Anonymous: The Tragedy of
Nero (1624)
Act One.
Scene One.
Enter PETRONIUS
ARBITER[1] and
ANTONIUS HONORATUS.
PETRONIUS
Tush[2], take
the wench
I showed thee now, or else some
other seek.
What? Can your choler[3] no way
be allayed
But with Imperial titles?
Will you more titles unto
Caesar give?[5]
ANTONIUS
Great are thy fortunes, Nero,
great thy power,
Thy Empire limited with
nature's bounds.
Upon thy ground, the Sun doth
set and rise,
The day and night are thine:
Nor can the Planets wander
where they will[10]
See that proud earth, that fears
not Caesar's name.
Yet nothing of all this, I envy
thee,
But her, to whom the world,
unforced,[4] obeys,
Whose eye's more worth than all
it looks upon,
In whom all beauties Nature hath
enclos'd,[15]
That through the wide earth, or
Heaven are disposed.
PETRONIUS
Indeed she steals and robs each
part o'th world,
With borrowed beauties[5] to
enflame thine eye;
The Sea, to fetch her Pearl, is
div'd into,
The Diamond rocks are cut to
make her shine[20]
To plume her pride the birds do
naked sing
When
my Enanthe, in a homely
[6]
gown
ANTONIUS
Homely, i'faith.
PETRONIUS
Aye, homely in her gown,
But look upon her face, and
that's set out
With no small grace, no veiled
shadow's help.
Fool, that hadst rather with false
lights and dark
Beguiled be, than see the ware
thou buyest.
POPPÆA, royally attended,
passes over the stage, in State.
ANTONIUS
Great Queen, whom nature made
to be her glory,
Fortune got eyes, and came to
be thy servant;
Honour is proud to be thy
title. Though
Thy beauties do draw up my
soul, yet still
So bright, so glorious is thy
Majesty,
That it beats down again my
climbing thoughts.
PETRONIUS
Why true,
And other of thy blindness thou
seest,
Such one to love thou dar'st
not speak unto.
Give me a wench that will be
easily had,
Not wooed with cost, and being
sent for comes,
And when I have her folded in
mine arms,
Then Cleopatra[7] she, or
Lucres[8] is:
I'll give her any title.
ANTONIUS
Yet not so much her greatness
and estate
My hopes dishearten, as her
chastity.
PETRONIUS
Chastity, fool! A word not known in courts.
Well may it lodge in mean and
country homes,
Where poverty and labour keep
them down,
Short sleeps, and hands made
hard with Tuscan wool,
But never comes to great men's
palaces,
Where ease, and riches, stirring
thoughts beget,
Provoking meats, and surfeit
wines inflame,
Where all there setting forth's
be wooed,
And wooed they would not be,
but to be won.
Will one man serve Poppæa? Nay, thou shalt
Make her as soon contented with
an eye.
Nymphidius to them.
NYMPHIDIUS
Whil'st Nero in the streets his
Pageants shows,
I to his fair wife's chamber sent
for am.
You gracious stars, that smiled
in my birth,
And thou bright star more
powerful then them all,
Whose favouring smiles have
made me what I am
Thou shalt my God, my fate, and
fortune be.
Exit Nymphidius.
ANTONIUS
How saucily yon fellow
Enters the Empress's chamber.
PETRONIUS
Aye, and her too? Antonius,
knowest thou him?
ANTONIUS
What? Know the only favourite
of the Court?
Indeed, not many days ago thou
mightest
Have not unlawfully askt that
question.
PETRONIUS
Why is he rais'd?
ANTONIUS
That have I sought in him,
But never piece of good desert
could find:
He is Nymphidia's son, the
freed- woman,
Which baseness to shake off, he
nothing hath
But his own pride.
PETRONIUS
You remember when Gallus,
Celsus,
And others too, though now
forgotten, were
Great in Poppæa's eyes?
ANTONIUS
I do, and did interpret it in
them
An honourable favour. She bare virtue,
Or parts like virtue.
PETRONIUS
The cause is one of theirs, and
this man's grace;
I once was great in wavering
smiles of Court,
I fell because I knew. Since I have given
My time to my own pleasures,
and would now
Advise to thee too, to mean and
safe delights.
The thigh's as soft the sheep's
back covereth
As that which crimson, and with
gold adorn'd;
Yet cause I see that thy restrained
desires
Cannot their own way choose, come
thou with me
Perhaps I'll show thee means of
remedy.
Exeunt
Scene Two.
Enter two Romans at several
doors.
1ST
ROMAN
Whither so fast, man? Whither so fast?
2ND
ROMAN
Whither? But where your ears do lead you;
To Nero's triumphs, and the
shouts you hear.
1ST
ROMAN
Why? Comes he crown'd with Parthian overthrow,
And brings he Vologeses[9] with
him, chain'd?
2ND
ROMAN
Parthian overthrown[10]? Why, he comes crown'd
For victories which never Roman
won,
For having Greece in her own
arts overthrown;
In singing, dancing,
horse-race, stage-playing.
Never, O Rome had never such a
Prince.
1ST
ROMAN
Yet have I heard our ancestors
were crown'd
For other victories.
2ND
ROMAN
None of our ancestors were e'er
like him.
Within, “Nero, Apollo,[11]
Nero, Hercules[12].”
1ST ROMAN
Hark how th'applauding shouts
do clear th'air.
This idle talk will make me lose
the sight.
Two Romans more to them.
3RD
ROMAN
Whither go you? All's done i'th Capitol,
And Nero, having there his
tables hung,
And garlands up, is to the
Palace gone.
'Twas beyond wonder; I shall never
see,
Nay I never look to see the like
again.
Eighteen hundred and eight
Crowns[13]
For several victories, and the
place set down.
Where, and in what, and whom he
overcame.
4TH
ROMAN
That was set down i'th tables,
that were borne
Upon the soldiers' spears.
1ST
ROMAN
O made, and sometimes used, to
other ends.
2ND
ROMAN
But did he win them all with
singing?
3RD
ROMAN
Faith all with singing, and
with stage-playing.
1ST
ROMAN
Somany crowns got with a song?
4TH
ROMAN
But did you mark the Greek musicians
Behind his chariot, hanging
down their heads?
Sham'd and o'ercome in their professions;
O, Rome was never honour'd so
before.
3RD
ROMAN
But what was he that rode i'th
chariot with him?
4TH
ROMAN
That was Diodorus the Minstrel[14], that
he favours.
3RD
ROMAN
Was there ever such a Prince?
2ND
ROMAN
O Nero Augustus, the true
Augustus.
3RD
ROMAN
Nay, had you seen him as he
rode along,
With an Olympic Crown upon his
head,
And with a Pythian on his arm[15], you
would have thought,
Looking on one he had Apollo
seem'd,
On th'other Hercules.
2ND
ROMAN
I have heard my father oft
repeat the triumphs,
Which in Augustus Cæsar's time
were shown
Upon his victory o'er the Illyrians,
But it seems it was not like to
this.
3RD
Tush, it could not be like
this.
2ND,
3RD
O Nero, Apollo, Nero, Hercules.
Exeunt 2nd, 3rd,
and 4th Romans.
Alanet Primus.
1ST
ROMAN
Whether Augustus' triumph
greater was
I cannot tell; his triumph's cause
I know
Was greater far, and far more
honourable.
What are we? People or our
flattering voices,
That always shame and foolish
things applaud
Having no spark of soul; all
ears, and eyes,
Pleas'd with vain shows, deluded
by our senses,
Still enemies to wisdom, and to
goodness?
Exit.
Scene Three.
Enter Nero, Poppæa,
Nymphidius, Tigellinus, Epaphroditus, Neophilus, and others.
NERO
Now fair Poppæa, see thy Nero
shine
In bright Achaia's[16] spoils,
and Rome in him.
The capital hath other trophies
seen
Then it was wont, not spoils
with blood bedew'd,
Or the unhappy obsequies of
death,
But such, as Cæsar's cunning,
not his force,
Hath wrung from Greece, too
bragging of her art.
TIGELLINUS
And in this strife, the glory's
all your own.
Your tribunes cannot share this
praise with you,
Here your Centurions hath no
part at all,
Bootless your Armies, and your
Eagles[17] were,
No Navies helpt to bring away
this conquest.
NYMPHIDIUS
Even Fortune's self, Fortune
the Queen of Kingdoms
(That war's grim valour graceth
with her deeds,)
Will claim no portion in this
victory.
NERO
Not Bacchus, drawn from Nisa[18] down
with Tigers,
Curbing with viny rains their
wilful heads,
Whilst some do gape upon this
Ivy Thirse,
Some, on the dangling grapes
that crown his head.
All praise his beauty, and continuing
youth,
So struck, amazed India with
wonder
As Nero's glories did the
Greekish towns
Elis[19], and
Pisa[20], and
the rich Mycenae[21],
Junonian Argos
[22]
, and yet Corinth proud
Of her two seas, all which
o'er-came, did yield
To me their praise, and prizes
of their games.
POPPÆA
Yet, in your Greekish journey,
do we hear
Sparta
[23]
, and Athens
[24]
, the two eyes of Greece,
Neither beheld your person, nor
your skill,
Whether because they did afford
no games,
Or for their too much gravity.
NERO
Why? What
Should I have seen in
them? But in the one,
Hunger, black-pottage[25], and
men hot to die
Thereby to rid themselves of
misery,
And what in th'other? But short capes, long beards,
Much wrangling, in things
needless to be known,
Wisdom in words, and only
austere faces.
I will not be Aiecelaus, nor
Solon[26].
Nero was there, where he might
honour win,
And honour hath he won, and
brought from Greece
Those spoils which never Roman
could obtain,
Spoils won by wit, and trophies
of his skill.
NYMPHIDIUS
What a thing he makes it to be
a Minstrel.
POPPÆA
I praise your wit, my Lord,
that chose such safe
Honours, safe spoils, won
without dust or blood.
NERO
What, mock ye me, Poppæa?
POPPÆA
Nay, in good faith my Lord, I
speak in earnest.
I hate that heady and adventurous
crew,
That go to lose their own, to
purchase but
The breath of others, and the
common voice.
Them that will lose their seeking
for a sound,
That by death only, seek to get
a living,
Make scars their beauty, and
count loss of limbs
The commendation of a proper
man,
And so, go halting to
immortality.
Such
fools I love worse than they do their lives.
NERO
But now, Poppæa, having laid apart
Our boastful spoils, and
ornaments of triumph,
Come we, like Jove from
Phlegrae-[27]--
POPPÆA
O giantlike comparison.
NERO
When, after all this Fires, and
wand'ring darts,
He comes to bathe himself in Juno's
eyes:
But thou, (than wrangling
Juno,) art far more fair.
Staining the evening beauty of
the Sky,
Or the day's brightness shall
make glad thy Caesar,
Shalt make him proud such
beauties to enjoy.
Exeunt.
Manet NYMPHIDIUS solus.
NYMPHIDIUS
Such beauties to enjoy were
happiness,
And a reward sufficient in itself,
Although no other end, or hopes
were aim'd at;
But I have other. 'Tis not Poppæa's arms,
Nor the short pleasures of a
wanton bed
That can extinguish mine
aspiring thirst.
To Nero's crown by her love I
must climb;
Her bed is but a step unto his
throne.
Already wise men laugh at him,
and hate him.
The people, though his Minstrelsy
doth please them,
They fear his cruelty, hate his
exactions,
Which his need still must force
him to increase.
The multitude, which cannot one
thing long
Like, or dislike, being cloy'd
with vanity
Will hate their own delights,
though wisdom do not.
Even weariness, at length, will
give them eyes.
Thus I, by Nero's and Poppæa's
favour,
Rais'd to the envious height of
second place
May gain the first. Hate must strike Nero down,
Love make Nymphidius' way unto
a crown.
Exit.
Scene Four.
Enter SENECA, SCEUINUS,
LUCAN and FLAVIUS.
SCEUINUS
His first beginning was his
father's death[28],
His brother's poisoning
[29]
, and wife's bloody end
[30]
.
Came next his mother's murder
[31]
, clos'd up all;
Yet hitherto he was but wicked,
when
The guilt of greater evils took
away the shame
Of lesser, and did headlong
thrust him forth,
To be the scorn and laughter to
the world.
Then first an Emperor came upon
the stage,
And sung to please Carmen, and
candle-sellers,
And learnt to act, to dance, to
be a fencer,
And in despite o'th majesty of
Princes,
He fell to wrestling, and was
soil'd with dust,
And tumbled on the earth with
servile hands.
SENECA
He sometimes trained was in
better studies,
And had a childhood promis'd
other hopes;
High fortunes, like strong
wines, do try their vessels.
Was not the Race, and Theatre
big enough
To have inclos'd thy follies
here at home?
O could not Rome, and Italy
contain
Thy shame, but thou must cross
the seas to show it?
SCEUINUS
And make them that had wont to
see our Consuls
With conquering Eagles waving
in the field,
Instead of that behold an Emperor
dancing,
Playing o'th stage, and what
else but to name
Were infamy.
LUCAN
O Mummius[32], O
Flaminius[33];
You, whom your virtues have not
made more famous
Than Nero's vices; you went o'er
to Greece,
But t'other wars, and brought
home other conquests.
You Corinth, and Mycenae
overthrew,
And Perseus'
[34]
self, the great Achilles'
[35]
race
O'er came, having Minerva's [36]stained
temples,
And your slain ancestors of
Troy reveng'd.
SENECA
They strove with Kings, and
King-like adversaries,
Were even in their enemies made
happy.
The Macedonian courage tried of
old,
And the new greatness of the
Syrian power,
But he for Philip[37], and
Antiochus[38]
Hath found more easy enemies to
deal with;
Turpuus, Pammenes[39], and a
rout of fiddlers.
SCEUINUS
Why all the begging Minstrels
by the way,
He took along with him, and
forc'd to strive,
That he might overcome,
imagining
Himself immortal by such
victories.
FLAVIUS
The men he carried over were
enough
T'have put the Parthian to his
second flight
Or the proud Indian taught the
Roman yoke
[40]
.
SCEUINUS
But they were Nero's men, like
Nero arm'd
With Lutes, and Harps, and
Pipes, and Fiddle-cases:
Soldiers to the shadow trained,
and not the field.
FLAVIUS
Therefore they brought spoils
of such soldiers worthy.
LUCAN
But to throw down the walls,
and Gates of Rome
To make an entrance for a
Hobby-horse[41],
To vaunt[42] to
th'people his ridiculous spoils,
To come with laurel, and with
olives crown'd,
For having been the worst of
all the singers,
Is beyond patience.
SCEUINUS
Aye, and anger too,
Had you but seen him in his
chariot ride.
That chariot in which Augustus
late
His triumphs o'er so many
nations show'd,
And with him in the same a Minstrel
plac'd,
The whilst the people, running
by his side,
'Hail thou Olympic conqueror'
did cry,
'O hail thou Pythian', and did
fill the sky
With shame, and voices Heaven
would not have heard.
SENECA
I saw't, but turned away my
eyes and ears,
Angry they should be privy to
such sights.
Why do I stand relating of the
story,
Which in the doing had enough
to grieve me?
Tell on, and end the tale, you
whom it pleaseth;
Me, mine own sorrow stops from
further speaking.
Nero, my love doth make thy fault,
and my grief greater.
Exit Seneca.
SCEUINUS
I do commend in Seneca this
passion,
And yet me thinks our country's
misery
Doth at our hands crave somewhat
more than tears.
LUCAN
Pity, though't doth a kind
affection show,
(If it end there) our weakness
makes us know.
FLAVIUS
Let children weep, and men seek
remedy.
SCEUINUS
Stoutly, and like a soldier,
Flavius:
Yet, to seek remedy to a
Prince's ill,
Seldom but it doth the Physician
kill.
FLAVIUS
And if it do, Sceuinus, it shall
take
But a devoted soul from
Flavius,
Which to my country, and the gods
of Rome,
Already sacred is, and given
away.
Death is no stranger unto me:
I have
The doubtful hazard in twelve
battles thrown;
My chance was life.
LUCAN
Why do we go to fight in Brittany
And end our lives under another
sun?
Seek causeless dangers
out? The German[43] might
Enjoy his woods, and his own
Allis drink,
Yet we walk safely in the
streets of Rome.
Bodinca[44] hinders
not, but we might live.
Whom we do hurt, then we call
enemies,
And those our Lords that spoil,
and murder us.
SCEUINUS
Nothing is hard to them that
dare to die.
This noble resolution in you,
Lords
Heartens me to disclose some
thoughts that I---
The matter is of weight, and
dangerous.
LUCAN
I see you fear us, Sceuinus.
SCEUINUS
Nay, nay, although the thing be
full of fear.
FLAVIUS
Tell it to faithful ears, what
ever it be.
SCEUINUS
Faith, let it go, it will but
trouble us,
Be hurtful to the speaker, and
the hearer.
LUCAN
If our long friendship, or the
opinion.
SCEUINUS
Why should I fear to tell them?
Why, is he not a Parricide, a
player?
Nay, Lucan, is he not thine enemy?
Hate not the Heavens, as well
as man, to seeking
That condemn'd head, and you,
O righteous gods
Whither so e'er you now are fled,
and will
No more look down upon
th'oppressed earth.
O severe anger of the highest
gods,
And thou stern power, to whom
the Greeks assign
Scourges, and swords to punish
proud men's wrongs,
If you be more then names found
out to awe us,
And that we do not vainly build
you altars,
Aid that just arm, that's bent
to execute
What you should do.
LUCAN
Stay
[45]
, y'are carried too much away, Sceuinus.
SCEUINUS
Why, what will you say for
him? Hath he not
Sought to suppress your poem,
to bereave
That honour every tongue in
duty paid it?
Nay, what can you say for him,
hath he nothing
Broach't[46] his own
wife's (a chaste wife's) breast, and torn
With Scythian
[47]
hands his mother's bowels up.
The inhospitable Caucasus is
mild;
The Moor, that in the boiling
desert, seeks
With blood of stranger to imbrue
his jaws,
Upbraid the Roman now with
barbarousness.
LUCAN
You are too earnest.
I neither can, nor will I speak
for him,
And, though he sought my
learnèd pains to wrong,
I hate him not for that; my
verse shall live
When Nero's body shall be
thrown in Tiber[48],
And times to come shall bless
those wicked arms.
I love th'unnatural wounds,
from whence did flow
Another Syria, a new Hellicon[49].
I hate him that he is Rome's
enemy,
An enemy to virtue, sits on
high
To shame the seat, and in that
hate, my life
And blood I'll mingle on the earth
with yours.
FLAVIUS
My deeds, Sceuinus, shall speak
my consent.
SCEUINUS
'Tis answered as I look't for,
noble poet,
Worthy the double laurel,
Flavius.
Good luck, I see, doth virtuous
meanings aid,
And therefore have the Heavens
forborne their duties,
To grace our swords with
glorious blood of tyrants.
Exeunt.
Act Two
Scene One
Enter PETRONIUS
PETRONIUS
Here
waits Poppæa her Nymphidius' coming,
And
hath this garden, and these walks chose out,
To
bless her with more pleasures than their own.
Not
only Arras hangings, and silk beads
Are
guilty of the faults we blame them for.
Somewhat
these arbours, and you trees do know,
Whilst
your kind shades you to these night sports show.
Night
sports? Faith, they are done in open day,
And
the sun seeth, and envieth their play.
Hither
have I love-sick Antonius brought,
And
thrust him on occasion so long sought,
Showed
him the Empress in a thicket by,
Her
love's approach waiting with greedy eye
And
told him, if he ever meant to prove
The
doubtful issue of his hopeless love,
This
is the place, and time wherein to try it.
Women
will hear the suit, that will deny it.
The
suit's not hard, that she comes for to take,
Who
(hot in lust of men) doth difference make?
At
last, loath, willing, to her did he pace;
Arm
him, Priapus
[50]
, with thy powerful Mace
But
see, they coming are; how they agree!
Here
I will harken, shroud me gentle tree.
Enter
POPPÆA and ANTONIUS.
ANTONIUS
Seek not to grieve that heart which is thine own;
In
love's sweet fires, let heat of rage burn out.
These
brows could never yet to wrinkle learn,
Nor
anger out of such fair eyes look forth.
POPPÆA
You
may solicit your presumptuous suits;
You
duty may, and shame too laid aside,
Disturb
my privacies, and I forsooth
Must
be afeared even to be angry at you.
ANTONIUS
What
shame is't to be master'd by such beauty?
Who
but to serve you comes, how wants he duty?
Or
if it be shame, the shame is yours.
The
fault is only in your eyes; they drew me
'Cause
you were lovely, therefore did I love.
O,
if to love you angers you so much,
You
should not have such cheeks, nor lips to touch.
You
should not have your snow, nor currall spy'd.
If
you but look'd on us, in vain you chide;
We
must not see your face, nor hear your speech.
Now,
whilst you love forbid, you love do teach.
PETRONIUS
He
doth better than I thought he would.
POPPÆA
I
will not learn my beauty's worth of you.
I
know you neither are the first, nor the greatest
Whom
it hath mov'd. He whom the world obeys
Is
fear'd with anger of my threatening eyes.
It
is for you afar off to adore it,
And
not to reach at it with saucy hands.
Fear
is the love that's due to Gods, and Princes.
PETRONIUS
(Aside)
All this is but to edge his appetite.
ANTONIUS
O
do not see thy fair in that false glass
Of
outward difference. Look into my heart:
There
shalt thou see thy self inthroned, set
In
greater majesty than all the pomp
Of
Rome or Nero. Tis not the crouching awe
And
ceremony, with which we flatter Princes,
That
can to Love's true duties by compar'd.
POPPÆA
Sir,
let me go, or I'll make known your love
To
them that shall requite it but with hate.
PETRONIUS
(Aside)
On, on, thou hast the goal, the fort is beaten.
Women
are won when they begin to threaten.
ANTONIUS
Your
nobleness doth warrant me from that,
Nor
need you others' help to punish me,
Who
by your forehead am condem'd or free.
They
that to be reveng'd do bend their mind,
Seek
always recompense in that same kind
The
wrong was done them; love was mine offence,
In
that, revenge, in that seek recompense.
POPPÆA
Further
to answer, will still cause replies,
And
those as ill do please me, as yourself.
If
you'll an answer take, that's brief, and true,
I
hate myself, if I be lov'd of you.
Exit
POPPÆA.
PETRONIUS
What,
gone? But she will come again sure, no;
It
passeth clean my cunning, all my rules
For
women's wantonness, there is no rule
To
take her, in the itching of her lust.
A
proper young man putting forth himself?
Why
Fate, there's Fate and hidden Providence
In
codpiece matters.
ANTONIUS
O
unhappy man,
What
comfort have I now, Petronius?
PETRONIUS
Counsel
yourself, I'll teach no more but learn.
ANTONIUS
This
comfort yet, he shall not so escape.
Who
causeth my disgrace? Nymphidius
Whom
I had here.---Well, for my true-heart's love
I
see she hates me, and shall Ilove one
That
hates me, and bestows what I deserve
Upon
my rival? No, farewell Poppæa,
Farewell
Poppæa, and farewell to all love.
Yet
thus much shall it still prevail in me,
That
I will hate Nymphidius for thee.
PETRONIUS
Farewell
to her, to my Enanthe welcome,
Who
now will to my burning kisses stoop,
Now,
with an easier cruelty deny,
That
which she, rather than the asker, would
Have
forced from her, then begins herself.
Their
loves that list upon great Ladies set;
I
still love the wench that I can get.
Exeunt.
Scene Two
Enter
NERO, TIGELLINUS, EPAPHRODITUS and NEOPHILUS.
NERO
Tigellinus,
said the villain Proculus[51]
I
was thrown down in running?
TIGELLINUS
My
Lord, he said that you were crown'd for that
You
could not do.
NERO
For
that I could not do?
Why,
Elis saw me do't, and do't with wonder.
Of
all the judges, and the lookers on,
And
yet, to see a villain? Could not do't?
Who
did it better? I warrant you he said
I
from the chariot fell against my will.
TIGELLINUS
He
said, my Lord, you were thrown out of it,
All
crusht, and maim'd, and almost bruis'd to death.
NERO
Malicious
rogue, when I fell willingly
To
show of purpose, with what little hurt
Might
a good rider bear a forced fall.
How
sayest thou, Tigellinus? I am sure
Thou
hast in driving as much skill as he.
TIGELLINUS
My
Lord, you greater cunning shrew'd in falling
Than
had you sate.
NERO
I
know I did, or bruised in my fall?
Hurt! I protest I felt no grief in it.
Go,
Tigellinus, fetch the villain's head;
This
makes me see his heart in other things.
Fetch
me his head, he ne'er shall speak again.
Exit
TIGELLINUS.
What
do we Princes differ from the dirt,
And
baseness of the common multitude
If
to the scorn of each malicious tongue
We
subject are? For that I had no skill,
Not
he, that his far famed daughter set
A
prize to victory, and had been crown'd
With
thirteen suitors' deaths, till he at length
By
fate of Gods, and servant's treason fell,
(Shoulder
pack't Pelops glorying in his spoils,)
Could
with more skill his coupled horses guide.
Even
as a bark, that through the moving flood,
Her
linen wings, and the forc't air do bear
The
billows' foam, she smoothly cuts them through;
So
passed my burning Axeltree along.
The
people follow, with their eyes and voice,
And
now the wind doth see itself outrun,
And
the clouds wonder to be left behind.
Whilst
the void air is filled with shouts and noise
And
Nero's name doth beat the brazen sky,
Jupiter
envying, loath doth hear my praise.
Then their green boughs,
and crowns of olive wreaths
The
conqueror's praise, they give me as my due,
And
yet this rogue sayeth no, we have no skill.
Enter
a servant to them.
SERVANT
My
Lord, the Stage, and all the furniture.
NERO
I
have no skill to drive a chariot:
Had
he but robb'd me, broke my treasury,
The
Red Sea's mine, mine are the Indian stones[52],
The
World's mine own, then cannot I be robb'd?
But
spitefully they undermine my fame
To
take away my art; he would my life
As
well no doubt, could he told how.
Enter
TIGELLINUS, with Proculus' head.
NEOPHILUS
My
Lord,
Tigellinus
is back come with Proculus' head.
NERO
O
cry thee mercy, good Neophilus;
Strikes him.
Give
him five hundred sesterces[53] for
amends,
Hast
brought him, Tigellinus?
TIGELLINUS
Here's
his head, my Lord.
NERO
His
tongue had been enough.
TIGELLINUS
I
did as you commanded me, my Lord.
NERO
Thou
toldst not me, though, he had such a nose.
Now
are you quiet, and have quieted me;
This
is to be Commander of the World...
Let
them extol weak pity that do need it.
Let
mean men cry to have Law, and Justice done
And
tell their griefs to Heaven, that hears them not.
Kings
must upon the people's headless corses
Walk
to security, and ease of mind.
Why
what have we to do with th'airy names
(That
old age, and Philosophers found out,)
Of
Justice, and ne'er certain Equity;
The
gods revenge themselves, and so will we.
Where
right is scant, authority is overthrown,
We
have a high prerogative above it.
Slaves
may do what is just, we what we please.
The
people will repine, and think it ill,
But
they must bear, and praise too, what we will.
Enter
CORNUTUS to them.
NEOPHILUS
My
Lord, Cornutus whom you sent for's come.
NERO
Welcome,
good Cornutus
Are
all things ready for the stage
As
I gave charge?
CORNUTUS
They
only stay your coming.
NERO
Cornutus,
I must act today Orestes[54].
CORNUTUS
You
have done that already (aside) and too truly.
NERO
And
when our scene is done, I mean besides
To
read some compositions of mine own,
Which
for the great opinion, I myself,
And
Rome in general, of thy judgement hath,
Before
I publish them, I'll show them to thee.
CORNUTUS
My
Lord, my disabilities...
NERO
I
know thy modesty,
I'll
only show thee now my work's beginning.
Go
see, Epaphroditus,
Music
made ready; I will sing today.
Exit
EPAPHRODITUS.
Cornutus,
I pray thee, come near,
And
let me hear thy Judgement in my pains.
I
would have thee more familiar, good Cornutus;
Nero
doth prize desert, and more esteems
Them,
that in knowledge second him than power.
Mark
with what style and state my work begins.
CORNUTUS
Might not my interruption offend,
What's
your work's name my Lord, what write you of?
NERO
I
mean to write the deeds of all the Romans.
CORNUTUS
Of
all the Romans? A huge argument.
NERO
I
have not yet bethought me of a title.
'You
enthral powers which the wide fortunes doom,
Of
Empire crown'd, seven mountain-seated Rome's
Full-blown;
inspire me with Machlaean rage,
That
I may bellow out Rome's prentisage,
As
when the Menades do fill their drums,
And
crooked horns with Mimalonean hum:
And
Ennion[55] do
ingeminate a round,
Which
reparable echo doth resound.
How
dost thou like our Muse's pains, Cornutus?
CORNUTUS
The
verses have more in them than I see,
Your
work, my Lord, I doubt will be too long.
NERO
Too
long?
TIGELLINUS
Too
long?
CORNUTUS
Aye,
if you write the deeds of all the Romans,
How
many books think you t'include it in?
NERO
I
think to write about four hundred books.
CORNUTUS
Four
hundred? Why my Lord, they'll ne'er be
read.
NERO
Hah?
TIGELLINUS
Why
he, whom you esteem so much, Chrysippus[56],
Wrote
many more.
CORNUTUS
But
they were profitable to common life,
And
did men honesty and wisdom teach.
NERO
Tigellinus?
Exit
NERO and TIGELLINUS.
CORNUTUS
See
with what earnestness he crav'd my
judgement,
And
now he freely hath it, how it likes him?
NEOPHILUS
The
Prince is angry, and his fall is near.
Let
us begone, lest we partake his ruins.
Exit
all except CORNUTUS.
CORNUTUS
What
should I do at Court? I cannot lie.
Why
didst thou call me, Nero, from my book,
Didst
thou for flattery of Cornutus look?
No,
let those purple fellows that stand by thee,
That
admire show, and things that thou canst give
Leave
to please truth and virtue to please thee.
Nero,
there's nothing in thy power Cornutus
Doth
wish, or fear.
Enter
TIGELLINUS to him.
TIGELLINUS
'Tis
Nero's pleasure that you straight depart
To
Giarae, and there remain confin'd.
Thus
he, out of his princely clemency
Hath
death, your due, turn'd but to banishment.
CORNUTUS
Why,
Tigellinus?
TIGELLINUS
I
have done. Upon your peril go, or stay.
Exit
TIGELLINUS
CORNUTUS
And
why should death or banishment be due
For
speaking that which was requir'd, my thought?
O
why do Princes love to be deceiv'd
And
even do force abuses on themselves?
Their
ears are so with pleasing speach beguil'd,
That
truth they malice, flattery, truth account,
And
their own soul, and understanding lost.
Go
(what they are) to seek in other men.
Alas,
weak Prince, how hast thou punisht me
To
banish me from thee? O let me go
And
dwell in Taurus, dwell in Ethiopia,
So
that I do not dwell at Rome, with thee?
The
further still I go from hence, I know
The
further I leave shame and vice behind.
Where
can I go, but I shall see the Sun?
And
Heaven will be as near me still, as here.
Can
they so far a knowing soul exile,
That
her own roof she sees not o'er her head?
Exit.
Scene Two.
Enter
PISO, SCEUINUS, LUCAN and FLAVIUS.
PISO
Noble
gentlemen, what thanks, what recompense
Shall
he give you, that give him to the world?
One
life to them, that must so many venture,
And
that the worst of all, is too mean pay.
Yet
I can give no more; take that, bestow it
Upon
your service.
LUCAN
O
Piso, that vouchsafest
To
grace our headless party with thy name,
Whom,
having our conductors, we need nothing
Have
fear'd to go again the well- tried valour
Of
Julius, or stayedness of Augustus,
Much
less the shame, and womanhood of Nero.
When
we had once given out that our pretences
Were
all for thee; our end, to make thee prince,
They
thronging came to give their names: men, women,
Gentlemen,
people, soldiers, Senators,
The
Camp, and City, grew asham'd that Nero
And
Piso should be offered them together.
SCEUINUS
We
seek not now (as in the happy days
O'th
common wealth they did), for liberty.
On
your dear ashes, Cassius and Brutus,
That
was with you entomb'd, there let it rest.
We
are contented with the galling yoke,
If
they will only leave us necks to bear it,
We
seek no longer freedom; we seek life
At
least not to be murdered. Let us die
On
enemies' swords; shall we, whom neither
The
Median bow, nor Macedonian Spear
Nor
the fierce Gaul, nor painted Britain could
Subdue,
lay down our necks to tyrant's axe?
Why
do we talk of virtue, that obey
Weakness
and vice?
PISO
Have
patience, good Sceuinus.
LUCAN
Weakness,
and servile Government, we hitherto
Obeyed
have, which that we may no longer
We
have our lives and fortunes now set up,
And
have our cause with Piso's credit strengthened.
FLAVIUS
Which
makes it doubtful, whether love to himself
Or
Nero's hatred, hath drawn more unto us.
PISO
I
see the good thoughts you have of me, Lord.
Let's
now proceed to the purpose of our meeting:
I
pray you take your places.
(Aside)
Let's have some paper brought.
SCEUINUS
Who's
within?
Enter
MILICHUS to them.
MILICHUS
My
Lord.
SCEUINUS
Some
ink and paper.
Exit
MILICHUS, and enter again with ink and paper.
FLAVIUS
Who's
that, Sceuinus?
SCEUINUS
It
is my freed-man Milichus.
LUCAN
Is
he trusty?
SCEUINUS
Aye,
for great matters as we are about.
PISO
And
those are great ones.
LUCAN
I
ask not that we mean to need his trust.
Gain
hath great sovereignty o'er servile minds.
SCEUINUS
O
but my benefits have bound him to me.
I
from a bondman, have his state not only
Advanc't
to freedom, but to wealth and credit.
PISO
Milichus,
wait i'th next chamber till we call.
Abscondit se
The
thing determin'd on our meeting now,
Is
of the means and place, due circumstance.
As
to the doing of things, 'tis requir'd
So
done it names the action.
MILICHUS
(Aside)
I wonder,
What
makes this new resort to haunt our house,
When
wonted Lucius Piso to come hither?
Or
Lucan when so oft, as now of late.
PISO
And
since the field, and open show of arms
Dislike
you, and that for the general good
You
mean to end all stirs, in end of him:
That,
as the ground, must first be thought upon.
MILICHUS
(Aside)
Besides, this coming cannot be for form,
Or
visitation; they go aside,
And
have long conferences by themselves.
LUCAN
Piso,
his coming to your house at Baiae[57]
To
bathe and banquet will fit means afford
Amidst
his cups, to end his hated life;
Let
him die drunk, that ne'er lived soberly.
PISO
O
be it far that I should stain my table
And
gods of Hospitality with blood;
Let
not our cause (now innocent) be soiled
With
such a blot, nor Piso's name made hateful.
What
place can better fit our action
Than
his own house? That boundless envied
heap[58],
Built
with the spoils, and blood of citizens
That
hath taken up the City, left no room
For
Rome to stand on. Romans, get you gone
And
dwell in Veiae, if that Veiae too
This
house o'er run not.
LUCAN
But
'twill be hard to do it in his house,
And
harder to escape being done.
PISO
Not
so;
Rufus
[59]
the Captain of the Guard's with us,
And
diverse other o'th Prætorian Band
Already
made many, though unacquainted
With
our intents, have had disgrace and wrongs,
Which
grieve them still. Most will be glad of
change,
And
e'en they that lov'd him best, when once
They
see him gone, will smile o'th coming times,
Let
go things past, and look to their own safety.
Besides,
th'astonishment and fear will be
So
great, so sudden
[60]
, that 'twill hinder them
From
doing anything.
MILICHUS
(Aside) No private business can concern
them all;
Their
countenances are troubled, and look sad.
Doubt
and Importance in their face is read.
LUCAN
Yet
still I think it were
Safer
t'attempt him private, and alone.
FLAVIUS
But
'twill not carry that opinion with it;
'Twill
seem more foul, and come from private malice.
Brutus
and they, to right the common cause
Did
choose a public place[61].
SCEUINUS
Our
deed is honest, why should it seek corners?
'Tis
for the people done; let them behold it,
Let
me have them a witness of my truth,
And
love to'th common-wealth; the danger's greater,
So
is the glory. Why should our pale
counsels
Tend
whither fear, rather than virtue calls them?
I
do not like these cold considerings;
First,
let our thoughts look up to see what is honest,
Next,
to what's safe. If danger may deter
us,
Nothing
that's great or good, shall e'er be done,
And
when we first gave hands upon this deed
To'th
commons' safety, we our own gave up.
Let
no man venture on a Prince's death,
How
bad soever, with belief to escape.
Despair
must be our hope, fame our reward.
To
make the general liking to concur
With
others, were even to strike him in his shame,
Or
(as he thinks) his glory, on the stage,
And
so truly make't a tragedy,
When
all the people cannot choose but clap
So
sweet a close, and 'twill not Caesar be
That
shall be slain, a Roman prince,
'Twill
be Alcmaeon
[62]
, or blind Oedipus.
MILICHUS
(Aside)
And if it be of public matters, 'tis not
Like
be to talk, or idle fault finding,
On
which the coward only spends his wisdom.
These
are all men of action, and of spirit,
And
dare perform what they determine on.
LUCAN
What
think you of Poppæa, Tigellinus,
And
th'other instruments of Court?
Were
it not best at once to rid them all?
SCEUINUS
In Caesar's ruin,
Antony was spared;
Let's
not our cause with needless blood disdain.
One
only mov'd, the change will not appear
When
too much licence given to the sword,
Though
against ill, will even good men fear.
Besides,
things settled, you at pleasure may
By
Law, and public judgement have them rid.
MILICHUS
(Aside)
And if it be but talk o'th State, 'tis Treason.
Like
it they cannot, that they cannot do;
If
seek to mend it, and remove the prince,
That's
highest Treason: change his Councillors,
That's
alteration of the government,
The
common cloak that Treason's muffled in.
If
laying force aside, to seek by suit
And
fair petition, t'have the State reform'd;
That's
tutoring of the Prince, and takes away,
Th'one
his person, this his Sovereignty;
Barely
in private talk to show dislike
Of
what is done, is dangerous; therefore the action
Mislike
you, cause the doer likes you not?
Men
are not fit to live i'th state they hate.
PISO
Though
we would all have that employment sought,
Yet,
since your worthy forwardness, Sceuinus,
Prevents
us, and so nobly begs for danger,
Be
this the chosen hand to do the deed.
The
fortune of the Empire speed your sword.
SCEUINUS
Virtue,
and Heaven speed it. O you homeborn
Gods
of our country, Romulus and Vesta,
That
Tuscan Tiber, and Rome's tower defends,
Forbid
not yet at length a happy end
To
former evils; let this hand revenge
The
wronged world, enough we now have suffered.
Exit
all.
Enter
MILICHUS.
MILICHUS
(Aside)
Tush, all this long consulting's more than words,
It
ends not there; th'have some attempt, some plot
Against
the State:
Well,
I'll observe it farther,
And
if I find it, make my profit of it.
Exeunt.
Act Three.
Scene One.
Enter POPPÆA.
POPPÆA
I
lookt[63]
Nymphidius would have come ere this,
Makes
he no greater haste to our embraces?
Or,
doth the easiness abate his edge?
Or,
seem we not as fair still as we did?
Or,
is he so with Nero's playing won,
That
he, before Poppæa, doth prefer it?
Or
doth he think to have occasion still?
Still,
to have time to wait on our stolen meetings?
Enter NYMPHIDIUS to her.
POPPÆA
But
see his presence now doth end those doubts,
What
is't, Nymphidius, hath so long detained you?
NYMPHIDIUS
Faith
Lady, causes strong enough;
High
walls, barr'd doors, and guards of armed men.
POPPÆA
Were
you imprisoned then, as you were going
To
the Theatre?
NYMPHIDIUS
Not
in my going, Lady,
But
in the Theatre I was imprisoned
For
after he was once upon the Stage,
The
Gates were more severely lookt into
Than
at a town besieged. No man, no causes
Was
currant, no, nor passant; at other sights
The
strife is only to get in, but here
The
stir was all in getting out again.
Had
we not been kept to it so, I think
'Twould
ne'er have been so tedious, though I know
'Twas
hard to judge, whether his doing of it
Were
more absurd, than 'twas for time to do it.
But
when we once were forc't to be spectators,
Compelled
to that, which should have been a pleasure,
We
could no longer bear the wearisomeness:
No
pain so irksome, as a forc't delight.
Some
fell down dead, or seem'd at least to do so,
Under
that colour, to be carried forth.
Then
death first pleasur'd men: the shape all fear'd
Was
put on gladly; some climbed o'er the walls,
And
so, by falling, caught in earnest that
Which
th'other did dissemble. There were
women
That
not being able to entreat the guards
To
let them pass the gates, were brought to bed
Amidst
the throngs of men, and made Lucina
Blush,
to see that unwanted company.
POPPÆA
If
'twere so straightly kept, how got you forth?
NYMPHIDIUS
Faith,
Lady, I came pretending haste
In
face and countenance; told them I was sent
For
things, by th' Prince forgot about the scene,
Which
both my credit made them to believe,
And
Nero newly whispered me before.
Thus
did I pass the gates; the danger, Lady
I
have not yet escap't.
POPPÆA
What
danger mean you?
NYMPHIDIUS
The
danger of his anger, when he knows
How
I thus shrunk away, for there stood knaves
That
put down in their tables all that stir'd,
And
markt in each their cheerfulness, or sadness.
POPPÆA
I
warrant I'll excuse you, but I pray,
Let's
be a little better for your sight;
How
did our princely husband act Orestes?
Did
he not wish again his mother living?
Her
death would add great life unto his part:
But
come, I pray, the story of your sight.
NYMPHIDIUS
O
do not drive me to those hateful pains
Lady;
I was too much in seeing vext;
Let
it not be redoubled with the telling.
I
now am well, and hear, my ears set free.
O
be merciful, do not bring me back
Unto
my prison; at least free yourself:
It
will not pass away, but stay the time,
Wrack
out the hours in length. O give me
leave,
As
one that wearied with the toil at sea,
And
now on wished shore had firmed his foot.
He
looks about, and glads his thoughts and eyes
With
sight o'th green cloth'd ground, and leafy trees,
Of
flowers that beg more than the looking on,
And
likes these other waters' narrow shores.
So
let me lay my weariness in these arms,
Nothing
but kisses to this mouth discourse,
My
thought be compassed in those circl'd eyes.
Eyes,
on no object look, but on those cheeks;
Be
blest my hands to touch of those round breasts,
Whiter
and softer than the down of swans.
Let
me of thee, and of thy beauty's glory,
An
endless tell, but never wearying story.
Exeunt.
Scene Two.
Enter NERO, EPAPHRODITUS and NEOPHILUS
NERO
Come
Sirs, i'faith, how did you like my acting?
What?
Was't not as you lookt for?
EPAPHRODITUS
Yes,
my Lord, and much beyond.
NERO
Did
I not do it to the life?
EPAPHRODITUS
The
very doing never was so lively,
As
now this counterfeiting.
NERO
And
when I came
To'th
point of Agrippina - Clytemnestra's death,
Did
it not move the feeling auditory?
EPAPHRODITUS
They
had been stones, whom that could not have mov'd.
NERO
Did
not my voice hold out well to the end?
And
serv'd me well afterwards afresh to sing with?
NEOPHILUS
We
know Apollo cannot match your voice.
EPAPHRODITUS
By
Jove, I think you are God himself,
Come
from above to show your hidden arts,
And
fills us men with wonder of your skill.
NERO
Nay
faith speak truly, do not flatter me,
I
know you need not: flattery's but where
Desert
is mean.
EPAPHRODITUS
I
swear by thee O Cæsar,
Than
whom no power of Heaven I honour more.
No
mortal voice can pass, or equal thine.
NERO
They
tell of Orpheus, when he took his Lute,
And
mov'd noble Ivory with his touch:
Hebros[64] stood
still, Pangea bow'd his head,
Ossa
then first shook off his snow, and came
To
listen to the movings of his song.
The
gentle Poplar took the Oak along,
And
call'd the Pine down from his mountain seat,
The
virgin Bay
[65]
, although the Arts she hates
O'th
Delphic God, was with his voice o'ercome,
He
his twice-lost Eurydice[66]
bewails,
And
Proserpine's[67]
vain gifts, and makes the shores
And
hollow caves of forests now untreed
Bear
his grief company, and all things teacheth
His
lost love's name. Then water, air,
and ground
“Eurydice, Eurydice”, resound.
These
are bold tales, of which the Greeks have store,
But
if he could from Hell once more return,
And
would compare his hand and voice with mine,
Aye,
though himself were Judge, then he should see
How
much Latin stains the Thracian lyre.
I
have oft walkt by Tiber's flowing banks,
And
heard the swan sing her own epitaph.
When
she heard me, she held her peace and died.
Let
others raise from earthly things their praise,
Heaven
hath stood still to hear my happy airs,
And
ceases th'eternal Music of the Spheres[68]
To
mark my voice, and mend their tunes by mine.
NEOPHILUS
O
divine voice.
EPAPHRODITUS
Happy
are they that hear it.
Enter TIGELLINUS to them.
NERO
But
here comes Tigellinus; come, thy bill:
Are
there so many? I see I have enemies.
EPAPHRODITUS
Have
you put Caius in? I saw him frown.
NEOPHILUS
And,
in the midst o'th' Emperor's act,
Gallus
laught out, and as I think in scorn.
NERO
Vespasian
[69]
too asleep; was he so drowsy?
Well,
he shall sleep the iron sleep of death,
And
did Thrasea look so sourly on us?
TIGELLINUS
He
never smiled, my Lord, nor would vouchsafe
With
one applause to grace your action.
NERO
Our
action need not be grac'd by him,
He's
our old enemy, and still maligns us.
'Twill
have an end, nay it shall have an end.
Why,
I have been too pitiful, too remiss,
My
easiness is laught at and condemned,
But
I will change it - not, as heretofore,
By
singling out them one by one to death -
Each
common man can such revenges have;
A
Prince's anger must lay desolate.
Cities,
Kingdoms consume, root up mankind.
O
could I live to see the general end,
Behold
the world enwrappt in funeral flame
Whenas
the Sun shall lend his beams to burn
What
he before brought forth, and water serve,
Not
to extinguish, but to nurse the fire.
Then,
like the Salamander, bathing me
In
the last Ashes of all mortal things,
Let
me give up this breath; Priam[70] was
happy,
Happy
indeed: he saw his Troy burnt,
And
Ilium lie on heaps, whilst thy pure streams,
(Divine
Scamander) dyed Phrygian blood
[71]
And
heard the pleasant cries of Trojan mothers.
Could
I see Rome so!
TIGELLINUS
Your
Majesty may easily,
Without
this trouble to your sacred mind.
NERO
What
may I easily do? Kill thee, or him,
How
may I rid you all? Where is the man
That
will all others end, and last himself?
O
that I had thy Thunder in my hand,
The
idle rover; I'll not shoot at trees,
And
spend in woods my unregarded vengeance,
I'll
shower them down upon their guilty roofs,
And
fill the streets with bloody burials.
But
'tis not Heaven can give me what I seek;
To
you, you hated Kingdoms of the night,
You
severe powers, that not like those above
Will
with fair words, or children's cries be won,
That
have a style beyond that Heaven is proud of,
Deriving
not fromArt a maker's name,
But
in destruction power, and terror show.
To
you I fly for succour: you, whose dwellings
For
torments are belied, must give me ease;
Furies,
lend me your fires
[72]
, no, they are here,
They
must be other fires; material brands
That
must the burning of my heat allay.
I
bring to you no rude unpractised hands,
Already
do they reek with Mother'd blood.
Tush,
that's but innocence to what now I mean,
Alas,
what evil could those years commit,
The
world in this shall see my settled wit.
Exeunt..
Scene Three.
Enter SENECA and PETRONIUS.
SENECA
Petronius,
you were at the theatre?
PETRONIUS
Seneca,
I was, and saw your kingly pupil
In
Minstrel's habit stand before the judges,
Bowing
those hands, which the world's sceptre hold,
And
with great awe and reverence beseeching
Indifferent
hearing, and an equal doom,
Then
Cæsar doubted first to be o'erborne,
And
so he joined himself to th'other singers,
And
straitly all other Laws o'th Stage observed,
As
not (though weary) sit down, not spit,
Not
wipe his sweat off, but with what he wore.
Meantime,
how would he eye his adversaries,
How
he would seek to have all they did disgraced,
Traduce
[73]
them privily
[74]
, openly rail at them:
And
them he could not conquer so, he would
Corrupt
with money to do worse than he.
This
was his singing part, his acting now.
SENECA
Nay
even end here, for I have heard enough.
I
have a fiddler heard him; let me not
See
him as a player, nor the fearful[75] voice
Of
Rome's great monarch, now command in jest
Our
Prince be Agamemnon[76] in a
Play.
PETRONIUS
Why
Seneca, 'tis better in Play
Be
Agamemnon than himself indeed.
How
oft, with danger of the field beset,
Or
with home mutinies, would he unbe
Himself,
or, over cruel altars weeping,
Wish
that with putting off a vizard, he
Might
his true inward sorrow lay aside.
The
shows of things are better than themselves:
How
doth it stir this airy part of us,
To
hear our poets tell imagined fights,
And
the strange blows, that feigned courage gives.
When
I Achilles hear upon the Stage
Speak
honour, and the greatness of his soul,
Me
thinks I too could on a Phrygian spear
Run
boldly, and make tales for after times;
But
when we come to act it in the deed,
Death
mars this bravery, and the ugly fears
Of
the other world sit on the proudest brow,
And
boasting valour loseth his red cheek.
A Roman to them.
ROMAN
Fire!
Fire! Help, we burn!
2ND ROMAN
Fire!
Water! Fire, help, Fire!
SENECA
Fire,
where?
PETRONIUS
Where? What fire?
ROMAN
O
round about; here, there, on every side.
The
girdling flame doth with unkind embraces
Compass
the City.
PETRONIUS
How
came this fire, by whom?
SENECA
Was't
chance, or purpose?
PETRONIUS
Why
is it not quenched?
ROMAN
Alas,
there are many there with weapons,
And
whether it be for prey, or by command
They
hinder, nay, they throw on fire brands.
Enter ANTONIUS to them.
ANTONIUS
The
fire increaseth, and will not be stayed,
But
like a stream that tumbling from a hill
O'erwhelms
the fields, o'erwhelms the hopeful toil
O'th
the husbandman, and headlong bears the woods.
The
unweeting Shepherd on a rock afar
Amazed,
hears the fearful noise; so here
Danger
and Terror strive, which shall exceed.
Some
cry, and yet are well, some are killed silent,
Some
kindly run to help their neighbour's house,
The
whilst their own's afire, some save their goods
And
leave their dearer pledges in the flame.
One
takes his little sons with trembling hands,
T'other,
his house-Gods saves, which could not him.
All
ban the door, and with wishes kill
Their
absent murderer.
PETRONIUS
What,
are the Gauls returned?
Doth
Brennus[77]
brandish fire-brands again?
SENECA
What
can Heaven now unto our sufferings add?
Enter another Roman to them.
ROMAN
O
all goes down, Rome falleth from the roof.
The
wind's aloft, the conquering flame turns all
Into
intself. Nor do the Gods escape;
Pleiades
burns, Jupiter Stator burns,
The
Altar now is made a sacrifice;
And
Vesta
[78]
mourns, to see her Virgins' fires
Mingle
with profane ashes.
SENECA
Heaven,
hast thou set this end to Roman greatness?
Were
the world's spoils for this to Rome divided,
To
make but our fires bigger?
You
Gods, whose anger made us great, grant yet
Some
change in misery. We beg not now
To
have our Consul tread on Asian kings,
Or
spurn the quivered Susa at their feet.
This
we have had before; we beg to live,
At
least not thus to die. Let Cannos come,
Let
Allius' waters turn again to blood.
To
these will any miseries be light.
PETRONIUS
Why
with false auguries have we been deceived?
Why
was our Empire told us, should endure
With
Sun and Moon in time, in brightness pass them,
And
that our end should be o'th world, and it?
What,
can celestial Godheads double too?
SENECA
O
Rome, the envy late,
But
now, the pity of the world thee gets.
The
men of Choleos at the sufferings grieve,
The
shaggy dweller in the Scythian rocks,
The
most condemned to perpetual snow,
That
never wept at kindred burials
Suffers
with thee, and feels his heart soften.
O,
should the Parthian hear these miseries,
He
would, (his low and native hate apart)
Sit
down with us, and lend an enemy tear,
To
grace the funeral fires of ending Rome.
Exeunt.
Scene Four.
Soft music, enter NERO above, alone with a Timbrell[79].
NERO
Aye, now my Troy looks beauteous in her flames,
The Tyrrhenian seas are bright with Roman fires,
Whilst the amazing mariner, afar
Gazing on the unknown light, wonders what star
Heaven hath begot, to ease the aged moon.
When Pyrrhus, striding over the cinders, stood
On ground where Troy late was, and with his eye
Measur'd the height of what he had thrown down;
A City, great in people, and in power,
Walls built with hands of Gods;
he now forgive
The ten years length, and thinks his wounds well healed,
Bathed in the blood of Priam's fifty sons.
Yet am not I appeased, I must see more
Than towers and columns tumble to the ground.
'Twas not the high built walls, and guiltless stones
That Nero did provoke, themselves be wood
To feed this fire, or quench it with their blood.
Enter a woman with a burnt child.
WOMAN
O
my dear infant, O my child, my child,
Unhappy
comfort of my nine months' pains,
And
did I bear thee only for the fire?
Was
I to that end made a mother?
NERO
Aye,
now begins the scene that I would have.
Enter a man bearing another dead.
O
Father, speak yet; no, the merciless blow
Hath
all bereft, speech, motion, sense, and life.
WOMAN
O
beauteous innocence, whiteness ill blacked,
How
to be made a coal couldst thou deserve?
O
reverend wrinkles, well becoming paleness.
Why
hath death now life's colours given thee,
And
mocks thee with the beauties of fresh youth?
WOMAN
Why
wert thou given me, to be taken away
So
soon, or could not heaven tell how to punish
But
first by blessing me?
Why
were thy years lengthened so long,
To
be cut off untimely?
NERO
Play
on, play on, and fill the golden skies
With
cries, and pity, with your blood, men's eyes.
WOMAN
Where
are thy flattering smiles, thy pretty kisses,
And
arms that wont to writhe about my neck?
Where
are thy counsels, where their good example?
And
that kind roughness of father's anger?
WOMAN
Whom
have I now to leave my old age on?
Who
shall I now have to set right my youth?
Chorus from within.
“Gods if ye be not fled from Heaven, help us.”
NERO
I
like this music well, they like not mine:
Now
in the tears of all men, let me sing,
Cantat.
And
make it doubtful to the Gods above
Whether
the earth be pleased, or do complain.
But
may the man, that all this blood hath shed,
Never
bequeath to th'earth an old grey head.
Let
him untimely be cut off before,
And
leave a corse like all wounds and gore.
Be
there no friend at hand, no standers by,
In
love, or pity mov'd to close that eye.
O
let him die the wish, and hate of all,
And
not a tear to grace his funeral.
Exit.
WOMAN
Heaven,
you will hear (that which the world doth scorn,)
The
prayers of misery, and souls forlorn.
Your
anger waxeth by delaying stronger,
O
now for mercy be despis'd no longer.
Let
him, that makes so many mothers childless,
Make
his unhappy, in her fruitfulness.
Let
him no issue leave to bear his name,
Or
some to right a Father's wronged fame.
Our
flames to quit, be righteous in your ire,
And
when he dies let him want funeral fire.
Exit.
NERO
Let
Heaven do what it will, this I have done!
Already
do you feel my fury's weight.
Rome
is become a grave of her late greatness;
Her
clouds of smoke have taken away the day,
Her
flames the night,
Now,
unbelieving eyes what crave you more?
Enter NEOPHILUS to him.
NEOPHILUS
O
save yourself (my Lord), your palace burns.
NERO
My
palace? How? What traiterous hand?
Enter TIGELLINUS to them.
TIGELLINUS
O
fly, my Lord, and save yourself betimes.
The
wind doth beat the fire upon your house;
The
eating flame devours your double gates,
Your
pillars fall, your golden roofs
[80]
do melt,
Your
antique tables, and Greek imagery
The
fire besets, and the smoke you see
Doth
choke my speech. O fly, and save your
life.
NERO
Heaven,
thou dost strive, I see, for victory.
Exeunt..
Enter NYMPHIDIUS.
See
how Fate works unto their purpos'd end,
And
without all self-industry will raise
Whom
they determine to make great and happy.
Nero
throws down himself, I stir him not,
He
runs unto destruction, studies ways
To
compass danger, and attain the hate
Of
all. Be his own wishes on his head,
Nor
Rome with fire, more than revenges burn,
Let
me stand still, or lie, or sleep, I rise.
Poppæa
some new favour will seek out
My
wakings to salute; I cannot stir,
But
messengers of new preferment meet me:
Now
she hath made me Captain of the Guard;
So
well I bear me in these night alarms,
That
she imagined I was made for arms.
I
now command the soldier, he the City,
If
any chance do turn the Prince aside,
(As
many hatreds, mischiefs threaten him,)
Ours
is his wife, his seat and throne is ours.
He's
next in right that hath the strongest powers.
Exit.
Scene Five.
Enter SCEUINUS and MILICHUS.
SCEUINUS
O
Troy, and O ye souls of our forefathers,
Which
in your country's fires were offered up,
How
near your nephews, to your fortunes come,
Yet
they were Grecian hands began your flame.
But
that our Temples, and our houses smoke,
Our
Marble buildings turn to be our Tombs,
Burnt
bones, and spurned at corses fill the streets,
Not
Pyrrhus[81], nor thou
Hannibal[82],
art author.
Sad
Rome is ruined by a Roman hand.
But
if to Nero's end, this only way
Heaven's
justice hath chose out, and people's love
Could
not but by these feebling ills be mov'd,
We
do not then at all complain our harms.
On
this condition please us, let us die,
And
cloy the Parthian, with revenge and pity.
MILICHUS
(Aside)
My Master hath sealed up his Testament,
Those
bond-men which he liketh best, set free,
Given
money, and more liberally than he us'd
And
now, as if a farewell to the world
Were
meant, a sumptuous banquet hath he made,
Yet
not with countenance that feasters use,
But
cheers his friends the whilst himself looks sad.
SCEUINUS
I
have from Fortune's temple taken this sword;
May
it be fortunate, and now at least
Since
it could not prevent, punish the Evil.
To
Rome it had been better done before,
But
though less helping now, they'll praise it more.
Great
Sovereign of all mortal actions,
Whom
only wretched men, and poets blame,
Speed
thou the weapon, which I have from thee.
'Twas
not amidst thy Temple Monuments
In
vain reposed; somewhat I know't hath done.
O
with new honours let it be laid up,
Strike
boldly, arm so many powerful prayers
Of
dead, and living hover over thee.
MILICHUS
(Aside)
And though sometimes, with talk impertinent
And
idle fancies, he would feign a mirth;
Yet
it is easy seen, somewhat is here
The
which he dares not let his face make show of.
SCEUINUS
Long
want of loss hath made it dull, and blunt:
See,
Milichus, this weapon better edged.
MILICHUS
(Aside)
Sharpening of swords, when must we then have blows,
Or
means my Master, Cato-like, to exempt
Himself
from power of Fates, and cloyed with life,
Give
the Gods back their unregarded gift?
But
he hath neither Cato's mind, nor cause;
A
man given over to pleasures and soft ease,
Which
makes me still to doubt, how in affairs
Of
Princes he dares meddle, or desires?
SCEUINUS
We
shall have blows of both sides, Milichus.
Provide
me store of clothes to bind up wounds:
What
an't be heart, for heart. Death is
the worst,
The
Gods sure keep it, hide from us that live
How
sweet death is, because we should go on
And
be their bails. There are about the
house
Some
stones that will staunch blood, see them set up.
This
world I see hath no felicity,
I'll
try the other.
MILICHUS
(Aside)
Nero's life is soft[83],
The
sword's prepared against another's breast,
The
help for his; it can be no private foe,
For
then 'twere best to make it known, and call
His
troops of bond, and freed- men to his aid.
Besides,
his Counsellors, Seneca
And
Lucan, are no managers of quarrels.
SCEUINUS
Methinks
I see him struggling on the ground,
Hear
his unmanly outcries, and lost prayers
Made
to the Gods, which turn their heads away.
Nero,
this day must end the world's desires,
And
head-long send thee to unquenched fires.
Exit..
MILICHUS
(Aside)
Why do I further idly stand debating?
My
proofs are but too many, and too pregnant,
And
Prince's ears still to suspicions open.
Whoever,
being but accused, was quit,
For
States are wise, and cut off ills that may be.
Mean
men must die, that t'other may sleep sound,
Chiefly,
that rule whose weakness apt to fears
And
bad deserts of all men, makes them know't.
There's
none but is in heart, what he's accus'd.
Exit.
Act Four.
Scene One.
Enter NERO, POPPÆA, NYMPHIDIUS, TIGELLINUS, NEOPHILUS
and EPAPHRODITUS.
NERO
This
kiss, sweet love, I'll force from thee, and this,
And
of such spoils, and victories be prouder
Than
if I had the fierce Panonian,
Or
grey-eyed German ten times overcome.
Let
Julius go, and fight at end o'th world,
And
conquer from the wild inhabitants
Their
cold, and poverty, whilst Nero here
Makes
other wars, wars where the conquered gains,
Where
to o'ercome, is to be prisoner.
O
willingly I give my freedom up,
And
put on my own chains,
And
am in love with my captivity.
Such
Venus is, when on the sand shore
Of
Xanthus or on Ida's pleasant green
She
leads the dance; her nymphs all are we,
And
smiling graces do accompany.
If
Bacchus could his straggling Minion
Grace
with a glorious wreath of shining Stars,
Why
should not Heaven my Poppæa crown?
The
Northern team shall move into a round;
New
constellations rise, to honour thee;
The
Earth shall woo thy favours, and the Sea
Lay
his rich shells and treasure at thy feet.
For
thee, Hidapis shall throw up his gold,
Pauchaia
breath the rich delightful smells,
The
Seres, and the feathered man of Ind
Shall
their fine arts, and curious labours bring,
And
where the Sun's not known, Poppæa's name
Shall
'midst their feasts, and barbarous pomp be sung.
POPPÆA
I
know I am worthy to be Queen o'th world;
Fairer
than Venus, or than Bacchus' love,
But
you'll anon unto your cut-boy Sporus
[84]
,
Your
new wedded woman, to whom, now I hear
You
are wedded too.
NERO
I
wedded?
POPPÆA
Aye, you wedded;
Did
you not hear the words o'th auspices,
Was
not the boy in bride-like garments drest,
Marriage
books sealed, as 'twere for issue to
Be
had between you, solemn feasts prepared;
While
all the court, with God give you joy, sounds.
It
had been good Domitius your Father
Had
ne'er had other wife...
NERO
You
forward fool, y'are still so bitter?
Who's that?
Enter MILICHUS to them.
NYMPHIDIUS
One
that it seems, my Lord, doth come in haste.
NERO
Yet
in his face he sends his tale before him,
Bad
news thou tellest?
MILICHUS
'Tis
bad I tell, but good that I can tell it,
Therefore
your Majesty will pardon me
If
I offend your ears to save your life.
NERO
Why,
is my life endangered?
How
ends this circumstance, thou wrackst my thoughts.
MILICHUS
My
Lord, your life is conspir'd against.
NERO
By
whom?
MILICHUS
It
must be of the world excused in this,
If
the great duty to your Majesty,
Makes
me all other lesser to neglect.
NERO
Th'art
a tedious fellow, speak, by whom?
MILICHUS
By
my Master.
NERO
Who's
thy Master?
MILICHUS
Sceuinus.
POPPÆA
Sceuinus,
why should he conspire?
Unless
he think that likeness in conditions
May
make him too worthy o'th Empire thought.
NERO
Who
are else in it?
MILICHUS
I
think Natalis, Subius, Flavius,
Lucan,
Seneca, and Lucius Piso,
Asper,
and Quintilianus.[85]
NERO
Ha'
done,
Thou'llt
reckon all Rome anon; and so thou mayest;
Th'are
villains all, I'll not trust one of them.
O
that the Romans had but all one neck.
POPPÆA
Piso's
creeping into men's affections,
And
popular arts have given long cause of doubt,
And
th'others' late observed discontents
Risen
from misinterpreted disgraces,
May
make us credit this relation.
NERO
Where
are they? Come they not upon us yet?
See
the guard doubled, see the Gates shut up,
Why,
they'll surprise us in our Court anon.
MILICHUS
Not
so, my Lord, they are at Piso's house,
And
think themselves yet safe, and undiscried.
NERO
Let's
hither then,
And
take them in this false security.
TIGELLINUS
'Twere
better first publish them traitors.
NYMPHIDIUS
That
were to make them so,
And
force them all upon their enemies.
Now,
without stir, or hazard they'll be taken,
And
boldly try all dare and Law demand.
Besides,
this accusation may be forged
By
malice or mistaking.
POPPÆA
What
likes you do, Nymphidius, out of hand.
Two
ways distract, when either would prevail;
If
they, suspecting but this fellow's absence
Should
try the City, and attempt their friends,
How
dangerous might Piso's favour be?
NYMPHIDIUS
Aye,
to himself would make the matter clear,
Which
now upon one servant's credit stands.
The
City's favour keeps within the bonds
Of
profit, they'll love none to hurt themselves.
Honour,
and friendship they'll hear others name,
Themselves
do neither feel, nor know the same;
To
put them yet, (though needless) in some fear.
We'll
keep their streets with armed companies,
Then
if they stir, they see their wives, and houses
Prepared
a prey to the greedy soldier.
POPPÆA
Let
us be quick then. You, to Piso's house,
While
I and Tigellinus further sift
This
fellow's knowledge.
Exit all except NERO.
NERO
Look
to the gates and walls o'th City, look
The
river be well kept, have watches set
In
every passage, and in every way;
But
who shall watch these watches, what if they
Begin
and play the traitors first? O where
shall I
Seek
faith, or them that I may wisely trust?
The
City favours the conspirators,
The
Senate in disgrace, and fear hath lined;
The
Camp, why most are soldiers that he named.
Besides,
he knows not all, and like a fool
I
interrupted him, else he had named
Those
that stood by me. O security,
Which
we so much seek after, yet art still
To
Courts a stranger, and dost rather choose
The
smoky reeds, and sedgy cottages,
Than
the proud roofs, and wanton cost of Kings.
O
sweet despised joys of poverty,
A
happiness unknown unto the Gods.
Would
I had rather in poor Gallij been,
Or
Vlubrae, a ragged magistrate,
Sat
as a judge of measures, and of corn,
Than
the adored Monarch of the world.
Mother,
thou didst deservedly in this,
That
from a private and sure state, didst raise
My
fortunes to this slippery hill of greatness,
Where
I can neither stand, nor fall with life.
Exit.
Scene Two.
Enter PISO, LUCAN, SCEUINUS and FLAVIUS.
FLAVIUS
But
since we are discovered, what remains
But
put our lives upon our hands; these swords
Shall
try us traitors, or true Citizens.
SCEUINUS
And
what should make this hazard doubt success;
Stout
men are oft with sudden onsets daunted;
What
shall this Stage-player be?
LUCAN
It
is not now
Augustus'
gravity, nor Tiberius' craft,
But
Tigellinus, and Crisogorus,
Eunuchs
and women that we go against.
SCEUINUS
This
is for thy own sake, this is for ours we beg,
That
thou wilt suffer him to be overcome.
Why
shouldst thou keep so many vowed swords
From
such a hated throat?
FLAVIUS
Or
shall we fear
To
trust unto the Gods so good a cause?
LUCAN
By
this we may ourselves in Heaven favour promise,
Because
all nobleness, and worth on earth
We
see's on our side; here the Faby's Sun,
Here
the Coruini are, and take that part
Their
noble fathers would, if now they liv'd.
There's
not a soul that claims nobility
Either
by his, or his forefathers' merit
But
is with us, with us the gallant youth
Whom
passed dangers or hot blood makes bold.
Staid
men suspect their wisdom, or their faith,
To
whom our counsels we have not revealed.
And
while (our party seeking to disgrace)
They
traitors call us, each man treason praiseth,
And
hateth faith, when Piso is a traitor.
SCEUINUS
And
at adventurewhat by stoutness can
Befall
us worse, than will by cowardice?
If
both the people, and the soldier failed us,
Yet
shall we die at least worthy ourselves,
Worthy
our ancestors. O Piso, think,
Think
on that day, when in the Parthian fields
Thou
criedst to the flying Legions to turn,
And
look death in the face; he was not grim,
But
fair and lovely, when he came in arms.
O
why, there died we not on Syrian swords
Were
we reserved to prisons, and to chains?
Behold
the Gallias in every street,
And
even now they come to clap on irons.
Must
Piso's head be showed upon a pole?
Those
members torn, rather than Roman-like,
And
Piso-like, with weapons in our hands
Fighting,
in throng of enemies to die:
And
that it shall not be a civil war
Nero
prevents, whose cruelty hath left
Few
Citizens. We are not Romans now,
But
Moors, and Jews, and upmost Spaniards,
And
Asiatics refuge that do fill the City.
PISO
Part
of us are already taken, the rest
Amazed,
and seeking holes, our hidden ends
You
see laid open, Court and City armed,
And
for fear joining to the part they fear.
Why
should we move desperate and hopeless arms,
And
vainly spill that noble blood, that should
Crystal
Rubes, and Median fields,
Not
Tiber colour[86],
and the more your show be
Your
loves, and readiness to lose your lives,
The
loather I am to adventure them.
Yet
I am proud you would for me have died;
But
live, and keep your selves to worthier ends.
No
mother but my own shall weep my death,
Nor
will I make by overthrowing us
Heaven
guilty of more faults; yet from the hopes,
Your
own good wishes, rather than the thing
Do
make you see this comfort I receive,
Of
death unforced. O friends, I would not
die
When
I can live no longer; 'tis my glory
That
free and willing I give up this breath,
Leaving
such courages as yours untried.
But
to be long in talk of dying, would
Show
a relenting, and a doubtful mind:
By
this you shall my quiet thoughts intend,
I
blame nor Earth, nor Heaven for my end.
He dies..
LUCAN
O
that this noble courage had been shown
Rather
on enemies' breasts, than on thy own.
SCEUINUS
But
sacred, and inviolate be thy will,
And
let it lead, and teach us;
This
sword I could more willingly have thrust
Through
Nero's breast. That fortune deni'd me,
It
shall now through Sceuinus.
Enter TIGELLINUS.
TIGELLINUS
What
multitudes of villains are here gotten
In
a conspiracy, which Hydra-like,
Still
in the cutting off, increaseth more[87].
The
more we take, the more are still appeach'd,
And
every man brings in new company.
I
wonder what we shall do with them all;
The
prisons cannot hold more than they have,
The
jails are full, the holes with gallants stink,
Straw
and gold lace together live I think.
'Twere
best even shut the gates o'th City up,
And
make it all one jail for, this I am sure,
There's
not an honest man within the walls,
And
though the guilty doth exceed the free,
Yet
through a base, and fatal cowardice
They
all assist in taking one another,
And
by their own hands are to prison led.
There's
no condition, nor degree of men
But
here are met; men of the sword and gown,
Plebeians,
Senators, and women too,
Ladies
that might have slain him with their eye
Would
use their hands, philosophers,
And
politicians, politicians?
Their
plot was laid too short. Poets would now
Not
only write, but be the arguments
Of
tragedies. The Emperor's much pleas'd,
But
some have named Seneca, and I
Will
have Petronius, on promise of pardon,
Or
fear of torture, will accusers find.
Exit.
Scene Three.
Enter NYMPHIDIUS, LUCAN and SCEUINUS with a guard.
NYMPHIDIUS
Though
Piso's suddeness, and guilty hand
Prevented
hath the death he should have had,
Yet
you abide it must.
LUCAN
O
may the earth lie lightly on his corse;
Sprinkle
his ashes with your flowers and tears,
The
love and dainties of Mankind is gone.
SCEUINUS
What
only now we can, we'll follow thee
That
way thou lead'st, and wait on thee in death,
Which
we had done, had not these hindered us.
NYMPHIDIUS
Nay,
other ends your grievous crimes await,
Ends
which the law and your deserts exact.
SCEUINUS
What
have we deserved?
NYMPHIDIUS
That
punishment which traitors unto Princes,
And
enemies to the State they live in merit.
SCEUINUS
If
by the State, this government you mean,
I
justly am an enemy unto it.
That's
but to Nero, you, and Tigellinus,
That
glorious world, that even beguils the wise,
Being
lookt into includes but three, or four
Corrupted
men, which, were they all remov'd,
'Twould
for the common State much better be.
NYMPHIDIUS
Why,
what can you i'th Government mislike?
Unless
it grieve you, that the world's in peace,
Of
that our arms conquer without blood.
Hath
not his power with foreign visitations,
And
strangers' honour more acknowledg'd been,
Then
any was afore him? Hath not he
Dispos'd
of frontier kingdoms with success,
Given
away crowns whom he set up[88],
prevailing?
The
rival seat of the Arsacidae,
That
thought their brightness equal unto ours,
Is't
crown'd by him, by him doth reign?
If
we have any war, it's beyond Rheims,
And
Euphrates, and such whose different chances
Have
rather serv'd for pleasure, and discourse,
Then
troubled us. At home, the City hath
Increased
in wealth, with building been adorn'd;
The
arts have flourisht, and the Muses sung,
And
that, his justice, and well tempered reign,
Hath
the best judges pleas'd, the powers divine;
Their
blessings, and so long prosperity
Of
th'Empire under him, enough declare.
SCEUINUS
You
freed the State from wars abroad, but 'twas
To
spoil at home more safely, and divert
The
Parthian enmity on us, and yet,
The
glory rather, and the spoils of war
Have
wanting been; the loss, and charge we have.
Your
peace is full of cruelty and wrong,
Laws
taught to speak to present purposes,
Wealth,
and fair houses dangerous faults become,
Much
blood i'th City, and no common deaths,
But
gentlemen, and Consulary houses
On
Cæsar's own house look, hath that been free?
Hath
he not shed the blood he calls divine?
Hath
not that nearness which should love beget
Always
on him, been cause of hate, and fear;
Virtue
and power suspected, and kept down.
They
whose great ancestors this Empire made,
Distrusted
in the government thereof;
A
happy state, where Decius is a traitor,
Narcissus
is true; nor only wast unsafe
T'offend
the Prince, his freed- men worse were fear'd,
Whose
wrongs with such insulting pride were heard,
That
even the faulty, it made innocent.
If
we complained, that was itself a crime,
Aye,
though it were Cæsar's benefit;
Our
writings pry'd into, false guiltiness
(Thinking
each taxing pointed out itself)
Our
private whisperings listened after; nay,
Our
thoughts were forced out of us, and punisht
And
had it been in you, to have taken away
Our
understanding, as you did our speech,
You
would have made us thought this honest too.
NYMPHIDIUS
Can
malice' narrow eyes,
See
anything yet more it can traduce?
SCEUINUS
His
long continued taxes I forbear,
In
which he chiefly showed him to be Prince,
His
robbing altars, sale of Holy things,
The
antique goblets of adored rust,
And
sacred gifts of Kings and people sold.
Nor
was the spill more odious than the use
They
were employed on, spent on shame, and lust,
Which
still have been so endless in their change,
And
made us know a diverse servitude.
But
that he hath been suffered so long,
And
prospered, as you say. For that, to thee
O
Heaven I turn myself, and cry
'No God hath care of us, yet have we our
revenge,
As much as earth may be
reveng'd on Heaven'
Their
divine honour Nero shall usurp,
And
prayers, and feasts, and adoration have
As
well as Jupiter.
NYMPHIDIUS
Away,
blaspheming tongue,
Be
ever silent for thy bitterness.
Exeunt.
Scene Four.
Enter NERO, POPPÆA, TIGELLINUS, FLAVIUS, NEOPHILUS,
EPAPHRODITUS and a young man.
NERO
What
could cause thee,
Forgetful
of my benefits and thy oath,
To
seek my life?
FLAVIUS
Nero,
I hated thee.
Now
was there any of thy soldiers
More
faithful, while thou faith deserv'dst than I?
Together
did I leave to be a subject,
And
thou a Prince; Cæsar, was now become
A
player on the stage, a waggoner,
A
burner of our houses and of us,
A
parricide of wife, and mother.
TIGELLINUS
Villain,
dost know where, and of whom thou speakst?
NERO
Have
you but one death for him, let it be
A
feeling one. Tigellinus, be it
Thy
charge, and let me see thee witty in't.
TIGELLINUS
Come
sirrah,
We'll
see how stoutly you'll stretch out your neck.
FLAVIUS
Would
thou durst strike as stoutly.
Exit TIGELLINUS and FLAVIUS.
NERO
And
what's he there?
EPAPHRODITUS
One
that in whispering o'erheard
What
pity 'twas, my Lord, that Piso died.
NERO
And
why was't pity sirrah, that Piso died?
YOUNG
My
Lord 'twas pity he deserved to die.
POPPÆA
How
much this youth, my Otho[89] doth
resemble;
Otho,
my first, my best love, who is now
(Under
pretext of governing) exiled
To
Lucitania, honourably banisht.
NERO
Well,
if you be so passionate,
I'll
make you spend your pity on your Prince,
And
good men, not on traitors.
YOUNG
The
Gods forbid my Prince should pity need.
Somewhat
the sad rememberance did me stir
O'th
frail and weak condition of our kind,
Somewhat
his greatness than whom yesterday,
The
world, but Cæsar, could show nothing higher.
Besides,
some virtues and some worth he had,
That
might excuse my pity to an end
So
cruel, and unripe.
POPPÆA
I
know not how this stranger moves my mind,
His
face, methinks, is not like other men's,
Nor
do they speak thus. Oh, his words invade
My
weakened senses, and overcome my heart.
NERO
Your
pity shows your favour and your willing
Which
side you are inclined to, had you power.
You
can but pity, else should Cæsar fear,
Your
ill affection then shall punisht be.
Take
him to execution, he shall die,
That
the death pities of mine enemy.
YOUNG
This
benefit at least
Sad
death shall give, to free me from the powers
Of
such a government, and if I die
For
pitying human chance, and Piso's end,
There
will be some too, that will pity more.
POPPÆA
O
what a dauntless look, what sparkling eyes,
Threating
in suffering; sure some noble blood
Is
hid in rags; fear argues a base spirit
In
him what courage, and contempt of death,
And
shall I suffer one I love to die?
He
shall not die. Hands off this man,
away.
Nero,
thou shalt not kill this guiltless man.
NERO
He
guiltless? Strumpet.
Spurns
her and POPPÆA falls.
She's
in love with the smooth face of the boy.
NEOPHILUS
Alas,
my Lord, you have slain her.
EPAPHRODITUS
Help,
she dies.
NERO
Poppæa,
Poppæa, speak, I am not angry,
I
did not mean to hurt thee. Speak, sweet
love.
NEOPHILUS
She's
dead, my Lord.
NERO
Fetch
her again, she shall not die.
I'll
open the iron gates of Hell,
And
break the imprisoned shadows of the deep,
And
force from death this far too worthy prey.
She's
not dead.
The
crimson red, that like the morning shone,
When
from her windows, (all with roses strewed,)
She
peepeth forth, forsakes not yet her cheeks;
Her
breath, that like a honeysuckle smelt,
Twining
about the prickling Eglantine[90],
Yet
moves her lips; those quick, and piercing eyes,
That
did in beauty challenge heaven's eyes
Yet
shine as they were wont. O no they do
not,
See
how they grow obscure, O see, they close,
And
cease to take, or give light to the world.
What
stars soe'er you are assur'd to grace
[91]
The
firmament, (for lo the twinkling fires
Together
throng, and that clear milky space
Of
storms, and Pleiades, and thunder void,
Prepares
your room) do not with wry aspect
Look
on your Nero, who in blood shall mourn
Your
luckless fate, and many a breathing soul
Send
after you to wait upon their Queen.
This
shall begin, the rest shall follow after,
And
fill the streets with outcries, and with slaughter.
Exeunt..
Scene Five.
Enter SENECA with two of his FRIENDS
SENECA
What
means your mourning, this ungrateful sorrow?
What
are your precepts of philosophy?
Where
our prepared resolution,
So
many years fore-studied against danger?
To
whom is Nero's cruelty unknown?
Or
what remained after mother's blood,
But
his instructor's death
[92]
? Leave, leave these tears,
Death
from me nothing takes, but what's a burden
[93]
,
A
clog, to that free spark of Heavenly fire,
But
that in Seneca, the which you lov'd,
Which
you admir'd, doth, and shall still remained
Secure
of death, untouched of the grave.
1ST FRIEND
We'll
not belie our tears: we wail not thee,
It
is our selves, and our own loss we grieve.
To
thee, what loss in such a change can be,
Virtue
is paid her due by death alone,
To
our own losses do we give these tears,
That
lose thy love, thy boundless knowledge lose,
Lose
the unpatterned sample of thy virtue,
Lose
whatsoever may praise, or sorrow move.
In
all these losses, yet of this we glory,
That
'tis thy happiness that makes us sorry.
2ND FRIEND
If
there be any place for ghosts of good men,
If
(as we have been long taught) great men's souls
Consume
not with their bodies, thou shalt see,
(Looking
from thy dwellings of the air)
True
duties to thy memory perform'd;
Not
in the outward pomp of funeral,
But
in rememberance of thy deeds, and words,
The
oft recalling of thy many virtues.
The
Tomb that shall th'eternal relics keep
Of
Seneca, shall be his hearers' hearts.
SENECA
Be
not afraid, my soul, go cheerfully
To
thy own Heaven, from whence it first let down.
Thou
loath by this imprisoning flesh putst on,
No
lifted up, thou ravisht shalt behold
The
truth of things, at which we wonder here,
And
foolishly do wrangle on beneath,
And
like a God shalt walk the spacious air,
And
see what even to conceit's deni'd.
Great
soul o'th world, that through the parts defus'd,
Of
this vast All, guid'st what thou dost inform.
You
blessed minds, that from the Spheres you move,
Look
on men's actions not with idle eyes,
And
Gods we go to, aid me in this strife
And
combat of my flesh, that ending, I
May
still show Seneca, and my self die.
Exeunt.
Scene Six.
Enter ANTONIUS and
ENANTHE.
ANTONIUS
Sure
this message of the Prince's,
So
grievous and unlookt for, will appal
Petronius
much.
ENANTHE
Will
not death any man?
ANTONIUS
It
will, but him so much the more,
That
having liv'd to his pleasure, shall forgo
So
delicate a life. I do not marvel
That
Seneca and such sour fellows can
Leave
that they nev'r tasted, but when we
That
have the nectar of thy kisses felt,
That
drinks away the troubles of this life,
And
but one banquet make of forty years,
Must
come to leave this: but soft, here he is.
Enter PETRONIUS and a centurion.
PETRONIUS
Leave
me a while, Centurion. To my friends,
Let
me my farewell take, and thou shalt see,
Nero's
commandment quickly obeyed in me.
Exeunt centurion.
Come
let us drink, and dash the posts with wine[94]
Here,
throw your flowers, fill me a swelling bowl,
Such
as Mycenae's, or my Lucan drank
On
Virgil's birthday.
ENANTHE
What
means, Petronius, this unseasonable
And
causeless mirth? Why, came not from
the Prince
This
man to you, a messenger of death?
PETRONIUS
Here,
fair Enanthe, whose plump ruddy cheek
Exceeds
the grape, it makes this, here my girl.
He
drinks.
And
thinkst thou death a matter of such harm?
Why,
he must have this pretty dimpling chin,
And
will peck out those eyes that now so wound.
ENANTHE
Why,
is it not th'extremest of all ills?
PETRONIUS
It
is indeed the last, and end of ills.
The
gods, before th'would let us taste death's joys,
Plac'd
us i'th toil and sorrows of this world,
Because
we should perceive th'amends, and thank them.
Death,
the grim knave, but leads you to the door,
Where
entered once, all curious pleasures come
To
meet, and welcome you;
A
troop of beauteous ladies from whose eyes
Love,
thousand arrows, thousand graces shoots,
Puts
forth their fair hands to you, and invite
To
their green arbours, and close shadowed walls,
Whence
banisht is the roughness of our years;
Only
the west wind blows, i'th ever Spring,
And
ever Summer. There the laden boughs
Offer
their tempting burdens[95] to your
hand,
Doubtful
your eyes, or taste inviting more.
There
every man his own desires enjoys,
Fair
Lucrece lies by lusty Tarquin's side,
And
woos him now again to ravish her.
Nor
us, (though Roman) Lais will refuse,
To
Corinth any man may go; no mask,
No
envious garment doth those beauties hide,
Which
nature made, so moving, to be spied
But
in bright crystal, which doth supply all,
And
white transparent veils[96] they
are attired
Through
which the pure snow underneath doth shine,
(Can
it be snow, from whence such flames arise?)
Mingled
with that fair company, shall we
On
banks of violets[97],
and of hyacinths[98]
Of
loves devising, sit, and gently sport,
And
all the while melodious music hear,
And
poets' songs, that music far exceed.
The
old Anaicean crown'd with smiling flowers,
And
amorous Sappho, on her lesbian Lute
Beauty's
sweet scars, and Cupid's godhead sing,
ANTONIUS
What? Be not ravisht with thy fancies, do not
Court
nothing, nor make love unto our fears.
PETRONIUS
Is't
nothing that I say?
ANTONIUS
But
empty words.
PETRONIUS
Why,
thou requir'st some instance of the eye,
Wilt
thou go with me then, and see that world?
Which
either will return thy old delights,
Or
square thy appetite anew to theirs.
ANTONIUS
Nay,
I had far rather believe thee here,
Others'
ambition such discoveries seek.
Faith,
I am satisfied with the base delights
Of
common men. A wench, a house I have,
And
of my own a garden, I'll not change
For
all your walks, and ladies, and rare fruits.
PETRONIUS
Your
pleasures must of force resign to these,
In
vain you shunned the sword, in vain the sea,
In
vain is Nero fear'd, or flattered.
Hither
you must, and leave your purchas't houses,
Your
new made garden, your black-browed wife,
And
of the trees thou hast so quaintly set,
Not
one but the displeasant Cypress shall
Go
with thee.
ANTONIUS
Faith,
'tis true, we must at length,
But
yet Petronius, while we may awhile,
We
would enjoy them; those we have, we are sure of,
When
that you talkst of's doubtful, and to come.
PETRONIUS
Perhaps
thou thinkst to live yet twenty years,
Which
may unlookt for be cut off, as mine,
If
not, to endless time compar'd, is nothing.
What
you endure must ever endure now,
Nor
stay not, to be last at table set.
Each
best day of our life at first doth go,
To
them succeeds diseased age and woe.
Now
die your pleasures, and the days your prayer
Your
rhymes, and loves, and jests will take away,
Therefore
my sweet, yet thou wilt go with me,
And
not live here, to what thou wouldst not see.
ENANTHE
Would
y'have me then kill myself, and die,
And
go I know not to what places there?
PETRONIUS
What
places dost thou fear?
The
favoured lake they tell thee thou must pass.
And
thy black frogs that croak about the brim?
ENANTHE
O
pardon Sir, though death affrights a woman
Whose
pleasures, though you timely here divine,
The
pains we know, and see.
PETRONIUS
The
pain is life's, death rids that pain away.
Come
boldy, there's no danger in this ford,
Children
pass through it. If it be a pain,
You
have this comfort, that you past it are.
ENANTHE
Yet
all, as well as I, are loath to die.
PETRONIUS
Judge
them by deed, you see them do't apace
ENANTHE
Aye,
but 'tis loathly, and against their wills.
PETRONIUS
Yet
know you not that any being dead
Repent
them, and would have liv'd again.
They
then their errors saw, and foolish prayers,
But
you are blinded in the love of life.
Death
is but sweet to them that do approach it.
To
me as one that, tak'n with Delphic rage,
When
the divining God his breast doth fill,
He
sees what others cannot, standing by.
It
seems a beauteous, and a pleasant thing,
Where
is my death's Physician?
Enter PHYSICIAN.
PHYSICIAN
Here,
my Lord.
PETRONIUS
Art
ready?
PHISTIAN
Aye,
my Lord.
PETRONIUS
And
I for thee.
Nero,
my end shall mock thy tyranny.
Exeunt.
Act Five.
Scene One.
Enter NERO, NYMPHIDIUS, TIGELLINUS, NEOPHILUS,
EPAPHRODITUS and other attendants.
NERO
Enough
is wept, Poppæa, for thy death,
Enough
is bled. So many tears of others
Wailing
their losses have wept mine away.
Who,
in the common funeral of the world,
Can
mourn on death?
TIGELLINUS
Besides,
your Majesty this benefit
In
their deserved punishment shall reap
From
all attempts hereafter to be freed;
Conspiracy
is now forever dasht,
Tumult
supprest, rebellion out of heart.
In
Piso's death, danger itself did die.
NYMPHIDIUS
Piso,
that thought to climb by bowing down,
By
giving away to thrive, and raising others
To
become great himself, hath now by death
Given
quiet to your thoughts, and fear to theirs
That
shall by treason their advancement plot.
Those
dangerous heads, that his ambition lean'd on,
And
they by it crept up, and from their meanness
Thought
in this stir to rise aloft, are off.
Now
peace and safety wait upon your throne;
Security
hath wall'd your seat about,
There
is no place for fear left.
NERO
Why,
I never fear'd them.
NYMPHIDIUS
That
was your fault.
Your
Majesty must give us leave to blame
Your
dangerous courage, and that noble soul
Too
prodigal of itself.
NERO
A
Prince's mind knows neither fear, nor hope.
The
beams of royal Majesty are such,
As
all eyes are with it amaz'd and weakened,
But
it with nothing, I at first contemn'd
Their
weak devices, and faint enterprise:
Why,
thought they against him to have prevail'd,
Whose
childhood was from Messalina's spite,
By
dragons that the earth gave up preserv'd,
Such
guard my cradle had, for fate had then
Pointed
me out, to be what now I am[99].
Should
all the Legions, and the Provinces
In
one united, against me conspire,
I
could disperse them with one angry eye.
My
brow's a host of men; come, Tigellinus,
Lets
turn this bloody banquet Piso meant us
Unto
a merry feast, we'll drink and challenge
fortune. Who's that, Neophilus?
Enter a Roman.
NEOPHILUS
A
courier from beyond the Alps, my Lord.
NERO
News
of some German victory belike,
Or
Briton overthrow.
NEOPHILUS
The
letters come from France.[100]
NYMPHIDIUS
Why
smiles your Majesty?
NERO
So
I smile, I should be afraid there's one
In
arms, Nymphidius.
NYMPHIDIUS
What,
arm'd against your Majesty?
[101]
NERO
Our
Lieutenant of the Province, Julius Vindex[102].
TIGELLINUS
Who,
that giddy French-man?
NYMPHIDIUS
His
Province is disarm'd, my Lord, he hath
No
legion, not a soldier under him.
EPAPHRODITUS
One
by that blood, and rapine would repair
His
state consum'd in vanities, and lust.
Enter another Roman.
TIGELLINUS
He
would not find out three to follow him.
MESSENGER
More
news, my Lord.
NERO
Is
it of Vindex that thou hast to say?
MESSENGER
Vindex
is up, and with him France in arms.
The
noble men, and people throng to th'cause,
Money,
and armour, cities do confer.
The
country doth send in provision,
Young
men bring bodies, old men lead them forth,
Ladies
do coin their jewels into pay,
The
sickle now is fram'd into a sword,[103]
And
drawing horses are to manage taught,
France
nothing doth but war, and fury breathe.
NERO
All
this fierce talk, but Vindex doth rebel,
And
I will hang him.
TIGELLINUS
How
long came you forth after the former messenger?
MESSENGER
Four
days, but by the benefit of sea
And
weather, am arrived with him.
NEOPHILUS
How
strong was Vindex at your coming forth?
MESSENGER
He
was esteem'd a hundred thousand.
TIGELLINUS
Men
enough.
NIMPHIDIUS
And
soldiers few enough.
Tumultuary
troops undisciplin'd,
Untrain'd
in service, to waste victuals good,
But
when they come to look on war's black wounds,
And
but afar off see the face of death.
NERO
It
falls out for my empty coffers well,
The
spoil of such a large and goodly Province,
Enrich't
with trade, and long enjoyed peace.
TIGELLINUS
What
order will your Majesty have taken
For
levying forces to suppress this stir?
NERO
What
order should we take? We'll laugh, and
drink,
Thinkst
thou it fit my pleasures be disturb'd
When
any French-man list to break his neck?
They
have not heard of Piso's fortune yet,
Let
that talk fight with them.
NYMPHIDIUS
What
order needs? Your Majesty shall find
This
French heat quickly of itself grow cold.
NERO
Come
away.
Nothing
shall come that this night's sport shall stay.
Exeunt Nero.
Scene Two.
Manet NEOPHILUS and EPAPHRODITUS.
NEOPHILUS
I
wonder what makes him so confident
In
this revolt now grown unto a war,
And
ensigns[104]
in the field, when in the other,
Being
but a plot of conspiracy,
He
show'd himself so wretchedly dismayed.
EPAPHRODITUS
Faith,
the right nature of a coward, to set light
Dangers
that seem far off. Piso was here,
Ready
to enter at the presence door,
And
drag him out of his abused chair,
And
then he trembled; Vindex is in France,
And
many woods, and seas, and hills in between.
NEOPHILUS
Twas
strange that Piso was so soon supprest.
EPAPHRODITUS
Strange,
strange indeed, for had he but come up,
And
taken the Court, in that affright and stir,
While
unresolved for whom, or what to do.
Each
on the other hand had jealousy
(While
as appalled Majesty not yet
Had
time to set the countenance) he would
Have
hazarded the royal seat.
NEOPHILUS
Nay,
had it without hazard; all the Court
Had
for him been, and those disclos'd their love,
And
favour in the cause, which now to hide,
And
colour their good meanings ready were,
To
show their forwardness against it most.
EPAPHRODITUS
But
for a stranger with a naked Province,
Without
allies, or friends i'th state to challenge
A
Prince upheld with thirty Legions,
Rooted
in four descents of ancestors,
And
fourteen years' continuance of reign,
Why
it is---
Enter NERO, NYMPHIDIUS and TIGELLINUS to them.
NERO
Galba
and Spain, what Spain and Galba too?
Exeunt NERO and NYMPHIDIUS.
EPAPHRODITUS
I
pray thee, Tigellinus, what fury's this?
What
strange event, what accident hath thus
O'er
cast your countenances?
TIGELLINUS
Down
we were set at table, and began
With
sparkling bowls to chase our fears away,
And
mirth and pleasure lookt out of our eyes,
When
lo, a breathless messenger comes in
And
tells how Vindex, and the powers of France
Have
Segius Galba chosen Emperor,
And
what applause the Legions him receive.
The
Spain's revolted, Portugal hath joined;
And
much suspected in of Germany,
But
Nero, not abiding out to the end,
O'erthrew
the tables, dasht against the ground
The
cup which he so much you know esteem'd,
Teareth
his hair, and with incensed rage
Curseth
false men, and gods the lookers on.
NEOPHILUS
His
rage, we saw, was wild and desperate.
EPAPHRODITUS
O
you unsecured wisdoms, which do laugh
At
our security and fears alike!
And
plain to show our weakness, and your power
Make
us condemn the harms, which surest strike
When
you our glories, and our pride undo,
Our
overthrow you make ridiculous too.
Exeunt.
Enter NYMPHIDIUS.
Slow
making counsels, and the sliding year
Have
brought me to the long forseen destruction
Of
this misled young man; his State is shaken,
And
I will push it on. Revolted France,
Nor
the conjured Provinces of Spain,
Nor
his own guilt shall like to me oppress him.
I
to his easy yielding fears proclaim
New
German mutinies, and all the world
Rousing
itself in hate of Nero's name,
I
his distracted counsels do disperse
With
fresh despairs, I animate the Senate
And
the people, to engage them past recall
In
prejudice of Nero, and in brief,
Perish
he must, the fates and I resolve it,
Which
to effect, I presently will go.
Proclaim
a Donative in Galba's name.
Enter ANTONIUS to him.
ANTONIUS
Yonder's
Nymphidius, our Commander now,
I
with respect must speak, and smooth my brow,
Captain,
all hail!
NYMPHIDIUS
Antonius,
well met,
Your
place of tribune
[105]
in this anarchy.
ANTONIUS
This
anarchy, my Lord? Is Nero dead?
NYMPHIDIUS
This
anarchy, this yet unstyled time,
While
Galba is unseized of the Empire
Which
Nero hath forsook.
ANTONIUS
Hath
Nero then resigned the Empire?
NYMPHIDIUS
In
effect he hath, for he's fled to Egypt.
ANTONIUS
My
Lord, you tell strange news to me.
NYMPHIDIUS
But
nothing strange to me,
Who
every moment knew of his despairs.
The
couriers came so fast with fresh alarms
Of
new revolts, that he unable quite
To
bear his fears, which he had long conceal'd,
Is
now revolted from himself, and fled.
ANTONIUS
Thrust
with reports, and rumours from his seat!
My
Lord, you know the Camp depends on you
As
you determine.
NYMPHIDIUS
There
it lies, Antonius;
What
should we do? It boots[106] not to
rely
On
Nero's stinking fortunes, and to sit
Securely
looking on. We're to receive
An
Emperor from Spain, which how disgraceful
It
were to us, who if we weigh ourselves,
The
most material accessions are
Of
all the Roman Empire, which disgrace
To
cover we must join ourselves betimes,
And
thereby seem to have created Galba.
Therefore
I'll straight proclaim a Donative,
Of
thirty thousand sesterces a man.
ANTONIUS
I
think so great a gift was never heard of.
Galba,
they say, is frugally inclined;
Will
he avow so great a gift as this?
NYMPHIDIUS
Howe'er
he like of it, he must avow it,
If
by our promise he be once engaged,
And
since the soldiers' care belongs to me,
I
will have care of them, and of their good.
Let
them thank me, if I through this occasion
Procure
for them so great a Donative.
Exeunt NYMPHIDIUS.
ANTONIUS
So
you be thankt, it skills not who prevail,
Galba,
or Nero, traitor to them both.
You
give it out that Nero's fled to Egypt,
Who
with the frights of your reports, amaz'd
By
our device, doth lurk for better news,
Whilst
you inevitably do betray him.
Works
he all this for Galba then? Not so;
I
have long seen his climbing to the Empire
By
secret practices of gracious women,
And
other instruments of the late Court.
That
was his love to her that me refus'd,
And
now by this he would give the soldiers favour.
Now
is the time to quit Poppæa's scorn,
And
his rivality[107]; I'll straight reveal
His
treacheries to Galba's agents here.
Exeunt.
Scene Three.
Enter TIGELLINUS with the guard.
TIGELLINUS
You
see what issue things do sort unto,
Yet
may we hope not only impunity,
But
with our fellows part o'th gift proclaim'd.
NERO meets them.
NERO
Whither
go you? Stay my friends,
'Tis
Cæsar calls you, stay my loving friends.
TIGELLINUS
We
were his slaves, his footstools, and must crouch,
But
now, with such observance to his feet,
It
is his misery that calls us friends.
NERO
And
moves you not the misery of a Prince?
O
stay my friends, stay, harken to the voice
Which
once yee knew.
TIGELLINUS
Hark
to the people's cries,
Hark
to the streets, that 'Galba, Galba'
ring.
NERO
The
people may forsake me without blame.
I
did them wrong to make you rich and great,
I
took their houses to bestow on you:
Treason
in them hath name of liberty,
Your
fault hath no excuse; you are my fault,
And
the excuse of others' treachery.
TIGELLINUS
Shall
we with staying seem his tyrannies
T'uphold,
as if were in love with them?
We
are excus'd unless we stay too long
As
forced Ministers, and apart of wrong.
Exeunt preter NERO.
NERO
O
now I see the vizard[108] from
my face
So
lovely, and so fearful is fall'n off,
That
vizard, shadow, nothing (Majesty
(Which
like a child acquainted with his fears,
But
now men trembled at, and now condemn)
Nero
forsaken is of all the world,
The
world of truth. O fall some vengeance
down
Equal
unto falsehoods, and my wrongs.
Might
I accept the Chariot of the Sun,
And
like another Phaeton, consume
In
flames of all the world, a pile of death
Worthy
the state, and greatness I have lost.
O
were I now but Lord of my own fires,
Wherein
false Rome yet once again might smoke,
And
perish, all unpitied of her gods,
That
all things in their last destruction might
Perform
a funeral honour to their Lord.
O
Jove, dissolve with Cæsar, Cæsar's world,
Or
you whom Nero rather should invoke
Black
chaos, and you fearful shapes beneath,
That
with a long, and not vain envy have
Sought
to destroy this work of th'other gods.
Now
let your darkness cease the spoils of the day,
And
the world's first contention end your strife.
Enter two Romans to him.
1ST ROMAN
Though
others, bound with greater benefits
Have
left your changed fortunes, and do run
Whither
new hopes do call them, yet come we.
NERO
O
welcome; come you to adversity?
Welcome,
true friends; why there is faith on earth.
Of
thousand servants, friends and followers,
Yet
two are left: your countenance, methinks
Gives
comfort, and new hopes.
2ND ROMAN
Do
not deceive your thoughts
My
Lord, we bring no comfort, would we could;
But
the first duty to perform, and best
We
ever shall, a free death to persuade,
To
cut off hopes to fiercer cruelty
And
scorn, more cruel to a worthy soul.
1ST ROMAN
The
Senate have decreed you're punishable
After
the fashion of our ancestors,
Which
is; your neck being locked in a fork
You
must be naked whipt, and scourg'd to death.
NERO
The
Senate thus decreed? They that so oft
My
virtues flattered have, and gifts of mine;
My
government preferr'd to ancient times,
And
challenge Numa to compare with me;
Have
they so horrible an end sought out?
No,
here I bear which shall prevent such shame,
This
hand shall yet from that deliver me,
And
faithful be alone unto his Lord.
Alas
how sharp, and terrible is death.
O
must I die, must now my senses close,
For
ever die, and ne'er return again,
Never
more to see the Sun, nor Heaven, nor Earth?
Whither
go I? What shall I be anon?
What
horrid journey wand'rest thou, my soul,
Under
th'earth, in dark, damp, dusky vaults,
Or
shall I now to nothing be resolv'd?
My
fears become my hopes, O would I might.
Methinks
I seek the boiling Phlegeton,
And
the dull pool, feared of them we fear,
The
dread, and terror of the Gods themselves,
The
Furies armed with links, with whips, with snakes,
And
my own Furies far more mad than they.
My
mother, and those troops of slaughtered friends,
And
now the judge is brought unto the throne,
That
will not leave unto authority,
Nor
favour the oppressions of the great.
1ST ROMAN
These
are idle terrors of the night,
Which
wise men (though they teach, do not believe)
To
curb our pleasures feign, and aid the weak.
2ND ROMAN
Death's
wrongful defamation, which would make
Us
shun this happy haven of our rest,
This
end of evils, as some fearful harm.
1ST ROMAN
Shadows,
and fond imaginations,
Which
now you see on earth, but children fear.
2ND ROMAN
Why
should our faults fear punishment from them?
What
do the actions of this life concern?
The
t'other world, with which is no commerce?
1ST ROMAN
Would
Heaven, and Stars, necessity compel
Us
to do that, which after it would punish?
2ND ROMAN
Let
us not after our lives' end believe
More
than you felt before it.
NERO
If
any words have made me confident,
And
boldly do, for hearing others speak
Boldly
this night - but will you by example
Teach
me the truth of your opinion,
And
make me see that you believe yourselves:
Will
you by dying, teach me to bear death
With
courage?
1ST ROMAN
No
necessity of death
Hang
o'er our head, no danger threatens us,
Nor
Senate's sharp decree, nor Galba's arms.
2ND ROMAN
Is
this the thanks then thou dost pay our love?
Die
basely as such a life deserv'd,
Reserve
thyself to punishment and scorn
Of
Rome, and of thy laughing enemies.
Exeunt.
Manet NERO.
NERO
They
hate me, 'cause I would but live, what was't
You
lov'd kind friends, and came to see my death.
Let
me endure all torture, and reproach
That
earth, or Galba's anger can inflict,
Yet
Hell, and Radamanth are more pitiless.
Enter the first Roman to him.
1ST ROMAN
Though
not deserv'd, yet once again I come,
To
warn thee to take pity on thyself.
The
troops by the Senate sent, descend the hill
And
come.
NERO
To
take me, and whip me unto death!
O
whither shall I fly?
1ST ROMAN
Thou
hast no choice.
NERO
O
hither I must fly, hard is his hap
Who
from death only must by death escape,
Where
are they yet? O may I not a little
Bethink
myself?
1ST ROMAN
They
are at hand; hark, thou mayest hear the noise.
NERO
O
Rome farewell, farewell you Theatres,
Where
I so oft, with popular applause
In
song, and action... O they come. I die.
He falls on his sword.
1ST ROMAN
So
base an end to all just commiseration
Doth
take away, yet what we do now spurn,
The
morning Sun saw fearful to the world.
Scene Four.
Enter some of GALBA'S friends, ANTONIUS and others,
with NYMPHIDIUS bound.
GALBA
You
both shall die together, traitors both,
He
to the common- wealth, and thou to him,
And
worse, to a good Prince; what, is he dead?
Hath
fear encourag'd him, and made him thus
Prevent
our punishment? Then die with him,
Fall
thy aspiring at thy Master's feet.
He kills NYMPHIDIUS.
ANTONIUS
Who,
though he justly perisht, yet by thee
Deserv'd
it not, nor ended there thy treason,
But
even thought the Empire: thou conceiv'st
Galba's
disgrace in receiving that
Which
the son of Nimphidia could hope.
1ST ROMAN
Thus
great bad men above them find a rod
[109]
;
People,
depart, and say there is a God.
Exeunt.
THE END
[1]Petronius Arbiter, author of the Satyricon, a book of tales of satire. We must bear this in mind when reading this play, as some of the characters maybe likely to mimic dignitaries in the early 1620's, when we must assume Tragedy of Nero to have been written.
[2]First
word of William Shakespeare's Othello. In both instances, tush is employed as a dismissive prequel to the sentence. Nowadays, we see a similar use in the word shush, which may well be a contemporary
adaptation.
[3]Crystal, B & Crystal, D. Shakespeare's Words: A Glossary and Language Companion, Penguin Books (2002.) 'Anger, rage, wrath.' In Shakespeare alone we see this word used in Henry VI Part II, Henry V, Julius Caesar, Loves Labours Lost, The Merry Wives of Windsor and Richard II.
[4]The word transcribed on Chadwyck-Healey is vnforst but when spoken we are presented with two possible yet different meanings. The most obvious word is unforced, meaning that the world submits willingly to Nero's rule, but another word which sounds similar is enforced. This carries connotations which suggests that the world does not submit to Nero's rule without domination.
[5]In Shakespeare's King John () both Queen Eleanor and Chatillon provoke John with his “borrow'd majesty.” (I.I.vi) This is both interesting and appropriate because historically, John and Nero are both the same genre of monarch in terms of their monarchical Absolutism. In Nero, the previous line intimates that these 'borrow'd beauties' are stolen, like John's monarchy. However, this theft of beauty could be analagous to stealing other things.
[6]'plain, simple, ordinary, unattractive, humble, ordinary.' Seen in Second and Third Part of Henry VI, Cymbeline, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Alls Well That Ends Well, A Winters Tale, and the Comedy of Errors. David & Ben Crystal, (2002) Shakespeare's Words, A Glossary and Language Companion, (London:Penguin)
[7]According to myth and history, there were two Cleopatra's. One was the daughter of Boreas and Oreithya, and wife of Phineas, and the other is the Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, that we associate with Mark Anthony, which we must assume to be the correct one. Cleopatra was the last of the House of Ptolemy, and ruled between 68 and 30 B.C. She was first the mistress of Julius Cæsar, and then of Mark Anthony. Her reference in this play might be explained by the fact that she, like Nero, was the last patron of her dynasty and also their joint relation to Julius Cæsar, who was the first member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty which ended with Nero's demise. Another link is that one of the Gnaeus Ahenobarbus' briefly joined Mark Anthony's staff shortly before his death, and after the murder of Julius Cæsar, which he was also charged with abetting.
[8]Lucres, or Lucretia, is yet another individual who signified the end of monarchy. She is most notorious for being raped by Sextus, son of King Tarquinnus, and then committing suicide to prove her virtue. Lucretia is an extremely popular topic for Elizabethan and Jacobean playwrights, Heywood, Shakespeare, and the anonymous 'Second Lucretia' to name but a couple. What is debatably most relevant here, especially with Cleopatra mentioned in the same sentence, is that in the 6th Century B.C. Her action also caused the end of a Roman monarchy.
[9]Some time after A.D.55, when Cn. Domitius Corbulo became governer of Cappadocia, Nero began negotiations through a representative, for Vologeses I to openly accept his crown from Nero. In receipt of this submission, Nero would be seen to openly accept Tiridates, Vologeses' brother, and King of Armenia. Should Vologeses not accede to Nero's demands, then Nero planned to attack. According to Suetonius' The Twelve Cæsar's, Nero lured Tiridates to Rome under false pretenses, and forced Tiridates to 'prostrate himself in supplication' (p.220) while he sat in triumphal attire.
[11]'Because of his singing, he [Nero] had been compared to Phoebus Apollo', Suetonius, The Twelve Cæsar's, p. 246.
[12]Nero was compared to Hercules because of his charioteering. He fancied himself a 'Sun-God', (Ibid, p. 246) and allegedly had had a lion trained for the public arena so that he could tackle it in the amphitheatre and either strangle it or bludgeon it to death with his club.
[14]Vespasian, when he had rebuilt the stage of the Theatre of Marcellus, is reputed to have rewarded both Diodorus and Terpnus with 2,000 gold pieces each. Both were reputed to be very fine lyre-players, which was Nero's favourite musical instrument.
[15]On return from a trip to Greece, one of many that Nero made in his reign, he chose to enter Rome in Augustus' old chariot, swathed in a 'Greek mantle spangled with gold stars over a purple robe. The Olympic wreath was on his head, the Pythian wreath in his right hand.' Suetonius, The Twelve Cæsar's, p. 226.
[16]A region on the north coast of the Peloponnesus, and also a region in south-east Thessaly. In Homer, and later poetry, Achaia is used to mean Greece in total.
[17]The eagle is consistently portrayed as the symbol of Rome, and was often used in pageantry. Also, eagles have often been seen to herald prophecies, for example, an eagle dropped a wolf-cub at the feet of Claudius, whom Nero succeeded, which was supposed to represent Claudius' unlikely ascension to the throne.
[19]Also spelt 'Alis' in Plautus' Captives, Elis is a district in the north-western regions of the Peloponnesus. Olympia was the largest city in Elis and is reknowned for being sacred for Zeus, and the originator of the Olympic Games.
[20]Pisa is yet another city in Elis.
[21]A city in Argolis, in the Second Millenium B.C. Mycenae was regarded to be one of the strongest and richest places in Greece. The Mycenaen city walls were also reputed to have been constructed by the Cyclops.
[22]'Prominent city of the north-eastern Peloponnesus. Argos was noted for its cult of the goddess Hera. In myth it alternated with Mycenae as the city of Agamemmnon and his family.' The name Argos was actually synonymous with the entire region, also known as Argolis, and in English, Argolia. Richard Y. Hathorn () Handbook of Classical Drama, p. 46.
[23]Sparta was a major Greek tourist destination for the Romans. Although described as having a 'museum-like atmosphere,' it is perhaps better known for its flogging contests, held in the Spartan theatre's, where young men contested to see who could be flogged for the longest, in proof of strength.
[24]Athens, by comparison, was reknown for its University. Young men (and also women) from prestigious families could study Greek philosophy and classics there for either one or two years.
[25]http://64.4.26.250/cgi-bin/linkrd?_lang=EN&lah=08680363bdc1e828ca29ab835bc8f77e&lat=1070554636&hm___action=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2esoupsong%2ecom%2fsgreece%2ehtml. A Spartan delicacy also known as 'black-broth' and 'zomos', this soup consisted of 'a conglomeration of pork, blood and vinegar, and, according to Plutarch's Moralia, Dionysus, 'the tyrant of Italy' spat it out when his Spartan cook made it for him.
[26]Solon was celebrated as a law-maker in Athens. Living between circa 640 B.C. and 560 B.C., his name was linked with legislature for many years after.
[27]Phlegra was a plain in Macedonia where the Gods, according to folklore, fought the giants.
[28]Nero's father Gnaeus Ahenobarbus was reputed to be nearly as much of a tyrant as Nero himself. Before he died in Pyrgi of dropsy when Nero was three. He killed a young boy, gouged out a knights eye in the Senate, and killed one of his freedmen be cause he didn't drink as much as he was told to. He once allegedly told friends that any child of his union with Agrippina was doomed to become hellish and a 'public danger.' Suetonius, The Twelve Cæsars, pp. 214-5.
[29]Thanks to Suetonius and others, it is known that Nero repeatedly attempted the poisoning of Britannicus, son of Messalina and Claudius, and regally although not genetically his brother. He eventually succeeded in A.D.55.
[30]We must assume the reference to wife to mean Octavia, as she was the wife prior to Poppæa. Ironically, prior to her death, she had dreams of being stabbed in the side. Although Suetonius and Seneca disagree between the number of days between Octavia's death and Nero's next marriage, (Suetonius says twelve, Seneca simply says 'a few'), it was certainly abrupt, but not uncommon.
[31]Agrippina's murder was actually something of a farce, compared to the immediacy of Octavia's, and others. In A.D.59, the year that she eventually died, Nero, allegedly aided by Seneca, fabricated that Agrippina was trying to replace him. Previous to this he had attempted to poison her three times, attempted to crush her once and drown her once. After this, he disposed of her by arranged killing.
[32]Lucius Mummius was one of the first to race horses at the Games, some two centuries before Nero.
[34]Son of Danaë, grandson of Acrisius, Perseus was sent by King Polydectes to kill Medusa the Gorgon, which he did with the help of the Stygian nymphs and the Phorcides. It was the Stygian nymphs which gave him the winged sandals, wallet, and Hade's Cape of Invisibility which we associate him with. Like Nero, Perseus also killed a member of his family, but his manslaughter of Acrisius was not premeditated, and Acrisius had already forseen it.
[35]http://www.pantheon.org/articles/a/achilles.html. Son of Peleus and Thetis. Like Agrippina, Achilles mother, the Nereid Thetis also wanted her son to achieve immortality, death being something that Nero particularly feared. It was at Troy that Achilles realised his potential as a fearsome warrior.
[36]Minerva was the Roman goddess of war, wisdom and crafts. She known otherwise in Greek mythology as Athena.
[37]Unfortunately, we are not told which Philip our author was refering to, but contextually it is most likely to be Philip V of Macedonia (237-179 B.C.) Allegedly, Philip attempted to overthrow Rome.
[38]Antiochus
[39]http://www.san.beck.org/EC22-Alexander.html#. A Macedonian General under King Philip of Macedonia, mentioned earlier.
[40]This
is also mentioned in Seneca's Octavia.
[41]http://www.pantheon.org/articles/t/trojan_horse.html. 'When the Greeks had lain siege to Troy for ten years, without results, they pretended to retreat. They left behind a huge wooden horse, in which a number of Greek heroes, among whom Odysseus, had hidden themselves. The spy Sinon convinced the Trojans, despite the warnings of Laocoon, to move the horse inside the city as a war trophy. In the following night, the Greeks left the wooden horse and attacked the unsuspecting and celebrating Trojans, and finally conquered Troy.'
[42]David
Crystal and Ben Crystal, Shakespeare's Words, A Glossary and Language
Companion, p.479. Ine each instance of
application, the word vaunt is associated with exultation and boastfulness over
others. In Shakespeare only it is
employed in The Rape of Lucrece, the sonnets, Richard
[43]There was a healthy Roman interest in Germany between 55 B.C. And A.D. 106, and seven Emperors attempted to tame the Eastern Provinces. Emperor Claudius eventually consolidated the Rhine-Danube Provinces by declaring the river Rhine as part of the boundaries of the Empire. This act also brought about the formation of two new Provinces, Moesia and Thrace.
[44]There is no reference to Bodinca, but the name Bouddica makes more sense, and also correlates with Julius Vindex's rebellion mentioned towards the close of the play. Vindex rebelled in Gaul in A.D. 68, only 8 years after Bouddica's revolt in Eastern Britain for similar reasons. Both Vindex and Bouddica disagreed with Roman rule, despite the fact that Vindex was handed governance of Gaul by Nero. The different spellings of Bouddica are also not unheard of. Book 62 of Dio Cassius' History sees Bouddica spelt Buduica, and, more contemporaneously, Beaumont and Fletcher's 'Tragedy of Bonduca' (1613) is also about Bouddica.
[45]David Crystal and Ben Crystal, Shakespeare's Words, A Glossary and Language Companion, p.420. We are given fifteen different meaning for the word stay, The intimation here from Lucan is that Sceuinus should be quiet, or else endure his thoughts.
[46]David Crystal and Ben Crystal, Shakespeare's Words, A Glossary and Language Companion, p.56. In this context, bearing in mind Nero's previous history, we know that he ordered the murder of Octavia, his first wife prior to Poppæa. In this book, broached is described in two contexts; bringing up a subject in conversation and to set flowing in terms of piercing, the obvious translation of our lexical use being the latter explanation.
[47]Richard
D. Hathorn, Handbook of Classical Drama (2000) p.302. Scythia stretched from the northern tip of
Thrace, along the northern shore of the Black Sea, and inhabited by nomadic
tribes. The Scythians was used as the
Greek equivalent of a police force in Athens.
Reference to them is made in Sophocles' The Scythian Woman.
[48]The River Tiber runs through Rome to the port of Ostia. Since Roman times, it has been largely associated with death, and in recent times has achieved notoriety in Enoch Powell's 'Rivers of Blood' speech in 1968.
[49]Richard D. Hathorn, Handbook of Classical Drama (2000) p.157. A mountain in Western Boetia, south-east of Delphi and near the Corinthian Gulf, Mount Hellicon was then associated with Apollo and the Muses.
[50]http://www.pantheon.org/articles/p/priapus.html. 'The Roman patron god of gardens, viniculture, sailors and fishermen. He is portrayed wearing a long dress that leaves the genitals uncovered. The Romans placed a satyr-like statue of him, painted red and with an enormous phallus, in gardens as some kind of scarecrow, but also to ensure fruitfulness. The fruits of the fields, honey and milk were offered to him, and occasionally donkeys. He was very popular and in his honor the Priapea was written--a collection of 85 perfectly written poems, sometimes funny but usually obscene.
Originally, Priapus was a fertility god
from Asia Minor, and his attribute is the pruning knife.'
[51]Once again we have the problem inherent in so many Roman plays, the confusion with names. There was a Tacitus mentions a Cervarius Proculus who was a knight known to Piso and other rebellers, and didn't like Nero, there is also a Volusius Proculus who aided the murder of Agrippina and was resentful because he didn't feel he had been duly rewarded (Annals, Book XV, p.169). There was also a Cocceius and a Barbius Proculus who worked in Nero's bodyguard (Ibid, Book I, pp. 195-6) These are the only people named Proculus known to Nero in his reign yet none are mentioned for this grave error.
[52](p.262) The Romans generally used to import spices and rare woods from India.
[53]http://www.barca.fsnet.co.uk/rome-money-weight-measure.htm. There were five Roman coins in circulation at the time of the sesterci. There was one gold coin (the aureus), three silver coins (the sestercius, quinarius and denarius) and one bronze coin (the as.)
[54]http://<http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t9.002047>
"Oresteia" The
Concise Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. Ed. M.C. Howatson and Ian
Chilvers. Oxford University Press, 1996. Oxford
Reference Online. Oxford University Press.
7 December 2003. 'Oresteia, the collective name given to
the three Greek tragedies (trilogy) by Aeschylus on the story of Agamemnon, Clytemnestra, and Orestes, was produced at Athens in
458 BC when it won the dramatic competition.'
In Choephoroe, a story of
parricide which forms a direct link to Nero, Orestes returns to find that
Agamemnon his father has died, killed by his mother Clytemnestra and her lover
Aegisthus. Orestes subsequently kills
her, after some debate, then flees when the Furies emerge to punish him. Nero actually complained of dreams of this content
where the Furies followed him with 'whips and burning torches' (Suetonius, The Twelve Caesar's, p.233
[55]http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/05/eust/hod_17.194.226.htm. 'Many craftsmen of mold-carved glass decoration active in the first century A.D. distinguished themselves by putting their names on the molds and identifying the source of the object's manufacture. The most famous and gifted of these craftsmen is Ennion, who came from the coastal city of Sidon in modern Lebanon, and whose workshop is thought to have been situated there. However, Ennion vessels have also been found in Greece, Spain, and Gaul, as well as at numerous sites in Italy, and so it is very likely that his molds, as well as finished glasses, were traded throughout the Mediterranean.'
[56]http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/c/chrysipp.htm. Chrysippus lived circa 280 to 207 B.C. And was a 'Stoic philosopher of Soli in Cilicia Campestris. He moved to Athens, and became a disciple of Cleanthes, the successor of Zeno. He was equally distinguished for his natural abilities and industry and rarely went a day without writing 500 lines. He wrote several hundred volumes, of which three hundred were on logical subjects, borrowing largely from others. With the Stoics in general, he maintained that the world was God, or a universal effusion of his spirit, and that the superior part of this spirit, which consisted in mind and reason, was the common nature of things, containing the whole and every part of it. Sometimes he speaks of God as the power of fate and the necessary chain of events. Sometimes he calls him fire.' This play uses Fate and Fortune rather alot, but that is not exclusive to Nero alone, however, the link between Chrysippus, fire and Nero cannot be disregarded and just coincidence.
[57]According to both Suetonius and Tacitus, Piso had a villa at Baiae. 'The city is located in the Campania region of southern Italy, on a hillside, towards the western end of the Bay of Naples. Once, it was one of the most luxurious and fashionable resort areas in the Roman Empire. Prominent members of the Roman aristocracy, such as Julius Caesar, Nero and Gaius, had villas built there. (http://touritaly.org/magazine/baths01.htm)
[58]Domus Aurea.
[59]Suetonius isn't very forthcoming as regards Rufus, but thanks to Tacitus, our author appears to have been referring to Fænius Rufus, who along with Sofonius Tigellinus (seen in Nero) were made joint heads of the Prætorian Guard. According to Tacitus, Rufus 'enjoyed the favour of the people and of the soldiers.' (Annals, Book XIV, p.153.)
[60]Nero: sodaine. At http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/dweb/florio/day06.shtml, 'sodaine' is mentioned in a similar context to the word 'sudden' in a translation by John Florio in 1620. The excerpt is 'Nonna de Pulci, by a sodaine answere, did put to silence a Byshop of Florence' which makes adequately clear that sudden was the word intended.
[61]Nero is part of the Julio-Claudian dynasty named after Julius Caesar, hence why all their names are followed by Caesar, like Domitius Ahenobarbus. Relate Julius' death...
[62]Huffman, Carl, "Alcmaeon", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2003 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2003/entries/alcmaeon/>. Alcmaeon of Croton was an early Greek medical writer and philosopher-scientist. He is likely to have written his book sometime between 500 and 450 BC. The surviving fragments and testimonia focus primarily on issues of psychology and epistemology and reveal Alcmaeon to be a thinker of considerable originality. He was the first to identify the brain as the seat of understanding and to distinguish understanding from perception. Alcmaeon thought that the sensory organs were connected to the brain by channels (poroi) and may have discovered the poroi connecting the eyes to the brain (i.e. the optic nerve)