only man whose face would freeze all rivals is Severus the
Carthaginian!"

"We are none of us blind," said Cornificia.

"You mean me? I am too old," answered Pertinax. "I don't like tyranny,
and people know it. It is something they should not know. An old man
may be all very well when he has reigned for twenty years and men are
used to him, and he used to the task, as was Augustus; but an old man
new to the throne lacks energy. And besides, they would never endure a
man whose father was a charcoal-seller, as mine was. I have made my way
in life by looking at facts and refusing to deceive myself; with the
exception of that, I have no especial wisdom, nor any unusual ability."

"If wisdom were all that is needed," said Sextus, "we should put good
Galen on the throne!"

"He is too old and wise to let you try to do it!" Galen answered. "But
you spoke about the head of a Medusa, Pertinax, and mentioned Lucius
Septimius Severus. He commands three legions at Caruntum in Pannonia.
(Roughly speaking, the S.W. portion of modern Hungary whose frontiers
were then occupied by very warlike tribes.) If there is one man living
who can freeze men's blood by scowling at them, it is he! And he is not
as old as you are."

"I have thought of him only to hate him," said Pertinax. "He would not
follow me, nor I him. He is one of three men who would fight for the
throne if somebody slew Commodus, although he would not run the risk of
slaying him himself, and he would betray us if we should take him into
confidence. I know him well. He is a lawyer and a Carthaginian. He