_A small room in Agrippina’s house. Enter AGRIPPINA
and FULVIA._
_AGRIPPINA._
My days are weary, Fulvia. Know you not 2231
Some art to make time fly? another month
Of prison and neglect would kill me quite.
_FULVIA._
Is’t not the change more than the solitude
Vexes your majesty?
_Agr._ Nay, I was never made
For isolation, and even by my friends
I am utterly forsaken.
_Ful._ Junia Silana
Was very constant, tho’ we have not seen her
Now for four days.
_Agr._ Bah! she’s my foe. I wronged her
That way a woman ne’er forgives. ’Twas I 2240
Broke off her match with Sextius, you remember.
_Ful._ Your true friends dare not come: they stand aloof,
Watching the time to do you service, madam.
_Agr._ You speak of Pallas: there’s none else.
_Ful._ The lot
Of late befallen your majesty is such
As all our sex have borne, who have not raised
Nor much demeaned themselves beyond the rest.
_Agr._ True; but ’twas never mine; I made escape.
They that would lock us up in idleness,
Shut us from all affairs, treat us as dolls 2250
Appointed for their pleasure; these but make it
The easier for a woman with a will
To have her way. Life lacks machinery
To thwart us. Had I been a man, methinks
I had done as well, but never with the means
I have used. Nay, nay, ’tis easy for a woman,
Be she but quick and brave, to have her will.
_Enter Servant, who speaks to Fulvia, and she to
Agrippina._
Burrus and Seneca you say! Admit them.
Fulvia, here’s one apiece: make your own choice;
I’ve none, and can be generous. Pray come in. 2260
_Enter Burrus and Seneca with two others._
Come in, my lords, come in. You are very welcome.
Look, Fulvia, now if Mercury have not heard
Our prayers and sent us noble visitors!
Pray you be seated. Alas, in this poor house
I fear I cannot show you the reception
You and your gallant followers deserve.
’Tis not what thou’rt accustomed to at home,
Seneca, I know: pardon it. Thou lookest cold.
Come near the fire: pray heaven this bitter weather
May not have touched thy chest. A Gallic winter!
I can remember no such fall of snow 2271
In March these twenty years; but looking back,
I find one noted in my journal then.
How goes your health, my lords?
_SENECA._
Well, thank you, madam.
_Agr._ I am very glad: your visit is well meant;
It cheers me much.
_BURRUS._
The truth is, madam, we come
At Nero’s order.
_Agr._ Ha! then I strike you off [_Rising._
My list of friends again. I thought as much;
I wondered how you dared me this affront
In my last poor retreat, here where I sit 2280
Alone and friendless, in the worst disgrace
Woman can suffer;—ay, and caused by you.
But learn that, if nought else, this house is mine;
If ’tis so small that it can welcome little,
It can exclude the more. At Cæsar’s order
Ye have forgot your manners, now at mine
Resume them. Ye have done his hest, begone!
Begone!
_Sen._ I pray you, madam, hear the message;
We may not leave without delivering it.
Burrus will speak it.
_Agr._ Oh—Burrus speak it. 2290
If Burrus speak, the affair is mighty black.
There’s none like him to break an ugly business.
[_Sitting._
Hey! Well, we have nought to do, so let us hear
The last of the court. Octavia’s divorce?
_Sen._ Believe me, lady, I feel much aggrieved
In all that hurts you here.
_Agr._ Stranger than fiction.
Now what’s the matter?
_Bur._ There has been information
To Cæsar of plots against his life, the which
The informers charge on you. This the chief item,
That you have entered with Rubellius Plautus 2300
Into conspiracy to set him up
In Nero’s place, and to dethrone your son.
I come with Seneca and these witnesses
To hear the answer, which your majesty
No doubt hath very ready, and accordingly
To acquit you of the charge.
_Agr._ —Excellent!
Now, Seneca, ’s thy turn; or will these gentlemen?
Fulvia, we have depositions to be made:
Fetch pens and paper; all shall be in order.
_Sen._ Madam, remember on what past occasions
Cæsar hath shown suspicion, and believe, 2311
Whate’er your innocency, there is cause
To make it clear.
_Agr._ Thy prudence, Seneca,
Is vanity, not kindness; spare it, pray.
Here is your paper, gentlemen: I’ll give you
Matter for Cæsar’s reading. Tell me first
Who’s my accuser?
_Bur._ There are two—the first
Junia Silana, the other is your sister
Domitia: they bring forth as evidence
The informers, certain freedmen, Atimetus, 2320
Iturius, and Calvisius, who affirm
That you have lately been on terms with Plautus,
Stirring him up to make an enterprise
Against the state; that you, by marrying him
(Who by the mother’s side may claim a line
As rightly from Augustus as doth Nero),
Might reinstate yourself, dethrone your son,
And bring disaster to the commonwealth.
That is the charge, of which we are come to hear
The refutation, not to press the count. 2330
_Agr._ Pah! You’re a brace of idiots, if ye think
This needs refuting. Who’s Silana, pray,
That if she speak, the very bonds of nature
And heaven must be repealed to give her credit,
Saying a mother plots to kill her son?
I marvel not that she, being childless, dares
Avouch such madness, never having known
How near the affections of all mothers are,
Nor that a mother cannot shift her love
Like an adulteress;—nay, nor do I wonder 2340
That she should find among her freedmen those,
Who, having in luxury spent all their substance,
Will for the promise of the old lady’s purse
Sustain the accusation: but that for this
I should be seriously held suspect
Of the infamy of parricide, or Cæsar
Of giving ear to it, this I marvel at.
As for Domitia, I would thank my sister
Even for her jealousy, were but the strife 2349
One of good will and kindness towards my Nero.
But now she wastes her time with her man Paris,
Composing as ’twere fables for the stage.
Let her go back to Baiæ and her fishpools;
They kept her trifling spirit well employed,
When by my efforts Nero’s first adoption,
Proconsular authority, consulate,
And other steps to empire were procured.
Are ye now answered?—
Or is there any can be brought to show
That I have practised with the city cohorts, 2360
Corrupted the loyalty of the provinces,
Solicited the freedmen to rebellion?
Or to what purpose think ye? Had Britannicus
Been Cæsar, then I grant I might have lived;
But if ’tis Plautus, or whoever else
Should get the power, how should I lack accusers
To charge me, not with words escaped in passion,
But deeds and crimes—crimes—ay, Seneca, crimes,
Of which I could not hope to be acquitted
Save as a mother by her son? And ye 2370
Think I shall here defend myself to you!
Send Cæsar to me. By the gods I swear
I’ll be revenged on all who have had a hand
In this most cowardly and senseless plot.
I wait him here: tell him that to none other
Will I resolve this matter.
_Bur._ Be content
To say so much in form, that our report
Suffice for your acquittal.
_Agr._ I bid you go.
_Bur._ Cæsar shall hear your message.
_Sen._ Madam, we go.
_Agr._ Ay, go, good fellows; though ye have roused my passion, 2380
Your coming here hath cheered me wondrously.
Nay, if ye have ever such another matter,
Bring it again; be not abashed, but come;
Or send your wives, and those two gentlemen,
Whose names I know not. My lords, your humble servant.
[_Exeunt Burrus and Seneca and two Gentlemen._
Plautus! now is it possible I was wrong
Not to have thought of Plautus? No, I laugh,
’Tis merely laughable. At forty-five
To marry a pretender; and Plautus too!
He would not have me. Fulvia, do you think 2390
That Plautus wants to marry me? Ha! ha!
Is it my beauty, think you, or my virtue,
Or my good fortune tempts the stoic? Oh,
Domitia, oh, you are dull. I cannot fear
This plot. We shall retire with more than honour.
’Twas strange, I think, that Pallas was not struck;
His name escaped.
_Ful._ There is ample reason, madam.
They say that in his house he holds such caution
As not to speak before his slaves. His orders
Are given by nod and sign, or if there’s need 2400
He writes: there’s none can say they have heard him speak.
_Agr._ May good come of it. ’Twould be hard indeed
If they should exile Plautus for a fear
Lest I should marry him. That were a fate
Of irony. Why, give the man his choice
Of marrying me and exile, would he not
Fly to the pole? Poor Plautus! marry Plautus!
_Both._ Ha! ha! ha! he! he!
_Enter Nero. Agrippina is seated._
_NERO._
I find you merry, mother; the gods be praised
That you deny the impeachment.
_Agr._ Really, Nero,
Burrus’ memory is getting very short
If he said I denied it. I did not.
_Ner._ You did not?
_Agr._ Nay, I’d not be at the pains.
_Ner._ Called you me hither?
_Agr._ Ay, you seem misled.
I guess who ’tis. But let that pass. I hoped
I might advise you privately; I knew
You would not wish it known. Now, was I wrong?
_Ner._ Do you deny what is affirmed against you?
_Agr._ No, son: for if you wished to take my life,
Why should I rob you of this grand pretence? 2420
Yet since you cannot, and the charge itself
But moves my laughter, as you overheard,
My only wish is you should now retire
With dignity, and act as Cæsar ought.
_Ner._ (_aside_). This then is added to my shames.
_Agr._ What say you?
Fulvia, await without. [_Exit Fulvia._] Who brought this to thee?
_Ner._ Paris.
_Agr._ The player! when?
_Ner._ Last night at supper.
_Agr._ Tell me, didst thou believe it? is it possible?
Thou didst! Whence gottest thou thy wits I wonder;
Certain they are not mine, no, nor thy father’s:
I think they came of Claudius by adoption. 2431
Dost thou believe it still?
_Ner._ Whate’er I have done
Was on advice.
_Agr._ A pious caution truly.
Is this thy trust? Yet, yet I must forgive thee.
See, I was angered. Nay, ’twas not thy judgment:
I know who leads. But for these foolish women
I sentence exile.
_Ner._ Sentence whom to exile?
_Agr._ The two devisers. Yet I think my sister
Is harmless; but the other, that Silana—
_Ner._ Silana must be banished? 2440
_Agr._ Judge her, Nero,
When thou hast heard. She and thy aunt Domitia
Have been the two who, in my sad retirement,
Have visited me most. Day after day
They have made a show of kindness, finding joy
In my disgrace, to view it; and have but left me
To try this trick.
_Ner._ (_aside_). ’Tis plain I have been fooled.
_Agr._ For those that brought the tale, thou knowest that they
Must taste the penalties they sought to inflict;
That thou must know; but ’tis not all. The acquittal
Of those accused will not be full without 2450
Some honour shown them. Best among the names
Stand Fænius Rufus and Arruntius Stella,
Who may have city posts: gentle Balbillus,
Who has long deserved it, must be paid at last
With a proconsulate. For myself, thou knowest
I have taken all disgrace so patiently
That I expect some boon, though yet I fear
To ask; but when I have seen my slandered friends
Honoured, I’ll write it thee.
_Ner._ I shall be quick
To punish and to make amends. ’Tis just 2460
Towards Burrus, I should tell you from the first
He took your part.
_Agr._ What could he else? Now, Nero,
I have done: go home, and there resolve the matter
With common sense; take Burrus into counsel
As to what penalties and what promotions
Shall be distributed. Before the people
Remember that some feeling must be shown,
And anger for effronteries attempted
Against your majesty. Now go, the affair
Has somewhat tired me.—Nay, touch me not; farewell. 2470
_Ner._ I see you are right; farewell.
_Agr._ I have more advice,
Which I will write to thee. [_Exit Nero._
Excellent this—I have not had my way
Thus for a long long while: ay, now is my time
To strike. I’ll venture with a letter to him
And claim my boon, that he dismiss Poppæa.
There’s much to say on that which may seem aimed
More at his good than mine; and if she have plunged
In this false step, his vanity being touched 2479
May shake his liking. I will do it at once. [_Exit._