“And that for security, lest they should be put to death by Vitellius or the soldiery, he took his children and his nephew there with him.”
“So I have been told. That does not concern me. Why did he not take also his fat wife? she would have fed the flames.”
“My lady—the Capitol cannot hold out another half hour, and then all within will be butchered.”
“Can I help that? They all do it. This sort of thing happens in revolutions invariably. I cannot alter the course of the world.”
“But, madam, the son of Vespasian, Flavius Domitianus has escaped through the Tabularium, by a little door into the Forum.”
“He might have escaped by turning a somersault over the walls for aught I care.”
“His life is in extreme jeopardy. If discovered he will be assassinated, most assuredly.”
“Well, that is the way these things go.”
“I have brought him hither—disguised as a priest.”
“What!”