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