Corabino monologue (Act 2) — Numantia

I would that mighty Jove, in sovereign grace, Might grant our gallant youth this very day To meet the Roman army face to face, Where'er their arms might have the freest play. Not death itself, in such a happy case, Would keep their Spanish fortitude at bay; They'd hew a pathway, beat the foemen down, And succour bring to our Numantian town. But since we find ourselves in this sad state, Like women harboured and by force confined, Then let us do our utmost in the strait, And show a daring and determined mind; Let us invite our foes to test their fate By single combat; haply we shall find That, worn out by this siege and lengthened fray, They fain would end it in this simple way. But if this remedy should not succeed, And this our just demand should baffled be, One other plan may bring us better speed, Though more laborious, as it seems to me: That ditch and battled trench, which now impede Our passage to the foeman's camp ye see, By sudden night assault let us break through, And march for succour to good friends and true.