‘From the Subura—you have that appearance. From one of the darkest holes therein.’
‘There are some powerful and wealthy people in the Subura, Caesar, and we cannot all choose the best spots therein.’
‘Bandy no words. Do you know the maiden there by you?’
‘Yes—no one better. She is the granddaughter of the noble Fabricius there.’
‘How, then, came she to be living as the child of the woman your sister?’
‘I took her secretly away from the mansion of her grandsire fifteen years ago, all but three months less a day. I have kept the reckoning carefully—ask the noble Fabricius if I am not right.’
‘He has already told me this—he speaks truly, to the very day,’ said Fabricius.
‘Are you not afraid to confess this villainy?’ said Tiberius sternly.
‘It is because I wish to make the noble Fabricius some amends for the wrong, and for another reason, which all will soon understand.’
‘Why did you tell the woman, your sister, that you took her from one Balbus, a wealthy man?’