The long-sought information came at a time when he was really off his guard.

Agias had been visiting Artemisia.

Sesostris as well as Pratinas had been out; the two young people were amusing themselves trying to teach a pet magpie to speak, when the Ethiop rushed into the room, all in a tremble with anxious excitement.
"_A! A!_" he was ejaculating.

"Up, speed, don't delay! There's murder afoot!" Agias let the bird slip from his hands, and never noticed that it fluttered on its clipped wings around the room, to Artemisia's infinite dismay.
"What?
Is the plot hatched ?" "Yes, yes," puffed Sesostris, great beads of perspiration on his honest face.

"I was attending Pratinas when he met Lucius Ahenobarbus in the Forum.