Hadrian & Antinous

ACT III - SCENE II

SCENE II - Enter LUCIUS in a marketplace.

LUCIUS: Days grow shorter as my mind grows colder.

Thanks to my job now in killing Hadrian's suitor.

(Enter PEASANTS, LUCIUS retires into the shadows.)

PEASANT I: Told thou I not to speak a word,

Long ago, but thou has spoken.

YOUNG PEASANT: I said it before, I shall say it again.

I'm sorry to Antinous.

PEASANT II: Thine apologies cannot not mend.

PEASANT III: Escape he now from Greece's grasp,

With Hadrian, to Egypt, they shall set sail fast.

PEASANT I: Of said trip thou shall not speak again.

We all heard it from Antinous already.

PEASANT II: Need not thou remind, for others' ears may attend.

Knowledge shared before not on thee now depend.

YOUNG PEASANT: Speak not I this fact,

T'was not me for a first.

But indeed was our friend,

Who reprised that verse.

PEASANT I: No more speaking, but much more leaving.

I feel ears now attending, my instinct's for fleeting.

(PEASANTS leave; LUCIUS returns from the shadows.)

LUCIUS: To Egypt doth now the Emperor run?

With Antinous company, not wife?

Lucius plans would to Gaius be shunned,

If he not leaves to take the suitors life.

Must then I exist just amongst his halls.

To find out when this journey will take place.

And once I know, I will then make the call,

For when I shall join them to make my case.

Gaius will learn of the Emperor's date,

And Vibia will know the trip's true cost.

Hadrian's deciding his lover's fate,

Not understanding, the Emperor lost.

Antinous life will end at blade,

And his tragic story then start to fade.

But Lucius still remains the victim,

As every tear falls in hope this will end,

Years and years of so much valued wisdom,

Greece has forgotten, so Lucius mends.

Can I ignore the moral destruction?

Can I combat the pain that will follow?

Antinous bleeds for my production,

Yet I still plead to avoid this sorrow.

Apollo, what dost think thou now of me?

Thou man who had wished for thy sun to shine,

Now clinging to darkness, tis not murky?

Of such a plan, ironically divine?

Desert me not, for this plan is to miss,

Anything that is worse, I pray, dismiss.

(Enter GAIUS.)

GAIUS: I heard thou words from streets away,

Silence, my man, speak quiet to pray.

LUCIUS: Didst thou hear the peasants just now?

Their words spoke of an escape somehow.

GAIUS: Yes, tonight Hadrian embarks on his tour,

Of the Egyptian nation, the origin of moors.

(Enter ANTINOUS in the shadows.)

LUCIUS: With Antinous to join,

His suitor of choice.

GAIUS: Not his wife, of course,

He no longer hears her voice.

LUCIUS: Know of that I,

Of it I defy.

GAIUS: Defy it, not I.

For now, her wandering eye.

LUCIUS: Speak more plainly,

What dost thou know?

GAIUS: For each day that dies,

My Vibia's passion grows.

LUCIUS: Spoke not you wrong?

'My Vibia' thou did say,

GAIUS: Tis true, and no,

It was no mistake.

LUCIUS: Vibia looks now to thee,

Not Hadrian, her man?

GAIUS: Hadrian is not her man,

But the man of Antinous.

LUCIUS: Thought did I you resisted such thought,

That Hadrian was man to Antinous.

But now thou art more loyal to Vibia,

Then ever before, then was I oblivious.

GAIUS: Glad am I to see gears turn,

But remember our deal, and these rings you earn.

Antinous must die, Egypt will be the grave,

You will go there, Antinous slayed.

As Vibia and I remain in the shade,

Of Greece's glamour, at home we remain.

LUCIUS: I'll do as I must, for the reward I trust

Will end my strife and save my life.

Antinous blood must be the cost,

For peace in mind, now get us lost.

This place is home to the ears of all,

Speak us in private and make more call.

(LUCIUS and GAIUS leave. ANTINOUS emerges.)

ANTINOUS: More plans to destroy, more plans, oh more plans!

My life is at stake, and Hadrian's wife-

She not loyal, doth not deserve his hand.

And his friend Gaius, deserve not his life!

Am I wrong, since I act as the suitor,

Despite our love being the only truth?

No, for my love has fought this strange disputer,

Since their twisted marriage, since budding youth.

Apollo, what's thine plan, of what's thine point?

Thine sun's warmth is now cold; I blow thee out.

My heart will warm of what thou should appoint.

Until thee take my life from this sad doubt.

If Hades grant me strength, Apollo not,

Then of beautiful God, my faith now rots.

Venture I now to my love's embrace,

I hope to find comfort with glimpse of his face.

(Exit.)