Early Modern Drama · Character Archetypes

REGULUS

in Sejanus His Fall — Jonson, Ben

Metadata

PlaySejanus His Fall
AuthorJonson, Ben
Year (catalogued)1640
First performance1603
Decade1640s
GenreTragedy
Play typeAdult Professional
CompanyKing's Men
Speech prefix(es)REG.
Words180
Characters1019
Typicality0.23 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP idA04632.5
BritDrama no.1412
ClusterCluster 2 — Allegory, Nature & pageant voices

Important excerpts

No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).

Full speech

So it does. Bear it my fellow Consul to adscribe. That's remembered. Yes. I have not: here he comes. I.) That shall be done you too.) What's that? If we needs, We have commission, to possess the palace, Enlarge prince DRUSUS, and make him our chief. Here are servants. Hail, great SEIANUS. May it please my lord withdraw. Father's Conscript. May, what I am to utter. Turn good, and happy, for the commonwealth. And thou APOLLO, in whose holy house We here are met, inspire us all, with truth, And liberty of censure, to our thought. The majesty of great Tiberius Caesar Propounds to this graven Senate , the bestowing Upon the man he loves, honoured SEIANUS, The tribunicial dignity, and power; Here are his letters, signed with his signet: What pleases now the Father's to be done? Lords of the Senate , hold your seats: read on. A guard, fit still. Bid silence, and read forward. A guard on LATIARIS. SEIANUS, SEIANUS, Stand forth, SEIANUS. Forbear. Take him hence. And all the gods guard Caesar. Thanks, to the gods.

Plot summary

Plot — Sejanus His Fall
While disaffected Romans whisper, the favourite Séjamus dominates the court with his spies and corruptly sells offices; it is rumoured that he seeks imperial status for himself. He has an affair with Livia and arranges the death by poison of her husband Drasiis} He and the Emperor MibETUS plot to destabilize the opposition, effectively led by Agtippinal To that end, they have Silii§ and @6rdus tried for treason before the Senate; Silius pre-empts the verdict by publicly committing suicide. Sejanus persuades Tiberius to retire from: Rome, but makes him suspicious by seeking to marry Livia (and so become part of the imperial family). Leaving Sejanus as his deputy in Rome, Tiberius also assigns Maer to watch and act against him. Sejanus returns to favour when he saves the Emperor’s life after a rockfall. The legalized harassment of dissent is stepped up: Agrippina’s son @aligala escapes from Rome with Macro, but his mother and brothers are arrested and condemned. Rumours of Tiberius’ debaucheries circulate in Rome, while his treatment of Sejanus seems increasingly ambiguous: the favourites’ allies and enemies seem both to be given high office. Portents like the appearance of a Biantisiake inside Sejanus’ statue prefigure his fall. He professes atheism, accepting only the power of Fertile, but at a religious ceremony the statue of Fortune turns her face from him. The Senate is summoned to hear a communication from the Emperor, and rumours circulate that Sejanus is to be invested with supreme power. Meanwhile, Macro plans a coup with selected officials. The senators greet Sejanus with flattery, but Tiberius’ letter strips him of power. He is beheaded, and the mob tears his body to pieces and pulls down his statues; his children are also killed at Macro’s instigation.