_Ner._ Ask not: when I return I shall be free. We will be married. _Pop._ Will you banish her? 2570 _Ner._ Ask nothing. _Pop._ From her exile still her plottings Will reach to Rome. _Ner._ Not so, for she shall go Whence nothing reaches Rome. _Pop._ Oh, now I fear I have said too much; let not my love o’ercome thee. Maybe she meant not this. _Ner._ Thou meddle not! _Pop._ Oh, but at least no crimes, Nero, no crimes! Promise me that; rather I’ll fly to-night. _Ner._ Poppæa, in earnest of the happy day When thou wilt be my wife, I bid thee now Depart. 2580 _Pop._ (_kissing him_). Husband, I go. [_Exit._ _Ner._ What ho! what ho! _Enter a Servant._ Is Anicetus in the palace? _SERVANT._ Ay, Cæsar. _Ner._ Go, bid him hither straight. [_Exit Servant._ It shall be done. Ay, now it shall be done. Let me consider; I must be cool, lest I be foiled once more. Where lies my hindrance? not in her; she has twice Deceived me and escaped: now in my turn I steal her weapon, and can use it better, Having been plain before. Then Seneca... He shall not know, so are his scruples quiet. For mine, they are hushed already; but ’twere best Recount the terms which reason can oppose 2591 To too rebellious nature: first there’s my motive, Huge as the earth; liberty, happiness, Empire: that cannot slide, I fear not that. Then there’s the ground of justice; Claudius’ death, O’er which the executive too long hath slept In Cæsar’s piety: the sentence now O’ertakes the murderess with a double score, Since she by her conspiracy contrived Britannicus should die ... ay, for his death 2600 The heavy penalty hangs o’er some head; Now let it fall on hers,—so I am quit. All this condemns her, long-expected justice Cries, and occasion hurries on the hand. Ay, ay, I am clear. Poppæa being my stake, I cannot shrink nor swerve. What was’t she wrote? Why here is more. [_Reads._ _Be with me in this matter, But if thou should’st refuse, we are worse foes._ She dares the threat. _Enter Anicetus._ _ANICETUS._ Cæsar hath summoned me. _Ner._ Good Anicetus, tell me, is there none 2610 Greater than Cæsar? _Anic._ Nay, Cæsar, there is none. _Ner._ But were there one to whom it might be said Cæsar owed life and fortune—dost thou take me? _Anic._ Cæsar would say the Augusta.