er endure a
man whose father was a charcoal-seller, as mine was. I have made my way
in life by looking at facts and refusing to deceive myself; with the
exception of that, I have no especial wisdom, nor any unusual ability."

"If wisdom were all that is needed," said Sextus, "we should put good
Galen on the throne!"

"He is too old and wise to let you try to do it!" Galen answered. "But
you spoke about the head of a Medusa, Pertinax, and mentioned Lucius
Septimius Severus. He commands three legions at Caruntum in Pannonia.
(Roughly speaking, the S.W. portion of modern Hungary whose frontiers
were then occupied by very warlike tribes.) If there is one man living
who can freeze men's blood by scowling at them, it is he! And he is not
as old as you are."

"I have thought of him only to hate him," said Pertinax. "He would not
follow me, nor I him. He is one of three men who would fight for the
throne if somebody slew Commodus, although he would not run the risk of
slaying him himself, and he would betray us if we should take him into
confidence. I know him well. He is a lawyer and a Carthaginian. He
would never ask for the nomination; he is too crafty. He would say his
legions nominated him against his will and that to have disobeyed them
would have laid him open to the punishment for treason. (This is what
Severus actually did, later on, after Pertinax's death.) The other two
are Pescennius Niger, who commands the legions in Syria, and Clodius
Albinus who commands in Britain. We must find a man who can forestall
all three of them by winning, first, the praetorian guard, and then the
senate and the Romans by dint of sound reforms and justice."

"You are he! Rome trusts you. So does the senate," said Cornificia.
"Marcia trusts me. The praetorian guard trusts her. If I can persuade
Marcia that her life is in danger from Commodus--"

"But how?" Daedalus interrupted.

"We can take the praetorian guard by surprise," Cornificia went on,
ignoring him. "They can be tricked into declaring for the man whom
Marcia's friends nominate. Having once declared for him they will be
too proud of having made an emperor, and too unwilling to seem
vacillating, to reverse themselves in any man's favor, even though he
should command six legions. The senate will gladly accept one who has
governed Rome as frugally as Pertinax has done. If the senate confirms
the nominee of the praetorian guard, the Roman populace will do