TIBERIUS

We must make up our ears, against these assaults Of charming tongues; we pray you use, no more These contumelies to us: style not us Or lord, or mighty, who profess our self The servant of the Senate , and are proud Enjoy them our good, joust, and favouring lords. Whence are these letters? So. Whence these? Are they sitting, now? 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 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 ever repent us, to have wished The Senate joust, and favouring lords unto us, "Since their free loves do yield no less defence "to a princes state, then 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, then stay Behind their wills: it's empire, to obey Where such, so great, so graven, so good determine. Yet, for the suit of Spain , erect a temple In honour of our mother, and our self, We must (with pardon of the Senate ) not Assent thereto. Their Lordship's 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 deified AUGUSTUS hindered not A temple to be built, at Pergamum , In honour of himself, and sacred Room , We, that have all his deeds, and words observed Ever, in place of laws, the rather followed That pleasing precedent, because, with ours, The Senates reverence also, there, was joined. But, as, to-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 Would early vanish, should it be profaned With such promiscuous flatteries. For our partly, 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 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 brasle, if they become Odious in judgement of posterity, Are more contemned, as dying sepulchres, Then taken for living monuments. We then Make here our suit, alike to gods and men, The one, until the perjod of our raze, T'inspire us with a free, and quiet mind, Discerning both divine, and humane laws; The other, to vouchsafe us after death, And honourable mention, and fair praise, 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. Their choice of Antium , thereto place the gift Vowed to the goddess, for our mother's health, Fortuna eque stris. We will the Senate know, we fairly Like; As also, of their grant to LEPIDUS, For his repairing the Aemilian place, And restauration of those monuments: Their grace too in consigning of SILANUS, To th'other Is'le Cithera , at the suit Of his religious sister, much commends Their policy, so tempered with their mercy. But, for the honours, which they have decreed To our SEIANUS to advance his statue In POMPEI'S theatre (whose ruining fire His vigilance, and labour kept restrained In that one lose) 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, Then that can him: and gives a benefit, In taking, greater, then it can receive. Blush not, SEIANUS, thou great aid of Room , 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 hyperbole's ; For we are far from flattering our friend, (Let envy know) as from the needs to flatter. Nor let them ask the causes of our praise; Princes have still their grounds reared with themselves, Above the poor low flats of common men, And, who will search the reasons of their acts, Must stand on equal bases. Led, away. Our loves unto the Senate. Let all depart that chamber, and the next: Fit down, my comfort. When the master-prince Of all the world, SEIANUS, says, he fears; Is it not fatal? And not to him? That nature, blood, and laws of kind forbid. No. Long hate pursues such acts. Are rites Of faith, love, piety, to be trod down? Forgotten? and made vain? Yet so, we may do all things cruelly, Not safely: Knows yet, SEIANUS, whom we point at? She; and her proud raze. The act's not known. It is a dangerous, to make them hence, If nothing but their birth be their offence. Do they purpose it? We will command Their rank thoughts down, and with a stricter hand Then we have yet put forth, their trains must bore, Their titles, feasts and factions. Confine them, We would not kill, if we knew how to save; Yet, then a throne, it's cheaper give a graven. Is there no way to bind them by deserts? We can no longer Keep on our masque to thee, our deer SEIANUS; Thy thoughts are ours, in all, and we but proved Their voice, in our designs, which by assenting Hath more confirmed us, then if heartening JOVE Had, from his hundred statues, bid us strike, And at the stroke clickt all his marble thumb's. But, who shall first be struck? But what, SABINUS? A perishing wretch. As if there were that chaos bred in things, The laws, and liberty would not rather choose To be quite broken, and taken hence by us, Then have the stain to be preserved by such. Have we the means, to make these guilty, first? But how? let us consult. Our edict shall, forthwith, command a court. While I can live, I will prevent earth's fury: . We thank you, reverend Father's, in their right. My comforts are so flowing in my joys, As, in them, all my streams of grief are lost, No less then are land-waters in the sea, Or showers in rivers; though their cause was such, As might have sprinkled even the gods with tears: Yet since the greater does embrace the less, We covetously obey. And, now I am the happy witness made Of your so much desired affections, To this great issue, I could wish, the fates Would here set peaceful perjod to my days; How ever, to my labours, I entreat (And beg it of this Senate ) some fit ease. The burden is too heavy, I sustain On my unwilling shoulders; and I pray It may be taken off, and re-confer'd Upon the Consuls , or some other Roman , More able, and more worthy. For my self, I know my weakness, and so little covet (Like some gone passed) the weight that will oppress me, As my ambition is the counterpoint. For the public, I may be drawn, to show, I can neglect All private aims; though I affect my rest: But, if the Senate still command me serve, I must be glad to practice my obedience. We will not hold Your patience, Father's , with long answer; but Shall still contend to be, what you desire, And work to satisfy so great a hope: Proceed to your affairs. We cannot, Nor may we grant it. It hath been usual, And is a right, that custom hath allowed The magistrate, to call forth private men; And to appoint their day: Which privilege We may not in the Consul see infringed, By whose deep watches, and industrious care It is so laboured, as the commonwealth Receive no lose, by any oblique course. SILIUS, mistake us not, we dare not use The credit of the Consul , to thy wrong, But only do preserve his place, and power, So far as it concerns the dignity, And honour of the state. By the capital , And all our gods, but that the deer republic, Our sacred laws, and joust authority Are interessed therein, I should be silent. Is this true, SILIUS? Look, is he dead? We are not pleased, in this sad accident, That thus hath stalled, and abused our mercy, Intended to preserve thee, noble Roman: And to prevent thy Hope's. The confiscation merely of his state Had been enough. It shall please us. What is he? Let's hear him answer. Silence. Take him hence, We shall determine of him at next sitting. Rather ARRUNTIUS. Dearest head, To thy most forunate design I yield it. It's confessed. H'mh? We cannot but commend thy piety Most-loved SEIANUS, in acknowledging Those bounties; which we faintly, such, remember. But to thy suit. The rest of mortal men, In all their drifts, and counsels, pursue profit: Princes, alone, are of a different sort, Directing their main actions still to fame. We therefore will take time to think, and answer. For LIVIA, she can best, her self, resolve If she will marry after DRUSUS, or Continue in the family; beside She hath a mother, and a grandame yet, Whose nearer counsels she may guide her by: But I will simply deal. That enmity, Thou fearest in AGRIPPINA, would burn more, If LIVIA'S marriage should (as 'twere in parts) Divide the imperial house; and emulation Between the women might break forth; and discord Ruin the sons, and nephews, on both hands. What if it cause some present difference? Thou art not safe, SEIANUS, if thou prove it. Canst thou believe, that LIVIA who was wife To Caius Caesar, then to DRUSUS, now Will be contented to grow old with thee, Born but a private gentleman of Room? And raise thee with her lose, if not her shame? Or say, that I should wish it, canst thou think The Senate , or the people (who have seen Her brother, father, and our ancestors, In highest place of empire) will endure it? The state thou holdest already, is in talk; Men murmur at thy greatness; and the nobles Stick not, in public, to upbraid thy climbing Above our father's favours, or thy scale: And dare accuse me, from their hate to thee. Be wise, deer friend. We would not hide these things For friendships deer respect. Nor will we stand Adverse to thine, or LIVIA'S designments. What we had purposed to thee, in our thought, And with what near degrees of love to bind thee, And make thee equal to us, for the present, We will forbear to speak. Only thus much Believe our loved SEIANUS, we not know That height in blood, or honour, which thy virtue, And mind to us, may not aspire with merit; And this wee'll publish, on all watched occasion The Senate , or the people shall present. We are resolved. Careful SEIANUS! we will straight peruse them: Go forward in our main design, and prosper. IF those but take, I shall. Dull, heavy Caesar! Wouldst thou tell me, thy favours were made crimes? And that my Fortune's were esteemed thy faults? That thou, for me, Wertenberg hated? and not think I would with winged haste prevent that change, When thou mightest win all to thy self again, By forfeiture of me? Did those found words Fly swifter from thy lips, then this my brain, This sparkling forge, created me and armour to encounter chance, and thee? Well, read my charms, And may they lay that hold upon thy senses, As thou hadst snuft up hemlock, or taken down The juice of poppy, and of mandrakes. Sleep, Voluptuous Caesar, and security Seize on thy stupid powers, and leave them dead To public cares, awake but to thy lustest. The strength of which makes thy libidinous soul Itch to leave Room ; and I have thrust it on: With blaming of the city business, The multitude of suits, the confluence Of suitors, then their importunacies, The manifold distractions he must suffer, Beside ill rumours, envies, and reproaches, All which, a quiet and retired life, (Larded with ease, and pleasure) did avoid; And yet, for any weighty, and great affair, The fittest place to give the soundest counsels. By this, shall I remove him both from thought, And knowledge of his own most deer affairs; Draw all dispatches through my private hands; Know his designments, and pursue mine own; Make mine own strengths, by giving suits, and places; Conferring dignities, and offices: And these that hate me now, wanting access To him, will make their envy none, or less. For when they see me arbiter of all, They must observe: or else, with Caesar fallen. To leave our journey off, were sin against our decreed delights; and would appear Doubt: or (what less becomes a prince) low fear. Yet, doubt hath law, and fears have their excuse, Where princes states plead necessary use; As ours does now: more in SEIANUS pride, Then all fell AGRIPPINA'S hates beside. Those are the dreadful enemies, we raise With favours, and make dangerous, with praise; The injured by us may have will alike, But it's the favourite hath the power, to strike: And fury ever boils more high, and strong, Heat'with ambition, then revenge of wrong. It's then a partly of supreme skill, to grace No man too much; but hold a certain space Between the ascenders rise, and thine own flat, Lest, when all rounds be reached, his aim be that. It's thought— IS MACRO in the palace? See: If not go, seek him, to come to us— He Must be the organ, we must work by now; Though none less apt for trust: Needs does allow What choice would not. In have herd, that aconite Being timely taken, hath a healing might Against the scorpions stroke; the proof wee'll give: That, while two poisons wrestle, we may live. He hath a spirit too working, to be used But to the encounter of his Like; excused Are wiser sovereigns then, that raise one ill Against another, and both safely kill: The prince, that eeds great nature's, they will sway him; Who nourishes a lion, must obey him. MAcro, we sent for you. (Leave us awhile.) When you shall know, good MACRO, The causes of our sending, and the ends; You then will harken nearer: and be pleased You stand so high, both in our choice, and trust. Leave our courtings. We are in purpose, MACRO, to depart The city for a time, and see Campania ; Not for our pleasures, but to dedicate A pair of temples, one, to JUPITER At Capva , th'other at Nola , to AUGUSTUS: In which great work, perhaps, our stay will be Beyond our will produced. Now, since we are Not ignorant what danger may be born Out of our shortest absence, in a state So subject unto envy, and embroiled With hate, and faction; we have thought on thee, (Amongst a field of Romans ,) worthiest MACRO, To be our eye, and ear, to keep strict watch On AGRIPPINA, NERO, DRUSUS, I, And on SEIANUS: Not, that we distrust His loyalty, or do repent one grace, Of all that heap, we have conferred on him. (For that were to disparage our election, And call that judgement now in doubt, which then Seemed as unquestioned as and oracle,) But, greatness hath his cankers. Worms, and moths Breed out of too fit matter, in the things Which after they consume, transferring quite The substance of their makers, int'themselues. MACRO is sharp, and apprehends. Beside, I know him subtle, close, wise, and well-read In man, and his large nature. He hath studied Affections, passion, knows their springs, their ends, Which way, and whither they will work: it's proof Enough, of his great merit, that we trust him. Then, to a point; (because our conference Cannot be long without suspicion) Here, MACRO, we assign thee, both to spy, Inform, and chastise; think, and use thy means, Thy ministers, what, where, on whom thou wilt; Explore, plot, practice: All thou dost in this, Shall be, as if the Senate , or the Laws Had given it privilege, and thou thence stiled The sauier both of Caesar, and of Room. We will not take thy answer, but in act: Whereto, as thou proceedest, we hope to hear By trusted messengers. If't be inquired, Wherefore we called you, say, you have in charge To see our chariots ready, and our horse: Be still our loved, and (shortly) honoured MACRO. I Will not ask, why Caesar bids do this: But joy, that he bids me. It is the bliss Of courts, to be employed; no matter, how: A princes power makes all his actions virtue. We, whom he works by, are dumb instruments, To do, but not inquire: His great intents Are to be served, not searched. Yet, as that bow Is most in hand, whose owner best does know T'affect his aims, so let that statesman hope Most use, most price, can hit his princes scope. Nor must he look at what, or whom to strike, But loose at all; each mark must be alike. Were it to plot against the fame, the life Of one, with whom I twined; remove a wife From my warm side, as loved, as is the air; Practice away each parent; draw mine heir In compass, though but one; work all my kin To swift perdition; leave no untrained engine, For friendship, or for innocence; nay, make The gods all guilty: I would undertake This, being imposed me, both with gain, and ease. The way to rise, is to obey, and please. He that will thrive in state, he must neglect The trodden paths, that truth and right respect; And prove new, wilder ways: for virtue, there, Is not that narrow thing, she is elsewhere. Men's fortune there is virtue; reason, their will: Their licence, law; and their observance, skill. Occasion, is their foil; conscience, their stain; Profit, their lustre: and what else is, vain. If then it be the lust of CAESARS power, To-have raised SEIANUS up, and in and hour Overturn him, tumbling, down, from height of all; We are his ready engine: and his fallen May be our rise. It is no uncouth thing To see fresh buildings from old ruins spring. YOu must have patience, royal AGRIPPINA. For in them apace The father's spirit shoots up. GERMANICUS Lives in their looks, their gate, their form, upbraid us With his close death, if not revenge the same.