"And I?" asked Cæsar, for the first time displaying any personal interest.
"You, Imperator, must disband your army and return to Rome speedily, or be declared an outlaw, as Sertorius or Catilina was."
"Ah!" and for a minute the proconsul sat motionless, while Drusus again kept silence.
"But you—my friends—the tribunes?" demanded the general, "you spoke of danger; why was it that you fled?"
"We fled in slaves' dresses, O Cæsar, because otherwise we should long ago have been strangled like bandits in the Tullianum. Lentulus Crus drove us with threats from the Senate. On the bridge, but for the favour of the gods, his lictors would have taken us. We were chased by Pompeius's foot soldiers as far as Janiculum. We ran away from his cavalry. If they hate us, your humble friends, so bitterly, how much the more must they hate you!"
"And the tribunes, and Curio, and Cælius are on their way hither?" asked Cæsar.
"They will be here very soon."
"That is well," replied the proconsul; then, with a totally unexpected turn, "Quintus Drusus, what do you advise me to do?"
"I—I advise, Imperator?" stammered the young man.
"And who should advise, if not he who has ridden so hard and fast in my service? Tell me, is there any hope of peace, of reconciliation with Pompeius?"