Upon leaving Phaon, Beric was conducted to the room where he had
left Scopus. The latter at once joined him, and without asking any
questions left the palace with him.
"I would ask nothing until you were outside," Scopus said. "They
were wondering there at the long audience you have had with Nero.
Judging by the gravity of your face, things have not gone well with
you."
"They have gone well in one sense," Beric said, "though I would
vastly rather that they had gone otherwise. I feel very much more
fear now than when I stood awaiting the attack of the lion."
And he then related to Scopus the conversation he had had with
Nero. The lanista inclined himself humbly to the ground.
"You are a great man now, Beric, though, as you say, the place is
not without its dangers. I guessed when Caesar sent for you that
he purposed to use your strength and courage in his service. Your
face is one that invites trust, and Nero was wise enough to see
that if he were to trust you he must trust you altogether. He has
acted wisely. He deemed that, having no friends and connections in
Rome, he could rely upon you as he could rely upon no one who is
a native here. You will be a great man, for a time at any rate."
"I would rather have remained at your ludus, Scopus. I shall feel
like a little dog I saw the other day in a cage of one of the
lions. The beast seemed fond of it, but the little creature knew
well that at any moment the lion might stretch out its paw and
crush it."
Scopus nodded.
"That is true enough, Beric, though there are tens of thousands in
Rome who would gladly run the risk for the sake of the honour and
profit. Still, as I said to you before we started, I have faith in
your good fortune and quickness, and believe that you may escape
from the bars where another would lose his skin. Tell to none but
myself what Caesar has said to you. The world will soon guess that
your post as private librarian is but a pretext for Caesar to have
you near him. It is not by such a post that the victor of the arena
would be rewarded." They now went together to a goldsmith.
"Ah! Scopus, I have been expecting you. I saw you in the arena
with your two gladiators. Afterwards I saw this tall young Briton
fight the lion, and when I heard that he was at your ludus I said
to myself, 'Scopus will be bringing him to me to dispose of some
of the jewelry to which the ladies were so prodigal.'"
"That is our errand, Rufus. Here is the bag."
The goldsmith opened it.
"You don't expect me to name a price for all these articles, Scopus?
It will take me a day to examine and appraise them; and, indeed, I
shall have to go to a friend or two for money, for there is enough
here to stock a shop. Never did I know our ladies so liberal of
their gifts."
"Ah!" Scopus said, "and you don't often see gifts so well deserved;
but, mind you, if it had been I who had fought the lion--I, who
have nothing to recommend me in the way of either stature or looks--it
would have been a very different thing. Youth and stature and
good looks go for a great deal even in the arena, I can tell you.
Well, Beric will call in a day or two. Here is the inventory of the
jewels; I have got a copy at home. Do you put the price you will
give against each, and then he can sell or not as he pleases. He
is not going to sacrifice them, Rufus, for he has no need of money;
Caesar has just appointed him to his household."
The manner of the jeweller changed at once.
"The list shall be ready for you in two days," he said to Beric
respectfully. "If you have need of money on account now I can let
you have as much as you will." Beric shook his head.
"I have all that I require," he said. "I will return it may be in
two days, it may be more--I know not precisely how much my duties
may occupy me."
"You will get full value for your goods," Scopus said when they left
the shop--"that was why I mentioned that you had entered Nero's
household, for it is a great thing to have a friend at court."
"And how about yourself, Scopus? You have kept me and trained me
for months. Now you are going to lose my services just when you
might begin to get a return. Moreover, I may tell you that I shall
as soon as possible get Boduoc with me. So you must name a sum
which will amply recompense you for the trouble and expense that
you have had with us."
"I shall be no loser, Beric. When captives in war are sent to
be trained in a ludus the lanista is paid for a year's keep and
tuition for them. After that he makes what he can from those who
give entertainments. Therefore I received from the imperial treasury
the regular amount for you and your comrades. Moreover, the senator
who gave the performances sent me a very handsome sum--more than
he had agreed to give me for Porus and Lupus together--saying
that, although he had not engaged you, your deeds in the arena had
delighted the people beyond measure, and that as his show would be
talked about for years, it was but fair he should pay your lanista
a sum worthy of the performance. And now farewell! You know that I
and your comrades at the ludus will always be glad to see you. We
shall be back in Rome as soon as my place is rebuilt."
"You may be sure that I will come, Scopus. You have shown me much
kindness, and if in any way I can repay you I will do so. Tell Boduoc
I hope very shortly to have him with me, and that maybe I shall be
able to find means of withdrawing the others from the arena."
As soon as they separated Beric walked rapidly to the house where
Norbanus had taken up his abode. As he reached the door he paused,
for he heard within the sounds of wailing, and felt that he had
come too late.
"Tell Norbanus," he said to the slave at the door, "that Beric is
here, but that unless he wishes to see me I will leave him undisturbed,
as I fear by the cries that the Lady Ennia is dead."
"She died early this morning," the slave said. "I will tell my
master that you are here."
He returned almost directly.
"Norbanus prays you to enter," he said, and led the way to the
magistrate's study.
"Ah, my friend," the Roman said, "it is over! Ennia died this
morning. She passed away as if in sleep. It is a terrible grief
to me. Thanks to the gods I can bear that as becomes a Roman; but
how would it have been had I seen her torn to pieces under my eyes?
Ah, Beric you know not from what you have saved us! We could never
have lifted up our heads again had she died so. Now we shall grieve
for her as all men grieve for those they love; but it will be a
grief without pain, for assuredly she died happy. She spoke of you
once or twice, and each time she said, 'I shall see him again.' I
think she was speaking her belief, that she should meet you after
death. The Christian belief in a future state is like yours, you
know, Beric, rather than like ours."
"She was a gentle creature," Beric said, "and as she dared even
death by the lions for her God, assuredly she will go to the Happy
Island, though it may not be the same that the Druids tell us
Britons of. And how are the Ladies Lesbia and Aemilia?"
"My wife is well," the magistrate said. "She has not the consolations
of philosophy as I have, but I think that she feels it is better
for the child herself that she should have so died. Ennia would
always have remained a Christian, and fresh troubles and persecutions
would have come. Besides, her religion would have put her apart
from her mother and her family. To me, of course, it would have made
no difference, holding the views that I do as to the religions of
the world; but my wife sees things in a different light. Aemilia
is worn out with watching and grief, but I know that she will see
you presently, that is, if you are not compelled to return at once
to the hills."
"I return there no more. I have seen Nero today, and he has appointed
me an official in his household. It will seem ridiculous to you
when I say that I am to be his private librarian. That, of course,
is but a pretext to keep me near his person, deeming that I am
strong enough to be a useful guard to him, and being a stranger
am not likely to be engaged in any intrigue that may be going on.
I would rather have remained at the ludus for a time; but there is
no refusing the offers of an emperor, and he spoke to me fairly,
and I answered him as one man should do another, frankly and openly."
"Nero has done wisely," Norbanus said warmly, "though for you
the promotion is perilous. To be Nero's friend is to be condemned
beforehand to death, though for a time he may shower favours upon
you. He is fickle and inconstant, and you have not learned to
cringe and flatter, and are as likely as not to anger him by your
outspoken utterances."
"I shall assuredly say what I think if he questions me," Beric said
quietly; "but if he values me as a guard, he will scarce question
me when he knows that I should express an opinion contrary to his
own."
"When do you enter his service, Beric?"
"I am to present myself tomorrow morning."
"Then you will stay with us tonight, Beric. This is a house of
mourning, but you are as one of ourselves. You must excuse ceremony,
for I have many arrangements to make, as Ennia will be buried
tomorrow."
"I will go out into the garden," Beric said.
"Do so. I will send up word to Aemilia that you are there. Doubtless
she would rather meet you there than before the slaves."
Beric had been sitting in the shade for half an hour when he saw
Aemilia coming towards him. Her face was swollen with crying, and
the tears were still streaming down her cheeks. Beric took her
hand, and would have bent over it, when she grasped his with both
of hers and pressed it to her lips.
"Oh, Beric," she cried, "what have you not done for us, and how much
do we not owe you! Had it not been for you, I should be mourning
now, not for Ennia who lies with a smile on her face in her chamber,
but for Ennia torn to pieces and devoured by the lion. It seemed
to me that I too should die, when suddenly you stood between her
and the fierce beast, seeming to my eyes as if a god had come down
to save her; and when all the people gave you up as lost, standing
there unarmed and calmly waiting the lion's attack, I felt that you
would conquer. Truly Ennia's God and yours must have stood beside
you, though I saw them not. How else could you have been so strong
and fearless? Ennia thought so too. She told me so one night when
the house was asleep, and I only watching beside her. 'My God was
with him,' she said. 'None other could have given him the strength
to battle with the lion. He will bring him to Himself in good time,
and I shall meet him again.' She said something about your knowing
that she was a Christian. But, of course, you could not have known
that."
"I did know it, Aemilia;" and Beric then told her of his meeting with
Ennia and the old slave when they were attacked by the plunderers
on the way home from their place of meeting. "She promised me not
to go again," he said, "without letting me know, in which case
I should have escorted her and protected her from harm. But just
after that there was the fire, and I had to go away with Scopus to
the Alban Hills; and so, as she knew that I could not escort her,
I never heard from her. I would that I had been with her that night
she was arrested, then she might not have fallen into the hands of
the guard. Indeed, had I been here I would have gone gladly, for it
seemed to me there must be something strange in the religion that
would induce a quiet gentle girl like her to go out at night unknown
to her parents. Now I desire even more to learn about it. Her God
must surely have given her the strength and courage that she showed
when she chose death by lions rather than deny Him."
"I, too, should like to know something about it," Aemilia said.
"By the way Ennia spoke, when she said you knew that she was a
Christian, it seemed to me that, if you did know, which I thought
was impossible, she thought you were angry with her for becoming
a Christian."
"I was angry with her not for being a Christian, but for going out
without your father's knowledge, and I told her so frankly. If it
had been you I should not have been so much surprised, because you
have high spirits and are fearless in disposition; but for her to
do so seemed so strange and unnatural, that I deemed this religion
of hers must be bad in that it taught a girl to deceive her parents."
"What did she say, Beric?"
"I could see that she considered it her duty beyond all other duties,
and so said no more, knowing nothing of her religion beyond what
your father told me."
"I wish Pollio had been here," the girl said; "he would have thought
as I do about the loss of Ennia. My father has his philosophy, and
considers it rather a good thing to be out of the world. My mother
was so horrified when she heard that Ennia was a Christian, that I
am sure she is relieved at her death. I am not a philosopher, and
it was nothing to me whether Ennia took up with this new sect or
not. So you see I have no one who can sympathize with me. You can't
think how dreadful the thought is that I shall be alone in future."
"We grow accustomed to all things," Beric said. "I have lost all
my relations, my country, and everything, and I am here a stranger
and little better than a slave, and yet life seems not so unpleasant
to me. In time this grief will be healed, and you will be happy
again."
"I am sure I should never have been happy, Beric, if she had died in
the arena. I should always have had it before my eyes--I should
have dreamt of it. But why do you say that until today you have
been almost a slave? Why is it different today?"
Beric told her of his new position.
"If I could take your position, and have your strength but for one
night," Aemilia said passionately, "I would slay the tyrant. He is
a monster. It is to him that Ennia's death is due. He has committed
unheard of crimes; and he will kill you, too, Beric. He kills all
those whom he once favours."
"I shall be on my guard, Aemilia; besides, my danger will not be
great, for he will have nothing to gain by my death. I shall keep
aloof from all intrigues, and he will have no reason to suspect
me. The danger, if danger there be, will come from my refusing to
carry out any of his cruel orders. I am ready to be a guard, but
not an executioner."
"I know how it will end," the girl sighed; "but I shall hope always.
You conquered the lion, maybe you will conquer Nero."
"Who is a very much less imposing creature," Beric smiled. A slave
girl at this moment summoned Aemilia into the house. She waited a
moment.
"Remember, Beric," she said, "that if trouble and danger come upon
you, any such poor aid as I can give will be yours. I am a Roman
girl. I have not the strength to fight as you have, but have the
courage to die; and as, at the risk of your life, you saved Ennia
for us, so would I risk my life to save yours. Remember that a
woman can plot and scheme, and that in dealing with Nero cunning
goes for as much as strength. We have many relatives and friends
here, too, and Ennia's death in the arena would have been viewed
as a disgrace upon the whole family; so that I can rely upon help
from them if need be. Remember that, should the occasion arise,
I shall feel your refusal of my help much more bitterly than any
misfortune your acceptance of it could bring upon me." Then turning,
the girl went up to the house.
On arriving at Nero's palace the next morning, and asking for Phaon,
Beric was at once conducted to his chamber.
"That is well," the freedman said as he entered. "Nero is in council
with his architects at present. I will show you to your chamber at
once, so that you will be in readiness."
The apartment to which Phaon led Beric was a charming one. It had
no windows in the walls, which were covered with exquisitely painted
designs, but light was given by an opening in the ceiling, under
which, in the centre of the room, was the shallow basin into which
the rain that penetrated through the opening fell. There were several
elegantly carved couches round the room. Some bronze statues stood
on plinths, and some pots of tall aquatic plants stood in the basin;
heavy hangings covered the entrance.
"Here," Phaon said, drawing one of them aside, "is your cubicule,
and here, next to it, is another. It is meant for a friend of the
occupant of the room; but I should not advise you to have anyone
sleep here. Nero would not sleep well did he know that any stranger
was so close to his apartment. This, and the entrance at the other
end of the room, lead into passages, while this," and he drew back
another curtain, "is the library."
This room was about the same size as that allotted to Beric,
being some twenty-five feet square. Short as the notice had been,
a wooden framework of cedar wood, divided into partitions fifteen
inches each way, had been erected round, and in each of these stood
a wooden case containing rolls of manuscripts, the name of the work
being indicated by a label affixed to the box. Seated at a table
in one of the angles was the Greek Chiton, who saluted Beric.
"We shall be good friends, I hope," Beric said, "for I shall have
to rely upon you entirely for the Greek books, and it is you who
will be the real librarian."
Chiton was a man of some thirty years of age, with a pale Greek
face; and looking at him earnestly Beric thought that it looked an
honest one. He had anticipated that the man Nero had chosen would
be placed as a spy over him; but he now concluded this was not so,
and that Nero at present trusted him entirely.
"This passage," Phaon said, "leads direct to Caesar's private
apartment, a few steps only separate them. The passage on this side
of your room also leads there, so that either from here or from it
you can be summoned at once. Now let us return to your room. It is
from there you will generally go to Nero when he summons you. That
door at the end of the short passage will not be kept locked, while
this one from the library cannot be opened from your side. Three
strokes of Nero's bell will be the signal that he requires you. If
after the three have sounded there is another struck smartly, you
will snatch up your sword and rush in instantly by night or day."
"What are my duties to be?" Beric asked when they had returned to
his room, "for Chiton can discharge those of librarian infinitely
better than I can do."
"You will sit and read here, or pass the time as you like, until
nine o'clock, at which hour Nero goes to the baths. At eleven he
goes out to inspect the works or to take part in public ceremonies.
At three he sups, and the meal lasts sometimes till seven or eight,
sometimes until midnight. Your duties in the library will end when
he goes to the baths, and after that you will be free, unless he
summons you to attend him abroad, until supper is concluded. At
night you will draw back the curtains between the passage and your
room and that of your cubicule, so that you may hear his summons,
or even his voice if loudly raised. You will lie down with your
sword ready at hand. I should say your duties will begin at six
in the morning, and it is only between that hour and nine that you
will be a prisoner in the library."
"I shall not find it an imprisonment," Beric said. "Three hours
is little enough to study, with all that wealth of books ready at
hand. How about Chiton?"
"He will be on duty whenever the emperor is in the palace; beyond
that he is free to go where he likes, so that he be ready at all
times to produce any book that Nero may call for. Your meals will
be brought up to you by your attendant from the imperial kitchen.
There are, you know, baths in the palace for the use of the
officials. You will find in this chest a supply of garments of all
kinds suitable for different occasions, and here, in the cubicule,
ready to hand, are a sword and dagger, with a helmet, breastplate,
and shield, to be worn only when Caesar desires you to accompany
him armed. If there is anything else that you require, you have
but to give the order to your attendant, who will obtain it from
the steward of the palace."
At this moment a slave drew aside the hanging: "Caesar expects you,
Beric."
Nero was standing at the top of the steps into the garden when
Beric entered.
"Walk with me, Beric," he said. "For three hours I have been going
into the affairs of the city, and hearing letters read from the
governors of the provinces. It will be a change to talk of other
things. Tell me about this Britain of yours. I know about your
wars, tell me of your life at home."
Beric at once complied. He saw that it was not information about
religion and customs that the emperor desired to hear, but talk about
simple matters that would distract his thoughts from the cares of
state. He talked, then, of his native village, of his mother with
her maids at work around her, of hunting expeditions as a boy with
Boduoc, and how both had had a narrow escape of being devoured by
wolves. Nero listened in silence as they strolled under the deep
shade of the trees. At times he hardly seemed to be listening, but
occasionally he asked a question that showed he was following what
Beric said.
"Your talk is like a breath from the snow clad mountains," he said
at last, "or a cup of cold water to a thirsty traveller. The word
Romans never occurred in it, and yet it was in our tongue. You were
brought up among us, as I heard. Tell me of that."
Briefly Beric described his life at Camalodunum.
"It is a strange mixture," Nero said; "the cultivated Roman and
the wild Briton. I understand now better than I did before, your
risking your life for the Christian girl in the arena. You did not
love her?"
"No, Caesar; we Britons do not think of marriage until we are at
least five-and-twenty. We hold that young marriages deteriorate a
race. Ennia was little more than a child, according to our notions.
She was scarce sixteen, and when I saw her before, for a few days
only, she was a year younger; but I think that I should have done
the same had I never seen her before. We Britons, like the Gauls,
hold women in high respect, and I think that few of my people would
hesitate to risk their lives to save a helpless woman."
"I think we are all for self here," Nero said; "but we can admire
what we should not think of imitating. I like you, Beric, because
you are so different from myself and from all around me. We are
products of Rome, you of the forest; every man here sighs for power
or wealth, or lives for pleasure--I as much as any. We suffer
none to stand in our way, but trample down remorselessly all who
hinder us. As to risking our lives for the sake of a woman, and
that woman almost a stranger, such an idea would never so much as
occur to us. This is not the only girl you have saved. I received
a letter from Caius Muro some months ago, saying that the news
had come to him in Syria that Beric, the young chief of the Iceni,
who had so long withstood Suetonius, had been brought a prisoner
to Rome, and he besought me, should Beric still be alive, to show
favour to him, as he had saved his little daughter, when all others
had been slain, at the sack of Camalodunum, and that he had hidden
her away until after the defeat of Boadicea, and had then sent her
safe and unharmed back to the Romans. The matter escaped my mind
till now, though, in truth, I bade my secretary write to him to say
that I would befriend you. But it is strange that, having so much
life and spirit in that great body of yours, you should yet hold
life so cheaply. It was the way with our forefathers, but it is
not so now, perhaps because our life is more pleasant than theirs
was. Tell me, has Phaon done all to make you comfortable? Is there
aught else that you would wish? if so, speak freely."
"There is one thing I should like, Caesar; I should like to have
with me my follower Boduoc, he who was the companion of my boyhood,
who fought with me in that hut against the wolves, and was ever by
my side in the struggle among our fens. I ask this partly for my
own sake, and partly that I may the better do the duty you have
set me of acting as your guard. The air of palaces is heavy, and
men wake not from sleep as when they lie down in the forest and
carry their lives in their hands. I might not hear your call; but
with him with me we could keep alternate watch through the night,
and the slightest sounds would reach our ears. We could even take
post close to the hangings of your chamber, just as the Praetorians
guard all the avenues on the other side. I might even go further.
There were twenty of my countrymen brought hither with me. All
are picked men, not one but in strength and courage is my equal.
I would say, place them in offices in the palace; make them door
keepers, or place some of them here as labourers under your gardeners,
then at all times you would have under your orders a body of twenty
devoted men, who would escort you in safety though half Rome were
in tumult. They would sleep together among the slaves, where I
could instantly summon them. I can answer for their fidelity, they
would follow me to the death against any foe I bade them attack."
"It is an excellent idea, Beric, and shall be carried out. They
were all sent to the ludi, if I mistake not, and will have skill as
well as strength and courage. I will bid my secretary send an order
for their discharge, and that they present themselves to Phaon
tomorrow. He will find occupations for them, and I will myself
bid him so dispose of them that they shall be well satisfied with
their appointments. Truly, as you say, a guard of twenty gladiators
of your strength and courage might well defend me against a host.
Now it is time that I went to my bath."
Upon the following day the British captives were all disposed as
door keepers in the palace. Beric was present when they presented
themselves before Phaon, and had afterwards a private interview
with them. They were delighted at finding that they were again
under his leadership. All hated as much as ever the occupation of
gladiator, although only the man who had defeated Lupus had as yet
appeared in the arena.
"Your duties will be simple and easy," Beric said. "You will only
have to see that no strangers pass you without authority. Each
of you will have one or more attendants with you, who will take
the names of those who present themselves to those whom they wish
to see, and will, on bringing an authorization for them to pass,
escort them to the person with whom they have business. Of course
the orders will be different at different posts, but these you
will receive from the officials of the chamberlain. You will be on
duty, as I learn, for six hours each day, and will for the rest of
the time be free to go where you please. I suppose by this time all
of you have learned sufficient Latin to converse freely. Remember
that at nine o'clock in the evening you must all be in the palace.
Phaon has arranged for an apartment that you will occupy together.
There you will keep your arms, and be always ready, when you receive
a message from me, to attend prepared for fighting. There is one
thing more: do not mingle with the Romans more than you can help;
listen to no tales relating to the emperor, and let no man discuss
with you any question of state. Everything that is done in the palace
is known, and were you seen talking with any man who afterwards fell
under the suspicion of Nero it might cost you your lives. Remember
that, whatever may be the duties assigned to you here, we are
really assembled as a sort of special bodyguard to him; he is our
general. It is no business of ours what his private acts may be.
It may be that he is cruel to the powerful and wealthy, but on the
other hand he spends his money lavishly on the people of Rome, and
is beloved by them. If they as Romans do not resent his acts towards
senators and patricians it is no business of ours, strangers and
foreigners here, to meddle in the matter. It may be that in time,
if we do our duty well, Nero may permit us to return to Britain."
There was a murmur of approval.
"Nero may cut off the head of every man in Rome for what I care,"
Boduoc said. "I owe nothing to the Romans. They are all our enemies,
from the highest to the lowest; and if Nero is disposed to be our
friend he can do what he likes with them. But I do wish he had
given us something more to do than to hang about his palace."
Six months passed. Beric stood high in favour with Nero. Two or
three times, in order to test the vigilance of his guard, he had
sounded his bell. On each occasion an armed figure had instantly
entered his room, only to retire when he waved his hand; so that
the slave who slept at the other door found Nero alone when he
entered, and brought him a cooling drink, or performed some other
little office that served as an excuse for his summons, the emperor
being well aware how great would be the jealousy of the Praetorian
guard, were report to reach them that Caesar had guards save
themselves.
Beric often followed in the train of the emperor when he went abroad;
and as it speedily became known that he was a favourite of Nero,
his friendship was eagerly sought by those who frequented the court,
and his good offices solicited by those who had requests to make
of the emperor. Large sums of money had been sometimes offered him
for his good offices, but he steadily refused to accept any presents
whatever, or to mingle in the affairs of others, except in very
occasional cases, where it seemed to him that those who sought his
aid had been cruelly and unfairly dealt with by officials or venal
magistrates.
The sale of his jewels had brought him in a large sum of money,
which he had placed in the hands of Norbanus; and the handsome
appointments Nero had assigned to his office were very much
more than sufficient for his wants. He was always a welcome guest
at the house of Norbanus, and now that he was an official high in
favour with Nero, even Lesbia received him with marked courtesy.
The conversation always turned, when the ladies were present, upon
general topics--the gossip of society in Rome, news from the
provinces, and other similar matters, for Beric begged them not to
speak of the serious events of the day.
"I am one of Nero's guards, and I do not want to have to hate my
work, or to wish well to those from whom I am bound to protect him.
To me he is kind and friendly. At times when I am with him in the
garden or alone in his room he talks to me as an equal, of books
and art, the condition of the people, and other topics.
"It seems to me that there are two Neros: the one a man such as he
was when he ascended the throne--gentle; inclined to clemency;
desirous of the good of his people, and of popularity; a lover of
beautiful things; passionately devoted to art in all its branches;
taking far greater pleasure in the society of a few intimate friends
than in state pageants and ceremonies. There is another Nero; of
him I will not talk. I desire, above all things, not to know of
him. I believe that he has been driven to this war upon many of the
best and worthiest in Rome, by timidity. He is suspicious. Possibly
he has reason for his suspicions; possibly they are unfounded.
I do not wish to defend him. All this is a matter for you Romans,
and not for me. I wish to know nothing about it; to leave all public
matters to those they may concern; to shut my eyes and my ears as
much as I can to all that goes on around me. It is for that reason
that I go so little to other houses save this. I meet those about
the court at the baths, the gymnasium, and in the streets. But at
these places men speak not of public affairs, they know not who
may be listening; and certainly they would not speak before me.
Happily, as I am known to stand high in Caesar's favour, I am the
last person to whom they would say aught in his blame. Thus it is
that, though sometimes I come, from chance words let fall, to know
that proscriptions, accusations, confiscations, and executions take
place; that the Christians are still exposed to horrible persecutions
and tortures; that a gloom hangs over society, and that no man of
wealth and high station can regard himself as safe, it is only a
vague rumour of these things that I hear; and by keeping my ears
sealed and refusing to learn particulars, to listen to private
griefs and individual suffering, I am still able to feel that I
can do my duty to Caesar."
Norbanus and Lesbia alike agreed with Beric's reasoning; the
former, indeed, himself took but comparatively little interest in
what passed around him. The latter was, on the other hand, absorbed
in the politics of the hour. She was connected with many noble
families, and knew that a member of these might fall at any moment
under Nero's displeasure. To have a friend, then, high in the
favour of Nero was a matter of great importance; and she therefore
impressed upon all her intimates that when they found Beric at
her house they should scrupulously avoid all discussion of public
affairs.