_Octavia:_ Though I should bear what may be borne, my woes, 100 Save by a cruel death, could not be ended. For, since my mother was by murder slain, And my father taken off by crime most foul, Robbed of my brother, overwhelmed with woe, Oppressed with sadness, by my husband scorned, Degraded to the level of my slave, 105 I find this life no more endurable. My heart doth tremble, not with fear of death, But slander base, employed to work my death. Far from my name and fate be that foul blot. For death itself--Oh, 'twould be sweet to die; For 'tis a punishment far worse than death, To live in contact with the man I loathe, To see the tyrant's face all passion puffed, 110 And fierce with rage, to kiss my deadliest foe. That I should fear his nod, obey his will, My grief, resentful, will not suffer me, Since by his hand my brother was destroyed, Whose kingdom he usurps, and boasts himself The author of that shameful deed. How oft 115 Before my eyes does that sad image come, My brother's ghost, when I have gone to rest, And sleep has closed my eyelids faint with tears! Now in his weakling hand he brandishes The smoking torch, and violently assails His brother to his face; now, trembling sore, He flees for refuge to my sheltering arms. 120 His foe pursues, and, as his victim clings Convulsively to me, he thrusts his sword With murderous intent through both our sides. Then, all a-tremble, do I start awake, And in my waking sense renew my fear. Add to these cares a rival, arrogant, 125 Who queens it in the spoils of this our house; At whose behest the mother was enticed To that fell ship which should have carried her To Orcus' depths; but when o'er ocean's waves She triumphed, he, than ocean's waves more harsh And pitiless, despatched her with the sword. Amid such deeds, what hopes of peace have I? 130 O'erblown with hate, triumphant, doth my rival Within my very chamber's hold defy me; With deadly malice doth she blaze against me, And as the price of her adulterous sweets, Doth she demand that he, my husband, give My life, his lawful wife's, in sacrifice. Oh, rise thou, father, from the gloomy shades, And help thy daughter who invokes thine aid; 135 Or else cleave wide the earth to Stygian depths, And let me plunge at last to shelter there.