t me--and, O pardon me,
If, little fool that I am, I longed to speak
But 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 thus
Toward doomed Ilium. Say on.

POPPAEA. My eyes
Are 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 way
Is 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 deny
There 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: I
Will follow Otho even to banishment.
There are more sacred things in my regard
Than 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 yet
Not 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 son
To leave me: a younger woman has no hope
Against 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 listener
So still, so answerable to your mood.
And, I will say it, you'll not find in