SCENE III.--_A Bridge across the Tiber_.

_Alarum. The_ Romans _are beaten off. Enter_ Brutus, Horatius, Valerius, Scevola, Lucretius _and_ Collatine.

Brutus. Thou Jovial hand, hold up thy sceptre high, And let not justice be oppressed with pride! O you Penates; leave not Rome and us Grasped in the purple hands of death and ruin! The Tarquins have the best.

Horatius. Yet stand; my foot is fixed upon this bridge. Tiber, thy archèd streams shall be changed crimson With Roman blood before I budge from hence.

Scevola. Brutus, retire; for if thou enter Rome We are all lost. Stand not on valour now, But save thy people; let’s survive this day, To try the fortunes of another field.

Valerius. Break down the bridge, lest the pursuing enemy Enter with us and take the spoil of Rome.

Horatius. Then break behind me; for, by Heaven, I’ll grow And root my foot as deep as to the centre, Before I leave this passage!

Lucretius. Come, you’re mad.

Collatine. The foe comes on, and we in trifling here, Hazard ourself and people.

Horatius. Save them all; To make Rome stand, Horatius here will fall.

Brutus. We would not lose thee; do not breast thyself ’Gainst thousands; if thou front’st them thou art ringed With million swords and darts, and we behind Must break the bridge of Tiber to save Rome. Before thee infinite[5.65] gaze on thy face And menace death; the raging streams of Tiber Are at thy back to swallow thee.

Horatius. Retire; To make Rome live, ’tis death that I desire.

Brutus. Then farewell, dead Horatius! think in us The universal arm of potent Rome Takes his last leave of thee in this embrace.

[_All embrace him_.

Horatius. Farewell!

All. Farewell!

Brutus. These arches all must down To interdict their passage through the town.

[_Exeunt all except_ Horatius.

_Alarum. Enter_ Tarquin, Porsenna, _and_ Aruns, _with their pikes and targeters_.

All. Enter, enter, enter.

[_A noise of knocking down the bridge, within_.

Horatius. Soft, Tarquin! see a bulwark to the bridge, You first must pass; the man that enters here Must make his passage through Horatius’ breast; See, with this target do I buckler[5.66] Rome, And with this sword defy the puissant army Of two great kings.

Porsenna. One man to face an host! Charge, soldiers! of full forty thousand Romans There’s but one daring hand against your host, To keep you from the sack or spoil of Rome. Charge, charge!

Aruns. Upon them, soldiers!

[_Alarum_.

_Enter_ Sextus _and_ Valerius _above, at opposite sides_.

Sextus. O cowards, slaves, and vassals! what, not enter! Was it for this you placed my regiment Upon a hill, to be the sad spectator Of such a general cowardice? Tarquin, Aruns, Porsenna, soldiers, pass Horatius quickly, For they behind him will devolve the bridge, And raging Tiber, that’s impassable, Your host must swim before you conquer Rome.

Valerius. Yet stand, Horatius; bear but one brunt more; The archèd bridge shall sink upon his piles, And in his fall lift thy renown to Heaven.

Sextus. Yet enter!

Valerius. Dear Horatius, yet stand, And save a million by one powerful hand.

[_Alarum; the bridge falls_.

All. Charge, charge, charge!

Sextus. Degenerate slaves! the bridge is fallen, Rome’s lost.

Valerius. Horatius, thou art stronger than their host; Thy strength is valour, theirs are idle braves, Now save thyself, and leap into the waves.

Horatius. Porsenna, Tarquin, now wade past your depths And enter Rome. I feel my body sink Beneath my ponderous weight; Rome is preserved, And now farewell; for he that follows me Must search the bottom of this raging stream. Fame, with thy golden wings renown my crest! And, Tiber, take me on thy silver breast! [_Exit_.

Porsenna. He’s leapt off from the bridge and drowned himself.

Sextus. You are deceived; his spirit soars too high To be choked in with the base element Of water; lo! he swims, armed as he is, Whilst all the army have discharged their arrows, Of which the shield upon his back sticks full. [_Shout and flourish_. And hark, the shout of all the multitude Now welcomes him a-land! Horatius’ fame Hath checked our armies with a general shame. But come, to-morrow’s fortune must restore This scandal, which I of the gods implore.

Porsenna. Then we must find another time, fair prince, To scourge these people, and revenge your wrongs. For this night I’ll betake me to my tent. [_Exit_.

Tarquin. And we to ours; to-morrow we’ll renown Our army with the spoil of this rich town.

[_Exeunt_.