A Room in REGULUS'S House.
Enter MACRO, REGULUS, and Attendant.
Mac.
Tis Caesar's will to have a frequent senate;
And therefore must your edict lay deep mulct
On such as shall be absent.
Reg.
So it doth.
Bear it my fellow consul to adscribe.
Mac.
And tell him it must early be proclaim'd:
The place Apollo's temple.
[Exit Attendant
Reg.
That's remember'd.
Mac.
And at what hour!
Reg.
Yes.
Mac.
You do forget
To send one for the provost of the watch.
Reg.
I have not: here he comes.
Enter LACO.
Mac.
Gracinus Laco,
You are a friend most welcome: by and by,
I'll speak with you.——You must procure this list
Of the praetorian cohorts, with the names
Of the centurions, and their tribunes.
Reg.
Ay.
Mac.
I bring you letters, and a health from Caesar——
Lac.
Sir, both come well.
Mac.
And hear you? with your note,
Which are the eminent men, and most of action.
Reg.
That shall be done you too.
Mac.
Most worthy Laco,
Caesar salutes you.——
[Exit Regulus.]
Consul! death and furies!
Gone now!——The argument will please you, sir.
Ho! Regulus! The anger of the gods
Follow your diligent legs, and overtake 'em,
In likeness of the gout!——
[Re-enter REGULUS.
O, my good lord,
We lack'd you present; I would pray you send
Another to Fulcinius Trio, straight,
To tell him you will come, and speak with him:
The matter we'll devise, to stay him there,
While I with Laco do survey the watch.
[Exit Regulus.
What are your strengths, Gracinus?
Lac.
Seven cohorts.
Mac.
You see what Caesar writes; and——Gone again!
H' has sure a vein of mercury in his feet.——
Know you what store of the praetorian soldiers
Sejanus holds about him, for his guard?
Lac.
I cannot the just number; but, I think,
Three centuries.
Mac.
Three! good.
Lac.
At most not four.
Mac.
And who be those centurions?
Lac.
That the consul
Can best deliver you.
Mac.
When he's away!
Spite on his nimble industry——Gracinus,
You find what place you hold. there, in the trust
Of royal Caesar?
Lac.
Ay, and I am——
Mac.
Sir,
The honours there proposed are but beginnings
Of his great favours.
Lac.
They are more——
Mac.
I heard him
When he did study what to add.
Lac.
My life,
And all I hold——
Mac.
You were his own first choice:
Which doth confirm as much as you can speak;
And will, if we succeed, make more——Your guards
Are seven cohorts, you say?
Lac.
Yes.
Mac.
Those we must
Hold still in readiness and undischarged.
Lac.
I understand so much. But how it can——
Mac.
Be done without suspicion, you'll object?
Re-enter REGULUS.
Reg.
What's that?
Lac.
The keeping of the watch in arms,
When morning comes.
Mac.
The senate shall be met, and set
So early in the temple, as all mark
Of that shall be avoided.
Reg.
If we need,
We have commission to possess the palace,
Enlarge prince Drusus, and make him our chief.
Mac.
That secret would have burnt his reverend mouth,
Had he not spit it out now: by the gods,
You carry things too——Let me borrow a man
Or two, to bear these——That of freeing Drusus,
Caesar projected as the last and utmost;
Not else to be remember'd.
Enter Servants.
Reg.
Here are servants.
Mac.
These to Arruntius, these to Lepidus;
This bear to Cotta, this to Latiaris.
If they demand you of me, say I have ta'en
Fresh horse, and am departed.
[Exeunt Servants.
You, my lord,
To your colleague, and be you sure to hold him
With long narration of the new fresh favours,
Meant to Sejanus, his great patron; I,
With trusted Laco, here, are for the guards:
Then to divide. For, night hath many eyes,
Whereof, though most do sleep, yet some are spies.
[Exeunt