realised
more fully than before how small and delicate they were.

"Time walks closely on the heels of destiny, O Augusta!" urged Marcus
Ancyrus, the elder, in his gently insinuating voice; "for the nonce Jove
has damped the wrath of the people of Rome, but that wrath is only
dormant, it will break out afresh. The storm in the heavens will pass
by, but the tempest caused by a raging mob will reawaken with double
fury. In thy hands, Augusta, in thy hands!..."

She knew that all these men wanted was to use her as a tool--a puppet to
dance to their piping. She knew that anon they would be as ready to
betray her as they were betraying their Caesar now. Yesternight had they
come to her with their proposals she would have rejected them with
unqualified scorn; but since yesternight she had seen the Caesar abject,
cowardly, degraded, dragging his bespattered majesty across the floor of
this house; she had measured him--not by what he represented, but by
what he was, and she had taken his measure ... and that of another ...
and the Caesar was lower than the brutes--and that other was greater than
men.

A silent voice, a whisper which mayhap was an inspiration, caused her to
look toward the studio.

"In there, my lords," she said, pointing to the door, "we shall be safe
from watchful eyes and ears, and I will listen to what you have to say."

She chose not to see the look of triumph which flashed from six pairs of
eyes, but calmly led the way toward the studio.

Caius Nepos and the others followed her without a word. Dion and Nolus
rose as she entered, and she dismissed them, whilst ordering them to
wait her pleasure outside the door. The two men--brought up in the
school of slavery, were too well drilled to marvel at the gracious
lady's many moods; they did not even cast one look in the direction of
the inner room where they knew that the praefect of Rome still lay in a
drugged sleep.

As soon as they were gone Dea Flavia turned again to Caius Nepos and to
his friends.

"I pray you sit," she said simply.

She herself sat on a high chair with circular back carved of citrus
wood, but Caius Nepos and the others preferred to stand.

CHAPTER XXIX

"For the children of this world are in their generation wiser
than the children of light."--ST. LUKE XVI. 8.

Caius Nepos was the spokesman of the party. His high rank and great
influence with the guard under his command gave him certain privileges
which his friends