Act 5 — ACT V., SCENE I.
Reading edition
Cæsar, Androgeus, Mandubratius, &c. Soldiers.
Cæs. Thus gain we ground; yet still our foes will fight, Whether they win or lose. With bloody drops Our path is printed: Thames his maiden cheeks Blush with vermillion. Nations crave our league On every side; yet still Cassibelane braves us, Nor will submit. And. Not far hence Verulam lies, his chiefest fort: By nature guarded round with woods and fens, By art enclosed with a ditch and rampier: From hence we must dislodge the boar. Man. There are but two ways to assail this town, Both which I know. Your parted army must Break through both at once, and so distract His doubtful rescues.
Enter Volusenus, with Hulacus prisoner.
Hul. Draw, slaves unwilling; I dare meet my death, And lead my leader. Vol. You'll repent anon. Hul. If I do ill; but not for suffering ill. Vol. Your stoical apathy will relent, I know. This priest I caught within a shady grove, Devoutly kneeling at a broad oak's foot. Now he awaits your doom. Cæs. What God adore you? Hul. Him whom all should serve. Cæs. What's the moon? Hul. Night's sun. Cæs. What's night? Hul. A foil to glorify the day. Cæs. What most compendious way to happiness? Hul. To die in a good cause. Cæs. What is a man? Hul. An hermaphrodite of soul and body. Cæs. How differ they in nature? Hul. The body hath in weight, the soul in length. Cæs. One question more: What dangers shall I pass? Hul. Many by land and sea, as steps to glory. Throw Palatine on Æsquiline, on both Heap Aventine, to raise one pyramid for a Chair of estate, where thy advanced head, Among those heroes pictur'd in the stars, Orion, Perseus, Hercules, may consult With Jove himself: but shun the senate-house. March round about the Caspian sea; search out, 'Mong cedars tall, th' Arabian phœnix' nest; Run counter to old Nile, till thou discover His sacred head wrapt up in cloudy mountains; And, rather than work fail, turn Hellespont Out of his channel; dig that isthmus down, Which ties great Afric—shun the senate-house. Be Saturn, and so thou shalt not be Tarquin. A Brutus strong Repays in fine The brutish wrong To Brutus' line. Cæs. We'll talk at leisure more. [Exeunt.