Nero, after strangling his wife, looks forward to openly loving his guardsman
Now am I rid of wife and mother,
But I can play the mourner easily:
I will give out how she has killed herself,
And make bold my displays of widow-grief,
The while in private,
I’ll mark the ending of our false design.
Burrus, now faintly does the morning come:
I think I shall find it easy to sleep.
Watch the city -
And wake me not when the faithful come,
I had rather be roused by it.
Now, let me not mind the keep:
I dream, I sleep.