POETICAL WORKS of ROBERT BRIDGES Volume III [Colophon] London Smith, Elder & Co 15 Waterloo Place 1898 OXFORD: HORACE HART PRINTER TO THE UNIVERSITY _POETICAL WORKS OF ROBERT BRIDGES_ _VOLUME THE THIRD CONTAINING_ _THE FIRST PART OF NERO_ _p._ 1 _ACHILLES IN SCYROS_ 179 _NOTES_ 261 LIST OF PREVIOUS EDITIONS _THE FIRST PART OF NERO._ 1. _NERO. An historical Tragedy of the first part of the reign of the emperor Nero. Published by Ewd. Bumpus. London, 1885. 4to._ _ACHILLES IN SCYROS._ 1. _ACHILLES IN SCYROS. A drama in a mixed manner. Published by Ewd. Bumpus. London, 1890. 4to._ 2. _ACHILLES IN SCYROS._ _Uniform with_ Shorter Poems (I). _George Bell & Sons, 1892._ THE FIRST PART OF THE HISTORY OF NERO A HISTORICAL TRAGEDY DRAMATIS PERSONÆ _NERO_. _BRITANNICUS_ _stepson to Agrippina_. _BURRUS_ _praetorian prefect_. _SENECA_ _tutor to Nero_. _LUCAN, the poet, nephew to Seneca_ } _OTHO_ } } _friends of Nero_. _PETRONIUS_} _gentlemen of Rome_ } _PALLAS_ _master of the imperial household_. _TIGELLINUS_ _successor to Pallas_. _THRASEA, a Stoic_ } _honest senators_. _PRISCUS_ } _ANICETUS_ _an admiral_. _PARIS_ _a player, favourite of Nero_. _SELEUCUS_ _an astrologer_. _Messengers, Servants, &c._ _AGRIPPINA AUGUSTA_ _mother to Nero_. _OCTAVIA_ _wife to Nero, sister to Britannicus_. _POPPÆA_ _wife to Otho, loved of Nero_. _DOMITIA_ _sister-in-law to Agrippina_. _FULVIA_ _attendant on Agrippina_. _Maids, &c._ _Scene. The first four acts are laid in ROME; the fifth is at BAIÆ._ NERO ACT · I SCENE · 1 _On the Palatine. THRASEA & PRISCUS._ _THRASEA._ IF you ask my advice then, it is silence. You are yet new to the senate, and must learn to give your opinion with least offence. _PRISCUS._ Can you mean this? _Thr._ Yes—it is my serious advice. _Pr._ Now, unless it were the silence of Brutus ... _Thr._ Hush, hush! Were this repeated, there is no greater peril than that word of yours. _Pr._ But to you I know I may speak freely. _Thr._ What know you of me? 10 _Pr._ I know Thrasea is brave, and resents his country’s wrongs; that he has insight to see that liberty was never more outraged than now.