“NERO IS MAD,” said Claudius. “He will destroy the empire. His excesses will demand the return of the republic and you, my son, will return to restore it. The republic will live again!”
“I don’t believe in the republic,” said Britannicus, son of Claudius. “No one believes in the republic anymore! No one does, except you. You’re old, father, and out of touch. I want my chance to rule. And rule Rome as it should be ruled. If you love me, give me that chance.”
“Let all the poisons that lurk in the mud hatch out,” mumbled Claudius alone to himself. “Write no more Claudius, write no more. I have told it all, as I said I would. And as the Sybil prophesized, I have told the truth. I have set the record straight. It is all here for remote posterity. Come death, and draw the final curtain. I am tired, oh so tired.”1
1 From the 1976 BBC Masterpiece Theatre production of I, Claudius. (Based on: I, Claudius: from the autobiography of Tiberius Claudius born 10 B.C. murdered and deified A.D. 54. and Claudius The God, both authored by Robert Graves. New York: Vintage International Edition, 1989, originally published by Random House, 1935.