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That night, too, he took out his knife from its sheath, and gave it to one of his servants, named Milichus, to be ground. He directed Milichus to be particularly attentive to the sharpening of the point. Before Milichus brought back the knife, Scevinus directed him to prepare bandages such as would be suitable for binding up wounds to stop the effusion of blood.
As the time drew nigh, Scevinus seemed to grow more and more excited with the thoughts of what was before him. He attracted the attention of the domestics at his house, by his strange and mysterious demeanor.
Vestinius, superstitious but inclined to enthusiasm, a man who feared ghosts but not the living, gave a sign for mercy also. So did Scevinus, the Senator; so did Nerva, so did Tullius Senecio, so did the famous leader Ostorius Scapula, and Antistius, and Piso, and Vetus, and Crispinus, and Minucius Thermus, and Pontius Telesinus, and the most important of all, one honored by the people, Thrasea.
Natalis himself was then sent for, and examined, apart from Scevinus, in regard to the conversation they had held together. Natalis, of course, fabricated a story too, but, as usual with such fabrications, the two accounts having been invented independently, were inconsistent with each other.
I have heard nothing, and, moreover, I wish to hear nothing. Dost understand? Life is too short to make any undertaking worth the while. I beg thee only to visit Tigellinus to-day, and talk with him as long as thou hast with me of whatever may please thee." "Why?" "So that should Tigellinus ever say to me, 'Scevinus was with thee, I might answer, 'He was with thee, too, that very day."
"From this last man not much will result to Piso," replied Petronius. "Vestinius is afraid of his own shadow." "Vestinius fears dreams and spirits," answered Scevinus, "but he is a practical man, whom people wish wisely to make consul. That in his soul he is opposed to persecuting Christians, thou shouldst not take ill of him, for it concerns thee too that this madness should cease."
He ordered Epicharis to be told that concealment was no longer possible, that Scevinus and Natalis had divulged the plot in full, and that her only hope lay in amply confessing all that she knew. This announcement had no effect upon Epicharis. She refused to admit that she knew any thing of any conspiracy. Nero then ordered that she should be put to the torture.
Officers were immediately sent to seize Scevinus, and to bring him into the presence of the emperor. Scevinus knew, of course, that the only possible hope for him was in a bold and resolute denial of the charge made against him.
He went, though suspecting the ambush, perhaps so as not to appear in open opposition, perhaps to show once more a joyful face devoid of every care to Cæsar and the Augustians, and to gain a last victory before death over Tigellinus. Meanwhile the latter accused him of friendship with the Senator Scevinus, who was the soul of Piso's conspiracy.
"Thou hast called Cæsar a madman, thou hast foreseen the heirship of Piso, and hast said, 'Lucan understands that there is need to hasten. What wouldst thou hasten, carissime?" Scevinus grew pale, and for a moment each looked into the eyes of the other. "Thou wilt not repeat!" "By the hips of Kypris, I will not! How well thou knowest me! No; I will not repeat.
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