"When his attempt failed, you, alone among his henchmen, escaped. You
then, according to the reports, went straight to Britain, visited every
important camp, infused into the garrisons the spirit of discontent,
engineered their mutiny, suggested to them the sending of a dangerously
large deputation to Rome, led that deputation and were its controlling
spirit all the way to Rome, vanishing successfully when the mutineers were
induced by Oleander to return to Britain and their associates, by his
device, were massacred or consigned to _ergastula_.
"With such reports in my hands, with additions declaring that while
neither your presence nor your influence could be proved, you were
probably the guiding spirit in the assassination of Pertinax, it is no
wonder that I, crediting these apparently sincere and trustworthy
statements, considered you the most dangerous among all the survivors of
conspiracies against my predecessors, which conspirators, on principle, I
meant to exterminate as an obvious measure of mere sensible precaution.
"No one seems to have recognized you as Andivius Hedulio while you were in
the service of Pompeianus Falco under the name of Phorbas, except only
Galen, who has explained and justified to me his reasons for protecting
you, of which I entirely approve.
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