be made
Emperor of Rome?"

"Why not?" retorted the other simply.

"It is not a bad notion," mused young Escanes, who thought himself high
in the favour of Dea Flavia.

"An admirable one," assented Ancyrus, "for we must remember that Dea
Flavia Augusta is of the true blood of the Caesars--the blood of the
great Augustus--and there is none better. Since she, as a woman, cannot
rule men or lead an army, what more fitting than that her lord, whoever
he might be, should receive the imperium through her hands?"

"He might prove to be a more miserable creature than the Caligula
himself," suggested Philario, who was too ill-favoured to have hopes of
winning the proud and imperious beauty for himself.

"Nay! that were impossible," asserted Hortensius hotly; "the man whom
Dea Flavia will favour will be a brave man else he would not dare to woo
her; he will be honourable and noble else he could never win her."

"Methinks that thou art right, O Hortensius," added Ancyrus, who had
taken upon himself the role of a wise and prudent counsellor, "and
moreover he will be rich by virtue of the wealth which the Augusta will
have as her marriage portion; her money, merged with the State funds,
would be of vast benefit to the land."

"And on his death his son and hers--a direct descendant of great
Augustus--would be the only fitting heir," concluded another.

"Meseems," now said Ancyrus decisively, "that we would solve a grave
difficulty by accepting the suggestion made by Hortensius Martius. The
imperium--as is only just--would remain in the family of the great
Augustus. We should have a brave, noble and rich Caesar whose virtuous
and beautiful wife would wield beneficial influence over him, and for
the present we should all be working for unselfish ends; not one of us
here present can say for a certainty whom the Augusta will choose for
mate. Directly the tyrant is swept out of the way, we, who have brought
about the great end, will ask her to make her choice. Thus our aims will
have been pure and selfless; each one of us here will have risked all
for the sake of an unknown. What say you friends? Shall we pledge our
loyalty to the man whom not one of us here can name this day--a man
mayhap still unknown to us: the future lord of Dea Flavia Augusta of the
House of Caesar?"

The peroration seemed greatly to the liking of the assembled company:
the thought that they would all be working with pure and selfless
motives flattered thes