ACT IV. SCENE I.

An Apartment in Agrippina's House.

Enter GALLUS and AGRIPPINA.

Gal. You must have patience," royal Agrippina. Agr. I must have vengeance, first; and that

were nectar

Unto my famish'd spirits. O, my fortune,
Let it be sudden thou prepar'st against me;
Strike all my powers of understanding blind,
And ignorant of destiny to come!

Let me not fear, that cannot hope.

Gal. Dear princess,

These tyrannies on yourself, are worse than Cæsar's.

Agr. Is this the happiness of being born great?
Still to be aim'd at? still to be suspected?
To live the subject of all jealousies?

At least the colour made, if not the ground
To every painted danger? who would not
Choose once to fall, than thus to hang for ever?
Gal. You might be safe if you would--
Agr. What, my Gallus!

Be lewd Sejanus' strumpet, or the bawd
To Cæsar's lusts, he now is gone to practise?
Not these are safe, where nothing is. Yourself,
While thus you stand but by me, are not safe.
Was Silius safe? or the good Sosia safe?

Or was my niece, dear Claudia Pulchra, safe,

n

Agrippina semper atrox, tum et periculo propinquæ accensa. Tacit. Ann. Lib. iv. p. 89.

• Pulchra et Furnius damnat. Tacit. Ann, ibid.

Or innocent Furnius? they that latest have
(By being made guilty) added reputation
To Afer's eloquence? O, foolish friends,
Could not so fresh example warn your loves,
But you must buy my favours with that loss
Unto yourselves; and when you might perceive
That Cæsar's cause of raging must forsake him,
Before his will! Away, good Gallus, leave me.
Here to be seen, is danger; to speak, treason:
To do me least observance, is call'd faction.
You are unhappy in me, and I in all.
Where are my sons, Nero and Drusus? We
Are they be shot at; let us fall apart;
Not in our ruins, sepulchre our friends.
Or shall we do some action like offence,
To mock their studies that would make us faulty,
And frustrate practice by preventing it?
The danger's like: for what they can contrive,
They will make good. No innocence is safe,
When power contests: nor can they trespass more,
Whose only being was all crime before,

Enter NERO, DRUSUS, and CALIGULA.

Ner. You hear Sejanus is come back from Cæsar? Gal. No. How? disgraced?

Dru. More graced now than ever.

Gal. By what mischance?

Cal. A fortune like enough

Once to be bad.

Dru. But turn'd too good to both.
Gal. What was't?

P Afer primoribus oratorum additus, divulgato ingenio, &c. Tacit. Ann. Lib. iv. p. 89.

Ner. Tiberius sitting at his meat, In a farm-house they call 'Spelunca, sited By the sea-side, among the Fundane hills, Within a natural cave; part of the grot, About the entry, fell, and overwhelm'd Some of the waiters; others ran away: Only Sejanus with his knees, hands, face, O'erhanging Cæsar, did oppose himself To the remaining ruins, and was found In that so labouring posture by the soldiers That came to succour him. With which adventure, He hath so fix'd himself in Cæsar's trust, As thunder cannot move him, and is come With all the height of Cæsar's praise to Rome. Agr. And power, to turn those ruins all on us; And bury whole posterities beneath them. Nero, and Drusus, and Caligula,

Your places are the next, and therefore most
In their offence. Think on your birth and blood,
Awake your spirits, meet their violence;
'Tis princely when a tyrant doth oppose,
And is a fortune sent to exercise

Your virtue, as the wind doth try strong trees,
Who by vexation grow more sound and firm.
After your father's fall, and uncle's fate,
What can you hope, but all the change of stroke
That force or sleight can give? then stand upright;
And though you do not act, yet suffer nobly:
Be worthy of my womb, and take strong chear;
What we do know will come, we should not fear.
[Exeunt.

• Tacit. Ann. Lib. iv. p. 91.

• Prætorium Suet. appellat. Tib. c. 39.

• Præbuitque ipsi materiem cur amicitia constantiæque Sejani magis fideret. Tacit. Ann. Lib. iv. p. 91.

SCENE II.

The Street.

Enter MACRO.

Mac. Return'd so soon! renew'd in trust and
grace!

Is Cæsar then so weak, or hath the place
But wrought this alteration with the air;
And he, on next remove, will all repair?
Macro, thou art engaged: and what before
Was public; now, must be thy private, more.
The weal of Cæsar, fitness did imply;

But thine own fate confers necessity

On thy employment; and the thoughts born

nearest

Unto ourselves, move swiftest still, and dearest. If he recover, thou art lost; yea, all

The weight of preparation to his fall

Will turn on thee, and crush thee: therefore strike Before he settle, to prevent the like

Upon thyself. He doth his vantage know, That makes it home, and gives the foremost blow. [Exit.

SCENE III.

An upper Room of Agrippina's House.

Enter LATIARIS, RUFUS, and OPSIUS.

Lat. It is a service lord Sejanus will See well requited, and accept of nobly.

* Sabinum aggrediuntur cupidine consulatus, ad quem non nisi per Sejanum aditus, neque Sejani voluntas nisi scelere quærebatur. Tacit. Lib. iv. p. 94. Dio. Hist. Rom. Lib. lviii. p. 711.

Here place yourselves between the roof and ciel

ing;

And when I bring him to his words of danger,
Reveal yourselves, and take him.
Ruf. Is he come?

Lat. I'll now go fetch him.

Ops. With good speed. I long

[Exit.

To merit from the state in such an action.
Ruf. I hope, it will obtain the consulship
For one of us.

Ops. We cannot think of less,

To bring in one so dangerous as Sabinus.
Ruf. He was a follower of Germanicus,
And still is an observer of his wife

And children," though they be declined in grace;
A daily visitant, keeps them company
In private and in public, and is noted
To be the only client of the house:
Pray Jove, he will be free to Latiaris.

Ops. He's allied to him, and doth trust him well.
Ruf. And he'll requite his trust!

Ops. To do an office

So grateful to the state, I know no man
But would strain nearer bands, than kindred--
Ruf. List!

I hear them come.

Ops. Shift to our holes with silence.

[They retire.

Re-enter LATIARIS with SABINUS.

Lat. It is a noble constancy you shew

To this afflicted house; that not like others,

u

Eoque apud bonos laudatus, et gravis iniquis. Tacit. Lib. iv.

p. 94.

× Haut minus turpi latebrá quam detestandâ fraude, sese abstrudunt; foraminibus et rimis aurem admovent. Tacit. Ann. Lib. iv. c. 69.