n, a smooth-faced Greek, came forward, and,
addressing me as "General," said the imperial orders were that he was to
escort me to the State jail.

"For what purpose?" I asked, since it came to my mind that Irene might
have changed her fancy and issued another kind of commission.

"As its General and Governor, Illustrious," he replied.

"Then I will lead," I answered, "do you follow behind me."

Thus that vision ends.

In the next I see myself dwelling in some stately apartments that formed
the antechambers to the great prison. This prison, which was situated
not far from the Forum of Constantine, covered a large area of ground,
which included a garden where the prisoners were allowed to walk. It was
surrounded by a double wall, with an outer and an inner moat, the outer
dry, and the inner filled with water. There were double gates also, and
by them guard-towers. Moreover, I see a little yard, with posts in it,
where prisoners were scourged, and a small and horrible room, furnished
with a kind of wooden bed, to which they were bound for the punishment
of the putting out of their eyes and the slitting of their tongues.
In front of this room was a block where those condemned to death were
sometimes executed.

There were many prisoners, not common felons, but people who had been
taken for reasons of State or sometimes of religion. Perhaps in all they
numbered a hundred men, and with them a few women, who had a quarter to
themselves. Besides the jailers, three-score guards were stationed there
night and day, and of all of these I was in command.

Before I had held my office three days I found that Irene had appointed
me to it with good reason. It happened thus. The most of the prisoners
were allowed to receive presents of food and other things sent to them
by their friends. All these presents were supposed to be inspected by
the officer in charge of the prison. This rule, which had been much
neglected, I enforced again, with the result that I made some strange
discoveries.

Thus, on the third day, there came a magnificent offering of figs for
the Caesars and _Nobilissimi_, the brothers-in-law of Irene and the
uncles of the young Emperor Constantine, her son. These figs were being
carried past me formally, when something about the appearance of one of
them excited my suspicion. I took it and offered it to the jailer who
carried the basket. He looked frightened, shook his head, and said,

"General, I touch no fru