often as I please without exciting any
suspicion. You were, while yourself and prosperous, only one of my
countless patients, never among those I made much of. You, as Phorbas,
have been under my special care, as the darling of poor Falco, who was one
of my best friends, though I had known him so short a time. My visits here
cannot prejudice your welfare and may help you, even save you.

"Cheer up! Agathemer says that the real murderers are certain to betray
themselves by attempting to dispose of some of the stolen gems. He is
right. And he had taken measures to ensnare them. He has warned or is
warning every gem-dealer in Rome, from Orontides himself down to the most
disreputable scoundrel who makes a living by exchanging his cash for
stolen gems. He has sent off despatches already along many postroads, by
the couriers who set out at dawn, notifying all gem-dealers in the towns
along these roads to be on the watch for the miscreants. He will continue
this until the warning is all over Italy from Rhegium and Brundisium to
the Alps, and that within a few days. Those precious gentry are certain to
be nabbed either in Rome or elsewhere. Whenever they are identified and in
durance it will be easy to clear you.

"Meanwhile you will be tried as a slave accused of murdering his master
and the investigation will include the questioning of every slave in the
house at the time of the murder. I know you are aquiver with dread of
torture; there will be torture, but I assure you you will not be tortured.
As much can be done today by influence and bribery as could be done under
Perennis or Cleander, only it cannot be done so crudely and openly, and
much else can be done openly.

"We have endeavored to arrange to have you tried by a bunch of jurymen
presided over by a praetor, just as if you were a freeman, according to
Hadrian's law. But Commodus had repealed all such laws mitigating the
rigors of procedure in the case of slaves and Severus has not had them
reenacted. So you will be tried by a magistrate, a deputy of the Prefect
of the City, as slaves were tried before Hadrian's time.

"We shall have, at the trial, to cheer you up, to counsel you, and, if
necessary, to intervene in your behalf, as clever an advocate as any in
Rome. Keep up a good heart, and read these letters."

And he went off.

I had a proof of the truth of what he said of bribery within half an hour,
for I was bathed, my hurts dressed, and I was clothed in ne