"For Julia's love thou didst betray Catiline! betray us! In Julia's infamy thou shalt be punished!"
"Anything! anything! anything but this—strike here, strike here with that sica, thou didst unsheath but now. Slay me, by inches if thou wilt—but spare her, oh! by your mother's memory! oh! by your sister's honor! spare her, and I will—"
"Lead on! To your consul!" exclaimed Lentulus waving his hand proudly to the door. "I can but die—the Gods be thanked for it! Thy life is bitterer than many deaths already! I say, coward and fool, lead on! Where is thy boasted pride? In the dust! at my feet! I trample, I spit on it! once again to your consul!"
"And thou couldst save her!"
"By a word! At a hint from me Fulvius will set her free."
"But that word? but that hint?—"
"My lips shall never utter—my hand indite; unless—"
"Unless? unless what?—speak! speak, Lentulus. By the Gods! By your head! By your life! speak."
"Place me beyond the walls of Rome, with twenty of my freedmen, armed and mounted—it can be done on the instant; they are here; they are ready!—and Julia shall be in thy bosom ere to-morrow's sun shall sink behind the hills of Latium!"
"A Traitor to my country! Lentulus, never!"