By him, Lucius
Piso, Governor of the Province, as he travelled careless and unattended,
relying on the established peace, was surprised, and despatched at one
deadly blow. The assassin however escaped to a forest, by the fleetness of
his horse; and there dismissed him: from thence travelling over rocks and
pathless places, he baffled his pursuers: but their ignorance of his
person was soon removed; for his horse being taken and shown through the
neighbouring villages, it was thence learned who was the owner; so that he
too was found; but when put to the rack to declare his accomplices, he
proclaimed with a mighty and assured voice, in the language of his
country, "that in vain they questioned him; his associates might stand
safely by and witness his constancy: and that no force of torture could be
so exquisite as from him to extort a discovery." Next day as he was
dragged back to the rack, he burst with a vehement effort from his guard,
and dashed his head so desperately against a stone, that he instantly
expired. Piso is believed to have been assassinated by a plot of the
Termestinians; as in exacting the repayment of some money, seized from the
public, he acted with more asperity, than a rough people could bear.
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