_Oth._ Listen. Thou hast reproached me With going forth alone. What else could be? 760 Would’st thou consent to sit there at my side, Where I, a man, am oft ashamed to sit? Would’st thou, could’st thou be one among the women Of Cæsar’s fancy? _Pop._ I spake not seriously. _Oth._ See, but I do. I tell thee, love, this night Thou wert invited. _Pop._ I! _Oth._ He would have pressed it. _Pop._ Who would have pressed it? _Oth._ Cæsar. _Pop._ What dost thou say? (_Aside._) He treads on prophecy. _Oth._ Knowing thy mind, And mine, I begged him for our friendship’s sake Urge me no further. _Pop._ Thou did’st well, and he? 770 _Oth._ Again to-night he asked for thee. ’Twas this Which made me sad and thoughtful. _Pop._ Why be sad? _Oth._ The meaning, love, the meaning: thou must guess it. _Pop._ The very reason, Otho, which thou urgest Against my going, is in truth the reason Why such as I should go. As Cæsar’s friend, Thou would’st do well to save him from the slough He daily sinks in. _Oth._ Nay, but such a stake For such a flimsy hope. _Pop._ I see a hope In the invitation. Otho, let us see 780 What may be done among his friends. _Oth._ Poppæa, ’Tis generously thought, but ’tis a thing Must not be thought. Trust to my judgment, love. ’Tis Cæsar’s love of power that threats us here; He would have nought held from him. Thee I hold, And most because I know thou would’st be mine. _Pop._ Then thou must trust me, Otho. _Oth._ And so I do. _Pop._ Why, I were well his match. Let us go in. [_Exeunt._ SCENE · 4 _Room in the Palace. Enter AGRIPPINA and PALLAS._ _AGRIPPINA._ Pallas, thy date is out: thou art dismissed; Thou goest from the court: yet what thou takest 790 May soften thy regrets. Thy shiny days Were not misspent, and thou may’st live like Cæsar. Farewell, we still are friends: the debt I owe I shall remember: ’twas thy power that first Gave root to mine: for thee, I think my favours Were once thy pleasure. If those days are gone, We can look time in the face; we have not wasted The days that flew: ’tis now with what remain Still to be careful. Friends and firm allies. _Pal._ Ay, firm as ever.