She had one great hope and consolation to support her.

They would not force her to marry Lucius Ahenobarbus until Drusus was dead or had reached the age of five-and-twenty.

The marriage formula with Ahenobarbus once uttered, while Quintus lived, and by no possibility, save by an open spoliation that would have stirred even calloused Rome, could Lucius touch a sesterce of his intended victim's property.

Cornelia's hope now, strangely enough, was in the man she regarded as the most consummate villain in the world, Pratinas.

Ahenobarbus might have his debts paid by his father, and forego risk and crime if he did not absolutely need Drusus's fortune; but Pratinas, she knew, must have planned to secure rich pickings of his own, and if Ahenobarbus married permanently, all these were lost; and the Greeks never turned back or let another turn back, when there was a fortune before them.