Ben Jonson - Sejanus His Fall Act 3. Scene 3 lyrics

Another Room in the same. Enter TIBEBIUS. Tib. To marry Livia! will no less, Sejan*s, Content thy aim? no lower object? well! Thou know'st how thou art wrought into our trust; Woven in our design; and think'st we must Now use thee, whatsoe'er thy projects are: 'Tis true. But yet with caution and fit care. And, now we better think——who's there within? Enter an Officer. Off. Caesar! Tib. To leave our journey off, were sin 'Gainst our decreed delights; and would appear Doubt; or, what less becomes a prince, low fear. Yet doubt hath law, and fears have their excuse. Where princes' states plead necessary use; As ours doth now: more in Sejan*s' pride, Than all fell Agrippina's hates beside. Those are the dreadful enemies we raise With favours, and make dangerous with praise; The injured by us may have will alike, But 'tis the favourite hath the power to strike; And fury ever boils more high and strong, Heat with ambition, than revenge of wrong. 'Tis then a part of supreme sk**, to grace No man too much; but hold a certain space Between the ascender's rise, and thine own flat, Lest, when all rounds be reach'd, his aim be that. 'Tis thought. [Aside.] Is Macro in the palace? see: If not, go seek him, to come to us.—— [Exit Offi.] He must be the organ we must work by now; Though none less apt for trust: need doth allow What choice would not. I have heard that aconite, Being timely taken, hath a healing might Against the scorpion's stroke: the proof we'll give: That, while two poisons wrestle, we may live. He hath a spirit too working to be used But to the encounter of his like; excused Are wiser sov'reigns then, that raise one ill Against another, and both safely k**: The prince that feeds great natures, they will slay him; Who nourisheth a lion must obey him.—— Be-enter Officer, with MACRO. Macro, we sent for you. Mac. I heard so, Caesar. Tib. Leave us awhile.—— [Exit Officer.] When you shall know. good Macro, The causes of our sending, and the ends, You will then hearken nearer; and be pleas'd You stand so high both in our choice and trust. Mac. The humblest place in Caesar's choice or trust, May make glad Macro proud; without ambition. Save to do Caesar service. Tib. Leave your courtings. We are in purpose, Macro, to depart The city for a time, and see Campania; Not for our pleasures, but to dedicate A pair of temples, one to Jupiter At Capua; th' other at Nola, to Augustus: In which great work, perhaps our stay will be Beyond our will produced...Now since we are Not ignorant what danger may be born Out of our shortest absence in a state So subject unto envy, and embroil'd With hate and faction; we have thought on thee, Amongst a field of Romans, worthiest Macro, To be our eye and ear: to keep strict watch On Agrippina, Nero, Drusus; ay, And on Sejan*s: not that we distrust His loyalty, or do repent one grace Of all that heap we have conferred on him; For that were to disparage our election, And call that judgment now in doubt, which then Seem'd as unquestion'd as an oracle- But, greatness hath his cankers. Worms and moths Breed out of too much humour, in the things Which after they consume, transferring quite The substance of their makers into themselves. Macro is sharp, and apprehends: besides, I know him subtle, close, wise, and well-read In man, and his large nature; he hath studied Affections, pa**ions, knows their springs, their ends, Which way, and whether they will work: 'tis proof Enough of his great merit, that we trust him. Then to a point, because our conference Cannot be long without suspicion—— Here, Macro, we a**ign thee, both to spy, Inform, and chastise; think, and use thy means, Thy ministers, what, where, on whom thou wilt; Explore, plot, practise: all thou dost in this Shall be, as if the Senate, or the laws Had given it privilege, and thou thence styled The saviour both of Caesar and of Rome. We will not take thy answer but in act: Whereto, as thou proceed'st, we hope to hear By trusted messengers. If't be inquired, Wherefore we call'd you, say you have in charge To see our chariots ready, and our horse.—— Be still our loved and, shortly, honour'd Macro. Mac. I will not ask, why Caesar bids do this; But joy that he bids me. It is the bliss Of courts to be employ'd, no matter how; A prince's power makes all his actions virtue. We, whom he works by, are dumb instruments, To do, but not inquire: his great intents Are to be served, not search'd. Yet, as that bow Is most in hand, whose owner best doth know To affect his aims; so let that statesman hope Most use, most price, can hit his prince's scope. Nor must he look at what, or whom to strike, But loose at all; each mark must be alike. Were it to plot against the fame, the life Of one, with whom I twinn'd; remove a wife From my warm side, as loved as is the air; Practise sway each parent; draw mine heir In compa**, though but one; work all my kin To swift perdition; leave no untrain'd engine, For friendship, or for innocence; nay, make The gods all guilty; I would undertake This, being imposed me, both with gain and ease: The way to rise is to obey and please. He that will thrive in state, he must neglect The trodden paths that truth and right respect; And prove new, wilder ways: for virtue there Is not that narrow thing, she is elsewhere; Men's fortune there is virtue; reason their will; Their license, law; and their observance, sk**. Occasion is their foil; conscience, their stain; Profit their lustre; and what else is, vain. If then it be the lust of Caesar's power, To have raised Sejan*s up, and in an hour O'erturn him, tumbling down, from height of all; We are his ready engine: and his fall May be our rise. It is no uncouth thing To see fresh buildings from old ruins spring. [Exit.