free, and am happy in my
freedom; the men who fawn round me, coveting my fortune, fill me with
disgust. I could not honour one of them, my lord! I could not give one
of them my love. Thou who art so great, must know how I feel. I implore
thee leave me my freedom, the most precious boon which I possess, and my
lips will sing a paean of praise to thee for as long as I live."

But Caligula was not the man whom a woman's entreaties would turn from
his purpose, more especially when that purpose was his own
self-interest. This wretch had no heart within him, no sensibility, not
one single feeling of pity or of loyalty.

His instinct must have told him that Dea Flavia was loyal to the core,
loyal to the Caesar and to his House, but so blinded was he by rage and
humiliation and by the terror of assassination, that he saw in the
earnest, simple pleadings of a young girl and devoted partisan nothing
but the obstinate resistance of a would-be traitor.

The more did Dea plead, the more did he become convinced that already
her choice of a husband was made, and that that husband was destined to
wrench the sceptre of Caesar from him and to mount Caesar's throne over
his murdered body. With a brutal gesture he pushed the young girl from
him.

"Silence!" he shouted, as soon as choking rage enabled him to speak.
"Silence, I say! ere I strike thee into eternal dumbness. What I have
said, I've said. Dost hear me? To-morrow, at the Circus, I will name thy
husband, and then and there thou shalt accept him, whoever he may be. I
have a reason for wishing this--a reason of State far beyond the
comprehension of a mere fool. To-morrow thou shalt accept the man of my
choice as thy future lord. That is my will. Look to it, O daughter of
Caesar, that thou dost obey. Caesar hath spoken."

"Caesar hath spoken," she pleaded, "but my gracious lord will relent."

"Dost know me, girl?" he retorted, as, bending down to her, he seized
her wrists in his and brought his flushed face all distorted by fury,
close to her own. "Dost know me? For if so hast ever seen me relent once
I have set my will? Look into my eyes now! Look, I say!" he shouted
hoarsely, giving her wrists and arms a brutal wrench. "Do they look as
if they meant to relent? Is there anything in my face to lead thee to
hope that thou wouldst have thy treacherous way with me?"

He held her wrists so cruelly that she could have screamed with the
pain, but she bit her lip to still the cry.