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:  ’tis proof
   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;
   Explore, plot, practise:  all thou dost in this
   Shall be, as if the Senate, or the laws
   Had given it privilege, and thou thence styled
   The saviour both of Caesar and of Rome. 
   We will not take thy answer but in act: 
   Whereto, as thou proceed’st, we hope to hear
   By trusted messengers.  If’t be inquired,
   Wherefore we call’d you, say you have in charge
   To see our chariots ready, and our horse.—–­
   Be still our loved and, shortly, honour’d Macro.

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. 
   We, whom he works by, are dumb instruments,
   To do, but not inquire:  his great intents
   Are to be served, not search’d.  Yet, as that bow
   Is most in hand, whose owner best doth know
   To affect his aims; so let that statesman hope
   Most use, most price, can hit his prince’s scope. 
   Nor must he look at what, or whom to strike,
   But loose 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 wife
   From my warm side, as loved as is the air;
   Practise sway each parent; draw mine heir
   In compass, though but one; work all my kin
   To swift perdition; leave no untrain’d engine,
   For friendship, or for innocence; nay, make
   The gods all guilty; I would undertake
   This, being imposed me, both with gain and ease: 
   The way to rise is to obey and please. 
   He that will thrive in state, he must neglect
   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 license, law; and their observance, skill. 
   Occasion is their foil; conscience, their stain;
   Profit their lustre; and what else is, vain. 
   If then it be the lust of Caesar’s power,
   To have raised Sejanus up, and in an hour
   O’erturn him, tumbling down, from height of all;
   We are his ready engine:  and his fall
   May be our rise.  It is no uncouth thing
   To see fresh buildings from old ruins spring. [Exit.

Activ

Scene I.-An Apartment in Agrippina’s House. 
Enter Gallus and agrippina.