Than that and whisperers' grace, who have the time,

The place, the power, to make all men offenders. Arr. He should be told this; and be bid dissemble With fools and blind men: we that know the eril,

Should hunt the palace-rats,1 or give them bane; Fright hence these worse than ravens, that devour The quick, where they but prey upon the dead: He shall be told it.

Sab. Stay, Arruntius,

We must abide our opportunity;

And practise what is fit. as what is needful.
It is not safe t' enforce a sovereign's ear:
Princes hear well, if they at all will hear.

Arr. Ha, say you so? well! In the mean time,
Jove,

(Say not, but I do call upon thee now,)

Of all wild beasts preserve me from a tyrant :
(yrant :)

And of all tame, a flatterer.

Sil. 'Tis well pray'd.

Tib. [having read the letters.] Return the lords
this voice,- -We are their creature,
And it is fit a good and honest prince,
Whom they, out of their bounty, have instructed 2
With so dilate and absolute a power,
Should owe the office of it to their service,
And good of all and every citizen.
Nor shall it e'er repent us to have wish'd
The senate just, and favouring lords unto us,
Since their free loves do yield no less defence
To a prince's state, than his own innocence.
Say then, there can be nothing in their thought
Shall want to please us, that hath pleased them;
Our suffrage rather shall prevent than stay
Behind their wills: 'tis empire to obey,
Where such, so great, so grave, so good determine.
Yet, for the suit of Spain, 3 to erect a temple
In honour of our mother and our self,
We must, with pardon of the senate, not
Assent thereto. Their lordships may object
Our not denying the same late request
Unto the Asian cities: we desire

That our defence for suffering that be known
In these brief reasons, with our after purpose.
Since deined Augustus hindered not
A temple to be built at Pergamum,
In honour of himself and sacred Rome;
We, that have all his deeds and words observed
Ever, in place of laws, the rather follow'd
That pleasing precedent, because with ours,
The senate's reverence, also, there was join'd.
But as,
t' have once received it, may deserve
The gain of pardon; so, to be adored
With the continued style, and note of gods,
Through all the provinces, were wild ambition,
And no less pride: yea, even Augustus' name
Wld early vanish, should it be profaned
With such promiscuous flatteries. For our part,
We here protest it, and are covetous
Posterity should know it, we are mortal;
And can but deeds of men: 'twere glory enough,
Could we be truly a prince. And, they shall add

1 Tineas soricesque Palatii vocat istos Sex. Aurel. Vict. et Tacit. Hist. Lib. i. p. 233, qui secretis criminat. infamant ignarum, et quo incautior deciperetur, palain laudatum,

Vid. Suet. Tib. c. 20. ct Dio. Hist. Lib. lvii. p. 696. 3 Tacit. Ann. Lib. iv. p. 84 et 85.

• Cona Strab. Lib. vi. de Tib.

Abounding grace unto our memory,
That shall report us worthy our forefathers,
Careful of your affairs, constant in dangers,
And not afraid of any private frown
For public good. These things shall be to us
Temples and statues, reared in your minds,
The fairest, and most during imagery:
For those of stone or brass, if they become
Odious in judgment of posterity.

Are more contemn'd as dying sepulchres,
Than ta'en for living monuments. We then
Make here our suit, alike to gods and men ;
The one, until the period of our race,
To inspire us with a free and quiet mind,
Discerning both divine and human laws;
The other, to vouchsafe us after death,
An honourable mention, and fair praise,
To accompany our actions and our name:
The rest of greatness princes may command,
And, therefore, may neglect; only, a long,
A lasting, high, and happy memory

They should, without being satisfied, pursue :
Contempt of fame begets contempt of virtue.
Nat. Rare!

With their sound flatter'd ere their sense be meant? Tib. Their choice of Antium,5 there to place the

gift Vow'd to the goddess" for our mother's health, We will the senate know, we fairly like; As also of their grant to Lepidus, For his repairing the Emilian place, And restoration of those monuments: Their grace too ir confining of Silanus To the other isle Cithera, at the suit Of his religious sister, much commends Their policy, so temper'd with their mercy. But for the honours which they have decreed To our Sejanus,10 to advance his statue In Pompey's theatre, (whose ruining fire His vigilance and labour kept restrain'd In that one loss,) they have therein out-gone Their own great wisdoms, by their skilful choice, And placing of their bounties on a man, Whose merit more adorns the dignity, Than that can him; and gives a benefit, In taking, greater than it can receive. Blush not, Sejanus, thou great aid of Rome, Associate of our labours, our chief helper ; Let us not force thy simple modesty With offering at thy praise, for more we cannot, Since there's no voice can take it. No man here Receive our speeches as hyperboles : For we are far from flattering our friend, Let envy know, as from the need to flatter. Nor let them ask the causes of our praise:

11

Tacit. Lib. fil. p. 71.

6 Fortuna equestris, ibid. 7 Tacit. ibid.

8 Tacit. Ann. Lib. iii. p. 170.

9 Torquata virgo vestalis, cujas memoriam servat mar mor Roma. vid. Lips. comment. in Tacit. 10 Tacit. Ann. Lib. iii. p. 71.

11 Tacit. Ann. Lib. iv. p. 74-76.

Princes have still their grounds rear'd with themselves,

Above the poor low flats of common men;
And who will search the reasons of their acts,
Must stand on equal bases. Lead, away:

Our loves unto the senate.

[Exeunt TIB. SEJAN. NATTA, HAT. LAT. Officers, &c. Arr. Cæsar!

Sab. Peace.

Cor. Great Pompey's theatrel was never ruin'd
Till now, that proud Sejanus hath a statue
Rear'd on his ashes.

Arr. Place the shame of soldiers,
Above the best of generals? crack the world,
And bruise the name of Romans into dust,
Ere we behold it!

Sil. Check your passion;
Lord Drusus tarries.

Dru. Is my father mad,2

Weary of life, and rule, lords? thus to heave
An idol up with praise! make him his mate,
His rival in the empire!

Arr. O, good prince.

Dru. Allow him statues,3 titles, honours, such As he himself refuseth!

Arr. Brave, brave Drusus!

Dru. The first ascents to sovereignty are hard; But, entered once, there never wants or means, Or ministers, to help the aspirer on.)

Arr. True, gallant Drusus.

Dru. We must shortly pray

To Modesty, that he will rest contented

Arr. Ay, where he is, and not write emperor.

Arr. Good! brave! excellent, brave prince !
Dru. Nay, come, approach. [Draws his sword.
What, stand you off? at gaze?

It looks too full of death for thy cold spirits.
Avoid mine eye, dull camel, or my sword
Shall make thy bravery fitter for a grave,
Than for a triumph. I'll advance a statue

O' your own bulk; but 't shall be on the cross ;5
Where I will nail your pride at breadth and length,
And crack those sinews, which are yet but stretch'd
With your swoln fortune's rage.

Arr. A noble prince!

All. A Castor, a Castor, a Castor, a Castor!
[Exeunt all but SEJANUS.
Sej. He that, with such wrong moved, can bear
it through

With patience, and an even mind, knows how
To turn it back. Wrath cover'd carries fate
Revenge is lost, if profess my hate.
What was my practice late, I'll now pursue,
As my fell justice: this hath styled it new.

[Er it.

SCENE I.-The Garden of EUDEMUS.

Enter SEJANUS, LIVIA, and EUDEMUS.

Sej. Physician, thou art worthy of å province, For the great favours done unto our loves; And, but that greatest Livia bears a part In the requital of thy services,

I should alone despair of aught, like means,

To give them worthy satisfaction.

Liv. Eudemus, I will see it, shall receive

A fit and full reward for his large merit.

But for this potion? we intend to Drusus,

No more our husband now, whom shall we choose
As the most apt and able instrument,
To minister it to him?

Sej. Is he ambitious?

Liv. No.

Sej. Or covetous?

Liv. Neither.

Eud. Yet, gold is a good general charm.
Sej. What is he, then?

Liv. Faith, only wanton, light.

Sej. How is he young and fair?
Eud. A delicate youth.

Sej. Send him to me, I'll work him.-Royal

lady,

Though I have loved you long, and with that height
Of zeal and duty, like the fire, which more

It mounts it trembles, thinking nought could add
Unto the fervour which your eye had kindled;
Yet, now I see your wisdom, judgment, strength,
Quickness, and will, to apprehend the means
To your own good and greatness, I protest
Myself through rarified, and turn'd all flame
In your affection: such a spirit as yours,
Was not created for the idle second

To a poor flash, as Drusus; but to shine

6 Tacit. sequimur Ann. Lib. iv. p 74, quanquam apud Dionem et Zonaram aliter legitur.

7 Servile, apud Romanos, et ignominiosissimum mortis genus erat supplicium crucis, ut ex Liv. ipso. Tacit. Dio. et omnibus fere antiquis, præsertim historicis constet. vid. Plaut. in. Mil. Amph. Aulii. Hor. Lib 1. Ser. 9. et Jev. Sat. vi. Pone crucem servo, &c.

Sic Drusus ob violentiam cognominatus, vid. Dion. Rom. Hist. Lib. lvii. p. 701.

Spadonis animum stupro devinxit. Tacit. ibid.

Bright as the moon among the lesser lights,
And share the sov'reignty of all the world.
Then Livia triumphs in her proper sphere,
When she and her Sejanus shall divide
The name of Cæsar, and Augusta's star
Be dimm'd with glory of a brighter beam:
When Agrippina's' fires are quite extinct,
And the scarce-seen Tiberius borrows all
His little light from us, whose folded arms
Shall make one perfect orb. [Knocking within.]
Who's that? Eudemus,

Look. [Exit EUDEMUS.] 'Tis not Drusus, lady, do not fear.

Liv. Not I, my lord: my fear and love of him Left me at once.

Sej. Illustrious lady, stay

Eud. [within.] I'll tell his lordship.

Liv. My lord,

I shall but change your words. Farewell. Yet, this
Remember for your heed, he loves you not:
You know what I have told you: his designs
Are full of grudge and danger; we must use
More than a common speed.

Sej. Excellent lady,
How you do fire my blood!

Liv. Well, you must go?

The thoughts be best, are least set forth to show.
[Exit SEJANU3.
Eud. When will you take some physic, lady?
Liv. When

I shall, Eudemus: but let Drusus' drug
Be first prepared.

Eud. Were Lygdus made, that's done;
I have it ready. And tq-morrow morning
I'll send you a perfume, first to resolve
And procure sweat, and then prepare a bath
To cleanse and clear the cutis; against when
I'll have an excellent new fucus made,
Resistive 'gainst the sun, the rain, or wind,
Which you shall lay on with a breath, or oil,
As best like, and last some fourteen hours.
you
This change came timely, lady, for your health,
And the restoring your complexion,

Which Drusus' choler had almost burnt up!
Wherein your fortune hath prescribed you better
Than art could do.

Liv. Thanks, good physician,

I'll use my fortune, you shall see, with reverence. Is my coach ready?

Eud. It attends your highness.

[Exeunt.

3 Ex qua tres liberos genuerat, ne pellici suspcctaretur Tacit. Ann. Lib. iv. p. 74.

+ Leg. Tacit. Ann. Lib. iv. p. 76.

Tacit. ibid. et Dion. Rom, Ilis Lib. Ivii. p. 7(n).

L

SCENE II.-An Apartment in the Palace.

Enter SEJANUS.

Sej If this be not revenge, when I have done And made it perfect, let Egyptian slaves,1 Parthians, and bare-foot Hebrews brand my face, And print my body full of injuries.

Thou lost thyself, child Drusus, when thou thoughtst

Thou couldst outskip my vengeance; or outstand
The power I had to crush thee into air.

Thy follies now shall taste what kind of man
They have provoked, and this thy father's house
Crack in the flame of my incensed rage,
Whose fury shall admit no shame or mean.—
Adultery! it is the lightest ill

I will commit. A race of wicked acts
Shall flow out of my anger, and o'erspread
The world's wide face, which no posterity
Shall e'er approve, nor yet keep silent things
That for their cunning, close, and cruel mark,
Thy father would wish his: and shall, perhaps,
Carry the empty name, but we the prize.
On, then, my soul, and start not in thy course;
Though heaven drop sulphur, and hell belch out
Laugh at the idle terrors; tell proud Jove, [fire,
Between his power and thine there is no odds:
'Twas only fear first in the world made gods.2
Enter TIBERIUS, attended.

Tib. Is yet Sejanus come!
Sej. He's here, dread Cæsar.

Tib. Let all depart that chamber, and the next. [Exeunt Attendants.

Sit down, my comfort. When the master prince
Of all the world, Sejanus, saith he fears,
Is it not fatal?

Sej. Yes, to those are fear'd.

. Tib. And not to him?

Sej. Not, if he wisely turn

That part of fate he holdeth, first on them.

Tib. That nature, blood, and laws of kind forbid. Sej. Do policy and state forbid it?

The prince who shames a tyrant's name to bear,
Shall never dare do anything, but fear;

All the command of sceptres quite doth perish,
If it begin religious thoughts to cherish:
Whole empires fall, sway'd by those nice respects;
It is the license of dark deeds protects

Ev'n states most hated, when no laws resist
The sword, but that it acteth what it list.
Tib. Yet so, we may do all things cruelly,
Not safely.

Sej. Yes, and do them thoroughly.

Tib. Knows yet Sejanus whom we point at?
Sej. Ay,

Hi apud Romanos barbari et vilissimi æstimab. Juv. Mart. &c.

• Idem, et Petro. Arbiter, Sat. et Statius, Lib. iii. De hac consultatione, vid. Suct. Tib. c. 55.

Or else my thought, my sense, or both do err : 'Tis Agrippina.

Tib. She, and her proud race.

Sej. Proud! dangerous,' Cæsar: for in them

apace

The father's spirit shoots up.

Germanicus6 Lives in their looks, their gait, their form, t' upbraid us

With his close death, if not revenge the same.
Tib. The act's not known.

Sej. Not proved: but whispering Fame
Knowledge and proof doth to the jealous give,
Who, than to fail, would their own thought believe.
It is not safe, the children draw long breath,
That are provoked by a parent's death.

Tib. It is as dangerous to make them hence, If nothing but their birth be their offence.

Sej. Stay, till they strike at Cæsar; then their Will be enough; but late and out of time [crime For him to punish.

Tib. Do they purpose it?

[hit.

Sej. You know, sir, thunder speaks not till it
Be not secure ;(none swiftlier are opprest,
Than they whom confidence betrays to rest.)
Let not your daring make your danger such :
All power is to be fear'd, where 'tis too much.
The youths are of themselves hot, violent,
Full of great thought; and that male-spirited
dame,

Their mother, slacks no means to put them on,
By large allowance, popular presentings,
Increase of train and state, suing for titles;
Hath them commended with like prayers, like

Vows,

8

To the same gods, with Cæsar: days and nights
She spends in banquets and ambitious feasts
For the nobility; where Caius Silius,
Titius Sabinus, old Arruntius,

Asinius Gallus, Furnius, Regulus,

And others of that discontented list,

Are the prime guests. There, and to these, she

tells

Whose niece she was, whose daughter, and whose

wife.

And then must they compare her with Augusta,
Ay, and prefer her too; commend her forin,
Extol her10 fruitfulness; at which a shower
Falls for the memory of Germanicus,

Which they blow over straight with windy praise,
And puffing hopes of her aspiring sons;

Who, with these hourly ticklings, grow so pleased,

And wantonly conceited of themselves,

As now, they stick not to believe they're such
As these do give them out; and would be thought
More than competitors, immediate heirs.
Whilst to their thirst of rule, they win the rout

4 Do Agrip. vid. Dio. Rom. Hist. Lib. lvii. p. 69. De Sejani consil. in Agrip. leg. Tacit. Ann. Lib. i. p. 23, et Lib. iv. p. 77-79. de Tib. susp. Lib. iii. p. 52.

6 Gnaris omnibus lætam Tiberio Germanici mortem malo dissimulari. Tacit. Lib. iii. ibid. Huc confer Tacit. narrat. de morte Pisonis. p. 55. et Lib. iv. p. 74. Germanici mortem inter prospera ducebat.

7 De anim. virili Agrip. cons. Tacit. Ann. Lib. I. p. 12 et 22. Lib. ii. p. 47.

Tacit. Ann. Lib. iv. p. 79.

• Erat enim neptis Augusti, Agrippa et Julia filia, Ger manici uxor. Suet. Aug. c. 64.

10 De fœcund. cjus. vid. Tacit. Ann Lib. ii. p. 39. et lib. iv. p. 77.

Sej. No.

They are too great, and that too faint a blow
To give them now; it would have serv'd at first,
When with the weakest touch their knot had burst.
But now, your care must be, not to detect
The smallest cord, or line of your suspect;
For such, who know the weight of prince's fear,
Will, when they find themselves discover'd, rear
Their forces, like seen snakes, that else would lie
Roll'd in their circles, close: nought is more high,
Daring, or desperate, than offenders found;
'Where guilt is, rage and courage both abound.
The course must be, to let them still swell up,
Riot, and surfeit on blind fortune's cup;
Give them more place, more dignities, more style,
Call them to court, to senate; in the while,
Take from their strength some one or twain, or

more,

Of the main fautors. (it will fright the store,)
And, by some by-occasion. Thus, with slight
You shall disarm them first; and they, in night
Of their ambition, not perceive the train,
Till in the engine they are caught and slain.

Tib. We would not kill, if we knew how to save;
Yet, than a throne, 'tis cheaper give a grave.
Is there no way to bind them by deserts?

Sej. Sir.(wolves do change their hair, but not their hearts.)

While thus your thought unto a mean is tied,
You neither dare enough, nor do provide.)
All modesty is fond: and chiefly where
The subject is no less compell'd to bear,
Than praise his sovereign's acts.

Tib. We can no longer3

Keep on our mask to thee, our dear Sejanus;
Thy thoughts are ours, in all, and we but proved
Their voice, in our designs, which by assenting
Hath more confirm'd us, than if heart'ning Jove
Had, from his hundred statues, bid us strike,
And at the stroke click'd all his marble thumbs +.
But who shall first be struck?

Sej. First Caius Silius ;

He is the most of mark, and most of danger:
In power and reputation equal strong,
Having commanded an imperial army
Seven years together, vanquish'd Sacrovir
In Germany, and thence obtain❜d to wear
The ornaments triumphal. His steep fall,
By how much it doth give the weightier crack,
Will send more wounding terror to the rest,
Command them stand aloof, and give more way
To our surprising of the principal.

Tib. But what", Sabinus?
Sej. Let him grow a while,

His fate is not yet ripe: we must not pluck
At all together, lest we catch ourselves.
And there's Arruntius too, he only talks.
But Sosia 7, Silius' wife, would be wound in
Now, for she hath a fury in her breast,
More than hell ever knew; and would be sent
Thither in time. Then is there one Cremutius $
Cordus, a writing fellow, they have got
To gather notes of the precedent times,
And make them into Annals; a most tart
And bitter spirit, I hear; who, under colour
Of praising those, doth tax the present state,
Censures the men, the actions, leaves no trick,
No practise unexamined, parallels

The times, the governments; a profest champion
For the old liberty-

Tib. A perishing wretch !

As if there were that chaos bred in things,
That laws and liberty would not rather choose
To be quite broken, and ta'en hence by us,
Than have the stain to be preserved by such.
Have we the means to make these guilty first?
Sej. Trust that to me: let Cæsar, by his power
But cause a formal meeting of the senate,
I will have matter and accusers ready.
Tib. But how? let us consult.
Sej. We shall mispend

The time of action. Counsels are unfit
In business, where all rest is more pernicious
Than rashness can be. Acts of this close kind
Thrive more by execution than advice.
There is no lingering in that work begun,
Which cannot praised be, until through done.

Tib. Our edicts shall forthwith command a court. While I can live, I will prevent earth's fury: Ἐμοῦ θανόντος γαῖα μιχθήτω πυρί. 10

Enter JULIUS POSTHUMUR,

Pos. My lord Sejanus

Sej. Julius" Posthumus!

[Exit.

8 Vid. Tacit. Ann. Lib. iv. p. 83. Dio. Hist. Rom. Lib. lvii. p. 710, et Sen. Cons. ad Marc. cap. 1. et fusius, cap. 22. 9 Edicto ut plurimum Senatores in curiam vocatos constat. Tacit. Ann. Lib. i. p 3.

10 Vulgaris quidam versus, quem sæpe Tiber. recitasse memoratur. Dion. Hist. Rom. Lib. Iviii. p. 729.

11 De Julio Postumo, vid. Tacit. Ann. Lib. iv. p. 77.