Tiberius

     We cannot but commend thy piety,      Most loved Sejanus, in acknowledging      Those bounties; which we, faintly, such remember——      But to thy suit. The rest of mortal men,      In all their drifts and counsels, pursue profit;      Princes alone are of a different sort,      Directing their main actions still to fame:      We therefore will take time to think and answer.      For Livia she can best, herself, resolve      If she will marry, after Drusus, or      Continue in the family; besides,      She hath a mother, and a grandam yet,      Whose nearer counsels she may guide her by:      But I will simply deal. That enmity      Thou fear'st in Agrippina, would burn more,      If Livia's marriage should, as 'twere in parts,      Divide the imperial house; an emulation      Between the women might break forth; and discord      Ruin the sons and nephews on both hands.      What if it cause some present difference?      Thou art not safe, Sejanus, if thou prove it.      Canst thou believe, that Livia, first the wife      To Caius Caesar, then my Drusus, now      Will be contented to grow old with thee,      Born but a private gentleman of Rome,      And raise thee with her loss, if not her shame?      Or say that I should wish it, canst thou think      The senate, or the people (who have seen      Her brother, father, and our ancestors,      In highest place of empire) will endure it!      The state thou hold'st already, is in talk;      Men murmur at thy greatness; and the noble!      Stick not, in public, to upbraid thy climbing      Above our father's favours, or thy scale:      And dare accuse me, from their hate to thee.      Be wise, dear friend. We would not hide these things,      For friendship's dear respect: Nor will we stand      Adverse to thine, or Livia's designments.      What we have purposed to thee, in our thought,      And with what near degrees of love to bind thee,      And make thee equal to us; for the present,      We will forbear to speak. Only thus much      Believe, our loved Sejanus, we not know      That height in blood or honour, which thy virtue      And mind to us, may not aspire with merit.      And this we'll publish on all watch'd occasion      The senate or the people shall present.