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The emperor Pertinax, whose father was a manufacturer and seller of charcoal, and who, himself, for some time pursued the same occupation, at that period an extensive and profitable one, preserved and exercised, during his reign, that sense of the value of commerce which he had thus acquired.
They stared at each other silently across the table, Pertinax erect and definite, the governor of Antioch indefinite and stroking his chin with fat, white fingers. "It would be simplest," said the governor of Antioch at last, "to have Norbanus executed." "Some one should always be executed when the emperor signs proscription lists!" said Pertinax.
"More things than these are indelibly stamped on my mind from that day," said Caesar. "I can see before me now the pile on which Pertinax was to be burned. It was splendidly decorated, and on the top stood the gilt chariot in which he had loved to ride. Before the consuls fired the logs of Indian wood, my father led us to the image of Pertinax, that we might kiss it. He held me by the hand.
"You live," continued De Loignac, "with a sort of license which I must repress. Those who find the terms too hard will return; I can easily replace them; but I warn you that justice will be done among us, secretly and expeditiously. Traitors will be punished with death on the spot." Montcrabeau nearly fainted, and Pertinax grew paler than ever.
She loved old Galen, but she did not relish being told the whole responsibility was hers, although she knew it. "There is no news," she answered. "Nobody has heard a word about the murder yet. Commodus has had the bodies thrown into the sewer. But there are spies in the palace " "To say nothing of Bultius Livius," Pertinax added.
See what it is to have defensive arms." "Gentlemen," cried Montcrabeau, "I take it off; so much the worse for those who prefer seeing me with offensive instead of defensive arms;" and he gave his cuirass to his lackey, a man about fifty years of age. "Peace! peace!" cried De Loignac, "and let us go to table." Meanwhile the lackey whispered to Pertinax, "And am I not to sup?
"But I was a fool. I comprehended Aurelius and Commodus and their magistrates and officials and constabulary; I was right in fearing nothing from Pertinax and Julianus; but I was an ass to think I could cope with Septimius Severus. That man is deeper than the deepest abyss of mid-ocean!
Then Pertinax said, "Pardon, monsieur! we are provincials, new to the court, and unaccustomed to politics." "You should not have accepted your posts without weighing their duties." "For the future we will be as mute as sepulchers, we swear to you." "Good; but can you repair the evil you have done to-day?" "We will try." "It is impossible, I tell you." "Then, for this time, pardon us."
Helvius Pertinax, son to the prince of that name, lost his life by an unseasonable witticism. It was a sufficient crime of Thrasea Priscus to be descended from a family in which the love of liberty seemed an hereditary quality.
Sextus would be all for striking now, this instant; he has assured himself that the world is tired of Commodus, and that no faction is strong enough to stand in the way of Pertinax; but he knows how difficult it will be to persuade Pertinax to assert himself.
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