[He draws the dagger and seizes her by the hand.]
AURELIA. Keep guard, oh gracious gods, o'er him and me!
CATILINE. Quick, close your eyes; close them, I say;—in them I see the starlight and the morning sky—. Now shall I quench the heavenly star of dawn!
[The thunder rolls again.]
CATILINE. Your heart; your blood! Now speak the gods of life Their last farewell to you and Catiline!
[He lifts the dagger toward her bosom; she escapes into the tent; he pursues her.]
FURIA. [Listens.] She stretches out her hand imploringly. She pleads with him for life. He hears her not. He strikes her down! She reels in her own blood!
[CATILINE comes slowly out of the tent with the dagger in his hand.]
CATILINE. Now am I free. Soon I shall cease to be. Now sinks my soul in vague oblivion. My eyes are growing dim, my hearing faint, As if through rushing waters. Ah, do you know What I have slain with this my little dagger? Not her alone,—but all the hearts on earth,— All living things, all things that grow and bloom;— The starlight have I dimmed, the crescent moon, The flaming sun. Ah, see,—it fails to rise; 'Twill never rise again; the sun is dead. Now is the whole wide realm of earth transformed Into a huge and clammy sepulchre, Its vault of leaden grey;—beneath this vault Stand you and I, bereft of light and darkness, Of death and life,—two restless exiled shadows.
FURIA. Now stand we, Catiline, before our goal!