in._

TIGELLINUS. Sole master of the world!
Caesar at last: the Emperor of the earth,
Now thou art free--to write immortal verse,
To give thy genius wing, to strike the stars.
And thou hast made this tragic sacrifice,
Slaying what is most dear, most close to thee,
To give thy being vent and utterance.
Apollo shall reward thee for this deed.

NERO. Go to thy room, old man, and--wilt thou sleep?

TIGELLINUS. Already I am drowsing; early then
To-morrow I will come to you.

NERO. Good-night.

TIGELLINUS. Caesar, good-night.

[_Exit_ TIGELLINUS.

[_Thunder heard._

NERO. Ah! thunder! thou art come
At last, too late! What catches at my heart?
I--I--her boy, her baby that was, even I
Have killed her: where I sucked there have I struck.
Mother! Mother! [_He drinks._
The anguish of it hath taken hold of me,
And I am gripped by Nature. O, it comes
Upon me, this too natural remorse.
I faint! I flinch from the raw agony!
I cannot face this common human throe!
Ah! Ah! the crude stab of reality!
I am a son, and I have killed my mother!
Why! I am now no more than him who tills
Or reaps: and I am seized by primal pangs.
Mother! [_He drinks._
The thunder crieth motherless.
Ah! how this sword of lightning thrusts at me!
O, all the artist in my soul is shattered,
And I am hurled into humanity,
Back to the sweat and heart-break of mankind.
I am broken upon the jagged spurs of the earth.
I can no more endure it. Mother!

[_He drinks again, walking distractedly to and fro, not looking
seaward. But as he at last turns, slowly out from the sea appears
the figure of_ AGRIPPINA _with dripping hair, who comes slowly
towards him in silence._

[_He cries aloud and falls in a swoon. She comes and looks at him._

AGRIPPINA. Child!

[_She stoops, removes the amulet from his arm, flings it into the
sea, and passes out in silence._

SCENE V

SCENE.--_The same. Dawn breaking;_ NERO _discovered lying in a swoon_

NERO. [_Slowly._] Dawn! In the night o'er-past a lightning flash!
Ah! I remember--here my mother's ghost
Stood--on this very ground--I feel the air
Still cold from her--and here the lightning burned.
So I awake my mother's murderer.
That was her ghost that stole on me sea-marred,
Silent--the ocean falling from her hair.

_Enter_ TIGELL