Of Agrippina. Listen! Did ye not hear
The rustle of a robe? [_Starting up._
Ah! thou art come!
I--I no order gave! Then did the brine
Drop from thy hair: but now blood falls from thee;
There, where they struck thee, once did I sleep sound.
What shall I do to appease thee? Let me die
Rather than see that wonder on thy face,
And stare on me of terrible surprise.
Thou com'st upon me!

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.

ANOTHER. And the moon be turned to blood.

NERO. The moon be turned to blood! But that is fine!
These Christians have imaginations then!
The moon in blood, and burning universe!
Why, I myself might have conceived that scene!

_Enter_ OTHERS _from the opposite side_

OFFICER. Caesar, what shall be done?
Still spreads the fire!
A quarter of Rome in ashes lies already,
And like a blackened corpse: and screaming mothers,
Hugging their babes, dash through the fearful flames,
And old men totter gasping through the blaze
Or fall scorched to the ground. Stifled with smoke
The population from their houses reel.
Meantime the Christians, prophesying woe
And final doom upon a wicked world,
Hither and thither run, and with their dark
Forebodings madden all the minds of men.
To thee they point! To thee, the source of fire,
Who has drawn down on them celestial flame.

NERO. Magnificent! The aim of heavenly fire!

ANOTHER. They say the world shall crumble, and the skies
Fall, and their God come in the clouds of heaven
To judge the earth!

ANOTHER. But we are wasting breath
Over the Christians: what now shall be done?