Chapter XLIII: Act I: Scene I.1371

[_Enter_] SABINUS _and_ SILIUS, [_followed by_] LATIARIS.

_Sab._ Hail, Caius Silius![1372]

_Sil._ Titius Sabinus,[1373] hail!
You’re rarely met in court.

_Sab._ Therefore, well met.

_Sil._’T is true: indeed, this place is not our sphere.

_Sab._ No, Silius, we are no good inginers.[1374]
We want the fine arts, and their thriving use 5
Should make us grac’d, or favour’d of the times:
We have no shift of faces, no cleft tongues,
No soft and glutinous bodies, that can stick,
Like snails, on painted walls; or, on our breasts,
Creep up, to fall from that proud height, to which 10
We did by slavery,[1375] not by service climb.
We are no guilty men, and then no great;
We have nor place in court, office in state,
That we can say,[1376] we owe unto our crimes:
We burn with no black secrets,[1377] which can make 15
Us dear to the pale authors; or live fear’d
Of their still waking jealousies, to raise
Ourselves a fortune, by subverting theirs.
We stand not in the lines, that do advance
To that so courted point.

[_Enter_ SATRIUS _and_ NATTA _at a distance_.]

_Sil._ But yonder lean 20
A pair that do.

_Sab._[_salutes_ LATIARIS.] Good cousin Latiaris.[1378]

_Sil._ Satrius Secundus,[1379] and Pinnarius Natta,[1380]
The great Sejanus’ clients: there be two,
Know more than honest counsels; whose close[1381] breasts, 24
Were they ripp’d up to light, it would be found
A poor and idle[1382] sin to which their trunks
Had not been made fit organs. These can lie,
Flatter, and swear, forswear,[1383] deprave, inform,
Smile, and betray; make guilty men; then beg
The forfeit lives, to get their livings; cut 30
Men’s throats with whisp’rings; sell to gaping suitors
The empty smoke that flies about the palace;
Laugh when their patron laughs; sweat when he sweats;
Be hot and cold with him; change every mood,
Habit, and garb, as often as he varies; 35
Observe him, as his watch observes his clock;[1384]
And, true as turquoise in the dear lord’s ring,[1385]
Look well or ill with him:[1386] ready to praise
His lordship, if he spit, or but piss fair, 39
Have an indifferent stool, or break wind well;
Nothing can scape their catch.

_Sab._ Alas! these things
Deserve no note, conferr’d[1387] with other vile
And filthier flatteries,[1388] that corrupt the times,
When, not alone our gentries chief are fain
To make their safety from such sordid acts, 45
But all our consuls,[1389] and no little part
Of such as have been praetors, yea, the most
Of senators,[1390] that else not use their voices,
Start up in public senate, and there strive
Who shall propound most abject things, and base; 50
So much, as oft Tiberius hath been heard,
Leaving the court, to cry,[1391] O race of men,
Prepar’d for servitude!—which show’d that he,
Who least the public liberty could like,
As loathly brook’d their flat servility. 55

_Sil._ Well, all is worthy of us, were it more,
Who with our riots, pride, and civil hate,
Have so provok’d the justice of the gods:
We, that, within these fourscore years, were born
Free, equal lords of the triumphed world, 60
And knew no masters but affections;
To which betraying first our liberties,
We since became the slaves to one man’s lusts;
And now to many:[1392] every minist’ring spy
That will accuse and swear, is lord of you, 65
Of me, of all, our fortunes and our lives.
Our looks are call’d to question,[1393] and our words,
How innocent soever, are made crimes;
We shall not shortly dare to tell our dreams,
Or think, but ’t will be treason.

_Sab._ Tyrants’ arts 70
Are to give flatterers grace; accusers, power;
That those may seem to kill whom they devour.
[_Enter_ CORDUS _and_ ARRUNTIUS.]
Now, good Cremutius Cordus.[1394]

_Cor._ [_salutes_ SABINUS.] Hail to your lordship!

_Nat._ Who ’s that salutes your cousin?

_Lat._ ’T is one Cordus. _They whisper._
A gentleman of Rome: one that has writ 75
Annals of late, they say, and very well.

_Nat._ Annals? Of what times?

_Lat._ I think of Pompey’s,[1395]
And Caius Caesar’s; and so down to these.

_Nat._ How stands he affected to the present state?
Is he or Drusian,[1396] or Germanican, 80
Or ours, or neutral?

_Lat._ I know him not so far.

_Nat._ Those times are somewhat queasy[1397] to be toucht.
Have you or seen or heard part of his work?

_Lat._ Not I; he means they shall be public shortly.

_Nat._ O, Cordus do you call him?

_Lat._ Ay. [_Exeunt_ NATTA _and_ SATRIUS.]

_Sab._ But these our times 85
Are not the same, Arruntius.[1398]

_Arr._ Times! The men,
The men are not the same! ’T is we are base,
Poor, and degenerate from th’ exalted strain
Of our great fathers. Where is now the soul
Of god-like Cato? he, that durst be good, 90
When Caesar durst be evil; and had power,
As not to live his slave, to die his master?
Or where’s the constant Brutus, that being proof
Against all charm of benefits, did strike
So brave a blow into the monster’s heart 95
That sought unkindly[1399] to captive his country?
O, they are fled the light! Those mighty spirits
Lie rak’d up with their ashes in their urns,
And not a spark of their eternal fire
Glows in a present bosom. All’s but blaze, 100
Flashes, and smoke, wherewith we labour so;
There’s nothing Roman in us; nothing good,
Gallant, or great. ’T is true that Cordus says,
“Brave Cassius was the last of all that race.”

DRUSUS _passes by_ [_attended by_ HATERIUS, _etc._]

_Sab._ Stand by! Lord Drusus.[1400]

_Hat._ Th’ emp’ror’s son! Give place, 105

_Sil._ I like the prince well.

_Arr._ A riotous youth,[1401]
There’s little hope of him.

_Sab._ That fault his age
Will, as it grows, correct. Methinks he bears
Himself each day more nobly than other;
And wins no less on men’s affections, 110
Than doth his father lose. Believe me, I love him;
And chiefly for opposing to Sejanus.[1402]

_Sil._ And I, for gracing his young kinsmen so,[1403]
The sons[1404] of prince Germanicus:[1405] it shows
A gallant clearness in him, a straight mind, 115
That envies not, in them, their father’s name.

_Arr._ His name was, while he liv’d, above all envy;
And, being dead, without it. O, that man!
If there were seeds of the old virtue left, 119
They liv’d in him.

_Sil._ He had the fruits, Arruntius,
More than the seeds:[1406] Sabinus and myself
Had means to know him within; and can report him.
We were his followers, he would call us friends;
He was a man most like to virtue; in all,
And every action, nearer to the gods 125
Than men, in nature; of a body as fair
As was his mind; and no less reverend
In face than fame:[1407] he could so use his state,
Temp’ring his greatness with his gravity,
As it avoided all self-love in him, 130
And spite in others. What his funerals lack’d
In images and pomp, they had suppli’d
With honourable sorrow, soldiers’ sadness,
A kind of silent mourning, such as men,
Who know no tears but from their captives, use 135
To show in so great losses.

_Cor._ I thought once,
Considering their forms, age, manner of deaths,
The nearness of the places where they fell,
T’ have parallel’d him with great Alexander:
For both were of best feature, of high race, 140
Year’d but to thirty, and, in foreign lands,
By their own people alike made away.

_Sab._ I know not, for his death, how you might wrest it:
But, for his life, it did as much disdain
Comparison with that voluptuous, rash, 145
Giddy, and drunken Macedon’s, as mine
Doth with my bondman’s. All the good in him,
His valour, and his fortune, he made his;
But he had other touches of late Romans, 149
That more did speak him:[1408] Pompey’s dignity,
The innocence of Cato, Caesar’s spirit,
Wise Brutus’ temp’rance: and every virtue,
Which, parted unto others, gave them name,
Flow’d mixt in him. He was the soul of goodness;
And all our praises of him are like streams 155
Drawn from a spring, that still rise full, and leave
The part remaining greatest.

_Arr._ I am sure
He was too great for us,[1409] and that they knew
Who did remove him hence.

_Sab._ When men grow fast
Honour’d and lov’d, there is a trick in state, 160
(Which jealous princes never fail to use)
How to decline that growth, with fair pretext,
And honourable colours of employment,
Either by embassy, the war, or such,
To shift them forth into another air, 165
Where they may purge, and lessen; so was he:[1410]
And had his seconds there, sent by Tiberius
And his more subtile dam, to discontent him;
To breed and cherish mutinies; detract
His greatest actions; give audacious check 170
To his commands; and work to put him out
In open act of treason. All which snares
When his wise cares prevented,[1411] a fine poison
Was thought on, to mature their practices.

_Cor._ Here comes Sejanus.[1412]

_Sil._ Now observe the stoops, 175
The bendings, and the falls.

_Arr._ Most creeping base!

[_Enter_] SEJANUS, TERENTIUS, SATRIUS, [NATTA,] _etc._
_They pass over the stage._

_Sej._ I note ’em well: no more. Say you?

_Sat._ My lord.
There is a gentleman of Rome would buy——

_Sej._ How call you him you talk’d with?

_Sat._ Please your worship,
It is Eudemus,[1413] the physician 180
To Livia, Drusus’ wife.

_Sej._ On with your suit.
Would buy, you said——

_Sat._ A tribune’s place, my lord.

_Sej._ What will he give?

_Sat._ Fifty sestertia.[1414]

_Sej._ Livia’s physician, say you, is that fellow?

_Sat._ It is, my lord. Your lordship’s answer?

_Sej._ To what? 185

_Sat._ The place, my lord. ’T is 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. 190
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 grief.—On!
[_Exeunt_ SEJANUS, SATRIUS, TERENTIUS, _etc._]

_Arr._ So! yet another? yet? O desperate state 195
Of grov’ling honour! Seest thou this, O sun,
And do we see thee after? Methinks, day
Should lose his light, when men do lose their shames,
And for the empty circumstance of life, 200
Betray their cause of living.

_Sil._ Nothing so.[1415]
Sejanus can repair, if Jove should ruin.
He is the now court-god; and well applied
With sacrifice of knees, of crooks, and cringe,
He will do more than all the house of heav’n 205
Can for a thousand hecatombs. ’T is he
Makes us our day, or night; hell and elysium
Are in his look. We talk of Rhadamanth,
Furies, and firebrands; but ’t is his frown 209
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’[1416] trencher, when for hire
He prostituted his abused body
To that great gourmand, fat Apicius: 215
And was the noted pathic[1417] of the time.

_Sab._ And, now,[1418] the second face of the whole world!
The partner of the empire, hath his image
Rear’d equal with Tiberius, borne in ensigns;
Commands, disposes every dignity. 220
Centurions, tribunes, heads of provinces,
Praetors, 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.

_Sil._ He hath of late 225
Made him a strength too, strangely, by reducing
All the praetorian bands into one camp,
Which he commands: pretending that the soldier,
By living loose and scattered, fell to riot;
And that if any sudden enterprise 230
Should be attempted, their united strength
Would be far more than sever’d; and their life
More strict, if from the city more remov’d.

_Sab._ Where now he builds what kind of forts he please,
Is heard to court the soldier by his name, 235
Woos, feasts the chiefest men of action,
Whose wants, nor loves, compel them to be his.
And though he ne’er were liberal by kind,[1419]
Yet to his own dark ends, he’s most profuse,
Lavish, and letting fly he cares not what 240
To his ambition.

_Arr._ Yet hath he ambition?
Is there that step in state can make him higher,
Or more, or anything he is, but less?

_Sil._ Nothing but emp’ror.

_Arr._ The name Tiberius,
I hope, will keep, howe’er he hath foregone 245
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:[1420] too many—ha? for him
To have a plot upon?

_Sil._ I do not know 250
The heart of his designs; but sure their face
Looks farther than the present.

_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 255
I’d hurl his panting brain about the air
In mites as small as atomi t’ undo
The knotted bed——

_Sab._ You are observ’d, Arruntius.

_Arr._ (_Turns to_ SEJANUS’ _clients_.)
Death! I dare tell him so; and all his spies.
You, sir, I would, do you look? and you.

_Sab._ Forbear. 260

[SCENE II.][1421]

[_Enter_] SATRIUS, EUDEMUS.

_Sat._ Here he will instant be; let’s walk a turn;
You’re in a muse, Eudemus?

_Eud._ Not I, sir.
[_Aside._] I wonder he should mark me out so. Well,
Jove and Apollo form it for the best!

_Sat._ Your fortune’s made unto you now, Eudemus, 5
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—
[_Enter_ SEJANUS.]
Here comes his lordship.

_Sej._ Now, good Satrius.

_Sat._ This is the gentleman, my lord.

_Sej._ Is this? 10
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, 15
Who’s 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. 20

_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 ’em:
For those that are, their beauties fear no colours.[1422] 25

_Eud._ Your lordship is conceited.[1423]

_Sej._ Sir, you know it,
And can, if need be, read a learned lecture
On this, and other secrets. ’Pray you, tell me,
What more of ladies, besides Livia,
Have you your patients?

_Eud._ Many, my good lord. 30
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 increas’d; what action caused that;
What passion that; and answer to each point 36
That you will put ’em?

_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 40
To ladies’ privacies. Faith, which of these
Is the most pleasant lady in her physic?
Come, you are modest[1424] now.

_Eud._ ’T is fit, my lord.

_Sej._ Why, sir, I do not ask you of their urines,
Whose smell’s most violet, or whose siege is best, 45
Or who makes hardest faces on her stool,
Which lady sleeps with her own face a nights.
Which puts her teeth off, with her clothes, in court,
Or, which her hair, which her complexion,
And, in which box she puts it. These were questions 50
That might, perhaps, have put your gravity
To some defence of blush. But, I inquir’d,
Which was the wittiest, merriest, wantonest?
Harmless interrogatories, but conceits.——
Methinks Augusta should be most perverse, 55
And froward in her fit.

_Eud._ She’s so, my lord.

_Sej._ I knew it: and Mutilia the most jocund.

_Eud._ ’T is very true, my lord.

_Sej._ And why would you
Conceal this from me, now? Come, what is Livia?
I know she’s quick and quaintly spirited, 60
And will have strange thoughts, when she is at leisure:
She tells ’em all to you?

_Eud._ My noblest lord,
He breathes not in the Empire, or on earth,
Whom I would be ambitious to serve
(In any act that may preserve mine honour) 65
Before your lordship.

_Sej._ Sir, you can lose no honour,
By trusting aught to me. The coarsest act
Done to my service, I can so requite
As all the world shall style it honourable:
Your idle, virtuous definitions, 70
Keep honour poor, and are as scorn’d as vain:
Those deeds breathe honour that do suck in gain.

_Eud._ But, good my lord, if I should thus betray
The counsels of my patient, and a lady’s
Of her high place and worth, what might your lordship, 75
(Who presently are to trust me with your own)
Judge of my faith?

_Sej._ Only the best, I swear.
Say now that I should utter you my grief,
And with it the true cause; that it were love,
And love to Livia: you should tell her this: 80
Should she suspect your faith? I would you could
Tell me as much from her; see if my brain
Could be turn’d jealous.[1425]

_Eud._ Happily,[1426] my lord,
I could in time tell you as much and more;
So I might safely promise but the first 85
To her from you.

_Sej._ As safely, my Eudemus,
I now dare call thee so, as I have put
The secret into thee.

_Eud._ My lord——

_Sej._ Protest not,
Thy looks are vows to me; use only speed,
And but affect her with Sejanus’ love, 90
Thou art a man made to make consuls. Go.

_Eud._ My lord, I’ll promise you a private meeting.
This day together.

_Sej._ Canst thou?

_Eud._ Yes.

_Sej._ The place?

_Eud._ My gardens, whither I shall fetch your lordship.

_Sej._ Let me adore my Aesculapius. 95
Why, this indeed is physic! and outspeaks
The knowledge of cheap drugs, or any use
Can be made out of it! more comforting
Than all your opiates, juleps, apozems,[1427]
Magistral[1428] syrups, or——Begone, my friend,
Not barely styled, but created so; 101
Expect things greater than thy largest hopes,
To overtake thee. Fortune shall be taught
To know how ill she hath deserv’d thus long,
To come behind thy wishes. Go, and speed——
[_Exit_ EUDEMUS.]
Ambition makes more trusty slaves than need.
These fellows, by the favour of their art, 107
Have still the means to tempt; oft-times the power.
If Livia will be now corrupted, then
Thou hast the way, Sejanus, to work out 110
His secrets, who, thou know’st, endures thee not,
Her husband, Drusus: and to work against them.
Prosper it, Pallas, thou that better’st wit;
For Venus hath the smallest share in it.

[_Enter_] TIBERIUS, DRUSUS, [_attended._] _One kneels to_ TIBERIUS.

_Tib._ We not endure these flatteries; let him stand; 115
Our empire, ensigns, axes, rods, and state
Take not away our human nature from us:
Look up on us, and fall before the gods.

_Sej._ How like a god speaks Cæsar!

_Arr._ [_Aside to_ CORDUS.] There, observe!
He can endure that second, that’s no flattery.
O, what is it proud slime will not believe, 121
Of his own worth, to hear it equal prais’d
Thus with the gods!

_Cor._ He did not hear it, sir.

_Arr._ He did not? Tut, he must not, we think meanly.
’T is your most courtly known confederacy, 125
To have your private parasite redeem
What he, in public subtilety, will lose
To making him a name.

_Hat._ Right mighty lord——
[_Gives him letters._]

_Tib._ We must make up our ears ’gainst these assaults
Of charming tongues; we pray you use no more
These contumelies to us; style not us 131
Or lord, or mighty, who profess ourself
The servant of the senate, and are proud
T’ enjoy them our good, just, and favouring lords.

_Cor._ Rarely dissembled!

_Arr._ Prince-like to the life. 135

_Sab._ When power that may command, so much descends,
Their bondage, whom it stoops to, it intends.

_Tib._ Whence are these letters?

_Hat._ From the senate.

_Tib._ So,
Whence these? [LAT. _gives him letters_.]

_Lat._ From thence too.

_Tib._ Are they sitting now?

_Lat._ They stay thy answer, Caesar.

_Sil._ If this man 140
Hath but a mind allied unto his words,
How blest a fate were it to us, and Rome!
We could not think[1429] that state for which to change,
Although the aim were our old liberty:
The ghosts of those that fell for that, would grieve 145
Their bodies liv’d not, now, again to serve.
Men are deceiv’d, to think there can be thrall
Beneath a virtuous prince. Wish’d liberty
Ne’er lovelier looks, than under such a crown.
But, when his grace is merely but lip-good, 150
And that no longer than he airs himself
Abroad in public, there, to seem to shun
The strokes and stripes of flatterers, which within
Are lechery unto him, and so feed
His brutish sense with their afflicting sound, 155
As, dead to virtue, he permits himself
Be carried like a pitcher by the ears,
To every act of vice: this is a case
Deserves our fear, and doth presage the nigh
And close approach of blood and tyranny. 160
Flattery is midwife unto prince’s rage:
And nothing sooner doth help forth a tyrant,
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 165
With fools and blind men: we that know the evil,
Should hunt the palace-rats, or give them bane.[1430]
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, 170
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, 175
(Say not but I do call upon thee now,)
Of all wild beasts preserve me from a tyrant;
And of all tame, a flatterer.

_Sil._ ’T is 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, 180
Whom they, out of their bounty, have instructed
With so dilate[1431] 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 185
The senate just and fav’ring lords unto us,
Since their free loves do yield no less defence
T’ 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[1432] than stay 191
Behind their wills: ’t is empire to obey,
Where such, so great, so good determine.
Yet, for the suit of Spain t’ erect a temple
In honour of our mother and our self, 195
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 200
In these brief reasons, with our after purpose.
Since deified Augustus hind’red not
A temple to be built at Pergamum,
In honour of himself and sacred Rome;
We, that have all his deeds and words observ’d
Ever, in place of laws, the rather follow’d 206
That pleasing precedent, because with ours,
The senate’s reverence, also, there was join’d.
But as, t’ have once receiv’d it, may deserve
The gain of pardon; so, to be ador’d 210
With the continu’d style and note[1433] of gods,
Through all the provinces, were wild ambition,
And no less pride: yea, ev’n Augustus’ name
Would early vanish, should it be profan’d 214
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: ’t were glory enough,
Could we be truly a prince. And they shall add
Abounding grace unto our memory, 220
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, 225
The fairest, and most during imag’ry:
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 230
Make here our suit, alike to gods and men;
The one, until the period of our race,
T’ inspire us with a free and quiet mind,
Discerning both divine and human laws;
The other, to vouchsafe us after death, 235
An honourable mention, and fair praise,
T’ 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 240
They should, without being satisfied, pursue:
Contempt of fame begets contempt of virtue.

_Nat._ Rare!

_Sat._ Most divine!

_Sej._ The oracles are ceas’d,
That only Caesar, with their tongue, might speak.

_Arr._ Let me be gone: most felt and open this! 245

_Cor._ Stay.

_Arr._ What! to hear more cunning and fine words,
With their sound flatter’d ere their sense be meant?

_Tib._ Their choice of Antium, there to place the gift,
Vow’d to the goddess[1434] for our mother’s health,
We will the senate know, we fairly like; 250
As also of their grant to Lepidus,
For his repairing the Aemilian place,
And restoration of those monuments:
Their grace, too, in confining of Silanus
To th’ other isle Cithera, at the suit 255
Of his religious sister, much commends
Their policy, so temp’red with their mercy.
But for the honours which they have decreed
To our Sejanus, to advance[1435] his statue
In Pompey’s theatre, (whose ruining fire 260
His vigilance and labour kept restrain’d
In that one loss,) they have therein outgone
Their own great wisdoms, by their skilful choice
And placing of their bounties on a man
Whose merit more adorns the dignity 265
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 270
With off’ring at[1436] thy praise, for more we cannot,
Since there’s no voice can take[1437] 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. 275
Nor let them ask the causes of our praise:
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: 280
Our loves unto the senate.
[_Exeunt_ TIB., SEJAN., NATTA., HAT., SAT., Officers, _etc._]

_Arr._ Caesar!

_Sab._ Peace.

_Cor._ Great Pompey’s theatre was never ruin’d
Till now, that proud Sejanus hath a statue
Rear’d on his ashes.

_Arr._ Place the shame of soldiers 284
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,
Weary of life and rule, lords, thus to heave 289
An idol up with praise? Make him his mate,
His rival in the empire?

_Arr._ O, good prince!

_Dru._ Allow him statues, titles, honours, such
As he himself refuseth?

_Arr._ Brave, brave Drusus!

_Dru._ The first ascents to sovereignty are hard;
But ent’red once, there never wants or means,
Or ministers, to help th’ aspirer on. 296

_Arr._ True, gallant Drusus.

_Dru._ We must shortly pray
To Modesty, that he will rest contented—

_Arr._ Ay, where he is, and not write emp’ror.

_Re-enter_ SEJANUS, [SATRIUS, LATIARIS,] Clients, _etc._

_Sej._ There is your bill, and yours; bring you
your man. [_To_ SATRIUS.] 300
I have mov’d for you, too, Latiaris.

_Dru._ What!
Is your vast greatness grown so blindly bold,
That you will over us?

_Sej._ Why then give way.

_Dru._ Give way, Colossus! Do you lift? Advance you?
Take that! _Strikes him._

_Arr._ Good! brave! excellent, brave prince! 305

_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 brav’ry fitter for a grave,
Than for a triumph. I’ll advance[1438] a statue 310
O’ your own bulk; but ’t shall be on the cross,
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 mov’d, can bear it through 316
With patience, and an even mind, knows how
To turn it back. Wrath cover’d carries fate:
Revenge is lost, if I profess my hate.
What was my practice[1439] late, I’ll now pursue,
As my fell justice: this hath styl’d it new. 321
[_Exit._]

CHORUS—of musicians.