_A room in Nero’s villa. A table with papers. Enter
NERO, SENECA, BURRUS, and TIGELLINUS._
_NERO._
We have an hour: sit down, my lords, we’ll hold
A privy council. I have in my mind a matter
Touching the subsidies.
_BURRUS._
The day is good 2950
For market matters, ’tis Minerva’s peace:
The sword is sheathed.
_Ner._ (_to Servants_). Set light upon the table.
_SENECA._
To talk of subsidies hurts no man’s conscience.
What is the business, Cæsar?
_Ner._ I am vexed
By the complaints against the imperial household
In the gathering of tolls.—Here in these papers
Are weighty charges ’gainst Pomponius
Silvanus, and Sulpicius Camerinus:
Read them at leisure. But I ask you first
Whether there be not cause for discontent 2960
In present management?
_Sen._ ’Tis a deep evil.
But never was the empire better governed;
Nor is there more extortion now, I think,
Than ever was.
_Ner._ And were there no extortion?
_Sen._ Nay, while you farm the taxes there will be
Extortion still.
_Ner._ You all think that, my lords?
_Sen._ Ay, ay.
_Ner._ And so say I. You have my grounds.
Now hear my scheme, by which for once and all
I rid the empire of this blot. ’Tis this.
I will have no more tolls or tallages, 2970
Customs or duties levied: nay, not one
Through all the empire. I will make this present
To the human race: I say, their old vexation
And burden shall away.
_TIGELLINUS._
Magnificent.
_Sen._ ’Tis generously meant, most generously.
But is it possible?
_Ner._ Why not?
_Sen._ The treasury,
Eased of this sum, must fill the deficit
By other means. If you cut off the customs,
You must increase the tributes, rates, and rents.
If one shoe pinches, ’tis no remedy 2980
To stuff both feet in the other.
_Ner._ But my scheme
Has precedent; there was no tallage taken
Throughout all Italy for some six years
Ere Julius.
_Sen._ Ay, but he restored the customs
As needful.
_Ner._ Whence they seemed the price of empire.
_Sen._ Unjustly. In the times of greatest liberty
Consuls and tribunes have ordained new customs,
Which yet remain.
_Tig._ I praise the scheme.
_Ner._ (_to Bur._) And you?
_Bur._ Where look you then for revenue?
_Ner._ The rents,
We’ll have the rents. The land.... 2990
_Enter Messenger with Officer of the Guard._
Why, who is this?
Whence come you, man?
_MESSENGER._
Cæsar, from Anicetus.
He asks great Cæsar’s pardon ere I tell.
_Ner._ Thou’rt free to speak.
_Mess._ There has an accident
Befallen the Augusta’s yacht.
_Ner._ Hey! what was that?
_Mess._ At a lurch of the ship the awning fell and dragged
The Augusta overboard.
_Ner._ Speak, man, speak on.
_Mess._ We thought her drowned.
_Ner._ Ha!
_Mess._ But by the grace of the gods
She is escaped.
_Ner._ Escaped!
_Mess._ She swam to shore unharmed.
_Ner._ Thou wretch,
And comest thou here in thy master’s place 2999
To bate mine anger? Forth and send him hither.
Fly, or I kill thee.
_Mess._ Pardon, great Cæsar, pardon.
The Admiral follows and will straight be here.
[_Runs out._
_Ner._ (_aside_). Escaped! after such boast, escaped! I am lost.—
To have done this thing had tried me; to have attempted it
And failed is ruin.
_Sen._ (_aside from Nero_). What is this?
_Bur._ (_to Sen._) ’Tis clear
Cæsar knows what: and her escape not being
His pleasure tells us that ’twas not his purpose.
_Sen._ (_aloud_). Alas, alas!
_Ner._ What friend there cries Alas?
Who now stands by me? who will aid me now?
_Tig._ If Cæsar make his will but known...
_Ner._ Thou dullard!
I need the brains of them that know my will. 3011
Now is no time for parley. Seneca,
Speak what thou thinkest.
_Sen._ Cæsar, I am so much grieved that...
_Ner._ What’s thy pain
To mine? Speak, man!
_Sen._ Alas, what shall I say?
_Ner._ How hast thou guessed this thing without a word,
And yet hast not foreseen it?
_Sen._ Oh, is’t then true?
The letter false; the Augusta hither brought
But to be drowned!
_Ner._ See if ye know it not.
_Sen._ Let her escape belie thy guilty purpose. 3020
_Ner._ Why, nay, the failure damns a thousand-fold
More than her death—I am henceforth the man
Who would have killed his mother, and could not.
_Sen._ Alas, alas!
_Ner._ Hast thou no word but that?
Thou that hast ever warned me, ay, and gone
So far upon this path that thou hast sought
To dull the natural feeling which so long
Held off my hand, hast argued ’gainst repugnance,
Crying, ’tis she that is the guilty one, 3029
The dangerous one, there is no peace with her:
And now the day the thing thou hast foreseen,
Ay, and hast led me to, is done, thou’rt silent.
Hast thou no word?—Thou that wast ever ready,
Hast thou no word?—What strikes thee on a sudden
Dumb? Be my counsellor now that I need thee.
Speak now! Why, thou dost weep! surely thou weepest!
Burrus, what sayest thou?
_Bur._ This mischief, Cæsar,
Being thus arisen is the Augusta’s death.
Though I bewail the occasion, yet I say
’Twere most untimely justice to endanger 3040
The public peace for her whose life hath been
So long the shame of justice. Since the sentence
We know is just, and that necessity
O’errides the common forms, the less delay
The better. Let her die.
_Ner._ I thank thee, Burrus.
How were this best performed?
_Tig._ Now, if none speak,
I’ll say that Burrus, being the advocate
Of what is planned, and as pretorian prefect
Possessed of means, is fittest for the work.
_Bur._ Look not on me, Seneca, as if to say 3050
’Tis well; as if ’twere thy thought that my office
Covered this deed. I pardon Tigellinus,
That, unacquainted with a soldier’s honour,
He thinks it passable in time of peace,
Entering in private houses there to slay
Defenceless citizens. But that the guards
Would thus lay hands on one that bears the name
Of Agrippina, that they could forget
Their loved Germanicus, who would think this?
To such a deed they would not follow me, 3060
Far less another; and if Cæsar now
Look for it from me, lo, I here throw down
My prefecture to any man soe’er
Who durst with this condition take it up.
_Ner._ Nay, Burrus, I’ll not ask thee that. Thou’rt right.
And yet, if thou could’st do it— See here the man.
_Enter Anicetus in haste, Paris following._
Thou hast been my ruin!
_ANICETUS._
Pardon, Cæsar, pardon.
I am strangely foiled. Give me one hour, and yet
I’ll make amends.
_Ner._ If thou canst make amends,
Come hither, speak with me. [_They go aside to front._
_Bur._ Is the thing known?
_PARIS._
Ay ay.
_Ner._ (_to Anic._) What canst thou do?
_Ani._ I have set a guard 3071
Around her villa, fearing lest the people
Should force their way within, or she escape.
Give me the word and I will slay her there.
_Ner._ Fool, I can give no word. Think when ’tis done,
If I should punish thee less for that deed
Than for thy late misdoing. What is this?
_Enter Officer of the Guard. Petronius follows._
_OFFICER._
The Augusta, Cæsar, sends a freedman hither,
One Agerinus, with a letter.
_Ner._ (_to Anic._) Now
What to do?
_Ani._ Bid him enter: when he comes 3080
I am prepared. Lend me thy dagger, friend (_to Tig._).
[_Takes Tigellinus’ dagger._
_Enter Agerinus, who runs to Cæsar._
_AGERINUS._
Lo, Cæsar, I am sent...
_Ani._ Ha! where’s thy hand?
Ay, as I thought, a dagger well concealed
Under his cloak.
_Age._ Indeed, indeed, good sir,
I have no dagger.
_Ani._ How no dagger? See!
Had I not caught thee! Ho! the guard, the guard!
Take him to prison till he can be questioned.
_Age._ You do force treason on me. Cæsar! Cæsar!
[_He is borne off by Guards._
_Ani._ This villain having come, as he confessed,
From the empress armed, will Cæsar leave the enquiry
Now in my hands?
_Ner._ I do.
_Ani._ With me who will! 3091
_Tig._ I follow, lead the way.
[_Exeunt Anicetus and Tigellinus. Paris follows
them. Exit Nero within doors._
_PETRONIUS._
What will they go to do?
_Bur._ ’Tis thus: the Admiral
Has gone to kill the Augusta.
_Petr._ Gods forbid!
His orders?
_Bur._ Humph!
_Petr._ Why, men, what thing ye do!
He is shamed for ever.
_Bur._ Ay, and were’t not done
Were shamed no less.
_Sen._ Alas! ’tis true, ’tis true.
And thou wert right, Burrus; but dost thou well
Permitting this?
_Bur._ I see ’tis necessary,
And am not shamed to say I think the thing 3100
Itself is good. As for the motives, Seneca,
Ay, and the manner of it, to defend them
I shall not meddle.
_Petr._ (_to Sen._) And thou wilt take thy share?
_Sen._ ’Tis not my counsel.
_Petr._ ’Twill be held as thine,
And rightly, seeing that thou let it not.
I could have stayed it.
_Bur._ Nay, be not so sure.
And if thou could’st have let it, could’st thou too
Prevent the consequences?
_Petr._ But remember,
She is his mother. Oh, I thought him better.
Is it too late now think you, if I ran... 3110
_Bur._ They are there by now. Believe ’tis for the best.
If she should live but till to-morrow morn,
’Tis civil war. Consider what a party
Would stir upon the tale of Claudius’ death,
Or to revenge Britannicus. I say
There’s nought to gain.
_Petr._ Why, ’tis his mother, Burrus,
His mother. I’ll be sworn he had not dared
Thus to commit himself had I been by.
He that should be a model to the world,
The mirror of good manners, to offend 3120
Thus against taste!
_Bur._ If ’twere no worse...
_Petr._ Why, see,
There are a hundred subtle ways by which,
Had Cæsar done the thing, he had not been blamed.
This vulgar butchery displays to all
The motive, which so hurts your sense of right
That ye neglect the manner. Why, I say,
A just attention to the circumstance
Would hide the doing; but thus done, the doing
Proclaims the deed. And is’t not plain that ye
Must share the guilt? Seneca, look for that. 3130
_Sen._ ’Tis very well for you, Petronius,
To take upon yourself the criticism
And ordering of appearances, and say
’If aught goes ill, blame me.’ You lay your hand
On any object you mislike, remove it,
Replace it as you will, can please yourself:
Nay, you can blame their taste who are not pleased.
But he who deals with men, and seeks to mould
A character to that high rule of right
Which so few can attain, he works, I say, 3140
With different matter, nor can he be blamed
By any measure of his ill success.
His best endeavours are like little dams
Built ’gainst the ocean, on a sinking shore.
Nature asserts her force—and the wise man
Blames not himself for his defeat. For me,
Much as my soul is grieved, ay, and my pride
Wounded—tho’ yet, I thank philosophy,
I can be glad for that,—my hopes—for this
I mourn—my hopes blasted; yet, hear me say,
I take unto myself no self-reproach, 3151
Nay, not a tittle of the part of mischief
A vulgar mind might credit to my score.
I have done my best, and that’s the utmost good
A man can do; and if a better man
Had in my place done more, ’tis perverse Fortune
That placed me ill. Thus far I argue with you,
Who look on me askance, and think my heart
Is tainted; as if I would in such case
Do such thing, as—poison my brother at table,
Contrive to kill my mother: ’Tis so far 3161
From possible, that to my ears the words
Carry no sense: nay, and I think such crimes
May seem more horrible to other men,
Whose passions make them fear them, than to me
Who cannot think them mine. As for the rest,
I stand with you, and never from this hour
Shall mix with Cæsar more with any hope
Of good. Indeed I have hoped too long, and yet
The end has come too soon. 3170
_Re-enter Anicetus, Tigellinus, and Paris._
_Tig._ ’Tis done, ’tis done.
_Ani._ Where is Cæsar?
_Bur._ Within.
[_Anicetus and Tigellinus hurry within._
_Petr._ Paris, is it true?
_Par._ The Augusta lives no longer,
Most brutally and miserably slain:
Yet died she bravely.
_Petr._ And why wentest thou
To soil thy hand?
_Par._ I went not to take part:
But Fortune holding nature’s ruffians up,
I took their pattern.
_Sen._ Say, who did the deed?
_Par._ I’ll tell thee what I saw. As forth we went,
The coward Tigellinus, pale as death,
In needless haste foremost where was no danger,
Hurried us on so fast, that thro’ the street 3181
We scarce kept pace, but when he reached the wall
Of the garden, and saw there the soldiers placed
By Anicetus, knowing not their purpose,
He shrank behind. These men being bidden seized
The servants; then we entered, and with us
Came the centurion. Within the room
Sat Agrippina with a single maid,
Who seeing the Admiral’s sword fled past us out:
At which the Augusta called to her, ’Dost thou,
Fulvia, desert me too?’ Then to the Admiral 3191
She spoke. ’If here thou comest to enquire
From Cæsar of my health, know I am well,
Recovered from my shock, and little hurt.
But if, as your men’s looks would mean, ye are come
Deeming that Cæsar wills that I should suffer
The like I late escaped, know you mistake.
’Twas not of his contrivance, and my foe
In this is his.’ None answered, and awhile
Was such delay as makes the indivisible 3200
And smallest point of time various and broad;
For Agrippina, when she saw her lie
Fail of its aim, ventured no more, as knowing
There was no wiser plea; but let her eyes
Indifferently wander round her foes,
Counting their strength. Then looked I to have seen
Her spring, for her cheek swelled, and ’neath her robe
Her foot moved; ay, and had she been but armed,
One would have fallen. But if she had the thought
She set it by, choosing to take her death 3210
With dignity. Then Anicetus raised
His sword, and I fled out beyond the door
To see no more. First Tigellinus’ voice,
’To death, thou wretch!’ then blows, but not a groan;
Only she showed her spirit to the last,
And made some choice of death, offering her body,
’That bare the monster,’ crying with that curse,
’Strike here, strike here!’
_Sen._ Alas, poor lady,
Was that the end of thy unscrupulous, 3219
Towering ambition? Thou didst win indeed
The best and worst of Fortune.
_Bur._ Give her her due,
Such courage as deserved the best, such crimes
As make her death seem gentler than deserved.
_Enter Nero between Anicetus and Tigellinus._
_Ner._ My lords, ’tis done. Nay, look not grieved. There’s none
Suffers as much as I; all share the good.
And think not that to keep the world at peace
I grudge this sacrifice: the general care
I set before my own, and therefore bid
There be no public mourning, nay, to-morrow
We shall attend the spectacles and games, 3230
Appear as usual before the people:
Ay, and I partly look, my lords, to you
That I be well received. Good night to all!