NERO. Leave this to me!
TIGELLINUS. O Caesar!
NERO. [To ANICETUS.] Go thou fast
And intercept my mother on her way,
And say thou thus: 'Nero thy son repents
His former ire and cancels the decree
For Antium; and prays thou may'st return
To supper, as a sign of amity,
And bring with thee the prince Britannicus.'
[ANICETUS is going, but NERO stops him.
And as you go, send in to me Locusta.
[Exit ANICETUS.
I have conceived—not fully—but conceived
The death-scene of the boy Britannicus.
Leave this to me.
TIGELLINUS. O Caesar!
NERO. It shall be
Performed to-night at supper: get you seats;
It shall be something new and wonderful,
Done after wine, and under falling roses;
And there shall be suspense in it, and thrill:
It shall be very sudden, very silent,
And terrible in silence—I the while,
Creator and arranger of the scene,
Reclining with a jewel in my eye;
And Agrippina shall be close to me,
Aware, yet motionless: Octavia,
Though but a child, yet too discreet for tears.
This you may deem as yet a little crude,
But other details I will add ere supper.
[SENECA withdraws in horror, as do the others, slowly.