ollowing his own train of
thought.

"Have you arms in the house and slaves who can use them?" said Marius,
following his. "Anderida is but sixty miles away, and if these
barbarians be, as Aurelius thinks, inflamed with wine and blood, they
will not stop to think whether or not they attack those who have
attacked them."

Eudemius stopped in his stride.

"You think--that?" he said with worried brows. "It had not occurred to
me. There have been uprisings, of course, but for the most part the
Saxons have been peaceful. It is the insurgents who have given most
trouble. But you are right; no man can foresee what may happen these
days. I will call Hito and bid him number the slaves who are capable of
bearing arms."

Hito received his orders, and in turn called Wardo, and bade him release
all prisoners sentenced to the mines save those suspected of
anti-Augustan sympathies. These, it was considered, would be most likely
to take sides with the barbarians, as the insurgents had done at
Anderida, and it would be as well to get them out of the way. The villa,
being some miles off both the Noviomagus road and the Bibracte road,
might remain unmolested; the fury of barbarians and insurgents might
spend itself on the towns nearer the coast,--Regnum, Portus Magnus, and
the like. Still, their lord had decided that they must be prepared for
whatever might come to pass, and prepared they must be. Wardo said
little during Hito's peroration, smiled once or twice at its
commencement, and at its close expressed his willingness to obey. He
stated that he knew of but a half dozen of those sentenced to punishment
who might be suspected of sympathy with the insurgents, and declared
that two men would be quite sufficient to act as guard. He was given
full permission to arrange the matter as he chose,--Hito stipulating
only that he and his men should return as promptly as possible,--and
went off whistling softly between his teeth. That day there was much
activity in the armory and in the slaves' quarters; and rumors flew
darkly, and men believed all that they were told.

Toward evening, Aurelius, unable to rest for the burden of apprehension
that was on him, begged that the lords might meet in council without
delay, that measures should be taken for the relief of the harassed
island. Therefore, while slaves were busy in the Hall of Columns, where
the betrothal feast was to be held, while Varia, amid stormy tears, was
arrayed by her servants