ine whatever he
judges we should learn; thus we know more of goings-on in Rome and at
Court than do provincial nobles and highway-police."

As I trudged from the camp to my horse, as I trotted homewards, I was
despondent. I had no right to be so, for I was merely one of the
innumerable slaves held by the _fiscus_ as the property of Caesar. As such
I was notably well off. Even in my proper person I congratulated myself on
my amazing luck. I was alive, unsuspected, secure, well-housed, well-clad,
well-cared for, freer than many a freeman, than many a nobleman,
pleasantly busy at occasional tasks very congenial to me and blest with
much leisure among a companionable population in a lovely region full of
diversified and charming scenery set off by an exhilarating climate; I
should have been gay.

Yet my thoughts were those of a Roman nobleman. I was horrified at the
state of the Republic. I knew that Italy had never been entirely free from
outlaws. Even under Tiberius highwaymen had perpetrated successful
robberies and had captured and held for ransom wealthy persons or even
notabilities. But under most of the Emperors these outrages had been few
and had occurred only in the wilder districts. During the civil wars
between Otho and Vitellius brigandage had become rife all over Italy, even
up to the gates of Rome, and Vespasian had had much ado to exterminate the
outlaws. Again, under Nerva, bandits had multiplied and prospered. But
none had ventured into any populous district during the principates of
Trajan, Hadrian and their successors until after the death of Aurelius.
Now, because of the negligence of his son, outlaws had so prospered that
they had a sort of organization among themselves, like a commonwealth
inside the Republic, as I had seen during my captivity with Maternus and
now glimpsed again in Bulla's revelations. It argued a horrible
disintegration of the governmental mechanism of the Republic and of the
Roman character that such things had become possible.

Equally horrifying to me was the contemplation of Caesar's extravagance. I
knew that the Republic's income from all sources was insufficient to keep
up the court establishment and ceremonials at their normal cost; to defray
the expenses of the state festivals with befitting magnificence of games
in the circuses, amphitheatres and theatres; to maintain the Praetorian
guards, city police, road constabulary and frontier garrisons. I knew that
all these branch