_NERO_: But only that she might not be accused and that fear of punishment might not overcome her weak strength. Retribution will finally overtake the long condemned criminal. Hear my plans and carry out my commands.[94] Order Octavia to be placed on a ship and carried far away to a desert isle. There let her be killed that the fear in my heart may subside. _CHORUS_: Indignation at the present instance forbids mention of many examples of fickle fortune. The woman upon whom the citizens wished to bestow the empire of the world, now they see led weeping to bitter punishment and death. Well does contented poverty conceal itself in humble dwellings. Often tempests shake those homes or fortune overwhelms them. _OCTAVIA_: Where dost thou lead me? What exile does the tyrannical queen command for me, if, touched by my many misfortunes, she grants me life? But if she intends to end my sorrow by death, why does she begrudge me the pleasure of dying in my own native land? But now I cannot hope to escape. In my misery, I see my brother’s boat prepared for me.[95] Borne along in this vessel, once a wife, now only a sister, driven from my own palace, sorrowfully I shall drift away. Loyalty now has no divinity, nor are there gods above. Gloomy Erinys rules in the world! What nightingale can return soft plaintive notes to my weeping? I would like to escape my sorrows on the uplifted pinions of a bird and borne aloft and far away flee from the gloomy crowds of men and fierce carnage. Alone in a deserted forest and suspended on a slender bough, I would utter sad and mournful murmurs. _CHORUS_: Mortals are ruled by fate, and no one can depend upon the certainty of human life. A single portentous day brings forth varying fortunes. May the many misfortunes which thy home has endured strengthen thy mind. What is more cruel to thee than destiny, Octavia? Thou, a mother worthy of many sons, daughter of Agrippa, daughter-in-law of Augustus, and wife of Caesar[96] whose royal name is illustrious in the entire world, soon a barren wife, thou wilt endure exile, the scourge, cruel fetters, gloomy sights, sorrows, long continued torture, and finally death itself. Livia, blessed in the couch and sons of Drusus, committed a great sin and received punishment.[97] Julia followed her mother’s fortunes.[98] Yet after a time, although innocent, she falls by the sword. Why was not thy former mother victorious who dear to her husband and rich in children ruled the palace of the emperor? She was submissive to her own servant and fell by the sword of a rough soldier.[99] Why was such a mother of Nero permitted to hope for divinity? Injured by the blows of the oarsmen but not fatally, mangled by the sword, she perished, the victim of her cruel son.