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)
Bawd. | Bawd | Ba.
Words
640
Characters
3496
Typicality
0.42 (cosine to cluster centroid)
TCP id
A68655
BritDrama no.
2472
Cluster
Cluster 9 — Boon companions & bluff banter
Important excerpts
Passages from this character's speech that contain the most distinguishing words for Cluster 9 (ralph, blastfield, bully, abram, rees, signiour…). Matches are highlighted.
rich. A very dainty device, a Springer One that shall make thy constitution curvet And wind about thee Like a Skein of Silk Titckle, tickle, tickle thee my brave bully: Au, au, au.
Full speech
Heigh ho, what Hem, Hem, Hem, what Hem I say. Stitch, o Stitch. I you may well say drink, well may I drink All sorrow from my heart, for I thank you Ten thousand sesterces, this day is lost To our victorious Empress Messallina ; Messallina Claudii Casaris conjux hanc regalem existimans pa lamb elegit in id ce tamen nobilissimam prostitutis ancillam mercenary stipis camque worser e ac nocte superavis quinto ac vice S m concubitum Plin. lib. 10. cap. 62. Witness the Number five and twenty, All in the circuit of a day and night, And yet she's ready for a new delight. Hadst not provocations to enable thee, Confection of Cantharides, Diasaterion Eringoes, Snails, Oysters, Alligant, and could not these Make thee hold out with five and twenty; 'Twas but a Forenoons work, a forenoons work You paltry puling. In my young days, I tell thee small Flon der, Old as I am and fat, I durst yet wager, To lay twice the number of such shrimps as thee, That they should never rise more. Glad I have lost, Let me come to her, I'll claw you Minks, glad I have lost, and which goes nearest my heart; To rail, and none to rail against but tall Proper and goodly able men, calling Them big-bond Animals, Oh blasphemy. Why Phisgig; must I keep thee rich in clothes, To want that ever pleasing sweet, Honey, and Sugar candy delight; which the Bravest high spirited glistering Ladies, (Such as make Punies of their petty Lords) Account their heaven, their only happiness, Never but discontented when they are Out of Actium and are you defective now; Fallen out (forsooth) with the felicity You shued take in men; Oh most absurd, Not to be suffered, uttered, nor endured, It is intolerable; it is, it is it is, Thou muddy minded piece of mischief it is. No Stitch, orethwart my heart, Oh I shall die; The bottle, the bottle, the bottle knave the bottle. I hope her mightiness received content, And will make bold with my poor house hereafter. Pleasure her, What? Silius a private gentleman of Room And be so gross as not to pleasure her. Which of you gallants wu'd not pleasure and Emp'resse; that a man should be so very a sot As not do, O 'twere abominable. Hoy day; not drawn by woman said you, If he come here, he shall be hanged and drawn, And dry drawn to; not drawn by a woman! Gogs nigs that's fine i'faith. Welcome Princely Spirits, Sweet faces, rich clothes, and exquisite bodies, Make you for ever (my most curious clients) Pru iently, pleasing to the blood of beauty, Hem and Stitch some stools and cushions quick. These are no idle persons. What is the man detracted from his wits tro. Hoy day, I a devourer of maiden heads, That (with joy be it spoken) I have not had A maidenhead these fifty years. May you for ever glister Like the Sun. And have we found you out. Oh you abominable pictures of eevish virtue, you thread bore thin cheeked chastity, You Puppets. There to live, and brave. Tossed on the downy beds of dalliance. Take this, this, and this for me, you Puppets Of purity. Baud stabs at them with h r knife, and in her go king off, is shut in by Le pida. How's this, locked in, what the great devil Will become of me. Lepida within. How she bawls, vengeance stop your throat. Hold ther's my purse, the better partly is gold Perform thy promise, I'll advance thy sta e At Court promote thee. Rich, wondrous rich. A very dainty device, a Springer One that shall make thy constitution curvet And wind about thee Like a Skein of Silk Titckle, tickle, tickle thee my brave bully: Au, au, au.
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.