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But he said nothing. He preferred to spring surprises, only hoping he himself might not be overwhelmed in one. By the time they reached Cornificia's house he was in such a state of nervousness, and so blanched, that he had to summon his servant into the litter to rub cosmetic on his cheeks. He took one of Galen's famous strychnine pills before he could prevent his limbs from trembling.
To justify her infidelities, which were a byword, Pertinax' lawful wife went to ingenious lengths to blacken Cornificia's reputation, regaling all society with her invented tales about the lewd attractions Cornificia staged to keep Pertinax held in her toils. That Cornificia did exercise a sway over the governor of Rome was undeniable. He worshiped her and made no secret of it.
Our Pertinax is hesitating between inertia and doubt and dread of Cornificia's ambition for him; between admiration of his own wife and contempt for her; between the subtleties of auguries and common sense; between trust and mistrust of us all, including Marcia and you and me; between the easy dignity of being governor of Rome and the uneasy palace slavery of being Caesar; between doubt of his own ability to rule and the will to restore the republic."
For a moment that made Marcia breathless. She was staggered by his innocence, not his assertion of Cornificia's bemused by the man's ability to believe what he chose to believe, as if Cornificia had not been the very first who plotted to make him Caesar.
It made him more than ever ill at ease that she should mock him before all the slaves who grouped themselves in Cornificia's forecourt. Hers was one of those houses set back from the street, combining an air of seclusion with such elegance as could not possibly escape the notice of the passer-by.
Who knows which of us will be alive tomorrow morning? Who knows what Sextus is doing? If Sextus has heard of this crisis he will seize the moment and either arouse the praetorian guard to mutiny or else reach Commodus himself and slay him with his own hand! Sextus is a man! Are you no more than Flavia Titiana's cuckold and Cornificia's plaything?" "I am a Roman," Pertinax retorted angrily.
A small crowd gathered to watch the picturesque ceremony of reception Cornificia's house steward marshaling his staff, the brightly colored costumes blending in the sunlight with the hues of flowers and the rich, soft sheen of marble in the shadow of tall cypresses. The praetorians had to form a cordon in front of the gate, and the street became choked by the impeded traffic.
She can have you seized and silenced any time! Weren't you in Cornificia's house, with the guard at the gate? Why didn't she summon the praetorians and hand you over to them?" "Because Galen was there, too. She loves him, trusts him, and Galen is my friend. Besides, Pertinax would turn on her if she should have me killed. Pertinax was my father's friend, and is mine.
But she held him by a method diametrically contrary to that which rumor, stirred by Flavia Titiana, indicated; Cornificia's house was a place where he could lay aside the feverish activities of public life and revel in the intellectual and philosophical amusements that he genuinely loved. But Livius loathed her.
But the mention of Cornificia's name wrought just as swift a change in him as had the name of Lucius Severus. He began to bite his finger- nails, then clenched his hands again behind him, Galen and Marcia watching. "You are the only one who can replace Commodus without drenching Rome in blood," said Marcia, remembering a phrase of Cornificia's.
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