Free The Nero Prediction by Humphry Knipe

did I because I was recording the interrogation.
    Somehow he was able to take the whipping and the hot irons, insisting that he knew nothing beyond having to deliver a dog for sacrifice in the tomb, a dog which accidentally broke free. He was put on the horse.
    This device, made of iron, was shaped like the animal's back and stood about four feet off the floor. The victim's hands were tied behind his back and he was placed in a riding position on top of it. Ropes, which passed through iron hoops on the floor on either side of the horse, were tied to his ankles. The loose ends of these ropes passed over two pulleys attached to the ceiling and were then attached to large buckets. As the buckets were gradually filled with lead weights, the steady downward pull on the legs was similar to the agony of the rack except that simultaneously the spine of the horse drove itself like a wedge upwards between the legs.
    Sweat ran in rivulets down Basilicus's naked body but he still screeched out his innocence.
    "Hoist him," Agrippina commanded.
    A rope had been tied to his bound wrists, looped around a pulley directly above his head and then attached to a spoked capstan. As the capstan reeled in the rope Basilicus was lifted off the horse to the height of about four feet. The weight of his whole body plus the weight of the buckets of lead, devolved on his wrists which were awkwardly wrenched up his back.
    His screams cut me like a razor. My hands shook uncontrollably, blotching the paper with sweat. Sooner or later, I knew, he would break. He would implicate me. What if I’d been wrong about Agrippina wanting me to copy her horoscope? Would it be my turn to ride the horse?
    "Drop him," Agrippina said.
    A short length of rope tied to a ring in the floor was attached to one of the capstan's spokes so that it would stop turning abruptly after having made half a revolution. As soon as this brake was attached, the men working the wheel disengaged the ratchet and let go of the spokes.
    There was a momentary pause in Basilicus's howling as he dropped two feet followed by the snap of tightening rope and the dull wrench of ligaments being torn away from bone. He let out a terrible cry from where he hung suspended above the horse. This was followed by the sobbing of a broken spirit.
    The gentle voice of the interrogator repeated the question for the hundredth time. "Who employed you to let the dog loose on the empress?"
    "A woman, very rich. She saw the dog in the stars and in a dream."
    "What is her name?"
    "If I tell you, she will kill my children, I am a free man."
    It was Agrippina's voice. "Hoist him again."
    "Lollia Paulina," howled Basilicus over the creaking of the capstan and the clicking of the ratchet.
    Again I heard it in Agrippina's voice, honey mixed with poison. "How much did she pay you?"
    "Ten thousand... "
    Again Agrippina: "Who was the man, the man in league with her, the man who plots to be emperor?"
    "The only one I know of is the boy sitting next to you... He was given a million for the horoscope, your horoscope."
    Very slowly, smoothly, like a snake turning its head towards its prey, Agrippina turned her face to me. There was no surprise in it, no emotion of any sort except for the darkness in the eyes. "It was Lollia Paulina. Have you got that down?"
    I must have been close to fainting for she seemed to be talking to me from very far away. "Yes domina."
    Basilicus's teeth chattered loudly. It looked as if his eyes were going to pop out of their sockets.
    Agrippina gazed at him impassively. "Drop him, all the way."
    The retaining rope was detached, the ratchet released, the wheel let go.
    Basilicus's scream ceased abruptly as the force of his fall drove the horse's spine deep into his groin. The weights attached to his ankles kept him in the riding position although his body slumped sideways from the waist. Blood streamed down his legs and dripped from his toes but there was no sign of life.
    Agrippina rose. "If he's alive,