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50 DARKNESS AND DAWN
seized by ' the unspiritual god Circumstance,' aiid with mad
pace he plunged into the abyss.
Burrus had come to tell Seneca that Nero's passion for
Acte was going to such absurd lengths that he talked of
suborning two .Romans of consular dignity to swear that the
slave girl, who had been brought from Asia, was in reality a
descendant of Attalus, King of !
Pergamus The Senate would
be as certain to accept the statement as they had been to
pretend belief that Pallas was a scion of Evander arid the
ancient kings of Arcadia; and Nero had actually expressed
to Burrus a desire to divorce Octavio and marry Acte !
'
What did you say to him '
? asked Seneca.
'
I told him frankly that, if he divorced Octavia, he ought
to restore her dower.'
'
'
Her dower ?
'
Yes the Roman Empire. He holds it because Claudius
adopted him as the husband of his daughter.'
' '
What did he say
?
'
He
pouted like a chidden boy, and I have not the least
doubt that he will remember the answer against me.'
'
But, Burrus,' said Seneca, ' I really think that we had
better promote, rather than oppose, this love-affair. Acte is
harmless and innocent. She will never abuse her influence
to injure so much as a fly ; nay, more, she may wean Nero
from far more dangerous excesses. I think that in this case
a little connivance may be the truest policy. To tell
you the
truth, I have endeavoured to prevent scandal by removing all
difficulties out of the way.'
'
You are a philosopher,' said Burrus, ' and I suppose you
know best. It would not have been my way. We often
perish by permitted things. But, since you do not take so
serious a view of this matter as I did, I will say no more.
Forgive a brief interview. My duties at the camp require my
presence. Farewell.'
Seneca, as we have seen, had spent a somewhat agitated
day, but he had one more visitor before the afternoon meal.
It was the philosopher Cornutus, who had been a slave in the
family of the Annaei, but was now free and had risen to the
highest literary distinction by his philosophical writings.
'
Cornutus is
always a welcome visitor,' he said, as he rose
'
to greet him
;
never more so than this morning. I want