NERO. Never, mother, never!
AGRIPPINA. Mothers for children have dared much, and more
Have suffered; but what mother hath so scarred
Her soul for the dear fruit of her body as I?
Thy birth-pang was the least of all the throes
That I for thee have suffered—a brief pain,
A little, little pain we share with creatures;
But what was this to torments of the mind,
The dark, imperial meditations,
Musing with eyes half-closed in moonless night;
The crimes—yes, crimes, the blood that has been spilt—
Why, I have made a way for thee through ghosts.
Nero, you'll not forget?
NERO. Ah! Never, never!
AGRIPPINA. My son, this very night it was foretold
'Nero shall reign, but he shall kill his mother.'
Tell me the stars have lied.
NERO. [Smiling.] The stars have lied.
Enter BURRUS
BURRUS. The pass-word, sir, to-night?
NERO. The best of mothers.
AGRIPPINA. Kiss me; we both of us must sleep awhile.
[Exit AGRIPPINA. NERO goes up, gazing out on the city as the dawn comes on greyly.