_SENECA_: Let the goodness, fidelity, modesty, and character of the wife please the husband. The good alone continue to be second to none in mind and spirit. The days, one by one, rob the flower of its beauty.[74] _NERO_: The gods have bestowed every gift upon one woman, and the fates have decreed her for me. _SENECA_: Love will abandon thee. Do not trust rashly. _NERO_: Can Jove himself keep away this tyrant of the heavens who penetrates the savage waves of Neptune and the kingdoms of Pluto and draws the celestial deities from their home above? _SENECA_: The mind of man assumes that swift Love is a pitiless god. It arms his divine hands with bow and arrow; it gives him a cruel torch and believes him to be the son of Venus and Vulcan. Love is the powerful force of the mind and the caressing warmth of the spirit. It is fostered in youth and nourished in extravagance and idleness, among the joyful blessings of Fortune. If thou shalt cease to nourish and to cherish this Love, it falls in a short time and destroys its own strength. _NERO_: I consider Love to be the greatest reason for existence; through it, passions spring up. Love is harmless; the human race is always refreshed by pleasing love which soothes the fierce wild beasts. May Cupid bring to me nuptial torches, and may he join Poppaea to me in wedlock. _SENECA_: The grief of the people can hardly endure these nuptials, nor can sacred loyalty consent.[75] _NERO_: Shall I alone be forbidden what is permitted to all? _SENECA_: The people always exact greater deeds from the emperor.[76] _NERO_: It pleases me to test whether good will rashly harbored in their minds dies overpowered by my strength. _SENECA_: Thou hadst better calmly gratify thy subjects. _NERO_: It is bad government when the common people rule the leader. _SENECA_: When the people can obtain no redress, they justly mourn. _NERO_: It is right to extort by force what entreaties can not accomplish? _SENECA_: It is difficult to refuse. _NERO_: It is a crime for an emperor to be forced. _SENECA_: Let him yield. _NERO_: Rumor will report him conquered. _SENECA_: Rumor is light and airy. _NERO_: Although that may be, it brands many people. _SENECA_: It fears men in lofty positions. _NERO_: Yet not less does it censure. _SENECA_: Rumor can easily be suppressed. Let the favors of divine Claudius, and the youth, fidelity, and modesty of Octavia appease thee. _NERO_: Yet cease to urge me. Already thou hast threatened me too much. I have power to do even what SENECA condemns. Too long have I delayed my solemn vows to Poppaea since she is soon to become the mother of my child. Why do I not appoint tomorrow for our nuptials?