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Did glut' himself again: | a meal was bought
With blood; and each sat sullenly apart,
Gorging himself in gloom. |

No love' was left; |

All earth was but one thought; and that was death, Immediate, and inglo'rious; and the pang

Of famine fed upon all en trails. | Men

Died, and their bones were tombless as their flesh; ¦
The meager by the meager were devour'd. |
E'en dogs' assail'd their masters; | all, save one, |
And he was faithful to a corse, and kept

The birds, and beasts, and famish'd men at bay', |
Till hunger clung them,
Lured their lank jaws.
But with a piteous, and
And a quick, desolate cry, licking the hand
Which answer'd not with a caress, he died.

or the dropping dead | Himself sought out no food, | perpetual moan,

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The crowd was famish'd by degrees、 ; | but two
Of an enormous city, did survive ; |

And they were enemies. They met beside
The dying embers of an altar-place, |

Where had been heap'd a mass of holy things |

For an unholy u'sage: they rak'd up, |

And, shivering, scrap'd with their cold skeleton hands, | The feeble ashes, and their feeble breath |

Blew for a little life, and made a flame |

Which was a mockery. Then they lifted up

Their eyes as it grew lighter', and beheld

Each other's aspects- saw', and shriek'd', and died. :| E'en of their mutual hid'eousness they died, |

Unknowing who he was upon whose brow | 1

Famine had written fiend,. |

The world was void; |

The populous, and the powerful was* a lump, |

* Some, being anxious to correct what is already right, have substituted were for was.

Seasonless, herb.less, tree less, man'less, life less― |
A lump of death- a chaos of hard clay. |
The rivers, lakes', and o'cean, all stood still.; |
And nothing stirr'd within their silent depths.
Ships, sai lorless, lay rotting on the sea; |
And their masts fell down piece-meal; as they dropp'd,
They slept on the abyss, without a surge.
The waves were dead; the tides were in their
grave,-
The moon, their mistress, had expired before ; |
The winds were wither'd in the stagnant air; |
And the clouds perish'd.

Of aid from them

| Darkness had no need she was the universe. |

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CATO'S SENATE.

(ADDISON.)

Lucius, Sempronius, and Senators.

Semp. Rome still survives in this assembl'd sen.ate! | Let us remember we are Ca'to's friends, | And act like men who claim that glorious title. |

Luc. Cato will soon be here', and open to us The occasion of our meeting. Hark! he comes !

[Flourish of Trumpets.

May all the guardian gods of Rome direct him! |

[Enter CATO.]

Cato. Fathers, we once again are met in council— | Cæsar's approach has summon'd us together; | And Rome attends her fate from our resolves. | How shall we treat this bold aspiring man? | Success still follows him, and backs his crimes. :| Pharsalia gave him Rome'; Egypt has since Receiv'd his yoke; and the whole Nile' is Cæsar's. | Why should I mention Juba's overthrow, | And Scipio's death? | Numidia's burning sands Still smoke with blood. | 'Tis time we should decree What course to take. Our foe advan'ces on us, | And envies us e'en Libya's sultry deserts.

1

Fathers, pronounce your thoughts

are they still fixt|

To hold it out, and fight it to the last? |

Or are your hearts subdu'd at length, | and wrought By time, and ill success, to a submission? | Sempronius, speak. |

Semp.

My voice is still for war. I

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Can a Roman senate long debate
Which of the two to choose | slav'ry, or death'? |
let us rise at once, gird on our swords', |

No

And, at the head of our remaining troops, |

Attack the foe, break through the thick array |
Of his throng'd legions, and charge home' upon him: 1
Perhaps some arm, more lucky than the rest, |

May reach his heart, and free the world from bondage./
Rise', fathers, rise'! | 'Tis Rome demands your help; |
Rise, and revenge her slaughter'd cit`izens, |

Or share their fate,! The corpse of half her sen'ate, |
Manure the fields of Thessaly, while we

Sit here deliberating in cold debates,
Whether to sacrifice our lives to honor, |

Or wear them out in servitude, and chains. |
Rouse up', for shame'! | our brothers of Pharsalia |
Point at their wounds, and cry aloud to bat'tle! |
Great Pompey's shade | complains that we are slow';|
And Scipio's ghost | walks unreveng'd' amongst us! |

Cato. Let not a torrent of impetuous zeal |
Transport thee thus beyond the bounds of rea`son: |
True fortitude | is seen in great exploits

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That justice warrants, and that wisdom guides
All else is tow'ring frenzy and distraction. |
Are not the lives of those who draw the sword
In Rome's defence, intrusted to our care? |
Should we thus lead them to a field of slaughter, |
Might not the impartial world, with reason, say, |
We lavish'd at our deaths | the blood of thou'sands, |
Το grace our fall, | and make our ruin glorious? |
Lucius, we next would know what's your' opinion. |

Luc. My thoughts, I must confess, are turn'd on peace.

Already have our quarrels | fill'd the world
With widows, and with orphans: | Scythia mourns
Our guilty wars, and earth's remotest regions |
Lie half unpeopled by the feuds of Rome,

"T is time to sheathe the sword, and spare mankind. |
It is not Cæsar, but the gods', my fathers, |
The gods declare against us, and repel

Our vain attempts. To urge the foe to battle, i
Prompted by blind revenge, and wild despair, |
Were to refuse the awards of providence,a |
And not to rest in heav'n's determination. ||
Already have we shown our love to Rome,
Now, let us show submission to the gods. |-
We took up arms, not to revenge' ourselves, |
But free the commonwealth: when this end fails, |
Arms have no further use. Our country's cause, |
That drew our swords, now wrests them from our hands,
And bids us not delight in Roman blood, |
Unprofitably shed. What men could do, |

Is done already: | heaven, and earth will witness, |
If Rome must fall, that we are innocent. |

Semp. This smooth discourse, and mild behavior, oft
Conceal a traitor something whispers me
Cato, beware of Lucius. |

All is not right.

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Cato. Let us be neither rash nor diffident
Immod'rate valor swells into a fault; }
And fear, admitted into public councils, |

[Aside to Cato.

Betrays like treason. | Let us shun them both.
Fathers, I cannot see that our affairs

Are grown thus desp'rate - we have bulwarks round us: |

Within our walls, are troops, inured to toil
In Afric's heat, and season'd to the sun'
Numidia's spacious kingdom lies behind us,
Ready to rise at its young prince's call. |

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b Bůl'wȧrks.

While there is hope, do not distrust the gods'; |
But wait. at least, till Cæsar's near approach |
Force' us to yield. "T will never be too late |
To sue for chains, and own a conqueror.
I
Why should Rome fall a moment ere her time? |
No, let us draw her term of freedom out |
In its full length', and spin it to the last
So shall we gain still one day's, liberty: |
And let me perish, but in Cato's judgment, |
A day', an hour', of virtuous liberty,
Is worth a whole eternity in bondage. |

[Enter MARCUS.]

|

Marc. Fathers, this moment, as I watch'd the gate, | Lodg'd on my post, a her'ald is arriv'd

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From Cæsar's camp; and with him, comes old De'cius,
The Roman knight he carries in his looks
Impa'tience, and demands to speak with Ca'to. |
Cato. By your permission, fathers

bid him enter. I

[Exit Marcus.

Decius was once my friend; but other prospects Have loos'd those ties, and bound him fast to Cæsar. | His message may determine our resolves. |

[Enter DECIUS.]

Dec. Cæsar sends health to Ca'to. |

Cato.

Could he send it

To Cato's slaughter'd friends, it would be welcome. | Are not your orders to address the senate? |

Dec. My business is with Ca'to. | Cæsar sees The straits to which you 're driven; and, as he knows Cato's high worth, is anxious for your life. |

Cato. My life is grafted on the fate of Rome'. | Would he save Cato, bid him spare his country. | Tell your dictator this | and tell him too, | Cato Disdains' a life | which he has power to offer. |

Dec. Rome, and her senators submit to Cæsar; ¦ Her generals, and her consuls are no mòre, |

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