ORATIONS AXD IMPASSIONED PIECES. 233 



Not tuneable to their Patrician ears ? 

 Will* the blow NEVER fall ? 



There's not a slave,t 



Not the most beggar 'd, broken, creeping wretch 

 That lives on alms and pillows on the ground,^ 

 But had done SOMETHING before now ; and I 

 A soldier and a king. The blood of kings, 

 Afric's last hope. let months and years pass by, 

 And still live on a butt for ribald jests 

 And more, to let Numidia's injuries sleep, 

 Like a chid infant's ! 

 This is a mortal hour; the rising wind 

 Sounds angry, and those swift and dizzy clouds, 

 Made ghostly by the glances of the moon, 

 Seem horse and chariots for the evil shapes 

 That scatter ruin here.|| 



Come from your tombs, 



Warriors of Afric! from the desert's sands 

 From the red field the ever surging sea,. 

 Though ye were buried deeper than the plumb 

 Of seamen ever sounded. 

 Hamilcar,^ Hannibal, Jugurtha Come, 

 My royal father '. from the midnight den 

 Where their curst Roman axes murdered ibee '. 

 Ye shall have VENGEANCE ! Stoop upon my breast, 

 Clear it of man, and put therein a heart, 

 Like a destroying spirit's : make me fire, 

 The winged passion that can know no sleep, 

 Till VENGEANCE has been done; wrap up my soul 

 In darkness stronger than an iron mail, 

 Till it is subtle, deadly, deep as night, 



* The fist is here clenched with the most vindictive expression of 

 countenance. 



t The tone of voice should be here low, with a slou* and emphatic 

 utterance. 



f A most powerful feeling of self-condemnation. 



$ Here is a transition to a somewhat more sedate and comjwsed man- 

 ner, whilst the same revengeful feelings are still preserved. 



|| This requires an elevated and loud tone of voice. 



^ Most nofent and emphatic manner, with the most unsubdued feel- 

 ing at " vengeance ;" the fist should be clenched and the teeth set. 



