hostile fields he bleeds to save her, 'Tis not his blood he loses, 'tis his country's; He only pays her back a debt he owes. To her he's bound for birth and education: Her laws secure him from domestic feuds, And from the foreign foe her arms protect him. She lends him honours, dignity, and rank, His wrongs revenges, and his merit pays; And like a tender and indulgent mother, Loads him with comforts, and would make his state As blest as nature and the gods design'd it. Such gifts, my son, have their alloy of pain; And let th' unworthy wretch who will not bear His portion of the public burden lose Th' advantages it yields;—let him retire From the dear blessings of a social life, And from the sacred laws which guard those blessings; Renounce the civilis'd abodes of man, With kindred brutes one common shelter seek In horrid wilds, and dens, and dreary caves, And with their shaggy tenants share the spoil; Or if the savage hunters miss their prey, From scatter'd acorns pick a scanty meal;— Far from the sweet civilities of life; There let him live and vaunt his wretched freedom: While we, obedient to the laws that guard us, Guard them, and live or die as they decree.

Is a whole, my Publius,

Pub. With reverence and astonishment I hear thee! Thy words, my father, have convinc'd my reason, But cannot touch my heart:—nature denies Obedience so repugnant. I'm a son.

Reg. A poor excuse, unworthy of a Roman! Brutus, Virginius, Manlius—they were fathers.

Pub. 'Tis true, they were; but this heroic greatness, This glorious elevation of the soul, Has been confin'd to fathers.—Rome, till now, Boasts not a son of such unnatural virtue, Who, spurning all the powerful ties of blood, Has labour'd to procure his father's death.

Reg. Then be the first to give the great example— Go, hasten; be thyself that son, my Publius.

Pub. My father! ah!—

Reg. Publius, no more; begone— Attend the Senate—let me know my fate; 'Twill be more glorious if announc'd by thee.

Publius, no more;

Pub. Too much, too much thy rigid virtue claims From thy unhappy son. Oh, nature, nature!

Reg. Publius! am I a stranger, or thy father? In either case an obvious duty waits thee: If thou regard'st me as an alien here, Learn to prefer to mine the good of Rome; If as a father—reverence my commands.

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