Ha! You save your life! [Irritably] But this sort of thing has got to stop! I can't have drinking men about me. [A pause while he meditates] You must be punished. You must have your lesson. [Another pause] How would you like to lose those beautiful pink whiskers?
RUFINIUS
[Horror-stricken, he falls flat on the floor] Majesty!
HELIOGABALUS
That's it, exactly. Call in the guard and we'll chop them off at once—and maybe a slice of ear with them.
LUCIA
[Protesting] I hope your Majesty—
[She is cut off by the entrance of PAULA, who bounds in from the peristyle. PAULA, by now, is in the last stages of a crying drunk]
PAULA
Stop!