Catiline His Conspiracy Act 1. Scene 1

Sylla's Ghost.

Dost thou not feel me, Rome? not yet? Is
Night
So heavy on thee, and my weight so light?
Can Sylla's Ghost arise within thy Walls
Less threatning than an Earthquake, the quick falls
Of thee and thine? Shake not the frighted heads
Of thy steep Towers? or shrink to their first Beds?
Or, as their Ruine the large Tyber fills,
Make that swell up, and drown thy seven proud Hills?
What sleep is this doth seize thee so like Death,
And is not it? VVake, feel her my in breath:
Behold I come, sent from the Stygian Sound,
As a dire Vapor that had cleft the ground,
T' ingender with the Night, and blast the Day;
Or like a Pestilence that should display
Infection through the world: which thus I do.

[Discovers Catiline in his Study.

Pluto be at thy Councels, and into
Thy darker bosome enter Sylla's Spirit:
All that was mine, and bad, thy breast inherit.
Alas how weak is that for Catiline!
Did I but say (vain voice!) all that was mine?
All that the Gracchi, Cinna, Marius would:
VVhat now, had I a Body again, I could,
Coming from Hell; what Fiends would wish should be;
And Hannibal could not have wish'd to see:
Think thou, and practice. Let the long hid Seeds
Of Treason in thee, now shoot fortb in Deeds
Ranker than Horror; and thy former Facts
Not fall in mention, but to urge new Acts:
Conscience of them provoke thee on to more.
Be still thy Incests, Murders, Rapes before
Thy Sense; thy forcing first a Vestal Nun;
Thy Parricide, late, on thy own only Son,
After his Mother; to make empty way
For thy last wicked Nuptials; worse than they
That blaze that act of thy incestuous Life,
VVhich got thee at once a daughter and a wife.
I leave the slaughters that thou didst for me
Of Senators; for which, I hid for thee
Thy Murder of thy Brother, (being so brib'd)
And writ him in the List of my proscrib'd

After thy Fact, to save thy little shame:
Thy Incest with thy Sister, I not name.
These are too light. Fate will have thee pursue
Deeds, after which no mischief can be new;
The Ruin of thy Countrey: thou wert built
For such a work, and born for no less guilt.
What though defeated once th' hast been, and known,
Tempt it again: That is thy act, or none.
What all the several Ills that visit Earth,
(Brought forth by Night, with a sinister birth)
Plagues, Famine, Fire, could not reach unto,
The Sword, nor Surfeits; let thy Fury do:
Make all past, present, future Ill thine own;
And conquer all Example in thy one.
Nor let thy thought find any vacant time
To hate an old, but still a fresher Crime

Drown the remembrance: let not mischief cease,
But while it is in punishing, increase.
Conscience and Care die in thee; and be free
Not Heav'n it self, from thy Impiety:
Let Night grow blacker with thy Plots, and Day,
At shewing but thy Head forth, start away
From this half-sphear: and leave Rome's blinded Walls
T' embrace Lusts, Hatreds, Slaughters, Funerals,
And not recover sight till their own flames
Do light them to their Ruines. All the Names
Of thy Confederates too, be no less great
In Hell than here: that when we would repeat
Our strengths in muster, we may name you all,
And Furies upon you for Furies call.
Whilst what you do may strike them into fears,
Or make them grieve, and wish your mischief theirs.

Catiline.

IT is decree'd. Nor shall thy Fate, O Rome,
Resist my vow. Tho Hills were set on Hills,
And Seas met Seas to guard thee, I would through:
I plough up Rocks, steep as the Alpes, in dust;
And lave the Tyrrhene Waters into Clouds;
But I would reach thy Head, thy Head, proud City.
The Ills that I have done cannot be safe
But by attempting greater; and I feel
A Spirit within me chides my sluggish hands,
And says, they have been innocent too long.
Was I a man bred great as Rome her self?
One form'd for all her Honours, all her Glories?
Equal to all her Titles? that could stand
Close up with Atlas, and sustain her Name
As strong as he doth Heaven? And was I,
Of all her Brood, mark'd out for the repulse
By her no voice, when I stood Candidate,
To be Commander in the Pontick War?
I will hereafter call her Step-dame ever!
If she can lose her Nature, I can lose
My Piety; and in her stony Entrails
Dig me a Seat: where I will live again,
The labour of her Womb, and be a burden
Weightier than all the Prodigies and Monsters
That she hath teem'd with, since she first knew Mars.

Catiline, Aurelia

Who's there?

Aur.
'Tis I.

Cat.
Aurelia?

Aur. Yes.

Cat.
Appear,
And break like day, my Beauty, to this Circle:
Upbraid thy Phœbus, that he is so long
In mounting to that point, which should give thee
Thy proper splendor. Wherefore frowns my Sweet?
Have I too long been absent from these Lips,

[He kisseth them.
This Cheek, these Eyes? What is my trespass? speak.

Aur.
It seems you know, that can accuse your self.

Cat.
I will redeem it.

Aur.
Still you say so. When?

Cat.
When Orestilla, by her bearing well
These my Retirements, and stoln times for thought,
Shall give their Effects leave to call her Queen
Of all the world, in place of humbled Rome.

Aur.

Aur.
You court me now.

Cat.
As I would always, Love,

By this Ambrosiack Kiss, and this of Nectar,
Wouldst thou but hear as gladly as I speak.
Could my Aurelia think I meant her less;
When wooing her, I first remov'd a Wife,
And then a Son, to make my Bed and House
Spatious, and fit t' embrace her? These were Deeds
Not t' have begun with, but to end with more
And greater: "He that, building, stays at one
"Floor, or the second, hath erected none.
'Twas how to raise thee I was meditating;
To make some act of mine answer thy Love:
That Love, that when my State was now quite sunk,
Came with thy wealth, and weigh'd it up again,
And made my 'emergent Fortune once more look
Above the Main; which now shall hit the Stars,
And stick my Orestilla there amongst 'em,
If any Tempest can but make the Billow,
And any Billow can but lift her Greatness.
But I must pray my Love, she will put on
Like Habits with my self. I have to do
With many Men and many Natures. Some
That must be blown and sooth'd; as Lentulus,
Whom I have heav'd with magnifying his Blood,
And a vain Dream out of the Sybill's Books,
That a third man of that great Family
Whereof he is descended, the Cornelii,
Should be a King in Rome: which I have hir'd
The flattering Augures to interpret him,
Cinna and Sylla dead. Then bold Cethegus,
Whose Valour I have turn'd into his Poyson,
And prais'd so into daring, as he would
Go on upon the Gods, kiss Lightning, wrest
The Engine from the Cyclops, and give fire
At face of a full Cloud, and stand his Ire,
When I would bid him move. Others there are,
Whom Envy to the State draws, and puts on
For Contumelies receiv'd, (and such are sure ones)
As Curius, and the fore-nam'd Lentulus,
Both which have been degraded in the Senate,
And must have their Disgraces still new rubb'd,
To make 'em smart, and labour of Revenge.
Others whom meer Ambition fires, and dole
Of Provinces abroad, which they have feign'd
To their crude hopes, and I as amply promis'd:
These, Lecca, Vargunteius, Bestia, Autronius.
Some whom their Wants oppress, as th' idle Captains
Of Sylla's Troops: and divers Roman Knights
(The profuse wasters of their Patrimonies)
So threatned with their Debts, as they will now
Run any desperate Fortune for a Change.
These for a time we must relieve, Aurelia,
And make our House the Safe-guard: like for those
That fear the Law, or stand within her gripe,
For any act past, or to come. Such will
From their own Crimes be factious, as from ours.
Some more there be, slight Airlings, will be won
With Dogs and Horses, or perhaps a Whore;
Which must be had: and if they venture Lives
For us, Aurelia, we must hazard Honours
A little. Get thee store and change of women,
As I have boys; and give 'em time and place,
And all connivence: be thy self, too, courtly;
And entertain, and feast, sit up, and revel;
Call all the great, the fair, and spirited Dames
Of Rome about thee: and begin a fashion
Of Freedom and Community. Some will thank thee,
Tho the sowr Senate frown, whose heads must ake
In fear and feeling too. We must not spare
Or cost or modesty. It can but shew
Like one of Juno's or of Jove's disguises,
In either thee or me: and will as soon,
When things succeed, be thrown by, or let fall,

As is a Vail put off, a Visor chang'd,

Or the Scene shifted, in our Theaters —

[A noise without.
Who's that? It is the voice of Lentulus.

Aur.
Or of Cethegus.

Cat.
In, my fair Aurelia,
And think upon these Arts. They must not see
How far you are trusted with these Privacies;
Tho on their shoulders, necks, and heads you rise.

Lentulus, Cethegus, Catiline.

It is, methinks, a morning full of fate!
It riseth slowly, as her sullen care
Had all the weights of sleep and death hung at it!
She is not Rosie-finger'd, but swoln black!
Her Face is like a water turn'd to blood,
And her sick Head is bound about with Clouds,
As if she threatned Night e're Noon of Day!
It does not look as it would have a Hail
Or Health wish'd in it, as on other Morns.

Cet.
Why, all the fitter, Lentulus: Our coming
Is not for Salutation, we have Business.

Cat.
Said nobly, brave Cethegus. Where's Autronius?

Cet.
Is he not come?

Cat.
Not here.

Cet.
Not Vargunteius?

Cat.
Neither.

Cet.
A fire in their Beds and Bosoms,
That so will serve their Sloth rather than Vertue.
They are no Romans, and at such high need
As now.

Len.
Both they, Longinus, Lecca, Curius,
Fulvius, Gabinius, gave me word last night,
By Lucius Bestia, they would all be here,
And early.

Cet.
Yes? As you, had I not call'd you.
Come, we all sleep, and are meer Dormice; Flies
A little less than dead: more dulness hangs
On us than on the morn. W' are spirit bound,
In Ribs of Ice; our whole Bloods are one Stone;
And Honour cannot thaw us, nor our Wants,
Tho they burn hot as Fevers to our States.

Cat.
I muse they would be tardy at an hour
Of so great purpose.

Cet.
If the Gods had call'd
Them to a purpose, they would just have come
With the same Tortoyse speed! that are thus slow
To such an Action, which the Gods will envy,
As asking no less means than all their Powers
Conjoyn'd, t' effect. I would have seen Rome burnt
By this time, and her Ashes in an Urn:
The Kingdom of the Senate rent asunder;
And the degenerate talking Gown run frighted
Out of the Air of Italy.

Cat.
Spirit of Men!
Thou Heart of our great Enterprise! how much
I love these Voices in thee!

Cet.
O, the days
Of Sylla's Sway, when the free Sword took leave
To act all that it would!

Cat.
And was familiar
With Entrails, as our Augures.

Cet.
Sons kill'd Fathers,
Brothers their Brothers.

Cat.
And had Price and Praise.
All Hate had Licence given it; all Rage reigns.

Cet.
Slaughter bestrid the Streets, and stretch'd himself
To seem more huge; whilst to his stained thighs
The Gore he drew flow'd up, and carried down
Whole heaps of Limbs and Bodies through his Arch.
No Age was spar'd, no Sex.

Cat.
Nay, no Degree.

Cet.
Not Infants in the Porch of Life were free.
The Sick, the Old, that could but hope a Day
Longer by Natures Bounty, not let stay.
Virgins, and Widows, Matrons, pregnant Wives,

All

All died.   Cat.
'Twas Crime enough, that they had Lives.
To strike but only those that could do hurt,
VVas dull and poor. Some fell to make the Number,
As some the Prey.

Cet.
The rugged Charon fainted,
And ask'd a Navy, rather than a Boat,
To ferry over the sad VVorld that came:
The Maws and Dens of Beasts could not receive
The Bodies that those Souls were frighted from;
And ev'n the Graves were fill'd with Men, yet living,
VVhose Flight and Fear had mix'd them with the Dead.

Cat.
And this shall be again, and more, and more,
Now Lentulus, the third Cornelius,
Is to stand up in Rome.

Len.
Nay, urge not that
Is so uncertain.

Cat.
How!

Len.
I mean, not clear'd,
And therefore not to be reflected on.

Cat.
The Sybils Leaves uncertain! or the Comments
Of our grave, deep, divining Men, not clear!

Len.
All Prophecies, you know, suffer the torture.

Cat.
But this already hath confess'd, without;
And so been weigh'd, examin'd, and compar'd,
As 'twere malicious Ignorance in him
VVould faint in the Belief.

Len.
Do you believe it?

Cat.
Do I love Lentulus, or pray to see it?

Len.
The Augures all are constant, I am meant.

Cat.
They' had lost their Science else.

Len.
They count from Cinna.

Cat.
And Sylla next, and so make you the third;
All that can say the Sun is ris'n, must think it.

Len.
Men mark me more of late, as I come forth!

Cat.
VVhy, what can they do less? Cinna and Sylla
Are set, and gone; and we must turn our Eyes
On him that is, and shines. Noble Cethegus,
But view him with me, here! He looks already
As if he shook a Scepter ore the Senate,
And the aw'd Purple dropt their Rods and Axes!
The Statues melt again, and Houshold Gods
In Groans confess the Travels of the City:
The very VValls sweat Blood before the Change;
And Stones start out to Ruin, ere it comes.

Cet.
But he, and we, and all are idle still.

Len.
I am your Creature, Sergius; and what ere
The Great Cornelian Name shall win to be,
It is not Augury, nor the Sybils Books,
But Catiline, that makes it.

Cat.
I am Shadow
To honour'd Lentulus, and Cethegus here,
VVho are the Heirs of Mars.

Cet.
By Mars himself,
Catiline is more my Parent; for whose Vertue
Earth cannot make a Shadow great enough,
Though Envy should come too. O, there they are.
Now we shall talk more, though we yet do nothing.

To them.]

Autronius, Vargunteius, Longinus, Curius, Lecca,
Bestia, Fulvius, Gabinius, &c.

Hail, Lucius Catiline.

Var.
Hail, noble Sergius.

Lon.
Hail, Publius Lentulus.

Cur.
Hail, the third Cornelius.

Lec.
Caius Cethegus, hail.

Cet.
Hail, Sloth and Words,
In stead of Men and Spirits.

Cat.
Nay, dear Caius —

Cet.
Are your Eyes yet unseel'd? Dare they look Day
In the dull Face?

Cat.
He's zealous for th' Affair,
And blames your tardy coming Gentlemen.

Cet.
Unless we had sold our selves to Sleep and Ease,
And would be our Slaves Slaves —

Cat.
Pray you forbear.

Cet.
The North is not so stark and cold.

Cat.
Cethegus ——

Bes.
We shall redeem all, if your Fire will let us.

Cat.
You are too full of Lightning, noble Caius.
Boy, see all Doors be shut, that none approach us
On this part of the House. Go you, and bid
The Priest, he kill the Slave I mark'd last night,
And bring me of his Blood, when I shall call him:
Till then, wait all without.

Var.
How is't, Autronius?

Aut.
Longinus?   Lon. Curius?   Cur. Lecca?

Var.
Feel you nothing?

Lon.
A strange unwonted Horror doth invade me,
I know not what it is!

Lec.
The Day goes back,
Or else my Senses!

Cur.
As at Atreus Feast!

[A Darkness comes over the Place.

Ful.
Darkness grows more and more!

Len.
The Vestal Flame, I think, be out.

Gab.
What Groan was that?

[A Groan of many People
is heard under ground.

Cet.
Our Phant'sies.

Strike Fire out of our selves, and force a Day.

Aut.
Again it sounds!

[Another.

Bes.
As all the City gave it!

Cet.
We fear what our selves feign.

Var.
What Light is this?

[A fiery Light appears.

Cur.
Look forth.

Len.
It still grows greater!

Lec.
From whence comes it?

Lon.
A bloody Arm it is, that holds a Pine
Lighted, above the Capitol! and now
It waves unto us!

Cat.
Brave and ominous!
Our Enterprise is seal'd.

Cet.
In spite of Darkness,
That would discountenance it. Look no more;
We lose time, and our selves. To what we came for,
Speak Lucius, we attend you.

Cat.
Noblest Romans,
If you were less, or that your Faith and Vertue
Did not hold good that Title, with your Blood,
I should not now unprofitably spend
My self in Words, or catch at empty Hopes,
By airy ways, for solid Certainties.
But since in many, and the greatest Dangers
I still have known you no less true than valiant,
And that I taste in you the same Affections,
To will or nill, to think things good or bad,
Alike with me, (which argues your firm Friendship)
I dare the boldlier, with you, set on foot,
Or lead, unto this great and goodliest Action.
What I have thought of it afore, you all
Have heard a part. I then express'd my Zeal
Unto the Glory; now, the Need enflames me.
When I forethink the hard Conditions
Our States must undergo, except in time
We do redeem our selves to Liberty,
And break the Iron Yoke forg'd for our Necks:
For what less can we call it? when we see
The Commonwealth engross'd so by a few,
The Giants of the State, that do by turns
Enjoy her, and defile her! All the Earth,
Her Kings and Tetrarchs, are their Tributaries;
People and Nations pay them hourly Stipends;
The Riches of the VVorld flows to their Coffers,
And not to Romes. VVhile (but those few) the rest,
However Great we are, Honest, and Valiant,
Are herded with the Vulgar, and so kept,
As we were only bred to consume Corn,
Or wear our VVooll; to drink the Cities VVater;
Ungrac'd, without Authority, or Mark;
Trembling beneath their Rods: to whom (if all
Were well in Rome) we should come forth bright Axes.
All Places, Honours, Offices are theirs,
Or where they will confer 'em! They leave us
The Dangers, the Repulses, Judgments, VVants;
VVhich how long will you bear, most valiant Spirits?
VVere we not better to fall once with Vertue,
Than draw a wretched and dishonour'd Breath,
To lose with Shame, when these Mens Pride will laugh?
I call the Faith of Gods and Men to question,
The Power is in our Hands, our Bodies able,
Our Minds as strong; o' th' contrary, in them
All things grown aged, with their VVealth and Years:
There wants but only to begin the Business,
The Issue is certain.

Cet.Lon.
On, let us go on.

Cur. Bes.
Go on, brave Sergius.

Cat.
It doth strike my Soul,

(And who can scape the stroke, that hath a Soul,

Or but the smallest Air of Man within him?)
To see them swell with Treasure, which they pour
Out i' their Riots, eating, drinking, building,
I, i' the Sea! plaining of Hills with Valleys,
And raising Valleys above Hills; Whilst we
Have not to give our Bodies Necessaries.
They ha' their change of Houses, Mannors, Lordships;
VVe scarce a Fire, or a poor Houshold Lar!
They buy rare Attick Statues, Tyrian Hangings,
Ephesian Pictures, and Corinthian Plate,
Attalick Garments, and now new-found Gems,
Since Pompey went for Asia, which they purchase
At price of Provinces! The River Phasis
Cannot afford 'em Fowl, nor Lucrine Lake
Oysters enow: Circes too is search'd,
To please the witty Gluttony of a Meal!
Their ancient Habitations they neglect,
And set up new; then, if the Echo like not
In such a Room, they pluck down those, build newer,
Alter them too; and, by all frantick ways,
Vex their wild VVealth, as they molest the People,
From whom they force it! Yet they cannot tame,
Or overcome their Riches! not by making
Baths, Orchards, Fish-pools, letting in of Seas,
Here, and then there forcing 'em out again,
VVith mountainous Heaps, for which the Earth hath lost
Most of her Ribs, as Entrails; being now
VVounded no less for Marble, than for Gold!
VVe, all this while, like calm, benumb'd Spectators,
Sit till our Seats do crack, and do not hear
The thundring Ruins; whilst at home our wants,
Abroad our Debts do urge us; our States daily
Bending to bad, our Hopes to worse; and what
Is left, but to be crush'd? VVake, wake, brave Friends,
And meet the Liberty you oft have wish'd for.
Behold, Renown, Riches, and Glory court you.
Fortune holds out these to you, as Rewards.
Me thinks (though I were dumb) th' Affair it self,
The Opportunity, your Needs, and Dangers,
VVith the brave Spoil the VVar brings, should invite you.
Use me your General, or Soldier; neither
My Mind nor Body shall be wanting to you:
And, being Consul, I not doubt t' effect
All that you wish, if trust not flatter me,
And you'd not rather still be Slaves, than Free.

Cet.
Free, free.

Lon.
'Tis Freedom.

Cur.
Fredom we all stand for.

Cat.
VVhy, these are noble Voices! Nothing wants then,
But that we take a solemn Sacrament,
To strengthen our Design.

Cet.
And so to act it.
Deferring hurts, where Powers are so prepar'd.

Aut.
Yet, e're we enter into open act,
(With favour) 'twere no loss, if't might be inquir'd,
What the Condition of these Arms would be.

Var.
I, and the Means to carry us through?

Cat.
How, Friends!
Think you that I would bid you grasp the Wind,
Or call you to th' embracing of a Cloud?
Put your known Valors on so dear a Business,
And have no other Second than the Danger,
Nor other Garland than the Loss? Become
Your own Assurances. And for the Means,
Consider, first, the stark Security
The Commonwealth is in now; the whole Senate
Sleepy, and dreaming no such violent Blow;
Their Forces all abroad; of which the greatest,
That might annoy us most, is farthest off,
In Asia, under Pompey; those near hand,
Commanded by our Friends; one Army' in Spain,
By Cneus Piso; th' other in Mauritania,
By Nucerinus; both which I have firm,
And fast unto our Plot. My self then standing
Now to be Consul, with my hop'd Colleague
Caius Antonius, one no less engag'd

By's wants, than we; and whom I've power to melt,
And cast in any Mould. Beside, some others,
That will not yet be nam'd, (both sure, and great ones)
Who, when the time comes, shall declare themselves
Strong for our Party; so that no Resistance
In Nature can be thought. For our Reward then,
First, all our Debts are paid; dangers of Law,
Actions, Decrees, Judgments against us, quitted;
The Rich men, as in Sylla's times, proscrib'd,
And Publication made of all their Goods:
That House is yours; that Land is his; those Waters,
Orchards, and Walks, a third's; he has that Honour,
And he that Office: Such a Province falls
To Vargunteius; this t' Autronius; that
To bold Cethegus; Rome to Lentulus.
You share the World, her Magistracies, Priesthoods,
Wealth, and Felicity, amongst you, Friends;
And Catiline your Servant. Would you, Curius,
Revenge the Contumely stuck upon you,
In being removed from the Senate? Now,
Now is your time. Would Publius Lentulus
Strike, for the like Disgrace? Now is his time.
Would stout Longinus walk the Streets of Rome,
Facing the Prætor? Now has he a time
To spurn and tread the Fasces into Dirt,
Made of the Usurers and the Lictors Brains.
Is there a Beauty, here in Rome, you love?
An Enemy you would kill? What Head's not yours?
Whose Wife, which Boy, whose Daughter, of what Race,
That th' Husband or glad Parents shall not bring you,
And boasting of the Office? Only spare
Your selves, and you have all the Earth beside,
A Field to exercise your Longings in.
I see you rais'd, and read your forward Minds
High, in your Faces. Bring the Wine and Blood
You have prepar'd there.

Lon.
How!

Cat.
I have kill'd a Slave,
And of his Blood caus'd to be mixt with Wine.
Fill every Man his Bowl. There cannot be
A fitter Drink to make this Sanction in.
Here, I begin the Sacrament to all.
O for a Clap of Thunder now, as loud
As to be heard throughout the Universe,
To tell the World the Fact, and to applaud it.
Be firm, my Hand; not shed a drop, but pour
Fierceness into me with it, and fell Thirst
Of more and more, till Rome be lest as Bloodless
As ever her Fears made her, or the Sword.
And when I leave to wish this to thee, Step-dame,
Or stop t' effect it, with my Powers fainting,
So may my Blood be drawn, and so drunk up,
As is this Slaves.

Lon.
And so be mine.

Len.
And mine.

Aut.
And mine.

Var.
And mine.

Cet.
Swell me my Bowl yet fuller.

[They drink.

Here, I do drink this, as I would do Cato's,
Or the new Fellow Cicero's, with that Vow
Which Catiline hath given.

Cur.
So do I.

Lec.
And I.

Bes.
And I.

Ful.
And I.

Gab.
And all of us.

Cat.
Why, now's the business safe, & each man strengthned. Sirrah, what ail you?
Sirrah, what ail you?

[He spies one of his Boys

not answer —

Pag.
Nothing.

Bes.
Somewhat modest.

Cat.
Slave, I will strike your Soul out with my Foot,
Let me but find you again with such a Face:
You Whelp —

Bes.
Nay, Lucius.

Cat.
Are you coying it,

When I command you to be free, and general
To all?

Bes.
You'll be observ'd.

Cat.
Arise, and shew
But any least aversion i' your Look
To him that boards you next, and your Throat opens.
Noble Confederates, thus far is perfect.
Only your Suffrages I will expect
At the Assembly for the chusing Consuls,
And all the Voices you can make by Friends
To my Election. Then let me work out
Your Fortunes, and mine own. Mean while, all rest

Seal'dSeal'd up, and silent, as when rigid Frosts
Have bound up Brooks and Rivers, forc'd wild Beasts
Unto their Caves, and Birds into the Woods,
Clowns to their Houses, and the Country sleeps;
That when the sudden Thaw comes, we may break
Upon 'em lik a Deluge, bearing down
Half Rome before us, and invade the rest
With Cries, and Noise, able to wake the Urns
Of those are dead, and make their Ashes fear.
The Horrors that do strike the World, should come
Loud, and unlook'd for; till they strike, be dumb.

Cet.
Oraculous Sergius!

Len.
God-like Catiline!

C H O R U S.

CAn nothing Great, and at the height,
Remain so long? but its own Weight
Will ruin it? or, is't blind Chance,
That still desires new States t' advance,
And quit the old? Else why must Rome
Be by it self now overcome?
Hath she not Foes enow of those
Whom she hath made such, and enclose
Her round about? Or, are they none,
Except she first become her own?
O wretchedness of greatest States,
To be obnoxious to these Fates!
That cannot keep what they do gain;
And what they raise, so ill sustain!Rome now is Mistris of the whole
World, Sea and Land, to either Pole;
And even that Fortune will destroy
The Power that made it: She doth joy
So much in Plenty, Wealth, and Ease,
As now th' Excess is her Disease.

She builds in Gold, and to the Stars,
As if she threatned Heav'n with Wars;
And seeks for Hell in Quarries deep,
Giving the Fiends, that there do keep,
A hope of Day. Her Women wear
The Spoils of Nations in an Ear,
Chang'd for the Treasure of a Shell;
And in their loose Attires do swell,
More light than Sails, when all Winds play:
Yet are the Men more loose than they!
More kemb'd, and bath'd, and rubb'd, and trimm'd,
More sleek, more soft, and slacker Limb'd;
As prostitute; so much, that Kind
May seek it self there, and not find.
They eat on Beds of Silk and Gold,
At Ivory Tables, or Wood sold
Dearer than it; and leaving Plate,
Do drink in Stone of higher Rate.
They hunt all Grounds, and draw all Seas,
Foul every Brook and Bush, to please
Their wanton Taste; and in request
Have new and rare things, not the best.

Hence comes that wild and vast Expence,
That hath enforc'd Romes Vertue thence,
Which simple Poverty first made:
And now Ambition doth invade
Her State, with eating Avarice,
Riot, and every other Vice.
Decrees are bought, and Laws are sold,
Honours, and Offices, for Gold;
The Peoples Voices, and the free
Tongues in the Senate, bribed be.
Such ruin of her Manners, Rome
Doth suffer now, as she's become
(Without the Gods it soon gainsay)
Both her own Spoiler, and own Prey.

So, Asia, art thou cru'lly even
With us, for all the Blows thee given;
When we, whose Vertue conquer'd thee,
Thus, by thy Vices, ruin'd be.