 | Octavia |  |
123
SCENE THE FIFTH.
Nero, Poppæa, Tigellinus, Octavia, Seneca.Ne.
Thou fatal cause of all that I endure!
Who from my hands can rescue thee at last?
Who now shouts for thee? Where is all the people?—
Thou hast well chosen: 'tis thy last resource
To manifest thyself, and so to publish
To Rome and all the world thy countless crimes;
To clear me to my people, and receive
What thou deservest, death with infamy.
Sen.
The moment was well chosen; I repent
No more.
Oct.
Already art thou fully cleared,
Oh Nero; triumph.—That I e'er was thine,
And that I ever loved thee, I have given
Myself already the due punishment.
Ne.
The punishment? What hast thou done?
Oct.
My veins
Already have imbibed a mortal poison.
Ne.
And whence? ...
Pop.
Oh, Nero, now thou'rt mine indeed.
Ne.
The poison whence? ... 'Tis false.
Ti.
Thou oughtest not
To trust her words; a vigilant guard ...
Sen.
A guard
May be deluded; thus with thine it fared.
The gods refuse not, to the just, deliverance.
Oct.
Poison will soon destroy me; thou wilt see it:
Behold, who in compassion gave it to me;
Rather, to say the truth, I snatch'd it from him.
He will exult in it, if thou for this
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See, my salvation in this jewel lay.
Thou, on the day of our disastrous nuptials,
Shouldest have given me a gem like this.
Ne.
I see it; yes, this is the last, this is
The plot the most atrocious, to make me
The abhorrence of all Rome. Ah miscreant, thou
Contrivedst it, but soon ...
Pop.
Thou hast escaped,
Octavia, from thy punishment; in vain
Thou hopest to escape from infamy.
Oct.
Shall I reply to thee?—To my last words
Do thou, oh Nero, listen. I now touch,
Believe me, on that awful crisis touch,
When mortal fears and hopes alike subside,
When simulation can no more avail,
E'en had I ever practised it ... I die:
And Seneca destroys me not: ... thou only,
Thou slayest me, oh Nero: though not giv'n
By thee, the poison whence I die is thine.—
I charge thee not with this as with a crime.
Sooner thou should'st have done this; from the moment
In which I first became displeasing to thee,
'Twere far less cruel then in thee to slay me,
Than to bestow thyself upon a lady,
Who, willing it, ne'er could know how to love thee.
But all I pardon thee; and pardon thou
(My only crime) if I from thee have wrested,
By hastening thus my death a few brief hours,
The pleasure of unlimited revenge.—
All, Nero, all I willingly had giv'n thee
Except my honour; and for thee had suffered
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I hope no injury will result to thee ...
From ... my ... decease. The throne is thine; enjoy it:
May peace be thine ... Round thy ensanguined bed ...
I swear to thee ... to never ... never ... come ...
A mournful spectre ... to disturb ... thy ... dreams ...
Meanwhile one day thou wilt know her.—
Ne.
The more
I know her, more I love her; and I swear
Always to love her more.
Sen.
These words inflict
The last shock on her heart: she dies ...
Pop.
Oh come,
Let us now quit these horrible apartments.
Ne.
Yes, let us go: and let the camp and Rome
Know that I slew her not: and also know
The crime and punishment of Seneca.
| Octavia | |