Page:The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, Volume 2.djvu/396

 but is that possible at such a juncture? Can a parcel of rogues attempt to assasfinate the governor of a town of war, in his own house, in midday, and, after they are discovered and defeated, can there be none near them but friends? Is it not plain, from these words of Sempronius, Here,take these factious monsters, drag them forth To sudden death— and from the entrance of the guards upon the words of command, that those guards were within ear-shot? Behold Sempronius then palpably discovered. How comes it to pass, then, that, instead of being hanged up with the rest, he remains secure in the governor's hall, and there carries on his conspiracy against the government, the third time in the same day, with his old comrade Syphax, who enters at the same time that the guards are carrying away the leaders, big with the news of the defeat of Sempronius; though where he had his intelligence so soon is difficult to gine?