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INSTRUMENTA IMPERII 19
said, ' the Emperor
is his brother. The soldiers would never
rise against him.'
'I did not think of the Praetorians,' said Agrippina. 'There
are other means. In the prison beneath this palace is one
who will help me.'
Locusta ?
whispered Pallas, with an involuntary shudder.
'
'
But the Emperor has a prcegustator who tastes every dish
'
and every cup.'
'
'
Yes ! The eunuch Halotus,' answered Agrippina. He is
in my pay he will do
; my bidding.'
But Claudius also has a physician.'
'
'
Yes ! The illustrious Xenophou of Cos,' answered the
Empress, with a meaning smile.
Pallas raised his hands, half in horror, half in admiration.
Careless of every moral consideration, he had never dipped his
hands in blood. He had lived in the midst of a profoundly
corrupt society from his earliest youth. He knew that poisonings
were frequent amid the gilded wickedness and hollow
misery of the Roman aristocracy. He knew that they had
been far from infrequent in the House of Caesar, and that
Eudernus, the physician of Drusus, son of the Emperor Tiberius,
had poisoned his lord. Yet before the cool hardihood of
Agrippina's criminality he stood secretly appalled. Would it
not have been better for him, after all, to have followed the
example of Narcissus, and to have remained faithful to his
master ? How long would he be necessary to the Empress
and her son ? And when he ceased to be useful, what would
be his fate ?
Agrippina read his thoughts in his '
face, and said, I suppose
that Claudius is still lingering over the wine cup.
Conduct me back to him. Acerronia, my lady-in-waiting,
will follow us.'
' '
He has been carried to his own room,' said Pallas ;
but
if
you wish to see him, I will attend you.'
He led the way, and gave the watchword of the night to
the Prsetorian guards and their officer, Pudens. The room of
the Emperor was only across the court, and the slaves and
freedmen and pages who kept watch over it made way for the
Augusta and the all-powerful freedman.
'
The Emperor
still sleeps,' said the groom of the chamber
as they entered.