‘Wine, and a seat for Fabricius,’ said Tiberius; and the attendants flew to obey.
‘Am I to bear this? Am I to listen to this’—broke in Afer.
‘Peace, I say,’ said Tiberius; ‘drink and rest, Fabricius.’
The old senator drank the wine the attendants brought for him, and sank with trembling limbs into the chair they placed for him.
‘If what you have told us is true, Suburan,—and it is scarcely credible you would invent a tale to incriminate yourself to such a degree,—then your actions bring you within the reach of the rods of the lictors, and of the cord,’ resumed Tiberius, ‘but due attention shall be given to this at a proper time. What concerns us now is the identity of the child. Give us, therefore, the proofs that she is what you assert her to be.’
‘I have, already, given them to the noble Fabricius, so please you,’ said Cestus.
‘My slave bears them—bring them hither, Natta!’ said Fabricius.
The steward came forward before Caesar with the package of child’s garments, and displayed them to Tiberius on bended knee, whilst Fabricius attested them—particularly the amulet.
‘Come hither, woman,’ said Tiberius to Tibia; ‘do you know these things?’
‘They are what the child wore when she came to us—we took them off and kept them.’