He went once to Baiae, and came back with a letter from Cornelia, in which she said that she was kept actually as a prisoner in her uncle's villa, and that Lentulus still threatened to force Ahenobarbus upon her; but that she had prepared herself for that final emergency.
The letter came at a moment when Drusus was feeling the exhilaration of a soldier in battle, and the missive was depressing and maddening.
What did it profit if the crowd roared its plaudits, when he piled execration on the oligarchs from the Rostra, if all his eloquence could not save Cornelia one pang?
Close on top of this letter came another disquieting piece of information, although it was only what he had expected.

He learned that Lentulus Crus had marked him out personally for confiscation of property and death as a dangerous agitator, as soon as the Senate could decree martial law.

To have even a conditional sentence of death hanging over one is hard to bear with equanimity.

But it was too late for Drusus to turn back.

He had chosen his path; he had determined on the sacrifice; he would follow it to the end.