Book 9
' " And mindful of his rights, mine heir shall rouse
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' " All nations to the conflict. One alone,
' " (Should he contend for freedom) may ye serve;
' " Cato, none else! " Thus have I kept the faith;
' Thy plot Meaning that her husband gave her this commission in order to prevent her from committing suicide. prevailed upon me, and I lived
'Thy mandate to discharge. Now through the void
· Of space, and shades of Hell, if such there be,
' I follow; yet how distant be my doom
' I know not: first my spirit must endure
' The punishment of life, which saw thine end
' And could survive it; sighs shall break my heart,
"Tears shall dissolve it: sword nor noose I need
Nor headlong plunge. 'Twere shameful since thy death,
' Were aught but grief required to cause my own.'Lord Clarendon quotes this passage in regard to the death of Lord Falkland at the battle of Newbury: 'If there were no other brand upon this odious and accursed civil war than that single loss, it must be most infamous and execrable to all posterity. Turpe mori post te solo non posse dolore.'
She seeks the cabin, veiled, in funeral garb,
In tears to find her solace, and to love
Grief in her husband's room; no tempest howl
Among the shrouds, no angered waves aroused
Her soul, nor cry of sailors in dismay:
For life their prayers; not hers: and prone she lies
Resigned to death and welcoming the storm.
First reached they Cyprus on the foamy brine;
Then as the eastern breeze more gently held
The favouring deep, they touched the Libyan shore
Where stood the camp of Cato. Sad as one
Who deep in fear presages ills to come,
Cnaeus beheld his brother and his band
Of patriot comrades. Swift into the wave
He leaped and cried, ' Where, brother, is our sire?
' Still stands our country mistress of the world,
' Or are we fallen, Rome with Magnus' death
' Rapt to the shades? ' Thus he: but Sextus said
' Oh happy thou who by report alone
' Hear'st of the deed that chanced on yonder shore!
'These eyes that saw, my brother, share the guilt.
' Not Caesar wrought his death, nor any chief
' Worthy to cause the ruin of our sire.
' He fell by order of that shameful king
' Who rules o'er Nilus; trusting to the gods
' Who shield the guest, and to his princely boon
