Nero, in his rage, half thought of having him arrested on the charge of high treason--an accusation of which the meshes were equally adapted to entangle the most daring criminals and the most trivial offenders. But when he poured out his wrath to Petronius, his elegant friend laughed immoderately, and pacified Nero’s offended vanity by dwelling on Vespasian’s somnolence as a proof of his vulgarity. ‘I suppose, then,’ said Nero, ‘I must say with Horace, “_solvuntur risu tabulæ_”?’ ‘Yes,’ said Petronius, ‘and you may add “_tu missus abibis_.” Why not make a clean sweep of these dreadful old fogies in the Villa Castor? Pliny has told us all we care to know about flamingoes and lampreys. Seneca’s pomposities grow stale. We have been sufficiently amused for the present by the blushes of Persius, and the good Silius Italicus is as tedious as his own epic. Give them a respectful farewell. Send for Paris the actor, and Aliturus the pantomime, and some of your fairest slaves to wait on us at our choicest banquets. Let us dismiss this humbug of respectability and pluck the blossom of the days.’ The advice fell on congenial ears. It was intimated to the guests in the Villa Castor that they might present their respects to the Emperor, and disperse where they chose. They were not sorry to depart from such dubious neighbours as those in the Villa Pollux. Vespasian and Titus were rudely sent off the next morning, without being permitted to see Nero again. Flavia Domitilla accompanied them, and as the presence of Britannicus was always a trouble to Nero, he was allowed to spend the rest of the autumn in the humble Sabine villa of Vespasian’s family at Phalacrine, near Reate, where he would not only have Titus as a companion, but also his cousins--the two young sons of Vespasian’s brother, Flavius Sabinus. ‘Among those dull farmers,’ said Nero, ‘he is not likely to have any nonsense put into his head. Let him eat beans and bacon, and grow as sluggish as his friends.’ To Nero and the fashionable nobles of his time every man was sluggish and plebeian who did not care to season his recreation with a variety of vices. CHAPTER XVI _EVENTS IN THE VILLA POLLUX_ ‘Who dares, who dares, In purity of manhood stand upright And say “This man’s a flatterer”? If one be, So are they all ... the learned pate Ducks to the golden fool.’ _Timon of Athens_, iv. 3. More and more luxurious and irregular became the amusements of the Villa Pollux. Paganism is protected from complete exposure by the enormity of its own vices. To show the divine reformation wrought by Christianity it must suffice that, once for all, the Apostle of the Gentiles seized heathendom by the hair, and branded indelibly on her forehead the stigma of her shame. Leaving altogether on one side the darker aspects of the life to which Nero and his boon companions now abandoned themselves, neither shall we dwell much upon