BURRUS. Caesar, still glides the dead BritannicusAbout the palace, and his memoryYour mother, Agrippina, uses: makesOut of his ghost a faction for herself.She grows a public peril; much you oweTo her, but more to Rome; from AntiumShe rages disappointed to and fro.Me for your army you hold answerable,But can no longer if you suffer herTo lure the legions from their loyalty.Her creatures whisper to your sentinels,Corrupt your officers, inflame your guards.A sullen silence on the camp is fallen,A word, and it will roar in mutiny.
TIGELLINUS. Everywhere steal her agents and her spies,Gliding through temples, baths, and theatres;Possess all angles, corners, noonday halts,And darknesses; they flit with casual poisonSoftly; the city secretly is filledWith murmurs, lifted eyebrows, and with sighs.The mischief's in the very blood of RomeUnless the sore that feeds it is cut out.
NERO. Why, I myself have visited the fleetWith Anicetus: sullen droop the sailsOr flap in mutiny against the mast.Burdened with barnacles the untarred keelsDrowse on the tide with parching decks unswabbed,And anchors rusting on inglorious ooze.All indolent the vast armada tilts,A leafless resurrection of dead trees.The sailors in a dream do go aboutOr at the fo'c's'le ominously meet.Should any foe upon the sea-line loomThey'll light with ease upon an idle prey.And yet I felt the grandeur of stagnationAnd the magnificence of idleness.
BURRUS. She hath seduced the breast-plates and the sails.
NERO. [Distracted.] Here I pronounce her exile.
TIGELLINUS. Whither then?
ANICETUS. To Britain send her. There for ClaudiusI fought; a melancholy isle, alone,Sundered from all the world; and banned by GodWith separating, cold, religious wave,And haunted with the ghost of a dead sunRising as from a grave, or all in bloodReturning wounded heavily through mist.Her rotting peoples amid forests cower,Or mad for colour paint their bodies blue.There in eternal drippings of the leafOr that dead summer of the living fly,And by the eternal sadness of the surf,Ambition cannot live, hope cannot breathe.Even the fieriest spirit there will rustOr gutter like a candle in the rain.To Britain send her.
TIGELLINUS. Never isle remoteOn the sad water, never desert sandIn trembling flame, nor rock-built prison-houseShall tame her: there's the danger, that she lives.While she hath life, it is no matter where,While she hath breath, no other dares to breathe,Not Caesar, even!
NERO. This breath to her I owe.
TIGELLINUS. [Cautiously and slowly watchingNERO,as do the others.] Caesar, there is a region of exileWhence none hath yet returned—your pardon, sir—
NERO. [Starts and turns away.] No, no, no!I remember very clearHow gently she would wake me long ago.
BURRUS. Then be thy mother's son still and surrenderThis toy of Rome to her: she bought it you:Now, wearied, give it back!
NERO. Ah, patience, sir!I cannot in one moment gird myselfTo murder all these kisses, and she hathA vastness in this narrow world so rare,A sweep majestical about the earth—True, that she hath no ear for verse——
TIGELLINUS. For thine.
NERO. Yet passion, fury, and ambition, theseAre primal things in our elaborate age.Ill can we spare them.
BURRUS. Now, 'tis you or she.
NERO. A little time in which to fix my mind.I go to Baiae; for I am not housedHere as I should be: all the palace seemsTo me a hovel; scarcely can I breathe.I should be roofed with gold, and walled with gold,Should tread on gold; and if I cast mine eyesOver the city, they should view a sceneOf spacious avenues and breathing trees,And buildings plunged in odorous foliage.This is a petty city: I have thoughtIt might be well to raze it to the groundAnd build another and an ampler Rome,More worthy site for this imperial soul.I'll go to Baiae, there to dream this dream.
TIGELLINUS. Might I propose you go not all alone?At times the answering flash from other eyesCan aid the mightiest; and a woman's thought——
NERO. Yes—Yes—Poppaea!
BURRUS. Otho will be jealous.
TIGELLINUS. And is already dangerous; he has joinedThe Agrippina faction.
NERO. He must bePromoted then to—Lusitania.
TIGELLINUS. Thule were safer—still.
NERO. Here I appoint himSole governor of Lusitania.To Baiae now—Poppaea—a new Rome!
[ExitNERO.
TIGELLINUS. He hesitates—but I will see Poppaea:She can find means we cannot, and we thusCan use her beauty for our policy.
[ExeuntTIGELLINUS, BURRUS, SENECA,andANICETUS.
POPPAEA. Myrrha, more gold upon these builded curls.How often, child?
MYRRHA. Mistress, forgive me.
[A slave has entered.
POPPAEA. Well?
SLAVE. Mistress, the Emperor's minister, Tigellinus.
[POPPAEAsignsMYRRHAto go.
EnterTIGELLINUS
TIGELLINUS. Lady, I am loth to interrupt this toil,But come on a secret errand.
POPPAEA. Well, what is it?
TIGELLINUS. Long have I watched you, and to me it seemedYou had some mighty wish within your soulAs yet unspoken? Ah, I know it well.You would climb high, even to the very height?
POPPAEA. [Rising.] I would.
TIGELLINUS. You would be—mistress of the world?
POPPAEA. Ah!
TIGELLINUS. And shall be: we aim at the same goal.You from ambition, I from policy.
POPPAEA. Speak clearer.
TIGELLINUS. 'Tis our wish to free young NeroFrom Agrippina's dangerous dominance—To free him of her quite. Now she too standsIn your own path. Your loveliness may workUpon him: and we with policy the while—Will you make cause with us?
POPPAEA. I understand.You need this beauty as an added baitTo lure when policy can drive him not.What do I gain at last?
TIGELLINUS. The throne itself.Octavia is a shadow: cannot standBetween you and the world: but Agrippina,Never will suffer you while she has breath.
POPPAEA. I will not tempt him to a mother's murder.
TIGELLINUS. Nor do we ask it: only that you drawHis wandering fancy from her with a sweetInterposition of this loveliness,Free him of her, then bind him to yourself.
POPPAEA. I will attempt it. I will fly at it.I go to him to Baiae this same day.
TIGELLINUS. Remember all the earth is in thy reach.
[ExitTIGELLINUS.
POPPAEAclaps her hands—enter various maids
POPPAEA. Lorilla, see, this henna is o'erdone.
LORILLA. O pardon, mistress.
POPPAEA. And you, Lalage,My lips more brilliant.
LALAGE. Yet——
POPPAEA. Remember, child,That I walk ever veiled: what in the sunGlares, being veiled a finer richness takesAnd more provokes: how many struggling fliesThis veil, the web of mine, hath struggling heldWhich else were freed!
[Gazing at her face in mirror.
Ah! this left eyebrow—who?Who painted this?
MAID. [Trembling.] I, madam.
POPPAEA. You are young:Else I would have you stripped and lashed till bloodFlew from you.
MAID. Mercy!
POPPAEA. Call old Lydia.Lydia, this eyebrow—the old touch.
LYDIA. My handsTremble, but I'll essay.
POPPAEA. [Gazing in mirror.] So—that is well.Children, when there shall come, and come there must,The smallest marring wrinkle on this face,And come there must—our bodies fall like flowers,This face shall feel the ruin of the rose—When time, howe'er light, shall touch this cheek,Then quick farewell! Listen, I will not liveLess lovely, nor this cruel beauty lose,And I perforce grow kind: I'll not surviveThe deep delicious poison of a smileNor mortal music of the sighing bosomThat slowly overcomes the fainting brain.It shall not dawdle downward to the grave;I'll pass upon the instant of perfection.No woman shall behold Poppaea fade:And now to Baiae!
MYRRHA. Thence the EmperorHath sent three messengers already.
POPPAEA. Ah!Blue Baiae, warm beside a sparkling seaWhere I will win young Nero—and the world!
EnterOTHOhastily
OTHO. The Emperor hath sent three messengersDemanding you for Baiae: yet am INot asked: what means this lonely summons, wife?
POPPAEA. Can you not trust me?
OTHO. When I gaze on you,'Yes'—when your voice is murmuring at my ear,'Yes'—but at times when I am pressed by crowdsOr yearn alone beside the breaking wave——
POPPAEA. Will you not trust me? Why then do I go?Is't for myself? You know well—'tis for you;To praise the Emperor's verses—but for you;To applaud his feeblest gesture—but for you;To coax from him a kingdom—but for you!Yet are you angered.
OTHO. 'Tis a perilous game.Nero may ask more of your loveliness.
POPPAEA. A woman may surrender inch by inchEven to the edge of shame: then sudden riseUnmelting ice.
OTHO. Poppaea, I like it not.
POPPAEA. All is for you.
Enter anOFFICERwithATTENDANTS
OFFICER. Sir, from the Emperor.Thus Caesar saith: 'Hereby do we decreeOtho, our bosom's friend, sole governorOf Lusitania: with imperial leaveWhom to appoint, dismiss: all revenuesIn his control: thither let him proceedTo-morrow ere sunset.'
OTHO. [Looking atPOPPAEA,then turning toOFFICER.]I shall obey.
[ExitOFFICERandOTHERS.
Dismiss the slaves.
POPPAEA. Otho, I swear——
OTHO. Dismiss them.
POPPAEA. Myrrha, stay by me! On my knees I swear——
OTHO. Stand up! You knew this?
POPPAEA. Dear, I never could——
OTHO. [Taking her by the arm.] You go to Baiae into Caesar's arms.I am—promoted—to the ends of the earth,Anywhere, anywhere, so I be not thereTo interrupt.
[He throws her from him—snatches his dagger.
POPPAEA. Kill me then if you will.Here—here! I will not flinch, so I die true.You'll not suspect my corpse.
OTHO. It has been planned,Thought out, and timed—for in his deepest plotOur Nero has an eye for drama still.He hath imagined that which now we act.
POPPAEA. Kill me—I love you! Ere you strike, one kiss.
OTHO. Ah! [Recoiling.]
POPPAEA. But one kiss—a kiss of olden days,When we two were most happy: Caesar was not,And you had laughed at him! A harp-player,But not my man, my Otho! Think you IWho have had these arms about me, and these lipsBurn up my own, could languish for a mime?I am a child—I have done wrong—forgive it—I sighed for thy advancement—speak to me!Now slap my hands or send me to my bed,I am a baby in these deep affairs.
OTHO. Go not to Baiae then: depart with meTo Lusitania; words I'll count no more,But deeds—to Lusitania, come with me.
POPPAEA. Is it wise to disobey—is it wise, I ask?Set me aside, be mindful of yourself.
OTHO. So you'll not come?
POPPAEA. For you alone I linger.I'll tarry but a little while behind you,And when I come, I'll greet you full of riches.
OTHO. I dread to leave you in your loveliness.
POPPAEA. Then I'll not go with you.
OTHO. You will not—Why?
POPPAEA. Because you will not trust me. Show to meThat you can trust me, Otho; and what joy,What satisfaction can you have to dragYour wife behind you, from dull jealousyBecause you do not dare leave her behindFor fear—I'll not be such a wife.
OTHO. Poppaea,No more I'll ask you to depart with me,I'll go alone: but this remember still—Gay have I been, a spendthrift and an idler,A brilliant fly that buzzed about the bloom.But I had that in me deep down, and still,Of which you, you alone, possess the key,A sullen nobleness to you disclosedE'en then with shame: and by no other guessed.This you well know: betray not that at least;For even the lightest woman here is scared,And dreads to dabble deeper in the soul.We have no children.
POPPAEA. [Coming to him and putting up her face.]Am I not child enoughWho should be woman? You shall kiss these lipsOnce ere you go—so close they are to you.
OTHO. The gods laugh out at me—but I must kiss you.
POPPAEA. Can I not help your preparation?
OTHO. No.I shall not go with pomp; but as a soldier.
POPPAEA. I think you are still angry?
OTHO. No! Farewell,I have brief time.
POPPAEA. Ah! take me with you, then.
OTHO. What! You will come?
POPPAEA. I wish—I wish 'twere wise.My love shall bear your litter all the way.
[ExitOTHOhastily.
Re-enterMAID
MAID. Has he gone, lady? Had I such a manI could not let him part thus, not for Caesar.
POPPAEA. For Caesar! No: but Caesar means the world!For Baiae! The new gold-dust!
MAID. Here, I have it.
POPPAEA. Bear it yourself—entrust it to no other.
[Exeunt.
NERO'S PRIVATE CHAMBERin the villa at Baiae, looking directly upon the bay. Left, doors leading into the apartments. The water laps close up to the marble quay or terrace on which the action takes place. Right are seen prows of galleys at their moorings. Beyond is the curving shore of the bay, crowded with villas and temples. The scene is of extreme southern richness and serenity. Time noon
[NEROis pacing restlessly to and fro. Enter a servant.
NERO. The lady Poppaea! Is she yet arrived?
SERVANT. Sir, an hour since.
NERO. [Impatiently.] Then why is she not here?
[ExitSERVANT.
An hour since: yet she lingers while I acheWith passion. She comes not, still she delays.To fly to her? No, 'twere unworthy of me——And yet, and yet—Ah! I must go to her.
Enter slaves bearingPOPPAEAon litter
POPPAEA. [Standing aloof and veiled.]Caesar, by thee thrice summoned, I am here.What is your will?
NERO. To have you at my side.
POPPAEA. Caesar, I am thy subject, and obeyedUnwillingly.
NERO. Unwillingly?
POPPAEA. I comeIn loyalty: what service can I render?If none, then suffer me now to depart.I tremble to be seen with thee alone;No whisper yet has touched me.
NERO. So you come,But out of loyalty.
POPPAEA. As fits thy subject.
NERO. No, I am thine!
POPPAEA. Caesar, I will not hear,I must not if I would—that you know well.
NERO. You come in cold obedience?
POPPAEA. I have said so.Yet——
NERO. [Eagerly.] Well—well——
POPPAEA. Nero—nay, Caesar—my lord.
NERO. Nero, I'd have you say.
POPPAEA. That slipped from me—Is't treason? I know nothing of the laws.
NERO. You come because thrice summoned?
POPPAEA. In my mindThere lurked another reason for my coming.
NERO. What then?
POPPAEA. A thought that like a captive birdI have kept warm about my heart so longI am loth to let it fly forth to the cold.
NERO. [Approaching her.] Tell me this thought.
POPPAEA. Then, Caesar, I have longBrooded upon the music of thy verse.It doth beset me—and, O pardon me,If, little fool that I am, I longed to speakBut once alone with him who made it. Now,What have I said? I will return forthwith.
NERO. O not thy beauty moves me but thy mind!
POPPAEA. I think I have some little ear for verse.There is one line——
NERO. Yes—yes——
POPPAEA. Of burning Troy—'O city amorous red, thou flagrant rose'——
NERO. A regal verse! But the arm extended thusToward doomed Ilium. Say on.
POPPAEA. My eyesAre filled with tears.
NERO. Remove thy veil and weep.
POPPAEA. [Starting back.] For no man—save my husband—O my lord!He is despatched to Lusitania.
NERO. Know you not why?
POPPAEA. I know not—cannot guess.
NERO. That he might stand no more between us two.
POPPAEA. O sir, he is my husband, and my wayIs with him wheresoe'er he go. My duty——
NERO. But your inclining?
POPPAEA. That I will not say.But Lusitania is henceforth my home.Nero, I will speak truth: I'll not denyThere is some strange communion of the soul'Twixt you and me: but I'll not yield to this,No, nor shall you compel me, Caesar: IWill follow Otho even to banishment.There are more sacred things in my regardThan mutual pleasure from melodious verse.
NERO. Nothing, when soul meets soul without alloy.
POPPAEA. I fear you do forget I am a woman.Dear to us before all are household cares.
NERO. O to the average, not to thee.
POPPAEA. Farewell!
NERO. You shall not go thus.
POPPAEA. Caesar, chain me here,But in neglected duty I shall pine.
NERO. [Angrily striding to and fro.] Ah!
POPPAEA. And imagine that he did not live—That I were free to indulge this panting soul—Still there are bars between us none can break.
NERO. You mean my wife Octavia?
POPPAEA. Well—and yetNot she, perhaps.
NERO. Who then? What other bars?
POPPAEA. Your mother Agrippina.
NERO. Still my mother!
POPPAEA. She would not bear it: would command her sonTo leave me: a younger woman has no hopeAgainst her.
NERO. I am not her lackey.
POPPAEA. No?Ah, but her child, and born but to obey.And yet though wiser, mightier, than myself,You shall not find in her a listenerSo still, so answerable to your mood.And, I will say it, you'll not find in herOne who has dived so deep into your soul,Who sees—I cannot flatter—sees that greatnessWhich she too long keeps under: were I youI would be Caesar, spite of twenty mothers,And seem the mighty poet that I am.I'll go.
NERO. You madden me——
POPPAEA. Farewell again.
NERO. Poppaea, go not, go not. All the eastBurns in me, and the desert fires my blood.I parch, I pine for you. My body is sandThat thirsts. I die, I perish of this thirst,To slake it at your lips! You madden me.
[He seizes her cloak and she stands revealed.
Goddess! What shall I give thee great enough?I'll give thee Rome—I'll give thee this great world,And all the builded empire as a toy.The Mediterranean shall thy mirror be,Thy jewels all sparkling stars of heaven.The orb of the earth—throw it on thy lapBut for a kiss—one kiss!
POPPAEA. But Agrippina?
NERO. Agrippina?
POPPAEA. No—I'll not think of it!I'll have no violence for my sake committed.If by some chance unlooked for she should die,If in some far, far time she should succumbTo creeping age—then——
NERO. Then?
EnterMESSENGERhurriedly
MESSENGER. Sir, urgent business—The State demands you.
NERO. [Furiously.] Pah!—the State!
POPPAEA. O Nero!Remember first the State—me afterward!
NERO. Empress!
[He leads her out.
[He returns and stands as in a dream while theCOUNCILLORSenter.
BURRUS. How long? How long, sir?AgrippinaIs drawing to her net the dregs of Rome,Makes mutinous the rabble and the scum.
[NEROmakes weary gesture.
SENECA. And, sir, she has not scrupled to enrollThe ragged, shrieking Christians, who wash not,The refuse of the empire, all that flowsTo this main sewer of Rome she counts upon.
TIGELLINUS. [Stealing forward.] And, sir, ifthese things move you not—a letter.
NERO. [Reading.] 'I, Agrippina, daughter of Germanicus, of Claudius widow, of Nero mother, hereby do declare that though I have sat tame under private injuries, I will not forgo my public privileges, nor consent to be banished from high festival or ceremony. I purpose then to be present at Baiae at Minerva's feast, together with the Emperor, and will hold no second place. This is my ancient right and to that right I cleave. THE AUGUSTA.'
SENECA. This is her ultimate audacity.
TIGELLINUS. And this our utmost opportunity.
NERO. Sirs, seeing that the State demands this life,Seeing that I must choose 'twixt her and Rome,I do consent to Agrippina's death.The State like Nature must be pitiless,And I must ruthless be as Nature's Lord.But I'll be no Orestes, I'll not liftThis hand against her: see you then to that!It is enough to have conceived this deed.The how, the when, the where, I leave to you.
TIGELLINUS. She is delivered now into our hands,And runs into the toils we had not set.In Baiae no Praetorians are camped,No populace inflamed in her cause;A solitary woman doth she come.Caesar, receive her graciously and well.Smile all distrust away and speak her soft,While we devise for her a noiseless doom.
ANICETUS. Caesar, a sudden thought hath come to me.A pleasure pinnace lies in Baiae BayBuilt for thyself: on this let her returnIn the deep night after Minerva's feast,Or supper given in sign of amity.I will contrive a roof weighted with leadOver the couch whereon she will recline.Once in deep water at a signal givenThe roof shall fall: and with a leak preparedThe ship shall sink and plunge her in the waves.In that uncertain water what may chance?What may not? To the elements this deedWill be imputed, to a casual gustOr striking squall upon the moody deep.
NERO. Wonderful! This gives beauty to an actWhich else were ugly and of me unworthy.So mighty is she that her proper doomCould come but by some elemental aid.Her splendid trouble asketh but the seaFor sepulchre: her spirit limitlessA multitudinous and roaring grave.Here's nothing sordid, nothing vulgar. IConsign her to the uproar whence she came.Be the crime vast enough it seems not crime.I, as befits me, call on great allies.I make a compact with the elements.And here my agents are the very winds,The waves my servants, and the night my friend.
BURRUS. Suppose the night be clear, with a bright moon,A calm sea.
NERO. On the moon I can rely.Last night I wrote to her a glimmering verse;She is white with a wan passion for my lips.The moon will succour me. Depart from me—Trouble me not with human faces now.
[ExeuntCOUNCILLORS.
[MeanwhilePOPPAEAappears behind in a gorgeous dress with white arms extended against the curtains.
Enter various servants bearing wine-jars and dishes from the inner suffer-room, in procession. ThenBURRUS, SENECA, ANICETUS,andTIGELLINUS
BURRUS. 'Tis not man's work to witness this. I have foughtNeck-deep in blood and spared not when the fitWas on me, but I cannot gaze on this.Have you a heart, old man?
TIGELLINUS. No, not in hoursLike these: the brain is all. I fear, I fear himThe last farewell—he will not bear it out!
SENECA. How to excuse my soul, yet I am here.Was this mere acting, or a true emotion?
ANICETUS. A little of both, but most, I fear it, true.
TIGELLINUS. Is all prepared and timed? No hazard left?
ANICETUS. Yonder the barge with lights and fluttering flags.The canopy whereunder AgrippinaWill sit is heavily weighted: at a signA bolt withdrawn will launch it on her head.
EnterNERO
NERO. I cannot do it: if she goes, she goes.I cannot say farewell, and kiss her lips,Ere I commit her body to the deep.
TIGELLINUS. All hangs upon the fervour of farewell,The kiss, the soft word, and the hand detained,All hangs on it; go back.
NERO. 'Tis difficult.
[NEROturns. EnterAGRIPPINA.
Come out into the cool a moment, mother.
AGRIPPINA. This seemeth like to old days come again,Evenings of Antium with a rising moon.
[Stroking his hair.
My boy, my boy, again! Look in my eyes.So as a babe would you look up at meAfter a night of tossing, half-awake,Blinking against the dawn, and pull my headDown to you, till I lost you in my hair.Do you remember many a night so thickWith stars as this—you would not go to bed,But still would paddle in the warm oceanSpraying it with small hands into the skies.
NERO. Yes, I remember.
AGRIPPINA. Or when you would sailIn a slight skiff under a moon like this,Though chidden oft and oft.
NERO. Ah! I recall it.
AGRIPPINA. A wilful child—the sea—ever the sea—Your mother could not hold you from the sea.Will you be sore if I confess a thought?
NERO. Ah! no, mother!
AGRIPPINA. So foolish it seems now.Awhile I doubted whether I should come.
NERO. Why, then?
AGRIPPINA. Now, do not laugh at me—I sayYou will not laugh at me?
NERO. No!
AGRIPPINA. Why—I thoughtThat you perhaps would kill me if I came!Truly I did!
NERO. I kill you!
AGRIPPINA. 'O,' I said,'I have wearied him: he is weary of his mother.'
NERO. Oh!
AGRIPPINA. In my ears there buzzed that prophecy—'Nero shall reign but he shall kill his mother.'
[NEROstarts.
AGRIPPINA. Now—now—I had not told you had I notBeen above measure happy. Now no moreWild words, no more mad words between us two,Who all the while are aching to be friends.O how your hands come waxen once againWithin my own: again behind your voiceThe hesitating tardy bird-like wordAnd the sweet slur of 'r's.' O but to-nightEven grandeur palls, the splendid goal: to-nightI am a woman and am with my child.
[A pause and she strains him to her.
Beautiful night that gently bringest backMother to son, and callest all thy starsTo watch it. Quiet sea that bringest peaceBetween us two. Hast thou not thought how stillThe air is as with silent pleasure? Child,Is not the night then more than common calm?
NERO. A sparkling starlight and a windless deep.
AGRIPPINA. Never until to-night did I so feelThe lure of the sea that lures me to lie downAt last after such heat. Ah, but the starsAre falling and I feel the unseen dawn.Son, I must go at once. Where is my maidTo wrap me? Sweet and warm now is the nightAnd I am glad I had prepared to goBy water, not by land.
EnterSERVANT,hurriedly
SERVANT. O Caesar!
NERO. Well?
SERVANT. Thy mother's galley by a random bargeWas struck, and now is sinking fast.
AGRIPPINA. Alas!Now must I go by land.
NERO. Yes, go by land.
[TIGELLINUSsignals toANICETUS.
ANICETUS. Yonder there lies a barge with fluttering flags,A gilded pinnace, a light pleasure-boatBuilt for you with much art and well designed.Will you return in her? Easily sheCan swing round to the landing-stage.
AGRIPPINA. Yes—yes—I'll go in her—Why not?
NERO. It was foretold——
EnterACCERONIA,who elaborately wrapsAGRIPPINA
AGRIPPINA. Nero, my maid a moment to enwrap me.As the wrapping is finished.I have slept ill of late: but I shall haveA soft and steady breeze across the bay.I shall sleep sound. Now, Nero, now good-bye.For ever we are friends?
NERO. Good-bye: yet stay!
[During this dialogue he is continually detaining her.
Have I been kind, this last hour? Say.
AGRIPPINA. Most kind.
NERO. You have no need to go this moment—oneMore moment of thee, mother.
AGRIPPINA. You shall see meTo-morrow. Will you cross the bay to me,Or shall I come to you?
NERO. I'll come to youTo-morrow! Ah! to-morrow! But to-night.Now let me have you once more in my arms.[Detaining her.Is old Cynisca with you still?
AGRIPPINA. [Going.] She is.
NERO. Stay, stay, give her this ring: she nursed me.
AGRIPPINA. Yes.I see you have my amulet.
NERO. O yes.
AGRIPPINA. So bright the night you'll see me all the wayAcross the shining water.
NERO. [Clinging to her.] O farewell!
AGRIPPINA. [Descends to water.]Good-night, child! I shall see you then to-morrow.Already it hath dawned.
NERO. Mother, good-night.
[ExitAGRIPPINA.
TIGELLINUS. [To crew in barge.]Strike up the music there, a joyous strain!And sing, you boatmen; the Augusta comes.
[Sounds of joyful music are heard, and singing, as the pinnaceputs off with measured beat of oars.
NERO. It hath put off: she hath gone: she sitteth happy.See, the dead woman waves her hand to me.Now the bark turns the headland.
ANICETUS. But will soonSteal into sight, well out upon the bay.
TIGELLINUS. Caesar, let none deny thou art an actor.
NERO. [Passionately.] Was I all actor then?That which I feignedI felt, and when it was my cue to kiss her,The whole of childhood rushed into the kiss.When it was in my part to cling about her,I clung about her mad with memories.The water in my eyes rose from my soul,And flooding from the heart ran down my cheek.Did my voice tremble? Then it trembled trueWith human agony behind the art.Gods! What a scene!
TIGELLINUS. Listen!
ANICETUS. She is well out,Glassed in the bay with all her lights and flags.Soon will a crash and cry come in our ears.
NERO. [Going out.] How calm the night when I would have it wild!Aloof and bright which should have rushed to meHither with aid of thunder, screen of lightning!I looked for reinforcement from the sky.Arise, you veiling clouds; awake, you winds,And stifle with your roaring human cries.Not a breath upon my cheek! I gasp for air.[ToOTHERS.] Do you suppose the very elementsAre conscious of the workings of this mind?So careful not to seem to share my guilt?Yet dark is the record of wind and wave;This ocean that creeps fawning to our feetComes purring o'er a million wrecks and bones.If the cold moon hath sinned not, she hath been privy.She aids me not, but watches quietly.A placid sea, still air, and bright starlight.
ANICETUS. But Caesar, see, a gradual cloud hath spreadOver the moon; the ship's light disappears.She is vanished.
NERO. She is veiled from sight.
TIGELLINUS. My eyesCan find her not; she is enwrapped in mist.
SENECA. A dimness and no more.
BURRUS. And silence.
NERO. Hush!How wonderful this waiting and this pause.Could one convey this in the theatre?This deep suspense, this breathlessness? Perhaps.The air weighs on the brain——what sound was that?
TIGELLINUS. Nothing, sir.
NERO. In this thrill a leaf would thunder.
[A pause.
I never noted so exactly howThe shadow of that cypress falls aslantUpon the dark bank yonder.
BURRUS. Would it were over!
NERO. Feel you no shuddering pleasure in this pause?But me this fraught expectancy allures;The tingling stillness, for each moment nowThe crash, a cry, may come, but it comes not.
TIGELLINUS. Anicetus, have you bungled?
[A cry is heard far off, and a crash, then silence.
NERO. It is done.I cannot look: peer seaward, one of you—What do you see?
SENECA. Darkness, and veiled stars.
NERO. Is there no shimmer of a floating robe?Pierce through the darkness!
BURRUS. Nothing visible.
NERO. I seem to see her lying amid shells,And strange sea-things come round her wondering,Inspecting her with cold and rheumy eyes.The water sways her helpless up and down.
BURRUS. Caesar, you have no further need of me?
NERO. [Dreamily.] No, sir.
BURRUS. Good-night, and pleasant be thy dreams.
SENECA. Or me?
NERO. No, no!
SENECA. At least bear witness, sir,I had no hand in this: but was compelled,A loth spectator, to behold thy deed!
ANICETUS. Caesar, you'll not forget the service done?
NERO. Never shall I forget thee, Anicetus.Leave me alone.
[Exeunt all butTIGELLINUS,who creeps back again.
TIGELLINUS. Sole master of the world!Caesar at last: the Emperor of the earth,Now thou art free—to write immortal verse,To give thy genius wing, to strike the stars.And thou hast made this tragic sacrifice,Slaying what is most dear, most close to thee,To give thy being vent and utterance.Apollo shall reward thee for this deed.
NERO. Go to thy room, old man, and—wilt thou sleep?
TIGELLINUS. Already I am drowsing; early thenTo-morrow I will come to you.
NERO. Good-night.
TIGELLINUS. Caesar, good-night.
[ExitTIGELLINUS.
[Thunder heard.
NERO. Ah! thunder! thou art comeAt last, too late! What catches at my heart?I—I—her boy, her baby that was, even IHave killed her: where I sucked there have I struck.Mother! Mother! [He drinks.The anguish of it hath taken hold of me,And I am gripped by Nature. O, it comesUpon me, this too natural remorse.I faint! I flinch from the raw agony!I cannot face this common human throe!Ah! Ah! the crude stab of reality!I am a son, and I have killed my mother!Why! I am now no more than him who tillsOr reaps: and I am seized by primal pangs.Mother! [He drinks.The thunder crieth motherless.Ah! how this sword of lightning thrusts at me!O, all the artist in my soul is shattered,And I am hurled into humanity,Back to the sweat and heart-break of mankind.I am broken upon the jagged spurs of the earth.I can no more endure it. Mother!
[He drinks again, walking distractedly to and fro, not looking seaward. But as he at last turns, slowly out from the sea appears the figure ofAGRIPPINAwith dripping hair, who comes slowly towards him in silence.
[He cries aloud and falls in a swoon. She comes and looks at him.
AGRIPPINA. Child!
[She stoops, removes the amulet from his arm, flings it into the sea, and passes out in silence.
NERO. [Slowly.] Dawn! In the night o'er-past a lightning flash!Ah! I remember—here my mother's ghostStood—on this very ground—I feel the airStill 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.
EnterTIGELLINUS
TIGELLINUS. Caesar at last! Sole master of the world!
NERO. O Tigellinus, in the mid of night,The spirit of my whelmed mother stoleHither 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 bayMaintains its everlasting memory.This privy region saw, and it shall seeFor ever what was done. The amulet!Filched from me! Was it then a ghost I saw?
EnterSEAMANhurriedly, followed byBURRUS
SEAMAN. Caesar, my news must plead for this intrusion.I was aboard the ship whereon the AugustaSet sail: when the roof fell, thy mother's maidCried 'Save me! I am the Emperor's mother!'StraightCrushed under many a blow, she dropped and died.But silently thy mother AgrippinaSlid from the ship into the water and swamShoreward. With white and jewelled arms she thrustOut 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 goldAs 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 shoreYearned 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 twoNight-wandering fishermen. These two, it seems,Had borne her in their boat across the bayTo her own villa.
NERO. [Falling hysterically on neck ofSEA-MAN.]I am no murderer then!
TIGELLINUS. Have you considered, sir, what now may urgeThy mother, Agrippina, knowing all,Seeing that by no chance or accidentOr sudden flurry of the ocean floorThe 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 attemptA 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 captivityWorthy the captive let her day decline.
[Shouts without: enterBURRUS.
BURRUS. Caesar, great news I bring: the ArmenianLies helpless on Tigranocerta's plainO'erwhelmed by Corbulo, and the huge hostDissolved. Armenia lies beneath your feet:Rome yearns to welcome you.
NERO. To Rome I goFree-souled and guiltless of a mother's blood,Resume the accustomed feast, the race, the song,And I shall be received with public joyAnd clamour of congratulating Rome.
[Great cheering without: exitNERO.
[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—
EnterANICETUSat 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 seaBungled—Now on the land retrieve the error.To you we look.
EnterPOPPAEAfrom behind and stands listening
ANICETUS. My error is repairedAlready. I first heard the Augusta lived,And instantly despatched a faithful troopTo 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, thenHark for two trumpet-calls across the bay:If they have found her and have slain her, thenHark 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.LastlyNERO.
TIGELLINUS. Now as a conqueror in triumphant veinRide 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 RomeJoyous I go, for Agrippina lives.
[A great triumphal shout swells up again, and to the sound of military music, NEROand the procession pass off. MeanwhileTIGELLINUSis left in a listening attitude. POPPAEAstands breathless at back. There is a pause. Then a trumpet-call is heard far off; a second; and a third. POPPAEArushes toTIGELLINUSand clasps his hand.
EnterSENECA, BURRUS,andPHYSICIAN
SENECA. How dark the future of the Empire glooms!
BURRUS. Now the Gaul mutters: the PraetoriansSullenly snarl.
SENECA. The Christians privilyConspire.
BURRUS. The legions waver and whisper too.
SENECA. [ToPHYSICIAN.] What of the Emperor?
PHYSICIAN. Through CampaniaHe rushes: and distracted to and froWould fly now here, now there; behind each woeHe 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 lookHer last upon the glory of the earth.
[ExeuntSENECA, BURRUS,andPHYSICIAN.
[POPPAEAenters, supported by handmaids. She takes a long lookat 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 loathesSickness 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 hairRolling about me like a lighted seaWhich was my glory and the theme of the earth,Look! Must this go? The grave shall have these eyesWhich were the bliss of burning Emperors.After what time, what labour the high godsBuilded the body of this beauty up!Now at a whim they shatter it! More light!I'll catch the last of the sun.
EnterSLAVE
SLAVE. Mistress, belowThe 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. [ExitSLAVE.Now, Myrrha, watch her hungering eyes.
EnterACTE,ushered bySLAVE
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 dreamedThat I was leaving you upon his bosom—But no: let there be peace between us two.
[ACTEcomes 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 cupAfterward can you offer to these lips?
ACTE. Of late there has been stealing on my mindA 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 crownWere 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 believeThere 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!