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PERILS OF BRITANNICUS 189
presence the tutor of Britaimicus, who had been observed
to carry away the vial in his closed hand. Her spies
further told her that, by watching and listening, they had
ascertained that the poison was to be given to the son of
Claudius, not at supper but at the light midday meal which
he took with Titus. After they had been enjoying vigorous
exercise in the morning the boys usually showed an excellent
appetite.
More than this they could not discover but this much Acte
;
confided to Onesimus, and implored him to keep watch, and if
possible, devise some means by which to forewarn Britannicus
of his imminent peril.
At first the quick Phrygian youth, who was understood to
be under the patronage of Acte, had been a favourite in the
household, and he found little difficulty in making friends with
the cooks and other slaves who superintended the meals of the
imperial family. By a visit to the kitchen in which he
flattered the cook and his young assistants by the lively
curiosity which he expressed about the various dishes, and the
enthusiasm with which he admired their skill he learnt that,
as a special treat, a beccafico was to be sent in for the prandium
of Britannicus, and he conjectured that it would be poisoned.
That the cook was innocent of any evil design he was
sure, and he guessed that the fig-pecker would be poisoned by
some slave of higher office about the young prince's person.
But he knew not how to forewarn the unsuspecting boy. The
time was short. It was not easy to find an excuse by which
he whose duty lay in a different part of the Palace could
find access to the apartments of Britannicus. And whom
could he warn ? There was scarcely an instance known in
which any one had dared to interfere between an emperor and
his victims. In the general paralysis of servility, in the
terror inspired by the little despicable human god, in the
indifference to bloodshed caused by the games of the amphitheatre,
why should any one be troubled by one death the
more ?
But Onesimus, less familiar with a world so plague-stricken
with torpid corruption, felt in his heart a spring of pity for the
After rejecting plan after plan as impossible, it
doomed boy.
flashed upon him that he might get a message conveyed to
Titus. He had but a few minutes left, and Titus could