that some servant, or other person not in the
plot, overhears him; as happened with the sons of Brutus, who, when
treating with the envoys of Tarquin, were overheard by a slave, who
became their accuser; or else through your own weakness in imparting
your secret to some woman or boy whom you love, or to some other such
light person; as when Dymnus, who was one of those who conspired with
Philotas against Alexander the Great, revealed the plot to Nicomachus, a
youth whom he loved, who at once told Cebalinus, and Cebalinus the king.

Of discoveries by conjecture we have an instance in the conspiracy of
Piso against Nero; for Scaevinus, one of the conspirators, the day
before he was to kill Nero, made his will, liberated all his slaves and
gave them money, and bade Milichus, his freedman, sharpen his old rusty
dagger, and have bandages ready for binding up wounds. From all which
preparations Milichus conjecturing what work was in hand, accused
Scaevinus before Nero; whereupon Scaevinus was arrested, and with him
Natalis, another of the conspirators, who the day before had been seen
to speak with him for a long time in private; and when the two differed
in their account of what then passed between them, they were put to the
torture and forced to confess the truth. In this way the conspiracy was
brought to light, to the ruin of all concerned.

Against these causes of the discovery of conspiracies it is impossible
so to guard as that either through treachery, want of caution, or
levity, the secret shall not be found out, whenever more than three or
four persons are privy to it. And whenever more than one conspirator is
arrested, the plot is certain to be detected, because no two persons can
perfectly agree in a false account of what has passed between them. If
only one be taken, should he be a man of resolute courage, he may refuse
to implicate his comrades; but they on their part must have no less
courage, to stay quiet where they are, and not betray themselves by
flight; for if courage be absent anywhere, whether in him who is taken
or in those still at large, the conspiracy is revealed. And what is
related by Titus Livius as having happened in the conspiracy against
Hieronymus, tyrant of Syracuse, is most extraordinary, namely, that on
the capture of one of the conspirators, named Theodorus, he, with great
fortitude, withheld the names of all his accomplices, and accused
friends of the tyrant; while his companions, on thei