Act 3 — [Scene III.][1487]

Tib. To marry Livia! will no less, Sejanus, Content thy aims? 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, whatso’er thy projects are:5 ’Tis true. But yet with caution and fit care; And, now we better think—Who’s there within?

Off. Caesar! Tib. [Aside.] To leave our journey off, were sin ’Gainst our decreed delights; and would appear Doubt; or, what less becomes a prince, low fear.10 Yet doubt hath law, and fears have their excuse, Where princes’ states plead necessary use; As ours doth now: more in Sejanus’ pride, Than all fell Agrippina’s hates beside. Those are the dreadful enemies, we raise15 With favours, and make dangerous with praise; The injur’d by us may have will alike, But ’t is the favourite hath the power to strike; And fury ever boils more high and strong, Heat[1488] with ambition, than revenge of wrong.20 ’T is then a part of supreme skill, to grace No man too much; but hold a certain space Between th’ ascender’s rise and thine own flat,[1489] Lest, when all rounds be reach’d, his aim be that. ’T is thought.—Is Macro in the palace? see:25 If not, go seek him, to come to us. [Exit Officer.] 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 might30 Against the scorpion’s stroke; the proof we’ll give: That, while two poisons wrastle, we may live. He hath a spirit too working to be us’d But to th’ encounter of his like; excus’d Are wiser sov’reigns then, that raise one ill35 Against another, and both safely kill: The prince that feeds great natures, they will sway him; Who nourisheth a lion, must obey him.— [Re-enter Officer with] Macro. Macro, we sent for you. Mac. I heard so, Caesar. Tib. Leave us a while. [Exit Officer.] When you shall know, good Macro, The causes of our sending, and the ends, 41 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, 45 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 Jupiter50 At Capua; th’ other at Nola, to Augustus: In which great work, perhaps our stay will be Beyond our will produc’d. Now, since we are Not ignorant what danger may be born Out of our shortest absence, in a state55 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,60 And on Sejanus: not that we distrust His loyalty, or do repent one grace, Of all that heap we have conferr’d on him; For that were to disparage our election, And call that judgment now in doubt, which then65 Seem’d as unquestion’d as an oracle— But greatness hath his cankers. Worms and moths Breed out of too fit matter, in the things Which after they consume, transferring quite The substance of their makers int’ themselves. Macro is sharp, and apprehends: besides.71 I know him subtile, close, wise, and well read In man, and his large nature; he hath studied Affections, passions, knows their springs, their ends, Which way, and whether they will work: ’t is proof75 Enough of his great merit that we trust him. Then to a point (because our conference Cannot be long without suspicion): Here, Macro, we assign thee both to spy, Inform, and chastise; think, and use thy means, Thy ministers, what, where, on whom thou wilt;81 Explore, plot, practise: all thou dost in this Shall be, as if the senate or the laws Had giv’n it privilege, and thou thence styl’d The saviour both of Caesar and of Rome.85 We will not take thy answer but in act: Whereto, as thou proceed’st, we hope to hear By trusted messengers. If ’t be inquir’d Wherefore we call’d you, say you have in charge To see our chariots ready, and our horse.90 Be still our lov’d and, shortly, honour’d Macro. [Exit.] 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.95 We, whom he works by, are dumb instruments, To do, but not inquire: his great intents Are to be serv’d, not search’d. Yet, as that bow Is most in hand whose owner best doth know99 T’ affect[1490] his aims; so let that statesman hope Most use, most price, can hit his prince’s scope.[1491] Nor must he look at what or whom to strike, But loose[1492] 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 wife105 From my warm side, as lov’d as is the air; Practise away each parent; draw mine heir In compass,[1493] though but one; work all my kin To swift perdition; leave no untrain’d engine For friendship, or for innocence; nay, make110 The gods all guilty; I would undertake This, being impos’d me, both with gain and ease: The way to rise is to obey and please. He that will thrive in state, he must neglect114 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 licence, law; and their observance, skill. Occasion is their foil; conscience, their stain;120 Profit their lustre; and what else is, vain. If then it be the lust of Caesar’s power T’ have rais’d Sejanus up, and in an hour O’erturn him, tumbling, down from height of all; We are his ready engine: and his fall125 May be our rise. It is no uncouth[1494] thing To see fresh buildings from old ruins spring. [Exit.]