The Sack of Rome/Act I

Scene I
A Camp near Rome

(Ætius and Gaudentius)

ÆTIUS
 * A solemn stillness reigns throughout the camp;
 * The hostile sound of martial musick's hush'd;
 * A truce agreed, the proud Attila gives,
 * Perhaps, a short liv'd peace to bleeding Rome:
 * But nations pouring from their frozen dens,
 * Rough, naked boors, from every northern wild,
 * Untutor'd, or by nature, or by art,
 * With scarce a trait that speaks the species man,
 * Except the semblance of the human form,
 * Must be the chosen scourge, by heaven design'd,
 * To chasten Rome for that tyrannick sway
 * Usurp'd and stretch'd o'er all her wide domain,
 * And proudly held by her remorseless sword;
 * Her insolence, her stubbornness of soul,
 * That trod down nations, trampled on the necks
 * Of mighty kings, and taught her weaker foes.
 * To fear alike her senators and gods.

GAUDENTIUS
 * Though from each quarter of the peopled globe
 * Some hostile foe, or new invader rise,
 * Imperial Rome must ever awe the world.

ÆTIUS
 * With hideous shouts the northern hords retir'd
 * O'er the bleak mounts to Sogdiana's wilds;
 * But fierce Attila look'd indignant back
 * On weaken'd Rome, by luxury undone;
 * Flush'd with success, by vulgar kings ador'd,
 * Who watch his nod and tremble at his frown,
 * The Scythian savage left the Latian shore,
 * Like some wild beast just gorg'd with human blood,
 * Full glutted with his prey, to breathe awhile
 * In his ferocious den---to whet his taste
 * For new refreshing hecatombs of blood.

GAUDENTIUS
 * Extreme distress unites the firm and brave;
 * True virtue might each obstacle surmount;
 * Rome, like a phenix, from her smoking towns,
 * Dissolving columns, cities wrapt in flames,
 * Might vet emerge and more illustrious shine,
 * If party rage and luxury should cease,
 * And peace give time to make a just reform
 * Through each corrupted channel of the law;
 * Or if simplicity again returns,
 * And government more energy assumes,
 * Her ancient codes restor'd on equal terms,
 * She yet might reign from Danube to the Po.

ÆTIUS
 * There's little hope from such a noble source;
 * So chang'd her manners, so debas'd the mind
 * By faction, pride, intemperance and lust.
 * Lost in inglorious ease, all valour melts
 * Beneath incrusted roofs, emboss'd with gold,
 * Egyptian pearls and emeralds of the East.
 * The sword alone is all that Rome can boast
 * That bears affinity to former fame;
 * Yet see the sons of Romulus dismay'd,
 * The trembling youth of Italy alarm'd
 * Whene'er the trumpet summons to the field.
 * Before the vernal equinox returns
 * To cheer the Hetrurian plains, war wakes anew;
 * I saw the tyger gnash his hungry teeth
 * When fair Honoria's ample dower was nam'd,
 * On which the savage stipulated peace;
 * This brings him back to claim his royal bride.

GAUDENTIUS
 * But while transported with the youthful charms
 * Of beauteous Elda---taken to his bed;
 * Amidst barbarick pomp---he may forget
 * Both enmity and gold and his Honoria,
 * Till Rome's prepar'd to meet him in the field.

(Exeunt)

Scene II
(Ætius, Leo and Gaudentius)

LEO
 * I come my lord with tidings on my tongue.

ÆTIUS
 * Say, what new foe has Rome? I am prepar'd.

LEO
 * I come to hail the valiant friend of Rome,
 * Whose arm and prowess are her best support;
 * With the glad news of fierce Attila's death.

ÆTIUS
 * How did the monster fall?

LEO
 * Hot from the riot of a barbarous feast;
 * Sent swiftly down to Pluto's gloomy shade,
 * By lewd debauch and great excess of joy
 * That his rough arm had humbled haughty Rome.

ÆTIUS
 * Humbled indeed! the world's proud mistress
 * Trembles at th' approach of Suevick valour;
 * The harden'd lance dip'd in the Wolga's stream;
 * Hurl'd in the face of her degenerate sons;
 * They start appall'd e'en at a distant foe;
 * The next invader seals Rome's heavy doom.

LEO
 * Though weaken'd Rome by furious factions torn,
 * Imbitter'd by decline, sinks deep in vice---
 * Yet, was the empire held in bolder hands
 * The fierce barbarick rage might still be check'd:
 * Within Liguria all would be secure,
 * And sav'd from pillage all the Latian states;
 * Then let the world beyond the towering Alps
 * Be still possess'd by Goth, or Vandal tribes,
 * Ravag'd by wolves, or yet more savage Huns.

ÆTIUS
 * Where is the emperor? Does he not awake
 * From his soft slumbering lethargy of soul?

LEO
 * Supinely sunk in dreams of wanton bliss,
 * Ignoble pleasures of a splendid court,
 * Or peace, or war, or truce, the same to him.

ÆTIUS
 * Yet, when he heard of the barbarian's death,
 * Did he not rouse, nor dread the ill omen'd birds
 * That late have brooded o'er the capitol,
 * And augur'd evils round the city walls,
 * That the twelve centuries were near complete,
 * Since Romulus the founder of the state
 * Had prophesied the measure of her guilt
 * Would tempt the destinies in wrath to rise
 * And shake the empire from its ancient base?

LEO
 * The fair Ardelia fills the monarch's heart;
 * He secret sighs for Maximus's wife.

ÆTIUS
 * Ardelia!---the good---the chaste Ardelia---
 * The first and fairest matron left in Rome!

LEO
 * To triumph over her superiour charms,
 * He cog'd the dye at Maximus's cost:
 * Long practis'd in the tercerarian art,
 * Petronius is play'd a double game;
 * The die was thrown while fortune turn'd the wheel
 * That makes him wretched as he has been bless'd.

ÆTIUS
 * 'Mongst the long list of celebrated names,
 * Matrons of ancient or of modern fame,
 * None boasts a fairer claim to virtue's palm
 * Than the discreet, the excellent Ardelia;
 * Nor can she forfeit by a shameful fall
 * That modesty, and grace, and decent pride,
 * That dignifies, nor less adorns, the sex.

LEO
 * Yet heavenly virtue, or angelick worth,
 * May fall the victim of a wanton wish,
 * When power lends its iron hand to guilt.

ÆTIUS
 * Petronius ador'd Ardelia's charms.

LEO
 * As well he ought---though innocent as fair,
 * Pity's too weak her anguish to express---
 * Language too poor to speak one half her griefs:
 * But Maximus returns---Ah, hapless man!
 * I would not see him till he knows his fate,
 * And time has calm'd the tumults of his soul.

(Exeunt)

Scene III
(Ætius and Maximus)

ÆTIUS
 * Hah ! Maximus---
 * Art thou the last to hail thy friend's success?
 * Or has long absence blotted friendship out?

MAXIMUS
 * Forgive me, Ætius---
 * I esteem thy virtues---nor envy thee
 * The laurels, thou hast won: Absence, nor time,
 * Can e'er obliterate that love, that friendship,
 * Merit makes thy own, and worth commands:
 * Give me thy hand---thou know'st my heart is thine,
 * Nor can I more until we meet again.

ÆTIUS
 * What means this haste? Why that disturbed brow?

MAXIMUS
 * Return'd this moment from the Aquilean camp
 * Where I've been sent with such impetuous speed,
 * So much unlike the slowness of the emperor,
 * I scarce believe that he could mean me fair.

ÆTIUS
 * What cause is there for doubt? or why suspect?

MAXIMUS
 * I think some latent mischief lies conceal'd
 * Beneath the vizard of a fair pretence;
 * My heart ill brook'd the errand of the day,
 * Yet I obey'd---though a strange horror seiz'd
 * My gloomy mind---and shook my frame
 * As if the moment murder'd all my joys.

ÆTIUS
 * But what excites distrust?

MAXIMUS
 * Not like a child am I about to weave
 * In piteous accents a sad tale of woe:
 * But if I'm bubbled by a mean device.
 * No lingering vengeance shall repair my wrongs.

ÆTIUS
 * What mean these fears? this agony of doubt?

MAXIMUS
 * Thou art a gen'rous and a valiant friend:
 * I'll not conceal the anguish of my soul,
 * Nor yet the secret worm that gnaws my heart.
 * Myself forgot in an ignoble vice,
 * A vice below the dignity of man,
 * Without temptation but in avarice,
 * A blacker passion still---fate threw the die,
 * Or by superiour skill the emperor won
 * My beauteous grottos---my paternal groves---
 * My pleasant villas---and, meandering streams---
 * The sweet cascades that gurgled o'er the dales---
 * The noble busts that mark'd th' Anician name---
 * My poplar walks---and my Ardelia's bower---
 * (Those soft retreats of innocence and love)
 * And thus for once made Maximus a slave.
 * But ah! he gave a treacherous release;
 * He only ask'd the signet from my hand
 * To seal a promise that I'd reach the camp
 * Where Accimer commands before the eve:
 * But 'twas a poor, a frivolous pretence;
 * Yet did I not suspect a base design,
 * Till I receiv'd, without a signature,
 * In characters familiar to my eye,
 * A sentence like a thunderbolt from Jove.
 * I kiss'd the hand---in raptures broke the seal---
 * "Read---tremble---and despair---adieu, Petronius!"
 * Was all the page---the solemn page, contain'd;
 * And now I haste to find my lov'd Ardelia;
 * If she's not wrong'd, Petronius Maximus
 * May still be bless'd.

ÆTIUS
 * Though Valentinian doats on beauty's charms,
 * Ardelia must be safe: True virtue checks
 * A bold licentious wish, and guards the fair;
 * He durst not drag an angel to his bed.

MAXIMUS
 * As truth and virtue dignifi'd my bliss,
 * The gods alone who judge of spotless worth,
 * Must clear her fame, and vindicate my own;
 * Or let their vengeance pour in dreadful peals
 * Their heated bolts---till chosen curses fall,
 * In blasts distinguish'd, on the emperor's head.

(Exeunt)

Scene IV
(Ætius, Gaudentius and Heraclius)

ÆTIUS
 * Heraclius !---Say, what has brought thee hither?

HERACLIUS
 * The emperor's command---he, on the tide
 * Of pleasure and success, congratulates,
 * Both on the peace, and on Attila's death,
 * The brave Gaudentius, and his noble sire;
 * He greets with thanks, his hardy, veteran friends,
 * For valour, faith, and every great exploit
 * Their arms atchiev'd in the rough field of Mars.
 * When Ætius finds it safe to leave the camp,
 * It is his will ye both repair to Rome,
 * To rest awhile from toilsome scenes of war,
 * And taste the pleasures of the imperial court.

ÆTIUS
 * We shall obey---and ere tomorrow's dawn,
 * I reach the city and salute my prince.
 * But whence that sigh, my son? Art thou afraid

(to Gaudentius)


 * To venture on the threshold of a court,
 * Lest it melt down thy valour or thy fame?
 * Or does soft hope present th' hymenial torch,
 * Rekindle in thy breast a lover's flame.
 * And bring the fair Eudocia to thine eye?
 * Thy valour claims her from the emperor's hand
 * Nor will he longer now protract his vow.

GAUDENTIUS
 * Nor shall he---Eudocia is my wife---
 * A soldier's honour rests upon his sword,
 * And mine shall claim its right.

HERACLIUS
 * He gives Eudocia to thy longing arms,
 * And bids thee haste to solemnize thy love,
 * In festal joys and holy nuptial rites.

GAUDENTIUS
 * Thou art the harbinger of bliss indeed;
 * Command my gratitude, it shall be thine:
 * I'll hasten on, and meet thee in the forum;
 * If yet thou hast one wish ungratified,
 * Command my aid---it shall ensure success.
 * Complete thy fortune, and fill up thy hopes.

HERACLIUS
 * The princess waits impatiently to hear
 * The happy moment of her lord's return.

(Exit Heraclius)

ÆTIUS
 * There's not a prince in Valentinian's court
 * Has serv'd with more fidelity and zeal;
 * Nor does he slight the services of Ætius,
 * But as a prince he bounteously rewards.
 * My son! the bravest, most deserving youth
 * That e'er paternal love clasp'd to his breast,
 * He crowns thy valour with the choicest gift
 * A lover ever wish'd, or hero claim'd.
 * Yet while my heart anticipates thy bliss,
 * Thou must remember that thou liv'st for Rome:
 * Let not ambition, avarice, or love,
 * Contaminate thy patriotick worth:
 * And as my sword has sav'd the commonwealth,
 * Drove back her foes, and given peace to Rome,
 * Let thine example teach her to be free.

GAUDENTIUS


 * Inspir'd by thee, by glory, and by fame,
 * No deed of mine shall ever stain thy name.

(Exeunt)