That sought unkindly' to captive his country? Glows in a present bosom. All's but blaze, Sab. Stand by lord Drusus. Hat. The emperor's son! give place. Will, as it grows, correct. Methinks he bears Himself each day, more nobly than other; Than doth his father lose. Believe me, I love him; Sil. And I, for gracing his young kinsmen so, 7 Unkindly to captive his country?] i. e. unnaturally; for the word kind signifying nature, with its compounds and derivatives, was thus used by the writers of that age. WHAL. "Let any candid judge," says one of the commentators," 66 compare Sejanus with the third-rate tragedies of Shakspeare, and he will find it far inferior to the worst of them." The critic had probably just got up from this speech of Arruntius, when he exhibited so notable a specimen of his own candour and judgment. * Lege de Druso Tacit. Ann. Lib. i. p. 9. Suet. Tib. c. 52. Dio. Rom. Hist. Lib. lvii. p. 699. y Tacit. Ann. Lib. iii. p. 62. 2 Vid. Tacit. Ann. Lib. iv. p. 74. a Ann. Lib. iv. p. 75, 76. The sons of prince Germanicus: it shews envy; And, being dead, without it. O, that man! Sil. He had the fruits, Arruntius, More than the seeds: Sabinus, and myself him. We were his followers, he would call us friends; He was a man, &c.] Jonson has borrowed the noble character which Paterculus hath given Cato, and applies it with great propriety to Germanicus. Iomo virtuti simillimus, et per omnia ingenio diis quam hominibus propior, 1. 2. c. 35. His references to the Roman historians are chiefly brought as vouchers for the facts alluded to, or the descriptions which he gives of the persons concerned. When he borrows the sentiment or thought, he is frequently silent; and particularly, he takes no notice of being here indebted to Paterculus. WHAL. Whalley should have read a few lines farther. Jonson refers expressly to the passage. Nero, Drusus, Caius, qui in castris genitus, et Caligula nominatus. Tacit. Ann. Lib. 1. с De Germanico cons. Tacit. Ann. Lib. i. p. 14. et Dion. Rom. Hist. Lib. Ivii. p. 694. 705. Vid. Tacit. Ann. Lib. iv. p. 79. Tacit. Ann. Lib. ii. p. 47, et Dion. Rom. Hist. Lib. lvii. p. As it avoided all self-love in him, And spite in others. What his funerals lack'd Cor. I thought once, Considering their forms, age, manner of deaths, Sab. I know not, for his death, how you might wrest it: But, for his life, it did as much disdain Wise Brutus' temperance; and every virtue, ness; 9 I thought once To have parallel'd him with great Alexander :] This observation comes with great decorum of character from the mouth of Cordus: but Tacitus, from whom it is taken, assigns no particular person as the author of the parallel: Erant qui formam, ætatem, genus mortis, ob propinquitatem etiam locorum in quibus interiit, magni Alexandri fatis adequarent, Annal. 1. 2. c. 73. WHAL. f Vid. apud Vell. Paterc. Lips. 4to. p. 35-47, istorum hominum, characteres. And all our praises of him are like streams Drawn from a spring, that still rise full, and leave The part remaining greatest. Arr. I am sure He was too great for us, and that they knew Sab. When men grow fast Honour'd and loved, there is a trick in state, Where they may purge, and lessen; so was he:" Enter SEJANUS talking to TERENTIUS; followed by SATRIUS, NATTA, &c. Cor. Here comes Sejanus.* Sil. Now observe the stoops, The bendings, and the falls. Vid. Tacit. Lib. ii. Ann. p. 28 et p. 34. Div. Rom. Hist. Lib. lvii. p. 705. Con. Tacit. Ann. Lib. ii. p. 39. de occultis mandatis Pisoni, et postea p. 42, 43, 48. Orat. D. Celeris. Est Tibi Augustæ conscientia, est Cæsaris favor, sed in occulto, &c. Leg. Suet. Tib. c. 52. Dio. p. 706. i Vid. Tacit. Ann. Lib. ii. p. 46, 47. Lib. iii. p. 54. et Suct. Cal. c. 1 et 2. * De Sejano vid. Tacit. Ann. Lib. i. p. 9. Lib. iv. princip. et per tot. Suet. Tib. Dio. Lib. lvii. lviii. et Plin. et Senec. Arr. Most creeping base! Sej. [to Natta.] I note them well: no more. Say you? Sat. My lord, There is a gentleman of Rome would buy- It is Eudemus,' the physician Sej. On with your suit. Would buy, you said . Sat. A tribune's place, my lord. Sej. What will he give? Sat. Fifty sestertia." Sej. Livia's physician, say you, is that fellow? Sat. It is, my lord: Your lordship's answer. Sej. To what? Sat. The place, my lord. 'Tis for a gentleman Your lordship will well like of, when you see him; And one, that you may make yours, by the grant. Sej. Well, let him bring his money, and his name. Sat. "Thank your lordship. He shall, my lord. Sej. Come hither. Know you this same Eudemus? is he learn'd? Sat. Reputed so, my lord, and of deep practice. Sej. Bring him in, to me, in the gallery; And take you cause to leave us there together: I would confer with him, about a griefOn. [Exeunt Sejanus, Satrius, Terentius, &c. Arr. So! yet another? yet? O desperate state Of groveling honour! seest thou this, O sun, And do we see thee after? Methinks, day Should lose his light, when men do lose their shames, 1 De Eudemo isto vid. Tacit. Ann. Lib. iv. p. 74. Monetæ nostræ 375 lib. vid. Budæum de asse, Lib. ii. p. 64. |