Otho, who is Poppea’s lover, returns to his house and finds that the emperor Nero is in his house spending the night with Poppea. Nero’s guards have surrounded the house. Nero tells Poppea he has to go now, but that he loves her and will come back very soon. When he is gone, Arnalta, Poppea’s nurse, warns her that her affair with Nero will bring trouble. Octavia, Nero’s wife, is very sad that her husband is having an affair with someone else and hopes that the gods will punish him. Her nurse comforts her, saying that she ought to find herself a new lover to make Nero cross, but Octavia has too much honour to do such a thing. The philosopher Seneca tells her that she should just accept her fate. The page boy tells the philosopher he is stupid.