Chorus: What are they bent to do, or with what plan?
Messenger: To give Octavia back her father's house,
Her brother's bed, and her due share of empire.790
Chorus: But these Poppaea holds as Nero's wife.
Messenger: 'Tis even she 'gainst whom the people's rage
Burns most persistent, and to reckless deeds
Is driven headlong on. Whate'er they see,
Of noble marble wrought, or gleaming bronze,
The hated image of Poppaea's face,795
They cast it to the earth with wanton hands