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Front Page  Titles (by Subject) SCENE III - Cato: A Tragedy and Selected Essays
SCENE III - Joseph Addison, Cato: A Tragedy and Selected Essays [1710]Edition used:Cato: A Tragedy and Selected Essays, ed. by Christine Dunn Henderson and Mark E. Yellin, with a Foreword by Forrest McDonald (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2004).
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- Foreword
- Introduction
- The Life of Joseph Addison
- Addison the Essayist
- Cato, a Tragedy
- Editors’ Note
- Acknowledgments
- Cato: a Tragedy
- Prologue By Mr. Pope 2
- Dramatis Personae
- Act I —
- Scene I
- Scene Ii
- Scene Iii
- Scene Iv
- Scene V
- Scene Vi
- Act Ii —
- Scene I
- Scene Ii
- Scene Iii
- Scene Iv
- Scene V
- Scene Vi
- Act Iii —
- Scene I
- Scene Ii
- Scene Iii
- Scene Iv
- Scene V
- Scene Vi
- Scene Vii
- Act Iv —
- Scene I
- Scene Ii
- Scene Iii
- Scene Iv —
- Act V —
- Scene I
- Scene Ii
- Scene Iii
- Scene Iv
- Epilogue By Dr. Garth. 1
- Selected Essays
- Tatler, No. 161
- Tatler, No. 162
- Whig Examiner, No. 5
- Spectator, No. 55
- Spectator, No. 125
- Spectator, No. 169
- Spectator, No. 215
- Spectator, No. 219
- Spectator, No. 231
- Spectator, No. 237
- Spectator, No. 243
- Spectator, No. 255
- Spectator, No. 256
- Spectator, No. 257
- Spectator, No. 287
- Spectator, No. 293
- Spectator, No. 349
- Spectator, No. 446
- Spectator, No. 557
- Guardian, No. 99
- Guardian, No. 161
- Freeholder, No. 1
- Freeholder, No. 2
- Freeholder, No. 5
- Freeholder, No. 10
- Freeholder, No. 12
- Freeholder, No. 13 1
- Freeholder, No. 16
- Freeholder, No. 29
- Freeholder, No. 34
- Freeholder, No. 39
- Freeholder, No. 51
- The Life and Character of M. Cato of Utica [ ]
SCENE III
Syphax, Sempronius.
Syphax- Sempronius, all is ready,
- I’ve sounded my Numidians, man by man,
- And find ’em ripe for a revolt: they all
- Complain aloud of Cato’s discipline,
- And wait but the command to change their master.
Sempronius
- Believe me, Syphax, there’s no time to waste;
- Ev’n whilst we speak, our conqueror comes on,
- And gathers ground upon us every moment.
- Alas! thou know’st not Caesar’s active soul,
- With what a dreadful course he rushes on
- From war to war: in vain has nature formed
- Mountains and oceans to oppose his passage;
- He bounds o’er all, victorious in his march;
- The Alps and Pyreneans sink before him,
- Through winds and waves and storms he works his way,
- Impatient for the battle: one day more
- Will set the victor thundering at our gates.
- But tell me, hast thou yet drawn o’er young Juba?
- That still would recommend thee more to Caesar,
- And challenge better terms.
Syphax
- He’s lost, Sempronius; all his thoughts are full
- Of Cato’s virtues:—but I’ll try once more
- (For every instant I expect him here)
- If yet I can subdue those stubborn principles
- Of faith, of honour, and I know not what,
- That have corrupted his Numidian temper,
- And struck the infection into all his soul.
Sempronius
- Be sure to press upon him every motive.
- Juba’s surrender, since his father’s death,
- Would give up Afric into Caesar’s hands,
- And make him lord of half the burning zone.
Syphax- But is it true, Sempronius, that your senate
- Is called together? Gods! thou must be cautious!
- Cato has piercing eyes, and will discern
- Our frauds, unless they’re covered thick with art.
Sempronius
- Let me alone, good Syphax, I’ll conceal
- My thoughts in passion (’tis the surest way);
- I’ll bellow out for Rome and for my country,
- And mouth at Caesar till I shake the senate.
- Your cold hypocrisy’s a stale device,
- A worn-out trick: wouldst thou be thought in earnest?
- Clothe thy feigned zeal in rage, in fire, in fury!
Syphax- In troth, thou ’rt able to instruct grey-hairs,
- And teach the wily African deceit!
Sempronius
- Once more, be sure to try thy skill on Juba.
- Meanwhile I’ll hasten to my Roman soldiers,
- Inflame the mutiny, and underhand
- Blow up their discontents, till they break out
- Unlooked for, and discharge themselves on Cato.
- Remember, Syphax, we must work in haste:
- Oh think what anxious moments pass between
- The birth of plots and their last fatal periods.
- Oh! ’tis a dreadful interval of time,
- Filled up with horror all, and big with death!
- Destruction hangs on every word we speak,
- On every thought, till the concluding stroke
- Determines all, and closes our design. [Exit.]
Syphax, solus
- I’ll try if yet I can reduce to reason
- This head-strong youth, and make him spurn at Cato.
- The time is short, Caesar comes rushing on us—
- But hold! young Juba sees me, and approaches.
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