_A room in the Palace. Enter through a door from the
supper-room NERO and POPPÆA._
_NERO._
Now ere they follow, Poppæa, ease my heart,
And tell me thy request.
_POPPÆA._
Thou’lt grant it me?
_Ner._ Whate’er it be, if thou wilt come to Baiæ.
_Pop._ I’ll have it without bargain or not at all.
_Ner._ I grant it: ask. 1950
_Pop._ ’Tis that you give my husband
The post in Lusitania which he begs.
_Ner._ ’Tis his. Would he were there.
_Pop._ My thanks.
_Ner._ I prithee
Call him not husband.
_Pop._ Ah, now I pierce this veil
Of generosity: why, when he goes
I must go with him.
_Ner._ Eh! if that’s the case
I grant not his commission.
_Pop._ ’Tis a promise.
_Ner._ I had a promise once.
_Pop._ That was conditioned.
_Ner._ And what condition have I not fulfilled?
_Pop._ Heavens! is’t forgotten?
_Ner._ Say, what have I lacked in?
_Pop._ Or did I dream ’twas promised me? ’Twas this; 1960
Marriage.
_Ner._ By Juno, I will marry thee.
But come to Baiæ.
_Pop._ Nay; thine oath is vain
Upon the point of honour. There are things
Idle and ceremonial, and that count
In love as nought, but which alone can make
Divorce from Otho honourable, nay,
To me, I say, possible. Till the day
Octavia is divorced I am Otho’s wife,
Ay, and am well content to be: he loves me,
And lacks in nothing that a gentlema. 1970
And lover should observe. I sometimes think
That you mistake...
_Ner._ Ah!
_Pop._ But to mistake in that!
Seem to forget! I fly.
_Ner._ O most impatient!
I have yet no pretext.
_Pop._ Nay, nor ever will.
Besides, your mother rules: she would not suffer it.
I have no desire to taste her dishes.
_Ner._ Hush!
They come.
_Enter through the door Petronius, Tigellinus and
Anicetus._
Where be the others?
_TIGELLINUS._
They have taken
Cæsar’s gracious permission, and gone home.
’Tis late.
_Ner._ Why, who art thou to say ’tis late?
Be seated, be seated. I’ll tell thee, Anicetus, 1980
More of my scheme anon; but for the present
We keep Minerva’s feast at Baiæ; thither
Must thou convey the court. Combine high pomp
With masterly dispatch; our games shall reach
The limit of invention, and ourselves
Take part. To thee I say, come not behind.
_ANICETUS._
Grant me the means to be great Cæsar’s herald,
I’ll make a wonder that shall fetch the nymphs
From their blue depths in ravishment to see
His ships upon the waters. 1990
_Ner._ I shall be liberal,
And give thee full instruction. (_To Pop._) Think, my love,
What could be pleasanter, now spring is come,
Than to confide our vexed and careful spirits
To nature’s flush; to leave our memories
With the din and smoke of Rome, and force a pageant
Upon the lazy mirror of the bay,—
One to make Venus jealous, and confound
The richness of the season. Thou dost not guess
What I can do. Say, would’st thou miss the seeing
Of my magnificence? 2000
_Enter Paris._
_Pop._ See, here is Paris.
_Ner._ He comes to make us merry. The gods defend us!
He has seen a ghost.
_Pop._ He has something to deliver.
_Ner._ Patience! I know his mood: he will be tragic;
And you shall see the severe and tearful muse
Outstride her dignity, and fall along.
(_To Paris_) Begin!
_PARIS._
Most mighty and most honoured Cæsar,
I cannot speak for shame.
_Petr._ Why, man, thou’st spoken.
_Ner._ He opens well.
_Petr._ Like the nurse in Seneca’s tragedy.
_Par._ The tale I bring, my lords, is little suited
To make your sport.
_Petr._ No?
_Ner._ This is excellent. 2011
_Pop._ I think he is in earnest.
_Ner._ ’Tis his art.
_Par._ I am a messenger now, and no actor,
Sent by your royal aunt Domitia
To unmask a thing, which, though the gods be praised
That in discovery have wrought prevention,
Is yet a damnèd plot....
_Ner._ (_rising_). A plot, a plot! [_All rise._
Stand off; stand off! a plot, thou say’st? a plot?
_Pop._ (_aside to Nero_). Pray heaven this prove not now
some fresh contrivance
Of the empress. 2020
_Ner._ Stand all aside. Art thou in earnest?
_Par._ Pardon me, Cæsar. Did this plot concern
Less than thy life...
_Ner._ My life! by all the gods,
Speak but his name who dares.
_Par._ Will Cæsar’s ear
Grant me indulgence?
_Ner._ Speak, fool, or thou diest.
_Par._ The matter is disclosed by certain freedmen
Engaged by the empress.
_Ner._ Ah!
_Pop._ (_to Nero_). Said I not so?
_Ner._ Be this proved, ’tis the last.
_Pop._ (_to Nero_). Ay, till the next.
_Ner._ Paris, as thou would’st live another moment,
Speak now but truth.
_Par._ (_shows a paper_). See here the evidence.
If Cæsar read this, ’twill give certain colour 2030
To worst suspicion. Here are writ the names.
_Ner._ Read me the names.
_Par._ Rubellius Plautus.
_Ner._ Ha!
Enough. I know ’tis true the villain’s blood
Hath from Augustus equal claim with mine.
Who else?
_Par._ Balbillus and Arruntius Stella,
With Fænius Rufus, and your royal mother,
And some who ’scape the crime disclosing it.
_Ner._ I’ll have their lives to-night.
_Tig._ I pray now, Cæsar,
Grant me this order.
_Anic._ Or me.
_Ner._ Nay, who are ye?
Go, Tigellinus, fetch me Burrus hither. 2040
_Par._ I have his name set down with the conspiracy.
_Ner._ Burrus?
_Par._ ’Tis question of him, nothing certain.
_Ner._ Escort him here unarmed; I’ll speak with him.
_Tig._ Cæsar, I go. [_Exit._
_Ner._ Give me thy paper, sirrah.