Alone can reach his dwelling unfrequented.
It does not break the calm within his breast;--
It makes his soul more happy and contented;
It calls to mind the by-gone time of strife,
Its shattered hopes and its unbridled pleasures;
He finds twice beautiful this quiet life--
And would not change it for the greatest treasures.

CATILINE. You speak the truth; and in this very hour
From strife and tumult I could go with you.
But can you name me some such quiet spot,
Where we can live in shelter and in peace?

AURELIA. [Joyful.] You will go, Catiline? What happiness,--
Oh, richer than my bosom can contain!
Let it be so, then! Come! This very night
We'll go away--

CATILINE. But whither shall we go?
Name me the spot where I may dare to rest
My head in homely peace!

AURELIA. How can you ask?
Have you forgot our villa in the country,
Wherein I passed my childhood days, where since,
Enraptured during love's first happy dawn,
We two spent many a blithesome summer day?
Where was the grass indeed so green as there?
Where else the groves so shady and sweet-smelling?
The snow-white villa from its wooded lair