Part 14 (1/2)
”Two parts of me are dead; the shadow that was satisfied with eels for supper and the immortal Paulus whom an empire worshi+ped Reret those two dead parts of hted lamp into thethe tunnelas he went- stark naked
X ”ROME IS TOO MUCH RULED BY WOMEN!”
”He is in the bath,” said Marcia She and Galen were alone with Pertinax, who looked splendid in his official toga She was herself in disarray Her woman had tried to dress her hair on the way in the litter; one long coil of it was tu on her shoulder She looked almost drunken
”Where is Flavia titiana?” she demanded
”Out,” said Pertinax and shut his lips He never let himself discuss his wife's activities The peasant in hirammarian, preferred less scandalous subjects
Marcia stared long at hi banked fires in their depths, looking for signs of spirit that should rise to the occasion But Pertinax preferred to choose his own occasions
”Commodus is in the bath,” Marcia repeated ”He will stay there until night co He has his tablets with him-writes and writes, then scratches out He has shohat he writes to nobody, but he has sent for Livius”
”We should have killed that dog,” said Pertinax, which brought a sudden laugh fro's death never saved an empire,” Galen volunteered ”If you had murdered Livius the crisis would have come a few days sooner, that is all”
”It is the crisis It has co into ht he meant to kill me with his own hands Usually I ath to water He yelled 'Christians!' at me, 'Christians! You and your Christians!' He was unbathed He was half-naked He eaty from his exercise His hair was ruffled; he had torn out so”
”He is quite mad,” Galen commented
”I tried to make him understand this could not be a plot or I would certainly have heard of it,” Marcia went on with suppressed excitement ”I said it was the madness of one fanatic, that nobody could foresee He wouldn't listen He out-roared me He even raised his fist to strike He swore it was another of ht be wiser to admit that Even in his worst ht that I take care of hier But not this time! He flew into the worst passion I have ever seen He returned to his first obsession, that the Christians plotted it and that I knew all about it He swore he will butcher the Christians He will rid Roer he will out-play Nero”
”Where is sextus?” Pertinax asked
”Aye! Where is sextus!”
Marcia glared at Galen
”We have to thank you for sextus! You persuaded Pertinax to shi+eld sextus Pertinax persuaded me”
”You did it!” Galen answered dryly ”It is e do that ate won't reo sextus has been very useful to you He has kept you infor on him now What is the latest news about the other factions?”
Marcia restrained herself, biting her lip She loved old Galen, but she did not relish being told the whole responsibility was hers, although she knew it
”There is no news,” she answered ”nobody has heard a word about the murder yet Commodus has had the bodies thrown into the sewer But there are spies in the palace-”
”To say nothing of Bultius Livius,” Pertinax added He was clicking the rings on his fingers-syrit her teeth
”The other factions are watching one another,” Marcia went on ”They are irresolute because they have no leader near enough to Ro Why are you irresolute?” She looked so hard at Pertinax that he got up and began to pace the floor ”Severus and his troops are in Pannonia Pescennius Niger is in Syria Clodius Albinus is in Britain The senators are all so jealous and afraid for their own skins that they are as likely as not to betray one another to Commodus the minute they learn that a crisis exists If they hear that Co out proscription lists they will vie with one another to denounce their own pet ene you-and me!” she added
”There is one chance yet,” said Pertinax ”Bultius Livius h wisdom to denounce the leaders of the other factions and to clear us None of the others would be grateful to hiinian Severus, for instance, is invariably spiteful to the men who do him favors Bultius Livius may see that to protect us is his safest course, as well as best for Rome”
He had more to say, but Marcia's scorn interrupted him Galen chuckled