ALL (EXCEPT LENTULUS). Yes, Catiline,—we follow if you lead!
STATILIUS. They have deceived us—
GABINIUS. —and belied your name!
COEPARIUS. They said you did intend to leave the city And wash your hands completely of our cause.
CATILINE. Yes, so I did. Yet now no more; henceforth Only for this great purpose do I live.
LENTULUS. What is this mighty purpose you proclaim?
CATILINE. My purpose here is higher than you think— Perhaps than any thinks. Ah, hear me, friends! First will I win to us each citizen Who prizes liberty and values most The public honor and his country's weal. The spirit of ancient Rome is yet alive;— The last faint spark is not yet wholly dead. Now into brilliant flames it shall be fanned, More glorious than ever flames before! Alas, too long the stifling gloom of thraldom, Dark as the night, lay blanketed on Rome. Behold,—this realm—though proud and powerful It seems—totters upon the edge of doom. Therefore the stoutest hand must seize the helm. Rome must be cleansed,—cleansed to the very roots; The sluggish we must waken from their slumber,— And crush to earth the power of these wretches Who sow their poison in the mind and stifle The slightest promise of a better life. Look you,—'tis civic freedom I would further,— The civic spirit that in former times Was regnant here. Friends, I shall conjure back The golden age, when Romans gladly gave Their lives to guard the honor of the nation, And all their riches for the public weal!
LENTULUS. Ah, Catiline, you rave! Nothing of this Had we in mind.
GABINIUS. What will it profit us To conjure up again those ancient days With all their dull simplicity?
SOME. No, no! Might we demand—