[After a pause.]
A strange, strange life it was; — as strange a fate.
Meteor-like all came — and disappeared.
He met me. A mysterious magic force,
An inner harmony, together drew us.
I was his Nemesis; — and he my victim; —
Yet punishment soon followed the avenger.

 

FURIA. [Another pause.]
Now daylight rules the earth. — Am I perchance
To slip — unknowing — from the realm of light?
‘Tis well, if so it be, — if this delay
Within the tomb be nothing but a flight
Upon the wings of lightning into Hades, —
If I be nearing even now the Styx!
There roll the leaden billows on the shore;
There silently old Charon plies his boat.
Soon am I there! Then shall I seat myself
Beside the ferry, — question every spirit,
Each fleeting shadow from the land of life,
As light of foot he nears the river of death, —
Shall ask each one in turn how Catiline
Fares now among the mortals of the earth, —
Shall ask each one how he has kept his oath.
I shall illumine with blue sulphur light
Each spectral countenance and hollow eye, —
To ascertain if it be Catiline.
And when he comes, then shall I follow him; —
Together we shall make the journey hence,
Together enter Pluto’s silent hall.
I too a shadow shall his shade pursue; —
Where Catiline is, must Furia also be!

 

FURIA. [After a pause, more faintly.]
The air is growing close and clammy here, —
And every breath in turn more difficult. —
Thus am I drawing near the gloomy swamps,
Where creep the rivers of the underworld.

 

FURIA. [She listens; a dull noise is heard.]
A muffled sound? ‘Tis like the stroke of oars.
It is the ferryman of shades who comes
To take me hence. No, here — here will I wait!

 

[The stones in the freshly walled-in passage are broken asunder.
CURIUS comes into view on the outside; he beckons to her.]

 

FURIA. Ah, greetings, Charon! Are you ready now
To lead me hence, a guest among the spirits?
Here will I wait!

 

CURIUS. [Whispering.] I come to set you free!

 


SECOND ACT

 

[A room in CATILINE’s house with a colonnade in the rear; a lamp lights up the room.]

 

[CATILINE paces the floor back and forth; LENTULUS and
CETHEGUS are with him.]

 

CATILINE. No, no! I say, you do not understand
Yourselves what you demand of me. Should I
Turn traitor and incite a civil war, —
Besmear my hand with Roman blood? No, no!
I’ll never do it! Let the entire state
Condemn me if —

 

LENTULUS. You will not, Catiline?

 

CATILINE. No.

 

LENTULUS. Tell me, — have you nothing to avenge?
No insult? No one here you fain would strike?

 

CATILINE. Let him who will avenge; I shall not stir.
Yet silent scorn is likewise a revenge; —
And that alone shall be enough.

 

CETHEGUS. Aha, —
Our visit was, I see, inopportune.
Yet doubtless will the morrow bring you back
To other thoughts.

 

CATILINE. But why the morrow?

 

CETHEGUS. There are mysterious rumors in the air.
A vestal recently was led to death —

 

CATILINE. [Surprised.]
A vestal, — say you? Ah, what do you mean?

 

LENTULUS. Why, yes, a vestal. Many people murmur —

 

CATILINE. What do they murmur?

 

CETHEGUS. That in this dark affair
You are not altogether innocent.

 

CATILINE. This they believe of me?

 

LENTULUS. Such is the rumor;
Of course, — to us, to all your good old friends,
Such talk is trifling and of no account; —
The world, however, judges more severely.

 

CATILINE. [Deep in thought.] And is she dead?

 

CETHEGUS. Undoubtedly she is.
An hour’s confinement in the convict tomb
Is quite enough —

 

LENTULUS. That is not our affair.
It was not therefore that we spoke of her.
But hear me, Catiline! Bethink yourself.
You sought the consulate; and all your welfare
Hung on that single fragile thread of hope.
Now is it sundered; everything is lost.

 

CATILINE. [Still deep in thought.]
“Vengeance you have invoked on your own head!”

 

CETHEGUS.