Calpurnius: This same road which runs by the brook down here in the
forest. (_Pointing L._) It crosses Rome and goes straight to the sea
again--again beyond the sea it turns and strikes to Jerusalem four
thousand miles from where we stand to-night, Rome made it. Rome guards
it, and where it runs Rome rules. You cannot conquer Rome--until the
road's destroyed.
Gleva: I will destroy it.
Calpurnius: Only Rome can destroy it. (_A pause._) Gleva, let what I
say sink deep into your heart. A minute ago I sneered at the road. I
blasphemed. The roads are my people's work. While it builds roads,
it's Rome, it's the Unconquerable. But when there are no new roads in
the making and the weeds sprout between the pavements of the old ones,
then your moment's coming. When the slabs are broken and no company
marches down from the hill to mend them, it has come. Launch your
chariots then, Gleva! Rome's day is over, her hand tired. She has
grown easy and forgotten. But while Rome does Rome's appointed work,
beware of her! Not while the road runs straight from Regnum to the
Wall, shall you or any of you prevail.
Gleva (_looking inscrutably._) No, I cannot conquer Rome.
[_A moment's pause._]
Calpurnius: Listen!
Gleva: The sound upon the road has ceased.
Calpurnius: There are no longer men marching.
Gleva: All have gone over the hill to the sea.
Calpurnius: Yes. There's a freshness in the air, a breath of wind. The
morning comes----
Gleva: I cannot conquer Rome.
[_A trumpet rings out clear from the top of the hill. The morning
is beginning to break. There is the strange light which comes when
moonlight and the dawn meet._]