ACTE. Ah! what ails your mind?
NERO. She is gone! The red drops those that fell from her!
ACTE. Lo! I am with thee!
NERO. Thou! And who art thou?
Enter in great haste an OFFICER, followed by OTHERS
OFFICER. Caesar, Rome burns! We cannot fight the fire
Which blazes and consumes. How it arose
None knows and none can tell. What shall we do?
ANOTHER. It sprung in the Suburra: whether lit
By accident, dropped torch, or smouldering brand——
ANOTHER. Or by design——
ANOTHER. Caesar, the Christians,
Who hate the human race, have done this thing:
They loathe thy rule and would abolish thee,
And with thee, Rome.
ANOTHER. They have a prophecy
That now the world is ending, and in fire
The globe shall shrivel, and this empire fall
In cinders.