This generation has seen the infamous crime of a son who sent into the Tuscan seas his mother enticed into the fatal boat by treachery.[55] The sailors are ordered to leave the peaceful port; the waves resound with the measured beat of the oars. The ship is borne along upon the deep seas; sinking slowly, it suddenly divides and sucks in the waters. A great clamor mingled with women’s wailing is raised to the stars; a dreadful death threatens them; each one seeks for himself escape from death; some cling to the planks of the shattered stern; their naked bodies cleave the waves; others swim for the shore; the fates plunge many to the depths of the sea. Augusta rends her clothing; she tears her hair and weeps. After she has given up hope of escape, burning with wrath and overcome by her misfortune, she exclaims, “Dost thou reward me, thus, for my great services, my son? I confess that I am worthy of this ship since I gave birth to thee, and in my madness gave thee life, dominion, and the royal name of Caesar. “Lift thy face from the lower world, husband, and feast upon my punishment. The cause of thy death, Claudius, and the instigator of thy son’s funeral pyre, I shall be borne to Tartarus, deservedly unburied and overwhelmed by the savage waters of the sea.” As she spoke, the waves beat her face, she rises again from the waters; in terror, she beats the billows with her palms but finally exhausted she yields to the struggle. Loyalty still remained in silent hearts though scorned even in the hour of bitter death. Many hasten to aid their mistress whose strength is broken by the force of the sea. With shouts they encourage her as she slowly but persistently waves her arms. Eagerly they lift her into their boat. What did it profit thee to escape the waters of the cruel sea? Thou art destined to die by the sword of thy son whose infamous crime posterity will scarcely believe and to which succeeding generations will always be slow to give credence. The unnatural son is furious at his mother’s escape, he grieves that she is saved from the sea, and he commits a greater crime by hastening her death. The servant sent to commit the murder lays open the breast of the mother with his sword. The unhappy woman, while dying, commands the slave to bury the fierce sword in her womb. “Here, here is the place. The sword must pierce the womb which bore such a monster.” Then, passionately weeping, she breathed her last. _SENECA_: O, thou powerful Fortune with beguiling but treacherous countenance! Why didst thou elevate me when I was content with my lot? Didst thou hope that, received into a lofty citadel, I might see afar so many causes for anxiety and therefore fall most heavily?[56]