A chosen vestal from her childhood days.--
Then came a coward to our distant valley;--
He saw the fair, young priestess of the future--

CATILINE. [Surprised.] A priestess? Tell me--! Speak--!

FURIA. He ravished her.
She sought a grave beneath the Tiber's stream.

CATILINE. [Uneasy.] You know him?

FURIA. I have never seen the man.
When first I heard the tidings, all was past.
His name is all I know.

CATILINE. Then speak it out!

FURIA. Now is it famed. His name is Catiline.

CATILINE. [Taken aback.]
What do you say? Oh, horrors! Furia, speak--!

FURIA. Calm yourself! What perturbs you? You grow pale.
My Lucius,--is this man perhaps your friend?

CATILINE. My friend? Ah, Furia, no;--no longer now.
For I have cursed,--and sworn eternal hate
Against myself.

FURIA. You--you are Catiline?