Out of necessity. This Lepidus

Is grave and honest, and I have observed
A moderation still in all his censures.

Sab. And bending to the better-Stay, who's this?

Enter SATRIUS and NATTA, with CREMUTIUS CORDUS guarded.

Cremutius Cordus! What! is he brought in?
Arr. More blood into the banquet! Noble
Cordus,

I wish thee good: be as thy writings, free,
And honest.

Tib. What is he?

Sej. For the Annals, Cæsar.

Præ. Cremutius Cordus !
Cor. Here..

Præ. Satrius Secundus,

Pinnarius Natta, you are his accusers.

Arr. Two of Sejanus' blood-hounds, whom he breeds

With human flesh, to bay at citizens.

Afer. Stand forth before the Senate, and con

front him.

Sat. I do accuse thee here, Cremutius Cordus, To be a man factious and dangerous, A sower of sedition in the state,

A turbulent and discontented spirit,

Which I will prove from thine own writings,

here,

The Annals thou hast publish'd; where thou bit'st

t Tacit. Ann. Lib. iv. p. 80.

"Tacit. Ann. Lib. iv. p. 83, 84. Dio. Hist. Rom. Lib. lvii. p. 710.

The present age, and with a viper's tooth,
Being a member of it, dar'st that ill
Which never yet degenerous bastard did
Upon his parent.

Nat. To this, I subscribe;

And, forth a world of more particulars,
Instance in only one: comparing men,
And times, thou praisest Brutus, and affirm'st
That Cassius was the last of all the Romans."
Cot. How! what are we then?

Var. What is Cæsar? nothing?

Afer. My lords, this strikes at every Roman's private,

In whom reigns gentry, and estate of spirit,
To have a Brutus brought in parallel,

A parricide, an enemy of his country,
Rank'd, and preferr'd to any real worth
That Rome now holds. This is most strangely
invective,

Most full of spite, and insolent upbraiding.
Nor is't the time alone is here disprised,
But the whole man of time, yea, Cæsar's self
Brought in disvalue; and he aimed at most,
By oblique glance of his licentious pen.
Cæsar, if Cassius were the last of Romans,
Thou hast no name.

Tib. Let's hear him answer.

Silence!

Cor. So innocent I am of fact, my lords, As but my words are argued: yet those words Not reaching either prince or prince's parent; The which your law of treason comprehends. Brutus and Cassius I am charged to have praised; Whose deeds, when many more, besides myself,

3

thou praisest Brutus, and affirm'st

That Cassius was the last of all the Romans.] Objectum est historico (Cremutio Cordo. Tacit. Ann. l. iv. c. 34) quod Brutum Cassiumque ultimos Romanorum dixisset. Suet. Tiber. c.61.

Have writ, not one hath mention'd without

honour.

Great Titus Livius, great for eloquence,
And faith amongst us, in his History,
With so great praises Pompey did extol,
As oft Augustus call'd him a Pompeian:
Yet this not hurt their friendship. In his book
He often names Scipio, Afranius,
Yea, the same Cassius, and this Brutus too,
As worthiest men; not thieves and parricides,
Which notes upon their fames are now imposed.
Asinius Pollio's writings quite throughout
Give them a noble memory; so* Messala
Renown'd his general Cassius: yet both these
Lived with Augustus, full of wealth and honours.
To Cicero's book, where Cato was heav'd up
Equal with heaven, what else did Cæsar answer,*
Being then dictator, but with a penn'd oration,
As if before the judges? Do but see

Antonius' letters; read but Brutus' pleadings:
What vile reproach they hold against Augustus,
False, I confess, but with much bitterness.
The epigrams of Bibaculus and Catullus
Are read, full stuft with spite of both the Cæsars;
Yet deified Julius, and no less Augustus,

Both bore them, and contemn'd them: I not know,

Promptly to speak it, whether done with more Temper, or wisdom; for such obloquies

4 To Cicero's book, where Cato was heav'd up

Equal with heaven, what else did Cæsar answer, &c.] Cicero published an essay upon the character of Cato; and Cæsar, who perhaps might be reflected upon in it, wrote an answer, which he called Anti-Cato: both these pieces are lost. WHAL.

* Septem dec. lib. Hist. scripsit. vid. Suid. Suet.

If they despised be, they die supprest;
But if with rage acknowledg'd, they are confest.
The Greeks I slip, whose license not alone,
But also lust did scape unpunished:

Or where some one, by chance, exception took, He words with words revenged. But, in my work,

What could be aim'd more free, or farther off
From the times scandal, than to write of those,
Whom death from grace or hatred had exempted?
Did I, with Brutus and with Cassius,

Arm'd, and possess'd of the Philippi fields,
Incense the people in the civil cause,

With dangerous speeches? Or do they, being slain

Seventy years since, as by their images,
Which not the conqueror hath defaced, appears,
Retain that guilty memory with writers?
Posterity pays every man his honour:

Nor shall there want, though I condemned am,
That will not only Cassius well approve,
And of great Brutus' honour mindful be,
But that will also mention make of me.
Arr. Freely and nobly spoken!

Sab. With good temper;

I like him, that he is not moved with passion. Arr. He puts them to their whisper.

Tib. Take him hence;"

We shall determine of him at next sitting.

[Exeunt Officers with Cordus.

Cot. Mean time, give order, that his books be burnt,

To the ædiles.

Sej. You have well advised.

y Egressus dein senatu vitam abstinentiâ finivit. Tacit. ibid. Generosam ejus mortem vid. apud Sen. Cons. ad Marc. cap. 22.

Afer. It fits not such licentious things should

live

T' upbraid the age.

Arr. If the age were good, they might.
Lat. Let them be burnt.

Gal. All sought, and burnt to-day.

Præ. The court is up; lictors, resume the fasces.

[Exeunt all but Arruntius, Sabinus, and Lepidus. Arr. Let them be burnt! O, how ridiculous Appears the senate's brainless diligence,

Who think they can, with present power, extinguish

The memory of all succeeding times!

Sab. 'Tis true; when, contrary, the punishment Of wit, doth make the authority increase. Nor do they aught, that use this cruelty Of interdiction, and this rage of burning, But purchase to themselves rebuke and shame, And to the writers an eternal name.

Lep. It is an argument the times are sore, When virtue cannot safely be advanced; Nor vice reproved.

Arr. Ay, noble Lepidus;

Augustus well foresaw what we should suffer
Under Tiberius, when he did pronounce

The Roman race most wretched, that should

live

Between so slow jaws, and so long a bruising. [Exeunt.

z Manserunt ejus libri occultati et editi. Tacit. ibid. Scripserat his Cremut. bella civilia, et res Aug. extantque fragmenta in Sua soria sexta Senec.

a Vid. Suet. Tib. c. 21.