_NURSE_: If anyone is captivated, astonished, and stupefied by the first gleam of deceptive royalty, he will see, overthrown by a sudden attack of concealed Fortune, a recently powerful home and the progeny of Claudius who ruled the world and commanded the ocean which reluctantly received his fleets.[12] Behold, he who first placed the yoke upon the Britains[13] and covered unknown seas with such great fleets, and was safe among barbarous tribes and savage seas, perished by his wife’s crime.[14] Soon she died by the hand of her own son whose brother met death by poison. The unhappy sister and wife sorrows; restrained indignation cannot conceal the grievous affliction of a cruel husband whom she in her innocence always escapes, while the passionate husband burns with a mutual hatred. In vain my fidelity and loyalty to soothe her sorrowing mind. Pitiless grief frustrates my plans; the mind’s generous ardor cannot be subdued but gathers strength for evils. Alas, what an infamous crime our terror foresees. O, may the gods avert it. _OCTAVIA_: My fortunes are comparable to no evils,[15] even if I should recall thy sorrows, Electra.[16] Thou wast permitted to mourn thy father and to avenge the crime by the vengeance of a brother whom thy loyalty rescued and thy fidelity protected.[17] Fear prevents me from lamenting my parents removed by a cruel destiny, and forbids me to weep for the death of a brother who had been my only hope and the brief solace for so many misfortunes. Now I remain in my sorrow the shadow of a great name.[18] _NURSE_: Listen, I hear the voice of my sad foster daughter. Does slow old age hesitate to go to the wedding chamber? _OCTAVIA_: O, nurse, thou faithful witness of my grief, see my tears. _NURSE_: What day, wretched daughter, will free thee from such sorrow? _OCTAVIA_: The day which will send me to the Stygian shades. _NURSE_: I hope that these forebodings of thine may be long in realization. _OCTAVIA_: Not thy prayers but the fates rule my destiny. _NURSE_: A pitying god will give better opportunities to thee in thy sorrow. Soon thou wilt quietly win over thy husband with caressing obedience. _OCTAVIA_: I could conquer the savage lion and the fierce tiger sooner than the merciless heart of a barbarous tyrant. He hates men of noble descent, he scorns both gods and men, and not yet does he meet the fate which his infamous mother by a dreadful crime bestowed upon him. Although he may be ashamed to have gained this unacknowledged empire by the kindness of his ill-omened mother, yet she will bear this title of honor[19] after death for endless generations. _NURSE_: Restrain the thoughts of thy raging mind; repress those rashly spoken words.