SCENE III - VIBIA and HADRIAN enter their bedroom chamber.
VIBIA: How was thou prayer to the goddess Venus?
How was thy time in the emperor's room?
Once I had left to greet those regents,
The most careful thoughts of Hadrian loomed.
HADRIAN: I prayed the duration of your absence,
And I listened for the call of a dove.
To remind me of true love passions,
To remind me of the beauty of love.
VIBIA: And then didst thou hear that pure white bird sing?
Did Venus speak of the beauty inside?
Or do I now find me lost to something?
For thou has spoke not of that so bright.
HADRIAN: She spoke, but in ways thou have none to fear.
VIBIA: Very well, then, sweet Hadrian, my dear.
HADRIAN: Dost thou doubt my words?
VIBIA: I do but I don't. I want to believe thee, but-
HADRIAN: But?
VIBIA: I saw a man enter soon after I left.
He stayed so long, why was he kept?
In the temple of love-
HADRIAN: Dost thou speak of Gaius, my secretary and friend?
VIBIA: No, of another, a man in the midst.
HADRIAN: A man in the midst? How dost thou speak?
A man did not enter after thee.
VIBIA: Tis true, I must have seen something false.
I'm sorry to worry and raise thy pulse.
HADRIAN: Dost thou remember how they looked?
This man in midst?
VIBIA: Young, beautiful.
HADRIAN: (whisper) Antinous,
VIBIA: What? Speak'st thou a name?
HADRIAN: What? I speak not, I all but cough.
VIBIA: Antinous, who? Antinous, who?!
HADRIAN: Nothing, my sweet, sweet empress.
(HADRIAN moves toward VIBIA, she rejects and turns away.)
VIBIA: Tis true, the lies! Tis true, tis true!
HADRIAN: How dost thou speak?
VIBIA: Greece knows about him too.
HADRIAN: Know of who? Vibia, thou art mad.
VIBIA: Mad thou say, mad am I?
My husband that has our marriage defied.
Venus be with me, make him pure!
Fill me strength to be his cure.
HADRIAN: My cure, thou art mad, art thou not?
Speak thou of a love that thou has never fought.
I love thee, but I love Antinous too.
I don't know how, but both loves are true.
VIBIA: Thou art a man! Thou art a ruler!
How canst thou love another so similar?
Thou art a God! Thou art a husband!
Mine for life, a strong, unbreakable vow.
Take that and what's left? A hollow term of a word,
A broken promise to Venus?
Of whom you built a temple for us.
Thou art a man! Thou art a ruler!
Thee canst love someone so similar.
HADRIAN: Speak thou too strong,
Thou art a woman! Thou art a queen!
Thou art never so mean to decide a thing.
Dost thou want to be limited by thy sex?
Dost thou not want to be limitless like every man?
Speak thou now of terms so degrading,
Of thyself and thy sexuality.
VIBIA: I will fall for thee,
Thou art my emperor, husband, and conqueror.
And I thee servant, thee wife, thee conquered.
Dost thou not want that?
HADRIAN: Nah, my wife. I not want to dominate thee.
I want thee to be my equal, not my conqueror or conquered.
But thou art mad, and think thou must be my slave.
Antinous speaks not so degradingly.
VIBIA: I know not how to approach this,
Not yet, at the very least.
Give me time, give me time.
I'll think of how shall to thee please.
(VIBIA goes to leave.)
HADRIAN: I won't wait for thee while Antinous breathe,
For he knows love is not a game of please.
VIBIA: The more thou speaks, the more I think.
The more I think, the more hearts sink.
(VIBIA exit.)
HADRIAN: Pray I to thee, Apollo above,
Give me the strength to once again love.
Not just Antinous, but Vibia too.
I wish not to hurt her, but she cannot lose.
Pray I to thee, protect Antinous please,
From her moral efforts, and her endless greed.
(HADRIAN exit.)
YOU ARE READING
Hadrian & Antinous
Historical FictionExplore the love affair of the Ancient Greek Emperor Hadrian and his lover, a Greek man named Antinous, in this classically-written, full-length stage play. Based on a true story, the play also fills in the details lost to history with author Anthon...
