NERO … … … . … . Emperor of Rome.
BRITANNICUS … … . … Nero's Half-Brother.
OTHO … … … . … . A Young Noble.
SENECA … … … …) ) BURRUS … … … …) ) Ministers of State. TIGELLINUS … … . …) ) ANICETUS … … . … . )
XENOPHON … … … … A Physician.
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.
Five years elapse between Acts I. and II., two years between Acts III. and IV.
[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 throne,
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.