And for the empty circumstance of life,'
Betray their cause of living.
Sil. Nothing so."

Sejanus can repair, if Jove should ruin.

He is now the court god; and well applied
With sacrifice of knees, of crooks, and cringes;
He will do more than all the house of heaven
Can, for a thousand hecatombs. "Tis he
Makes us our day, or night; hell, and elysium
Are in his look: we talk of Rhadamauth,
Furies, and firebrands; but it is his frown
That is all these; where, on the adverse part,.
His smile is more, than e'er yet poets feign'd
Of bliss, and shades, nectar

Arr. A serving boy!

I knew him, at Caius' trencher," when for hire He prostituted his abused body

To that great gormond, fat Apicius;

And was the noted pathic of the time.

Sab. And, now, the second face of the whole world!

The partner of the empire, hath his image
Rear'd equal with Tiberius, born in ensigns;
Commands, disposes every dignity,

Centurions, tribunes, heads of provinces,
Prætors and consuls; all that heretofore
Rome's general suffrage gave, is now his sale.
The gain, or rather spoil of all the earth,
One, and his house, receives.

And for the empty circumstance of life,
Betray their cause of living.]

Et propter vitam, vivendi perdere causam.

Juv. Sat. viii. v. 84.

"De ingenio, moribus, et potentia Sejani, leg. Tacit. Ann. Lib. iv. p. 74. Dio Rom. Hist. Lib. lvii. p. 708.

Caius divi Augusti nepos. Cons. Tacit. Ann. Lib. iv. p. 74, et Dio. Lib. Ivii. p. 706.

P Juv. Sat. X. v. 63, &c. Tacit, ibid. Dion. ibid. et sic passim.

Sil. He hath of late

Made him a strength too, strangely, by reducing
All the prætorian bands into one camp,

Which he commands: pretending that the soldiers,
By living loose and scatter'd, fell to riot;
And that if any sudden enterprize

Should be attempted, their united strength
Would be far more than sever'd; and their life
More strict, if from the city more removed.
Sab. Where, now, he builds what kind of forts
he please,

Is heard to court the soldier by his name,
Woos, feasts the chiefest men of action,
Whose wants, not loves, compel them to be his.
And though he ne'er were liberal by kind,'
Yet to his own dark ends, he's most profuse,
Lavish, and letting fly, he cares not what
To his ambition.

Arr. Yet, hath he ambition?

Is there that step in state can make him higher, Or more, or any thing he is, but less?

Sil. Nothing but emperor.

Arr. The name Tiberius,

I hope, will keep, howe'er he hath foregone

The dignity and power.

Sil. Sure, while he lives.

Arr. And dead, it comes to Drusus. Should

he fail,

To the brave issue of Germanicus;

And they are three: too many-ha? for him

To have a plot upon?

Sab. I do not know

The heart of his designs; but, sure, their face Looks farther than the present.

He ne'er were liberal by kind.] By nature. See p. 19.

Nero, Drusus, et Caligula.-Tacit. ibid.

WHAL

Arr. By the gods,

If I could guess he had but such a thought, My sword should cleave him down from head to heart,

But I would find it out: and with my hand

I'd hurl his panting brain about the air

In mites, as small as atomi, to undo

The knotted bed

Sab. You are observ'd Arruntius.

Arr. [turns to Natta, Terentius, &c.] Death! I dare tell him so; and all his spies:

You, sir, I would, do you look? and you.
Sab. Forbear.

SCENE II..

(The former Scene continued.)

A Gallery discovered opening into the State Room.

Enter SATRIUS with EUDEMUS.

Sat. Here he will instant be: let's walk a turn; You're in a muse, Eudemus?

Eud. Not I, sir.

I wonder he should mark me out so! well,
Jove and Apollo form it for the best. [Aside.
Sat. Your fortune's made unto you now, Eu-

demus,

If you can but lay hold upon the means;
Do but observe his humour, and-believe it-
He is the noblest Roman, where he takes-

T

Lege Terentü defensionem. Tacit. Ann. Lib. vi. p. 102.

Enter SEJANUS.

Here comes his lordship.
Sej. Now, good Satrius.

Sat. This is the gentleman, my lord.
Sej. Is this?

Give me your hand, we must be more acquainted.
Report, sir, hath spoke out your art and learning:
And I am glad I have so needful cause,
However in itself painful and hard,

To make me known to so great virtue.-Look, Who is that, Satrius? [Exit Sat.]—I have a grief, sir,

That will desire your help. Your name's Eudemus?
Eud. Yes.
Sej. Sir?

Eud. It is, my lord.

Sej. I hear you are

Physician to Livia,' the princess.

Eud. I minister unto her, my good lord.
Sej. You minister to a royal lady then.
Eud. She is, my lord, and fair.

Sej. That's understood

Of all their sex, who are or would be so;

And those that would be, physic soon can make

them:

For those that are, their beauties fear no colours. Eud. Your lordship is conceited.'

Sej. Sir, you know it.

And can, if need be, read a learned lecture
On this, and other secrets. 'Pray you, tell me,

3 Your lordship is conceited.] Merry, disposed to joke. So in Every Man in his Humour, "You are conceited, sir." WHAL.

• Germanici soror, uxor Drusi. Vid. Tacit. Ann. Lib. iv. p. 74.

What more of ladies, besides Livia,
Have you your patients?

Eud. Many, my good lord.

The great Augusta, Urgulania,"

Mutilia Prisca, and Plancina; divers

Sej. And, all these tell you the particulars
Of every several grief? how first it grew,
And then increased; what action caused that;
What passion that: and answer to each point
That you will put them?

Eud. Else, my lord, we know not
How to prescribe the remedies.
Sej. Go to,

You are a subtile nation, you physicians!
And grown the only cabinets in court,"
To ladies privacies. Faith, which of these
Is the most pleasant lady in her physic?
Come, you are modest now.

Eud. 'Tis fit, my lord.

Sej. Why, sir, I do not ask you of their urines, Whose smell's most violet, or whose siege is best,* Or who makes hardest faces on her stool? Which lady sleeps with her own face a nights?

4 Whose siege is best,] This word which was growing out of use in Jonson's time, is found in Barclay's Eclogues:

"For sure the lord's siege and the rural man's

"Is of like savour.".

It is also used by Shakspeare, Tempest, A. II. S. 2, where it is well explained by Steevens.

* Mater Tiberii. vid. Tacit. Ann. 1, 2, 3, 4, moritur 5. Suet.

Tib. Dio. Rom. Hist. 57, 58.

u Delicium Augustæ. Tacit. Ann. Lib. ii. et iv.

* Adultera Julii Posthumi. Tacit. Ann. Lib. iv. p. 77.

y Pisonis uxor. Tacit. Ann. Lib. ii. iii. iv.

2 Vid. Tacit. Ann. Lib. iv. p. 74. et Plin. Nat. Hist. Lib. xxix.