SEJANUS.
No.
They are too great, and that too faint a blow
To give them now; it would have serv’d at first,
When with the weakest touch their knot had burst.
But, now, your care must be, not to detect
The smallest cord, or line of your suspect;
For such, who know the weight of prince’s fear,
Will, when they find themselves discover’d, rear
Their forces, like seen snakes, that else would lie
Roll’d in their circles, close: nought is more high,
Daring, or desperate, than offenders found;
Where guilt is, rage and courage both abound.
The course must be, to let them still swell up,
Riot, and surfeit on blind fortune’s cup;
Give them more place, more dignities, more style,
Call them to court, to senate; in the while,
Take from their strength some one or twain, or more,
Of the main factors, (it will fright the store,)
And, by some by-occasion. Thus, with slight
You shall disarm them first; and they, in night
Of their ambition, not perceive the train,
Till in the engine they are caught and slain.
TIBERIUS.
We would not kill, if we knew how to save;
Yet, than a throne, ’tis cheaper give a grave.
Is there no way to bind them by deserts?
SEJANUS.
Sir, wolves do change their hair, but not their hearts.
While thus your thought unto a mean is tied,
You neither dare enough, nor do provide.
All modesty is fond: and chiefly where
The subject is no less compell’d to bear,
Than praise his sovereign’s acts.
TIBERIUS.
We can no longer
Keep on our mask to thee, our dear Sejanus;
Thy thoughts are ours, in all, and we but proved
Their voice, in our designs, which by assenting
Hath more confirm’d us, than if heart’ning Jove
Had, from his hundred statues, bid us strike,
And at the stroke click’d all his marble thumbs.
But who shall first be struck?
SEJANUS.
First Caius Silius;
He is the most of mark, and most of danger:
In power and reputation equal strong,
Having commanded an imperial army
Seven years together, vanquish’d Sacrovir
In Germany, and thence obtain’d to wear
The ornaments triumphal. His steep fall,
By how much it doth give the weightier crack,
Will send more wounding terror to the rest,
Command them stand aloof, and give more way
To our surprising of the principal.
TIBERIUS.
But what, Sabinus?
SEJANUS.
Let him grow a while,
His fate is not yet ripe: we must not pluck
At all together, lest we catch ourselves.
And there’s Arruntius too, he only talks.
But Sosia, Silius’ wife, would be wound in
Now, for she hath a fury in her breast,
More than hell ever knew; and would be sent
Thither in time. Then is there one Cremutius
Cordus, a writing fellow, they have got
To gather notes of the precedent times,
And make them into Annals; a most tart
And bitter spirit, I hear; who, under colour
Of praising those, doth tax the present state,
Censures the men, the actions, leaves no trick,
No practice unexamined, parallels
The times, the governments; a profest champion
For the old liberty-
TIBERIUS.
A perishing wretch!
As if there were that chaos bred in things,
That laws and liberty would not rather choose
To be quite broken, and ta’en hence by us,
Than have the stain to be preserved by such.
Have we the means to make these guilty first?
SEJANUS.
Trust that to me: let Cæsar, by his power
But cause a formal meeting of the senate,
I will have matter and accusers ready.
TIBERIUS.
But how? let us consult.