'I judged an escort necessary, and only yesterday did I obtain it.

This very day should we have set forth.' 'You speak of one Venantius and his followers--he who just now, I am told, threatened to massacre the harmless citizens of Surrentum.' 'I would rather say the most noble Venantius, a senator, but for whose presence this villa would have been sacked by a thievish rabble from below.' 'Let me see him,' said the Hun, his eyes like those of a boar at bay.
'Will it please your Illustrious Magnanimity to eat with us ?' 'I will eat when I choose.

Fetch here Venantius.' Marcian despatched the porter, and in a few moments Venantius appeared, behind him his armed men.

A hand lightly on his sword, as though he played with the hilt, his head proudly erect, the Roman noble paused at a few paces from the Hun, and regarded him with bold steadfastness.
'You serve the Emperor ?' said Chorsoman, somewhat less overbearingly than he had spoken hitherto.
'When occasion offers,' was the dry response.
On the Hun's countenance grew legible the calculation busying his thought.

At a glance he had taken the measure of Venantius, and gauged the worth of the men behind him.