That Heliodora's professions might be mere trickery, he never imagined; his vanity forbade it; at each successive meeting he seemed to himself to have strengthened his hold upon the luxurious woman; each time he came away with a fiercer hatred of Marcian, and a deeper resolve to ruin him.

True, as yet, he had fed only on promises, but being the man he was, he could attribute to Heliodora a selfish interest in combination with a lover's desire; what more intelligible than that she should use him to the utmost against those she hated, postponing his reward until he had rendered her substantial service?
Thus did Sagaris feel and reason, whilst riding along the Latin Way.

His difficulty was to decide how he should act at this juncture; how, with greatest profit to himself, he could do most scathe to Marcian.
Was his master serving the Greeks or the Goths?
Uncertainty on this point had long troubled his meditations, and was now a cause of grave embarrassment.

Eager to betray, he could not be sure to which side betrayal should direct itself.

On the whole he himself favoured Totila, feeling sure that the Goth would bring the war to a triumphant end; and on this account he was disposed to do his errand faithfully.