AFER.
Patience, Silius.
SILIUS.
Tell thy mule of patience;
I am a Roman. What are my crimes? proclaim them.
Am I too rich, too honest for the times?
Have I or treasure, jewels, land, or houses
That some informer gapes for? is my strength
Too much to be admitted, or my knowledge?
These now are crimes.
AFER.
Nay, Silius, if the name
Of crime so touch thee, with what impotence
Wilt thou endure the matter to be search’d?
SILIUS.
I tell thee, Afer, with more scorn than fear:
Employ your mercenary tongue and art.
Where’s my accuser?
VARRO.
Here.
ARRUNTIUS.
Varro, the consul!
Is he thrust in? [Aside.]
VARRO.
’Tis I accuse thee, Silius.
Against the majesty of Rome, and Cæsar,
I do pronounce thee here a guilty cause,
First of beginning and occasioning,
Next, drawing out the war in Gallia,
For which thou late triumph’st; dissembling long
That Sacrovir to be an enemy,
Only to make thy entertainment more.
Whilst thou, and thy wife Sosia, poll’d the province:
Wherein, with sordid, base desire of gain,
Thou hast discredited thy actions’ worth,
And been a traitor to the state.
SILIUS.
Thou liest.
ARRUNTIUS.
I thank thee, Silius, speak so still and often.
VARRO.
If I not prove it, Cæsar, but unjustly
Have call’d him into trial; here I bind
Myself to suffer, what I claim against him;
And yield to have what I have spoke, confirm’d
By judgment of the court, and all good men.