Sejanus: His Fall

Chapter 10: SEJANUS HIS FALL

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About This Book

A dense political tragedy set in the ancient imperial court that follows an influential minister's ascent and catastrophic fall as rivalries, conspiracies, and state machinations unravel. Scenes emphasize rhetorical debates, public accusations, secret plotting, and juridical spectacle, tracing how ambition, flattery, and suspicion corrode institutions and personal loyalties. The play interrogates the uses and abuses of power, the vulnerability of advisers and rulers to manipulation, and the moral and political cost of survival in a climate of fear, employing classical forms and sustained satirical and forensic argument.

SEJANUS HIS FALL

TO THE NO LESS NOBLE BY VIRTUE THAN BLOOD
ESME LORD AUBIGNY

MY LORD,—If ever any ruin were so great as to survive, I think this be one I send you, The Fall of Sejanus. It is a poem, that, if I well remember, in your lordship’s sight, suffered no less violence from our people here, than the subject of it did from the rage of the people of Rome; but with a different fate, as, I hope, merit: for this hath outlived their malice, and begot itself a greater favour than he lost, the love of good men. Amongst whom, if I make your lordship the first it thanks, it is not without a just, confession of the bond your benefits have, and ever shall hold upon me,

Your lordship’s most faithful honourer.
BEN JONSON.