NEÆRA: A TALE OF ANCIENT ROME

Why the Emperor Tiberius left Rome and secluded himself for the remainder of his life in this small island away from the seat of his empire has never with certainty been explained. Whether it was for political reasons or for the purpose of giving full indulgence to those vicious habits which rumour so freely ascribed to him is not within the scope of these pages to be determined. He hastened to continue to his new home those same marks of favour which his deified predecessor had begun. Armies of workmen assailed the summits of the cone-like hills and wave-washed cliffs. New villa-palaces arose on every hand so that the narrow limits of the island hermitage might afford to Caesar the utmost variety possible. Of the twelve projected villas each named after a deity some three or four had been completed and occupied at the time of our story whilst the building of the remainder was actively proceeding. In the autumn of the year thirty the date of our story Tiberius had hidden himself away from his people for about three years and already dark rumours were flitting abroad of strange enormities and dread cruelties shrouded in that outline of mountain amid the sea. The seclusion of the imperial hermit was strictly preserved and unauthorised feet were jealously warned from his rocky retreat. Curiosity became more inflamed and imagination more rampant. To turn the invisible Caesar into something akin to an ogre or monster was an easy and natural outcome of the insular mystery.