CATILINE. No, one step more—before I reach my goal. Relieve me of my burden! Do you not see, I bend beneath the corpse of Catiline? A dagger through the corpse of Catiline!
[He shows her the dagger.]
CATILINE. Come, Furia, set me free! Come, take this dagger;— On it the star of morning I impaled;— Take it—and plunge it straightway through the corpse; Then it will loose its hold, and I am free.
FURIA. [Takes the dagger.] Your will be done, whom I have loved in hate! Shake off your dust and come with me to rest.
[She buries the dagger deep in his heart; he sinks down at the foot of the tree.]
CATILINE. [After a moment comes to consciousness again, passes his hand across his forehead, and speaks faintly.] Now, mysterious voice, your prophecy I understand! I shall perish by my own, yet by a stranger's hand. Nemesis has wrought her end. Shroud me, gloom of night! Raise your billows, murky Styx, roll on in all your might! Ferry me across in safety; speed the vessel on Toward the silent prince's realm, the land of shadows wan. Two roads there are running yonder; I shall journey dumb Toward the left—
AURELIA. [From the tent, pale and faltering, her bosom bloody.] —no, toward the right! Oh, toward Elysium!
CATILINE. [Startled.] How this bright and lurid picture fills my soul with dread! She herself it is! Aurelia, speak,—are you not dead?
AURELIA. [Kneels before him.] No, I live that I may still your agonizing cry,— Live that I may lean my bosom on your breast and die.
CATILINE. Oh, you live!