SEJANUS, HIS FALL
A monologue from the
play by Ben
Jonson
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NOTE: This monologue is reprinted
from Sejanus, His Fall (1603). |
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- SEJANUS: If this be not revenge, when I have done
- And made it perfect, let Egyptian slaves,
- Parthians, and barefoot Hebrews brand my face,
- And print my body full of injuries.
- Thou lost thyself, child Drusus, when thou thought'st
- Thou couldst outskip my vengeance, or outstand
- The power I had to crush thee into air.
- Thy follies now shall taste what kind of man
- They have provoked, and this thy father's house
- Crack in flame of my incensèd rage,
- Whose fury shall admit no shame or mean.
- Adultery? It is the lightest ill
- I will commit. A race of wicked acts
- Shall flow out of my anger, and o'erspread
- The world's wide face, which no posterity
- Shall e'er approve, nor yet keep silent; things
- That for their cunning, close, and cruel marks,
- Thy father would wish his, and shall, perhaps,
- Carry the empty name, but we the prize.
- On, then, my soul, and start not in thy course;
- Though heav'n drop sulphur, and hell belch out fire,
- Laugh at the idle terrors. Tell proud Jove,
- Between his power and thine there is no odds.
- 'Twas only fear first in the world made gods.
MORE
MONOLOGUES BY BEN JONSON |
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