till he had avenged her. This gave him a certain kind of comfort. "I
will be thy Cassius Chærea!" [The slayer of Caligula] said he to himself
in thinking of Nero. After a while, seizing earth in his hands from the
flower vases surrounding the impluvium, he made a dreadful vow to
Erebus, Hecate, and his own household lares, that he would have
vengeance.

And he received a sort of consolation. He had at least something to
live for and something with which to fill his nights and days. Then,
dropping his idea of visiting Aulus, he gave command to bear him to the
Palatine. Along the way he concluded that if they would not admit him
to Cæsar, or if they should try to find weapons on his person, it would
be a proof that Cæsar had taken Lygia. He had no weapons with him. He
had lost presence of mind in general; but as is usual with persons
possessed by a single idea, he preserved it in that which concerned his
revenge. He did not wish his desire of revenge to fall away
prematurely. He wished above all to see Acte, for he expected to learn
the truth from her. At moments the hope flashed on him that he might
see Lygia also, and at that thought he began to tremble. For if Cæsar
had carried her away without knowledge of whom he was taking, he might
return her that day. But after a while he cast aside this supposition.
Had there been a wish to return her to him, she would have been sent
yesterday. Acte was the only person who could explain everything, and
there was need to see her before others.

Convinced of this, he commanded the slaves to hasten; and along the road
he thought without order, now of Lygia, now of revenge. He had heard
that Egyptian priests of the goddess Pasht could bring disease on
whomever they wished, and he determined to learn the means of doing
this. In the Orient they had told him, too, that Jews have certain