their strength, when they do empty fly,
Unmet of woods or buildings; great fires die,
That want their matter to withstand them: so,
It is our grief, and will be our loss, to know
Our power shall want opposites; unless
The gods, by mixing in the cause, would bless
Our fortune with their conquest. That were worth
Sejanus' strife; durst fates but bring it forth.
Enter TERENTIUS.

Ter. Safety to great Sejanus!

Sej. Now, Terentius?

Ter. Hears not my lord the wonder?

Sej. Speak it, no.

Ter.
I meet it violent in the people's mouths,
Who run in routs to Pompey's theatre,
To view your statue, which, they say, sends forth
A smoke, as from a furnace, black and dreadful.

Sej.
Some traitor hath put fire in: you, go see,
And let the head be taken oft', to look
What 'tis. [Exit Terentius.]----
Some slave hath practised an imposture,
To stir the people.-How now! why return you?

Reenter TERENTIUS, with SATRIUS and NATTA.
Sat.
The head, my lord, already is ta'en off,
I saw it; and, at opening, there leapt out
A great and monstrous serpent.

Sej.
Monstrous! why?
Had it a beard, and horns? no heart? a tongue
Forked as flattery? look'd it of the hue,
To such as live in great men's bosoms? was
The spirit of it Macro's?

Nat.
May it please
The most divine Sejanus, in my days,
(And by his sacred fortune, I affirm it,)
I have not seen a more extended, grown,
Foul, spotted, venomous, ugly----

Sej.
O, the fates!
What a wild muster's here of attributes,
T' express a worm, a snake!

Ter.
But how that should
Come there, my lord!

Sej.
What, and you too, Terentius!
I think you mean to make 't a prodigy
In your reporting.

Ter. Can the wise Sejanus
Think heaven hath meant it less!

Sej.
O, superstition!
Why, then the falling of our bed, that brake
This morning, burden'd with the populous weight,
Of our expecting clients, to salute us;
Or running of the cat betwixt our legs,
As we set forth unto the Capitol, Were prodigies.

Ter.
I think them ominous;
And would they had not happened! As, to-day,
The fate of some your servants: who, declining
Their way, not able, for