii, bred from's Youth in War,
Flush'd with Succefs, and of a Spirit bold,
And, more than all, hates Marius, still has croft
His Pride, and clouded ev'n his brighteft Triumphs
He's Conful now. Then let us all refolve,
And fix on him, to check this Havocker,
That with his Kennel of the Rabble hunts
Our Senate into Holes, and frights our Laws.

Nay,

METELLUS.

This Monster Marius, who has us'd me thus,
Ev'n now would wed his Family with mine,
And asks my Daughter for his hated Off-spring.
But, for my Wrongs, Lavinia fhall be Sylla's,
My eldest born; and the best of all

My Fortune I will confirm on him, to crush the Pride
Of this bafe-born, hot-brain'd, Plebeian Tyrant.
ANTONIUS.

Now Rome's laft Stake of Liberty is set,
And must be pufh'd for to the Teeth of Fortune.

CINNA.

Then Caius Marius fhall not have the Confulship.
METELLUS.

No, I would rather be Sulpitius' Slave,
That furious headlong Libertine Sulpitius,

F 2

That