_Ner._ Now what say you To have him in, and make him of your council For the ordering of the fête (_To Serv._) Go shew him here. [_Exit Servant._ _Tig._ (_aside to Nero_). Jest not with this man, Cæsar; Thrasea and he Are your worst enemies. _Ner._ Mighty enemies! _Tig._ If there were no pretenders. _Ner._ What do you mean? _Tig._ (_apart with Nero_). My only pleasure is thy service, Cæsar: If ’tis thy will that Tigellinus die, I’ll be thy sacrifice and welcome death. The mob shall tear me, as they tore Sejanus, And tread my mangled corpse on Tiber’s steps: But pardon Nature’s shudderings, they come At sound of these men’s names. _Ner._ Why, know you not I am reconciled with Thrasea, since I put 831 His motion to the senate? While he lets me Go my way, he goes his. _Tig._ And Seneca? _Ner._ Pooh! _Tig._ Cæsar said well these men were not to fear, If there were no pretenders. _Ner._ What pretenders? _Tig._ Sylla and Plautus are the first to name. _Ner._ Both are retired from Rome. _Tig._ And whither, Cæsar? Mark you that Sylla is retired to Gaul, Fire to the tinderbox: those doughty legions Forget not how they crossed the Rubicon. And where is Plautus? close by Corbulo, Whose army is a créature of díscipline, To serve him as his fingers.... _Ner._ Corbulo, now! my prince of generals, Rome’s trusty dexter arm. _Tig._ Trust not that giant! Nature packed not his mighty body full Of intrepidity for nought. I well Remember when I sat by him at supper, The day he took his baton; how his triumph Was undisguised; and whén Cæsar was mentioned— You happed to have won a horse-race.... _Ner._ And what said he? _Tig._ No word, else had I told it; he but hemmed: But the couch shook. In his big iron chest A thunder rumbled, such as Jove might make If he found Juno faithless. _Ner._ Ha, ha, ha! He’ll crunch us, think you, master? But this Sylla Is poor as a rat: and Plautus, if he is wealthy, Lives moderately. _Tig._ Poor men are poor in scruples: And rich men that live moderately, be sure, Hide some rich purpose. _Ner._ Had these men a purpose, It would be bruited. _Tig._ It is bruited. _Ner._ Ha! 861 That’s so? _Tig._ ’Tis also hoped that, being a pair, The one may fight the other and both be slain.