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A conspiracy was on foot to murder the father of the armies, the greatest and best of Cæsars. The flower of the Roman patriciate was wallowing in this monstrous treachery. Hortensius Martius was in it up to the neck, so was Marcus Ancyrus, the elder, and Philippus Decius and Philario, of the imperial household.
The rest of the legions were some distance away all the time. They believed all that they were told; mayhap they thought it wisest to believe." "I know that in Belgica, on the shores of the ocean " began Augustus Philario after a while. But he was not allowed to proceed. Shouts of derision broke in upon the tale, followed by expressions of rage.
But there were a few dissentient voices, chiefly among the less-favoured who, like Philario, could hardly dare approach a beautiful woman with thoughts of wooing her. Caius Nepos had not taken up the pledge, nor had he taken any part in the discussion since Dea Flavia's name first passed the lips of young Hortensius.
"He might prove to be a more miserable creature than the Caligula himself," suggested Philario, who was too ill-favoured to have hopes of winning the proud and imperious beauty for himself. "Nay! that were impossible," asserted Hortensius hotly; "the man whom Dea Flavia will favour will be a brave man else he would not dare to woo her; he will be honourable and noble else he could never win her."
He did not call either for water or for ice. It was his hatred that had sobered him, making the lines of his face set and hard, causing the flush to die from his cheeks and leaving them ashy pale. "Dost know if he is at one with us?" reiterated Augustus Philario impatiently.
Young Hortensius Martius was there, too, he who was said to own more slaves than anyone else in Rome, and Augustus Philario of the household of Cæsar, who had once declared that he would give one hundred thousand aurei for a secret poison that would defy detection.
"Their names," she murmured, "tell me their names." "I know but a few." "Which are they?" "They speak of Hortensius Martius." "Oh!" "And of young Escanes ... also of Philario, my servant." "Ye gods," she exclaimed, "let your judgments fall upon them." "And of Taurus Antinor the praefect of Rome," added the Cæsar, and a savage snarl escaped his lips even when he spoke the name.
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