"Silence," admonished Marcus Ancyrus, the elder. "Are we children or slaves that we should wrangle thus? Have we met here in order to rid the Empire of an abominable and bloodthirsty tyrant, or are we mere vulgar conspirators pursuing our own ends? There was no thought in our host's mind of supreme power, O Hortensius! nor in thine, I'll vow. As for me, I care nought for the imperium," he added naïvely, "it is difficult to content everyone, and a permanent consulship under our chosen Cæsar were more to my liking. Bring forth thy tablets, O Caius Nepos, and we'll put the matter to the vote. There are not many of the House of Cæsar fit to succeed the present madman, and our choice there will be limited."
"There is but Claudius, the brother of Germanicus," interposed the host curtly.
"Germanicus' brother to succeed Germanicus' son," said another with a contemptuous shrug of the shoulders.
"And he is as crazy as his nephew," added Caius Nepos.
He had not assembled his friends here to-night, he had not feasted them and loaded them with gifts with a view to passing the imperium merely from one head to another. He was fairly sure of the support of the praetorian guard, whose praefect he was, and had counted on the adherence of these malcontents, who he hoped would look to him for future favours whilst raising him to supreme dignity.
He liked not this talk of the family of Cæsar which took the attention of his closest adherents away from his own claim.
"The entire House of Cæsar," he said, "is rotten to the core. There is not one member of it fit to rule."
"But of a truth," said prudent Ancyrus, "they have the foremost claim."
"Then if that be the case," broke in young Hortensius Martius suddenly, "let us turn to the one member of the House of Cæsar who is noble and pure, exalted above all."
"There is none such," said Caius Nepos hotly.