Tib. Let all depart that chamber, and the next. [Exeunt Attendants. Sit down, my comfort. When the master prince Of all the world, Sejanus, saith he fears, Is it not fatal? Sej. Yes, to those are fear'd. Tib. And not to him? Sej. Not, if he wisely turn. That part of fate he holdeth, first on them. Tib. That nature, blood, and laws of kind forbid. Sej. Do policy and state forbid it? Tib. No. Sej. The rest of poor respects, then, let go by; State is enough to make the act just, them guilty Tib. Long hate pursues such acts. Sej. Whom hatred frights, Let him not dream of sovereignty. Tib. Are rites Of faith, love, piety, to be trod down Sej. All for a crown. The prince who shames a tyrant's name to bear, All the command of sceptres quite doth perish, Sej. Yes, and do them thoroughly. Tib. Knows yet Sejanus whom we point at? Sej. Ay, • De hac consultatione, vid. Suet. Tib. c. 55. Or else my thought, my sense, or both do err: 'Tis Agrippina. Tib. She, and her proud race. Sej. Proud! dangerous, Cæsar: for in them apace The father's spirit shoots up. Germanicus' Lives in their looks, their gait, their form, t'upbraid us With his close death, if not revenge the same. Tib. The act's not known. Sej. Not proved; but whispering Fame Knowledge and proof doth to the jealous give, Who, than to fail, would their own thought believe.2 It is not safe, the children draw long breath, Tib. It is as dangerous to make them hence, If nothing but their birth be their offence. Sej. Stay, till they strike at Cæsar; then their crime Will be enough; but late and out of time For him to punish. Tib. Do they purpose it? Sej. You know, sir, thunder speaks not till it hit. 2 Who. than to fail, would their own thought believe.] i. e. Who, rather than fail of proof, would believe the mere evidence of their own thoughts. Jonson affects great brevity in his expression, and, in consequence of that, is not always so clear as he might be. WHAL. P De Agrip. vid. Dio. Rom. Hist. Lib. lvii. p. 69. a De Sejani consil. in Agrip. leg. Tacit. Ann. Lib. i. p. 23, et Lib. iv. p. 77-79. de Tib. susp. Lib. iii. p. 52. Gnaris omnibus lætam Tiberio Germanici mortem male dissimulari. Tacit. Lib. iii. ibid. Huc confer Tacit. narrat. de morte Pisonis. p. 55. et Lib. iv. p. 74. Germanici mortem inter prospera ducebat. Be not secure; none swiftlier are opprest, Their mother, slacks no means to put them on, Vows, To the same gods, with Cæsar: days and nights Asinius Gallus, Furnius, Regulus, And others of that discontented list, Are the prime guests. There, and to these, she tells Whose niece she was," whose daughter, and whose wife. And then must they compare her with Augusta, Which they blow over straight with windy praise, • De anim. virili Agrip. cons. Tacit. Ann. Lib. i. p. 12 et 22. Lib. ii. p. 47. t Tacit. Ann. Lib. iv. p. 79. " Erat enim neptis Augusti, Agrippa et Juliæ filia, Germanici Suet. Aug. c. 64. uxor. p. 77. De fœcund. ejus. vid. Tacit. Ann Lib. ii. p. 39. et Lib. iv. As these do give them out; and would be thought Whilst to their thirst of rule, they win the rout Tib. We will command2 Their rank thoughts down, and with a stricter hand Than we have yet put forth; their trains must bate, Their titles, feasts, and factions. Sej. Or your state. But how, sir, will you work? Tib. Confine them. Sej. No. They are too great, and that too faint a blow 3 "Deprensis; iram et animos a crimine sumunt. Juv. Sat. vi. y Displicere regnantibus civilia filiorum ingenia: neque ob aliud interceptos quam quia Pop. Rom. æquo jure complecti, reddita libertate, agitaverint. Nat. Tacit. Lib. ii. Ann. p. 49. 2 Vid. Suet. Tib. c. 54. The course must be, to let them still swell up, Riot, and surfeit on blind fortune's cup; Give them more place, more dignities, more style, Of the main fautors, (it will fright the store,) Sej. Sir, wolves do change their hair, but not their hearts. While thus your thought unto a mean is tied, Tib. We can no longer2 Keep on our mask to thee, our dear Sejanus; Thy thoughts are ours, in all, and we but proved Their voice, in our designs, which by assenting Hath more confirm'd us, than if heart'ning Jove Had, from his hundred statues, bid us strike, And at the stroke click'd all his marble thumbs." But who shall first be struck? 2 Tiberium variis artibus devinxit adeo Sejanus, ut obscurum adversum alios, sibi uni incautum, intectumque efficeret. Tacit. AnnLib. iv. p. 74. Vid. Dio. Hist. Rom. Lib. Ivii. p. 707. b Premere pollicem, apud Romanos, maximi favoris erat signum. Horat. Epist. ad Lollium. Fautor utroque horum laudabit pollice ludum. Et Plin. Nat. Hist. Lib xxviii. cap. 2. Pollices, cum faveamus, premere etiam proverbio jubemur. De interp. loci, vid. Ang. Pol. Miscell. cap. xlii. et Turn. Adver. Lib. xi. cap. vi. |