TO THE SPIRIT OF MY LIFE.

To hear the voice of those thou lov'st so well!

Ay, thou wouldst rather live in agony,

Chained to the rock of immortality;

And see and bear all with enduring eye,

Than in the grave with foul corruption dwell!

VI.

Frown not, stern zealot! I am not like thee:
I am a man, no stoic, or a stone;

I envy thee who art so set on heaven,
Thou hast no heart to earthly feeling given:
Be then my fault in charity forgiven,

That I, too lowly, would make life my own.

319

THE CURSE OF GRACCHUS.

Scene-THE TEMPLE OF NEMESIS.

Shouts and clamour heard without-GRACCHUS breaks in, and dashes down the bars securing the gates of the Temple, which the crowds without are heard attempting to force.

GRACCHUS.

Ay, now howl on your empty rage! ye are stayed,
Ye blood-hounds, who would tear to pieces

Him who once guarded ye! whom ye fawned on,
Till, gorged with idleness and repletion, ye
Brute-like would rend him! Infuriated fools!
Blind as the mad wolves howling to the moon,

That looks on ye unmoved; ay, now roar on

How my soul loathes ye! would that its curse could be Embodied in your throats!—

Thus ever hath the man fared who would serve ye!

Who would raise ye from the swinish selfishness
Of your base natures, and impregnate ye
With something of the nobler animal;
Making ye worthier of the gods ye prate of,
By freedom and equality! Ye sleep

Like vipers on your dunghill, and he who would
Arouse ye from your coil of sloth-ye sting!

No more, my soul—thou dost degrade thy nature
In stooping thus; lo, where the gods have led me,
Where I may dignify my closing scene

Worthy Cornelia's son, and Gracchus' brother:
It is the temple of great Nemesis :

I hail the visible sign of their high will.

Here do I cast from me my arms, profaned

By the service they have done;-lie there, my helm,
That never stooped to foe! my shield, that was

A tower to those whom from the battle's storm

Crouched 'neath its shadow! and there, my blunted

spear:

These be my offerings, goddess! and now I draw
My sword that shall offer thee a nobler sacrifice:

I do invoke thee, Goddess! hear-thou seest

Y

My inmost heart, it is laid open to thee;
Cowards are hypocrites-such am not I!

Look on me-thou dost know the expanded love
With which I toiled for Rome-I sought not-I-
To raise myself, but as their fellow man,

I felt that Freedom was common to us all!

And so I battled 'gainst oppression for

Slaves who dared not be free, and hugged their chains. Now see'st thou my reward-is't just? have I

Merited such, and wilt thou not avenge me?

I raise my hands now to thee, thou just Goddess!
And do invoke a curse upon my country!

May they, for their ingratitude and base*
Desertion of me, be slaves for ever! and

So weakened by wealth and tyranny, that they
Become a bye-word to the nations for

Changelings and cowards! Split them into factions

Slaughtering each other, and leave their houseless

carcases

To rot i' the forum like dogs! May they soon be
By their now creeping luxuries as feeble

* The expressions of Caius, as preserved by Plutarch.

And weak as eunuchs, until the hardy Gaul

Clip them again in their mud walls! there let them Starve-and yet lack the courage from despair

To die like men! Then let the name of Gracchus Ring in their ears like Mars, whose arm if living Had swept away their foes to waterdrops!

O let them feel what they have lost in me!

i

Let them chew deep the bitterness of reproach;
And hurled to the dust beneath the conqueror's steel,

Amid their burning dwellings, let them then
Think of the mercy they now show to me!

My vows are heard-my prayer is ratified:
Ye Gods! I thank ye for your guardianship;
I would not have died by their plebeian hands!
Ye knew it, and ye aided me. Ye would not
Suffer my bones to be profaned: they are sacred
Here, as my memory shall be with those
Who vainly dying for their country, live

For ever hereafter!

Here I take the steel

And offer, ye high Gods, a sacrifice

Worthy your altars: a man pure from passion,