"Forgot that unctuous bit of tittle-tattle when thou didst make Antonia bearer of thy boasts, eh?" he piped.
"My words have been distorted," Agrippa spoke, though he seemed to hate himself for offering a defense.
"Ah-r-r! Wilt thou snivel and deny?" Tiberius snarled.
The prince's manacled hands clenched and a glimmer of hate showed in his eyes. Cæsar nodded; that was better.
The prince's manacled hands clenched
"Agrippa, the king-maker!" he went on, "late mendicant from Judea; heir presumptive to the ax! Eh? Take him away! Macro, come thou to the palace to-night, and I'll deliver sentence!"
The gilded lectica moved on.
Twenty minutes later, Marsyas, white to the lips, his eyes enlarged and dangerous, sprang from a clump of myrtle by the roadside, after the litter had passed up toward Tusculum and, thrusting a hand into Junia's chair, seized her arm.