Guard: Hail the Emperor!
Nero: Why do you not kneel to me, Cincinnatus? Is it not I, Nero, who sacrifices and makes Rome great? I and I alone have made Rome great again! Greater than ever!
Cincinnatus: It is not duty and honor, or the people, whom you want to be great. But rather it is Nero’s State which has replaced Caligula’s State.
Nero: What are you saying?
Cincinnatus: You made many large and grand promises to understandably angry crowds who lost too much as a result of following Caligula, who claimed: "Always low prices, never true costs." Yet, was it not Caligula’s system which enlarged your riches, Nero, before you were crowned Emperor?
Nero: Caligula was my father's friend, not mine!
Cincinnatus: Yet, like your father, you served Caligula's system. Like those who follow you today, you remained silent for more than three decades in favor of Caligula's system as it grew larger and larger, spreading itself across the Mediterranean, making slaves of those in Roman provinces sweating in the shops and fields.
Nero: You lie!
Cincinnatus: Nero, you profited in money and fame far more than most Romans, by the very system you now condemn. That is why, no matter what you say to the crowds, it is in the State that you place all of your faith. It is your personal glory, embodied in Caligula’s State, which now has become Nero’s State.
Nero: I have made many sacrifices!
Cincinnatus: It is personal glory that you love, not personal sacrifice. You do not truly love the Republic, or the rights of humanity.
Nero: Why do you not kneel to me, Cincinnatus? Is it not I, Nero, who sacrifices and makes Rome great? I and I alone have made Rome great again! Greater than ever!
Cincinnatus: It is not duty and honor, or the people, whom you want to be great. But rather it is Nero’s State which has replaced Caligula’s State.
Nero: What are you saying?
Cincinnatus: You made many large and grand promises to understandably angry crowds who lost too much as a result of following Caligula, who claimed: "Always low prices, never true costs." Yet, was it not Caligula’s system which enlarged your riches, Nero, before you were crowned Emperor?
Nero: Caligula was my father's friend, not mine!
Cincinnatus: Yet, like your father, you served Caligula's system. Like those who follow you today, you remained silent for more than three decades in favor of Caligula's system as it grew larger and larger, spreading itself across the Mediterranean, making slaves of those in Roman provinces sweating in the shops and fields.
Nero: You lie!
Cincinnatus: Nero, you profited in money and fame far more than most Romans, by the very system you now condemn. That is why, no matter what you say to the crowds, it is in the State that you place all of your faith. It is your personal glory, embodied in Caligula’s State, which now has become Nero’s State.
Nero: I have made many sacrifices!
Cincinnatus: It is personal glory that you love, not personal sacrifice. You do not truly love the Republic, or the rights of humanity.
