The most of the prisoners were allowed to receive presents of food and other things sent to them by their friends.

All these presents were supposed to be inspected by the officer in charge of the prison.

This rule, which had been much neglected, I enforced again, with the result that I made some strange discoveries.
Thus, on the third day, there came a magnificent offering of figs for the Caesars and _Nobilissimi_, the brothers-in-law of Irene and the uncles of the young Emperor Constantine, her son.

These figs were being carried past me formally, when something about the appearance of one of them excited my suspicion.

I took it and offered it to the jailer who carried the basket.