The coronation of _Adrea_ ensues. _Kaeso_ is brought before her, in order that he may sue for pardon--which the heart of the injured _Queen_ is ready to grant. But _Kaeso_ is haughty, and the _Queen_ dismisses her court, that she may judge him alone. She is temperate, lenient, and fond. She pours out all her heart; but it is only to be dazed by _Kaeso’s_ declaration that his regret is solely for his lost ambition. He tells her that he knew of her spoliation, and allowed it. The _Queen_ recalls her court. “Set him upon a horse of state,” she says, “drest in a robe of gold. Strew his way with roses! Let heralds go before him and cry ‘Conqueror!’ ‘Imperator!’ Let maidens chant songs! And when he has reached my gates, and his men and galleys are in sight,--_whip him!_ Whip him to his empty camp, and hold him captive there till the manner of his death is decided.” The scene changes to the _Queen’s_ Cabinet. _Kaeso_ is brought in on the way to execution. It is the supreme moment of _Adrea’s_ life. The man she loves is on the way to death. In spite of all her wrongs she will look upon his face again, before it is mangled by wild horses’ hoofs. Her heart still cries out for him. Even now she would save him, if she could. But frenzied multitudes surround the palace, maddened with knowledge of the outrages that the _Queen_ has suffered; and she is powerless to save. _Queen Adrea_ must tell _Kaeso_ the manner of his death. _Kaeso_ had thought to die as a soldier should--upon his sword, but his death is to be that of a beast, trampled beneath the iron hoofs of horses. This fate she proclaims, but, when the first shock of horror is past, _Kaeso_ confesses that he deserves his doom, and declares that he will die well: and then he says that he has always loved _Adrea_, but has put his love aside, for the sake of his ambition. Again the _Queen_ relents. She will, at least, save him from a death of ignominy. She offers him the sword of _Menethus_, with which to kill himself. But his hands are chained. “You!” he begs. The thought is unendurable. She turns away. But suddenly, turning back, she cries out, “Yes!” and drives the blade through her lover’s heart.