Andivius Hedulio: Adventures of a Roman Nobleman in the Days of the Empire

by Edward Lucas White

  CHAPTER XXXVI

  ANXIETY

  After my seclusion at Baiae, up to the terrible events which I am about tonarrate, by far the most important of my experiences had been my personalobservations of the fights of Palus the Gladiator and what I had heard andthought about him. Therefore I have narrated those at length and first.Now I approach the story of my most dreadful miseries.

  From my return to Rome my life had gone on much as it had before my masterhad compelled me to impersonate Salsonius Salinator and, in so doing, toresume my natural appearance as I had looked while my genuine self, andthus, undisguised, to mingle with the associates of my normal early life.After my hair and beard had regained their previous luxuriance and I wasagain painted, rouged, frizzed, bejeweled, and bedizened, I felt safe and,was in fact, almost entirely safe. In this guise I enjoyed life. Falco wasindulgent to me and I had every luxury at my command.

  Falco's mania for gem-collecting did not wane, but, if possible, grew onhim. His ventures all prospered, his profits from risky speculationspoured in, his normal income from his heritage increased; and, of all thisopulence, every surplus denarius was paid out for gems and curios. Yet henever was so much a faddist as to lose a day from the games of the circusand the amphitheater. He viewed every show of gladiators, every day ofracing, almost every combat and every race.

  The day after the spectacular games for Murmex and his more spectacularcremation, the eighth day before the Kalends of January, was nominally thelast racing day of the year. The weather was fair and mild. The CircusMaximus was crowded, the Imperial Pavilion blazed with the retinue aboutthe Emperor, he and all of us enjoyed the thirty races of four four-horsedchariots to each. I mention this because it was his last publicappearance.

  The festivities of the Saturnalia, which I had prepared for according toFalco's orders with lavish prodigality, left me more than a little weary.I spent some days mostly in resting and dozing, being drowsy all day, evenwith long nights of sound sleep.

  On the fatal last day of the year I did not go out, but read or dozed andwent early to bed. I slept heavily, knowing nothing from composing myselfin bed until I wakened suddenly in the almost complete darkness of thefirst hint of light at the dawn of a cloudy, windless winter day, I wokewith a sense of having been roused, of something unusual; and, vaguelydescrying a human figure by my bed asked, sleepily:

  "Is that you, Dromo?"

  "No," said Agathemer's voice, "it is I."

  I raised myself on one elbow, shot through with foreboding. But myapprehensions were mastered by an idle curiosity. I knew he had someimperative reason for coming to me, yet I did not ask his errand, butqueried:

  "How on earth did you get in?"

  "The house-door was open," he said simply.

  "But," I marvelled, "I am surprised that the janitor was awake so early."

  "He was not," said Agathemer with deliberate emphasis, "he was as fastasleep in his cell on the right of the vestibule as was the watch-dog inhis on the left."

  "And you walked past both unnoticed?" I hazarded.

  "I did," said he, "and you had best warn Falco somehow or induce him tosell his janitor and buy one he can trust or to put in his place sometrusty home-slave. That is no sort of a janitor for the house containingthe second-largest private gem-collection in all Rome. Nor any sort ofwatch-dog."

  "How came the door unbarred?" I wondered, "who showed you up here?"

  "I came up alone," said Agathemer, significantly. "I have not seen a humanbeing except the snoring janitor. This house is at the mercy of any sneak-thief. But you can return to that later. I have come to tell you goodnews. Commodus is dead!"

  "Really?" I quavered.

  Oddly enough I felt no sense of relief. Before my eyes arose the pictureof Commodus as I had seen him facing the mutineers from Britain before hecondemned Perennis: I recalled how often I had heard said of him that hewas the noblest born of all our Emperors from the Divine Julius down; thathe was the handsomest and the strongest man in any assembly about him,however large; that in his Imperial Regalia he looked more imperial thanany man ever had: I contrasted his possession of these qualities with hispitiful squandering of his boundless opportunities, with his fritteringaway his life on horse-racing, sword-play and such like frivolities. Icould not think of myself, only of what Commodus might have been and hadnot been. I mourned for him and Rome.

  Agathemer sat down on the edge of my bed and told his story.

  "You know," he said, "that, as gem-expert and as salesman for Orontides, Ihave many friends in the Palace. I have carefully kept out of it myselfand Orontides has acquiesced, for I told him I had good reason to avoidgoing in there, as you well know I have. If Marcia had seen me she wouldhave recognized me and I should not have lived many hours, for she,believing you dead, would regard me as, of all men, the most likely to seethrough the utilization of Ducconius Furfur as a dummy Emperor to freeCommodus for masquerading as Palus. She would want me out of the way asthe only man in Rome who had known Furfur in Sabinum. Therefore I keptaway from the Palace.

  "But my good friends among the valets and chamberlains and secretaries,and even higher officials have not only kept me posted as to the mostinteresting happenings, intrigues and rumors, but one or two close to theEmperor have regularly communicated to me many details of Palace gossip."

  Daily, since the death of Murmex, Agathemer had been informed of long,heated and ever longer and more violent discussions between Commodus andMarcia, often, with Eclectus also present and participating, for he hadbeen acting towards Commodus more as an equal toward a crony than as HeadChamberlain of the Palace towards his master. Laetus, too had alsoparticipated, sometimes in place of Eclectus, sometimes along with him,for he also had been comporting himself more as a chum of Commodus than asPrefect of the Praetorium towards his Emperor.

  The substance of the discussions had been always the same. Commodus, atonce after the death of Murmex, announced his intention of turning hisImperial duties and dignities over to Ducconius Furfur and of going to theChoragium, there and thenceforward to live and to die as Palus theGladiator. He declared that as Emperor he never had an hour free fromanxiety, always in dread of assassination by poison or otherwise, whereas,as a gladiator among gladiators, he felt perfectly safe and carefree,beloved and watched over by all his companions and certain to win all hisfights.

  "As Emperor," he said, "I'll not live a year; as Palus I'll most likelydie of old age, forty years or more from now. Furfur and I are so alikethat no one can tell us apart, so no one will ever suspect that the manacting as Emperor is not the same man who has filled that place ever sinceFather died."

  Marcia had talked to him of his duty and he had rejoined that he hadalways known that he was unfit to be the Emperor, had feared hisresponsibilities, had undertaken them unwillingly, had mostly bungledthem, and the world would be far better off with anybody else as Emperor,that everybody knew it and that he was despised by the whole Senate andnobility and for that reason more unhappy although he was unhappy enoughso anyhow, without the covert jeers of the magistrates; whereas he was thebest gladiator ever and all gladiators and experts acknowledged andacclaimed him peerless; as a gladiator he would be happy and enjoy life upto whatever end came to him, preferably an unexpected accidental suddendeath such as had befallen Murmex. Ducconius Furfur had not only sat inhis throne at shows, but had received embassies, read better than he theaddresses composed for him by his Prefects of the Praetorium andSecretaries, knew all the tricks of the office and could and would be abetter Emperor than ever he had been.

  When Eclectus and Laetus argued with him the results were similar.

  Then Marcia admonished him that while Furfur had escaped detection in mereroutine matters he was certain to be detected within a few days if heessayed all the Imperial duties before all sorts of people. In that casesome sort of revolt would abolish him and put a new Emperor in place ofhim and any such chosen autocrat would quickly order the death of Palusthe Gladiator to assure himself the
throne. To this line of argumentCommodus had been as deaf as to all other lines.

  "Why," he had said, "if I change clothes with Furfur you wouldn't know thedifference yourself. If we both were garbed as Emperor, Laetus wouldn'tknow which to obey. And if my wife and most loyal servant cannot tellwhich is which when we are side by side and habited alike, who will eversuspect that Furfur is not I when I am out of the way, far off, living asPalus the Swordsman, never alongside the Emperor or in sight at the sametime? The plan cannot miscarry."

  He had announced that he meant on the Kalends of January to take up hisabode in the Choragium and leave the Palace and its adjuncts and all hisprerogatives to Ducconius Furfur. He had Furfur in and the five had aheated wrangle. Furfur, after the discussion, had another with Marcia,Eclectus and Laetus, declaring that he thought the scheme as insane asthey thought it, but dared not show reluctance for fear of being put todeath at once: as an impostor Emperor he would, at least, have a chance,if a faint chance, of success and survival.

  Then they all had a long altercation on the last day of the year, duringwhich Commodus cursed Marcia and Eclectus and Laetus and vowed he wouldhave them all executed if they mentioned the subject again. He imperiouslybade them acquiesce and so silenced them.

  Then he made Furfur, who pretended to him that he was delighted, remain todrink with him. They drank till both were dead drunk and snoring.

  Marcia, finding them so, held a consultation with Eclectus and Laetus andproposed to have Narcissus strangle Furfur, saying that with Furfur out ofthe way Commodus might come to his senses: she would risk his wrath and beresigned to death if she failed to placate him; for, with Furfur dead, hecould not carry out his crazy intentions. She said she loved Commodus somuch that she was willing to save him even at the cost of her own life.

  Eclectus and Laetus acclaimed her plan and were overjoyed at theiropportunity, for all three hated Furfur. Yet, all three shrank from goinginto the room with Narcissus. He, entering alone, mistook the twosleepers, who had changed clothes, and by mistake for Furfur, strangledCommodus. After his victim was indubitably dead and past any possibilityof reviving he summoned his accomplices and, when Marcia shrieked andfainted, for the first time realized his blunder.

  Then, frantic, he seized Furfur and strangled him to death long beforeEclectus had revived Marcia from her swoon.

  As Agathemer told it to me all this came out in a haphazard tangle ofunfinished sentences, interruptions, fresh starts, questions, answers,repetitions and explanations.

  Meanwhile the day had dawned gray and lowering. Of all my strangeexperiences none were more eery than that talk with Agathemer, beginningin the dark and, with his form and features and expressions effaced,gradually becoming more and more visible. And towards the end of hisdisclosures he checked himself in the middle of a word and, raising hishand, whispered:

  "Hark!"

  Silent and tense, we listened. Even in my bedroom, opening on the sidegallery of the peristyle, we heard, from over the roofs, cries of:

  "The tyrant is dead! The despot is dead! The prize-fighter is dead! Themurderer is dead!"

  "The news is out!" Agathemer ejaculated, and he breathed a prayer toMercury, in which I joined. When finally he had told all he had to tell Imarvelled:

  "Can it be possible that the most intimate and secret conversations of thePrince of the Republic, of the most sedulously guarded man on earth, arethus overheard by underlings and so promptly communicated even tooutsiders presumably to be reckoned among his enemies?"

  "I conjecture," Agathemer rejoined, "that I am not the only outsider inreceipt of information of this kind."

  "If you have been, all along," I asked, "in receipt of such information,why have you always talked of Furfur's presence in the Palace and hisutilization as a dummy Emperor while Commodus masqueraded as Palus, as aconjecture of yours which you believed, but of which you could not becertain? Why have you not frankly spoken of it as a fact, which many knewof and of which some in a position to know, repeatedly informed you?"

  "Because no one ever did so inform me," Agathemer answered, "they merelydropped hints, mostly hints, unnoticed by themselves, unintentionallydropped by them, and uncertainly pieced together by me. While Commodus wasalive each of my informants, however fond of me, however under obligationsto me, however anticipative of profit from me, however eager to curryfavor with me, yet had vividly before him the dread of death, of deathwith torture, if any disloyalty of his, any dereliction in deed, word orthought, came to the notice of Commodus or Laetus or Eclectus, or if anyone of them came to harbor any suspicion of him. All were vague, guarded,indefinite, cautious.

  "Since midnight all that has changed. None fears any retribution forblabbing; all feel an overmastering urge towards confiding in some one.The three who, each unknown to the others, have resorted to me, told meunreckonably more than I previously conjectured. I comprehend the entiresituation, now."

  "If so," I said, "make me comprehend it. I do not. How could Furfur becoerced or persuaded to such an imposture? How could he be domiciled inthe Palace along with Marcia and Commodus and the deception maintained?How could the three personally endure or even sustain the difficulties ofthe situation?"

  "It all hinged," Agathemer explained, "on the fact that Furfur wasinsanely in love with Marcia, that Marcia hated and loathed him and thatCommodus realized how each felt to the other. He was so sure of Marcia'sdetestation of Furfur that he was never jealous of him, so sure ofFurfur's complete subserviency to Marcia that he never feared betrayal byhim. Actually, from what I hear, Furfur complied as he did partly fromloyalty to Commodus, partly from fear of him, partly, perhaps, from a sortof relish for his risky impersonation, but chiefly because he was wax inMarcia's hands; as, indeed, was every man who came within reach of herfascinations. Does that explain it?"

  "Enough," I agreed. "Perhaps as far as it can or could be explained."

  "The main thing," said Agathemer, "is that Commodus is dead."

  "I should be pleased to hear that," I said, "and I am and I thank you.But, somehow, I am unable to think of myself. Uppermost in my mind is thethought of the dead autocrat, of his unlimited power, of his inability tosurround himself with trustworthy dependents, and of all you have hadhinted to you and, even to-night, told you. In such a world, who canconsider himself safe?"

  Agathemer looked piqued.

  "I reckoned," he said, "that you would feel, if not safe, at least lessunsafe upon hearing my announcement."

  "I do," said I, "for, under any other Prince, I should be less in danger,and, when we learn who is chosen Emperor, it may turn out that I have somechance of rehabilitation."

  "Laetus and Eclectus," said Agathemer, "have decided to make PertinaxEmperor. When my informer left the Palace they had already set off to findPertinax, presumably at his home, and offer him the Principate."

  "That," I gloried, "is truly good news. I knew him as a young noble knowsmany an older senator: he may remember me. He should have nothing againstme. You raise my hopes high!"

  "By all means be hopeful and cheerful," said Agathemer, "but stick to yourpresent disguise and continue your present way of life until we are sure.Do not be rash."

  We consulted further and he said:

  "I'll keep away from you except when it seems imperative to talk with you.I shall not send any more letters than I must. Do not write to me. If youmust see me, it will be safe to come to Orontides' shop, as Falco iscontinually sending you there about gems. You can nod to me without anyuttered word and I'll then come here as soon as may be."

  He left just as dawn brightened into full day.

  Among the first proclamations of our new Emperor was one expresslyabolishing the court for prosecuting accusations for infringement of theImperial Majesty by incautious words or inadvertent acts and at the sametime decreeing the recall of every living exile banished for suchtransgressions; also specifically rehabilitating the memory of all personswho had been under Commodus, put to death on the pretext of this sort ofguilt
. Before the end of the day on which this decree was promulgated Ireceived a letter from Agathemer in which he wrote:

  "Beware! Keep close. Already it is rumored that exceptions to this decree have been made. Marcia is still alive, is married to Eclectus, and Eclectus is confirmed as Palace Chamberlain. With Marcia close to the Emperor you are not safe, no matter who is Emperor. Keep close!"

  I followed his advice, which was easy for me to do, as I was verycomfortable and well habituated to my life. Moreover I was buoyed up withhope of early rehabilitation and of then marrying Vedia, who sent me onecautiously worded note, congratulating me on the disappearance of my mostdangerous foeman, warning me that I still had formidable enemies alive andin high places, and begging me to be prudent. She reiterated herexpressions of love, devotion and fidelity.

  From Tanno also I received a letter warning me to be on guard and toefface myself as much as possible.

  Falco, who had loathed Commodus, but had been careful to keep a stilltongue on all matters except horse-racing, sword-play, social pleasuresand gem-collecting, was much relieved at his death, and heartily delightedwith his successor. He took pains to be present among the auditors ofPertinax whenever nobles were admitted along with the senators to listento his addresses, which was almost always. He took to heart the newEmperor's adjurations as to economy and his invectives against the evilsof speculative enterprises of all kinds. Over our wine after dinner, whenwe two dined alone together, much as Agathemer and I had when I was myformer self, he unbosomed himself to me.

  "Pertinax is right," he averred, "there is a real difference betweenenterprises which enrich only the participants and those which, whileprofiting their promoters, also add to the wealth of the Republic. Iapplaud his distinction between the two. I agree with him that wealthy menlike me should invest their capital in nothing which does not benefitmankind as well as themselves. I have realized with a shock of shame thatmy greed for cash to spend on jewels has led me to embark in ventureswhich merely divert into my coffers the proceeds of other men's efforts,without adding anything to the sum-total of usable wealth. I mean towithdraw from all such monetary acrobatics and utilize my surplus inextending my estates, in buying others, in cattle-breeding, sheep-raising,goat-herding, and in the cultivation of olives, vines, and other suchremunerative growths, along with wheat-farming. Thus I will add to theresources of the Republic, while increasing my own cash income.

  "Our conscientious Prince is equally correct in exhorting us to eschew allfrivolities. I'll buy no more gems. Nay, I'll auction my collection, assoon as Rome recovers its calm and purchasers are as eager as last year.I'll invest the proceeds in productive enterprise. Thus, as Pertinax says,I shall be a more useful citizen and an even happier man."

  Actually he at once initiated his arrangements for closing out thespeculative ventures which he controlled and for withdrawing from those inwhich he participated. And he bought no more gems, though he talked gemsas much as previously, or even more, and took great pride in showingvisitors over his collection or in conning his treasures in company withme or even entirely alone by himself.

  His enthusiasm for Pertinax grew warmer day by day and he talked of him,praising him, lauded him, prophesied for him great things and from himgreat benefits to the Republic and the Empire.

  The alleged conspiracy against Pertinax of Consul Sosius Falco and hisdisgrace and relegation to his estates was a great shock to my master.That his cousin should plot against the Prince of our Republic, or layhimself open to accusation of such plotting, appeared to him hideous andshameful. He felt disgraced himself, as bearing the same family name. Hegloomed and mourned over the matter.

  The murder of Pertinax, by his own guards, on the fifth day before theKalends of April, when he had been less than three months Emperor, waseven a more violent shock to Falco, who was crushed with horror at such acrime. He was even more horrified at the arrogance of the guiltyPraetorians and at their shameless effrontery in offering the ImperialPurple to the highest bidder and in, practically, selling the Principiateto so bestial a Midas as Didius Julianus, who, of all the senators, seemedmost to misbecome the Imperial Dignity and who had nothing to recommendhim except his opulence.

  During the days of rioting which followed the murder of Pertinax we,naturally, kept indoors. When the disorders abated and the streets of Romeresumed their normal activities, Falco continued to remain at home. Iexpostulated with him, but he appeared, suddenly, a changed man, as ifdazed and stunned by recent events. He, who had been continually on thego, living in a round of social pleasures, became averse to much of whathe had before revelled in. My most ingenious pleadings were required toinduce him to go to the Public Baths, which fashionable clubhouses he hadfrequented every afternoon from his first arrival at Rome. Until the deathof Pertinax he had only very occasionally dined alone with me: nearlyevery day he went out to a formal dinner or entertained a large batch ofguests at a lavish banquet. After Pertinax's murder he began to refuseinvitations to dine and he gave fewer dinners. He spent a great deal ofhis time with his lawyers and accountants and went over the affairs of hisAfrican estates, minutely, one by one and all of them. He made a new willand told me of it.

  "Phorbas," he said, "I am troubled with forebodings. I have never thoughtof death until recently, except as of something far off and to beconsidered much later: since the murder of our good Emperor I think of itcontinually. If I live long enough to see normal conditions restored Ishall follow the suggestions given to me by the addresses of Pertinax andshall auction my gems. Meanwhile I dread that I may not live to do so.Therefore I have made a will leaving my entire collection to you. I herebyenjoin you, should you come into possession of them, to sell the gems atauction, as soon as you see fit, and to invest the proceeds in enterpriseswhich shall add to the wealth of the Republic. This bequest is a trust.Besides I have, as in former wills, bequeathed to you your freedom, and alegacy sufficient to make you comfortable for life. Moreover I have madeyou the heir of one-fourth of my estate, what remains of it after the gemcollections is yours and all specific legacies are paid. I do not love mynephews and cousins and have bequeathed to them more than they deserve; asto the toadies who have hung about me and fawned on me in the hope oflegacies, I despise them all. You are my best friend and chief heir."

  I thanked him effusively and was so much affected that I myself began tohave uncomfortable, vague forebodings. Agathemer happened to visit me andI confided to him the contents of my old leather amulet-bag. Of course Ihad not worn it since I began life with Falco, as a greasy old amulet-bagof the meanest material and pattern was wholly out of keeping with thecharacter I had assumed. I wore instead a flat locket of pure gold,containing a talisman from the Pontic fastnesses. I had kept my share ofour mountain trove of stolen jewels, not needing to part with any afterFalco bought me and unconcerned for the gems, as I now needed no suchstore of savings. Now, suddenly, I felt uneasy about myself, my future andmy possessions. These jewels I therefore placed in Agathemer's keeping,sure that they would be safer with him than with me and certain that hecould realize on them quickly and transmit to me promptly whatever sums Imight need.

  I did all I could to rouse Falco from his lethargy and succeeded to someextent. But, all through April and May, he went out little, accepted fewinvitations and gave few dinners. Much of his time he spent among hisjewels, conning them, handling them, taking curios from their cases and,as it were, caressing them. The rooms which held them were on the lefthand side of the peristyle on the upper floor, across the court from myapartment and not precisely opposite it. There were three rooms; thelarger with a door on the gallery, and a smaller on either side of it,opening from it and lit by windows towards the gallery. Each room had amarble table in the middle, small and round in both side cabinets,rectangular and large in the main room. Each of the three rooms was walledwith cases and shelves; on the shelves were displayed his larger curios,vases, cameos, intaglios, plaques, murrhine bowls and such like; in thecases were necklaces, bracele
ts, rings, seals and trays of unset gems ofall sorts and sizes. Here Falco spent hours each day, gloating over histreasures.

  "Phorbas," he said, "I am resolute never to buy another gem, equallyresolute to auction all I have whenever conditions make a profitable saleprobable. Yet, although I feel that I shall never live to see themauctioned, the very thought of parting with them cuts me to the quick. Iam almost in tears to think of it. I love every piece I own. I hate tothink I must either live to see them sold or die and leave them. I cannotbe with them enough of my time. I could spend all my waking hours enjoyingtheir loveliness and my luck in owning them."

  I thought this condition of mind positively unhealthy and consulted Galen.

  "You are right," he said, "and you are wrong too. Your master is badlyshaken by the horrors of this appalling year, but he is not deranged nor,at this present time, in any more danger of derangement than most of thesenators and nobles with whom he associates. Yet you are correct in beinguneasy. Don't antagonize him, but do all you can, tactfully andunobtrusively, to keep him away from those jewels and to get him out tothe Baths of Titus or to dinners. Do your utmost to induce him toentertain. A jolly dinner with a bevy of jovial guests will be the verymedicine for him."

  Had I been a Greek I could not have been, more wily or more successful. Hespent less time with his gems, went out to the Baths oftener, acceptedsome dinner invitations and gave a few dinners. He even took some interestin preparing for these and in giving orders about them. He had fivecomplete sets of silverware for his _triclinium_ and had a fancy for usingthis or that set, according to the characters of his prospective guests.

  Early in May he had invited a carefully selected company of concordantguests, three senators and the rest nobles like himself, and wasanticipating a delightful evening. He had bidden me to see to theselection of the flowers for decorating the _triclinium_, for thegarlands, and for sprinkling on the floor; to choose the wines I thoughtwould be most appropriate and to have brought out and used his most prizedset of silver, the work of Corinnos of Rhodes, embossed with scenes fromOvid's Metamorphoses and acclaimed one of the finest services in Rome.Besides the two tall mixing-bowls for tempering the wine before servingit, the set had four smaller ones, about the size of well-buckets, andmuch like them, for each was provided with two hinged handles, just like awater-pail. I saw to the polishing of every piece in this magnificentservice, to their proper disposal, to the decoration of the _triclinium_with flowers, verified the wines I had chosen, inspected every detail ofthe preparations for the feast, and, just before the first guest might beexpected to arrive, went out and back into the kitchen to make sure thatevery dish of each course was being properly prepared and that nothingwould be lacking.

  When I returned to the _triclinium_ I found it swept clean of silver,except the two big wine mixers. The four two-handled pails were gone andwith them the salt-cellars, the wine strainers, every soup-spoon, everyoyster-spoon, in fact every small piece, to the last. The thieves musthave been deft, agile and keen, for nothing was overset or disturbed and Ihad heard no noise.

  I rushed to the house-door, found it ajar and, each sleeping in his cell,on the one side the snoring janitor, on the other our fat, pursy, overfedwatchdog.

  I omit my hasty measures for pursuing the thieves and attempting theircapture or at least the recovery of their booty; and my urgent andimportant efforts to arrange that our guests should be properly receivedand the dinner should not be spoiled. Towards this last I did what couldbe done and with fair success, Falco playing up to my suggestions anddissimulating his chagrin.

  More important to record was his amazing indifference to his loss. Notthat he did not feel it acutely, but that he seemed to feel no properindignation against those at fault.

  He questioned the janitor and all the slaves concerned, but instead ofordering scourged the two servitors whom I had left in the _triclinium_when I went out of it to visit the kitchen and who should have remainedthere until my return, he merely reprimanded them mildly. He did not somuch as have the undutiful janitor flogged, let alone sent away for sale.He even laughed at the luck, alertness, dexterity and swiftness of thethieves; picturing their glance into the unshut door, their glances up anddown the street, their eyeings of the watchdog and janitor, theirnoiseless dash into the atrium, their invasion of the _triclinium_, theirgathering of the smaller pieces into the four handled wine-mixers, andtheir escape, each with two silver pails stuffed with goblets, salt-cellars, and bowls and, brimming with strainers, spoons and other smallpieces.

  He commented on their luck in not encountering any of his approachingguests.

  "Mercury," he said, "to whom you chiefly pray, must have been good tothem, as his votaries."

  I was horrified at the levity of his attitude of mind. When we were aloneI remonstrated with him, saying that such leniency was certain todemoralize his household; would ruin any set of slaves. I told him thathis retention of the janitor after Agathemer's unnoticed entrance on thefirst day of the year was bad enough, far worse was it to condone a secondlapse, and that having had consequences so serious. I expostulated that itwas madness to entrust his housedoor to a watchman already twice caughtasleep at his post. I reminded him of the cash value of his gem-collectionand of its value in his eyes, not to be reckoned in cash. He listenedindulgently and said:

  "I thank you, Phorbas. All you say is true. And, any time last year, Ishould have sold that janitor without a thought, after your informationagainst him last January. But, somehow, since the murder of Commodus, yetmore since the murder of Pertinax, I seem less prone to severity and moreinclined to mercy. The waiter-boys deserve flogging, but I cannot hardenmy heart and order it. The janitor merits being sold without a character,after a severe scourging; yet I feel for him, too. I'll give him anotherchance."

  I could not move him.

  I again consulted Galen:

  "You are right!" he exclaimed. "A Roman nobleman who hesitates to have hisslaves flogged or sold and merely reprimands them, is certainly deranged.Any natural Roman would insist on scourgings and even severer punishments,But his eccentricity is not dangerous to him or anybody as yet. Humor him,do not oppose his worship of his treasures, but entice him away from themall you can by devices he does not suspect.

  "And let me add, keep away from me, for your own sake. Keep away fromVedia and Tanno and Agathemer. Do not write letters. True, Julianus hasput Marcia to death and you are rid of a pertinacious and alert enemy. Buthe has recalled into favor most of the professional informers whoflourished under Commodus and they are on the watch for victims to winthem praise and rewards. Several of the exiles recalled by Pertinax havebeen rearrested and re-banished or even executed since Julianus came intopower. Keep close and beware!"