Are far from ends' of evil, scarce degrees. To this (what most strikes us and bleeding Rome) Whom he, upon our low and suffering necks, For having found his favorite grown too great, And with his greatness strong; that all the soldiers Are, with their leaders, made at his devotion; And that himself hath lost much of his own, 1 His extremes. 2 Lewd people. 4 One kept for unnatural purposes. 3 In addition to. 5 The dirt. To dare an open contestation;— His subtilty hath chose this doubling line To hold him even in: not so to fear him As wholly put him out, and yet give check Scene II. An Apartment in Sejanus' House. Sej. Swell, swell, my joys, and faint not to declare Yourselves as ample as your causes are. I did not live till now; this my first hour; Would thou stood'st stiff, and many in our way! Our power shall want opposites; unless Enter Terentius, Satrius, and Natta. Ter. Safety to great Sejanus! Sej. Now, Terentius? Ter. Hears not my lord the wonder? Sej. Speak it, no. Ter. I meet it violent in the people's mouths, Who run in routs to Pompey's theatre To view your statue, which, they say, sends forth Why, then the falling of our bed, that brake This morning, burden'd with the populous weight Of our expecting clients, to salute us; Or running of the cat betwixt our legs, As we set forth unto the Capitol, Were prodigies. Ter. I think them ominous, And would they had not happened! as, to-day No prosperous bird appear'd; but croaking ravens 1 Rival and successor to Sejanus. 2 Turning from. Flagg'd up and down, and from the sacrifice Sej. What excellent fools Religion makes of men! Believes Terentius, Or blood, diffused about their altars: think Your scrupulous phant'sies, sins, I go offer. Bid If you will, Destinies, that, after all, I faint now ere I touch my period,3 Exeunt all but Sej. You are but cruel; and I already have done Things great enough. All Rome hath been my slave; And witness of my power; when I have blush'd The fathers have sate ready and prepared 1 Noisy. 2 Doomed to hold up the heavens. 3 Highest point. To give me empire, temples, or their throats "Tis then your malice, Fates, who, but your own, HIS MASQUES.—“ Rugged as Jonson was, he could turn to light and graceful work, and it is with his name that we connect the Masques. Masques were dramatic representations made for a festive occasion, with a reference to the persons present and the occasion. Their personages were allegorical. They admitted of dialogue, music, singing, and dancing, combined by the use of some ingenious fable into a whole. They were made and performed for the court and the houses of the nobles, and the scenery was as gorgeous and varied as the scenery of the playhouse proper was poor and unchanging. Arriving for the first time at any repute in Henry VIII.'s time, they reached splendor under James and Charles I. Great men took part in them. When Ben Jonson wrote them, Inigo Jones made the scenery, and Lawes the music, and Lord Bacon, Whitelock, and Selden sat in committee for the last great masque presented to Charles. Milton himself made them worthier by writing Comus, and their scenic decoration was soon introduced into the regular theatres. Beaumont and Fletcher worked together, but out of more than fifty plays, all written in James I.'s reign, not more than fourteen were shared in by Beaumont, who died at the age of thirty in 1616. Fletcher survived him, and died in 1625. Both were of gentle birth. Beaumont, where we can trace his work, is weightier and more dignified than his comrade, but Fletcher was the better poet. Fletcher wrote rapidly, but his imagination worked slowly. Their Philaster and Thierry and Theodoret are fine examples of their tragic power. Fletcher's Faithful Shepherdess is full of lovely poetry, and both are masters of grace and pathos and style. They enfeebled the |