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And all our praises of him are like streams Drawn from a spring, that still rise full, and leave The part remaining greatest.

Arr. I am sure

He was too great for us, and that they knew
Who did remove him hence.

Sab. When men grow fast

Honour'd and loved, there is a trick in state,
Which jealous princes never fail to use,
How to decline that growth, with fair pretext,
And honourable colours of employment,
Either by embassy, the war, or such,
To shift them forth into another air,
Where they may purge, and lessen; so was he
And had his seconds there, sent by Tiberius,
And his more subtile dam, to discontent him;
To breed and cherish mutinies; detract
His greatest actions; give audacious check.
To his commands; and work to put him out
In open act of treason. All which snares
When his wise cares prevented,' a fine poison
Was thought on, to mature their practices.

Enter SEJANUS talking to TERENTIUS; followed by SATRIUS, NATTA, &c.

Cor. Here comes Sejanus.*
Sil. Now observe the stoops,

The bendings, and the falls.

8 Vid. Tacit. Lib. ii. Ann. p. 28 et p. 34. Dio. Rom. Hist. Lib. lvii. p. 705.

Con. Tacit. Ann. Lib. ii. p. 39. de occultis mandatis Pisoni,et postea p. 42, 43, 48. Orat. D. Celeris. Est Tibi Augustæ conscientia, est Cæsaris favor, sed in occulto, &c. Leg. Suet. Tib. c. 52. Dio. p. 706.

iVid. Tacit. Ann. Lib. ii. p. 46, 47. Lib. iii. p. 54. et Suct. Cal. c. 1 et 2.

* De Sejano vid. Tacit. Ann. Lib. i. p. 9. Lib. iv. princip. et per tot. Suet. Tib. Dio. Lib. lvii. lviii. et Plin. et Senec.

Arr. Most creeping base!

Sej. [to Natta.] I note them well: no more. Say you?

Sat. My lord,

There is a gentleman of Rome would buy-
Sej. How call you him you talk'd with?
Sat. Please your lordship,

It is Eudemus,' the physician
To Livia, Drusus' wife.

Sej. On with your suit.

Would buy, you said

Sat. A tribune's place, my lord.
Sej. What will he give?

Sat. Fifty sestertia.

Sej. Livia's physician, say you, is that fellow? Sat. It is, my lord: Your lordship's answer. Sej. To what?

Sat. The place, my lord. 'Tis for a gentleman Your lordship will well like of, when you see him; And one, that you may make yours, by the grant. Sej. Well, let him bring his money, and his

name.

Sat. Thank your lordship. He shall, my lord.
Sej. Come hither.

Know you this same Eudemus? is he learn'd?
Sat. Reputed so, my lord, and of deep practice.
Sej. Bring him in, to me, in the gallery;
And take you cause to leave us there together:
I would confer with him, about a grief-

On.

[Exeunt Sejanus, Satrius, Terentius, &c. Arr. So! yet another? yet? O desperate state Of groveling honour! seest thou this, O sun, And do we see thee after? Methinks, day Should lose his light, when men do lose their shames,

1 De Eudemo isto vid. Tacit. Ann. Lib. iv.

p. 74.

Monetæ nostræ 375 lib. vid. Budæum de asse, Lib. ii. p. 64.

And for the empty circumstance of life,'
Betray their cause of living.
Sil. Nothing so."

Sejanus can repair, if Jove should ruin.

He is now the court god; and well applied
With sacrifice of knees, of crooks, and cringes;
He will do more than all the house of heaven
Can, for a thousand hecatombs. "Tis he
Makes us our day, or night; hell, and elysium
Are in his look: we talk of Rhadamanth,
Furies, and firebrands; but it is his frown
That is all these; where, on the adverse part,
His smile is more, than e'er yet poets feign'd
Of bliss, and shades, nectar

Arr. A serving boy!

I knew him, at Caius' trencher," when for hire He prostituted his abused body

To that great gormond, fat Apicius;

And was the noted pathic of the time.

Sab. And, now," the second face of the whole world!

The partner of the empire, hath his image
Rear'd equal with Tiberius, born in ensigns;
Commands, disposes every dignity,
Centurions, tribunes, heads of provinces,
Prætors and consuls; all that heretofore
Rome's general suffrage gave, is now his sale.
The gain, or rather spoil of all the earth,
One, and his house, receives.

And for the empty circumstance of life,
Betray their cause of living.]

Et propter vitam, vivendi perdere causam.

Juv. Sat. viii. v. 84.

"De ingenio, moribus, et potentia Sejani, leg. Tacit. Ann. Lib. iv. p. 74. Dio Rom. Hist. Lib. lvii. p. 708.

• Caius divi Augusti nepos. Cons. Tacit. Ann. Lib. iv. p. 74, et Dio. Lib. lvii. p. 706.

P Juv. Sat. x. v. 63, &c. Tacit, ibid. Dion. ibid. et sic passim.

Sil. He hath of late

Made him a strength too, strangely, by reducing
All the prætorian bands into one camp,

Which he commands: pretending that the soldiers,
By living loose and scatter'd, fell to riot;
And that if any sudden enterprize

Should be attempted, their united strength
Would be far more than sever'd; and their life
More strict, if from the city more removed.
Sab. Where, now, he builds what kind of forts
he please,

Is heard to court the soldier by his name,
Woos, feasts the chiefest men of action,
Whose wants, not loves, compel them to be his.
And though he ne'er were liberal by kind,'
Yet to his own dark ends, he's most profuse,
Lavish, and letting fly, he cares not what
To his ambition.

Arr. Yet, hath he ambition?

Is there that step in state can make him higher, Or more, or any thing he is, but less?

Sil. Nothing but emperor.

Arr. The name Tiberius,

I hope, will keep, howe'er he hath foregone.
The dignity and power.

Sil. Sure, while he lives.

Arr. And dead, it comes to Drusus. Should he fail,

To the brave issue of Germanicus;

And they are three: too many-ha? for him. To have a plot upon?

Sab. I do not know

The heart of his designs; but, sure, their face Looks farther than the present.

2 He ne'er were liberal by kind.] By nature. See p. 19.

Nero, Drusus, et Caligula.-Tacit. ibid.

WHAL

Arr. By the gods,

If I could guess he had but such a thought, My sword should cleave him down from head to heart,

But I would find it out: and with my hand

I'd hurl his panting brain about the air

In mites, as small as atomi, to undo

The knotted bed

Sab. You are observ'd Arruntius.

Arr. [turns to Natta, Terentius, &c.] Death! I dare tell him so; and all his spies:

You, sir, I would, do you look? and you.
Sab. Forbear.

SCENE II.

(The former Scene continued.)

A Gallery discovered opening into the State Room.

Enter SATRIUS with EUDEMUS.

Sat. Here he will instant be: let's walk a turn; You're in a muse, Eudemus?

Eud. Not I, sir.

I wonder he should mark me out so! well,
Jove and Apollo form it for the best. [Aside.
Sat. Your fortune's made unto you now, Eu-
demus,

If you can but lay hold upon the means;
Do but observe his humour, and-believe it—
He is the noblest Roman, where he takes-

t

Lege Terentii defensionem. Tacit. Ann. Lib. vi. p. 102.

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