Intrigue and craft are here the keys to power.

OLLOVICO. Woe to us, brethren, woe! He spies upon us.

AMBIORIX. [To CATILINE.]
Is such the practice of the high-born Roman?
A woman's trick we hold it in our nation.

CATILINE. [comes down on the road.]
Ah, have no fear;--spying is not my business;
By chance it was I heard your conversation.--
Come you from Allobrogia far away?
Justice you think to find in Rome? Ah, never!
Turn home again! Here tyranny holds sway,
And rank injustice lords it more than ever.
Republic to be sure it is in name;
And yet all men are slaves who cringe and cower,
Vassals involved in debt, who must acclaim
A venal senate--ruled by greed and power.
Gone is the social consciousness of old,
The magnanimity of former ages;--
Security and life are favors sold,
Which must be bargained for with hire and wages.
Not righteousness, but power here holds sway;
The noble man is lost among the gilded--

AMBIORIX. But say,--who then are you to tear away
The pillars of the hope on which we builded?

CATILINE. A man who burns in freedom's holy zeal;