hat the two tribunes, Licinius and
Julianus, entered the tent of the Prefect after their interview with
Narses.

"Once again you have conquered, O Cethegus!" cried Licinius.

"You have got the upper hand, Prefect of Rome," said Salvius Julianus.
"I do not understand it, but Narses really abandons Rome to you."

"Ha!" cried Piso, who had entered with the others, "that is your old
Caesarian luck, Cethegus! Your star, which has seemed to wane since this
famous cripple's arrival, shines anew. It seems to me that sometimes
his _mind_ suffers from attacks of epilepsy. For, with a sound mind,
how could he quietly let you enter Rome? No! Quem deus vult perdere
dementat! Now will Quintus Piso again wander through the Forum, and
look into the book-stalls to see if the Goths have assiduously bought
his 'Epistolas ad amabilissimum, carissimum pastorem Adalgothum et ejus
pedum'--(Letters to the very amiable and greatly beloved shepherd-boy,
Adalgoth, and his bludgeon)."

"So you have composed in exile, like Ovidius?" asked Cethegus, smiling.

"Yes," answered Piso. "The six-footed verses come more readily, since
they no longer need to fear the Goths, who are a foot longer. And amid
the noise of Gothic banquetings it would not be easy to compose, even
in time of peace."

"He has composed some merry verses, intermixed with Gothic words, on
that subject too," said Salvius Julianus. "How does it begin, 'Inter
hails Gothicum skapja'----"

"Do not wrong my words! It is not permitted to quote falsely what is
immortal."

"Well, how go the verses?" asked Cethegus.

"Thus," said Piso:

"De conviviis barbarorum.
Inter: 'Hails Gothicum! skapja matjan jah drinkan!'
Non audet quisquam dignos educere versus:
Calliope madido trepidat se jungere Baccho,
Ne pedibus non stet ebria Musa suis."

"Horrible poetry!" exclaimed Salvius Julianus.

"Who knows," said Piso, laughing, "whether the thirst of the Goths will
not become immortal through these verses?"

"But now tell me exactly what Narses answered?" said Cethegus.

"First he listened to us with great incredulity," replied Licinius, "He
asked suspiciously, 'Is it possible that the prudent Romans can again
beg for an Isaurian garrison and the Prefect, whom they have to thank
for so much famine and unwilling valour?' But I answered that he
under-rated the patriotism of the Romans, and that it was your affair
if you had deceived yourself.