300
Pay I have taken in your Highness' service.

_Bourb._ Well, sir, to-morrow you shall pay yourself.
Look on those towers; they hold my treasury:
But, Philibert, we'll in to council. Arnold,
We would request your presence.

_Arn._ Prince! my service
Is yours, as in the field.

_Bourb._ In both we prize it,
And yours will be a post of trust at daybreak.

_Caes._ And mine?

_Bourb._ To follow glory with the Bourbon.
Good night!

_Arn._ (_to_ CAESAR). Prepare our armour for the assault,
And wait within my tent.
[_Exeunt_ BOURBON, ARNOLD, PHILIBERT, _etc._

_Caes._ (_solus_). Within thy tent! 310
Think'st thou that I pass from thee with my presence?
Or that this crooked coffer, which contained
Thy principle of life, is aught to me
Except a mask? And these are men, forsooth!
Heroes and chiefs, the flower of Adam's bastards!
This is the consequence of giving matter
The power of thought. It is a stubborn substance,
And thinks chaotically, as it acts,
Ever relapsing into its first elements.
Well! I must play with these poor puppets: 'tis 320
The Spirit's pastime in his idler hours.
When I grow weary of it, I have business
Amongst the stars, which these poor creatures deem
Were made for them to look at. 'Twere a jest now
To bring one down amongst them, and set fire
Unto their anthill: how the pismires then
Would scamper o'er the scalding soil, and, ceasing
From tearing down each other's nests, pipe forth
One universal orison! ha! ha! [_Exit_ CAESAR.

PART II.

SCENE I.--_Before the walls of Rome.--The Assault:
the Army in motion, with ladders to scale the walls_;[238]
BOURBON _with a white scarf over his armour, foremost_.

_Chorus of Spirits in the air_.

I.

'Tis the morn, but dim and dark.[do]
Whither flies the silent lark?
Whither shrinks the clouded sun?
Is the day indeed begun?
Nature's eye is melancholy
O'er the city high and holy:
But without there is a din
Should arouse the saints within,
And revive the heroic ashes
Round which yellow Tiber das