de,
I can unmake--Now leave me with my son.
[_To_ TIGELLINUS.] You are self-made. Gods!
I'd no hand in that!

[_Exeunt_ SENECA, BURRUS, _and_ TIGELLINUS.]

Nero, have you forgot who set you there?

NERO. Not while I hear it twenty times a day.

AGRIPPINA. You should not need that I remind you of it.

NERO. A kindness harped on grows an injury.

AGRIPPINA. Are you the babe that lay upon my breast?

NERO. I was: but I would not lie there for ever.

AGRIPPINA. Have I not reared you, tended you, and loved you?

NERO. Yes, but to be your puppet and your toy.

AGRIPPINA. Boy, never since I first looked on the sun
From man or woman had I insolence,
Who have sistered, wived, and mothered Emperors.

NERO. I speak no insolence--you weary me!

AGRIPPINA. Gods! you have hit on a new thing to tell me.
[_Coming to him._] Does your heart beat? Are
you all ice and pose?
Has nothing gripped you--is there aught to grip
In you, pert shadow? Have you e'er shed tears?

NERO. For legendary sorrows I can weep:
With those of old time I have suffered much,
And I, for dreams, am capable of tears;
But not for woe too near me--and too loud.

AGRIPPINA. O wall of stone 'gainst which I beat in vain!
Nero, I will do much to win you back
For your own sake: and though it hurts me sore,
Your passion for Poppaea I will aid.
When did a mother yield herself to this?

NERO. When had a mother such a lust for rule
That she could even yield herself to this?

AGRIPPINA. [_Clasping his knees._] Child, I
have done with scorn, with bitter words,
With taunt, with gibe. Now I ask only pity--
A little pity from flesh that I conceived,
A little mercy from the body I bore,
And touches from the baby hands I kissed.
Nothing I ask of you, only to love me,
And if not that, to bear with me a while,
Who have borne much for you: no, Nero, child,
I will not weary you, I yearn for you.
Forgive me all the deeds that I have done for you,
Forget the great love I have spent on you,
Pardon the long, long life for you endured.

[NERO _is moved and kisses her, then speaks with effort_.

NERO. Mother, if I have seemed to be forgetful,
Or cruel even, impute it not to me
But to the State.

[AGRIPPINA _starts._

'Tis thought that neither Rome,
The provinces, nor armies, will endure
To see a woman in such eminence.
Therefore it is advised that you r