My lord Marcus, do you plead guilty to the
charge?"
"First, I ask," said Marcus, "what court is this before which I am
put upon my trial? If I am to be tried I demand that it shall be by my
general, Titus."
"Then," said the prosecutor, "you should have reported yourself to
Titus upon your arrival in Rome. Now he has gone to where he may not
be troubled, leaving the charge of military matters in the hands of
his Imperial brother, the Prince Domitian, who, with these officers, is
therefore your lawful judge."
"Perhaps," broke in Domitian with bitter malice, "the lord Marcus was
too much occupied with other pursuits on his arrival in Rome to find
time to explain his conduct to the Caesar Titus."
"I was about to follow him to do so when I was seized," said Marcus.
"Then you put the matter off a little too long. Now you can explain it
here," answered Domitian.
Then the prosecutor took up the tale, saying that it had been
ascertained on inquiry that the accused, accompanied by an old woman,
arrived in Rome upon horseback early on the morning of the Triumph; that
he went straight to his house, which was called "The House Fortunate,"
where he lay hid all day; that in the evening he sent out the old woman
and a slave carrying on their backs a great sum of gold in baskets,
with which gold he purchased a certain fair Jewish captive, known as
Pearl-Maiden, at a public auction in the Forum.
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