Cor. Did you observe How they inveigh'd 'gainst Cæsar? For us to bite at: would I have my flesh. Torn by the public hook, these qualified hangmen Should be my company. Cor. Here comes another. [Dom. Afer passes over the stage. Arr. Ay, there's a man, Afer the orator! One that hath phrases, figures, and fine flowers, To strew his rhetoric with, and doth make haste, To get him note, or name, by any offer Where blood or gain be objects; steeps his words, When he would kill, in artificial tears: That man is mine; he hath my heart and voice Sab. Contemn the slaves, Their present lives will be their future graves. SCENE IV. Another Apartment in the same. [Exeunt. Enter SILIUS, AGRIPPINA, NERO, and SOSIA. Sil. May't please your highness not forget I dare not, with my manners, to attempt Agr. Farewell, noble Silius! s De Domit. Af. vid. Tac. Ann. Lib iv. p. 89-93. t Quoquo facinore properus clarescere. Tacit. ibid. Et infra. prosperiure eloquentiæ quam morum famâ fuit. Et p. 93. diu egens, et parto nuper præmio male usus, plura ad flagitia accingeretur. Sil. Most royal princess. Agr. Sosia stays with us? Sil. She is your servant, and doth owe your grace An honest, but unprofitable love. Agr. How can that be, when there's no gain but virtue's? u Sil. You take the moral, not the politic sense. I meant, as she is bold, and free of speech, Earnest to utter what her zealous thought Travails withal, in honour of your house; Which act, as it is simply born in her, Partakes of love and honesty; but may, By the over-often, and unseason'd use, Turn to your loss and danger: for your state Is waited on by envies, as by eyes; And every second guest your tables take Is a fee'd spy, to observe who goes, who comes; What conference you have, with whom, where, when, What the discourse is, what the looks, the thoughts Of every person there, they do extract, Agr. Hear me, Silius. Were all Tiberius' body stuck with eyes, u Vid. Tac. Ann. Lib. iv. p 79 × Ibid. p. 77. Of Agrippina: yet, your highness knows, Visit your house, of late, to enquire the secrets; I be so, Agrippina; but I fear Some subtile practice." They that durst to strike When next they come. Sos. A fit reward for spies. ✦ At so exampless and unblam'd a life.] At a life that had no parallel; was beyond all example, or imitation. Examp-less is a term of the author's coining; and by the same poetical prerogative, Chapman, in his verses on this tragedy, uses the word exampling. "Our Phoebus may with his exampling beams." 5 He threatens many that hath injured one.] Multis minatur, qui uni facit injuriam. WHAL. PUB. SYRUS. In this fulness and frequency of sentence, as he calls it in his preface, Jonson placeth one part of the office of a tragic poet: and the learned reader will perceive, from the brevity and num. ber of these maxims, that instead of copying after the models of ancient Greece, he hath conformed to the practice of Seneca the tragedian. WHAL. 7 Tacit. ibid. et pp. 90 et 92. z Suet. Tib. c. 2. Dion. Rom. Hist. Lib. lvii. p, 705. Enter DRUSUS jun. Dru. jun. Hear you the rumour? Agr. What? Dru. jun Drusus is dying." Nero. That's strange! Agr. You were with him yesternight. Dru. jun. One met Eudemus the physician, Sent for, but now; who thinks he cannot live. Sil. Thinks! if it be arrived at that, he knows, Or none. Agr. 'Tis quick! what should be his disease? Sil. Poison, poison Agr. How, Silius ! Nero. What's that? Sil. Nay, nothing. There was late a certain Dru. jun. And what of that? Sil. I'm glad I gave it not. Nero. But there is somewhat else? Sil. Yes, private meetings, With a great lady [sir], at a physician's, And a wife turn'd away. Nero. Ha! Sil. Toys, mere toys: What wisdom's now in th' streets, in the common mouth? Dru. jun. Fears, whisperings, tumults, noise, I know not what: They say the Senate sit." • Tac. Ann. Lib. iv. pp. 74, 75, 76, 77. b Vid. Tac. Ann. Lib. iv. p. 76. Sil. I'll thither straight; And see what's in the forge. Sil. Haste you, my lords, To visit the sick prince; tender your loves, Enter Præcones, Lictores, SEJANUS, VARRO, LaTIARIS, COTTA, and AFER. Sej. 'Tis only you must urge against him, Nor I, nor Cæsar may appear therein, Except in your defence, who are the consul; Between your father and his, may better do it, Here be your notes, what points to touch at; read: Be cunning in them. Afer has them too. Sej. No. It was debated By Cæsar, and concluded as most fit To take him unprepared. VOL. III. • Tacit. Ann. Lib. iv. p. 79. |