An enemy of all unrighteous power;
Friend of the helpless trodden under heel,--
Eager to hurl the mighty from their tower.

AMBIORIX. The noble race of Rome--? Ah, Roman, speak--
Since we are strangers here you would deceive us?
Is Rome no more the guardian of the weak,
The dread of tyrants,--ready to relieve us?

CATILINE. [Points towards the city and speaks.]
Behold the mighty Capitol that towers
On yonder heights in haughty majesty.
See, in the glow of evening how it lowers,
Tinged with the last rays of the western sky.--
So too Rome's evening glow is fast declining,
Her freedom now is thraldom, dark as night.--
Yet in her sky a sun will soon be shining,
Before which darkness quick will take its flight.

[He goes.]

* * * * *

[A colonnade in Rome.]

[LENTULUS, STATILIUS, COEPARIUS, and CETHEGUS enter,
in eager conversation.]

COEPARIUS. Yes, you are right; things go from bad to worse;
And what the end will be I do not know.