A Very Old Problem I Drusus had at last finished the business which centred around the death of his uncle, old Publius Vibulanus.

He had walked behind the bier, in company with the other relatives of the deceased--all very distant, saving himself.

On the day, too, of the funeral, he had been obliged to make his first public oration--a eulogy delivered in the Forum from the Rostra--in which Drusus tried to pay a graceful but not fulsome tribute to the old eques, who had never distinguished himself in any way, except the making of money.

The many clients of Vibulanus, who now looked upon the young man as their patron, had raised a prodigious din of applause during the oration, and Quintus was flattered to feel that he had not studied rhetoric in vain.

Finally, as next of kin, he had to apply the torch to the funeral pyre, and preside over the funeral feast, held by custom nine days after the actual burning, and over the contests of gladiators which took place at this festivity.