LEPIDUS. We charge you, consuls, now dissolve the court;
The gods condemn this brawl and civil jars.
OCTAVIUS. We will submit our honours to their wills:
You, ancient citizens, come follow me.
[Exit OCTAVIUS; with him ANTHONY and LEPIDUS.
CINNA. High Jove himself hath done too much for thee,
Else should this blade abate thy royalty.
Well, young Italian citizens, take heart,
He is at hand that will maintain your right;
That, entering in these fatal gates of Rome,
Shall make them tremble that disturb you now.
You of Preneste and of Formiae,
With other neighbouring cities in Campania,
Prepare to entertain and succour Marius.
YOUNG CITIZEN. For him we live, for him we mean to die.
[Exeunt.
Enter OLD MARIUS with his KEEPER and two SOLDIERS.
MARIUS. Have these Minturnians, then, so cruelly
Presum'd so great injustice 'gainst their friends?
JAILER. Ay, Marius, all our nobles have decreed
To send thy head a present unto Rome.
MARIUS. A Tantal's present it will prove, my friend,
Which with a little smarting stress will end
Old Marius' life, when Rome itself at last
Shall rue my loss, and then revenge my death.
But tell me, jailer, could'st thou be content,
In being Marius, for to brook this wrong.