numbers of his companions, came up to the trembling slavegirl, who little dreamed whose was the hand laid upon her robe.

'Oh,' he said, 'when slave-girls are so modest there is nothing so effective for their education as the sagatio. What say you, comrades? It will be a novel excitement to toss a girl.'

'Brutes!' said Pudens,' whoever you are brutes and not Romans! Would you insult and injure a modest maiden, slave though she be? Stand back at your peril.'

But Nero, excited with wine, and closely followed by Pollio and Sagitta, was still endeavouring to drag away Junia, who clung convulsively to her father, when a blow from the strong hand of Pudens sent him staggering to the wall. He stumbled over a stone in the street, the mask slipped down from his face, and Pudens saw who it was. The sense of the peril in which he and his slaves were involved, at once flashed upon his mind. There was at least a chance that Nero had not recognised him in the darkness. He hastily whispered to Onesimus to put out his lantern and, if possible, those of their assailants also. The Phrygian rose to the occasion. Springing upon Petronius, he dashed the lantern out of his grasp by the suddenness of his assault, and, whirling his staff into the air, struck with all his force at the hand of Paris, who held the other lantern. The lights were extinguished by the fall of the lanterns, and covering his own under his tunic he called on Pudens and Nereus to follow him closely, and seized Junia by the hand. The by-ways of the streets had become familiar to him, and while the revellers were discomfited, and were absorbed in paying attention to Nero, whose face was bleeding, they all four made their escape, and got home by a more circuitous

route.

'The bucket-men are coming, Emperor,' said Paris.

None of the party wanted the police to recognise them, or to have the trouble of an explanation which was sure to get talked of to their general discredit, and feeling a little crestfallen, they all hurried off, to a secret entrance of the Palatine.

This was a rough beginning for Nero in his career of a practical joker. But the delights of such adventures were too keen to be foregone. He had not recognised Pudens, who took care not to look too closely at the bruise on Nero's cheek

when he went next morning to the Palace. In general he was safe in attacking small and feeble parties of citizens; but not long afterwards he received another rebuff from the senator Julius Montanus, whose wife he insulted as they were returning from supper at a friend's house. Montanus, like Pudens, had recognised the Emperor, but he had not the prudence to conceal his knowledge. Alarmed that he should have struck and wounded the sacrosanct person of a Cæsar, he was unwise enough to apologise. The consequence was natural. Had he held his tongue he might have escaped. Nero did not care to be detected in his escapades, and he ordered Montanus to commit suicide.

Having, however, been hurt more than once in these nocturnal encounters by men who had some courage, he made assurance doubly sure by taking with him some gladiators who were always to be within call if required. He was thus able to continue his pranks with impunity until they, too, lost their novelty, and began to pall upon a mind in which every spark of virility was dead, and which was rapidly degenerating into a mass of sensuous egotism.

CHAPTER XX

BROTHER AND SISTER

Hopes have precarious life :

They are oft blighted, withered, snapped sheer off
In vigorous growth, and turned to rottenness;
But faithfulness can feed on suffering

And knows no disappointment.'

GEORGE ELIOT.

FAR different was the way in which Britannicus had spent the memorable evening of Otho's supper.

He was thrown largely upon himself and his own resources. If Titus happened to be absent; if Epaphroditus did not chance to bring with him the quaint boy Epictetus; if the duties of Pudens summoned him elsewhere, he had few with whom he could converse in his own apartments. Sometimes Burrus visited him, and was kind; but he could hardly forgive Burrus for his share in Agrippina's plot. Seneca occasionally came to see him, and Seneca felt a genuine wish to alleviate the boy's unhappy lot. But Seneca had been Nero's supporter, and Britannicus could not quite get over the misgiving that his fine sentences were insincere. And at last an incident occurred which made it impossible for him ever to speak to Seneca without dislike. One day Nero had sent for his brother, and Britannicus, entering the Emperor's room before he came in, saw a copy or the Ludus de morte Claudii Casaris lying on the table. Naturally enough he had not heard of this ferocious satire upon his unhappy father. Attracted by the oddness of the title Apokolokyntosis,' which the librarian had written on the outer case, he took up the book, and had read the first few columns when Nero entered. As he read, his soul burned with inexpressible indignation. His father had received a sumptuous Cæsarean funeral; he had been deified by the decree of the Senate; a

grand temple had been reared in his honour on the Cœlian hill; priests and priestesses had been appointed to worship his divinity. He knew very well that this might be regarded as a conventional officialism; but that the writer of this book should thus openly laugh in the face of Rome, ner religion, and her Empire; that he should class Claudius with two miserable idiots like Augurinus and Baba; that he should brutally ridicule his absence of mind, his slavering lips, his ungainly aspect, and represent the Olympian deities in consultation as to whether he was a god, a human being, or a seamonster this seemed to him an act of shameless hypocrisy. He had seen how the Romans prostrated themselves in the dust before his father in his lifetime, as it were to lick his sandals; how Seneca himself had blazoned his earthly godship in paragraphs of sonorous eloquence. Yet here, on the table of his successor and adopted son, was a satire replete in every line with enormous slanders. And who could have written it? Britannicus could think of no one but Seneca; and all the more since the marks on the manuscript showed that Nero had read it, and read it with amused appreciation.

When Nero entered he found Britannicus standing by the table transfixed with anger. His cheeks were crimson with shame and indignation. Panting with wrath, he was unable even to return the greeting of Nero, who looked at him with astonishment till he saw the scroll from which he had been reading. Nero instantly snatched it out of his hand. was vexed that the boy had seen it. It had not been intended for his eyes. But now that the mischief was done he thought it better to make light of it.

'Oh,' he said, 'I see that you have been reading that foolish satire. Don't be in such a state of mind about it. It is meant for a mere jest.'

A jest!' exclaimed Britannicus, as soon as he found voice. to speak. It is high treason against the religion of Rome, against the majesty of the Empire.'

'Nonsense!' said Nero, with a shrug of his shoulders. 'If I don't mind it, why should you? You are but a boy. Leave such matters to those who understand them, and know more of the world.'

'Why do you always treat me as a child?' asked Britannicus indignantly. I am nearly fifteen years old. 'I am

older than you were when my father allowed you to assume the manly toga.'1

'Yes,' said the Emperor; but there are differences. I am Nero, and you are Britannicus. I shall not let you have the manly toga just yet; the golden bulla and the prætexta suit you a great deal better.'

Britannicus turned away to conceal the emotion which pride forbade him to show. He was about to leave the audience-room when Nero called him.

'Listen, Britannicus,' he said.

Do not provoke me too far. Do not forget that I am Emperor. When Tiberius came to the throne there was a young prince named Agrippa Posthumus. When Gaius came to the throne there was a young prince named Tiberius Gemellus.'

The Emperor Gaius adopted Tiberius Gemellus, and made him Prince of the Youth,' said Britannicus; 'you have never done that for me.'

You interrupt me,' said Nero. Do you happen to remember what became of those two boys?'

Britannicus remembered only too well. Through the arts of Livia, Agrippa Posthumus, accused of a ferocious temperament, had been first banished to the Island Pandataria, then violently murdered. Tiberius Gemellus had not been murdered, because the news of such a death would have sounded ill; but he had had the sword placed against his heart, and had been taught to kill himself, so that his death might wear the semblance of suicide.

Nero left time for such recollections to pass through his brother's mind, and then he slowly added, And now that Nero has come to the throne, there happens to be a young prince named Britannicus.'

Britannicus shuddered. 'Do you menace me with murder?' he asked.

Nero only laughed. 'What need have I to menace?' he asked. Do you not know that I have but to lift a finger, if it so pleases me, and you die? But don't be alarmed. It does not please me at present.'

Britannicus turned very pale. He knew that Nero's words conveyed no idle boast. He was but a down-trodden boy

1 Note 26.-Age of Britannicus.