Tales of Long Ago

Pontus, the Roman viceroy, sat in the atrium of his palatial villa by
the Thames, and he looked with perplexity at the scroll of papyrus
which he had just unrolled. Before him stood the messenger who had
brought it, a swarthy little Italian, whose black eyes were glazed
with want of sleep, and his olive features darker still from dust and
sweat. The viceroy was looking fixedly at him, yet he saw him not, so
full was his mind of this sudden and most unexpected order. To him it
seemed as if the soli...