Hat. From the senate.
Tib. So.

Whence these?

Lat. From thence too.

Tib. Are they sitting now?

With fools and blind men:
the evil,

Lat. They stay thy answer, Cæsar.
Sil. If this man

Had but a mind allied unto his words,

How blest a fate were it to us, and Rome?
We could not think that state for which to
change,

Although the aim were our old liberty:
The ghosts of those that fell for that, would
grieve

Their bodies liv'd not, now, again to serve.
18 Men are deceiv'd, who think there can
be thrall

"Beneath a virtuous prince. Wish'd liberty
"Ne'er lovelier looks, than under such a
crown."

But, when his grace is merely but lip-good,
And that, no longer than he airs himself
Abroad in public, there, to seem to shun
The strokes and stripes of flatterers, which
within

Are lechery unto him, and so feed
His brutish sense with their afflicting sound,
As (dead to virtue) he permits himself
Be carried like a pitcher by the ears,
To every act of vice: this is a case
Deserves our fear, and doth presage the nigh
And close approach of bloody tyranny.
"Flattery is midwife unto princes' rage:
"And nothing sooner doth help forth a
tyrant,
[have the time,
"Than that, and whisperers grace, who
"The place, the pow'r, to make all men
offenders.'
[dissemble

"

Arr. He should be told this; and be bid

we that know

[bane ;

Should hunt the palace-rats, or give them Fright hence these worse than ravens, that devour

[dead:

The quick, where they but prey upon the
He shall be told it.

And practise what is fit, as what is needful.
"It is not safe t' enforce a sovereign's ear:
Princes hear well, if they at all will hear.
Arr. Ha? 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.

Sil. 'Tis well pray'd.

Tib. Return the lords this voice, we are their creatures,

And it is fit a good and honest prince,
Whom they out of their bounty have in-
structed 19

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 e'er repent us to have wish'd
The senate just, and fav'ring lords unto us,
"Since their free loves do yield no less de-
fence
[cence."
"Ta prince's state than his own inno-
Say then, there can be nothing in their
thought

Shall want to please us, that hath pleased
them;

Our suffrage rather shall prevent, than stay
Behind their wills: 'tis empire to obey,
Where such, so great, so grave, so good de-
termine.

18 Men are deceiv'd, who think there can be thrall

Beneath a virtuous prince. Wish'd liberty

Ne'er velier looks than under such a crown.] An instance of the poet's zeal for monarchy, and of his complaisance to the prince then reigning. He has given us a translation of the Latin,

-Nunquam libertas gratior exstat,

Quàm sub rege pio.

19 Whom they out of their bounty have INSTRUCTED

With so dilate and absolute a power.] This is the reading of all the editions; but Mr. Seward imagines instructed to be a corruption for intrusted, which gives a more easy and natural construction; and Mr. Theobald has the same correction in the margin of his copy. Perhaps a Latinism is here intended, and Jonson uses instructed in the sense, which the Romans sometimes assigned to instruo, of supplying, or furnishing. And consulting the original, I find this to be really the case; for the beginning of this speech is a translation of what is preserved by Suetonius: Dixit, & nunc, & sæpè aliàs, P. C. bonum & salutarem principem, quem vos tantâ & tam liberâ potestate instruxistis, senatui servire debere, & universis civibus sæpè, & plerumque etiam singulis: neque id dixisse me pœnitet; & bonos & æquos & faventes vos habui dominos, & adhuc habeo. Tiber. Cæs. c. 29. In this instance, as well as in many others, Jonson has verified the remark of Mr. Dryden, who says of him, that perhaps he did a little too much romanize our tongue, leaving the words which he translated, almost as much Latin as he found them; wherein, though he learnedly followed their language, he did not enough comply with the idiom of ours. What follows, to the conclusion of the speech, is to be met with in Tacitus, Annal. 1. 4. c. 37. & 38. I would observe, however, that the translation of the poet is entirely in the sententious manner of the original, and con cludes with the well-known maxim,

Contemptu fama contemni virtutes.

Yet, for the suit of Spain, t' erect a temple
In honour of our mother and ourself,
We must (with pardon of the senate) not
Assent thereto. Their lordships 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 pur-
pose.

Since deified Augustus hindered not
A temple to be built at Pergamum,
In honour of himself and sacred Rome;
We, that have all his deeds and words ob-
serv'd

Ever, in place of laws, the rather follow'd
That pleasing precedent, because with ours,
The senate's reverence also, there, was
join'd.

But as, 'have once receiv'd it, may de

serve

The gain of pardon; so, to be ador'd
With the continu'd style, and note of gods,
Through all the provinces, were wild am-
bition,

And no less pride: yea even Augustus' name
Would early vanish, should it be profan'd
With such promiscuous flatteries. For our
part,

We here protest it, and are covetous
Posterity should know it, we are mortal;
And can but deeds of men: 'twere glory
enough,
[add
Could we be truly a prince. And they shall
Abounding grace unto our memory,
That shall report us worthy our fore-fa-
thers,

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 imag'ry:
For those of stone or brass, if they become
Odious in judgment of posterity,

Are more contemn'd as dying sepulchres,
Than ta'en for living monuments. We then
Make here our suit, alike to gods and
men;

23

The one, until the period of our race,
T'inspire us with a free and quiet mind,
Discerning both divine and human laws;
The other, to vouchsafe us after death,
An honourble mention, and fair praise,
T'accompany our actions and our name:
The rest of greatness princes may com-
mand,

And (therefore) may neglect; only, a long,
A lasting, high, and happy memory
They should, without being satisfied, pur-
[tue.
Contempt of fame, begets contempt of vir-
Nut. Rare!

sue.

Sat. Most divine!

Sej. The oracles are ceas'd,

That only Cæsar, with their tongue might
speak 20.
[open this!
Arr. Let me be gone: most felt and
Cor. Stay.

Arr. What, to hear more

fine words,

cunning, and

[meant? With their sound flatter'd, ere their sense be Tib. Their choice of Antium, there to

place the gift
Vow'd to the goddess for our mother's health,
We will the senate know, we fairly like;
[Fortuna equestris.
As also of their grant to Lepidus,
For his repairing the Emilian palace,
And restauration of those monuments:
Their grace too in confining of Silanus
To th' other isle Cithera, at the suit
Of his religious sister, much commends
Their policy, so temp'red with their mercy.
But for the honours which they have de-
creed

To our Sejanus, to advance his statue
In Pompey's theatre (whose ruining fire
His vigilance, and labour kept restrain'd
In that one loss) they have therein out-gone
Their own great wisdoms, by their skilful

choice,

And placing of their bounties on a man,
Whose merit more adorns the dignity,
Than that can him; and gives a benefit,
In taking, greater than it can receive.
Blush not, Sejanus, thou great aid of Rome,

-The oracles are ceas'd,

That only Cæsar, with their tongue, might speak.] The poet with great judgment lays hold on the common opinion of the cessation of oracles about this time, and turns it to a very artful piece of flattery. The fact may be false, but the received notions of Jonson's age sufficiently justify the application. If the reader is desirous to know the sentiments of the learned with regard to the cessation of oracles at this time, I refer him to Vandale de Oraculis, and Fontenelle's Histoire des Oracles.

"Let me be gone, most FELT, and open this!] The honest-hearted Arruntius is impatient to be gone, and vent his indignation at such gross flattery; but the present reading, most felt, conveys no idea of this kind. The true reading seems to be fleet, which agrees with the intention of the speaker.-Mr. SEWARD.

The diction is forced, and uncommon; but I believe the pointing should be corrected, and the present word retained, which is the reading of all the copies.

Arr. Let me be gone: most felt and open this.

The meaning is, "Let me hasten away; this flattery is not to be endured, it is too gross, "(felt for) palpable, and open." The poet seems to have made perspicuity of expression give place to the measure of his verse.

Associate of our labours, our chief helper ;
Let us not force thy simple modesty
With offering at thy praise, for more we
cannot,
fhere
Since there's no voice can take it. No man
Receive our speeches as hyperboles:
For we are far from flattering our friend,
(Let envy know) as from the need to flatter.
Nor let them ask the causes of our praise;
Princes have stil their grounds rear'd with
themselves,

Above the poor low flats of common men;
And who will search the reasons of their
acts,

Must stand on equal bases.
Our loves unto the senate.

Arr. Cæsar.

Sab. Peace.

Lead away.

[ruin'd

Cor. Great Pompey's theatre was never
Till now, that proud Sejanus hath a statue
Rear'd on his ashes.

Arr. 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!

Sil. Check your passion;
Lord Drusus tarries.

Dru. Is my father mad?

Weary of life, and rule, lords? thus to heave
An idol up with praise! make him his mate!
His rival in the empire!

Arr. O, good prince!

[such

Dru. Allow him statues, titles, honours,

To Modesty, that he will rest contented— Arr. I, where he is, and not write emperor.

Sejanus, Drusus, Arruntius, &c.

[He enters followed with clients. Sej. There is your bill, and yours; bring you your man.

I have mov'd for you, too, Latiaris.
Dru. What?

Is your vast greatness grown so blindly bold,
That you will over us?

Sej. Why then give way.

Dru. Give way, Colossus? do you lift? advance you?

Take that.

[Drusus strikes him. Arr. Good! brave! excellent, brave prince! [you off? at gaze? Dru. Nay, come, approach. What, stand It looks too full of death for thy cold spirits. Avoid mine eye, dull camel, or my sword Shall make thy brav'ry fitter for a grave, Than for a triumph. I'll advance à statue O' your own bulk; but 't shall be on the

22 A Castor, a Castor, &c.] This appellation, as Jonson himself informs us from Dion Cassius, was given by the people to Drusus, on account of the warmth and violence of his temper. In this action of Drusus, the poet professeth to have followed the account of Tacitus; for the story is told otherwise by Dion, and his epitomizer Xiphilin; and the general character of Drusus is represented by them in disadvantageous colours: Tn Merlo on wiw χαλεπη εχρηίω, ωςε και πληγας ιππει επιφάνει δεναι, και δια τύτο και Καςωρ παρωνύμιον ελαβε. Aphilin. p. 104. edit. Hen. Steph. Par. 1551. He was of so passionate a disposition, that he beat an illustrious person of the equestrian "order, for which reason he had the surname of Castor given him."

23 Chorus of Masicians.] A band of filers as a chorus to a tragedy, wrote upon the plan of the antients, makes, as Mr. Sympson observes, a very different appearance from what we meet wita in Eschylus, or Sophocles. Jonson was sensible of this, and offers some sort of apology for it in his preface. In the Catiline he hath endeavoured to be more exact; and introduces, yet without much mending the matter, a proper chorus, in imitation of the ancient tragedians.

ACT II.

As the most apt, and BLEST instrument.] The measure is here defective, by the loss of a foot; and blest instrument is a phrase not very congruous to the place it stands in. The quarto of 1605, and iolio of 1016, both read abled, which undoubtedly is the genuine word; and as such I have admitted it into the text. Ablest seems to have been designed by the editor, which is the reading of the folio in 1640.

Hath given some little taint unto the CERUSE.] By the ceruse, I should imagine is to be understood, not any white-wash, or the common preparation of lead with vinegar, but a colour rather inclining to what the pamters call carnation. It was a composition that could not stand the warmth of the sun. Martial alludes to it, and seems to make a difference between a common white and the ceruse:

Quàm cretata timet Fabulla nimbum,

Cerussata timet Sabella solem.-L. 2. ep. 41.

Shall e'er approve, nor yet keep silent.] This sentiment, with what precedes and follows it, is expressed from the Thyestes of Seneca: