e him.' And then, hark ye, tell some of those knaves in the hall
without, to make ready with all speed my light chariot, and yoke the two
black horses Aufidus and Acheron. With all speed, mark ye! And then
return, good Thrasea, for I have much to say to you, before I go."

When he was left alone, he arose from his seat, walked three or four times
to and fro his chamber, in anxious and uneasy thought; and then saying,
"Yes! yes! I will not betray him, but I will take no step in the business
any farther, and I will tell him so to-night. I will tell him, moreover,
that Cicero has the dagger, for now that Volero is slain, I see not well
how it can be identified. The Gods defend me from the dark ones whom I
have invoked. I will not be untrue to Rome, nor to Julia, any more--perish
the whole earth, rather! Ay! and let us, too, perish innocent, better than
to live guilty!"

As he made up his mind, by a great effort, to the better course, the
freedman returned, and announcing that the car would be ready forthwith,
inquired what dress he should bring him.

"Never mind that! What I have on will do well enough, with a
_petasus_;(15) for the sun shines so brightly that it will be scarce
possible to drive bare headed. But I have work for you of more importance.
You know the cave of Egeria, as men call it, in the valley of the Muses?"

"Surely, my Paullus."

"I know, I know; but have you ever marked the ground especially around the
cave--what opportunities there be for concealment, or the like?"

"Not carefully," he answered, "but I have noticed that there is a little
gorge just beyond the grotto, broken with crags and blocks of tufo, and
overgrown with much brushwood, and many junipers and ivy."

"That will do then, I warrant me," replied Arvina. "Now mark what I tell
you, Thrasea; for it may be, that my life shall depend on your acting as I
direct. At the fourth hour of the night, I am to meet one in the grotto,
on very secret business, whom I mistrust somewhat; who it is, I may not
inform you; but, as I think my plans will not well suit his councils, I
should not be astonished were he to have slaves, or even gladiators, with
him to attack me--but not dreaming that I suspect anything, he will not
take many. Now I would have you arm all my freedmen, and some half dozen
of the trustiest slaves, so as to have in all a dozen or fifteen, with
corslets under their tunics, and boarspears, and swords. You must be
careful that you are