‘Good Zeno, be easy with me, for you have dealt well with me so far,’ whined the perplexed and terrified old man. ‘You are not proceeding in the way most calculated to incline me to do so. Tell me!’ said Zeno, pointing meaningly towards the house. ‘I cannot—there is one as great in Capreae as Caesar—I dare not.’ ‘You will repent of that delusion when you find yourself, very shortly, about to be cast from one of the cliffs of Capreae. What’s he that you compare with Caesar? There is but one you can mean—is it the Prefect?’ Tucca hung his head and did not answer. Zeno thereby gained a little information, which had the effect of giving him, at once, some more personal concern in the matter. To spy upon a probable arrangement of the formidable Prefect was a task unlooked for and likely to prove of some interest. ‘You are obstinate, Tucca, and you are simple and foolish to put the servant before his master. I might be disposed to leave you in a huff and allow you to take the consequences of your idiocy, but I will take more pains with you, and try and reason you out of your ideas. You live so much out of the way here in this corner that you are ignorant of how things run. Listen: last night a certain merchant, named Tigellinus, brought two females to your house, and there they are at this moment. It is folly for you to deny it. You grow excellent wine, Tucca—I have bought it from you for the Emperor’s table, and the Emperor likes it. Caesar is a resident, and if you wish to continue his custom you had better do as I advise you; if not, you will assuredly have every drop of blood drawn out of your old veins, as well as every quart of wine out of your cellars. The same finger that can do this can, equally as well, do the same to the most noble Prefect if sad necessity compelled. Do your duty to your ruler and patron, therefore, and rest easy.’ ‘You know what I know—I cannot tell you more,’ said the husbandman despairingly. ‘Their names?’ ‘Before Jupiter, I know not.’ ‘I have also orders to dispense certain coins to those who make themselves particularly useful in this matter—it is surely best to please the strongest party and be paid for it—at least my notions run that way.’ Zeno made a dull jingling of some money under his cloak, and marked, with a smile, the flash of the old man’s eyes and the pricking up of his ears. ‘Noble Zeno, you were ever liberal with me, but if I could serve you without——’ ‘It will be easily earned, Tucca; good pay, and never fear for your old bones.’ ‘What, then, do you require?’