Nero

by Stephen Phillips

ANOTHER. We have fought fire
With water: matched the elements in vain,
For the fire triumphs: Caesar, what aid from thee?

Enter ANOTHER

MESSENGER. Caesar, the temple of Jupiter is aflame.
The shrine of Vesta next will crash to the earth.

ANOTHER. Open the sluices of the Campus Martius.

ANOTHER. Issue some sudden edict: give command.

NERO. No edict will I issue, or command.
Let the fire rage.

CHORUS. O Caesar!

NERO. Let it rage!

ANOTHER. Caesar, 'tis said this fire was lit by thee.
That thou wouldst burn old Rome to build a new,
A Rome more glorious issuing from the flames:
This tale hath maddened all the common folk
Who, from their smouldering homes, curse thee aloud.

NERO. This fire is not the act of mortal mind,
But is the huge conception of a spirit
Dreaming beyond the tomb a mighty thought.
She would express herself in burning fire:
This is the awful vengeance of the dead;
This is my mother Agrippina's deed.
I will not baulk the fury of her spirit.
No! Let her glut her anger on the city,
For only Rome in ashes can appease her,
Let the fire rage and purge me of her blood!
[The flame flashes upward.
Rage!
Rage on!
See, see!
How beautiful!
Like a rose magnificently burning!
[The flame flashes up.
Rage on!
Thou art that which poets use,
Or which consumes them.
Thou art in me!
Thou dreadful womb of mighty spirits,
And crimson sepulchre of them!
[The flame flashes up.
Blaze! Blaze!
How it eats and eats!
How it drinks!
What hunger is like unto the hunger of fire?
What thirst is like unto the thirst of flame?
[The flame flashes up.
O fury superb!
O incurable lust of ruin!
O panting perdition!
O splendid devastation!
I, I, too, have felt it!
To destroy—to destroy!
To leave behind me ashes, ashes.
[The flame flashes up.
Rage! Rage on!
Or art thou passion, art thou desire?
Ah! terrible kiss!
[The flame flashes up.
Now hear it, hear it!
A hiss as from mighty serpents,
The dry, licking, wicked tongues!
Wouldst thou sting the earth to death?
What a career!
To clasp and devour and kill!
To dance over the world as a frenzied dancer
With whirling skirts of world-wide flame!
[The flame flashes up.
Blaze! Blaze!
Or art thou madness visible,
Insanity seizing the rolling heavens.
[He points up.
Thou, Thou, didst create the world
In the stars innumerably smiling.
Thou art life, thou art God, thou art I!
[The flame flashes up.
Mother! Mother!
This is thy deed.
Hist! Hist! can you not see her
Stealing with lighted torch?
She makes no sound, she hath a spirit's tread.
Hast thou sated thy vengeance yet?
Art thou appeased?
[The flame flashes up.
Be satisfied with nothing but the world,
The world alone is fuel for thee.
Mother!
[The flame flashes up.
And I! See what a fire I have given thee,
Rome for a funeral couch!
Had Achilles a pyre like to this
Or had Patroclus?
Had they mourners such as I give to thee,
Bereaved mothers and babes?
Now let the wailing cease from thy tomb,
Here is a mightier wail!
Now let the haunting trumpet be dumb!