s should punish the janitor. I hold no other slave at fault. Has
any man anything which he wishes to say before I pass formal judgment for
official record?' Lustralis asked permission to speak and amazed me by his
fluency, his ingratiating delivery, his vehemence, his ingenuity and the
fantastic malignity of his contentions. Corbulo heard him out to the end,
unmoving as a statue.

"You do not look like a lunatic nor act like one, Lustralis," he said,
"but you talk like one. Phorbas has impressed me by every feature of his
tale. He appears to have told the truth. He seems to have been a sincere
friend to his late master. I cannot credit the wild suggestion that a man
of his character would plot his master's death, or that a man of his
intelligence, with a full knowledge of the terms of his master's will,
would expose himself to suspicion by so plotting; far less that such a man
as he would ignore the perils of such a crime and so desire his freedom
and the legacies promised him as to league himself with two criminals,
assist them to enter the house and to escape from it, and hope to come off
unscathed and unsuspected and forever unbetrayed.

"But, suppose all you imagine and insinuate is true in fact. Prove it!
Produce the two robbers. Prove them the robbers by recovering their booty.
If they, so convicted of the robbery, are brought before me, if they
accuse Phorbas of being their accomplice, if they tell a consistent and
convincing tale, if any colorable motive for such association and such a
crime can be alleged against Phorbas, then I'll believe him guilty, and
not till then."

He eyed Lustralis, who spoke further.

"Torture Phorbas!" Corbulo cried. "Absurd! In my court I never torture men
like him, any more than if they were freemen. And though it might be
imperative to torture him for a confession if all the testimony pointed to
his guilt, it is ridiculous to suggest torturing him merely to corroborate
evidence demonstrating his innocence.

"I, hereby, officially as the representative of the Commonwealth,
pronounce Phorbas cleared of all charges connected with this case. I
hereby enjoin all men to assist the Republic to detect and apprehend the
murderers who robbed Falco and killed him."

Lustralis and Asellio looked baffled and sour. A murmur of approval ran
through the bystanders. My fellow-slaves congratulated each other and
rejoiced, save only the janitor.

Galen approached me.

"Phorbas," he said, "as