As Tiberius Cæsar was upon a journey to Naples, he stopped at a house
which he had upon the mountain Misenus. As he was walking in the
gardens attached to the house, one of his domestic slaves appeared
in the walks, sprinkling the ground with a watering pot, in order to
lay the dust, and this he did so officiously, and ran with so much
alertness from one walk to another, that wherever the Emperor went,
he still found this fellow mighty busy with his watering pot. But at
last his design being discovered, which was to attract the notice of
Cæsar by his extraordinary diligence, in the hope that he would make
him free,--part of the ceremony of doing which consisted in giving the
Slave a gentle stroke on one side of his face,--his imperial Majesty
being disposed to be merry, called the Man to him, and when he came
up, full of the joyful expectation of his liberty, Hark you friend,
says he, I have observed that you have been very busy a great while;
but you were officiously meddling where you had nothing to do, while
you might have employed your time better elsewhere; and therefore I
must tell you, that I cannot afford a box on the ear at so low a price
as you bid for it.