Chapter 9

SCENE.--_The same_. SENECA, BURRUS, ACTE, _and_ PHYSICIAN

PHYSICIAN. The Emperor comes from gazing on Poppaea. What woe may that dead face not work on him, After such rain of dark calamities!

SENECA. Why hath he summoned me?

PHYSICIAN. He knows not why. The infatuate orgies in Campania, Defeat, revolt, have wrought upon his mind, Till it begins to reel--behind each woe He sees the angered shade of Agrippina.

[_Enter_ NERO _with tablets, murmuring to himself. He comes to the_ COUNCILLORS, _gazes at them, and retires to parapet._

'Beautiful on her bed Poppaea lay'-- I have begun to write her epitaph.

[_He again gazes over parapet, murmuring to himself. Then turning_

Ah, blow supreme! Ah, ultimate injury! I can no longer write: my brain is barren. My gift, my gift, thou hast left me. Let me die! Ah! what an artist perishes in me.

[_He again returns to parapet, gazing and murmuring, and throws his tablets from him._

Dead Agrippina rages unappeased. At night I hear the trailing of a robe, And the slain woman pauses at my door. O! she is mightier having drunk of death; Now hath she haled Poppaea from my arms; Last doth she quench the holy fire within me----

_Enter_ MESSENGER

MESSENGER. Caesar, I bring dark news: Boadicea the British Queen is risen, And like a fire is hissing through the isle, Londinium and Camulodunum In ashes lie; the loosed barbarians In madness rage and ravish, murder and burn.

BURRUS. Caesar, despatch.

[_Brings_ NERO _paper._

NERO. Ah, this is still the deed Of Agrippina. Listen! Did ye not hear The rustle of a robe? [_Starting up._ Ah! thou art come! I--I no order gave! Then did the brine Drop from thy hair: but now blood falls from thee; There, where they struck thee, once did I sleep sound. What shall I do to appease thee? Let me die Rather than see that wonder on thy face, And stare on me of terrible surprise. Thou com'st upon me!

ACTE. Ah! what ails your mind?

NERO. She is gone! The red drops those that fell from her!

ACTE. Lo! I am with thee!

NERO. Thou! And who art thou?

_Enter in great haste an_ OFFICER, _followed by_ OTHERS

OFFICER. Caesar, Rome burns! We cannot fight the fire Which blazes and consumes. How it arose None knows and none can tell. What shall we do?

ANOTHER. It sprung in the Suburra: whether lit By accident, dropped torch, or smouldering brand----

ANOTHER. Or by design----

ANOTHER. Caesar, the Christians, Who hate the human race, have done this thing: They loathe thy rule and would abolish thee, And with thee, Rome.

ANOTHER. They have a prophecy That now the world is ending, and in fire The globe shall shrivel, and this empire fall In cinders.

ANOTHER. And the moon be turned to blood.

NERO. The moon be turned to blood! But that is fine! These Christians have imaginations then! The moon in blood, and burning universe! Why, I myself might have conceived that scene!

_Enter_ OTHERS _from the opposite side_

OFFICER. Caesar, what shall be done? Still spreads the fire! A quarter of Rome in ashes lies already, And like a blackened corpse: and screaming mothers, Hugging their babes, dash through the fearful flames, And old men totter gasping through the blaze Or fall scorched to the ground. Stifled with smoke The population from their houses reel. Meantime the Christians, prophesying woe And final doom upon a wicked world, Hither and thither run, and with their dark Forebodings madden all the minds of men. To thee they point! To thee, the source of fire, Who has drawn down on them celestial flame.

NERO. Magnificent! The aim of heavenly fire!

ANOTHER. They say the world shall crumble, and the skies Fall, and their God come in the clouds of heaven To judge the earth!

ANOTHER. But we are wasting breath Over the Christians: what now shall be done? To thee, Caesar, to thee, we come: for thou Alone mayst with this conflagration cope.

NERO. Listen! Did ye not hear a wailing then? The wailing of a woman in her grave? Again! A wailing, and I know the voice!

_Enter_ OTHERS _hastily_

MESSENGER. Caesar, the fire has reached the Palatine! Rome will be ashes soon.

ANOTHER. We have fought fire With water: matched the elements in vain, For the fire triumphs: Caesar, what aid from thee?

_Enter_ ANOTHER

MESSENGER. Caesar, the temple of Jupiter is aflame. The shrine of Vesta next will crash to the earth.

ANOTHER. Open the sluices of the Campus Martius.

ANOTHER. Issue some sudden edict: give command.

NERO. No edict will I issue, or command. Let the fire rage.

CHORUS. O Caesar!

NERO. Let it rage!

ANOTHER. Caesar, 'tis said this fire was lit by thee. That thou wouldst burn old Rome to build a new, A Rome more glorious issuing from the flames: This tale hath maddened all the common folk Who, from their smouldering homes, curse thee aloud.

NERO. This fire is not the act of mortal mind, But is the huge conception of a spirit Dreaming beyond the tomb a mighty thought. She would express herself in burning fire: This is the awful vengeance of the dead; This is my mother Agrippina's deed. I will not baulk the fury of her spirit. No! Let her glut her anger on the city, For only Rome in ashes can appease her, Let the fire rage and purge me of her blood! [_The flame flashes upward._ Rage! Rage on! See, see! How beautiful! Like a rose magnificently burning! [_The flame flashes up._ Rage on! Thou art that which poets use, Or which consumes them. Thou art in me! Thou dreadful womb of mighty spirits, And crimson sepulchre of them! [_The flame flashes up._ Blaze! Blaze! How it eats and eats! How it drinks! What hunger is like unto the hunger of fire? What thirst is like unto the thirst of flame? [_The flame flashes up._ O fury superb! O incurable lust of ruin! O panting perdition! O splendid devastation! I, I, too, have felt it! To destroy--to destroy! To leave behind me ashes, ashes. [_The flame flashes up._ Rage! Rage on! Or art thou passion, art thou desire? Ah! terrible kiss! [_The flame flashes up._ Now hear it, hear it! A hiss as from mighty serpents, The dry, licking, wicked tongues! Wouldst thou sting the earth to death? What a career! To clasp and devour and kill! To dance over the world as a frenzied dancer With whirling skirts of world-wide flame! [_The flame flashes up._ Blaze! Blaze! Or art thou madness visible, Insanity seizing the rolling heavens. [_He points up._ Thou, Thou, didst create the world In the stars innumerably smiling. Thou art life, thou art God, thou art I! [_The flame flashes up._ Mother! Mother! This is thy deed. Hist! Hist! can you not see her Stealing with lighted torch? She makes no sound, she hath a spirit's tread. Hast thou sated thy vengeance yet? Art thou appeased? [_The flame flashes up._ Be satisfied with nothing but the world, The world alone is fuel for thee. Mother! [_The flame flashes up._ And I! See what a fire I have given thee, Rome for a funeral couch! Had Achilles a pyre like to this Or had Patroclus? Had they mourners such as I give to thee, Bereaved mothers and babes? Now let the wailing cease from thy tomb, Here is a mightier wail! Now let the haunting trumpet be dumb!

ACTE. Nero!

NERO. Blaze! Rage! Blaze! [_The flame flashes up more fervently._ For now am I free of thy blood, I have appeased and atoned, Have atoned with cries, with crashings, and with flaming. Thy blood is no more on my head; I am purged, I am cleansed; I have given thee flaming Rome for the bed of thy death! O Agrippina!

[_He falls in a swoon_--ACTE _runs towards him._