Gone, too, was his hope of a kingdom. The doom pronounced upon him was a proof that Nero had revoked his purpose of ratifying Polemo’s intended disposal of his crown. And his wife, the mysterious Athenaïs? Was it likely that she would remain faithful to him on learning that the Roman noble whom she had wedded was now a pauper, and that a proscribed one? “Who commands in this war, now that my father has gone?” “Old Flavius Vespasian, with his son Titus as second in command. Titus,” continued Rufus, with a wry mouth, “our equal once. Now he’ll hold his head high above us both. Perhaps my lady Berenice will smile on him now, seeing what a great man he has become.” “Berenice? ah!” said Crispus in a curious tone. “Of course she hath heard of my disgrace. How doth she take it?” “One of the proscriptive tablets directed against you hangs upon her palace-wall at Cæsarea, whence it may be inferred that your fall is not a matter of much concern to her.” Crispus wondered whether Vashti would suffer a placard dooming him to death to remain upon the wall of _her_ house. “You must live in concealment,” advised Rufus, “till Nero be persuaded to revoke his unjust decree; or, it may be, that your freedom will come in another way, for if all the rumors circulated be true, our present Cæsar is like ere long to lose his throne, if not his life, so outrageously doth he shock public sentiment; in which case all his acts will be annulled by his successor, and thus your patrimonial estates may return to you. The question is, where will you hide in the meantime?” “I will go,” replied Crispus, his mind still under the singular impression evoked by the shadow of the cross, “I will go to a people that will suffer death rather than betray a suppliant; I will go to the Christians of Pella.” CHAPTER XVI THE AMBITION OF BERENICE More than two years and a half had now passed since the disastrous retreat of Cestius, and during all that time no Roman legion had come within sight of Jerusalem. Vespasian, the successor of Cestius, had first directed his arms against Galilee, almost every city of which was in a state of rebellion. Thanks to the spirit and activity displayed by the warrior-historian Josephus, as well as to the situation of the Galilean cities, most of which were built upon hill-tops and almost inaccessible crags, the campaign was prolonged for more than a year. Then came a long interval of inactivity, due to a series of revolutions taking place at Rome, the seat of the government. Within the space of a single year the throne of the Cæsars was occupied in turn by a series of ambitious generals, the self-murdered Nero having been succeeded by Galba, by Otho, and by Vitellius.