“Stupid barbarian!” growled Corvinus, but well within his teeth; then added: “This business will go hard with you; you know it is a capital offence.”
“What is?”
“Why, to let a man come up and speak to you, without giving the watchword.”
“Gently, captain; who says he did not give it? I never said so.”
“But did he, though? Then it could be no Christian.”
“Oh yes, he came up, and said quite plainly, ‘Nomen Imperatorum.’”[143]
“What?” roared out Corvinus.
“Nomen Imperatorum.”
“‘Numen Imperatorum’ was the watchword,” shrieked the enraged Roman.
“Nomen or Numen, it’s all the same, I suppose. A letter can’t make any difference. You call me Arminius, and I call myself Hermann, and they mean the same. How should I know your nice points of language?”