SCENE 1 – Lusitania / The Roman Camp

Galba is studying maps outside his tent – a group of Roman soldiers march on stage singing

EAGLES OF ROME

Fly, fly
Ye eagles of rome
Find a new home
Fly, fly

Fly, fly
Your wings are unfurled
You’ll conquer the world
Fly, fly

Enter herald with Labaecus & Talabus

Herald
The Lusitanian leaders are here
As you requested of them yesterday
Nine thousand of their subjects flood the vale
Warriors, women, old ones & children.

Galba
Praetor Servius Sulpicius Galba
at your service

Labaecus
We come in peace
Leaving mountain strongholds at your promise
Of better lands to settle on the plains
Beyond the River Durius

Galba
Welcome
Receiving acceptable submissions
Of deditio in potestatem,
Like sweet music across enamell’d stones,
Rome’s enmity soon amity becomes

Talabus
We had no choice, your enginery of war
Wrought ruin thro’ our towns as if the Gods
Colossal grains of sand shook from their suits

Labaecus
Galba we praise you, halter of carnage

Galba
Twas the simplest of conclusions to make
You were robbers only from compulsion,
Poverty & the poorness of your soil
Forcing unneccessary penury,
A needless swamp in a civilized age,
& we in Rome the height of advancement,
A blessed sunstar blest by all the gods –
Our family of nations welcomes thee.

Labaecus
We compliment your noble piety
Your generosity & your counsel;
Your name shall live forever in our songs
In them the bards our histories record
Our lineages, our greatest battles,
Our heroes, & now you ride among them
Upon the dovewhite steed we call world peace.

Enter Centurion

Centurion
It is done, we possess all their weapons

Galba
Not all – I trust you two will too comply

Labaecus
We shall

Talabus
Of course, our swords we give to Rome

Galba
Well here we are, a mighty martial race
But what force arms without a blade to wield,
Or sticks, or rocks, whate’er you primates use
When Atilius conquer’d Oxthracae
You sign’d a treaty just as this today
Alas, as soon as my predecessor
Home in Rome, your people raved as rebels
Attacking tribes we counted as allies;
Despicable, plunderous behaviours,
When they had been protected by your word.

Talabus
We protest

Galba
You protest! What? Your disgrace,
Transgressing that fair & equal treaty?
No – you were, & are yet Rome’s enemies,
For treachery to honour & to peace
You force on Rome recourse to ancyent law,
All men of military age must die,
& slaves make of the rest
{to the Centurion}
You may begin

Centurion
Sound the horns

Labaecus
O hideous perfidy

Galba
Sieze them

Talabus
Run, run Labaecus

Galba
Kill them

A fracas – Talabus is slain, Labaecus is corner’d

Galba
Wait, bring him here, I want this hound to see
His people die, open your eyes you dog
Why do they stand heroic statue still
Waiting to die

Labaecus
They cry aloud the names
of all our gods, readying to greet them,
When death grips firmly, fleeing him futile
Better to wait the fatal stroke head high

Centurion
Not all

Galba
What?

Centurion
Look, sir, some have leapt the ditch
Waving weapons preconceal’d as they steal
Horses…

Galba
Well charge them down

Labaecus
Dont waste your time
You will never catch the Lusitani
When riding bareback racing for their lives
& see the man upon that chestnut mare
His name is Viriathus, you will find
Him like a viper in your feather’d nest

Galba
Silence

Labaecus
He will avenge us

Galba
Silence him

Labaecus
Long live Lusitania

Centurion
Curse your tongue
Better that it be ripp’d out from the root

Centurion cuts out the tongue of Labaecus

Galba
Take him away, my friend in Capua
Prefers mute slaves, they do not answer back

Exit all excepting Galba, who watches the slaughter from afar

---

SCENE 2 – The Mountains

Viriathus is camping in woods – enter a soothsayer, Cabruno, with a crack of a stepped on branch

Viriathus
Who goes there?

Cabruno
Be tranquil, I am of you
In spirit if not blood

Viriathus
What do you mean
Old hag?

Cabruno
I am one of the Vaccaei
& you are Viriathus, I can see,
The augurs spoke as much,

Viriathus
You read the birds
Are you soothsayer?

Cabruno
I prefer to say
A seeker & a speaker of the truth
I was found by the limitless silver
Starcoated waters of the Tartessis
In hollow of a river-rock was found
& raised by an old hunter near the dunes
By Carvoeiro’s Cape, out there was rais’d
The least proportion of Humanity,
Until I saw the light that guided me

Viriathus
Please accept my ancestral reverance

Cabruno
As you survived the Galban massacre
What will you do today

Viriathus
I do not care
For anything but air, & grass, & streams

Cabruno
Let me deliver you your destiny
Twas written in the innards of a stag
A shepherd from Cape Nerium would rise
To raise the thirty tribes which occupy
All the lands between Artabria
& Tagus, taking back what was taken
Harness eclectic Lusitania,
Prefer her own opinions to yours,
For as you tam’d wild horses in your youth,
Beneath your thighs they felt immortal steeds,
If you so ride the Lusitanians
They too shall feel noblesse & fight for you!

Viriathus
This is a path unsuited to my core,
I am a secret, solitary soul,
The woods prefer to wide-eyed drinking bouts,
I love the mountains more than woman’s looks,
Watch meteors instead of mortal tales –
No leader am for tasks you thus descry.

Cabruno
As sun appears a small disc in the sky
Yet beams out floods of light to wake all things
In golden glow, its warmth doth permeate
All fibres of existence, so can you
Inspire your people, smile & sieze the day

---

CARPE DIEM

Cabruno
Life is the reason for this song,
Ya won’t know anyone for too long,
Some grow rich & some stay strong,
Some are good & some go wrong,
Some men work & some men play,
While others take the time to say
Carpe Diem, seize the day…

Viriathus
If I could lead my life again I would try not to lie,
I’d care about all of my friends until the day I die,
If people thought the worst of me then I would ask them why
& then all of my dreams could be some special place to fly…

Life is the reason to my rhyme,
Yer don’t owe anyone for your time,
Some men fade & some men shine,
Some men lead a life of crime,
Some men taste the salt & pray
While others take the time to say,
Carpe Diem, seize the day…

Cabruno
Only the lonely, lonely, lonely rovers really true
& if you reach that special place I’ve saved a place for you

Viriathus
I’m tryin hard & I’m burnin real hard, I’m learnin’ how to try
So when I reach that special place I’ll elevate & fly

---

Cabruno
Carpe Diem, my bold youth, sieze the day

Viriathus
Why praise a phrase in Latin

Cabruno
Know you foe

Viriathus
If what you feel is truth then I shall try
If what you say is written, let me fight,
Who am I to obsticate the spirits,
With them I crave, with effective intent
My people’s paramount deliverance,
When banishing invaders forever,
This terrible delirium must end!

Cabruno
You will need training in patience, statecraft,
Strategums, study Rome’s alien thoughts,
But when vital responsibilities
Controll’d by one mind only, then these minds
Must rest in healthiest bodies possible
Else sickness denigrates the conjur’d deed

Viriathus
I am a healthy man

Cabruno
You could improve
Constitution vigorates clarity
Think of those Spartans at the famous springs
Of Thermopylae, each a thousand worth,
Sons of a strict regime, like them you’ll form
Armour impenetrable, heat & cold,
Untroubl’d be by hunger & hardship,
No match shall find thro’ all Iberia;
You shall spare no indulgence, even food
You’ll eat to live, not feed your belly’s greed,
& only with fatigue find hours to sleep,
From egotism purify your heart
& in that pearl such atmospheres arise
To witness wisest courses, exist they
At all times, awaiting to be reveal’d;
With all of this you shall obtain the crown
Of nature, far from foreign crudeties,
When all the rude waves of the roughest sea
Could never wash the laurels from your brow
Become the captain undeposable,
Become Rome’s royal antithesis, curse
That decadent pit of pedantic souls,
Grasping at pleasures that, like fetid slime,
Oozes thro fingers, grazes foul faces,
Devouring pock-marks, as heavenly Gods
Trace dissapointments in scarlet sunsets,
Left wondering how Humans lose their way.

Viriathus
I shall return our People to the modes
Of life on which our People were nurtured
When begins my training?

Cabruno
It has begun!

---

SCENE 3 – The Roman Senate

The trial of Galba

Magistrate
Good morning senators, the day’s order
Begins with Galba & his recent wars
Fought in Iberia, & the murder
Of nigh nine thousand Lusitanians
Beneath the banner of a Roman peace,
The raiser of this matter, take the floor.

Lucius
Members of the Senate, my thanks are due
In advance, when you to listen to my pleas
For justice at this most scandalous trial,
I am Lucius Libro, plebeian
Tribune, elected to speak, most dismay’d
The good name of the Romans sacrosanct
Our honour more important than is fame,
Yet this, this perfidious Praetor
This ‘Galba’ brings shame upon the Senate,
For when abroad a general of Rome
Must represent our statutory claims
Of fairness wrought from order & from law
Cato! Would you be so kind as to speak,
Inform the senators in more detail
Whom, I feel assur’d, with keenest intent
Will listen well & with a deep respect
For you, truly the wisest among us,
Who steer’d our ship of state so many storms,
What are your thoughts upon this dark affair!

Cato
So many things discourag’d me this day
From coming forward to this hoary shrine
Where my old feet have stood five thousand times –
My years, my time of life, my voice, my strength,
I felt, nevertheless, when reflecting
On such crucial matters, I had to act,
Forsooth, the roots of these desperate wars
Lie with ourselves, not thirty years ago
Iberia was a hive of honey,
Our governors bears pawing at its gold,
Extortions, epidemics, proportion’d
Exploitation grating, so to account
Call’d I Publius Furios Philus
Personally, timely castigation
That did not go unnoticed in the West –
The Lex Calpurnia was introduced
& the whole peninsular bath’d in peace,
Until Galba’s pitiless ambition
Breaking treaties slaughter’d signatories
Of what our Senate deem’d a sacred text,
So he could swim in fallible plunder,
This he distributed to his soldiers
Not very much at all I hear them say,
His friends receiv’d a little & the rest
kept for his guts; Senators, sheer murder
Was done in Lusitania, for gold
Not punishing such criminality
Will send out a devastating message
That the Roman concord mere illusion
& massacres the only terms we deal

Magistrate
Praetor Galba, the floor if you please

Galba
Fellow senators, friends & foes alike,
Whether cherishing, opposing, my deeds
Lusitania primitive remains,
Makes strange pictures to a cool spectator,
They way they live their lives like high treason
To the virtues & values of our times,
We cannot simply allow them islands
Of impish liberty, while to the north
& south & east we press Hispania
Into our satin folds, we must never
Allow their independance poet sung
Else rebellions will sprout up like weeds
In an old man’s garden, his limbs too stiff
To root them out with tools & brutal strength –
Are not till’d plots superior to scrub?
Are fruits not improv’d by cultivation?
I plotted there for progress a glory,
Safe in our sturdy shields we stow the seeds,
The ploughshares of our swords have stirr’d the soil,
& we shall grow a province from the dirt!

Magistrate
How do you plead

Galba’s brother, Gaius, brings out two boys & a girl

Galba
I refuse to answer
I’ll make instead appeals elemental
To the good faith of the people, see these
Three Children; the two youngest share my blood,
The taller boy he is the grieving son
Of Sulpcius Galus, whose dying words,
A Lusitanian spear piercing chest,
Did gurgle to me, ‘look after my boy,’
{to Cassis}
Cassius, come to me, I embrace you
As my son,
{they embrace}
If today I am exiled
Or death-condemn’d, I tearfully bestow
Upon my brother, Gaius, both my sires,
Send to his care Cassius, son of Galus,
& beg him to forever oversee
Their fatherless estates, their future tears!

Cato
Wretched Galba! I shame to hear him speak!
By such sick pretences be not disturb’d,
Exciting pity has no place in law,
Even murderers share family homes

The Senate bursts into uproar

Magistrate
Silence, in the Senate, clear, clear the floor
We shall proceed in common to the vote
Balls, if you please, black guilty, white no fault.

The senators vote by placing a ball in a bag, either white or black

Magistrate
What is the count

Magistrate’s Assistant
Galba by twenty-five

Lucius
This is law debauched, maul’d by bribery

Magistrate
Silence, Lucius, else be in contempt
& find yourself on trial at your turn,
The Senate has spoken, Galba acquitted
You are free, Praetor, take your children,
To superpraise their moral upbringing
While raising them good citizens of Rome,
With that the matter closes, let us stray
Into the streets this Feast of Saturn day!

Exit Senators

---

SCENE 4 – A Valley in Lusitania

Surviving chieftans & warriors of the Lusitani meet in counsel.
With them is Arco the soothsayer

Arantonio
We cannot stay much longer in this vale

Minurus
Famine gnawing bellies no way to die

Camalo
But sallying from safety must ensure
Murderous encounters with legionairres

Audax
Over our lives hovers the flag of death
Let us send Vetilius messengers
With olive branches, apologizing
For foraging without the seal of law
& plead a dwelling, promise to obey
Rome in all things

Pisiri
It must be done

Arantonio
What else
Can we do

Camalo
We must submit

Enter Viriathus

Viriathus
We must fight,
The bad faith of the Romans never goes
They pride themselves in violating oaths

Arco
Tell us who he is who speaks so boldly

Viriathus
I am Viriathus, some may know me,
Most will not, I survived the massacre
& warrant not your petty, scowling looks
Whatever pass’d by destiny, mischance,
I am come among you, soldiers, recieve
My presence, while intimating futures
Long mused upon, of murdering Romans,
Vibrant plans of action, Vertilius
No Galba is, his soldiers can be beat.

Camalo
Tho’ words up-bubble with inspiring springs,
We are too weak to fight them, all the same

Viriathus
I disagree, I have studied that swamp
Of whinging invaders, poor imposters,
Each thuggish snout I solemnly defy
There is not a veteran among them,
Valour is difficult in a desert,
While we are nourish’d from that single pool
That urgency of liberty becomes,
Fresh spirit of our precious land distill’d,
Sup from it when misfortune approaches,
Taste the universal Lusitani,
For when all focuss’d under common stars,
Mountains amass from bursts of willpower,
Off whose steep slops torrential troubles pour,
Together we are mountains, let me lead
Whomever here would die for liberty!

Minurus
I am with you Viriathus

Audax
& I

The rest cheer

Arantonio
Your patriotic fever may bright burn
But there remains a dagger at our throats
One false step…

Arco
Let the ancestors decide

Ditalco
Bring out the prisoner

A Roman prisoner is brought on stage – Arco chops off his right hand & raises it to the sky

Arco
Holy Cariocecus – take this hand
& guide his entrails, weave them into truth

The prisoner is covered with coarse cloaks, then a knife plunged into his vitals. He drops to the floor. The soothsayer studies the fall of the cloaks

Arco
From fall of cloaks auspicious auguries,
From trailing entrails unsuspicious truth,
From draining veins futurity pulses,
Our sacred Gods choose you, Viriathus

Arantonio, Camalo, Minurus, Audax, Ditalco
Viriathus!

Camalo
What of those plans you spoke?

Viriathus
Come gather close about me, listen well,
For detail is important – every man
Shall have his job to do, some more than one;
The Romans march like an elephant mare,
Slow, clumsy, ponderous – from armour’s weight
From ignorance of our ancyent trackways,
& from horses’ inferiority –
Why fight a tusker risking ivory,
Better pepper spears from safest vantage
& spring our clever ambushes from rocks
Thro’ rows of rushing tridents, incursions
Made in the dead of night, in heat of day,
Deluding with illusions & with snares,
Corner to corner striking, make them cry,
‘There is no haven in Iberia!’
The very mercy of the law screams out,
‘Iberia rejects its conquerors!’
Carpetania, Bastitania
Rome’s allies now, let us ravage them first
Who’ll join us promptly afterwards, the rest
Will follow soon, protecting precious crops,
While in the north the Numantines should rise
When noticing our spirit has revived
With such conviction, they will not abide
The Roman yoke no longer, out of pride.

Ditalco
Hail Viriathius

Arantonio, Camalo, Minurus, Audax
Hail Viriathius

Camalo
In you Cariocecus is reborn

Minurus
Cariocecus

Arantonio, Camalo, Audax, Ditalco
Cariocecus!

With great noise and barbaric clamor, the warriors surround Viriathus dancing, beating drims & singing “Cario-Cario-Cariocecus”- shaking their long hair, waving weapons & breaking out into ritualised mock combat

---

---

Scene 5: Tucca

Astolpas is sat on his palace throne. Enter his daughter, Tongina, & her maid

Tongina
Father… father… FATHER

Astolpas
What, what is it

Tongina
Why do you sit so, in solemn silence,
If I could learn from your quiet what ails
Your thoughts, what troubles your soul, what torments
Your waking hours, aye, what disturbs your dreams,
It would save my askings, & your replies,
It seems such process impossibly drawn.

Astolpas
My darling daughter only you can delve
Into my swampish humour & return
With objects from the murk – Minurus comes
Almost to the door, and with him rides wars
I have intended all along to swerve

Tongina
Minurus, he is a damnable pest,
I hate the way he’s watched me all my life
A little girl should not be eyed that way,
& woman’s be beauty to be respected
Not gawp’d on open-mouth’d by drooling hounds

Astolpas
But he is most handsome, & very rich,
The ladies of Lusitania swoon
When enters he a room

Tongina
I find him vile
In my house his charms are invisible

Astolpas
His house a cornucopia of charms,
His city, Concordia, lovely lies
By Tagus side, I dallied there in youth
A pretty place to raise a family
I know he likes you, Tongina, thinks well
Of you in every aspect

Tongina
He is vile,
Like a piner on the sick bed of love,
For him I hold no interest, erupts
No song of passion imagining him
More some boring funerary dirge

Astolpas
Your mother grew to love me in the end

Tongina
Father this is not the age of Scota
Or Neferubity by Memphis known,
Given to Gaythelos in gratitude
For murdering scores of Numidians

Astolpas
Your young blood blurts out words of foolish mein
Your pride agitates against tradition
Your…

Enter Minurus

Minurus
Astolpas, old cougar, how are you

Astolpas
Welcome Minurus, as always, welcome

Minurus
My gracious respect, our stay shall be short
We only wish to sleep a night & rest
Before we return to Concordia
In glory

Astolpas
In glory you say, why so?

Minurus
We win victories over Vettius,
Aemilianus & Unimaus,
Each legionary send they against us
We send home limbless or leave to the wolves

Astolpas
It sounds a very hideous affair

Minurus
Hideous, perhaps, necessary, yes!
Join us, Astolpas, your Tuccans are strong

Astolpas
I would – but their bloodshed best avoided
If they will keep that strength, not bled to death

Tongina
My father does not speak for his soldiers
Their hearts are bursting to join with the war

Astolpas
Tongina, suspend your contribution

Minurus
No, let her speak,

Tongina
My father has grown old
Wisdom, with long age, dominates one’s dreams
& Tucca dreams of glory by your side

Minurus
Tongina, into quite a woman grown,
Are you married yet at all

Astolpas
She is not

Tongina
I can speak for myself – one day I might
But tell me, you fought with Viriathus?

Minurus
Yes – many times – we left him yesterday

Tongina
Where is he now

Minurus
The Mountain of Venus

Astolpas
Chieftain, we bear witness to your courage,
While you are with us anything claim yours
Food, drink, shelter;

Minurus
Your daughter’s bridal vows

Tongina
They are not his to give

Astolpas
Be at ease, please
Let us not now debate, but celebrate,
Come, Minurus, we shall dine together
Tongina, ready yourself & join us
{Astolpas & Minurus begin to leave}
She will come around, I shall bless the match

Minurus
If only conquering hearts as easy
As beating Romans, as mounting wild mares
& riding them to battle
Exit Astolpas & Minurus

Tongina
Pompous pig

Maid
Your father said to ready for a feast

Tongina
I shall ready myself, but not for them,
Prepare a horse, provisions for three days
& meet me at the gates when rises moon.

Maid
Of course, my lady, but what drives you so
I beg the truth so nights shall find my sleep

Tongina
Promise not to tell?

Maid
Of course, I promise

Tongina
If life is to be lived full of flavour
I go to Viriathus, with my love!

---

Scene 6a: The Mount of Venus

Viriathus is alone in the mountains

---

MOUNTAIN SONG

I feel the spirit
Blow like a breeze
Shimmer in rainbows
Skimming the trees
Glimmering waters
Snow in the corn
Glistening teardrops
The day we were born

& the way we are living
As one with the world
Is the first step to feel the divine
While the ocean’s seahorses
& riverside pearls
Are the proof of holy design

I hear the song
Soft-sung by a lark
See wide open spaces
& faces in bark
I got a feeling
I am all things
Something inside me’s
Given me wings

& the way we are living
As one with the world
Is the first step to feel the divine
When watching the wind as she
Whips up & whirls
Is the proof of holy design

---

Enter Tongina

Tongina
Are you he, the one we call our leader?
The mighty Viriathus as I hear,
Whose heart is fill’d with wonder for his land,
Whose mind is more a meeting place of Gods,
Are you he? I believe it to be so?

Viriathus
I care not for words, ’tis deeds I adore

Tongina
Then listen to this deed
{Tongina kisses Viriathus}
Your tongue is sweet

Viriathus
Whyever did you kiss me, woman, why?

Tongina
The hidden vent of hearing in touch’d lips,
The wagging tongue compels cheiftans to wive,
Who’ll sooth & balm his thoughts upon duress
Who’ll ease their body when its needs desire
These things shall be my purpose & my joy,
I give myself to you, & to our cause.

Viriathus
But what of love, the laughter-brimming salve
Of wedded union, without its truth,
Defective lives we lead, seeds on the seas

Tongina
Love is an unnecessary fever
The campaigning patriot learns to need
The comfort of his womanly bosom

Viriathus
Desist, temptress, the wise speak of three sorts,
Deprived utterly of better judgement;
Those ambitious of princely preferment
Those concocting poisons only to show
Their skills in the curing, then thirdly they
Whom entrust women with a secret thought.

Tongina slaps him

Tongina
Your words veil insult, take them back at once,
I shall be no fishwife, Viriathus,
Does what you see before you not promote
A certain stirring in your stern resolve

Viriathus
What is your name?

Tongina
Tongina

Viriathus
Tongina!
Your beauty mountain rose, your spirit thorns,
Roots suckling upon ancestral vapours,
I see & hear you, I feel you even,
An unexpected motion in my soul
As if some spectacular meteor
Thro’ planetary bodies starward moved.

Tongina
Then the matter is settl’d, & we too
Compatible enough to now pursue
Our sacred betrothal, we shall wed soon

Viriathus
We shall shall we?

Tongina
We shall

Viriathus
You are some soul
Your power terrifies me, but your smile
Irridiates my being, very well
Your bridal dreams I’ll make as real as this

They kiss

Tongina
I will come to you as with our custom,
Brought by my father

Viriathus
Tell me who is he?

Tongina
His name Astolpas, the wealthiest man
In Lucca

Viriathus
& you his fairest jewel
I suppose

Tongina
What?

Viriathus
I care not for riches, go, leave me now
Our contract seal’d, I wait for you a month,
Then man & wife we’ll be, we might know love,
Tomorrow, tho’, today the Romans send
Three caravans up from the southern coast,
Whom, at best time & place convenient,
We’ll intercept each amphorae in turn

Tongina
Sharpen your sword, fight well, within that month
I shall return in the train of my father

They kiss

Viriathus
Until the vows

Tongina
Until the vows

Exit Viriathus one way & Tongina the other –

---

Scene 6b: The Mount of Venus

Enter attendants who scatter rich carpets, exquisite workmanship, gold, silver cups, meatstuffs, wine – Enter Arco the soothsayer & several wedding guests – Viriathus enters & leans on a lance – enter Apano

Apano
Viriathus, Lord Astolpas arrives,
Tongina in his trail, her head is veil’d
As have ancestral womenfolk of ours
Since time’s commence, perhaps you should not slouch,
Better ready yourself to receive her

Viriathus
I am ready, on this lance stood steady
Need no cold throne of state to status raise

Enter Astolpas, Tongina & several guests from Tucca

Astolpas
Are you Viriathus, who has conquer’d
My only daughter’s heart, that never false
Her life has felt allured, our families
Enjoin’d forever by its beating bliss?

Viriathus
That is I & that is us, together
We shall sire the second tier of your brood
Welcome Astolpas, Welcome Tongina

Astolpas
This day the noblest I will ever know
All of Lusitania honours you
Our benefactor, saviour, highest man,
Who giveth bounty as does summer’s rain
Valiant in danger, more beloved
Than any leader in an annal’d age

Viriathus
I would like to mention but a moment
Your sending of nuptial luxuries
As if from some anointed majesty
Ceremonially sent, sickens me,
These chests emitting silver over brim
These carpets of exquisite workmanship
These spice-rich dishes of of flavoursome meat
Pure gold & silver cups, these Gaulish wines,
For these I feel only scorn & contempt
Superb, esteem’d possessions such as these
Are simple prey at the point of a spear
Tell me why Romans attending your feasts
Decline to take dominion of these things
Despite the power theirs

Astolpas
Many Romans
Have whistl’d at my wealth, but none have thought
To take, nor ask,

Viriathus
Then why would you forsake
Those who allow your property in peace

Astolpas
I have ask’d my heart a singular thought
Am I Roman or Lusitanian?

Viriathus
And it says…
{Picking up dirt}
My blood is mixed with this soil

Viriathus
That may be so, but thought bends with the wind
We might aim east but sails may bellow west,
Your city’s inconsistencies unsafe
In warfare, without solidarity

Tongina
The citizens of Tucca are with you
Thro’ my person their loyalty pervades

Viriathus
The people of Tucca are like a man
Decades beyond his first dashing dancers
Who wish’d to take two wives, the younger yank’d
His grey hairs out so he might look her age
The elder did the same to his dark locks
& left a fresh-wash’d feast-bowl on his head
Same fate awaits a city just as yours
Rome attacks her enemies, & we ours,
& so your streets deserted soon shall be.

Tongina
Be tranquil, my darling, this not the time

Astolpas
My daughter, his speech is very fitting
His common sense & concise speaking proves
What right & proper husband he shall be

Soothsayer
Then let the vows of matrimony flow

Viriathus
We are two souls more candid than the Gods
E’er granted, empire of my panting heart
Ye conquer’d, take this pledge hewn from deep faith
{Viriathus offers Tongina a love token}

Tongina
I take from your hand the prize of that faith

Viriathus
Your gentle touch inexpressibly soft,
Yet strength there is inside my beloved

Tongina
Your love a rainbow on a storm-set day
My core sings happinesses, as your charms
Brighten my smile like passing meteors

Soothsayer
You promise constancy?

Tongina
I do

Soothsayer
& you

Viriathus
I do too

Soothsayer
Truly you one soul from two

Viriathus & Tongina kiss

Tongina
You will not be sleeping in your armour
Tonight, my love, dream-drifting skin-on-skin

Viriathus
Eat, drink, sing, dance, make merry all the while,
Up into mountains ride I with my bride,
To consummate our union beneath
The gazes of the gods of stars & skies

Cheers from all / Tongina & Viriathus mount a horse

Viriathus
But recall, while you gorge on your corpses
We shall banquet only on milk & bread
When remember, my clear-headed warriors,
One cannot say sorry for grogginess
Rib-pierc’d by spear-tips of alerter foes
Lusitania

All
Lusitania!

Astolpas
& Viriathus

All
& Virathus

Viraithus waves & rides away with Tongina

---

---

SCENE 7: The Hill of Venus

---

The Lusitanians are gathered around Viriathus, including Nicorontes, Audax, Dialco, Minurus, Astolpas, Tongina & Galucias, the sister of Viriathus

Astolpas
Viriathus

Chorus
Viriathus, Viriathus

Astolpas
Watches over us

Chorus
Over us, over us

Aud. Dit. Min
Lusitania’s, Lusitania’s, Lusitania’s sons
Are the Noblest warriors, warriors

Viriathus
No Roman laws
No Roman bread
We live for liberty & justice instead

Chorus
No Roman laws (no Roman laws)
No Roman bread (no Roman bread)
We live for liberty & justice instead

Galucias
My brother dear, my lord & life
This day is bless’d, propitious day
Consul Popilius has come
In a most suppliant way

Enter Popilius, Servilianus & escort

Popilius
Viriathus

Chorus
Viriathus, Viriathus

Popilius
Sir you honour us

Romans
Honour us, honour us

Viriathus
Rome’s emissaries

Chorus
Emissaries, emissaries

Virathus
Welcome among us

Chorus
Among us, among us

Chorus
Welcome, welcome,
Welcome to our home
Welcome! Welcome!
Ye emissaries of Rome

Viriathus
Come & share the simplest fare of our most humble home

Popilius
We bring you gifts, we bring you gifts
We bring you gifts that were sent from the Senate

Viriathus
Let us see, let us see,
Let us see those gifts sent here by your Senate

Viriathus & Tongina inspect the gifts

Tongina
Jewels, delicacies, riches as these
May please the pleasure-eyed people of Rome
Waylaid by treasures of the dullest sort
But in this land our private thought demands
Sobriety & temperance, & rank
Droplets of liberty above dead gold.

Viriathus
We do not live in your decadent sphere,
Think nothing of the trifles you dare gift
Better to leave this place

Servilianus
Harsh seems your tone

Popilius
We meant no insult, only to endow
Best salutations on you both awed
Sealing respect with gifts as is custom

Viriathus
Your gifts mean nothing to us or my wife,
When luxuries & wickedness entwine
What wretched lifetimes sluggishly ensue
Amply destroyed by excessive leisure

Popilius
I ob-

Viriathus
No words, your Latin taints the air
Go, now, go, go tell your noble senate
Viriathus rejects Rome’s vast riches

Servilianus
You might live to regret such utterance

Virathus
Or better that I die debt-shy & free

Exit Romans

Tongina
They forgot their presents

Viriathus
Burn the dresses
Bar one you like the look of best of all
Distribute the food throughout the country
Those jewels let us trade for Gaulish swords

Tongina
What honour in our house, a proconsul
What shame he ever thought he’d be welcome
They wish our flesh fattening in togas
Some citizen of their dismal cities
As servile as an ox-team to their state
Hemmed in by delibitating progress
Which places boxes on another’s tops
& calls them homes

Ditalco
They show signs of weakness
They come to us like decadent lepers

Minurus
They try & bribe us, fearing feats of arms
Now is the time to strike with all our strength

Viriathus
To strike with all our strength we must improve
Double, treble every effort, reject
Defeat even as possibility
Let perseverance imbue extertion
Energize ability, then triumph
Must follow in the footsteps of the bold

Audax
We are with you Viriathus, lead us
To victory

A great cheer

Viriathus
Return, men, to your homes
See your families, rest & love them well
Then on these slopes our brotherhood resume
When next the moon glows full

All
We shall be here!

Astolpas
Viriathus

Chorus
Viriathus, Viriathus

Astolpas
Watches over us

Chorus
Over us, over us

Viriathus
No Roman laws
No Roman bread
We live for liberty & justice instead

Chorus
No Roman laws (no Roman laws)
No Roman bread (no Roman bread)
We live for liberty & justice instead

---

SCENE 8 – Sierra Morena

Roman Camp in a narrow pass – Proconsul Popilius in his tent – enter Servilianus in a state of agitation

Popilius
Servilianus, whatever the matter?
Your fluster bubbles up with canker fierce

Servilianus
The siege of Erisana is broken,
That Viriathus somehow snook inside
To sally at our circumvallations
Now we are routed, elephants scatter’d,
Hardly a quarto of the force remains,
The foe in hard pursuit

Popilius
How close

Servilianus
A mile
or less….

Alarum blows

Herald
General, Proconsul, we are
Under attack, the camp is over-run

Popilius
Draw you sword, Servilianus, let us
Die today, together, fighting bravely
As would our ancestors, let the Senate
Speak our names with pride, my friend

Servilianus
It is drawn

They embrace / enter Viriathus & several men / Sevilianus & Popilius are standing back to back

Viriathus
Consul Popilius, we bring you gifts
Even your Jupiter could not refuse
They are the gifts of life, you wish to live?

Popilius
Of course, I have a family

Viriathus
& you

Servilianus
I do

Viriathus
Then lower your keen-edged weapons

Servilianus
How can we trust you

Viriathus
Well I understand
How trust wilts fickle under Roman gaze
But this is Lusitania, our word
Our bond, if Lusitanians offer you
Your lives they are assured, submit your arms
{Popilius & Servilianus hand over their weapons}
This is a precinct of Rome no longer
So say the soldiers of our blood conjoined;
Turdentanians, Bastetanians,
Vettones, Conii, Callaecians
Turduli, Carpetnani, Celticii –
Where there’s unity, there is victory,
Before them your legions were defeated,
The dreadful sounds of slaughter snaking ears,
Escape is impossible, surrender
Unconditional must be, the only
Chance you have to save seven thousand lives
Do you accept

Popilius
What are the terms

Viriathus
{pointing to a map}
You must
Withdraw from here & here & here & here
Then recognize our rule in those places
& everywhere from here to here & here
Return’d to Rome, ratified by senate,
Whenever my country in discussion
Say, ‘amici populi romani,’

Popilius
Such butterfly humility you bring,
Request no extraordinary stretch

Servilianus
Your terms are fair, you could have ask’d far more

Viriathus
My people tire of war, too many scenes
Of blood practicioners, this victory
Denoument deserves, let it be enough
You are surrounded & facing
Certain annhialation, your men
Are hiding under barrack tents in fear
We’re set to burn them down with them beneath
Unless prepar’d surrender is now sign’d
{handing over scroll}
Peruse it please

Popilius
Our defeat so assured
{Popilius reads the scroll}
Excellent Latin, tad colloquial,
But polish’d

Viriathus
Will you sign or will you die

Popilius
I will sign

Popilius signs the scroll

Viriathus
Now we are friends & allies
Tho’ better not to socialise today
You both are free to leave, & all your men,
But none of your possessions may you take
Except the shoes & clothes each wears this hour.

Popilius
You are very gracious Viriathus
I promise to personally assure
This treaty in the Senate, made witness
By Proconsul Popilius

Servilianus
& I
General Servilianus
Shall honour its progression into law
You are an admirable opponent
Fighting like some black panther in the dark
Made pale-faced moon look bloody upon Earth,
I’ve never met a mind as sharp as yours
From Syria out to the Belgic Seas.

Popilius
The day has been decided, & our fates
Servilianus, round up the soldiers
I need to write to Rome…
{exit Servilianus, Popilius turns to Viriathus}
So… would you mind

Viriathus
This tent now ours, Popilius, would you…

Popilius
Of course

Exit Popilius

Audax
You see how swiftly he effects
The old, grating, superior manner
The inks not yet dry on the surrender
Before the Romans thought they held command
We should not sit as timid as a lamb
We should just kill them all

Viriathus
But if we do
Rome will never forget, an eternal
Surge of vengeance will break against our land

Minurus
But they will surely break the oath

Viriathus
Perhaps
But if they do we’ll prove their better match
In adventures catching perilous days
Each fresh defeat inspires the beleagur’d,
Far better to refuse such resurgance
& leave them simmering surrender’s stew

Ditalco
Talk later boys, of boring politics,
We share the greatest victory today,
What are we waiting for, lets celebrate

Viriathus
Yes, of course, to the victor goes the spoils
The Romans say, & give the lion’s share
For them who fought like lions in the fray

---

---

Scene 9: The Roman Senate

The Senate is discussing the treaty of Viriathus

Magistrate
Senators, the order of the day
Discussion on the Viriathic war
Of how it was concluded, then shall we
Elect by vote appropriate response
First to the floor Popilius…

Popilius
Senate!
Praise Viriathus, that sinewy Prince,
With great sagacity he broke the spears
Namore of our brave soldiers need to die,
Lunging at the Lusitanian lynx
Who wins our gratitudinal respect
For letting us depart him uninjur’d
Upon one point of honour, Rome permits
Hiis peoples an undisturb’d possession
Of native territories, as our friends
& even allies, Servilianus
Was with me, there, when surrender was sign’d
& wishes to speak

Popilius
Popilius
Thank you proconsul
Upon the same terms already mention’d
A treaty was concluded on all sides –
The termination of tedious wars
Such troublesome & tribulating trials
That might have brought a second turgid Troy
But lacking sheer battlements to besiege
For in this age of prosaic spirits
It seems as if Achilles reappears
With Venus weaving godcraft thro’ his deads
A lover & a master of the wars
Fought only for love of gore & glory
Since Viriathus chose to oppose us
Since word of his brutalities return’d
Enrollment in the legions plummets low
Are we to funnel blood & flesh inside
His maw of murder, ’till we bleed no more,
Senators, please greet this treaty fairly,
& vote for Viriathus as a friend.

Magistrate
Galba, stand, you wish to make a statement,

Galba
Senators of our majestic city
& many other cities in the stride,
This treaty is, in the highest degree,
Dishonorable to all we stand for
Staining Servilianus’s career
In short, Viriathus is barbaric
Beheading, disembowels as he please,
A bandit on an unsubsistive soil
For them a border is a line to cross
At will, to empty innocents of blood
While toppling pillars, pillaging purile,
His existence a spider in my mind
For since my childhood games I doted on
Destroying dark daemonicals like him

Popilius
Objection, you paint him as a monster
No, he is human to the high ascent
Owning a unifying spiritus
That never in the axle of this war
Spinning spokes of tribal variety
Was ever sewn sedition; all obey’d,
Render’d fearless in presence of dangers,
Distendent of the pleasures of the world,
As statesman he was neither knelt humble,
Nor leaping overbearing into leagues;
Faithful, exact, aequis, veritable
Vir Duzque Magnus, ancient ideals
Penetrate each atom of his system
& as the adsertor of Hispania
Let us assert our honour to his will
Make good his claims in the eyes of the world
Too many lost already in that place
We owe him our respect

Galba
We owe him death
& retribution for our youthbloom lost

Magistrate
Tranquility & silence! Opposing
Hills where Romulus & Remus quarrell’d,
Or like headlands of the Massillian
Harbours art thou, choose your moor, drop your ball,
The vote is open, senators, the floor

The Vote Begins & ends

Magistrate
What is the vote this day, for war or peace

Magistrate’s assistant
Peace

Lucius
Peace is beautiful

Popilius
Beautiful peace

Magistrate
Then all is settl’d here, & Rome accepts
Completion of the Viriathic war
For like each thing that in its season grows
Peace blossoms to a universal praise
& all may leave these halls more dignified.

Exit all but Quintus Servilius Caepio & Servilianus

Caepio
Brother, what have you done this torrid hour

Servilianus
What do you mean?

Caepio
This terrible treaty
Unworthy of the populace of Rome

Servilianus
What can be done

Caepio
A spot of ruthlessness ne’er goes amiss
I want to lead a legion against him
This Viriathius, who all think a god
If he is human he can be got at

Servilianus
As all men might, but brother pray beware
This human is the rarest specimen,
The legend who has never known defeat,
Unwielding to the starkest privations
Excels he in mind’s powers, & is swift
In planning, accomplishes what’s needful
Does only what he reckons must be done,
While over hills & rough, uneven ways
His men prowl like sleek leopards on the verge,
Observing every movement, skins suntann’d,
Weather’d by wind, harder than ox leather,
Toughest of all their mighty leader sleeps
In armour, every night, ready to prance
To combat a second after waking

Caepio
In warfare, when seeking best success
To know one’s foe the vital pivot forms

Servilianus
Wise Caepio
You have my blessing, you are strong & young
Defeats are defeats, however noble
Come let us dine & talk of my campaign
Learn from its errors, induce fresh insights.

Caepio & Servilianus begin to leave the hall

Caepio
To abandon the war too dangerous
I shall write letter after long letter
Make points like falcons snapping into voles
To lead a legion personally there
In order to procure a treaty-break
Secretly of course, from this we’ll provoke
Viriathus to retributive war
My blame will be buried in the uproar

Exit Caepio & Servilianus

---

Scene 10: The Temple of Melqart, Gades

Caepio is addressing his legion with Sempronius

Caepio
Sense, soldiers, tutelary spirits
Made welcome at the the temple of Melqart,
We arrive in Hispania at purpose
To render Lusitania servile
As we have tried before, but treaties fail’d,
Dispersing us for we did not present
The destiny-commission’d face of Rome
Distaste instead swept thro’ such enterprise,
& we are here to rectify the shame
Combined together in this famous space
The very spot where Heracles once slew
The snow white bull, before he flash’d beyond
The Pillars – observing familiar rites
We shall emulate him in sacrifice,
As man immortal paragon became
Leap upwards into clouds of Heaven’s vaults,
By brave endeavors of our very own,
The wandering eyes of the goddesses
Make focus on our deeds… men, let us sing
A paean to Heracles, he shall hear
Our voices as we praise his holy tasks.

---

TWELVE LABOURS

Herakles, Herakles,
Step out of your plaster frieze
Sunder mountain, rip up trees
Herocial Herakles!

Herakles, Herakles,
Come & bless us if you please
Sunder mountain, rip up trees
Herocial Herakles!

Slay, slay the Nemean lion
Hippolyta’s girdle find
Slay, slay, the birds Stymphalian
Capture the Ceryneian hind

The Nine heads of Hydra each decapitate
& Augean Stables decontaminate
& the boar Erymanthian was captured in thick woven snow

Herakles, Herakles,
Step out of your plaster frieze
Sunder mountain, rip up trees
Herocial Herakles!

Herakles, Herakles,
Come & bless us if you please
Sunder mountain, rip up trees
Herocial Herakles!

Steal, steal the golden apples
Of the luscious Hespiredes
Steal, steal the horses dappl’d
Kept by Thracian Diomedes

The Nine heads of Hydra each decapitate
& Augean Stables decontaminate
& the boar Erymanthian was captured in thick woven snow

---

Caepio
In dangerous times things change in the dirt
Today they bask in a moment of sun,
Like the warm afternoon atween the frosts
But dungeon-days of such a shameful peace
Never writ to exist indefinite,
From unnatural disinheritance
Rome’s progress was always meant to resume,
With one last push Hispania must fall
Our wines of victory fermenting yet
Our enemies are slaver-beasts at best,
Crude, uneducated frugality
No match shall be for well-fed legionnaires
Soldiers, are you with me, are you ready,
For names to be etched in books of fame

The Legion
Aye-Aye-Aye

Caepio
Then let us march together,

The legion cheers – Centurians give commands – trumpets blow – soldiers begin to march past Caepio & Sempronius

Sempronius
Inspiring words, Quintus Servilius,
The men are certainly ready to fight
But how exactly do you mean to win
Upon the heels of deadly disasters
As birds observe & learn each others calls
When danger nears, alarum in the skies,
I urge your upmost caution on campaign

Caepio
This confederation feverish fluke
Or Viriathus conjurer of sorts
The peoples of Iberia possess
No innate inclination to resolve
Their tribal grudges for the greater good,
Maintaining into factions every breath,
But being born backlegged into life
These are mere sheep to be scatter’d at once
When shepherd slain, in timid ones & twos.
{Saluting troops}
I have a plan, Sempronius, we’ll see
If all the Lusitani share the will
To dress the sparse harshness of Spartan lives
Across their naked skins while seeing silks,
Let us isolate mercenary minds,
Find in their greed our triumph was enshrined

---

---

Scene 11:  Sierra Morena

A meeting of all the Lusitanian chiefs – Viriathus is passing out bread & meat

Viriathus
My generals, my warriors, my friends
You are to me as if another self
Take this meat & bread, tear them into stars
Consume them all before me, while you do,
Mine eyes ensparkling with the brotherhood,
I’ll feed off your warfare’s ferocity
Your loyalty my only nourishment
I trust you all implicitly, whom here
Shall aim straight truth out of rambunctious war

Audax
It is not easy on the ear, my lord

Viriathus
Be frank, tell me…

Audax
We are bruising sorely
My own brother deadslain in train’d battles
The Romans are the strongest I have seen
Reinforced with unheard of frequency
From Africa – it seems they shall not rest
Until we are choken on our own gore

Viriathus
How goes important scorchings of the earth

Camalo
It is as you wish’d, but much suffering
Afflicts the people while Ostia sends
Succorful ships that just keep on coming

Minurus
The sun sets weeping in the seagirt west
Us watching with a wearier espy
Caepio is ruthless, Viriathus,
While country folk down lay their arms all sides
He waters his horses in the Tagus,
& plunders Turdetania for stores

Arantonio
Where all was joy now langour & distress
& anger – our allies’ fields lay wasted
The Vettones, Gallacaeci reluctant
To fight –

Ditalco
Caepio makes war without a conscience
He has turn’d the tide against us harshly

Viriathus
That may be so, but it will turn again
By Hannibal the Romans were themselves
Invaded & their capital besieged
Without those walls they would be Africans
We have walls too, not those of piled up stone
But knowledge of the land, our will to fight
& bonds between us, indestructable
Immovable, like the dog of a house

Astolpas
The heads of all our villages & towns
Are slaughter’d at the point them recogonis’d
Left wild to monster carrion & worms
& any Roman subjects thay they find
Among us, see hands sliced off at the wrist
The rest to living slavery then sold
Beholding daily dwindling meagreness
We are exhausted – we must sue for peace
I am no tyrant listening to pleas
Of reason, no, this is noit the season
For open warfare over such a foes
Audax, Ditalco, Minurs, shall go
As friends & chosen confidantes, einto
The enemy camp, Caepio seek out
& communicate to him my message
I am prepeared to end the war today
On terems yet undecided, but assured
In favour of Rome’s strengthening status
Do you accept the envoy

Audax
Aye

Minurus
Aye

Ditalco
Aye

Arantonio
This is a mistake, do you not sense it

Viriathus
Our women are dying, what can I do
Without them, the Lusitani wither
They must be saved to shelter our seedlings
No, Ditalco, Audax & Minurus
Each one of you I choose for possessing
Indispensible, ambassadorial
Attributes – balance, loyalty, wisdom
Worldly speech – most clever in consulship
Amid foes bellicose, with flawless words
Each of ye three present an olive branch
To Caepio, while echoing my voice.

Ditalco
Together we lay a firm foundation
Of peace on which shall flourish liberty

Viriathus
The future of all Lusitania
Invested in your pivotal success
Go well my friends, the vital hour has come.

Exit Minurus, Audax & Ditalco

Virathus
They will be back tomorrow, until then
We all are still at war – remain alert

---

Scene 12:
A Mountain Top

Cabruno is railing at a wild & musical storm

Cabruno
O what a storm it is that shakes my soul
The roaring winds aslant old skygates roll
Trees toss their branches, leaves for freedom lurch
At scudding white clouds, in these future lies
In divinations I shall analyze
The reasons in each skysculpt swept in search.

Enter Arco

Arco
Hullo Cabruno, quite the serpent gale
I too was summon’d hither with the wail
The voices of the bird host, the very
Syllables they utter, summon’d by storm;
The wren, listen, twitters ominously
Its notes like diamond lights in daemon form

Cabruno
While you the croakings & the calls compute
I too will draw my augurs from the root
Of crooked tree, the skeletons of sheep
Portent naked & murderous mischief
Mine inner ear has heard a widow weep
Her tears are welling deep without relief

Arco
Out to the moonrise run your ruby gaze
Perceive the limits of its waning phase
Follow tight flock of eagles as they fly
Across its face, now blotting out its light,
When life eclipses life one life shall die
Down stricken in the darkness of the night

Cabruno
Who is the one that like that silver sphere
Did brighten our black tapestry of fear
Whom is the one who rose into the stars
The one we looked to for our strength sky-sent
Who is the one who brighter shone than mars
Our one & only true luminescent

Arco
The birds are busy fretting at the earth
The kite is set to claim its talon’s worth
Of flesh, grey-coated scallycrows sighted,
The famish’d falcon screams, the scop owls bark,
While far off & aloofly affrighted
Raven sails across this tremulous dark

Cabruno
Is it Viriathus

Arco
Aye, it is him,
The long light of his star-days growing dim
We still have time for warning if we speed
Down to the valley, steal a pretty steed

Cabruno
Aye, if we hurry we might save him yet

Arco
So let us run & dash & pant & sweat

Exit Arco & Cabruno

---

Scene 13: The Roman Camp

Caepio & Sempronius are being entertained by belly dancers

Herald
Sir

Caepio
What is it, can’t you see I’m busy

Herald
Three of the savage captains are in camp

Caepio
Were they captured

Herald
No, of their own accord
Weaponless & wielding olive branches

Virathus
I knew they would come, this phalanx of peace
Send them in & fetch my treasury
Silver, spices, furs & silks, let us see
If savages can yet be civilised

Herald
Yes sir

Exit Herald / Caepio dismisses the dancing girls with a wave of his hand

Sempronius
Quintus, you calculating cad
How did you do it

Caepio
I have done nothing yet
But if I know Humanity at all
By love of lucre loyalty lacks weight
& each man has his price,

Enter Herald

Herald
Sir, they are here

Caepio
Bring them

Herald makes a gesture to the tents door – enter gaurds with Audax, Ditalco & Minurus

Herald
Audax, Ditalco, Minurus

Caepio
Welcome brave opponents, are you hungry
There’s meat & wine aplenty, help yourself

Audax
We do not come to dine, but to entreat
A peace negotiated, end this war
This jagged, manifest predicament
That has a decade laid two nations waste
The canker-sorrow eating at the buds
Of handsome youth

Caepio
Two nations, what you say
I’d hardly call them that – one a motley
Collection of tribes, half-starved & bleeding,
Who push against the other, whose bare hands
Grab the blades of my nation of nations,
Whose strong heart pulses blood to every point
Relentlessly, we have much youth to spare…
But… where is the style in such attrition
Where is the honour in guerilla wars
I too would rather end the war today
But on my terms & only those, do you
Understand

Ditalco
There will be no surrender

Caepio
Rememeber, noble chieftans, your houses
& as you mind recalls once rich repose
Look all around you, lands lost, farmers slain,
Your towns deserted – would you not prefer
To be a wealthy landowner of Rome
The choice you possess, as far as I see,
Is that, or some landless desperado
Become, come, glance about this tent, its style
Let slip into your soul with acceptance

Audax
What do you mean

Minurus
What does he want, you mean

Caepio
I shall speak plainly of the occasion
Kill Viriathius

Audax
What

Minurus
It cannot be

Caepio
It is so, I wish you three to conduct
Assassination, amply rewarded
Shall you be – with lands, jewels & respect

Audax
How dare you dare to ask us such a blight

Sempronius
Each day he lives a hundred more are slain
Both sides are bleeding but yours bleeds the most

Minurus
This is outrageous

Ditalco
& quite difficult
On account of his excessive labours
He little sleeps & when he does he wears
Impressive armour, so when him arous’d
Emergencies are tackled instant pois’d

Audax
Ditalco, brother, what

Ditalco
Relax Audax
As the foremost earsmen of his counsel
The gaurds shall be no trouble if at night
We wish’d, with Vitriathus, to converse

Minurus
What is this?

Audax
What madness overwhelms you

Ditalco
Old friends, we must think of our families
Rome is irrepressible, better we
Live under them than die the death futile

Audax
You really would betray Viriathus

Ditalco
I’m ready, yes, to save lives of thousands

Audax
Must it be so

Ditalco
There is not other way

Caepio
Viriathus must die & die tonight
If what I know of him is half a truth
He will see deception in an eyelash

Audax
It seems I cling unto a flimsy branch
With an oak tree below me being fell’d

Minurus
I cannot stand it

Ditalco
There is Tongina

Minurus
Tongina?

Ditalco
Yes, Minurus, made widow, in the grief
You could offer her shoulders to catch salt-tears

Audax
I will do it, I love him, but his life
Endangers all we know

Ditalco
Will you join us

Minurus nods silently in agreement

Caepio
I see
Audax, take these diamonds as a token
Of friendly intent, for Minurus gold
& for you, Ditalco, pure emeralds

Ditalco
How shall you be informed when all is done

Viriathus
Oh, I shall know, there will be an uproar,
But noise to settle soon enough, of course,
Blood flows then dries then dissapears in winds
These matters are forgotten in mere months
& Viriathus’ name a buried bone
Go to it, do not dally in the deed

Exit Ditalco, Minurus & Aulax

Sempronius
They will never carry

Caepio
My thought differs
I saw the twitch for riches, caught the gasp,
Feint to us, but blowing storm within,
For money, men would sacrifice the skins
Of dead grandmothers, no, the act will pass

---

---

Scene 14: The Tent of Viriathus

Viriathus is sleeping / Audax, Minurus & Ditalco enter quietly / at a given signal Minurus holds Virathus down, Audax yanks back his head & Ditalco stabs him through the throat

Audax
{whispering}
It is passed, Viriathus, he is dead

Minurus
What have we done

Ditalco
We have stilled the slaughter

Audax
His body is a sacrifice to peace

Ditalco
Washing the blood away enables time
Before discovery, by when we shall
Be far-off & safe from this fatal thrust

Audax
But Caepio first, our promise fulfill’d

Minurus
Our murder done, you mean

Ditalco
Please, Minurus
Let it go, the gnawing rat of conscience
Replace with hopes of happier futures
For all of us & all our families

Audax
Tongina’s grief awaits a tender friend

Exit Minurus, Audax & Ditalco – the sun rises – enter Gulucia

Gulucia
Good morming my lord, time to face the day
Such an unusually long repose
Your lovely wife attendance shall make soon
Let me bathe you in fragrant rosewater
Tongina loves her husband to be clean
If you do so permit… Viriathus
Are you awake, master, are you alive?

Gulucia takes off the helmet of Viriathus – he rushes out of the tent & returns a few moments later with Camalo & Arantonio

Gulucia
Awake Viriathus , awake,

Arantonio
Shake him

Camalo
{checking pulse}
He is dead

Arantonio
Dead!?

Camalo
But how

Gulucia
It cannot be

Arantonio
What pungent hail of woes rain upon us
With painful jolts, then melting drench in tears

Camalo
Could this be murder, instinct wrangles thus
At point of greatest danger made bereft
Of our general & his genius

Arantonio
A timely happenstance make no mistake
A poisoning perhaps

Gulucia
Impossible
Each liquid drop, each morsel I prepare

Camalo
Then you our chief focus of suspicion

Enter Arco & Cabruno

Arco
It was not him

Arantonio
Soothsayer, what you say?

Arco
Who else had access to this tent last night

Camalo
Minurus, Audax, Ditalco, yes them
{Cabruno goes to inspect the body}
But

Arco
But what

Camalo
But it could not have been them
Why would they…

Cabruno
Look, here, daggertip punctures
Point deeply where the chinskin folds o’er throat

Gulucia
O day of grief, of weeping of despair
Of Lusitanian lamentations
Whose like shall ne’er be heard

Arantonio
Men, we must try
To hold as noble bearing as befits
The virtuousness of Viriathus
Prepare the pyre, send messengers abroad
The funeral begins tomorrow dusk

Cabruno
We must down hunt these treacherous jcackals

Arco
The gods will find a better fate for them
Than instant death before their guilt consumes
Their living fibres like a wasting plague

Enter Tongina

What is happening, what is the matter
With Viriathus, stand aside at once

Gulucia
Tongina – he is – he is

Arantonio
He is dead

Tongina
{wailing}
No————– But how

Arco
Murder

Camalo
By murderers foul

Cabruno
By Minurus, Audax & Ditalco

Tongina
How do you know

Arco
We know

Tongina
Why would they so

Arantonio
Roman gold?

Gulucia
They met with Caepio on the behalf
Of Viriathus hours before his death

Tongina
Too much, too much! Too little have I loved
This man enough, I shared him far too long,
Go, all of you go, leave us,
I wish to be alone with my husband

Exit all apart from Tongina

Tongina
When I met you I caught a falling star,
Your heart it was, that whisper’d unto me,
‘I love you,’ with a sigh-tempest of breath,
This breath gone now, & like a melt of snow
That make no noise, your silence ends our joys,
For we are ever absent from the sphere
That is the intersuredness of love,
Knock upon its memorial entrance,
I’ll never get back in, my own profess
Of love, like gold to airy thinness beat;
What sadness has descended on my soul!
The firmness of my being now in thrall
To some dark watcher, ever thro’ my days
That stands & haunts me ’till I weep once more!

---

Scene 15: The Roman Camp

Caepio is reading a scroll / enter Sempronius with Audax, Ditalco & Minurus

Sempronius
Enter, Caepio has been awaiting

Audax
It is done

Caepio
What is done

Ditalco
We have killed him

Caepio
O you have have you

Audax
We did as you asked

Caepio
Did I, O yes I did, but as men might
Change their own minds I seem to have changed mine

Ditalco
You have what

Caepio
Weeelll – I thought about it more
& realised it never pleases Rome
When Generals are slain by her soldiers
No, not at all, as such I cannot deal
with such dishonorable men as you

Audax
But our rewards

Caepio
Will not be forthcoming

Sempronius
We must set an example for the world
Traitors who bounty chiefs shall not be paid

Caepio
But I am not a man who lets distaste
Oertake decision-making, you may keep
Whatever you were given yester-e’en,
Safely, of course

Minurus
This is dark remission
You gave us your word, sworn on your Senate
In the eyes of your gods you must stand true

Caepio
My gods! stand true! this is quite a pickle

---

YE EAGLES OF ROME

Brothers in arms stick together
In the face of stormy weather
But the clever ones find shelter from the gales
& families of warriors
That shake a spear & roar at us
Are falling side by side in wild travails

Because Rome, Rome!
Rome is the greatest of them all
As we up rise the rest downfall
Because were Rome

Because Rome, Rome!
Rome is the greatest of them all
As we up rise the rest downfall
Because were Rome

Fly fly, ye legions of Rome
Go find a new home, fly, fly

Fly fly, ye eagles of Rome
Go find a new home, fly, fly

Brothers in arms stick together
In the face of all whatever
& we’ll never leave our honour to the crows
& families of warriors
That shake a spear & roar at us
Are falling side by side in crimson rows

Because Rome, Rome!
Rome is the greatest of them all
As we up rise the rest downfall
Because were Rome

Because Rome, Rome!
Rome is the greatest of them all
As we up rise the rest downfall
Because were Rome

Fly fly, ye legions of Rome
Go find a new home, fly, fly

Fly fly, ye eagles of Rome
Go find a new home, fly, fly

---

Caepio
I tell you what – why don’t you go to Rome
& bring it up with them, yes, they might pay
But me, I’m busy working on the war
Yes, better, that you go to Rome, & soon
Your countrymen will think the case severe
Diminuating names to shame’s disgrace

Audax
Your mind serpentine has mischief’d us

Caepio
No, not at all, your damage wrought by greed
Now leave me, I would not suffer the air
Of traitors creeping into honest lungs.

Ditalco
You scandalous scoundrel,

Caepio
Yes, goodbye… guards!
These murderous rascals throw from the camp

Minurus
This is outrageousness

Caepio
You are dismiss’d

Gaurds excort Audax, Minurus & Ditalco from the tent

Caepio
There is never honour, Sempronius,
In betraying one’s own for money mere

---

Scene 16:  A Mountain Valley

The body of Viriathus, clad in splendid garments & holding a falcata sword, is lain on a funerary pyre – troops of ssoldiers in armour form a circle around it – Can=bruno is sacrificing an animal

Cabruno
Ye gods of heaven, gods of underground,
What righteous sort has severed from the coil
That binds the universe to its bodies
We offer you this tender sacrifice
To carry Viriathus to the stars
Where he may gaze upon hour lives once more
{Tongina wails}
Our sun of finest magnitude has set
His life an inspiration to the song
Of those his spirit moves thro,’ we who mourn
His name’s elated immortality
To Viriathus

All
Viriathus, huh!

***

RECITATIVO TO THE DEAD

All
Viriathus (Viriathus, Viriathus)
You were glorious (glorius, glorious)
We ask you special spirit to watch over us

Repeat in a series of key changes until reaching the orginal key

---

Scene 17:  The Roman Senate

The Closing of the Viriathic War

Magistrate
Senators, the war of Viriathus
Is over, we have word from Saguntum
The same city Hannibal overthrew
& named New Carthage, just as Roman arms
Ensured to it Saguntum soon return’d,
So have the Lusitani surrender’d
To Caepio on favour’d conditions
They shall be simply subjects under Rome
Not friends, nor allies, as our former pact,
We vote today upon two positions;
The first – do we honour Caepio’s change
To the status of Lusitania
& if so, do we honour his return
With a glorious triumph into Rome,
Senators, your balls, let reason speak

The vote

Magistrate
How go the counts

Magistrate’s assistant
On the matter of law
Caepio’s conquest has been ratified
But there shall be no triumph for the coup

Magistrate
Very well, let these be struck on record
But there is one last appertanation
In reccomendation to your judgement,
The death of Viriathus wholly caus’d
By three of his own chieftans, they here seek
Renumeration, one of them shall speak
His name Ditalco, fetch him to the floor

Magistrate’s assistant brings in Ditalco

Magistrate
Well, you are here, what wish you to impart

Servilianus
Do not let him speak

Labaecus
He’s a murderer

Popilius
Barbarian

Senator 1
Regicide

Senator 2
Assassin

Ditalco
Let me speak

Servilianus
Rome will never pay traitors,
Who slay their chiefs

Ditalco
But we cannot go home
Caepio’s promise

Labaceus
Is not the senates’
Your leader was a noble man & you
Slew him for enrichment – you, the most vile

Magistrate
It seems the Senate does not wish to hear
Your case, this is a brain’d predicament,
Which we shall solve hen best course sprung to mind –
You are welcome to stay in the city
& work for your living – or better still
Join with the legions, their ranks depleted
Since Viriathus rose among your kind,
We need good soldiers, yes, this course is best,
Your case dismissed, please leave the Senate floor,

Enter Romans singing, Fly, Fly, Ye eagles of Rome……..’ / The Roman soldiers change the clothes of Ditalco to that of a Roman legionary

---