Fulvia.

Is’t not the change more than the solitude Vexes your majesty?

Agr. Nay, I was never made For isolation, and even by my friends I am utterly forsaken.

Ful. Junia Silana Was very constant, tho’ we have not seen her Now for four days.

Agr. Bah! she’s my foe. I wronged her That way a woman ne’er forgives. ’Twas I Broke off her match with Sextius, you remember.

Ful. Your true friends dare not come: they stand aloof, Watching the time to do you service, madam.

Agr. You speak of Pallas: there’s none else.

Ful. The lot Of late befallen your majesty is such As all our sex have borne, who have not raised Nor much demeaned themselves beyond the rest.

Agr. True; but ’twas never mine; I made escape. They that would lock us up in idleness, Shut us from all affairs, treat us as dolls Appointed for their pleasure; these but make it The easier for a woman with a will To have her way. Life lacks machinery To thwart us. Had I been a man, methinks I had done as well, but never with the means I have used. Nay, nay, ’tis easy for a woman, Be she but quick and brave, to have her will.

Enter Servant, who speaks to Fulvia, and she to Agrippina.

Burrus and Seneca you say! Admit them. Fulvia, here’s one apiece: make your own choice; I’ve none, and can be generous. Pray come in.

Enter Burrus and Seneca with two others.

Come in, my lords, come in. You are very welcome. Look, Fulvia, now if Mercury have not heard Our prayers and sent us noble visitors! Pray you be seated. Alas, in this poor house I fear I cannot show you the reception You and your gallant followers deserve. ’Tis not what thou’rt accustomed to at home, Seneca, I know: pardon it. Thou lookest cold. Come near the fire: pray heaven this bitter weather May not have touched thy chest. A Gallic winter! I can remember no such fall of snow In March these twenty years; but looking back, I find one noted in my journal then. How goes your health, my lords?