"You do not understand. I want no repetition of this solemn farce. It is not as a priest, but as a man, that you must find tools for your cunning."
"My lord," he said, "if I know Cornelia, sooner will she perish than break her faith with her lover. Nothing but a trick could give us the smallest chance of success, nothing but the mask of divinity."
"Curse him!--And is another man to obtain what Caesar cannot win? Is a boy, a maundering lover, to stand in my way?"
"Well, you know he is the son of the Flamen. If he were of any other family--Cornelius or Ulpius...."
"You are right. I owe special consideration to the Claudia family.--So much the worse for you! And do you mean to say that, in all your mystical lore, you know of no charm that can part two turtle-doves? Are there not women, who make it their business to entrap young men--or sapient tongues to wag away a young girl's reputation? Is not Lycoris a perfect mistress of all the arts of seduction--or Martial a writer, whose epigrams are poisoned shafts? Come, consider the matter; try, plot, scheme. I must clasp that incomparable creature in my arms!--I must--do you understand, Barbillus--or, to speak plainly, I will."
"Your will rules the world," replied Barbillus.
"To-morrow for the rest. I will send my chamberlain to you early. Domitian will not be slow to recognize your services."
He drew the hood of his lacerna over his head and descended the stairs, followed by Barbillus.
[42] CASSIOPEIA. A constellation near Cepheus, so called for Cassiopeia, the mother of Andromeda, who was placed among the stars. See Prop. I, 17, 3; Ov. _Met._ IV, 7, 38.
[43] SEMELE, the daughter of the Theban king Cadmus, at the instigation of the jealous Hera, entreated Zeus, who loved her, to appear before her in all the splendor of his divine majesty. As Zeus had sworn by the Styx to grant her request, he was bound. He approached the unfortunate girl with lightning and thunder--and the heavenly flames consumed her. Dying, she gave birth to Dionysus (Bacchus).
[44] THE ROOM QUIVERED UNDER HER FEET. Hippolytus, in his "Refutation of Heresies," gives a number of directions for the magical appearances commonly used by the conjurers and miracle-workers of those times; among them is one in a MS. not wholly preserved, for the production of an earthquake.