“Ay, O worthy Tiberius, the hurry of business in the city, the conflux of suitors in the palace, and the suspicions of treachery everywhere,—all these things burden thee too heavily. Art thou still inclined to go to Capri?”
“Ay; near the shores of the Bay of Neapolis I shall surely find rest and comfort.”
“In retirement and quiet, O Tiberius, the greatest facilities will be afforded for deliberation on important matters. At Capri thou wilt be safe from the importunities of office-seekers and from the intrigues of the dissatisfied.”
“Send to Capri! Have prepared for my reception the palace where the Divine Augustus spent his last days!” said the emperor, as he rose to depart. “Order plans to be made for a new palace to be placed on the higher inaccessible cliffs. Ay, though eleven palaces are already there, one is lacking to complete the number of the divinities. Have prepared plans for a palace that will outrival all the others. This new one we will call the Villa Jovis. Fare thee well, O honest minister!”
“Happy omens be thy speed, O mighty emperor!”
Chapter XIV
ABOUT a year after the death of the emperor’s son Drusus, the youth Sabinus and the dancing-maid Merope were reposing on the deck of a bireme bound for Piraeus. Other passengers were grouped in the different parts of the vessel. It was midday, and the sun shone from a cloudless sky. The water moved by a gentle breeze that blew from the glorious shores of the island of Salamis. The bireme was three hours’ distant from its destined port.
“What are thy thoughts, my Sabinus?” asked Merope, looking at him with her pure blue eyes.
“The gloom that enshrouded me when we left Rome and Brundusium still hovers over me,” replied Sabinus, gazing at the beautiful purple mountains that form the shore line of the historic island.
“But the day is bright and we are near Athens. Throw off thy dreary oppression.”