in Messalina, the Roman Empress — Richards, Nathaniel
Metadata
Play
Messalina, the Roman Empress
Author
Richards, Nathaniel
Year (catalogued)
1640
First performance
1635
Decade
1640s
Genre
Tragedy
Play type
Adult Professional
Company
King's Revels Company
Speech prefix(es)
Pro. | P • o.
Words
217
Characters
1217
Typicality
0.35 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A68655
BritDrama no.
2472
Cluster
Cluster 9 — Boon companions & bluff banter
Important excerpts
No keyword-matching excerpt could be extracted (the cluster label doesn't share vocabulary with this character's speech).
Full speech
How scurvily this shows, how ill in you, That Should be framed just of the times fashion. Fie Caius fie, turned Satire gainst your friends, So shall Proculus. Therein consists the Test Of complete man. Oh silly Silius. Cannot a sweet shaped gallant Like my self, Enter the house where We us vestals live But it must needs be Hell, would, would, would. Nor I, who wu'd, what inconsiderate he For such a Mistress as the Emp'resse Wu'd be so dull, as not make use of Art, Forcing the bodies jovial able might, To yield her expectation full delight. That dare I, I dare; Pond that thou art to question such a toy, Were thy power equal to thy daring pride, Proculus dares do more. A Spirit of valour. My love shall mount. True, true, nor Can it enter in my thoughts to think, What obstacle should bar his excellence From writing Emperor. Oh nimble Satirical vein. That's a horrid hearing. His Cornucopia skull fears prodigies, Oh monstrous Majesty. To fly from you, Oh 'twere the loathsomest scum coward ever leapt: None here complains upon the enticements Of your Emp'resse, that were too basely vile. Man is to man a monster hearted stone, With heaven ther's mercy, but with man ther's none. Mine this, Wound each other.
Plot summary
Plot — Messalina, the Roman Empress
Having successfully competed with the prostitute Calpurnia to see which of them can sleep with more men in 24 hours, the Empress Messalina sets her sights on the chaste Silius as her lover. He is summoned to the brothel and successfully seduced. The Emperor Claudius leaves Rome for an annual religious ceremony. While he is away, Messalina’s debauchery has free rein. Romans are summoned to court to participate: the actor Mnester is tortured into compliance, and three women taking refuge with Lepida, Messalina’s mother, are murdered when they refuse to come. Messalina invokes the Furies to make her sexy, and resists Lepida’s attempts to persuade her to a chaste life; Lepida goes mad. Silius is sent to murder his wife, Silana, but finds himself unable to go through with it; instead he conceals from Messalina the fact that she is still alive. Messalina’s seduction programme is not universally successful: she identifies Montanus as a desirable sexual partner, but he resists her and flees Rome. She decides to go through a ceremony of marriage with Silius, and has a document of approval drawn up and authenticated with the imperial seal. A wedding masque is planned, in which the Vestal Virgins are to be raped; but Lepida overhears the arrangements being discussed, and rescues the Virgins through a secret passage before they are called on to perform. They are pursued by Messalina’s agents, but the earth swallows them and the Virgins are saved; the pander Saufellus is confronted by the ghosts of the three murdered women and struck by a thunderbolt before he goes down. Claudius’ minions inform him of Messalina’s sexual misconduct, and he sends in the guard. The palace is raided and Messalina’s favourites killed. Silana arrives too late to help Silius, and dies kissing his dead lips. Claudius orders Messalina to be tried before the Senate, but his minion Narcissus fears his susceptibility to her feminine wiles, and sends an executioner to kill her. She is visited by the ghosts of her victims, agents, and favourites, and pre-empts the executioner by taking her own life. Claudius decides not to marry again.