"I trust your Majesty will pardon the frankness of a man so humble in
degree, but those in high station often permit us to see what they hide
from one another. Only the loftiest and the lowliest, the gods and the
slaves, behold the great without disguise. May my ears be cropped if the
Imperator's melancholy and misanthropy are so intense! All this is a
disguise which pleases him. You know how, in better days, he enjoyed
appearing as Dionysus, and with what wanton gaiety he played the part of
the god. Now he is hiding his real, cheerful face behind the mask of
unsocial melancholy, because he thinks the former does not suit this time
of misfortune. True, he often says things which make your skin creep,
and frequently broods mournfully over his own thoughts. But this never
lasts long when we are alone. If I come in with a very funny story, and
he doesn't silence me at once, you can rely on his surpassing it with
a still more comical one. A short time ago I reminded him of the fishing
party when your Majesty had a diver fasten a salted herring on his hook.
You ought to have heard him laugh, and exclaim what happy days those
were. The lady Charmian need only remind him of them, and Aisopion spice
the allusion with a jest. I'll give my nose--true, it's only a small
one, but everybody values that feature most--if they don't persuade him
to leave that horrible crow's nest in the middle of the sea. They must
remind him of the twins and little Alexander; for when he permits me to
talk about them his brow smooths most speedily. He still speaks very
often to Lucilius and his other friends of his great plans of forming a
powerful empire in the East, with Alexandria as its principal city. His
warrior blood is not yet calm. A short time ago I was even ordered to
sharpen the curved Persian scimitar he likes to wield. One could not
know what service it might be, he said. Then he swung his mighty arm.
By the dog! The grey-haired giant still has the strength of three
youths. When he is once more with you, among warriors and battle
chargers, all will be well."