"We should have killed that dog," said Pertinax, which brought a sudden
laugh from Galen.

"A dog's death never saved an empire," Galen volunteered. "If you had
murdered Livius the crisis would have come a few days sooner, that is
all."

"It is the crisis. It has come," said Marcia. "Commodus came storming
into my apartment, and I thought he meant to kill me with his own hands.
Usually I am not afraid of him. This time he turned my strength to
water. He yelled 'Christians!' at me, 'Christians! You and your
Christians!' He was unbathed. He was half-naked. He was sweaty from
his exercise. His hair was ruffled; he had torn out some of it. His
scowl was frightful--it was freezing."

"He is quite mad," Galen commented.

"I tried to make him understand this could not be a plot or I would
certainly have heard of it," Marcia went on with suppressed excitement.
"I said it was the madness of one fanatic, that nobody could foresee.
He wouldn't listen. He out-roared me. He even raised his fist to
strike. He swore it was another of my plans to keep him out of the
arena. I began to think it might be wiser to admit that. Even in his
worst moods he is sometimes softened by the thought that I take care of
him and love him enough to risk his anger. But not this time! He flew
into the worst passion I have ever seen. He returned to his first
obsession, that the Christians plotted it and that I knew all about it.
He swore he will butcher the Christians. He will rid Rome of them. He
says, since he can not play Paulus any longer he will out-play Nero."