Caesar Dies

een against the background of purple and dark-green gloom, with crimson torchlight flaring on the quiet water and the moon descen

orbanus urged, pointing. "

ian lashed o

in you as soon as possible after I have made sure that the temple prie

y wished, after which he should be free to face his destiny and fight it without feeling he had handicapped his friends by wilfulness. He had not even issued a direct command to Scylax, his own slave. That was characteristic of him.

attered away, men swearing, women screaming. Throwing back his weight against the reins, he brought the stallion to a plunging, snorting, wheeling halt in the midst of men and women-a terrifying monster blowing clouds of mist out of his nostrils! As they ran he

"Sextus who was dining

er that came from Rome. They were dragging a body between them. They laid it down exactly where Sextus had fallen from the horse. There was a sickening th

ng his face with a fold of his toga. He chose a path that wound amid the shrubbery, where marble satyrs grinned in colored lantern light. He

of the lights in the caterers' booths. He was as safe now as if he were fifty miles away; none noticed him except the beggars at the bridges

d on. He was smiling to himself-sardonica

ed on him how safe he was, since none in Antioch would dare to question the word of Pertinax, backed by Galen and all the witnesses whom Pertinax would be sure to summon. He remembered t

ognized him, in spite of th

nus went, say I have gone home," he co

possibly twelve, nights ago he and his friends had all been talking of a highwayman Maternus, who had robbed the caravans on the mountain road from Tarsus. For the moment that thought scared him. Should he change the name? T

decisions are all suddenly stripped away. He understood now how a general in the field can fail when suddenly confronted with the unknown. S

ut either they had all been borne by slaves, and were distasteful, or else by famous men or by his friends, whom he did not propose to wrong; he o

ttle mercy in the world for men without a home or means. Whether recognized or not, he would become like a hunted animal -might, in fact, end as a slave unless he should prefer to prove his identity and submit to Commodus's executioner

He would have nothing whatever to do with the rabble of runaway slaves, whose only guiding impulse would be loot and license, although he knew how easy it would be to raise such an army if he should choose to do it. Out of any hundred outlaws in the

rals eager for cheap victories. He must be too resourceful to be taken by police-too insignificant to tempt the legions out of camp. Brigandry was as distasteful to him and as far beneath his dignity as the pursuit of brigands was beneath the dignity of any of those Roman generals who owed their rank to Commodus. For them, as for himself, the pettiness of brigan

ntains. There was the usual row of gibbets reared on rising ground against the sky by way of grim reminder to slaves and other would-be outlaws that the arm of Rome was long

t quite sure yet who it was who strode toward him. Scared by the stench, the horses became difficult to manage. The leading-re

man might well be, of the same injustice that had made an outlaw of himself-impelled Sextus to step closer. He could not see the face, which was drooped forward; but there was a parchment, held spread on a stick, like a sail on a

rnus-

some injustice that had changed pride into savagery or else shot off all opportunity for decent living. The cruelty of the form of execution hardly troubled him; the possible injustice of it

hne, followed on a mule by Cadmus, the slave who had brought the letter which had pulled the trigger tha

he road in a brown woolen tunic contributed by som

im and threatened to send for her jewelry. So he borrowed money from the priests. You are as dead as that." He

nt. But the moon had gone down in a smother of silvery clo

ey had crucifi

me the use of his name! However, I will pay him for i

bling on a limestone slab at last, that lay amid rank weeds near a tomb hollowed out of the rock that had been rifled, very likely, centuries ago. They lowered the already

nd having murmured fragments of a ritual as old as Rome, bidding the gods of earth and air and the unseen

out honor on the lips of men. Nor have I any claim on you, being now an outlaw, whom the law would crucify if ill-luck should betray my feet. Nor can I set you free, since all my househ

they knelt. He

aid Scylax, Cadmus

ng at them. "That is the risk we take together. If we escape that, you shall n

us chu

swered. He, too, pointe

provide us with no armo

e; lo, I have left that

iny can do to bold m