_OCTAVIA_: Cease thy weeping on such a joyful holiday[84] of the city lest thy great love for me excite the fierce wrath of the emperor and be a source of misfortune to thee. This is not the first wound my heart has known. I have felt deeper sorrows. Today will end my anguish by death. I shall not be forced to see the face of my cruel husband nor to enter the hated bridal chamber of a slave. Sister of Augustus I shall be but not his wife. Let only bitter punishment and fear of death be far from me. When thou dost remember the crimes of this wicked man, canst thou in thy misery hope for mercy? Long saved for these nuptials, an unfortunate victim at last thou wilt fall. But why dost thou with tear-stained cheeks look so often in terror at thy father’s palace? Hasten to the city walls. Leave the blood-stained hall of the chief. _CHORUS_: See, a day, long foretold by any rumor, dawns. Claudia is forced to leave dread Nero’s bridal room which now victorious Poppaea occupies. Our loyalty and indignation are oppressed by foreboding fear. Where now is the power of the Roman people which often destroyed noble leaders, which once gave laws to an invincible fatherland and fasces to worthy citizens, which commanded war and peace, which conquered fierce tribes and imprisoned royal captives? Behold the images of Poppaea and Nero gleam every where before our sight.[85] May the angry people dash to the ground the exquisitely carved statues of the mistress, and may it drag her from the royal couch.[86] May it soon seek the palace of the emperor with hostile flames and fierce weapons. _NURSE OF POPPAEA_: Where art thou going from thy husband’s bridal chamber, trembling daughter? Why in terror dost thou seek concealment? Why dost thou weep? Surely the day dawns for which we have sought by prayers and vows. Thou art married to Caesar whom thy beauty captivated. Although thou art despised by Seneca,[87] Venus, the mother of Love and greatest of all divinities, has charmed the emperor and given him over to thee. Thou hast sat in lofty halls; thou hast rested upon royal couches. The astonished senate saw thee with thy head adorned with the red bridal veil, offering incense to the gods and sprinkling the sacred altars with fragrant wine.[88] Close by thy side, honored among the many happy omens of the citizens, showing joy in his haughty bearing, the chief advanced. Thus did Peleus receive his wife Thetis from the foaming waves. They say the heaven dwellers and every divinity of the sea united to celebrate their nuptials.[89] What has changed thee so suddenly? Tell me why thou dost grow pale and weep?