Chapter 2
SCENE.--_The same, but signs of excessive luxury and profusion. Rich carpets, gilded pillars, etc. As the scene opens, strange oriental music is heard, with singing_. GIRLS _enter slowly and place wreaths round the various statues of_ NERO, _who is depicted now as Apollo singing, now as a charioteer_.
[ACTE _is reclining on a couch. The time is broad noon. A faint exotic odour pervades the palace._
1ST MAIDEN. O Lydia, I am drowsing, and my hands Can scarcely wreathe the Emperor as Apollo.
2ND MAIDEN. Ah, crown this carefully! To-day he sings In public; as Apollo will return So crowned, so garbed.
1ST MAIDEN. How is that wreath disposed?
2ND MAIDEN. Excellent!
3RD MAIDEN. O please tell me how to droop These scarlet flowers.
2ND MAIDEN. About the lyre then, thus.
4TH MAIDEN. This bust now of the Emperor as a boy?
1ST MAIDEN. O, covered with white flowers and birds of spring.
5TH MAIDEN. This charioteer: with green I have dressed that.
3RD MAIDEN. Yes, for the Emperor's colour is the green.
1ST MAIDEN. Now all the busts are wreathed.
2ND MAIDEN. What more to do?
1ST MAIDEN. All is arranged. How heavy are my eyes.
3RD MAIDEN. And this low music on my spirit hangs.
4TH MAIDEN. And the faint odour steals upon my hair.
1ST MAIDEN. [_Moving up and leaning out._ See, all the city is a solitude.
2ND MAIDEN. All Rome is gathered in the theatre To hear the Emperor sing.
5TH MAIDEN. O, I should sleep On such a noon, in such a throng.
1ST MAIDEN. That sleep Would have no wakening, if your eyes but closed While Caesar sang.
4TH MAIDEN. To-night there is a feast. Have you remembered?
3RD MAIDEN. Yes, the dancing girls From Egypt are arrived.
1ST MAIDEN. We are to strew Down from the ceiling flowers upon the guests.
[_They recline in various attitudes about the seats and pillars._
_Enter_ SENECA _and_ BURRUS
BURRUS. Ah, Seneca, five years since Nero climbed The throne; and in this very chamber, now So changed, this odour--pah! This was the place, Grim, bare, for military virtues apt.
SENECA. And he how changed! The boy who dreamed so high Of mightiest empire and unmeasured peace, All I had taught him lost; by flattery sapped, Jewelled and clothed as from the Orient, He sings and struts with dancers and buffoons.
ACTE. [_Starting up._] And you, when have you two dissuaded him? Or when forbidden? Do you teach him shun Languor or luxury? You lure him thither.
SENECA. 'Tis true that we have not dissuaded him, But out of high deliberate policy Have suffered him to tread the path of folly Rather than mischief. We have ruled the world With wisdom these five years while he has played.
ACTE. What of Poppaea, Otho's wife. Have you Restrained that madness? Rather have you not Screened it and fed it?
SENECA. With the same design; Better that he should vent his madness thus In pastime to the State not perilous, Amuse himself with her rather than Rome.
ACTE. A woman without pity, beautiful. She makes the earth we tread on false, the heaven A merest mist, a vapour. Yet her face Is as the face of a child uplifted, pure; But plead with lightning rather than those eyes, Or earthquake rather than that gentle bosom Rising and falling near thy heart. Her voice Comes running on the ear as a rivulet; Yet if you hearken, you shall hear behind The breaking of a sea whose waves are souls That break upon a human-crying beach. Ever she smileth, yet hath never smiled, And in her lovely laughter is no joy. Yet hath none fairer strayed into the world, Or wandered in more witchery through the air, Since she who drew the dreaming keels of Greece After her over the Ionian foam.
BURRUS. Better an Emperor fooled than Rome undone!
ACTE. Though all unite to drive him to his doom, Yet I will not forsake him till he die.
[_Exit_ ACTE.
[_Meanwhile there is an uneasy movement among the_ GIRLS, _as at the approach of something sinister_. TIGELLINUS _enters, gasping._
TIGELLINUS. [_Looking after_ ACTE.] She is a Christian!
BURRUS. Tigellinus!
TIGELLINUS. I Come from the theatre. For three hours have sat In the first bench, and feared to wink or cough. The Emperor sang, and had for audience The flower of Rome. In torment did we sit, Nobles and consuls, captains, senators, Bursting to laugh and aching but to smile. Higher and higher rose the Emperor's voice, But no man ventured to relax his lips. And all around were those who peered or crept, Inspecting each man's face, noting his look. To sigh was treason and to laugh was death, And yet none dared be absent: how were you Excused?
BURRUS. I pleaded the old wound.
SENECA. And I Reception of the Parthian and the Briton.
TIGELLINUS. I Say not so much against his moody freaks, But to be called from bed to hear him sing-- O, I must have my sleep at night--well, well-- To graver things. Still the conspiracy Of Agrippina swells: she aims to make Her son a toy, a puppet, while she pulls Unseen the secret strings of policy.
SENECA. Is't not enough to bear upon her back Stripped continents? To clasp about her throat A civilisation in a sapphire, or That kingdoms gleam and glow upon her brow. Now doth she overstar us like the night In splendour. Now she rises on our eyes Dawning in gold; or like the blaze of noon Taketh our breath on a sudden; or she glides Silent, from head to foot a glimmering pearl. But this is woman's business: 'tis not so To listen screened to the ambassadors, To ride abroad with Nero charioted, Or wear her head upon the public coins.
TIGELLINUS. And she intends this very day to hear The Briton, seated by the Emperor's side. Otho has joined her too.
SENECA. But from what cause?
TIGELLINUS. He is married.
BURRUS. Ah, Poppaea!
TIGELLINUS. Jealousy Hath driven him into Agrippina's snare. Fury at Nero's madness for his wife. Now what if we could raise Poppaea up As Agrippina's chief antagonist: We match the mistress 'gainst the mother--pit Passion 'gainst gratitude--a sudden lure 'Gainst old ascendency, the noon of beauty Against the evening of authority, The luring whisper 'gainst the pleading voice, The hand that beckons 'gainst the arm that sways, And set a woman to defeat a woman. To Nero I have whispered that she dotes Upon his poems, on his rhythm hangs, And cannot sleep for beauty of his verse.
SENECA. This day must Nero leave his mother's lap, And stand up as an Emperor, and alone.
[_Trumpet._
BURRUS. Hark! Caesar is returning.
[_Sounds heard of_ NERO _approaching amid cries of 'O thou Apollo!' 'Orpheus come again!' Then enter NERO with a group of satellites,_ TIGELLINUS, OTHO, _and professional applauders and spies. His dress is of extreme oriental richness, and profuse in jewels: his hair elaborately curled. He carries an emerald eye-glass, and appears faint from the exertion of singing, from which contest he has just come._
NERO. This languor is the penalty the gods Exact from those whom they have gifted high.
SENECA. [_Coming forward._] Sir, late arrived from Parthia and Britain----
NERO. [_Starting up._] A draught! [_Much hurry, zeal, and confusion among courtiers._ This kerchief closer round my throat! [_They tie a kerchief round his throat._ Was I in voice to-day? The prize is won, But I would be my own competitor And my own rival. Was I then in voice?
CHORUS. O Memnon struck with morning, nightingale, Ghost-charming Orpheus, O Apollo--god!
SATELLITE. O Caesar, I am one who speaks right out; If it means death, yet must I speak the truth. Thy voice was harsh.
NERO. Was it so, friend?
SATELLITE. Harsh and uncertain. Had it been another Who sang, it would have ravished every ear, But thee must I remember at thy best, And what in others we count excellence In thee we count a lapse, and falling off.
NERO. There's a good fellow!
SENECA. Caesar!
NERO. But a moment!
1ST SPY. [_Stealing forward._] Licinius smiled, sir, at thy final note.
NERO. Nothing! an artist must bear ridicule. Were I incensed, I were ridiculous Myself.
1ST SPY. Shall nothing then be done?
NERO. Nothing!
2ND SPY. [_Stealing forward._] Sir, Labienus, in thy second song Coughed twice.
ANOTHER SPY. [_Cringing._] Nay, Caesar, thrice.
2ND SPY. What punishment?
NERO. None! Interruption must I learn to bear. What patience must we own who would excel! Anger I never must permit myself, Or ruffling littleness to this great soul.
3RD SPY. [_Creeping forward._] Sir, Titus Cassius yawned while thou didst sing.
4TH SPY. Nay, Caesar, worse, he slept, and must he live?
NERO. [_Gently._] No! he must die: there is no hope in sleep. Witness, you gods, who sent me on the earth To be a joy to men: and witness you Who stand around: if ever a small malice Hath governed me: what critic have I feared? What rival? Have I used this mighty throne To baulk opinion or suppress dissent? Have I not toiled for art, forsworn food, sleep, And laboured day and night to win the crown, Lying with weight of lead upon my chest? Ye gods, there is no rancour in this soul. [_Thunder._ Silence while I am speaking. He must die, Because he is unmindful of your gifts And of the golden voice on me bestowed, To me no credit; and he shall not die Hopeless, for ere he die I'll sing to him This night, that he may pass away in music. How foolish will he peer amid the shades When Orpheus asks, 'Hast thou heard Nero sing?' If he must answer 'No!' I would not have him Arrive ridiculous amid the dead.
SENECA. Caesar, the Parthian and the British chiefs.
NERO. I cannot, sirs, so suddenly return Unto life's dreary business, or descend Out of the real to the unreal: from that Which is to that which is not. Leave me still. From art to empire is too swift a drop.
OTHO. Now what to do? Still drags the o'erlong day. We have driven, we have eaten, we have drunk. But all the brilliance is a burden still.
ANICETUS. No cloud upon the noon of this despair. O for some edge, some thrill unknown!
LUCAN. Remorse?
[NERO _shakes his head._
SENECA. Jealousy then?
NERO. No, no--we have outlived All passions: terror now alone is left us. I have within me great capacities For terror: fear, the last, the greatest passion!
OTHO. Can one rely on death for something new? Some other life perhaps.
SENECA. The gods forbid! The Power that sent us here would lead us there. One sample is enough.
LUCAN. Death's a dull business, Of that one may be sure. What says the poet? 'When I am dead, let fire devour the world.'
[NERO _starts at these words and comes among them._
NERO. Nay, while I live! The sight! A burning world! And to be dead and miss it! There's an end Of all satiety: such fire imagine! Born in some obscure alley of the poor, Then leaping to embrace a splendid street, Palaces, temples, morsels that but whet Her appetite: the eating of huge forests: Then with redoubled fury rushing high, Smacking her lips over a continent, And licking old civilisations up! Then in tremendous battle fire and sea Joined: and the ending of the mighty sea: Then heaven in conflagration, stars like cinders Falling in tempest: then the reeling poles Crash: and the smouldering firmament subsides, And last, this universe a single flame!
[OTHO, _seeing the steward and musician, who have entered, speaks._
OTHO. Nothing is left us but to eat and drink.
[_Takes bill of fare which the steward passes to him._
NERO. The feast!
[_Takes bill of fare from_ OTHO.
You understand that in the perfect feast To please the palate only is not art, But we should minister to the eye and the ear With colour and with music. Introduce The embattled oysters with a melody Of waves that wash a reef--whence do they come?
STEWARD. From Britain, sir.
NERO. Perhaps an angrier chord Of island surf might be permitted then. From Britain? Now I see thy uses, Britain. Britain is justified: she gives us oysters, And therefore Claudius invaded her. Sausages upon silver gridirons?
STEWARD. Yes.
NERO. Dormice with poppies and milk honey? There A slumberous music, heavy lingering chords. Ah! slices of pomegranate underneath. Snow--purest snow of course.
STEWARD. 'Twas not forgot.
NERO. Then glorying peacocks: here a sounding march, Something triumphal--even a trifle loud. And, ah! the mullets! You remembered them?
STEWARD. O Caesar, yes.
NERO. Let these be introduced By some low dirge. And let us see them die-- Slow-dying mullets within crystal bowls, Dying from colour unto colour: now Vermilion death-pangs fading into blue-- A scarlet agony in azure ending. There we have colour! And at last the tongues Of nightingales--the tongues of nightingales? O, silence with the tongues of nightingales.
[_He dismisses_ STEWARD.]
TIGELLINUS. Sir, grant us three a moment's audience.
[NERO _dismisses friends and satellites with gesture._
SENECA. Your mother, sir, this very day intends To hear the British chiefs in audience, Sitting beside you. Know then that the world Will not endure to have a woman's rule.
BURRUS. No, nor the army.
TIGELLINUS. And thy mother laughs In public at thy verse.
NERO. She has no ear. I pity her--remember what she loses.
TIGELLINUS. Ah, be not laughed at, sir, be it not said Nero is tied unto his mother's robe. Be brilliant, cruel, lustful, what you will, But not a naughty child, rated and slapped. Poppaea too, she will not suffer you With her to indulge your fancy.
SENECA. Caesar, rise!
BURRUS. Rise--rise, and reign!
TIGELLINUS. And be no more a doll That dances while she pulls the string behind. Then young Britannicus!
NERO. O nothing!
TIGELLINUS. Yet He is winning on the people: he hath charm, His voice is sweet.
[NERO _starts._
Caesar, I judge it not, But speak the common drift; and his recital, So I am told, has for accompaniment Gesture most eloquent.
[NERO _is more and more roused._
His poems, too!
NERO. [_Breaking the silence._] His poems! Why, why, not a line will scan To the true ear; and what variety, I ask you all--what flow, or what resource Is shown? A safe monotony of rhythm!
[_He paces to and fro angrily._
TIGELLINUS. Caesar, I cannot speak to such a theme. Merely Rome's mouthpiece.
NERO. And his gesture, why, 'Tis of the Orient, and gesticulation More happily were called; never a stillness, Never repose, but one wild whirl of arms.
TIGELLINUS. I spoke not of fulfilment, but of promise, The artist's dazzling future.
NERO. A sweet voice! Rome hath no critics! I would write a play Lived there a single critic fit to judge it. Whether a dancing-girl kick high enough-- On this they can pronounce: this is their trade. With verse upon the stage they cannot cope. Too well they dine, too heavily, and bear The undigested peacock to the stalls.
TIGELLINUS. Should Agrippina on a sudden change Her front, and clasp hands with Britannicus?
NERO. Your words awaken in me a new thirst.
SENECA. Sir, hear the Parthian and the British chiefs.
NERO. [_Going to the throne._] Summon them!
[_Exit_ SENECA.
Think not, though my aim is art, I cannot toy with empire easily. The great in me does not preclude the less.
[_Re-enter_ SENECA _with_ PARTHIAN _and_ BRITISH AMBASSADORS, _followed by the Court_. SENECA _brings forward the_ PARTHIAN CHIEFS, _when_ AGRIPPINA _enters magnificently dressed and begins to mount steps of throne_. NERO _with courteous decision brings her down_.
Mother, this is man's business, not for thee. You jar the scheme of colour--mar the effect.
PARTHIAN. Caesar, we starve: all Parthia parches: all Our crops sun-smitten bleach upon the plains. We ask thy aid.
NERO. And ye shall have my aid Even to the fullest: further, I will open The imperial granaries for your people's wants.
PARTHIAN. Caesar, we thank thee: and if ever thou Shouldst need the Parthian aid, whate'er the cost, That aid thou shalt find ready at thy side.
[_Exit._
BRITISH CHIEF. Caesar, the tax that thou hast laid on us Remit, we pray thee, else we rise in arms And will abide thy battle.
NERO. So! You dream That Caesar being merciful is weak. I who can succour, I can strike; I'll launch The legions over sea, and I myself Will lead them, and the eagles will unloose Through Britain--I who sit on the world's throne Will have no threatening from Briton, Gaul, People or tribe inland or ocean-washed. The terror of this purple I maintain. You are dismissed.
[NERO, _spreading his hands, dismisses the Court, and comes down to his mother_.
NERO. Now, mother!
AGRIPPINA. I will speak With you alone, not compassed by these men.
[_To_ SENECA _and_ BURRUS.] To me you owe the height where now you stand. Who took you, schoolmaster, from exile? Who Unstewarded you, Burrus? If I have made, I can unmake--Now leave me with my son. [_To_ TIGELLINUS.] You are self-made. Gods! I'd no hand in that!
[_Exeunt_ SENECA, BURRUS, _and_ TIGELLINUS.]
Nero, have you forgot who set you there?
NERO. Not while I hear it twenty times a day.
AGRIPPINA. You should not need that I remind you of it.
NERO. A kindness harped on grows an injury.
AGRIPPINA. Are you the babe that lay upon my breast?
NERO. I was: but I would not lie there for ever.
AGRIPPINA. Have I not reared you, tended you, and loved you?
NERO. Yes, but to be your puppet and your toy.
AGRIPPINA. Boy, never since I first looked on the sun From man or woman had I insolence, Who have sistered, wived, and mothered Emperors.
NERO. I speak no insolence--you weary me!
AGRIPPINA. Gods! you have hit on a new thing to tell me. [_Coming to him._] Does your heart beat? Are you all ice and pose? Has nothing gripped you--is there aught to grip In you, pert shadow? Have you e'er shed tears?
NERO. For legendary sorrows I can weep: With those of old time I have suffered much, And I, for dreams, am capable of tears; But not for woe too near me--and too loud.
AGRIPPINA. O wall of stone 'gainst which I beat in vain! Nero, I will do much to win you back For your own sake: and though it hurts me sore, Your passion for Poppaea I will aid. When did a mother yield herself to this?
NERO. When had a mother such a lust for rule That she could even yield herself to this?
AGRIPPINA. [_Clasping his knees._] Child, I have done with scorn, with bitter words, With taunt, with gibe. Now I ask only pity-- A little pity from flesh that I conceived, A little mercy from the body I bore, And touches from the baby hands I kissed. Nothing I ask of you, only to love me, And if not that, to bear with me a while, Who have borne much for you: no, Nero, child, I will not weary you, I yearn for you. Forgive me all the deeds that I have done for you, Forget the great love I have spent on you, Pardon the long, long life for you endured.
[NERO _is moved and kisses her, then speaks with effort_.
NERO. Mother, if I have seemed to be forgetful, Or cruel even, impute it not to me But to the State.
[AGRIPPINA _starts._
'Tis thought that neither Rome, The provinces, nor armies, will endure To see a woman in such eminence. Therefore it is advised that you retire To Antium a while, and leave Rome free.
AGRIPPINA. [_Starting up._] Leave Rome! Why, I would die as I did step Outside her gates, and glide henceforth a shadow. The blood would cease to run in my veins, my heart Stop, and my breath subside without her walls. All without Rome is darkness: you will not Despatch my shadow down to Antium?
NERO. We were remembering your toils, your age.
AGRIPPINA. My age! Am I old then? Look on this face, Where am I scarred, who have steered the bark of State As it plunged, as it rose over the waves of change? I was renewed with salt of such a sea. Empires and Emperors I have outlived; A thousand loves and lusts have left no line; Tremendous fortunes have not touched my hair, Murder hath left my cheek as the cheek of a babe.
[_At this moment_ BURRUS, SENECA, _and_ TIGELLINUS _return, hearing the scene; and as_ AGRIPPINA _continues her imprecations, the COURT return and stand in groups listening._
AGRIPPINA. My age! Who then accuses me of age? Was this a flash from budding Seneca, Or the boy Burrus' inspiration? Say? Do I owe it to the shrivelled or the maimed?
SENECA. Empress, it is determined you retire. And you will better your own dignity And his assert, if you will make this going To seem a free inclining from yourself.
AGRIPPINA. Bookman, shall I learn policy from you? Be patient with me. Nero, you I ask, Not schoolmasters or stewards I promoted. Is it your will I go to Antium? Speak, speak. Be not the mouthpiece of these men: Domitius!
NERO. Mother, 'tis my will you go.
AGRIPPINA. Then, sir, discharge me not from your employ Without some written commendation, That I can tire the hair or pare the nails, That those who were my friends may take me in!
NERO. Lady!
AGRIPPINA. O, lady now? Mother, no more!
NERO. [_Pacing fiercely to and fro._] Beware the son you bore: look lest I turn! Chafe not too far the master of this world.
AGRIPPINA. See the new tiger in the dancer's eye: 'Ware of him, keepers--then, you bid me go? [_A pause._ Then I will go. But think not, though I go, My spirit shall not pace the palace still. I am too bound by guilt unto these walls. Still shall you hear a step in dead of night; In stillness the long rustle of my robe. So long as stand these walls I cannot leave them. Yet will I go: behold you, that stand by, A mother by her own son thrust away, Cast out--ha, ha!--in my old age, infirm, To totter and mumble in oblivion!
NERO. [_To_ SENECA _and_ BURRUS.] A little violent that--did you not think so? And yet the gesture excellent and strong!
AGRIPPINA. Romans, behold this son: the man of men; This harp-player, this actor, this buffoon----
NERO. Peace!
AGRIPPINA. --sitting where great Julius but aspired To sit, and died in the aspiring: see, This mime--my son is he? And did I then Have one mad moment with a street musician?
SENECA. Have you no shame?
AGRIPPINA. This son now sends me forth, Yet it was I, his mother, set him there.
[_Murmur._
And, ah! if it were known at what a price, Witness, you shades of the Silani!
SENECA. Peace!
AGRIPPINA. And witness Messalina on vain knees!
[_Murmur._
And witness Claudius with the envenomed cup.
NERO. Silence, or----
AGRIPPINA. Not the seas shall stop me now, Raging on all the shores of all the world. Witness if easily my son did reign, I am bloody from head to foot for sake of him, And for my cub am I incarnadined.
[_Murmur._
I'll go, but if I fall, Rome too shall fall: I'll shake this empire till it reel and crash On that ungrateful head; and if I fall, The builded world shall tumble down in thunder.
[_Murmur._
Ah!
[_Seeing_ BRITANNICUS.] To my arms, boy! [_Snatches him to her side._] Tremble now and shake! Here is the true heir to the imperial throne, Deposed by me, but now by me restored.
[_Uproar._
I'll to the Praetorians!
[_Clamour._
To the camp! And there upon the one side they shall see Britannicus the child of Claudius, And me the daughter of Germanicus; And on the other side a harp-player, A withered pedant, and a maimèd sergeant, Disputing for the diadem of the earth. Come, Caesar, away to the Praetorians!
[_Exit_ AGRIPPINA _leading_ BRITANNICUS, _followed by_ COURT _in great excitement, all but_ BURRUS _and_ SENECA, TIGELLINUS _and_ NERO--_a blank pause_.
SENECA. Now what to do?
TIGELLINUS. Already can I hear The roar of the Praetorians and their march, This time to crown another. Burrus, you Command them.
BURRUS. They would tear me into pieces, As hounds a master entering in on them Unrecognised, if Agrippina once Hallooed to them the name 'Germanicus.'
TIGELLINUS. Surely Britannicus must be our aim: He gone, what threat, what counter-move hath she? Removing him, we take the sting from her; Then let her buzz at will.
BURRUS. But he is gone.
SENECA. Even as an eagle snatches up a babe, So Agrippina caught him up and flew.
TIGELLINUS. For once my wits are lost.
SENECA. Still, what to do?
[NERO _has been sitting with his back to them, suddenly rises._
NERO. Leave this to me!
TIGELLINUS. O Caesar!
NERO. [_To_ ANICETUS.] Go thou fast And intercept my mother on her way, And say thou thus: 'Nero thy son repents His former ire and cancels the decree For Antium; and prays thou may'st return To supper, as a sign of amity, And bring with thee the prince Britannicus.'
[ANICETUS _is going, but_ NERO _stops him_.
And as you go, send in to me Locusta.
[_Exit_ ANICETUS.
I have conceived--not fully--but conceived The death-scene of the boy Britannicus. Leave this to me.
TIGELLINUS. O Caesar!
NERO. It shall be Performed to-night at supper: get you seats; It shall be something new and wonderful, Done after wine, and under falling roses; And there shall be suspense in it, and thrill: It shall be very sudden, very silent, And terrible in silence--I the while, Creator and arranger of the scene, Reclining with a jewel in my eye; And Agrippina shall be close to me, Aware, yet motionless: Octavia, Though but a child, yet too discreet for tears. This you may deem as yet a little crude, But other details I will add ere supper.
[SENECA _withdraws in horror, as do the others, slowly._
SENECA. Here's what I feared!
TIGELLINUS. His eyes now! Yet how calm! So steals the panther, stirring not a leaf!
[_Exeunt slowly_ SENECA, TIGELLINUS, _and_ BURRUS. NERO _walks to and fro, constructing the scene in pantomime to himself_. LOCUSTA _enters down, right_.
NERO. You are Locusta, and your trade is poison.
[_She makes obeisance._
[_Uneasily._] Is poison but a trade with you, or art? Surely to slay is the supreme of arts; And with no ugly wound or hideous blow, But beautifully to extinguish life. Have you some rare drug that kills suddenly? As I have planned it, I can have no pause-- Death must be sudden--silent. And my guests Must not be wearied with a pang prolonged, And there must be no cry. That understand.
[LOCUSTA, _grovelling at his feet_.
LOCUSTA. O Caesar, such a drug is known to me,-- But I will not reveal it.
NERO. Die then.
LOCUSTA. Die? O, I love life, but this I'll not reveal.
NERO. Ah, you must live--you are an artist too.
LOCUSTA. I have a poison that is slipped in wine-- Not nauseous to the taste.
NERO. An artist still! Let me have that, and suddenly. And listen-- The cup presented to Britannicus Must be too hot: so that he calls for snow To cool it. In that snow the poison lurks.
[_Exit_ LOCUSTA.
[ANICETUS _hastily returns_.
ANICETUS. O Caesar, the Augusta had not left The palace; and now, o'erjoyous at thy words, She will be present at the supper-board, Bringing with her the prince Britannicus.
[_Servants enter with various dishes and arrange the tables and couches for the guests, and supper begins._
[_They all recline amid a low hum of conversation. Dreamy music is heard, which might be a continuation of the music played before._
NERO _reclines at the head of the central table between_ AGRIPPINA _and_ OCTAVIA. POPPAEA _is a prominent figure_. BRITANNICUS, _with other youths, lies at a side table_. SENECA, BURRUS, _and_ TIGELLINUS _present with other members of the Court. At a sign from_ NERO _dancing girls enter and perform a strange, wild measure, after which the hum of conversation is resumed. Again, at a sign from_ NERO, _odours are spurted over the guests amid cries of delight_.
[_At a sign from_ NERO, _flowers descend from the ceiling. At first lilies, then of deeper and deeper colour. At last a tempest of roses which gradually slackens._
NERO. Britannicus, I voice a general wish. Sweet is it, early and thus easily To have garnered fame: the crown is for the few, And these are tasked to reach it ere they die. Oftener the laurel on grey hairs is laid, Or on the combed tresses of the dead.
[BRITANNICUS _goes to the top of the stairs to recite, and at a sign from_ NERO _wine is handed to him_.
BRITANNICUS. This is too hot: some snow to cool it: so-- [_Cold snow is put in and he drinks. He then recites._ Beside the melancholy surge I roam-- A sad exile, a stranger, sick for home: A prince I was in my far native land Who wander to and fro this alien sand: Riches I had, and steeds, a glimmering crown; Never had known a harshness or a frown. Now must I limp and beg from door to door, Wet with the storm, or in the sun footsore: I, by a brother's cunning dispossessed, Crave for these languid limbs a place of rest. Pity me, robbed of all!
[_He gives a cry and falls headlong. His limbs quiver a moment and then are still. Meanwhile the shower of roses has slackened. There is a dead silence, and in the silence slowly all the guests turn and look at_ NERO, _who rises, with the emerald in his eye_.
NERO. Lift up the prince and bear him to his room. I do entreat that none of you will stir Or rise perturbed: my brother, since his birth, Was ever thus: the fit will pass from him. Refill the cups: proceed we with the feast!
[_There is an attempt to renew the feasting, but soon a scene of uproar and confusion arises, and the guests leave the tables in alarm._
[AGRIPPINA _alone remains unmoved, and then, as the guests have departed in disorder, she confronts_ NERO _alone_.
AGRIPPINA. Thou hast done this.
NERO. Mother, I am thy son!