_Sen._ Oh, Burrus, 2710 I have every cause for hope; and here to-day The meeting in this house more than assures me He must redeem the promise of his youth. ’Twas in this very room, ten years ago, I first saw Nero—Ay, ’tis now ten years— I was arrived from Corsica at Rome, And there found summons to attend the Augusta At Baiæ: hither in all haste I came. The yearnings and the miseries of exile Would make a mean deliverer seem a god, 2720 And my return drave me half mad with joy. I entered: in that chair sat Agrippina, My kind deliverer, my friend, the empress. Time had not marred her beauty, and as she spake Impatience flushed her cheek—she shared my joy. I knelt in tears there, nor ashamed of tears, Though at her side I was aware was standing A boy of some twelve years; whom, when I rose, She then presented as her son, and bade me Take him for pupil. As I saw him then 2730 In fullest grace of boyhood, apt in all Boys should be manly in, and gifted further Than boys are wont with insight, and the touch Of human sympathy and learned taste, Proficient in some arts and dull in none, But coy withal and generous, ’twas no wonder If ere that evening passed I had admitted The schemes his mother had laid, which in short time Were brought to pass. _Bur._ ’Twas a black day. _Sen._ And yet, Burrus, if after you had seen how kindly 2740 He took instruction, how he came to love me, You would not wonder—nay, I can remember Claudius himself was shamed if his Britannicus, Being younger but by some two years, were by Where Nero was: and had I been the father I might have wished, I think, to have done as he, And called the best my son. _Bur._ He killed Britannicus. _Sen._ Burrus, if as it seems you quite distrust him, Why hold you still the office which establishes His power? _Bur._ Because it is an office, Seneca, 2750 The top of my profession: yet, by the gods, Find you a better man, and I’ll be gone. But, as a soldier, I’ll not see the guards Commanded by some brute like Tigellinus. _Sen._ Nay, be not angry. _Bur._ Would not you be angry Thus to be questioned? _Sen._ Nay, indeed, by habit I question oft myself.