"Are you weary of life?" he asked after a while.

"I am weary of Commodus--weary of tyranny--weary of lies and hypocrisy--
weary of wondering what is to happen to Rome that submits to such
bestial government--weary of shame and of the insolence of bribe-fat
magistrates--"

"Weary of your friends?" Norbanus asked. "Don't you realize that if
your letter fell into the hands of spies, not only will you be
proscribed and your father executed, but whoever is known to have been
intimate with you or with your father will be in almost equal danger?
You should have gone to Rome in person to consult your father."

"He ordered me to stay here to protect his interests. We are rich,
Norbanus. We have much property in Antioch and many tenants to oversee.
I am not one of these modern irreligious wastrels; I obey my father--"

"And betray him in an idiotic letter!"

"Very well! Desert me while there is time!" said Sextus angrily.

"Don't be a fool! You are not the only proud man in the empire, Sextus.
I don't desert my friend for such a coward's reason as that he acted
thoughtlessly. But I will tell you what I think, whether or not that
pleases you, if only because I am your true friend. You are a rash,
impatient lover of the days gone by, possessed of genius that you betray
by your arrogant hastiness. So now you know what I think, and what all
your other friends think. We admire--we love our Sextus, son of
Maximus. And we confess to ourselves that our lives are in danger
because of that same Sextus, son of Maximus, whom we prefer above our