reat event of the morrow.

But his challenge was not taken up; no one else seemed eager to dispute
his wish. Somewhat sobered, he resumed more calmly:

"The Caesar hath much affection for me. I oft sat beside him in the
Circus or at the games last year. The Augustas too like to have me
beside them, to talk pleasing gossip in their ears. 'Twill be easiest
for me, at a signal given, to strike with my dagger in the Caesar's
throat."

"Thine shall be that glory, O Escanes, since thou dost will it so," said
Caius Nepos, not without a touch of irony. "Directly the deed is done,
the praetorian guard shall raise the cry: 'The Caesar is dead!'"

"And it should at once be followed by another," said Marcus Ancyrus, the
elder, "by 'Hail to thee, O mighty Caesar!'"

"'Tis thou shouldst raise that cry, O Caius Nepos," said Hortensius with
a sarcastic curl of his lip.

"Oh! as to that----" began the other with some hesitation.

"Aye! as to that," said Escanes hotly, "if I slay the tyrant to-morrow
with mine own hand, then must I know at least for whom I do the deed."

There was silence after that. Everyone seemed absorbed in his own
thoughts. Dreamy eyes gazed abstractedly in crystal goblets, as if
vainly trying to trace in its crimson depths the outline of an imperial
sceptre. At last Caius Nepos spoke:

"Let us be rid of the tyrant first. The army then will soon elect its
new chief."

"And is it on the support of the army, O praefect! that thou dost base
thine own hopes of supreme power?" asked Hortensius, whose ill-humour
seemed to grow on him more and more.

"Nay!" retorted Caius Nepos, "I did not know that by so doing I was
dashing thine!"

"Silence," admonished Marcus Ancyrus, the elder. "Are we children or
slaves that we should wrangle thus? Have we met here in order to rid the
Empire of an abominable and bloodthirsty tyrant, or are we mere vulgar
conspirators pursuing our own ends? There was no thought in our host's
mind of supreme power, O Hortensius! nor in thine, I'll vow. As for me,
I care nought for the imperium," he added naively, "it is difficult to
content everyone, and a permanent consulship under our chosen Caesar were
more to my liking. Bring forth thy tablets, O Caius Nepos, and we'll put
the matter to the vote. There are not many of the House of Caesar fit to
succeed the present madman, and our choice there will be limited."

"There is but Claudius, the brother of Germanicus," interposed the host
c