[108] The manner of his arrest was as follows. He supposed that Gaius had been by now propitiated as to the matters on which he was under suspicion, partly through his written dispatches, which overflowed with flattery, partly through the obsequiousness of his public harangues, in which he span together fawning words and long screeds of insincere encomium, partly again by the high esteem in which he was held by the chief part of the city.

[109] But he little knew that he was deceiving himself, for the hopes of the wicked are without foundation. Their prognostications are favourable but their experiences fraught with evil omens are what they deserve. A centurion named Bassus was sent from Italy by Gaius’s appointment with the company of soldiers which he commanded.

[110] Having embarked on one of the swiftest sailing ships he arrived in a few days at the harbours of Alexandria, off the island of Pharos, in the late afternoon and bade the pilot wait at sea outside till sunset, his scheme being to avoid observation, so that Flaccus might not get knowledge of it beforehand and by planning some act of violence, make his mission unsuccessful.

[111] When it was evening the ship was brought to land and Bassus disembarking with his men went forward without recognizing or being recognized by anyone. And finding on the way a soldier belonging to the quaternions acting as sentries, he ordered him to show him the house of the military commander. For he wished to communicate his secret instructions to him so that if a strong force was required he might have someone to support him in the contest.

[112] And learning that the commander as well as Flaccus was feasting with someone, he hurried with unabated speed to the house of the giver of the feast, by name Stephanio, one of the freedmen of Tiberius Caesar. It was in his house that the two were being entertained, and Bassus keeping in the background a little way off sent on one of his men to reconnoitre attired as an attendant, hoping by this artifice to maintain secrecy. The soldier made his way into the dining-hall in the guise of a servant of one or other of the visitors and having taken a careful look all round returned with his information to Bassus.

[113] He, learning the unguarded condition of the entrances and the scantiness of Flaccus’s retinue, for barely ten or fifteen of his household slaves had accompanied him, gave the signal to his companions and rushed in suddenly. Some of the soldiers taking their stand along the dining-hall, with swords in their girdles, surrounded Flaccus before he saw them, since he was drinking the health of some particular person and toasting the company.

[114] But when Bassus came forward into the middle of the room he saw him and was at once struck speechless with consternation. He wished to rise but when he surveyed the guard around him, he knew even before he heard it what Gaius wanted to do with him and what orders had been given to the newcomers and what would be his fate in the immediate future. For the mind has a marvellous power of seeing all at once and hearing altogether the successive events which will cover a long space of time.

[115] As for his fellow-guests, each of them rose shuddering and petrified with fear lest their presence in his company at the feast was a crime destined for punishment. For it was unsafe to fly and, moreover, impossible, since the entrances had been occupied in advance. Flaccus himself at Bassus’s orders, was led away by the soldiers. Thus it was from a convivial gathering that he made his final departure, for it was only right that a hospitable hearth should be the scene where justice first fell on one who had destroyed numberless hearths and homes of persons that had done no wrong.