ARRUNTIUS

Times? the men, The men are not the same: it's we are base Poor, and degenerate from th'exalted strain Of our great father's. Where is now the soul Of godlike CATO? he, that durst be good, When Caesar durst be evil; and had power, As not to live his slave, to die his master. Or where the constant BRUTUS, that (being proof Against all charm of benefits) did strike So brave a blow into the monsters heart That sought unkindly to captive his country? Oh, they are fled the light. Those mighty spirits Lie raked up, with their ashes in their urns, And not a spark of their eternal fire Glows in a present bosom. All's but blaze, Flashes, and smoke, wherewith we labour so, There's nothing Roman in us; nothing good, Gallant, or great: It's true, that CORDUS say's, Brave Cassius was the last of all that raze. A riotous youth, There's little hope of him. His name was, while he lived, above all envy; And being dead, without it. Oh, that man! If there were seeds of the old virtue left, They lived in him. I am sure He was too great for us, and that they knew Who did remove him hence. Most creeping base! I Note them well: No more. Say you. So, yet! another? yet? O desperate state Of groveling honour! Seest thou this, O sun, And do we see thee after? Me thinks, day Should loose his light, when men do loose their shames, And, for the empty circumstance of life, Betray their cause of living. A serving boy? I knew him, at Caius trencher, when for hire, He prostituted his abused body To that great gourmond, fat APICIUS; And was the noted pathic of the time. Yet, hath he ambition? Is there that step in state can make him higher? Or more? or any thing he is, but less? The name Tiberius I hope, will keep; how ere he hath foregone The dignity, and power. And dead, it comes to DRUSUS. Should he fail, To the brave issue of GERMANICUS; And they are three: Too many (would?) for him To have a plot upon? 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'vndoe The knotted bed — Death! I dare tell him so; and all his spies: You, sir, I would, do you look? and you. There, observe! He can endure that second, that's no flattery. Oh, what is it, proud slime will not believe Of his own worth, to hear it equal praised Thus with the gods? He did not? Tut, he must not, we think meanly. It's your most courtly, known confederacy, To have your private parasite redeem What he, in public subtlety, will loose To making him a name. Princelike, to the life. He should be told this; and be bid dissemble With fools, and blind men: We that know the evil, Should hunt the Palace-rats, or give them bane; Fright hence these worse then ravens, that devour The quick, where they but prey upon the dead: He shall be told it. Would? 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; And of all tame, a flatterer. Let me be gone, most felt, and open this! What? to hear more cunning, and fine words, With their found flattered, ere their sense be meant? Caesar. 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! Oh, good prince! Brave, brave DRUSUS! True, gallant DRUSUS. I, where he is, and not write Emperor. THere is your bill, and yours; Bring you your man: I have moved for you, too, LATIARIS. Good! brave! excellent brave prince! A noble prince! Oh, they hunt, they hunt. There is some game here lodged, which they must rouse, To make the great-ones sport. I, baits, baits, For us to bite at: would I have my flesh Torn by the public hook, these qualified hangmen Should be my company. I, there's a man, AFER the orator! One, that hath phrases, figures, and fine flowers, To strew his rhetoric with, and does make haste To get him note, or name, by any offer Where blood, or gain be objects; steeps his words, When he would kill, in artificial tears: The Crocodile of Tiber ! him I love, That man is mine. He hath my heart, and voice, When I would curse, he, he. Hear me, SILIUS, Were all Tiberius body stuck with eyes, And every wall, and hanging in my house Transparent, as this lawn I wear, or air; Yea, had SEIANUS both his ears as long As to my inmost closet: I would hate To whisper any thought, or change and act, To be made JUNO'S rival. Virtues forces Show ever noblest in conspicuous courses. That can my subtle whisperers tell you: We, That are the good dull-noble lookers on, Are only called to keep the marble warm. What should we do with those deep mysteries, Proper to these fine heads? let them alone. Our ignorance may, perchance, help us be saved From whips, and furies. I, now their heads do travail, now they work; Their faces run Like shittles they are weaving Some curious cobweb to catch flies. What so low? Is he come too? nay then expect a trick. By JOVE, I am not OEDIPUS enough, To understand this SPHYNX. If this were true now! but the space, the space Between the breast, and lips—Tiberius heart Lies a thought farther, then another men. Oh, do' you taste it then? I, to pray that, Which would be to his head as hight as thunder, A wreathe of laurel. (Gainest which he wears that charm) should but the court Receive him at his word More nimbly then VERTUMNUS.) And his subtlety, I'll put in: Yet hee'll keep that himself, without the gods. All prayer's are vain for him. Now, SILIUS, guard thee; The curtin's drawing. VARRO? The Consul? Is he thrust in? I thank thee, SILIUS, speak so still, and often. Believe him, SILIUS. I say so. And he may choose too. Well worded, and most Like and Orator. Excellent Roman! GALLUS on that side to? And honourable hand! My thought did prompt him to it. Farewell, SILIUS. Be famous ever for thy great example. Excellent wolf! Now he is full, he howls. Oh, that was gaped for then? I, Out of necessity. This LEPIDUS Is graven and honest, and I have observed A moderation still in all his censures. More blood unto the banquet? Noble CORDUS, I wish thee good: Be as thy writings, free, And honest. Two of SEIANUS bloodhounds, whom he breeds With humane flesh, to bay at citizens. Freely, and nobly spoken. He puts them to their whisper. If the age were good, they might. I, noble LEPIDUS, AUGUSTUS well foresaw, what we should suffer, Under Tiberius, when he did pronouuce The Roman raze most wretched, that should live Between so slow jaws, and so long a bruising. This business hath succeeded well, SEIANUS: And quite removed all jealousy of practice against AGRIPPINA, and our nephews. Now, We must bethink us how to plant our engines For the other pair, SABINUS, and ARRUNTIUS, And GALLUS too (how ere he flatter us,) His heart we know. IT hath so, on SABINUS. Oh act! to be envied him, of us men! We are the next, the hook lays hold on, MARCUS What are thy arts (good patriot, teach them me) That have preserved thy hairs, to this white die, And kept so reverend, and so deer a head, Safe, on his comely shoulders? I would begin to study them, if I thought They would secure me. May I pray to JOVE, In secret, and be safe? I, or aloud? With open wishes? so I do not mention Tiberius, or SEIANUS? yes, I must, If I speak out. It's hard, that. May I think, And not be racked? What danger is't to dream? Talk in ones sleep? or cough? who knows the law? May I shake my head, without a comment? say It reins, or it holds up, and not be thrown Upon the Gemonies? These now are things, Whereon men's fortune, yea their fate depends. Nothing hath privilege against the violent ear. No place, no day, no hour (we see) is free. (Not our religious, and most sacred times) From some one kind of cruelty: all matter, Nay all occasion pleases. Madmen's rage, The idleness of drunkards, women's nothing, Jesters simplicity, all, all is good That can be catched at. Nor is now th'euent Of any person, or for any crime, To be expected; for, it's always one: Death, with some little difference of place, Or time— what's this? Prince NERO? guarded? ON, Lictors , keep your way: My lords, forbear. On pain of CAESARS wrath, no man attempt Speech with the prisoner. Do' I see? and hear? and feel? May I trust sense? Or does my phantasy form it? Would? I smell it now: it's rank. Where's AGRIPPINA? Bolts, VULCAN; bolts, for JOVE! PHŒBUS, thy bow; Stern MARS, thy sword; and blue-eyed Maid , thy spear; Thy club, ALCIDES: all the armoury Of heaven is too little!—Would? to guard The gods, I meant. Fine, rare dispatch! This same Was swiftly born! confined? imprisoned? banished? Most tripartite! The cause, sir? Oh? The compliment of all accusings? that Will hit, when all else fails. Hushed. Drowned in their bellies. Wild SEIANUS breath Hath, Like a whirlwind, scattered that poor dust, With this rude blast. Wee'll talk no treason, sir, If that be it you stand for? Fare you well. We have no needs of horseleeches. Good spy, Now you are spied, be gone. And trusted to this office? LEPIDUS, I'd sooner trust Greek -SINON, then a man Our state employs. He's gone: and being gone, I dare tell you (whom I dare better trust) That our night-eyed Tiberius does not see His minions drifts; or, if he do, h'is not So errant subtle, as we fools do take him: To breed a mongrel up, in his own house, With his own blood, and (if the good gods please) At his own throat, flesh him, to take a leap. I do not beg it, heaven: but, if the fates Grant it these eyes, they must not wink. Who should let them? He is our monster: forfeited to vice So far, as no racked virtue can redeem him. His loathed person fouler then all crimes: And Emperor, only in his lustest. Retired (From all regard of his own fame, or Rome's ) Into and obscure Island; where he lives (Acting his tragedies with a comic face) Amidst his rout of Chaldee's : spending hours, Days, weeks, and months, in the unkind abuse Of graven astrology , to the bane of men, Casting the scope of men's nativities, And having found ought worthy in their fortune, Kill, or precipitate them in the sea, And boast, he can mock fate. Nay, muse not: these Are far from ends of evil, scarce degrees. He hath his slaughterhouse, at Capreae ; Where he does study murder, as and art: And they are dearest in his grace, that can Devise the deepest tortures. Thither, too, He hath his boys, and beauteous girls taken up, Out of our noblest houses, the best formed, Best nurtured, and most modest: what's their good Serves to provoke his bade. Some are allured, Some threatened; others (by their friends detained) Are ravished hence, Like captives, and, in sighed Of their most grieved parents, dealt away Unto his spintries, sellaries , and slaves, Master's of strange, and new-commented lustest, For which wise nature hath not left a name. To this (what most strikes us, and bleeding Room ,) He is, with all his craft, become the ward To his own vassal, a stale catamite : Whom he (upon our low, and suffering necks) Hath raised, from excrement, to side the gods, And have his proper sacrifice in Room: Which JOVE beholds, and yet will sooner rive A senseless oak with thunder, then his trunk. These letters make men doubtful what t'expect, Whither his coming, or his death. You may be a LINCEVS, LEPIDUS: yet, I See no such cause, but that a politic tyrant (who can so well disguise it) should have taken A nearer way: feigned honest, and come home To cut his throat, by Law. (The fiends they are. To suffer thee belie them?) (How easily, Do wretched men believe, what they would have! Looks this Like plot? Yes, and come of your notable fool. I will.) Nothing. Riddles. TIll I see SEIANUS struck, no found thereof strikes me.) I, and that we Must give our suffrage to it? you will say, It is to make his fallen more steep, and grievous? It may be so. But think it, they that can With idle wishes 'ssay to bring back time: In cases desperate, all hope is crime. See, see! what troops of his officious friends Flock to salute my lord! and start before My great, proud lord! to get a lordlike nod! Attend my lord, unto the Senate -house! Bring back my lord! Like servile huishers, make Way for my lord! proclaim his idol lordship, More then ten criers, or six noise of trumpets! Make legs, kiss hands, and take a scattered hair From my lords eminent shoulder! See, SANQVINIUS! With his slow belly, and his dropsy! look, What toiling haste he makes! yet, here's another, Retarded with the gout, will be afore him! Get thee liburnian porters, thou gross fool, To bear thy obsequious fatness, Like thy peers. They are met! The gout returns, and his great carriage. Give way, make place; room for the Consul. We shall be marked anon, for our not-haile. It is a note Of upstarted greatness, to observe, and watch For these poor trisles, which the noble mind Neglects, and scorns. Oh! There is a farther cause of hate. Their breasts Are guilty, that we know their obscure springs, And base beginnings: thence the anger grows. On. Follow. Gods! how the sponges open, and take in! And shut again! look, look! is not he blessed That gets a seat in eye-reach of him? more, That comes in ear, or tongue-reach? O, but most, Can claw his subtle elbow, or with a buzz Flyblow his ears. Oh, most tame slavery, and fierce flattery! I shall anon believe your vultures, MARCUS.) Your wisdoms, Conscript Father's, are able to examine, and censure these suggestions. But, were they left to our absolving voice, we durst pronounce them, as we think them, most malicious. Gods! how the leaves drop off, this little wind!) We therefore desire, that the offices he holds, be first seized by the Senate; and himself suspended from all exercise of place, or power— Come, Porcpisce , (where's WOULD TERIVS? His gout keeps him most miserably constant.) Your dancing shows a tempest. There's change. Oh, the spy! The reverend spy is caught, who pities him? Reward, sir, for your see vice: now, you have done Your property, you see what use is made? Hang up the instrument. Hushed. Where now are all the hails, and acclamations? And the legs Of the poor horses, that deserved nought, Let them be broken too. Like, as both Their bulks and souls were bound on Fortune's wheel, And must act only with her motion! Who would depend upon the popular air, Or voice of men, that have to day beheld (That which if all the gods had fore-declared, Would not have been believed) SEIANUS fallen? He, that this morn rose proudly, as the sun? And, breaking through a missed of clients breath, Came on as gazed at, and admired, as he When superstitious Moors salute his light! That had our servile nobles waiting him As common grooms; and hanging on his look, No less then humane life on destiny! That had men's knees as frequent, as the gods; And sacrifices, more, then Room had altars: And this man fallen! fallen? I, without a look, That durst appear his friend; or lend so much Of vain relief, to his changed state, as pity! They, that before Like gnats played in his beams, And thronged to circumscribe him, now not seen! Nor deign to hold a common seat with him! Others, that waited him unto the Senate , Now, inhumanely ravish him to prison! Whom (but this morn) they followed as their lord, Guard through the streets, bound Like a fugitive! In stead of wreaths, give fetters; strokes, for stoops: Blind shame, for honours; and black taunts, for titles! Who would trust slippery chance? But, had SEIANUS thrived In his design, and prosperously oppressed The old Tiberius, then, in that same minute These very rascals, that now rage Like furies , Would have proclaimed SEIANUS emperor. And strangely opened: what say's now my monster, The multitude? they reel now? do they not? I thank them, rogues! Dost thou hope fortune to redeem thy crimes? To make amends, for thy ill placed favours, With these strange punishments? Forbear, you things, That stand upon the pinnacles of state, To boast your slippery height; when you do fallen, You pash your selves in pieces, never to rise: And he that lends you pity, is not wise. Well acted, Caesar.) Laugh, Father's, laugh: have you no spleens about you?) Laugh on, still.) Finely maintained; good still.) Ah! are you there, to bring him of?) You must, and will, sir. We do know it.) Where is't? The prayer's made before the subject.) List, Their talk is Caesar, I would hear all voices.) Good HELIOTROPE! Is this your honest man? Let him be yours so still. He is my knave.) That the deer smoke would choke him, That would I more. By HERCULES, best.) The lapwing, the lapwing.) Yet, in things, which shall worthily, and more near concern the majesty of a prince, we shall fear to be so unnaturally cruel to our own fame, as to neglect them. True it is, Conscript Father's, that we have raised SEIANUS , from obscure, and almost unknown gentry, This touches, the blood turns.) But we affy in your loves, and understandings, and do no way suspect the merit of our SEIANUS to make our favours offensive to any. I thank him, there I looked for't. A good fox!) Some there be, that would interpret this his public severity to be particu lar ambition; and that, under a pretext of service to us, he does but remove his own lets: alleging the strengths he hath made to himself, by the Praetorian soldiers, by his faction in Court, and Senate, by the offices he holds himself, and confers on others, his popularity, and dependents, his urging (and almost driving) us to this our unwilling retirement, and lastly his aspiring to be our son inlaw. The place grows hight, they shift.) We have not been covetous, Honourable Father's, to change; neither is it now, any new lust that alters our affection, or old loathing: but those needful jealousy's of state, that warn wiser princes, hourly, to provide their safety; and do teach them how learned a thing it is to beware of the humblest enemy; much more of those great ones, whom their own employed favours have made fit for their fears.