ACTUS V. SCENA 1.

CATO folus, &c.

SIC, fic fe habere rem necesse prorsùs eft,
Ratione vincis, do lubens manus, Plato.
Quid enim dediffet, quæ dedit fruftra nihil,
Eternitatis infitam cupidinem

Natura? Quorfum hæc dulcis expectatio,
Vitaque non explenda melioris fitis?
Quid vult fibi aliud ifte redeundi in nihil
Horror, fub imis quemque agens præcordiis?
Cur territa in fe refugit anima, cur tremit
Attonita, quoties, marte ne pereat, timet?
Particula nempe eft cuique nafcenti indita
Divinior; que corpus incolens agit;
Hominique fuccinit, tua eft æternitas.
Eternitas! lubricum nimis afpici,
Mixtumque dulci gaudium formidine!

Qua demigrabitur alia hinc in corpora?
Qua terra mox incognita? Quis orbis nouus,
Manet incolendus? Quanta erit mutatio 2014
Hæc intuenti fpatia mihi quaquà patent
Immenfa: fed caliginofa nox premit ;
Nec luce clara vult videri fingula.
Figendus hic pes; certa funt hæc hactenus;
Si quod gubernet numen humanum genus,
(At, quod gubernet, effe clamunt omnia)
Virtute non gaudere certè non poteft :
Nec effe non beata, quâ gaudet, poteft.
Sed quâ beata fede? Quove in tempore.
Hac quanta quanta terra, tota eft Cæfaris.
Quid dubius hæret animus ufque adeò? Brevi
Hic nodum hic omnem expediet. Arma en induor,
[Enfi manum admovens.

Τ

ACT V. SCENE I.

CATO alone, &c.

IT must be fo-Plato, thou reafon'ft well-
Elfe whence this pleafing hope, this fond defire,
This longing after immortality?

Or whence this fecret dread, and inward horror,
Of falling into nought? Why fhrinks the foul
Back on herself, and ftartles at deftruction?
"Tis the divinity that ftirs within us;

"Tis Heav'n itself, that points out an hereafter,
And intimates eternity to man.

Eternity! thou pleafing, dreadful thought!

Through what variety of untry'd being, Thro' what new scenes and changes muft we pass! The wide, th' unbounded profpect lies before me; But fhadows, clouds, and darkness rest upon it. Here will I hold. If there's a pow'r above us, (And that there is all nature cries aloud Through all her works) He muft delight in virtue; And that which he deligh's in must be happy. But when, or where !. -This world was made for

Cafar.

I'm weary of conjectures-This muft end 'em.

[Laying his hand on his Sword.

Thus

In utramque partem falta; quæque vim inferant,
Et quæ propulfent! Dextera intentant necem ;
Vitam finiftra: vulnus hæc dabit manus ;
Altera medelam vulneris: Hic ad exitum
Deducet, itu fimplici; haec vetant mori.
Secura ridet anima mucronis minas,
Enfefque ftrictos, interire nefcia.
Extinguet aetas fidera diuturnior:
Etate languens ipfe fol obfcurius
Emittet orbi confenefcenti jubar:
Natura et ipfa fentiet quondam vices
Etatis; annis ipfa deficiet gravis:
At tibi juventus, at tibi immortalitas ;
Tibi parta divúm eft vita. Periment mutuis
Elementa fefe et interibunt ictibus :
Tu permanebis fola femper integra,
Tu cuncta rerum quaffa, cuncta naufraga,
Fam portu in ipfo tuta contemplabere.
Compage rupta, corruent in fe invicem,
Orbefque fractis ingerentur orbibus;
Illaefa tu fedebis extra fragminas --

Thus am I doubly arm'd; my death and life,

My bane and antidote are both before me.
This in a moment brings me to an end
But this informs me I fhall never die.
The foul, fecur'd in her existence, smiles
At the drawn dagger, and defies its point.
The stars fhall fade away, the fun himself
Grow dim with age, and nature fink in years;
But thou fhall flourish in immortal youth,
Unhurt amidft the war of elements,

The wrecks of matter and the crush of worlds.

MONDAY,

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No 629. MONDAY, DECEMBER 6.

Experiar quid concedatur in illos,
Quorum flaminia tegitur cinis, atque Latinâ.

Juv. Sat. i. ver. 170.

Since none the living dare implead,
Arraign them in the perfons of the dead.

DRYDEN.

NEXT to the people who want a place, there are

none to be pitied more than those who are fo. licited for one. A plain anfwer with a denial in it, is looked upon as pride, and a civil anfwer as a pro-mife.

Nothing is more ridiculous than the pretenfions: of people upon thefe occafions. Every thing a man hath fuffered, while his enemies were in play, was certainly brought about by the malice of the oppofite party. A bad caufe would not have been loft, if fuch an one had not been upon the bench; nor a profligate youth difinherited, if he had not got drunk every night by toafting an outed ministry. I remember a Tory, who having been fined in a court of justice for a prank that deserved the pillory, defired upon the merit of it to be made a justice of peace when his friends came into power; and fhall never forget a whig criminal, who, upon being indicted for a rape, told his friends, You fee what a man fuffers for sticking to his principles.

The truth of it is, the fufferings of a man in a party are of a very doubtful nature. When they are fuch as have promoted a good caufe, and fallen upon a man undefervedly, they have a right to be heard and recompenfed beyond any other pretenfions. But when they rife out of rashness or indif cretion, and the purfuit of such measures as have

rather