Monologue

Sejanus Monologue from Sejanus His Fall

From Sejanus His Fall by Ben Jonson

male · defiant · 1:38 min

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If this be not revenge, when I have done And made it perfect, let Egyptian slaves, Parthians, and bare-foot Hebrews brand my face, And print my body full of injuries. Thou lost thyself, child Drusus, when thou thoughtst 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 the flame of my incensed 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 mark, 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 heaven 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!

About this piece

Sejanus expresses his intense desire for revenge against Drusus, revealing his willingness to commit heinous acts to assert his power and dominance.

30s · anger · revenge · power · betrayal · ambition

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