NERO. This breath to her I owe.
TIGELLINUS. [Cautiously and slowly watching
NERO, as do the others.] Caesar, there is a region of exile
Whence none hath yet returned—your pardon, sir—
NERO. [Starts and turns away.] No, no, no!
I remember very clear
How gently she would wake me long ago.
BURRUS. Then be thy mother's son still and surrender
This toy of Rome to her: she bought it you:
Now, wearied, give it back!
NERO. Ah, patience, sir!
I cannot in one moment gird myself
To murder all these kisses, and she hath
A vastness in this narrow world so rare,
A sweep majestical about the earth—
True, that she hath no ear for verse——
TIGELLINUS. For thine.
NERO. Yet passion, fury, and ambition, these
Are primal things in our elaborate age.
Ill can we spare them.
BURRUS. Now, 'tis you or she.
NERO. A little time in which to fix my mind.
I go to Baiae; for I am not housed
Here as I should be: all the palace seems
To me a hovel; scarcely can I breathe.
I should be roofed with gold, and walled with gold,
Should tread on gold; and if I cast mine eyes
Over the city, they should view a scene
Of spacious avenues and breathing trees,
And buildings plunged in odorous foliage.
This is a petty city: I have thought
It might be well to raze it to the ground
And build another and an ampler Rome,
More worthy site for this imperial soul.
I'll go to Baiae, there to dream this dream.
TIGELLINUS. Might I propose you go not all alone?
At times the answering flash from other eyes
Can aid the mightiest; and a woman's thought——