“Believe me, O mighty emperor, she is as pure and innocent as a Vestal Virgin!” cried the young charioteer. “Can she not be freed, my lord?” “She shall suffer no harm at Pandataria,” said Tiberius, in a tone that gave Gyges hopeful assurance. “I thank thee, my lord, I thank thee!” exclaimed Gyges, with tremulous emotion. “Now leave me,” ordered Tiberius. “On the morrow at daybreak thou shalt carry from Capri letters to Macro.” Left alone in his office, Tiberius began to reason with himself. “Antonia is right,” he said, “Macro is right, and the young man Gyges, whose honesty in the Circus is unquestioned, also seems to speak the truth. Ah, Sejanus, thy cunning, then, has deceived me! Full well do I now understand thy lying statements! Ye gods! I admire thy villany! ‘Take not the first cup!’ were his words of warning. Ah! Drusus has been wronged! Now do I comprehend why his hand did not tremble when he drank of that cup! Now do I understand why thou, Sejanus, didst wish to marry Livilla! What subterfuge! What villany! But the emperor can outstrip thee! He can-- By the infernal deities! can the emperor do anything? Am I truly the emperor? Antonia calls me the ‘prisoner of Capri’! Of a truth, nothing can come from Rome except through the office of Sejanus. Ah, he has trapped me! But has he not sacrificed many things for me? Did he not risk his life in the grotto? True, the danger was over when he protected me, and his sacrifices were, after all, but so many steps towards his own glory. Ah, he has made great strides! But I will match my cunning against his. My mind is not yet dead. It can still contrive new plans. Ay, by the essences of Hades! I will make thee consul, O Sejanus; but while thou sippest glory from a golden chalice, I will undermine thy power. Macro shall be the new prefect. Money will win him and the soldiers!” He called his secretaries and wrote three letters,--one to Macro, one to Statius the Senator, and one to Antonia. He wrote one more,--to Sejanus, the future consul. At daybreak the next morning, with a passport bearing the emperor’s seal, Gyges carried three letters from Capri. The letter for Sejanus was sent by the imperial carriers. On the day of Gyges’ departure from Capri the emperor’s nervousness increased. He became gloomy and depressed. Every noise irritated him. He went into the courtyard and watched the men gather the fragments of the overthrown statue of Victory. He thought of the words of the soothsayer, “An enemy who has long been victorious will soon be crushed.” “He spoke truly,” said Tiberius to himself.