SCENE.--_The same. Dawn breaking;_ NERO _discovered lying in a swoon_
NERO. [_Slowly._] Dawn! In the night o'er-past a lightning flash!
Ah! I remember--here my mother's ghost
Stood--on this very ground--I feel the air
Still cold from her--and here the lightning burned.
So I awake my mother's murderer.
That was her ghost that stole on me sea-marred,
Silent--the ocean falling from her hair.
_Enter_ TIGELLINUS
TIGELLINUS. Caesar at last! Sole master of the world!
NERO. O Tigellinus, in the mid of night,
The spirit of my whelmed mother stole
Hither upon me, dumb out of the deep.
Heaven gave a flash: I saw her face and fell.
TIGELLINUS. Her spirit! Better that than she herself.
Dismiss dark fancies now--this day thou art free.
NERO. No, but enthralled by her for ever-more.
She is my air, my ocean, and my sky.
TIGELLINUS. The night has wrought this sickly mood on you--
Natural--it will pass.
NERO. Never, O never!
You flatter, you console, you would assuage,
But you are human, can forget and change.
But yonder rocky coast remembers yet.
That countenance changes not: that conscious bay
Maintains its everlasting memory.
This privy region saw, and it shall see
For ever what was done. The amulet!
Filched from me! Was it then a ghost I saw?
_Enter_ SEAMAN _hurriedly, followed by_ BURRUS
SEAMAN. Caesar, my news must plead for this intrusion.
I was aboard the ship whereon the Augusta
Set sail: when the roof fell, thy mother's maid
Cried 'Save me! I am the Emperor's mother!'
Straight
Crushed under many a blow, she dropped and died.
But silently thy mother Agrippina
Slid from the ship into the water and swam
Shoreward. With white and jewelled arms she thrust
Out through the waves and lay upon the foam.
We heard her through the ripple breathing deep,
And when we heard no more, we watched her still--
Her hair behind her blowing into gold
As she did glimmer o'er the gloomy deep;
And all the stars swam with her through the heavens,
The hurrying moon lighted her with a torch,
The sea was loth to lose her, and the shore
Yearned for her; till we lost her in the dark,
Save now and then some splendid leap of the head.
NERO. You know not if she be alive or dead?
SEAMAN. Caesar, rejoice--thy mother lives.
NERO. She lives?
SEAMAN. When I at last touched shore, I spoke with two
Night-wandering fishermen. These two, it seems,
Had borne her in their boat across the bay
To her own villa.
NERO. [_Falling hysterically on neck of_ SEA-MAN.]
I am no murderer then!
TIGELLINUS. Have you considered, sir, what now may urge
Thy mother, Agrippina, knowing all,
Seeing that by no chance or accident
Or sudden flurry of the ocean floor
The ship collapsed. Safe is she, but how long?
Will she not burst upon us suddenly?
Sir, she must die to-night.
NERO. I'll not attempt
A second time that life the sea restored;
She is too vast a spirit to surprise.
Even Nature stood aloof----
My mother shall be gloriously caged,
Imprisoned in purple and immured in gold.
In some magnificent captivity
Worthy the captive let her day decline.
[_Shouts without: enter_ BURRUS.
BURRUS. Caesar, great news I bring: the Armenian
Lies helpless on Tigranocerta's plain
O'erwhelmed by Corbulo, and the huge host
Dissolved. Armenia lies beneath your feet:
Rome yearns to welcome you.
NERO. To Rome I go
Free-souled and guiltless of a mother's blood,
Resume the accustomed feast, the race, the song,
And I shall be received with public joy
And clamour of congratulating Rome.
[_Great cheering without: exit_ NERO.
[_A pause._
TIGELLINUS. Burrus, she'll strike at us whate'er the cost:
She'll slay the ministers if not the master.
BURRUS. We are both dead unless some sudden scheme--
_Enter_ ANICETUS _at back_
[_Turning._] Here is another doomed as we ourselves.
TIGELLINUS. Ah, Anicetus! Agrippina lives,
And she will launch her vengeance on us three,
But first on you; you first set Nero on--
You first proposed the scheme. You on the sea
Bungled--Now on the land retrieve the error.
To you we look.
_Enter_ POPPAEA _from behind and stands listening_
ANICETUS. My error is repaired
Already. I first heard the Augusta lived,
And instantly despatched a faithful troop
To slay her at her villa o'er the bay.
TIGELLINUS. How shall we know if they have found and slain her?
ANICETUS. All this I have arranged and clearly planned.
If they shall find that she hath fled to Rome,
Hark for one trumpet-call across the bay:
If they have found her at the villa, then
Hark for two trumpet-calls across the bay:
If they have found her and have slain her, then
Hark for three trumpet-calls across the bay!
[_A burst of music without, and sounds of advancing procession._
[_Enter soldiers and satellites, with attendants bearing a litter.
Lastly_ NERO.
TIGELLINUS. Now as a conqueror in triumphant vein
Ride through the thundering ways of risen Rome,
Anticipating the Armenian car.
NERO. [_Ascending litter._]
Set out for Rome! And you, accusing coasts,
Accuse no more. Guiltless I say farewell,
And with a light heart journey toward Rome
Joyous I go, for Agrippina lives.
[_A great triumphal shout swells up again, and to the sound of military
music_, NERO _and the procession pass off. Meanwhile_ TIGELLINUS _is
left in a listening attitude_. POPPAEA _stands breathless at back.
There is a pause. Then a trumpet-call is heard far off; a second; and
a third_. POPPAEA _rushes to_ TIGELLINUS _and clasps his hand_.
ACT IV
SCENE I
SCENE.--_A tower overlooking Rome_
_Enter_ SENECA, BURRUS, _and_ PHYSICIAN
SENECA. How dark the future of the Empire glooms!
BURRUS. Now the Gaul mutters: the Praetorians
Sullenly snarl.
SENECA. The Christians privily
Conspire.
BURRUS. The legions waver and whisper too.
SENECA. [_To_ PHYSICIAN.] What of the Emperor?
PHYSICIAN. Through Campania
He rushes: and distracted to and fro
Would fly now here, now there; behind each woe
He sees the angered shade of Agrippina.
Now hearing that Poppaea sinks toward death.
Hither is he fast hurrying.
SENECA. Ah, Poppaea,
No sooner Empress made than she must die----
BURRUS. See: she is carried hither.
SENECA. Here to look
Her last upon the glory of the earth.
[_Exeunt_ SENECA, BURRUS, _and_ PHYSICIAN.
[POPPAEA _enters, supported by handmaids. She takes a long look
at Rome, then is assisted down to couch._
POPPAEA. Give me the glass again: beautiful yet!
This face can still endure the sunset glow,
No need is there for me to sue the shadow,
Perfect out of the glory I am going.
MYRRHA. Lady, the mood will pass: still you are young.
POPPAEA. Why comes not Nero near me?
O he loathes
Sickness or sadness or the touch of trouble,
MYRRHA. Nay, lady; hither he is riding fast,
In fury spurring from Campania,
And trouble upon trouble falls on him--
Misfortune follows him like a faithful hound.
POPPAEA. I snared him, Myrrha, once; let him flutter away!
But to relinquish the wide earth at last,
And flit a faint thing by a shadowy river,
Or yearning without blood upon the bank----
The loneliness of death! To go to strangers--
Into a world of whispers----
[_Looking at and lifting her hair._
And this hair
Rolling about me like a lighted sea
Which was my glory and the theme of the earth,
Look! Must this go? The grave shall have these eyes
Which were the bliss of burning Emperors.
After what time, what labour the high gods
Builded the body of this beauty up!
Now at a whim they shatter it! More light!
I'll catch the last of the sun.
_Enter_ SLAVE
SLAVE. Mistress, below
The lady Acte stands and asks to see you.
POPPAEA. Come to inspect me fading: I fear not.
Even a woman's eyes I need not shun.
Bring her. [_Exit_ SLAVE.
Now, Myrrha, watch her hungering eyes.
_Enter_ ACTE, _ushered by_ SLAVE
POPPAEA. [_Vehemently._] Take Nero! I am dying.
ACTE. Ah, not yet!
POPPAEA. I am dying. But you shall not hold him long----
O, do not think it. Can you queen his heart?
Can you be storm a moment, sun the next?
A month, a long day under open skies,
Would find your art exhausted, ended. I!
I was a hundred women in an hour,
And sweeter at each moment than them all.
Why, I have struck him in the face and laughed.
ACTE. I love him: that concerns not him, nor you.
A different goal I would have sought for him,
A garment not of purple, but of peace.
POPPAEA. Of peace! Ha, ha!
ACTE. Vain now--I know it, vain.
But if your words are true, and death is on you,
Let us two at the least be friends at last.
POPPAEA. I bear no rancour--and yet if I dreamed
That I was leaving you upon his bosom--
But no: let there be peace between us two.
[ACTE _comes and kisses her._
Your kiss falls kind upon my loneliness.
But, Acte, to let go of glory thus--
For I have drunk of empire, and what cup
Afterward can you offer to these lips?
ACTE. Of late there has been stealing on my mind
A strange hope--a new vision.
POPPAEA. What is this?
ACTE. Do not laugh out at me: a sect despised--
The Christians, tell us of an after life,
A glory on the other side the grave.
If there should be a kingdom not of this world,
A spirit throne, a city of the soul!
POPPAEA. I want no spirit kingdom after death.
The splendid sun, the purple, and the crown,
These I have known, and I am losing them.
ACTE. Yet if the sun, the purple, and the crown
Were but the shadows of another sun,
Splendider--a more dazzling diadem?
POPPAEA. These can I see at least, and feel, and hear.
ACTE. Yes, with a mortal touch that falters now.
POPPAEA. [_Sobbing._] O Acte, to be dumb, and deaf, and blind!
ACTE. Or live again with more transcendent sense,
Hearing unchecked, and unimpeded sight.
If we who walk now, then should wing the air,
Who stammer now, then should discard the voice,
Who grope now, then should see with other sight,
And send new eyes about the universe.
POPPAEA. O, this is madness!
ACTE. Is it? Is it? Well--
Yet have I heard this ragged people speak,
And they have stirred me strangely: life they scorn,
And yearn for death's tremendous liberty,
But I--I cannot speak; yet I believe
There is a new air blowing on the world,
And a new budding underneath the earth.
POPPAEA. Ah, ah! the sun! The sun! It goeth down,
How cold it grows: the night comes down on me.
I'll have no lamp: but hold my hand in thine.
ACTE. Sister, forget the world, it passeth.
POPPAEA. [_Falling back._] Rome!
SCENE II
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._