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The tribune Scudilo. Trust me, friend,—I have not forgotten that. And am I to yield and fall before this bloodthirsty Emperor! Am I to spare him who for long years has stumbled about among the corpses of my nearest kin!

If you spare him, in less than three months he will be stumbling among the corpses of your adherents.

Yes, yes; there you are right. It is almost my imperative duty to stand up against him. If I do, 'twill not be for my own sake. Do not the weal and woe of thousands hang in the balance? Are not thousands of lives at stake? Or could I have averted this extremity? You are more to blame than I, Sallust! Why did you not speak before?

In Rome they made me swear a solemn oath of secrecy.

An oath? Indeed! By the gods of your forefathers?

Yes, my lord—by Zeus and by Apollo.

And yet you break your oath?

I wish to live.