SCENE III.
A Grove near the Walls of Syracuse.
Enter Marullo and Poliphron. A Table set out with Wine, &c.
Mar. 'Twill take, I warrant thee.
Poliph. You may do your pleasure;
But, in my judgment, better to make use of
The present opportunity.
Mar. No more.
Poliph. I am silenced.
Mar. More wine; prithee drink hard, friend,
And when we're hot, whatever I propound,
Enter Cimbrio, Gracculo, and other Slaves.
Second with vehemence.—Men of your words, all welcome!
Slaves use no ceremony; sit down; here's a health.
Poliph. Let it run round; fill every man his glass.
Grac. We look for no waiters;—this is wine!
Mar. The better,
Strong, lusty wine: drink deep; this juice will make us
As free as our lords. [Drinks.
Grac. But if they find we taste it,
We are condemn'd to the quarry during life,
Without hope of redemption.
Mar. Pish! for that
We'll talk anon: another rouse[112]! we lose time;
[Drinks.
When our low blood's wound up a little higher,
I'll offer my design; nay, we are cold yet;
These glasses contain nothing:—do me right,
[Takes the bottle.
As e'er you hope for liberty. 'Tis done bravely:
How do you feel yourselves now?
Cimb. I begin
To have strange conundrums in my head.
Grac. And I
To loathe base water. I would be hang'd in peace now
For one month of such holidays.
Mar. An age, boys,
And yet defy the whip; if you are men,
Or dare believe you have souls.
Cimb. We are no brokers.
Mar. Our lords are no gods—
Grac. They are devils to us, I am sure.
Mar. But subject to
Cold, hunger, and diseases.
Grac. In abundance.
Mar. Equal Nature fashion'd us
All in one mould. The bear serves not the bear,
Nor the wolf the wolf; 'twas odds of strength in tyrants
That pluck'd the first link from the golden chain
With which that Thing of Things[113] bound in the world.
Why then, since we are taught, by their examples,
To love our liberty, if not command,
Should the strong serve the weak, the fair, deform'd ones?
Or such as know the cause of things pay tribute
To ignorant fools? All's but the outward gloss,
And politic form, that does distinguish us.—
Cimbrio, thou art a strong man; if, in place
Of carrying burthens, thou hadst been train'd up
In martial discipline, thou might'st have proved
A general, fit to lead and fight for Sicily,
As fortunate as Timoleon.
Cimb. A little fighting
Will serve a general's turn.
Mar. Thou, Gracculo,
Hast fluency of language, quick conceit;
And, I think, cover'd with a senator's robe,
Formally set on the bench, thou wouldst appear
As brave a senator.
Grac. Would I had lands,
Or money to buy a place! and if I did not
Sleep on the bench with the drowsiest of them,
Play with my chain, look on my watch, and wear
A state beard, with my barber's help, rank with them
In their most choice peculiar gifts, degrade me,
And put me to drink water again, which, now
I have tasted wine, were poison!
Mar. 'Tis spoke nobly,
And like a gownman: none of these, I think too,
But would prove good burghers.
Grac. Hum! the fools are modest;
I know their insides: here's an ill-faced fellow,
(But that will not be seen in a dark shop;)
If he did not in a month learn to outswear,
In the selling of his wares, the cunning'st tradesman
In Syracuse, I have no skill. Here's another;
Observe but what a cozening look he has!—
Hold up thy head, man! If, for drawing gallants
Into mortgages for commodities[114], cheating heirs
With your new counterfeit gold thread, and gumm'd velvets,
He does not transcend all that went before him,
Call in his patent.
Mar. Is 't not pity, then,
Men of such eminent virtues should be slaves?
Cimb. Our fortune.
Mar. 'Tis your folly: daring men
Command and make their fates. Say, at this instant,
I mark'd you out a way to liberty;
Possess'd you of those blessings our proud lords
So long have surfeited in; and, what is sweetest,
Arm you with power, by strong hand to revenge
Your stripes, your unregarded toil, the pride,
The insolence, of such as tread upon
Your patient sufferings; fill your famish'd mouths
With the fat and plenty of the land; redeem you
From the dark vale of servitude, and seat you
Upon a hill of happiness; what would you do
To purchase this, and more?
Grac. Do! any thing:
To burn a church or two, and dance by the light on 't,
Were but a May-game.
Poliph. I have a father living;
But if the cutting of his throat could work this,
He should excuse me.
Cimb. 'Slight! I would cut mine own,
Rather than miss it; so I might but have
A taste on 't ere I die.
Mar. Be resolute men;
You shall run no such hazard, nor groan under
The burden of such crying sins.
Poliph. Do not torment us
With expectation.
Mar. Thus, then:—Our proud masters,
And all the able freemen of the city,
Are gone unto the wars——
Poliph. Observe but that.
Mar. Old men, and such as can make no resistance,
Are only left at home——
Grac. And the proud young fool,
My master—if this take, I'll hamper him.
Mar. Their arsenal, their treasure, 's in our power,
If we have hearts to seize them. If our lords fall
In the present action, the whole country's ours:
Say they return victorious, we have means
To keep the town against them; at the worst,
To make our own conditions. If you dare break up
Their iron chests, banquet in their rich halls,
And carve yourselves of all delights and pleasures
You have been barr'd from, with one voice cry with me,
Liberty! liberty!
All. Liberty! liberty!
Mar. Go, then, and take possession: use all freedom;
But shed no blood. [Exeunt Slaves.]—So, this is well begun;
But not to be commended till 't be done. [Exit.