_Agr._ Ay, something. I would protect Britannicus: his claim And popularity being pressed, must drive 560 Nero upon my side. _Bur._ Such act were merely The boy’s destruction, were’t not done in earnest And backed by force. _Agr._ Then, since the case demands All earnestness, and since we lack not force..... _Bur._ Between your son’s rule and your stepson’s claim There lies no middle way. _Agr._ I never held That a stout purpose chose a middle way. _Sen._ What, what! Consider, madam, what you urge Is to dethrone your son. _Agr._ I am desperate. _Sen._ Indeed, indeed! 570 _Agr._ What say’st thou, Burrus? Hast thou not a hope The rightful heir might prove the better Cæsar? _Bur._ Were this in earnest, yet my oath to Cæsar Forbids me even to think the thing you say. _Agr._ Thy oath to him! Rather to me ’twas sworn; Who raised thee up to swear, and made the Cæsar For thee to swear to? I can dispense your oaths: Or rather, since they were unjustly sworn, Justice dispenses them. ’Twould be a deed Truer than oaths to break the oaths ye swore. 580 _Bur._ Justice is still against you. ’Twas unjust To burn the will of Claudius; ’twas unjust To hide Britannicus, and to bring forth Your own son in his place: these things were wrongs, And these old wrongs would you redub with new. For when upon your wrongs Rome set her seal, Her choice made right of wrong, and we that swore, Swore not to Nero or Britannicus, But unto Rome and to her chosen Cæsar. 589 _Agr._ Nay, Seneca, I think, will scarce say thus. _Sen._ Burrus is right; and were he wrong, your scheme But complicates the mischief. _Agr._ Then ye desert me? _Sen._ Nay, nay, in other ways I may do much. I may win Nero back. _Agr._ The thought is folly; We fight against him. _Sen._ Oh! ’tis open treason.