The Project Gutenberg eBook, Nero, by Stephen Phillips
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Nero
Author: Stephen Phillips
Release Date: March 8, 2008 [eBook #24785]
Language: English
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NERO***
E-text prepared by Al Haines
NERO
by
STEPHEN PHILLIPS
Author of "The Sin of David"
London
MacMillan and Co., Limited
New York: The MacMillan Company
1906
All rights reserved
Copyright, 1906, by the MacMillan Company
CHARACTERS
NERO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Emperor of Rome.
BRITANNICUS . . . . . . . . . . Nero's Half-Brother.
OTHO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A Young Noble.
SENECA . . . . . . . . . . . . ) ) BURRUS . . . . . . . . . . . . ) ) Ministers of State. TIGELLINUS . . . . . . . . . . ) ) ANICETUS . . . . . . . . . . . )
A SEAMAN.
PARTHIAN CHIEF.
BRITISH CHIEF.
XENOPHON . . . . . . . . . . . . A Physician.
SLAVE TO NERO.
AGRIPPINA . . . . . . . . . . . Nero's Mother.
OCTAVIA . . . . . . . . . . . . Sister to Britannicus.
POPPAEA . . . . . . . . . . . . Wife to Otho, afterwards to Nero.
ACTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . A Captive Princess.
LOCUSTA . . . . . . . . . . . . A Poisoner.
MYRRHA . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maid to Poppaea.
HANDMAIDENS, SPIES, ETC.
Five years elapse between Acts I. and II., two years between Acts III. and IV.
ACT I
SCENE.—The scene is in the Great Hall in the Palace of the Caesars. At the back are steps leading to a platform with balustrade opening on the air, and beyond, a view of the city.
[On the right of the stage is a cedarn couch on which CLAUDIUS is uneasily sleeping. On the right is a door communicating with the inner apartments. On the left a door communicating with the outer halls.
[XENOPHON is standing by the couch of CLAUDIUS. AGRIPPINA is sitting with face turned to an ASTROLOGER, who stands at the top of the steps watching the stars.
[LOCUSTA is crouching beside a pillar, right. A meteor strikes across the sky. The ASTROLOGER, pointing upwards, comes down the steps slowly.
ASTROLOGER. These meteors flame the dazzling doom of kings.
[AGRIPPINA rises apprehensively.
XENOPHON. Caesar is dead!
AGRIPPINA. The drug hath found his heart.
[To LOCUSTA, who steals forward.
Locusta, take your price and steal away!
Sound on the trumpet. Go! your part is done.
[Exit LOCUSTA.
[Trumpet is sounded.
That gives the sign to the Praetorians
Upon the instant of the Emperor's death.
[Answering trumpets are heard.
Hark! trumpets answering through all the city.
Xenophon, you and I are in this death
Eternally bound. This husband have I slain
To lift unto the windy chair of the world
Nero, my son. Your silence I will buy
With endless riches; but a hint divulged——
XENOPHON. O Agrippina, Empress, fear not me!
AGRIPPINA. Meantime his child, his heir, Britannicus,
Must not be seen lest he be clamoured for.
So till the sad Chaldean give the sign
Of that so yearned for, favourable hour,
When with good omens may my son succeed,
The sudden death of Claudius must be hid!
Then on the instant Nero be proclaimed
And Rome awake on an accomplished deed.
XENOPHON. Then summon Claudius' musicians in
To play unto the dead as though he breathed.
AGRIPPINA. Call them! A lulling music let them bring.
[Exit XENOPHON.
[She turns to ASTROLOGER.
O thou who readest all the scroll of the sky,
Stands it so sure Nero my son shall reign?
ASTROLOGER. Nero shall reign.
AGRIPPINA. What lurks behind these words?
There is a 'but' still hovering in the stars.
ASTROLOGER. Nero shall reign.
AGRIPPINA. The half! I'll know the rest.
ASTROLOGER. Peer not for peril!
AGRIPPINA. Peril! His or mine?
ASTROLOGER. Thine then.
AGRIPPINA. I will know all, however dark.
Finish what did so splendidly begin.
ASTROLOGER. Nero shall reign, but he shall kill his mother.
AGRIPPINA. Kill me, but reign!
Enter SENECA
SENECA. The trumpet summoned me,
And I am here.
AGRIPPINA. Seneca! Speak it low!
Caesar is dead! Nero shall climb the throne.
SENECA. I will not ask the manner of his death.
In studious ease I have protested much
Against the violent taking of a life.
But lost in action I perceive at last
That they who stand so high can falter not,
But live beyond the reaches of our blame;
That public good excuses private guile.
AGRIPPINA. You, Xenophon and Burrus, stand with me.
Enter BURRUS, right. He salutes the corse of CLAUDIUS
BURRUS. Obedient to the trumpet-call I come.
AGRIPPINA. Say, Burrus, quickly say, how stands our cause
With the Praetorians who unmake and make Emperors?
BURRUS. The Praetorians are staunch,
And they are marching now upon the Palace.
AGRIPPINA. Will they have Nero?
BURRUS. Yes, and double pay.
There is a murmuring minority
Who toss about the name Britannicus.
These may be feared; let Nero scatter gold
There where dissension rises—it will cease.
Their signal when they shall surround the Palace,
The gleam of my unsheathed sword to the dawn.
AGRIPPINA. Stand there until I have from him the sign,
Then let thy sword gleam upward to the dawn.
[Turning and pointing to body of CLAUDIUS.
That is my work! Also, I must betroth
Nero unto the young Octavia,
And with the dead man's daughter mate my son.
This marriage sets him firmer on the
And foils the party of Britannicus.
[To BURRUS.] You for the army answerable stand.
[To SENECA.] And, Seneca, I have entrusted Nero's mind
To you, to point an eaglet to the sun.
Nero? What does he?
SENECA. Nero knows not yet
That Claudius is dead. Rome hath not slept,
But to the torch-lit circus all have run
To see him victor in a chariot race,
Whence he is now returning. A night race
By burning torches is his newest whim.
AGRIPPINA. A torch-lit race! And yet why not? My child
Should climb all virgin to the throne of the earth,
Not conscious of spilt blood: and I meantime
Will sway the deep heart of the mighty world.
The peril is Britannicus: for Nero,
Careless of empire, strings but verse to verse.
How shall this dove attain the eagle cry?
SENECA. Be not so sure of Nero's harmlessness.
AGRIPPINA. What do you mean?
SENECA. By me he has been taught,
And I have watched him. True, the harp, the song,
The theatre, delight this dreamer: true,
He lives but in imaginations: yet
Suppose this aesthete made omnipotent,
Feeling there is no bar he cannot break,
Knowing there is no bound he cannot pass;
Might he not then despise the written page,
A petty music, and a puny scene?
Conceive a spectacle not witnessed yet,
When he, an artist in omnipotence,
Uses for colour this red blood of ours,
Composes music out of dreadful cries,
His orchestra our human agonies,
His rhythms lamentations of the ruined,
His poet's fire not circumscribed by words,
But now translated into burning cities,
His scenes the lives of men, their deaths a drama,
His dream the desolation of mankind,
And all this pulsing world his theatre.
[Steps heard without.
The dead man's children startled from their sleep!
Britannicus, Octavia, wondering.
AGRIPPINA. Till the auspicious hour he is not dead.
OCTAVIA and BRITANNICUS enter
OCTAVIA. We could not sleep: father is very sick.
We fancied every moment that he called us.
BRITANNICUS. And then these meteors full of coming woe——
OCTAVIA. So brilliant and so silent! O, I fear them.
BRITANNICUS. Is father yet awake? We want to ask him——
[THEY approach the couch. AGRIPPINA interposes.
AGRIPPINA. Do not disturb your father for this night.
OCTAVIA. We will not speak, nor make the smallest sound
To wake him. We must kiss him ere we sleep.
AGRIPPINA. Children, he is in need of some long rest. Go back to bed: your father sleepeth sound.
BRITANNICUS. I will go in to him, I will—and you
Are not our mother. By what privilege
Do you thus interpose yourself between
A father and his children?
AGRIPPINA. Would you then
Trouble him, when to sleep is all he asks?
OCTAVIA. Only a moment! But to see him!
AGRIPPINA. No!
Come softly back to bed! no—no—this way!
Britannicus, with the first peer of light
You shall behold your father; but not now.
So the physician, Xenophon, enjoined me.
Now take Octavia's hand—so, both of you.
[OCTAVIA holds her face to be kissed.
To-night I think I will not kiss you, child.
Good-night, good-night.
[Exit OCTAVIA and BRITANNICUS.
SENECA. How often have I taught
And written, 'Children shall not be beguiled
Even for good ends.' And yet, the single lie
Must, for the general good, be spoken; yet——
[MUSICIANS meanwhile have entered, and are playing dreamy music. AGRIPPINA turns to ASTROLOGER, holding out her arms.
AGRIPPINA. How long till Rome shall greet her Emperor?
ASTROLOGER. Behold the heavens! The moment!
[Exit ASTROLOGER.
AGRIPPINA. Give the sign!
[Sounds of acclamation and cries of 'Nero.' BURRUS draws his sword.
BURRUS. See the Praetorians!
SENECA. Nero returns.
Enter a HERALD gorgeously dressed, bearing
a silver wreath
MESSENGER. From Nero unto Agrippina greeting!
He comes a victor from the chariot race.
[Sounds of acclamation grow louder, the crowd of NERO'S friends and satellites pours in: last comes NERO dressed as a charioteer.
AGRIPPINA. [Touching CLAUDIUS' body.]
That music be a dirge: Caesar is dead.
[NERO pauses wondering.
Claudius is dead. Reign thou. Ave Caesar!
[BURRUS leads NERO to back of platform, and
addresses the soldiers at back.
BURRUS. Caesar is dead! Behold Caesar!
[A great shout of 'NERO!' 'CAESAR!' Meanwhile AGRIPPINA and SENECA are listening close together. Discordant cries are heard of 'BRITANNICUS!' A slave or attendant on NERO scatters gold in the direction of these discordant cries, which gradually subside, and are lost in one long shout of 'Nero, Imperator.' NERO motions for silence.
NERO. [Turning to Court.] Behold this forest of uprisen spears,
Symbol of might! But I upon that might
Would not rely. You hail me Emperor—
Then hail me as an Emperor of peace.
First, I declare divinest clemency.
No deaths have I to avenge, no wrath to bribe,
No desperate followers clamouring for spoil;
Pardon from me may beautifully fall.
Next, I bestow full liberty of speech;
I will not sway a dumb indignant earth—
Emperor over the unuttered curse.
Were I myself the mark, I will not flinch.
Yet citizens, if freedom of the tongue
I grant, I'd wish less freedom of the feast.
Then all informers who lie life away
I'll heavily chastise; let no man think
With hinted scandal to employ mine ear.
Last, over all my earth be perfect trust,
That every tribe and people, dusk or pale,
Legions extreme and farthest provinces,
May know that this my hand which striketh down
The oppressor and the tyrant from his seat
Shall raise the afflicted and exalt the meek.
And if this burden grow too vast at times,
Then, mother, teach thy son to bear the load.
[Exit Court.
AGRIPPINA. [Rushing to embrace him. He is vested with the purple and laurel wreath. The body of CLAUDIUS is borne off. Exit BURRUS. NERO comes down.] Nero, thou art my son!
NERO. To rule the world.
How heavy is the sceptre of the earth!
AGRIPPINA.
This amulet. One dawn two murderers
Despatched to kill thee, stealing to thy bed
Were frightened by a snake which from beneath
Thy pillow glided. From that serpent's skin
I made this charm. Wear it, and thou shalt prosper;
But lose it, look thou for calamities.
SENECA. [Prepares to go also.] You will
need sleep, sir, for to-morrow's task.
NERO. [In terror.] I am not pale? Not heavy-eyed?
SENECA. No! No!
NERO. An artist, whatsoever mood he rouse
In others, should himself be ever still.
Where is a mirror?
SENECA. Sir, one graver word.
To-morrow when you first shall sit in judgment,
And set your name unto the scroll of death——
NERO. [Gazing at himself in mirror.] Ah!
Must I sign death-warrants? Then I wish
This hand had never learned to write.
SENECA. Dear pupil!
AGRIPPINA. Your pupil now the awful purple wears.
You tremble but to grasp the pen! But they
Who dyed it thus, feared not to grip the brand.
NERO. [Again looking in mirror.] It is an act to me unbeautiful.
To scatter joy, not sadness, was I born.
AGRIPPINA. It is an act to you most necessary,
If you would sit secure where I have set you.
Now the light things of boyhood, toys of youth,
Unworthy that stern seat, you must discard.
Acte, the playmate of those careless hours,
Henceforth must be forgotten: you shall wed
A royal consort—young Octavia,
The child of Claudius, of the imperial line.
SENECA. My peaceful counsel you will not forget.
NERO. [Turning to SENECA, affectionately.]
Old friend, I am not like to wade in blood,
Thee at my side! I think upon the dooms
Of Julius, Caius, and Tiberius,
All Emperors—all miserably slain.
SENECA. This dawn art thou the master of the world;
Then tremble at the task to thee assigned.
Meekly receive the purple and the wreath,
And on thy knees accept omnipotence.
Good-night, dear pupil! May my teaching lead
Thy solemn opportunity aright!
[Exit SENECA.
NERO. You powers sustain me to endure this weight!
Mother, I shall go mad!
AGRIPPINA. Not while this hand
Is on thy brow, and this voice in thine ear.
NERO. To rule the world!
AGRIPPINA. We two will rule the world.
NERO. We two?
AGRIPPINA. When you have need of me, then call me.
NERO. I ever shall. I need you at this moment
More even than when my toothless gums did fumble
About thy breast in darkness of the night.
AGRIPPINA. My dear, dear son! And
Nero, well I know
That you could never hurt or injure me.
But you will not forget who set you here—
You will not, tell me?
NERO. Never, mother, never!
AGRIPPINA. Mothers for children have dared much, and more
Have suffered; but what mother hath so scarred
Her soul for the dear fruit of her body as I?
Thy birth-pang was the least of all the throes
That I for thee have suffered—a brief pain,
A little, little pain we share with creatures;
But what was this to torments of the mind,
The dark, imperial meditations,
Musing with eyes half-closed in moonless night;
The crimes—yes, crimes, the blood that has been spilt—
Why, I have made a way for thee through ghosts.
Nero, you'll not forget?
NERO. Ah! Never, never!
AGRIPPINA. My son, this very night it was foretold
'Nero shall reign, but he shall kill his mother.'
Tell me the stars have lied.
NERO. [Smiling.] The stars have lied.
Enter BURRUS
BURRUS. The pass-word, sir, to-night?
NERO. The best of mothers.
AGRIPPINA. Kiss me; we both of us must sleep awhile.
[Exit AGRIPPINA. NERO goes up, gazing out on the city as the dawn comes on greyly.
NERO. O, all the earth to-night into these hands
Committed! I bow down beneath the load,
Empurpled in a lone omnipotence.
My softest whisper thunders in the sky,
And in my frown the temples sway and reel,
And the utmost isles are anguished. I but raise
An eyelid, and a continent shall cower;
My finger makes the city a solitude,
The murmuring metropolis a silence,
And kingdoms pine in my dispeopling nod.
I can dispearl the sea, a province wear
Upon my little finger; all the winds
Are busy blowing odours in mine eyes,
And I am wrapt in glory by the sun,
And I am lit by splendours of the moon,
And diadem'd by glittering midnight.
O wine of the world, the odour and gold of it!
There is no thirst which I may not assuage;
There is no hunger which I may not sate;
Nought is forbidden me under heaven!
[With a cry.] I shall go mad! I shall go mad!
[ACTE steals in noiselessly, and waits till he turns, then
comes down to him.
My Acte!
ACTE. [Shrinking.] O, I seem so far from you,
And so beneath you now; your care henceforth
The world and nothing less. Long have you been
Nero to me, but Caesar must be now
High throned, the nations crawling at your feet.
And yet be sure that if on some far day
The throne should pass from you; if you should stand
Lonely at last; your friends all fallen away
From you; the laurel upon other brows
Set; were you dyed in blood deep as the robe
That folds you; were you dead in rags reposing,
Yet would I find you, cover up your face,
Taking the last kiss from your lips, and I
Would gently bury you within the earth.
NERO. Ah!
ACTE. And though none came nigh you, being dead,
Who were in life so thronged about and pressed,
One hand at least would duly pluck you flowers,
One hand at least would strew them on your grave.
Sleep now, and I will charm these eyes to close.
[She takes a harp, and as she plays NERO drops off to sleep. She, seeing him so, softly kisses him and noiselessly disappears. Meanwhile NERO turns uneasily in his sleep, and a procession of dead Emperors passes—JULIUS, covering his face, but withdrawing his cloak to gaze a while on NERO; TIBERIUS; CAIUS wounded; CLAUDIUS holding a cup. NERO rushes forward, uttering a cry. ACTE again re-enters at the sound.
Nero, what ails you? Nero, how the drops
Stand on your brow!
NERO. There, there, I seemed to see
As in procession the dead Emperors:
All bloody, and all pacing that same path.
ACTE. [Trying to lead him on the opposite way.]
There is another path, will you but take it.
[NERO is led by her a little way, then hesitates, still gazing after the procession of Emperors. Gradually he looses ACTE'S hand, and she leaves him, gazing.
ACT II
SCENE.—The same, but signs of excessive luxury and profusion. Rich carpets, gilded pillars, etc. As the scene opens, strange oriental music is heard, with singing. GIRLS enter slowly and place wreaths round the various statues of NERO, who is depicted now as Apollo singing, now as a charioteer.
[ACTE is reclining on a couch. The time is broad
noon. A faint exotic odour pervades the palace.
1ST MAIDEN. O Lydia, I am drowsing, and my hands
Can scarcely wreathe the Emperor as Apollo.
2ND MAIDEN. Ah, crown this carefully!
To-day he sings
In public; as Apollo will return
So crowned, so garbed.
1ST MAIDEN. How is that wreath disposed?
2ND MAIDEN. Excellent!
3RD MAIDEN. O please tell me how to droop These scarlet flowers.
2ND MAIDEN. About the lyre then, thus.
4TH MAIDEN. This bust now of the Emperor as a boy?
1ST MAIDEN. O, covered with white flowers and birds of spring.
5TH MAIDEN. This charioteer: with green I have dressed that.
3RD MAIDEN. Yes, for the Emperor's colour is the green.
1ST MAIDEN. Now all the busts are wreathed.
2ND MAIDEN. What more to do?
1ST MAIDEN. All is arranged. How heavy are my eyes.
3RD MAIDEN. And this low music on my spirit hangs.
4TH MAIDEN. And the faint odour steals upon my hair.
1ST MAIDEN. [Moving up and leaning out.
See, all the city is a solitude.
2ND MAIDEN. All Rome is gathered in the theatre
To hear the Emperor sing.
5TH MAIDEN. O, I should sleep
On such a noon, in such a throng.
1ST MAIDEN. That sleep
Would have no wakening, if your eyes but closed
While Caesar sang.
4TH MAIDEN. To-night there is a feast.
Have you remembered?
3RD MAIDEN. Yes, the dancing girls
From Egypt are arrived.
1ST MAIDEN. We are to strew
Down from the ceiling flowers upon the guests.
[They recline in various attitudes about the seats and pillars.
Enter SENECA and BURRUS
BURRUS. Ah, Seneca, five years since Nero climbed
The throne; and in this very chamber, now
So changed, this odour—pah! This was the place,
Grim, bare, for military virtues apt.
SENECA. And he how changed! The boy who dreamed so high
Of mightiest empire and unmeasured peace,
All I had taught him lost; by flattery sapped,
Jewelled and clothed as from the Orient,
He sings and struts with dancers and buffoons.
ACTE. [Starting up.] And you, when have you two dissuaded him?
Or when forbidden? Do you teach him shun
Languor or luxury? You lure him thither.
SENECA. 'Tis true that we have not dissuaded him,
But out of high deliberate policy
Have suffered him to tread the path of folly
Rather than mischief. We have ruled the world
With wisdom these five years while he has played.
ACTE. What of Poppaea, Otho's wife. Have you
Restrained that madness? Rather have you not
Screened it and fed it?
SENECA. With the same design;
Better that he should vent his madness thus
In pastime to the State not perilous,
Amuse himself with her rather than Rome.
ACTE. A woman without pity, beautiful.
She makes the earth we tread on false, the heaven
A merest mist, a vapour. Yet her face
Is as the face of a child uplifted, pure;
But plead with lightning rather than those eyes,
Or earthquake rather than that gentle bosom
Rising and falling near thy heart. Her voice
Comes running on the ear as a rivulet;
Yet if you hearken, you shall hear behind
The breaking of a sea whose waves are souls
That break upon a human-crying beach.
Ever she smileth, yet hath never smiled,
And in her lovely laughter is no joy.
Yet hath none fairer strayed into the world,
Or wandered in more witchery through the air,
Since she who drew the dreaming keels of Greece
After her over the Ionian foam.
BURRUS. Better an Emperor fooled than Rome undone!
ACTE. Though all unite to drive him to his doom,
Yet I will not forsake him till he die.
[Exit ACTE.
[Meanwhile there is an uneasy movement among the GIRLS, as at the approach of something sinister. TIGELLINUS enters, gasping.
TIGELLINUS. [Looking after ACTE.] She is a Christian!
BURRUS. Tigellinus!
TIGELLINUS. I
Come from the theatre. For three hours have sat
In the first bench, and feared to wink or cough.
The Emperor sang, and had for audience
The flower of Rome. In torment did we sit,
Nobles and consuls, captains, senators,
Bursting to laugh and aching but to smile.
Higher and higher rose the Emperor's voice,
But no man ventured to relax his lips.
And all around were those who peered or crept,
Inspecting each man's face, noting his look.
To sigh was treason and to laugh was death,
And yet none dared be absent: how were you
Excused?
BURRUS. I pleaded the old wound.
SENECA. And I
Reception of the Parthian and the Briton.
TIGELLINUS. I
Say not so much against his moody freaks,
But to be called from bed to hear him sing—
O, I must have my sleep at night—well, well—
To graver things. Still the conspiracy
Of Agrippina swells: she aims to make
Her son a toy, a puppet, while she pulls
Unseen the secret strings of policy.
SENECA. Is't not enough to bear upon her back
Stripped continents? To clasp about her throat
A civilisation in a sapphire, or
That kingdoms gleam and glow upon her brow.
Now doth she overstar us like the night
In splendour. Now she rises on our eyes
Dawning in gold; or like the blaze of noon
Taketh our breath on a sudden; or she glides
Silent, from head to foot a glimmering pearl.
But this is woman's business: 'tis not so
To listen screened to the ambassadors,
To ride abroad with Nero charioted,
Or wear her head upon the
TIGELLINUS. And she intends this very day to hear
The Briton, seated by the Emperor's side.
Otho has joined her too.
SENECA. But from what cause?
TIGELLINUS. He is married.
BURRUS. Ah, Poppaea!
TIGELLINUS. Jealousy
Hath driven him into Agrippina's snare.
Fury at Nero's madness for his wife.
Now what if we could raise Poppaea up
As Agrippina's chief antagonist:
We match the mistress 'gainst the mother—pit
Passion 'gainst gratitude—a sudden lure
'Gainst old ascendency, the noon of beauty
Against the evening of authority,
The luring whisper 'gainst the pleading voice,
The hand that beckons 'gainst the arm that sways,
And set a woman to defeat a woman.
To Nero I have whispered that she dotes
Upon his poems, on his rhythm hangs,
And cannot sleep for beauty of his verse.
SENECA. This day must Nero leave his mother's lap,
And stand up as an Emperor, and alone.
[Trumpet.
BURRUS. Hark! Caesar is returning.
[Sounds heard of NERO approaching amid cries of 'O thou Apollo!' 'Orpheus come again!' Then enter NERO with a group of satellites, TIGELLINUS, OTHO, and professional applauders and spies. His dress is of extreme oriental richness, and profuse in jewels: his hair elaborately curled. He carries an emerald eye-glass, and appears faint from the exertion of singing, from which contest he has just come.
NERO. This languor is the penalty the gods
Exact from those whom they have gifted high.
SENECA. [Coming forward.] Sir, late arrived
from Parthia and Britain——
NERO. [Starting up.] A draught!
[Much hurry, zeal, and confusion among courtiers.
This kerchief closer round my throat!
[They tie a kerchief round his throat.
Was I in voice to-day? The prize is won,
But I would be my own competitor
And my own rival. Was I then in voice?
CHORUS. O Memnon struck with morning, nightingale,
Ghost-charming Orpheus, O Apollo—god!
SATELLITE. O Caesar, I am one who speaks right out;
If it means death, yet must I speak the truth.
Thy voice was harsh.
NERO. Was it so, friend?
SATELLITE. Harsh and uncertain. Had it been another
Who sang, it would have ravished every ear,
But thee must I remember at thy best,
And what in others we count excellence
In thee we count a lapse, and falling off.
NERO. There's a good fellow!
SENECA. Caesar!
NERO. But a moment!
1ST SPY. [Stealing forward.] Licinius smiled, sir, at thy final note.
NERO. Nothing! an artist must bear ridicule.
Were I incensed, I were ridiculous
Myself.
1ST SPY. Shall nothing then be done?
NERO. Nothing!
2ND SPY. [Stealing forward.] Sir, Labienus, in thy second song Coughed twice.
ANOTHER SPY. [Cringing.] Nay, Caesar, thrice.
2ND SPY. What punishment?
NERO. None! Interruption must I learn to bear.
What patience must we own who would excel!
Anger I never must permit myself,
Or ruffling littleness to this great soul.
3RD SPY. [Creeping forward.] Sir, Titus
Cassius yawned while thou didst sing.
4TH SPY. Nay, Caesar, worse, he slept, and must he live?
NERO. [Gently.] No! he must die: there is no hope in sleep.
Witness, you gods, who sent me on the earth
To be a joy to men: and witness you
Who stand around: if ever a small malice
Hath governed me: what critic have I feared?
What rival? Have I used this mighty throne
To baulk opinion or suppress dissent?
Have I not toiled for art, forsworn food, sleep,
And laboured day and night to win the crown,
Lying with weight of lead upon my chest?
Ye gods, there is no rancour in this soul.
[Thunder.
Silence while I am speaking. He must die,
Because he is unmindful of your gifts
And of the golden voice on me bestowed,
To me no credit; and he shall not die
Hopeless, for ere he die I'll sing to him
This night, that he may pass away in music.
How foolish will he peer amid the shades
When Orpheus asks, 'Hast thou heard Nero sing?'
If he must answer 'No!' I would not have him
Arrive ridiculous amid the dead.
SENECA. Caesar, the Parthian and the British chiefs.
NERO. I cannot, sirs, so suddenly return
Unto life's dreary business, or descend
Out of the real to the unreal: from that
Which is to that which is not. Leave me still.
From art to empire is too swift a drop.
OTHO. Now what to do? Still drags the o'erlong day.
We have driven, we have eaten, we have drunk.
But all the brilliance is a burden still.
ANICETUS. No cloud upon the noon of this despair.
O for some edge, some thrill unknown!
LUCAN. Remorse?
[NERO shakes his head.
SENECA. Jealousy then?
NERO. No, no—we have outlived
All passions: terror now alone is left us.
I have within me great capacities
For terror: fear, the last, the greatest passion!
OTHO. Can one rely on death for something new?
Some other life perhaps.
SENECA. The gods forbid!
The Power that sent us here would lead us there.
One sample is enough.
LUCAN. Death's a dull business,
Of that one may be sure. What says the poet?
'When I am dead, let fire devour the world.'
[NERO starts at these words and comes among them.
NERO. Nay, while I live! The sight! A burning world!
And to be dead and miss it! There's an end
Of all satiety: such fire imagine!
Born in some obscure alley of the poor,
Then leaping to embrace a splendid street,
Palaces, temples, morsels that but whet
Her appetite: the eating of huge forests:
Then with redoubled fury rushing high,
Smacking her lips over a continent,
And licking old civilisations up!
Then in tremendous battle fire and sea
Joined: and the ending of the mighty sea:
Then heaven in conflagration, stars like cinders
Falling in tempest: then the reeling poles
Crash: and the smouldering firmament subsides,
And last, this universe a single flame!
[OTHO, seeing the steward and musician,
who have entered, speaks.
OTHO. Nothing is left us but to eat and drink.
[Takes bill of fare which the steward passes to him.
NERO. The
[Takes bill of fare from OTHO.
You understand that in the perfect feast
To please the palate only is not art,
But we should minister to the eye and the ear
With colour and with music. Introduce
The embattled oysters with a melody
Of waves that wash a reef—whence do they come?
STEWARD. From Britain, sir.
NERO. Perhaps an angrier chord
Of island surf might be permitted then.
From Britain? Now I see thy uses, Britain.
Britain is justified: she gives us oysters,
And therefore Claudius invaded her.
Sausages upon silver gridirons?
STEWARD. Yes.
NERO. Dormice with poppies and milk honey? There
A slumberous music, heavy lingering chords.
Ah! slices of pomegranate underneath.
Snow—purest snow of course.
STEWARD. 'Twas not forgot.
NERO. Then glorying peacocks: here a sounding march,
Something triumphal—even a trifle loud.
And, ah! the mullets! You remembered them?
STEWARD. O Caesar, yes.
NERO. Let these be introduced
By some low dirge. And let us see them die—
Slow-dying mullets within crystal bowls,
Dying from colour unto colour: now
Vermilion death-pangs fading into blue—
A scarlet agony in azure ending.
There we have colour! And at last the tongues
Of nightingales—the tongues of nightingales?
O, silence with the tongues of nightingales.
[He dismisses STEWARD.]
TIGELLINUS. Sir, grant us three a moment's audience.
[NERO dismisses friends and satellites with gesture.
SENECA. Your mother, sir, this very day intends
To hear the British chiefs in audience,
Sitting beside you. Know then that the world
Will not endure to have a woman's rule.
BURRUS. No, nor the army.
TIGELLINUS. And thy mother laughs
In public at thy verse.
NERO. She has no ear.
I pity her—remember what she loses.
TIGELLINUS. Ah, be not laughed at, sir, be it not said
Nero is tied unto his mother's robe.
Be brilliant, cruel, lustful, what you will,
But not a naughty child, rated and slapped.
Poppaea too, she will not suffer you
With her to indulge your fancy.
SENECA. Caesar, rise!
BURRUS. Rise—rise, and reign!
TIGELLINUS. And be no more a doll
That dances while she pulls the string behind.
Then young Britannicus!
NERO. O nothing!
TIGELLINUS. Yet
He is winning on the people: he hath charm,
His voice is sweet.
[NERO starts.
Caesar, I judge it not,
But speak the common drift; and his recital,
So I am told, has for accompaniment
Gesture most eloquent.
[NERO is more and more roused.
His poems, too!
NERO. [Breaking the silence.] His poems!
Why, why, not a line will scan
To the true ear; and what variety,
I ask you all—what flow, or what resource
Is shown? A safe monotony of rhythm!
[He paces to and fro angrily.
TIGELLINUS. Caesar, I cannot speak to such a theme.
Merely Rome's mouthpiece.
NERO. And his gesture, why,
'Tis of the Orient, and gesticulation
More happily were called; never a stillness,
Never repose, but one wild whirl of arms.
TIGELLINUS. I spoke not of fulfilment, but of promise,
The artist's dazzling future.
NERO. A sweet voice!
Rome hath no critics! I would write a play
Lived there a single critic fit to judge it.
Whether a dancing-girl kick high enough—
On this they can pronounce: this is their trade.
With verse upon the stage they cannot cope.
Too well they dine, too heavily, and bear
The undigested peacock to the stalls.
TIGELLINUS. Should Agrippina on a sudden change
Her front, and clasp hands with Britannicus?
NERO. Your words awaken in me a new thirst.
SENECA. Sir, hear the Parthian and the British chiefs.
NERO. [Going to the throne.] Summon them!
[Exit SENECA.
Think not, though my aim is art,
I cannot toy with empire easily.
The great in me does not preclude the less.
[Re-enter SENECA with PARTHIAN and BRITISH AMBASSADORS, followed by the Court. SENECA brings forward the PARTHIAN CHIEFS, when AGRIPPINA enters magnificently dressed and begins to mount steps of throne. NERO with courteous decision brings her down.
Mother, this is man's business, not for thee.
You jar the scheme of colour—mar the effect.
PARTHIAN. Caesar, we starve: all Parthia parches: all
Our crops sun-smitten bleach upon the plains.
We ask thy aid.
NERO. And ye shall have my aid
Even to the fullest: further, I will open
The imperial granaries for your people's wants.
PARTHIAN. Caesar, we thank thee: and if ever thou
Shouldst need the Parthian aid, whate'er the cost,
That aid thou shalt find ready at thy side.
[Exit.
BRITISH CHIEF. Caesar, the tax that thou hast laid on us
Remit, we pray thee, else we rise in arms
And will abide thy battle.
NERO. So! You dream
That Caesar being merciful is weak.
I who can succour, I can strike; I'll launch
The legions over sea, and I myself
Will lead them, and the eagles will unloose
Through Britain—I who sit on the world's throne
Will have no threatening from Briton, Gaul,
People or tribe inland or ocean-washed.
The terror of this purple I maintain.
You are dismissed.
[NERO, spreading his hands, dismisses the Court, and comes
down to his mother.
NERO. Now, mother!
AGRIPPINA. I will speak
With you alone, not compassed by these men.
[To SENECA and BURRUS.] To me you owe the height where now you stand. Who took you, schoolmaster, from exile? Who Unstewarded you, Burrus? If I have made, I can unmake—Now leave me with my son. [To TIGELLINUS.] You are self-made. Gods! I'd no hand in that!
[Exeunt SENECA, BURRUS, and TIGELLINUS.]
Nero, have you forgot who set you there?
NERO. Not while I hear it twenty times a day.
AGRIPPINA. You should not need that I remind you of it.
NERO. A kindness harped on grows an
AGRIPPINA. Are you the babe that lay upon my breast?
NERO. I was: but I would not lie there for ever.
AGRIPPINA. Have I not reared you, tended you, and loved you?
NERO. Yes, but to be your puppet and your toy.
AGRIPPINA. Boy, never since I first looked on the sun
From man or woman had I insolence,
Who have sistered, wived, and mothered Emperors.
NERO. I speak no insolence—you weary me!
AGRIPPINA. Gods! you have hit on a new thing to tell me.
[Coming to him.] Does your heart beat? Are
you all ice and pose?
Has nothing gripped you—is there aught to grip
In you, pert shadow? Have you e'er shed tears?
NERO. For legendary sorrows I can weep:
With those of old time I have suffered much,
And I, for dreams, am capable of tears;
But not for woe too near me—and too loud.
AGRIPPINA. O wall of stone 'gainst which I beat in vain!
Nero, I will do much to win you back
For your own sake: and though it hurts me sore,
Your passion for Poppaea I will aid.
When did a mother yield herself to this?
NERO. When had a mother such a lust for rule
That she could even yield herself to this?
AGRIPPINA. [Clasping his knees.] Child, I
have done with scorn, with bitter words,
With taunt, with gibe. Now I ask only pity—
A little pity from flesh that I conceived,
A little mercy from the body I bore,
And touches from the baby hands I kissed.
Nothing I ask of you, only to love me,
And if not that, to bear with me a while,
Who have borne much for you: no, Nero, child,
I will not weary you, I yearn for you.
Forgive me all the deeds that I have done for you,
Forget the great love I have spent on you,
Pardon the long, long life for you endured.
[NERO is moved and kisses her, then speaks with effort.
NERO. Mother, if I have seemed to be forgetful,
Or cruel even, impute it not to me
But to the State.
[AGRIPPINA starts.
'Tis thought that neither Rome,
The provinces, nor armies, will endure
To see a woman in such eminence.
Therefore it is advised that you retire
To Antium a while, and leave Rome free.
AGRIPPINA. [Starting up.] Leave Rome!
Why, I would die as I did step
Outside her gates, and glide henceforth a shadow.
The blood would cease to run in my veins, my heart
Stop, and my breath subside without her walls.
All without Rome is darkness: you will not
Despatch my shadow down to Antium?
NERO. We were remembering your toils, your age.
AGRIPPINA. My age! Am I old then?
Look on this face,
Where am I scarred, who have steered the bark of State
As it plunged, as it rose over the waves of change?
I was renewed with salt of such a sea.
Empires and Emperors I have outlived;
A thousand loves and lusts have left no line;
Tremendous fortunes have not touched my hair,
Murder hath left my cheek as the cheek of a babe.
[At this moment BURRUS, SENECA, and TIGELLINUS return, hearing the scene; and as AGRIPPINA continues her imprecations, the COURT return and stand in groups listening.
AGRIPPINA. My age! Who then accuses me of age?
Was this a flash from budding Seneca,
Or the boy Burrus' inspiration? Say?
Do I owe it to the shrivelled or the maimed?
SENECA. Empress, it is determined you retire.
And you will better your own dignity
And his assert, if you will make this going
To seem a free inclining from yourself.
AGRIPPINA. Bookman, shall I learn policy from you?
Be patient with me. Nero, you I ask,
Not schoolmasters or stewards I promoted.
Is it your will I go to Antium?
Speak, speak. Be not the mouthpiece of these men:
Domitius!
NERO. Mother, 'tis my will you go.
AGRIPPINA. Then, sir, discharge me not from your employ
Without some written commendation,
That I can tire the hair or pare the nails,
That those who were my friends may take me in!
NERO. Lady!
AGRIPPINA. O, lady now? Mother, no more!
NERO. [Pacing fiercely to and fro.] Beware
the son you bore: look lest I turn!
Chafe not too far the master of this world.
AGRIPPINA. See the new tiger in the dancer's eye:
'Ware of him, keepers—then, you bid me go?
[A pause.
Then I will go. But think not, though I go,
My spirit shall not pace the palace still.
I am too bound by guilt unto these walls.
Still shall you hear a step in dead of night;
In stillness the long rustle of my robe.
So long as stand these walls I cannot leave them.
Yet will I go: behold you, that stand by,
A mother by her own son thrust away,
Cast out—ha, ha!—in my old age, infirm,
To totter and mumble in oblivion!
NERO. [To SENECA and BURRUS.] A little
violent that—did you not think so?
And yet the gesture excellent and strong!
AGRIPPINA. Romans, behold this son: the man of men;
This harp-player, this actor, this buffoon——
NERO. Peace!
AGRIPPINA. —sitting where great Julius but aspired
To sit, and died in the aspiring: see,
This mime—my son is he? And did I then
Have one mad moment with a street musician?
SENECA. Have you no shame?
AGRIPPINA. This son now sends me forth,
Yet it was I, his mother, set him there.
[Murmur.
And, ah! if it were known at what a price,
Witness, you shades of the Silani!
SENECA. Peace!
AGRIPPINA. And witness Messalina on vain knees!
[Murmur.
And witness Claudius with the envenomed cup.
NERO. Silence, or——
AGRIPPINA. Not the seas shall stop me now,
Raging on all the shores of all the world.
Witness if easily my son did reign,
I am bloody from head to foot for sake of him,
And for my cub am I incarnadined.
[Murmur.
I'll go, but if I fall, Rome too shall fall:
I'll shake this empire till it reel and crash
On that ungrateful head; and if I fall,
The builded world shall tumble down in thunder.
[Murmur.
Ah!
[Seeing BRITANNICUS.] To my arms, boy! [Snatches him to her side.] Tremble now and shake! Here is the true heir to the imperial throne, Deposed by me, but now by me restored.
[Uproar.
[Clamour.
To the camp!
And there upon the one side they shall see
Britannicus the child of Claudius,
And me the daughter of Germanicus;
And on the other side a harp-player,
A withered pedant, and a maimèd sergeant,
Disputing for the diadem of the earth.
Come, Caesar, away to the Praetorians!
[Exit AGRIPPINA leading BRITANNICUS, followed by COURT in great excitement, all but BURRUS and SENECA, TIGELLINUS and NERO—a blank pause.
SENECA. Now what to do?
TIGELLINUS. Already can I hear
The roar of the Praetorians and their march,
This time to crown another. Burrus, you
Command them.
BURRUS. They would tear me into pieces,
As hounds a master entering in on them
Unrecognised, if Agrippina once
Hallooed to them the name 'Germanicus.'
TIGELLINUS. Surely Britannicus must be our aim:
He gone, what threat, what counter-move hath she?
Removing him, we take the sting from her;
Then let her buzz at will.
BURRUS. But he is gone.
SENECA. Even as an eagle snatches up a babe,
So Agrippina caught him up and flew.
TIGELLINUS. For once my wits are lost.
SENECA. Still, what to do?
[NERO has been sitting with his back to them, suddenly rises.
NERO. Leave this to me!
TIGELLINUS. O Caesar!
NERO. [To ANICETUS.] Go thou fast
And intercept my mother on her way,
And say thou thus: 'Nero thy son repents
His former ire and cancels the decree
For Antium; and prays thou may'st return
To supper, as a sign of amity,
And bring with thee the prince Britannicus.'
[ANICETUS is going, but NERO stops him.
And as you go, send in to me Locusta.
[Exit ANICETUS.
I have conceived—not fully—but conceived
The death-scene of the boy Britannicus.
Leave this to me.
TIGELLINUS. O Caesar!
NERO. It shall be
Performed to-night at supper: get you seats;
It shall be something new and wonderful,
Done after wine, and under falling roses;
And there shall be suspense in it, and thrill:
It shall be very sudden, very silent,
And terrible in silence—I the while,
Creator and arranger of the scene,
Reclining with a jewel in my eye;
And Agrippina shall be close to me,
Aware, yet motionless: Octavia,
Though but a child, yet too discreet for tears.
This you may deem as yet a little crude,
But other details I will add ere supper.
[SENECA withdraws in horror, as do the others, slowly.
SENECA. Here's what I feared!
TIGELLINUS. His eyes now! Yet how calm!
So steals the panther, stirring not a leaf!
[Exeunt slowly SENECA, TIGELLINUS, and BURRUS. NERO walks to and fro, constructing the scene in pantomime to himself. LOCUSTA enters down, right.
NERO. You are Locusta, and your trade is poison.
[She makes obeisance.
[Uneasily.] Is poison but a trade with you, or art?
Surely to slay is the supreme of arts;
And with no ugly wound or hideous blow,
But beautifully to extinguish life.
Have you some rare drug that kills suddenly?
As I have planned it, I can have no pause—
Death must be sudden—silent. And my guests
Must not be wearied with a pang prolonged,
And there must be no cry. That understand.