“Prostitution, adultery, witchcraft, and spells cast upon thee would be a good charge,” slyly advised the minister. “Adultery with whom?” “Some one of your enemies,--Furnius.” “Furnius, Furnius?” said Tiberius, trying to recall the name. “Ay, he who writes lampoons against me.” “Ay, make the people hold their tongues.” “Charge them both,” was his imperious order. “Then, O noble Tiberius, Cremutius Cordus, the historian, has written in his annals praises to Brutus. He has even called Cassius ‘The last of the Romans.’ Men are daring everything! Is this not a direct insult against the Divine Julius and the Divine Augustus? Shall annals be written lauding men who fought for the Roman republic? Let this stimulation of the republican idea once course through the veins of the people and the emperor falls, and with his fall the empire will crumble.” “Who has told thee this?” “My agents are everywhere.” “Truly, O faithful minister, thine eyes never close. Duty has become incarnate in thee. Charge the historian Cordus with his crime. All thoughts of the republic must be stifled. Ah! even the Senate begins to act with freedom. But the attacks against Sosius and Sabinus will quiet that body. Behind their servile flattery, which I abhor, there lurks bitter hatred of me. Oh! verily must I leave Rome and its people! Not a moment of peace is found here.” “Ay, O worthy Tiberius, the hurry of business in the city, the conflux of suitors in the palace, and the suspicions of treachery everywhere,--all these things burden thee too heavily. Art thou still inclined to go to Capri?” “Ay; near the shores of the Bay of Neapolis I shall surely find rest and comfort.” “In retirement and quiet, O Tiberius, the greatest facilities will be afforded for deliberation on important matters. At Capri thou wilt be safe from the importunities of office-seekers and from the intrigues of the dissatisfied.” “Send to Capri! Have prepared for my reception the palace where the Divine Augustus spent his last days!” said the emperor, as he rose to depart. “Order plans to be made for a new palace to be placed on the higher inaccessible cliffs. Ay, though eleven palaces are already there, one is lacking to complete the number of the divinities. Have prepared plans for a palace that will outrival all the others. This new one we will call the Villa Jovis. Fare thee well, O honest minister!” “Happy omens be thy speed, O mighty emperor!” Chapter XIV About a year after the death of the emperor’s son Drusus, the youth Sabinus and the dancing-maid Merope were reposing on the deck of a bireme bound for Piraeus. Other passengers were grouped in the different parts of the vessel. It was midday, and the sun shone from a cloudless sky. The water moved by a gentle breeze that blew from the glorious shores of the island of Salamis. The bireme was three hours’ distant from its destined port. “What are thy thoughts, my Sabinus?” asked Merope, looking at him with her pure blue eyes.