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• The Works of Voltaire: the Dramatic Works of Voltaire Vol. Viii— Part I
• MÉrope
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• A Letter to the Marquis Scipio Maffei, Author of the Italian Mérope, and Many Other Celebrated Performances.
• A Letter From M. De La Lindelle to M. De Voltaire.
• The Answer of M. De Voltaire to M. De La Lindelle.
• Act I.
• Act II.
• Act III.
• Act IV.
• Act V.
• Olympia
• Act I.
• Act II.
• Act III.
• Act IV.
• Act V.
• The Orphan of China
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• To the Most Noble Duke of Richelieu, Marshal and Peer of France, First Gentleman of the Chamber to His Majesty, Governor of Languedoc, and Member of the Academy of Sciences.
• Act I.
• Act II.
• Act III.
• Act IV.
• Act V.
• Brutus
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• Act I.
• Act II.
• Act III.
• Act IV.
• Act V.
• The Dramatic Works of Voltaire Vol. Viii— Part Ii
• Mahomet.
• To His Majesty the King of Prussia.
• A Letter From M. De Voltaire to Pope Benedict XIV.
• The Answer of Pope Benedict XIV. To M. De Voltaire. Benedictus P. P. Dilecto Filio Salutem & Apostolicam Benedictionem.
• A Letter of Thanks From M. De Voltaire to the Pope.
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• Act I.
• Act Ii
• Act III.
• Act IV.
• Act V.
• Amelia
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• Act I.
• Act II.
• Act III.
• Act IV.
• Act V.
• Œdipus
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• Act I.
• Act II.
• Act III.
• Act IV.
• Act V.
• Mariamne
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• Act I.
• Act II.
• Act III.
• Act IV.
• Act V.
• Socrates
• Dramatis PersonÆ.
• Act I.
• Act II.
• Act III.

ACT IV.

SCENE I.

titus, aruns, messala.

titus.

• Urge me no more: I’ve heard too much already:
• Shame and despair surround me, but begone,
• I am resolved: go, leave me to my sorrows,
• And to my virtue: reason pleads in vain,
• But Tullia’s tears are eloquent indeed:
• One look from her will more unman my soul
• Than all your tyrant’s threats: but never more
• Will I behold her; let her go: O heaven!

aruns.

• I stayed but to oblige you, sir, beyond
• The time which you so earnestly requested,
• And which we scarce could gain.

titus.

• Did I request it?

aruns.

• You did, my lord, and I in secret hoped
• A fairer fate would crown your loves; but now
• ’Tis past; we must not think on’t.

titus.

• Cruel Aruns!
• Thou hast beheld my shame, and my disgrace,
• Thou hast seen Titus for a moment doubtful:
• Thou artful witness of my folly, hence!
• And tell thy royal masters all my weakness;
• Tell the proud tyrants, that their conqueror,
• The son of Brutus, wept before thy face;
• But tell them too, that, spite of all my tears,
• Spite of thy eloquence, and Tullia’s charms,
• I yet am free, a conqueror o’er myself:
• That, still a Roman, I will never yield
• To Tarquin’s blood, but swear eternal war
• Against the race of her whom I adore.

aruns.

• Titus, I pity and excuse thy grief;
• And, far from wishing to oppress thy heart
• With added sorrows, mix my sighs with thine;
• Only remember, thou hast killed thy Tullia
• Farewell, my lord.

messala.

• O heaven!

SCENE II.

titus, messala.

titus.

• She must not go:
• On peril of my life I’ll keep her here.

messala.

• You would not—

titus.

• No: I’ll not betray my country:
• Rome may divide her from me, but she never
• Can disunite our fate; I live, and breathe
• For Tullia only, and for her will die.
• Messala, haste, have pity on my woes,
• Gather our troops, assemble all our friends.
• Spite of the senate I will stop her; say
• She must remain a hostage here at Rome;
• I’ll do it, Messala.

messala.

• To what desperate means
• Doth passion urge you? What will it avail
• To make this fond avowal of your love?

titus.

• Go to the senate, and appeal to them,
• Try if thou canst not soften the proud hearts
• Of these imperious kings. Messala, tell them
• The interest of Brutus, of the state—
• Alas! I rave, ’tis idle, and all in vain.

messala.

• I see you’re hurt, my lord, and I will serve you.
• I go—

titus.

• I’ll see her: speak to her, Messala,
• She passes by this way, and I will take
• My last farewell of her.

messala.

• You shall.

titus.

• ’Tis she
• Now I am lost indeed.

SCENE III.

titus, messala, tullia, algina.

algina.

• Madam, they wait.

tullia.

• Pity my hard, my cruel fate, Algina;
• This base ungrateful man still wounds my heart;
• And Brutus, like a vengeful god, appears
• To torture us: love, fear and grief, at once
• Distract my soul: let us begone.

titus.

• O no!
• Stay, Tullia, deign at least—

tullia.

• Barbarian, hence!
• Thinkest thou with soothing words—

titus.

• Alas! my Tullia,
• I only know in this disastrous hour
• What duty bids me do, not what I would:
• Reason no longer holds her empire here,
• For thou hast torn her from me, and usurpest
• The power supreme o’er this distracted mind:
• Reign, tyrant, stretch thy cruel power; command
• Thy vassal; bid thy Titus rush on guilt;
• Dictate his crimes, and make him wretched; No;
• Sooner than Titus shall betray his country,
• Give up his friends, his fellow citizens,
• Those whom his valor saved to fire and slaughter,
• Sooner than leave his father to the sword
• Of Tarquin, know, proud woman—

tullia.

• Shield me, heaven!
• Thou pleadest the cause of nature, and her voice
• Is dear to me as to thyself: thou, Titus,
• Taughtest me long since to tremble for a father;
• Brutus is mine; our blood united flows:
• Canst thou require a fairer pledge than love
• And truth have given thee: if I stay with thee,
• I am his daughter, and his hostage here.
• Canst thou yet doubt? thinkest thou in secret Brutus
• Would not rejoice to see thee on a throne?
• He hath not placed indeed a diadem
• On his own brows, but is he not a king
• Beneath another name? and one year’s reign
• Perhaps may bring—but these are fruitless reasons.
• If thou no longer lovest me—one word more,
• Farewell: I leave, and I adore thee, Titus:
• Thou weepest, thou tremblest; yet a little time
• Is left for thee. Speak, tell me, cruel man,
• What more canst thou desire?

titus.

• Thy hatred; that
• Alone remains to make me truly wretched.

tullia.

• It is too much to bear thy causeless plaints;
• To hear thee talk of fancied injuries,
• With idle dreams of visionary ties:
• Take back thy love, take back thy faithless vows,
• Worse than thy base refusal: I despise them.
• Think not I mean to search in Italy
• The fatal grandeur which I sacrificed
• To Titus’ love, and in another’s arms
• Lament the weakness which I felt for thee;
• My fate’s determined: learn, proud Roman, thou
• Whose savage virtue rises but to oppress
• A helpless woman, coward, when I ask
• Thy aid, and only valiant to destroy me,
• Fickle and wavering in thy faith, of me
• Learn to fulfill thy vows; thou shalt behold
• A Woman, in thy eyes however contemned,
• However despised, unshaken in her purpose,
• And by her firmness see how much she loved thee.
• Titus, beneath these walls, the reverend seat
• Of my great ancestors, which thou defendest
• Against their rightful lord; this fatal spot
• Where thou hast dared to insult and to betray me;
• Where first thy faithless vows deceived me; there,
• Even there, by all the gods who store up vengeance
• For perjured men, I swear to thee, O Titus,
• This arm, more just than thine, and more resolved,
• Shall punish soon my fond credulity,
• And wash out all my injuries in my blood:
• I go—

titus.

• No, Tullia, hear and then condemn me;
• You shall be satisfied; I fly to please you,
• Yet shudder at it: I am still more wretched,
• Because my guilty soul has no excuse,
• No poor delusion left. I have not even
• The joy of self-deceit to soothe my sorrows:
• No, thou hast conquered, not betrayed me, Tullia;
• I loathe the fatal passion which I feel,
• And rush on vice, yet know and honor virtue.
• Hate me, avoid me, leave a guilty wretch
• Who dies for love, yet hates himself for loving;
• Nor fears to mix his future fate with thine,
• Midst crimes, and horrors, perjury, and death.

tullia.

• You know too well your influence o’er my heart;
• Mock my fond passion, and insult my love;
• Yes, Titus, ’tis for thee alone I live,
• For thee would die: yet, spite of all my love,
• And all my weakness, death were far more welcome
• Than the reluctant hand of cruel Titus,
• Who is ashamed to serve his royal master,
• And blushes to accept a kingdom from me.
• The dreadful hour of separation comes,
• Think on it, Titus, and remember well
• That Tullia loves, and offers thee a throne.
• The ambassador expects me; fare thee well,
• Deliberate and determine: an hour hence
• Again thou shalt behold me with my father:
• When I return to these detested walls
• Know, Titus, I’ll return a queen, or perish.

titus.

• Thou shalt not die: I go—

tullia.

• Stop, Titus, stop;
• If thou shouldst follow me, thy life’s in danger,
• Thou’lt be suspected; therefore stay: farewell;
• Resolve to be my murderer, or my husband.

SCENE IV.

titus.

• [Alone.
• O Tullia, thou hast conquered, Rome’s enslaved:
• Return to rule o’er her, and o’er my life,
• Devoted to thee: haste, I fly to crown thee,
• Or perish in the attempt: the worst of crimes
• Were to abandon thee. Now, where’s Messala?
• My headstrong passion hath at length worn out
• His patient friendship; mistress, Romans, friends,
• All in one fatal day, hath Titus lost.

SCENE V.

titus, messala.

titus.

• O my Messala, help me in my love,
• And my revenge: away; haste, follow me.

messala.

• Command, and I obey: my troops are ready
• At the Quirinal mount to give us up
• The gates, and all my gallant friends have sworn
• To acknowledge Titus as the rightful heir
• Of Tarquin: lose no time; propitious night
• Already offers her kind shade to veil
• Our great design.

titus.

• The hour approaches: Tullia
• Will count each minute: Tarquin, after all,
• Had my first oaths: away, the die is cast.
• [The lower part of the stage opens and discovers Brutus.
• What do I see; my father!

SCENE VI.

brutus, titus, messala, lictors.

brutus.

• Titus, haste,
• Rome is in danger; thou art all our hope:
• Secret instructions have been given the senate
• That Rome will be attacked at dead of night,
• And I have gained for my beloved Titus
• The first command, in this extremity
• Of public danger. Arm thyself, my son,
• And fly, a second time, to save thy country;
• Hazard thy life once more in the great cause
• Of liberty; or victory or death
• Must crown thy days, and I shall envy thee.

titus.

• O heaven!

brutus.

• My son!

titus.

• To other hands commit
• The senate’s favors, and the fate of Rome.

messala.

• What strange disorder has possessed his soul!

brutus.

• Dost thou refuse the proffered glory?

titus.

• I!
• Shall I, my lord—

brutus.

• Ha! doth thy heart still burn
• With proud resentment of thy fancied wrongs?
• Is this a time, my son, for fond caprice?
• Can he who saved his country be unhappy?
• Immortal honor! will not that suffice
• Without the consulship? The laws, thou knowest,
• Refused it, Titus, to thy youth alone,
• Not to thy merit: think no more of that:
• Go; I have placed thee in the post of honor;
• Let tyrants only feel thy indignation;
• Give Rome thy life; ask nothing in return,
• But be a hero; be yet more, my son,
• A Roman: I am hastening to the end
• Of my short journey; thy victorious hands
• Must close my eyes; supported by thy virtues,
• My name shall never die; I shall revive
• And live once more in Titus: but perhaps
• It is decreed that I must follow thee;
• Old age is weak; but I will see thee conquer,
• Or perish with thee, Rome’s avenger still,
• Free, and without a master.

titus.

• O Messala!

SCENE VII.

brutus, valerius, titus, messala.

valerius.

• My lord, let all retire.

brutus.

• [To Titus.
• Run, fly, my son—

valerius.

• Rome is betrayed.

brutus.

• What do I hear?

valerius.

• There’s treason;
• We’re sold, my lord, the author’s yet unknown;
• But Tarquin’s name is echoed through our streets,
• And worthless Romans talk of yielding to him.

brutus.

• Ha! would the citizens of Rome be slaves!

valerius.

• Yes: the perfidious traitors fled from me;
• I’ve sent in quest of them: much I suspect
• Menas and Lælius, the base partisans
• Of tyranny and kings, the secret foes
• Of Rome, and ever glad to disunite
• The senate and the people: if I err not,
• Protected by Messala, who himself,
• But for his friendship with the noble Titus,
• I almost think, has joined them.

brutus.

• We’ll observe
• Their steps with caution; more cannot be done:
• The liberty and laws which we defend
• Forbid that rigor which I fear is needful;
• But to detain a Roman on suspicions
• Were to resemble those usurping tyrants
• Whom we would punish: let us to the people,
• Awake the fearful, give the virtuous praise,
• Astonish the perfidious: let the fathers
• Of Rome and liberty revive the warmth
• Of Roman courage: who will not be bold
• When we appear? O rather give us death,
• Ye gods! than slavery: let the senate follow.

SCENE VIII.

brutus, valerius, proculus.

proculus.

• A slave, my lord, desires a private audience.

brutus.

• At this late hour of night!

proculus.

• He brings you news,
• He says, of highest import.

brutus.

• Ha! perhaps
• Rome’s safety may depend on it: away.
• [To Proculus.
• A moment’s loss might hazard all—go thou
• And seek my son: let the Quirinal gate
• Be his first care: and may the world confess,
• When they behold his glorious deeds, the race
• Of Brutus was decreed to conquer kings.

End of the Fourth Act.