_Oct._ O never, never! was it not that hand That.... O my brother, with thy trait’rous foe Make peace, and at thy tomb! Ask clemency Of him that murdered thee! O never.— Thou most dear shade, who wast too mild and kind, If death seal not thy spiritual sense To my loud sorrow, hear me! O thou my joy, By whom the bitterness of life, my lot Of horror, was quite sweetened,—cruelly, 1930 Most cruelly slain. Ay, I will all forget When he who wrought this thing can bring again Out of thy cold unmotionable ashes The well-compacted body and grace of life. Ay, if he make one smile of thine, although It last no time, I will forget: but else, I say, the thing he hath done, since so ’tis done That he cannot undo it, he must o’er-do Ere I forget. _Agr._ I will be yet thy friend— [_Exit Oct. with Attendants._ There comes no help from her. Maybe her grief Is yet too fresh. Come, Fulvia, let us go. 1941 She would not speak with me. Now on all hands Thou seest I am set aside, and count for nought. Yet not for this am I a whit discouraged; I shall rise yet. Am I not Agrippina? [_Exeunt._ SCENE · 4 _A room in the Palace. Enter through a door from the supper-room NERO and POPPÆA._ _NERO._ Now ere they follow, Poppæa, ease my heart, And tell me thy request. _POPPÆA._ Thou’lt grant it me? _Ner._ Whate’er it be, if thou wilt come to Baiæ. _Pop._ I’ll have it without bargain or not at all. _Ner._ I grant it: ask. 1950 _Pop._ ’Tis that you give my husband The post in Lusitania which he begs. _Ner._ ’Tis his. Would he were there. _Pop._ My thanks. _Ner._ I prithee Call him not husband. _Pop._ Ah, now I pierce this veil Of generosity: why, when he goes I must go with him. _Ner._ Eh! if that’s the case I grant not his commission. _Pop._ ’Tis a promise. _Ner._ I had a promise once. _Pop._ That was conditioned. _Ner._ And what condition have I not fulfilled? _Pop._ Heavens! is’t forgotten? _Ner._ Say, what have I lacked in? _Pop._ Or did I dream ’twas promised me? ’Twas this; 1960 Marriage. _Ner._ By Juno, I will marry thee. But come to Baiæ.