Silius, stand forth, The consul hath to charge thee.
Lic. Room for Caesar.
Arr. Is he come too! nay then expect a trick.
Sab. Silius accused! sure he will answer n.o.bly.
Enter TIBERIUS, attended.
Tib.
We stand amazed, fathers, to behold This general dejection. Wherefore sit Rome"s consuls thus dissolved, as they had lost All the remembrance both of style and place It not becomes. No woes are of fit weight, To make the honour of the empire stoop: Though I, in my peculiar self, may meet Just reprehension, that so suddenly, And, in so fresh a grief, would greet the senate, When private tongues, of kinsmen and allies, Inspired with comforts, lothly are endured, The face of men not seen, and scarce the day, To thousands that communicate our loss.
Nor can I argue these of weakness; since They take but natural ways; yet I must seek For stronger aids, and those fair helps draw out From warm embraces of the common-wealth.
Our mother, great Augusta, "s struck with time, Our self imprest with aged characters, Drusus is gone, his children young and babes; Our aims must now reflect on those that may Give timely succour to these present ills, And are our only glad-surviving hopes, The n.o.ble issue of Germanicus, Nero and Drusus: might it please the consul Honour them in, they both attend without.
I would present them to the senate"s care, And raise those suns of joy that should drink up These floods of sorrow in your drowned eyes.
Arr.
By Jove, I am not OEdipus enough To understand this Sphynx.
Sab. The princes come.
Enter NERO, and DRUSUS, junior.
Tib.
Approach you, n.o.ble Nero, n.o.ble Drusus.
These princes, fathers, when their parent died, I gave unto their uncle, with this prayer, That though he had proper issue of his own, He would no less bring up, and foster these, Than that self-blood; and by that act confirm Their worths to him, and to posterity.
Drusus ta"en hence, I turn my prayers to you, And "fore our country, and our G.o.ds, beseech You take, and rule Augustus" nephew"s sons, Sprung of the n.o.blest ancestors; and so Accomplish both my duty, and your own, Nero, and Drusus, these shall be to you In place of parents, these your fathers, these; And not unfitly: for you are so born, As all your good, or ill"s the common-wealth"s.
Receive them, you strong guardians; and blest G.o.ds, Make all their actions answer to their bloods: Let their great t.i.tles find increase by them, Not they by t.i.tles. Set them as in place, So in example, above all the Romans: And may they know no rivals but themselves.
Let Fortune give them nothing; but attend Upon their virtue: and that still come forth Greater than hope, and better than their fame.
Relieve me, fathers, with your general voice.
Senators.
May all the G.o.ds consent to Caesar"s wish, And add to any honours that may crown The hopeful issue of Germanicus
Tib. We thank you, reverend fathers, in their right.
Arr.
If this were true now! but the s.p.a.ce, the s.p.a.ce Between the breast and lips----Tiberius" heart Lies a thought further than another man"s. [Aside.
Tib.
My comforts are so flowing in my joys, As, in them, all my streams of grief are lost, No less than are land-waters in the sea, Or showers in rivers; though their cause was such, As might have sprinkled ev"n the G.o.ds with tears: Yet, since the greater doth embrace the less, We covetously obey.
Arr. Well acted, Caesar. [Aside.
Tib.
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 period to my days; However to my labours, I entreat, And beg it of this senate, some fit ease.
Arr. Laugh, fathers, laugh: have you no spleens about you?
[Aside.
Tib.
The burden is too heavy I sustain On my unwilling shoulders; and I pray It may be taken off, and reconferred Upon the consuls, or some other Roman, More able, and more worthy.
Arr. Laugh on still. [Aside.
Sab. Why this doth render all the rest suspected!
Gal. It poisons all.
Arr. O, do you taste it then?
Sab.
It takes away my faith to any thing, He shall hereafter speak.
Arr.
Ay, to pray that, Which would be to his head as hot as thunder, "Gainst which he wears that charm should but the court Receive him at his word.
Gal. Hear!
Tib.
For myself I know my weakness, and so little covet, Like some gone past, the weight that will oppress me, As my ambition is the counter-point.
Arr. Finely maintained; good still!
Sej.
But Rome, whose blood, Whose nerves, whose life, whose very frame relies On Caesar"s strength, no less than heaven on Atlas, Cannot admit it but with general ruin.
Arr. Ah! are you there to bring him off? [Aside.
Sej.
Let Caesar No more then urge a point so contrary To Caesar"s greatness, the grieved senate"s vows, Or Rome"s necessity.
Gal. He comes about----
Arr. More nimbly than Vertumnus.
Tib.
For the publick, I may be drawn to shew I can neglect All private aims, though I affect my rest; But if the senate still command me serve, I must be glad to practise my obedience.
Arr. You must and will, sir. We do know it. [Aside.
Senators.
Caesar, Live long and happy, great and royal Caesar; The G.o.ds preserve thee and thy modesty, Thy wisdom and thy innocence
Arr.
Where is"t?
The prayer is made before the subject. [Aside.
Senators.
Guard His meekness, Jove; his piety, his care, His bounty----
Arr.
And his subtility, I"ll put in: Yet he"ll keep that himself, without the G.o.ds.
All prayers are vain for him. [Aside.
Tib.