n him if
a man of patrician family should perish by the sentence of Simplicius,
who was his new assessor and friend, he kept the imperial edict for the
execution by him for a short time, wavering and doubting whom to pitch
upon as a trusty and efficient perpetrator of so atrocious a deed.

53. At length, as like usually finds like, a certain Gaul of the name of
Doryphorianus was discovered, a man daring even to madness; and as he
promised to accomplish the matter in a short time, he obtained for him
the post of deputy, and gave him the emperor's letter with an additional
rescript; instructing the man, who though savage had no experience in
such matters, how, if he used sufficient speed, he would meet with no
obstacle to his slaying Aginatius; though, if there were any delay, he
would be very likely to escape.

54. Doryphorianus, as he was commanded, hastened to Rome by rapid
journeys; and while beginning to discharge the duties of his new office,
he exerted great industry to discover how he could put a senator of
eminent family to death without any assistance. And when he learnt that
he had been some time before found in his own house where he was still
kept in custody, he determined to have him brought before him as the
chief of all the criminals, with Anepsia, in the middle of the night; an
hour at which men's minds are especially apt to be bewildered by terror;
as, among many other instances, the Ajax of Homer[165] shows us, when he
expresses a wish rather to die by daylight, than to suffer the
additional terrors of the night.

55. And as the judge, I should rather call him the infamous robber,
intent only on the service he had promised to perform, carried
everything to excess, having ordered Aginatius to be brought in, he also
commanded the introduction of a troop of executioners; and while the
chains rattled with a mournful sound, he tortured the slaves who were
already exhausted by their long confinement, till they died, in order to
extract from them matter affecting the life of their master; a
proceeding which in a trial for adultery our merciful laws expressly
forbids.

56. At last, when the tortures which were all but mortal had wrung some
hints from the maid-servant, without any careful examination of the
truth of her words, Aginatius was at once sentenced to be led to
execution, and without being allowed to say a word in his defence,
though with loud outcries he appealed to and invoked the names of the
e