Then I was clad in
garments of my own.
"I feel like myself," I remarked.
Just then Flavius Clemens entered, his expression entirely too
intelligible for me. Looking me full in the eyes he said:
"You have been passing as an art-amateur of Greek ancestry, under the name
of Phorbas, with the status of a slave. Before that you were among the
helpers at the Choragium, held as a slave belonging to the _fiscus_, by
the name of Festus. It seems to me that you are no Greek, nor of Greek
blood, even to the smallest degree, I take you for a full-blooded Roman. I
think I recognize you. Are you not Andivius Hedulio?"
"I am," I acknowledged.
He saluted me courteously and bade me a polite farewell, without any other
word.
Tanno and Galen made no comment, nor did Agathemer. They assisted me out
to Tanno's waiting litter. In it I was borne off to the lodgings which I
had occupied eight days before, between my two trials. There I found a
tempting meal ready for me and ate liberally. Then I was put to bed and at
once fell into the deep sleep of utter exhaustion and slept through till
long after daylight next day.
When I woke I found that Dromo himself was by my bedside, as well as
Agathemer. They tended me, washed me, plied me with wine and fed me with
dainties, asserting that Galen had given orders that I was on no account
to stir from my bed or sit up in it.
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