support, but they all reject him, leaving him in bewilderment and despair ("Otton, qual portentoso fulmine" followed by "Voi che udite il mio lamento"). However, Poppaea is touched by her former beloved's grief, and wonders if he might not be guilty ("Bella pur nel mio diletto"). She devises a plan and when Otho approaches her, she pretends to talk in her sleep recounting what Agrippina has told her earlier. Otho, as she intended, overhears her and fiercely protests his innocence. He convinces Poppaea that Agrippina has deceived her. Poppaea swears revenge ("Ingannata una sol volta", alternate aria "Pur punir chi m'ha ingannata") but is distracted when Nero comes forward and declares his love for her. Meanwhile, Agrippina, having lost the support of Pallas and Narcissus, manages to convince Claudius that Otho is still plotting to take the throne. She advises Claudius that he should end Otho's ambitions once and for all by abdicating in favour of Nero. Claudius agrees, believing that this will enable him to win Poppaea. Act 3 Poppaea now plans some deceit of her own, in an effort to divert Claudius's wrath from Otho with whom she has now reconciled. She hides Otho in her bedroom with instructions to listen carefully. Soon Nero arrives to press his love on her ("Coll'ardor del tuo bel core"), but she tricks him into hiding as well. Then Claudius enters; Poppaea tells him that he had earlier misunderstood her: it was not Otho but Nero who had ordered her to reject Claudius. To prove her point she asks Claudius to pretend to leave, then she summons Nero who, thinking Claudius has gone, resumes his passionate wooing of Poppaea. Claudius suddenly reappears and angrily dismisses the crestfallen Nero. After Claudius departs, Poppaea brings Otho out of hiding and the two express their everlasting love in separate arias. At the palace, Nero tells Agrippina of his troubles and decides to renounce love for political ambition ("Come nube che fugge dal vento"). But Pallas and Narcissus have by now revealed Agrippina's original plot to Claudius, so that when Agrippina urges the Emperor to yield the throne to Nero, he accuses her of treachery. She then claims that her efforts to secure the throne for Nero had all along been a ruse to safeguard the throne for Claudius ("Se vuoi pace"). Claudius believes her; nevertheless, when Poppaea, Otho, and Nero arrive, Claudius announces that Nero