Monologue

Nuntius Monologue from Sejanus His Fall

From Sejanus His Fall by Ben Jonson

any · dark · 1:20 min

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Then there begin your pity. There is enough behind to melt ev’n Rome, And Cæsar into tears; since never slave Could yet so highly offend, but tyranny, In torturing him, would make him worth lamenting.— A son and daughter to the dead Sejanus, (Of whom there is not now so much remaining As would give fast’ning to the hangman’s hook,) Have they drawn forth for farther sacrifice; Whose tenderness of knowledge, unripe years, And childish silly innocence was such, As scarce would lend them feeling of their danger: The girl so simple, as she often ask’d “Where they would lead her? for what cause they dragg’d her?” Cried, “She would do no more:” that she could take “Warning with beating.” And because our laws Admit no virgin immature to die, The wittily and strangely cruel Macro Deliver’d her to be deflower’d and spoil’d, By the rude lust of the licentious hangman, Then to be strangled with her harmless brother.

About this piece

The character Nuntius reflects on the tragic fate of Sejanus's children, highlighting the cruelty of their impending sacrifice and the innocence of their youth amidst political tyranny.

20s · sadness · death · family · betrayal · power

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