[13] Claudius was delighted with his
praises, and desired to stay longer to look on. But the Talthybius
of the gods laid a hand on him and pulled him away, with his head covered so
that nobody could recognize him, across the Campus Martius,
and between the Tiber and the Arcade went down to the lower world. The freedman
Narcissus had already gone ahead by a short cut to be ready to receive his
patron, and as the latter was approaching he ran up, all sleek from the bath,
and said: “What’s this? Gods, among men?” “Hurry up,” said Mercury, “and
announce that we are coming.” In less time than it takes to tell it, Narcissus
skipped out. All the way being down hill, the descent was easy. And so, in
spite of his gout, he came in twinkling to Pluto’s door, where lay Cerberus, or
as Horace says, “the beast with the hundred heads.” Narcissus was a trifle
scared—he had been accustomed to have a white dog as a pet—when he saw that
huge, hairy black dog, which, on my word, is one that you wouldn’t like to meet
in the dark. And with a loud voice he said, “Claudius is coming.” Then a crowd
began to come forward with clapping of hands and chanting: “We have got him;
let us rejoice!” Among them were C. Silius the
consul-elect, Iuncus the ex-praetor, Sextus Traulus, M. Helvius, Trogus, Cotta, Vettius Valens, and Fabius, Roman knights whom Narcissus had ordered to
execution. In the middle of this company of singers was Mnester
the dancer, whom Claudius had made shorter for the sake of appearances. To Messalina—the report that Claudius had come quickly
spread—they gathered; first of all, the freedmen Polybius,
Myron, Harpocras, Amphaeus,
and Pheronactus, all of whom Claudius had sent ahead
in order that he might not be anywhere unprepared; then the two prefects Justus
Catonius and Rufrius Pollio; then the Emperor’s friends Saturnius
Lusius and Pedo Pompeius and Lupus and Celer Asinius, of consular rank; finally his brother’s daughter,
his sister’s daughter, his sons-in-law, his father-in-law, his mother-in-law,
in fact all his relatives; and forming in line they came to meet Claudius. When
he had seen them, he exclaimed: “Plenty of friends, everywhere! How did
you come here?” Then said Pedo Pompeius:
“What are you talking about, you cruel villain? ‘How?’ did you ask? Well, who
else but you has sent us here, you murderer of all your friends? Come to the
court of justice. I’ll show you where our tribunal is.”
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