the sight of this solemnity: by this the princes are entering the Capitol: come! we must attend. [exeunt.

SCENE II.

Enter TARQUIN, TULLIA, SEXTUS, ARUNS, and LUCRETIUS, one way: BRUTUS meeting them the other way, very humorously.

Tar. This place is not for fools; this parliament
Assembles not the strains of idiotism,

Only the grave and wisest of the land :
Important are the affairs we have in hand.
Hence with that mome.

Luc. Brutus, forbear the presence.

Bru. Forbear the presence! why, pray?

Sex. None are admitted to this grave concourse But wise men: nay, good Brutus.

Bru. You'll have an empty parliament then.,

Aru. Here is no room for fools.

Bru. Then what mak'st thou here, or he, or he? oh Jupiter! if this command be kept strictly, we shall have empty benches; get you home you that are here, for here will be nothing to do this day: a general concourse of wise men ! 'twas never seen since the first chaos. Tarquin, if the general rule have no exceptions, thou wilt have an empty consistory.

Tul. Brutus, you trouble us.

Bru. How powerful am I, you Roman deities, that ain able to trouble her that troubles a whole empire? fools exempted, and women admitted! laugh, Democritus! but have you nothing to say to mad-men ?

Tar. Madmen have here no place.

Bru. Then out of doors with Tarquin! what's he that may sit in a calm valley, and will chuse to repose on a tempestuous mountain, but a madman? that may live in tranquillous pleasures, and will seek out a kingdom's cares, but a madman? who would seek innovation in a commonwealth in public, or be over-rul'd by a curs'd wife in private, but a fool or a madman? Give me thy hand, Tarquin; shall we two be dismiss'd together from the Capitol ?

Tar. Restrain his folly!

Tul. Drive the frantic hence!

Aru. Nay, Brutus.

Sex. Good Brutus.

Bru. Nay, soft, soft, good blood of the Tarquins, let's have a few cold words first, and I am gone in an instant : I claim the privilege of the nobility of Rome, and, by that privilege, my seat in the Capitol. I am a Lord by birth; my place is as free in the Capitol as, Horatius, thine, or thine, Lucretius, thine Sextus, Aruns thine, or any here: I am a Lord; an' you banish all the Lord fools from the presence, you'll have few to wait upon the king but gentlemen: [they lay hands upon him.] Nay, I am easily persuaded, then; hands off! since you will not have my company, you shall have my room.

[aside.] My room, indeed; for what I seem to be,

Brutus is not, but born great Rome to free.
The state is full of dropsy, and swollen big
With windy vapours, which my sword must pierce,
Το
purge th' infected blood, bred by the pride
Of these infected bloods. [aloud.] Nay, now I go;

Behold, I vanish, since 'tis Tarquin's mind:

One small fool goes, but great fools leaves behind.
Luc. 'Tis pity, one so gen'rously deriv'd
Should be depriv'd his best enduements thus,
And want the true directions of the soul.

Tar. To leave these dilatory trifles, lords,

Now to the public business of the land.

Lords, take your several places.

[exit.

Luc. Not, great Tarquin, before the king assume his regal throne,

The throne that long since he usurp'd is mine.
Here we enthrone ourselves! cathedral state
Long since detain'd us, justly we resume:
Then let our friends and such as love us cry,
Live, Tarquin! and enjoy this sovereignty!

Omnes. Live, Tarquin! and enjoy this sovereignty !

[Aourish.

Enter VALERIUS.

Val. The king himself, with such confederate peers

As stoutly embrace his faction, being inform'd
Of Tarquin's usurpation, armed comes,

Near to the entrance of the Capitol.

Tar. No man give place; he that dares to rise And do him reverence, we his love despise.

Enter SERVIUS, HORATIUS, SCEVOLA, and SOLdiers.

Ser. Traitor !

Tar. Usurper!
Ser. Descend.

Tul. Sit still.

Ser. In Servius' name, Rome's great imperial monarch,

I charge thee, Tarquin, disenthrone thyself,

And throw thee at our feet, prostrate for mercy.

Hor. Spoke like a king.

Tar. In Tarquin's name, now Rome's imperial monarch,

We charge thee, Servius, make free resignation

Of that arch'd wreath thou hast usurp'd so long.

Tul. Words worth an empire.

Hor. Shall this be brook'd, my sovereign?

Dismount the traitor.

Sex. Touch him he that dares.

Hor. Dares!

Tul. Dares!

Ser. Strumpet! no child of mine.
Tul. Dotard! and not my father.
Ser. Kneel to thy king.

Tul. Submit thou to thy queen.

Ser. Insufferable treason! with bright steel

Lop down these interponents that withstand

The passage to our throne.

Hor. That Cocles dares.

Sex. We, with our steel, guard Tarquin and his chair.

Sca. A Servius!

Aru. A Tarquin!

[they fight-Servius is slain.

Tar. Now are we king, indeed! our awe is builded

Upon this royal base, the slaughtered body

Of a dead king: we by his ruin rise

To a monarchal throne.

Tul. We have our longing.

My father's death gives me a second life,
Much better than the first; my birth was servile,
But this new breath of reign is large and free:
Welcome, my second life of sovereignty!

Luc. I have a daughter, but I hope of metal,
Subject to better temperature; should my Lucrece
Be of this pride, these hands should sacrifice
Her blood unto the gods that dwell below;

The abortive brat should not out-live my spleen;

But Lucrece is my daughter, this my queen.

[aside.

Tul. Tear off the crown, that yet empales the temples

Of our usurping father: quickly, lords,

And in the face of his yet bleeding wounds,

Let us receive our honours.

Tar. The same breath

Gives our state life, that was th' usurper's death.

Tul. Here, then, by heaven's hand we invest ourselves : Music, whose loftiest tones grace princes crown'd, Unto our noble coronation sound.

[flourish.

VALERIUS advances, with HORATIUS and SCEVOLA.

Tar. Whom doth Valerius to our state present?