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 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? At least the colour made, if not the ground Be lewd Sejanus' strumpet, or the bawd 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 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. 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 Your virtue, as the wind doth try strong trees, • 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 Is Cæsar then so weak, or hath the place 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, Lat. I'll now go fetch him. Ops. With good speed. I long [Exit. To merit from the state in such an action. Ops. We cannot think of less, To bring in one so dangerous as Sabinus. And children," though they be declined in grace; Ops. He's allied to him, and doth trust him well. Ops. To do an office So grateful to the state, I know no man 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. |