her time whatever. It seemed to
courtiers that his influence had won a supreme triumph at last, that
friendship between him and Caesar had entered on a period of certainty
which would last for years. Even those who had shown dislike previously
to the exquisite Epicurean, began now to crowd around him and vie
for his favor. More than one was even sincerely glad in his soul that
preponderance had come to a man who knew really what to think of a given
person, who received with a sceptical smile the flattery of his enemies
of yesterday, but who, either through indolence or culture, was not
vengeful, and did not use his power to the detriment or destruction of
others. There were moments when he might have destroyed even Tigellinus,
but he preferred to ridicule him, and expose his vulgarity and want of
refinement. In Rome the Senate drew breath, for no death sentence had
been issued for a month and a half. It is true that in Antium and the
city people told wonders of the refinement which the profligacy of Caesar
and his favorite had reached, but every one preferred a refined Caesar to
one brutalized in the hands of Tigellinus. Tigellinus himself lost his
head, and hesitated whether or not to yield as conquered, for Caesar had
said repeatedly that in all Rome and in his court there were only two
spirits capable of understanding each other, two real Hellenes,--he and
Petronius.

The amazing dexterity of Petronius confirmed people in the conviction
that his influence would outlive every other. They did not see how Caesar
could dispense with him,--with whom could he converse touching poetry,
music, and comparative excellence; in whose eyes could he look to learn
whether his creation was indeed perfect? Petronius, with his habitual
indifference, seemed to attach no importance to his position. As usual,
he was remiss, slothful, sceptical, and witty. He produced on people
frequently the impression of a man who made light of them, of himself,
of Caesar, of the whole world. At moments he ventured to criticise Caesar
to his face, and when others judged that he was going too far, or simply
preparing his own ruin, he was able to turn the criticism suddenly in
such a way that it came out to his profit; he roused amazement in those
present, and the conviction that there was no position from which he
could not issue in triumph.

About a week after the return of Vinicius from Rome, Caesar read in a
small circle an extract from his Troyad; w