Nero monologue (Act 3) — Nero

Ah! thunder! thou art come At last, too late! What catches at my heart? I--I--her boy, her baby that was, even I Have killed her: where I sucked there have I struck. Mother! Mother! [_He drinks._ The anguish of it hath taken hold of me, And I am gripped by Nature. O, it comes Upon me, this too natural remorse. I faint! I flinch from the raw agony! I cannot face this common human throe! Ah! Ah! the crude stab of reality! I am a son, and I have killed my mother! Why! I am now no more than him who tills Or reaps: and I am seized by primal pangs. Mother! [_He drinks._ The thunder crieth motherless. Ah! how this sword of lightning thrusts at me! O, all the artist in my soul is shattered, And I am hurled into humanity, Back to the sweat and heart-break of mankind. I am broken upon the jagged spurs of the earth. I can no more endure it. Mother!