I never wish'd a Wrong to you before.

BRUTUS.

How have I liv'd, and which of all my Actions
Has giv'n the least occafion ev'n for Malice?
I am, you know, not like the rest of Husbands;
My Promise and my Vows are Ties to me,
As ftrong as Fame and Virtue are to you:
I will not mention now the Bands of Love,
In which I thought we were for ever fix'd.
What these unjust Suspicions may produce
Either in you or me, alas, I know not.
Therefore be calm and kind, as thou art us'd,
And try fuch rough ungentle ways no more.
My Mind, you know, hardens against Compulfions
But eafily bends under gentle Usage.

PORTIA.

O let me now try that soft way again.

Thus low, thus tenderly, I beg to know

[Falls on his Neck.

That which, in troubling you, ev'n tortures me.
Shunn'd as I am, I have a fhare in all
Your Refolutions, fpite of your Unkindness.
You cannot fhut me out from tender Cares

For every Thought of yours: that zealous part
The meaneft Slave may have in mighty CÆSAR,
And yet give no Offence.

BRU

BRUTUS.

The mighty Cæsar !

I am that meaneft Slave, if he remain

[Apart.

The mighty CÆSAR. Kneel not, gentle PORTIA.

PORTIA.

I should not need, if you were gentle BRUTUS. [Weeps.

BRUTUS.

O my foft Heart! my Resolution's arm'd
Against all Dangers, nay, against my Friend;
Yet firm to all things else, it yields to Love;

[Takes her in his Arms.

It yields to PORTIA. You are now too charming:
For pity hide your Kindness, or your Beauty;
There's no refifting both.

PORTIA.

'Tis Kindness only

Which makes me wish I had that Beauty too.

But are you, then, not angry?

BRUTUS.

What, with thee?

The most obdurate Creature, ev'n a Tyrant,
In all his height of Anger, and of Pride,
Could not be proof against one Tear of thine.

[Kiffes her.

O PORTIA, be not you that Tyrant then;

For well you know your Power, and may be mine.

PORTIA.

But tell me all.

BRUTUS.

Then, know that they who came to me this Night-
But why should I go on to thee, my PORTIA,
In any Language but in that of Love?

'Tis to profane thy Ear, to entertain it
With any harsher found; fpare then thy felf.

PORTIA.

But you were juft about to let me know.

BRUTUS.

Know what? know things that will but trouble thee? Believe me, PORTIA, 'tis dangerous

For thee to tread in thefe obfcurer Paths;

Serpents lie hidden there, whofe confcious Sting

Will rob thee of thy Reft.

Oh, prefs not thus to bear a part in that,

Which with its weight will crush thy tender Mind,

PORTIA.

I am a Woman, but am CATO's Daughter:
My Heart is tender, but to BRUTUS only.

Think you 'tis nothing to have fuch a Father,

BRUTUS.

Well then, hear it all:

PORTIA.

Hold, dearest BRUTUS!

I dare not hear it yet; I'll try this first.

[She ftabs her felf in the Arm

BRUTUS.

Hold, what d'ye mean?

PORTIA.

To try my Fortitude.

For tho' I durft have trusted my firm Mind

With any thing which but concern'd my felf;
Where you're engag'd, it was too great a venture:
I doubt my firmest Thoughts, while you suspect them.

BRUTUS.

Oh, Wonder of thy Sex!

Gods! make me worthy of this matchless Woman ! Hafte, hafte, and let thy Wound be quickly drefs'd. Within I'll tell thee all,

And in thy Bofom pour my very Soul.

Enter LUCIUS.

LUCIUS.

[Exit PORTIA.

A Meffenger, my Lord, from mighty CÆSAR

Is

Is fent to fummon you, and CAIUS CASSIUS,
About fome weighty matter prefently.

BRUTUS.

[Exit LUCIUS.

From CÆSAR and my Brother Cassius too!
An early fummons this! We are betray'd,
Loft and undone, yet lefs in our own ruin,
Than in the letting him escape. Oh Rome,
Thou haft in vain depended on thy BRUTUS!
But I will go, left my delaying now
Should raise Sufpicion; and if all's discover'd,
My Life is useless, and not worth my Care.

[Exeunt.

Between the fecond and third Act, thefe Verfes are to be fung by a Perfon reprefenting the Genius of

Rome.

L

Second CHORUS.

O, to prevent this mighty Empire's Doom,

From bright unknown Abodes of Bliss I come,

The Awful Genius of Majeftick Rome.

Great is her Danger: but I will engage
Some few, the Mafter-Souls of all this Age,
To do an Act of juft Heroic Rage.