Thr. Hush, hush! Were this repeated, there is no greater peril than that word of yours.
Pr. But to you I know I may speak freely.
10Thr. What know you of me?
Pr. I know Thrasea is brave, and resents his country’s wrongs; that he has insight to see that liberty was never more outraged than now.
Thr. Believe me, sir, this tale of things being at their worst is common to all times. Your judgment has gone astray upon a contempt for Cæsar’s follies, or a hatred of his mother’s crimes. Measure Nero but by what he has already done, and you may even find cause for congratulation.
Pr. We shall be ruled like the Britons by a Queen.
Thr. O nay. It is not possible that Nero will suffer Agrippina’s ambition to take such a place. ’Tis already a quarrel between them, and Seneca declares for him.
Pr. Then, I ask you, may there not be found in this quarrel an opportunity to bring in Britannicus? Now he is of age, he can no longer be held disqualified.
28Thr. There is no question of qualification or of claim.