[67] SARDINIAN MINES. Sardinia played a similar part in the Roman Empire, to the one performed by Siberia in the kingdom of the Czar. Criminals, and often innocent persons, languished through a miserable existence in the mines there. Besides, the climate of the island was considered extremely unhealthy. (See Strab. V, 13. Mart. _Ep._, IV, 60.) In cases of less importance the culprits were simply exiled to Sardinia, without being condemned to enforced labor, and permitted to live there at liberty. (See Mart. _Ep._, VIII, 32.) [68] TIGELLINUS. Sophonius Tigellinus, of Agrigentum, in Sicily, by his talents as a sportsman and horse-breaker, won Nero's favor, and finally became commander of the praetorian guard. (Tac. _Ann._, XIV, 51.) Dissolute, revengeful, and unprincipled, he was regarded, with reason, as the evil principle in the life of the Emperor, whose last noble impulses he strove to stifle. He was most to blame for the majority of Nero’s crimes; even the horrible conflagration, that laid half Rome in ashes. (See Tac. _Hist._, I, 72, Dio Cass. LXII, 13, LXIII, 12.) CHAPTER IX. The company of soldiers, who had been sent by the city-prefect in pursuit of the Batavian and his companions, had given up the chase at a short distance from Ardea. They rode slowly into the town, and rapped with their sword-hilts at the door of the little old tavern till the innkeeper crept grumpily out of his bed, and let them in. A stable boy unsaddled the horses, while Ciconia, the host’s unprepossessing wife, brought out a dish of smoked cheese,[69] some loaves, and a jar of red wine from Veii. While his men sat round the stone table and burned their parched throats with coarse liquor, the captain walked up and down the room reflecting with little satisfaction indeed on the events of the night. He wondered why the fugitives had selected the road through Ardea. The Via Appia would have been wider, more convenient, and safer for strangers unfamiliar with the district, while the road to Ardea, with its many inequalities and turnings, would seem to give the pursuers, who were more familiar with them, an appreciable advantage. The more he thought of it, the more convinced he became that Antium must have been the goal of their hopes. But, in that case, the refugees must have intended to sail from Antium and reach one of the neighboring islands, or perhaps even Sardinia or Corsica. And in that case it would not be difficult to find out who had undertaken to convey them. Thus all was not yet lost. He took up a cup of wine and emptied it at a draught. Then, turning to the hostess, he asked in great excitement: “Ciconia, have you a horse?” “No, my lord; what do you want it for?” “I must get on to Antium immediately, and our beasts are tired to death.” Ciconia reflected.