Nero 18

Chapter XVIII – Arbiters

(Dacia, Dies Lunae A.D. X Kal. Iul. DCCCLIX A.V.C., in the 8th year of the reign of the Emperor Trajan [or Monday, 22nd June AD 106])

‘Happy is the man who remains far from business and who cultivates the family farm with his own oxen.’

- Horace

As I look back, whilst dictating my life to my scribe, I appreciate that, under the Emperors, countryside existence has thankfully improved a little of late for most of the rural population. The latter comprises 9 out of 10 of the Empire’s people, with many rarely, if ever, visiting a town, let alone a city. However, some of the populace still suffer terribly because there sadly remain too many landowners akin to Caius Silius.

Ownership of the vast Campanian estate, or ‘latifundium’, which I visited exactly 59 years ago, was replicated elsewhere in Italia by Caius Silius. It was a typical example of the fact that his immediate ancestors had been, over the previous couple of centuries, avaricious ‘buyers of estates’, or ‘praediatoris’. This now derogative description stems from the words ‘praedii’ and ‘praedioli’, which are other terms for large farms, but in descending order of size from those in my master’s possession.

Caius Silius was not unusual in controlling such huge properties. For example, at this time, six men possessed half of the Roman province of Africa, although everywhere the Emperor was the biggest landowner. The holdings of Princeps are swelled by properties confiscated from political enemies, appropriated, in line with legal custom, from those dying without legitimate heirs or inherited from fawning well-wishers, often those wanting Imperial protection for their families after their deaths.

By continuing to run the latifundii as whole entities as in republican times, however, Caius Silius did not follow contemporary Imperial fashion, which entailed splitting such estates up into more manageable units under separate farm bailiffs, or ‘vilici’. My master instead preferred to follow more traditional practice by retaining the lands under single stewardship.

Caius Silius’ forebears, like others, usually accumulated the estates, very cheaply and using very dubious means, either by grabbing public lands or upsetting the previous rural order and displacing many small landholders. The latter particularly happened during wartime, when many subsistence farmers suffered economic ruination through damage to their farms, a situation frequently exacerbated by their absence through personal liability for military service.

Some of these farmers sold up but remained as tenants. However, harsh rents, generally extracted in kind rather than cash, often meant that the role was unattractive, if not untenable, because few parts of the Empire possess land that is rich enough to guarantee profitable surpluses. This situation is intensified in Italia by the fact that rainfall is low. Accordingly, during the hot dry summers, the retention of moisture in the soil, gained from winter rains, is very difficult, thereby, for example, allowing most grain crops to be harvested only every two years. Additionally, inexpensive and seemingly inexhaustible imports from Aegyptia, where the great Nile makes irrigation and the production of abundant annual yields easy, undercut the value of locally grown cereal produce. As a result of all these factors, many free rural families either fled to the cities to make new lives or simply became direct contractors or employees of the landowners.

Such functions were themselves frequently disagreeable because slaves could perform tasks for nothing and so proprietors could afford to extend very poor remunerations and working conditions in return for the labour of freemen and their families. However, this attitude has lessened recently, after landowners began to appreciate the overall economies that can be accrued through hiring skilled seasonal help as opposed to maintaining a permanent servile workforce, which has little to do on farms at certain times of the year.

This change seems to be gradually returning the nature of the agricultural workforce in the Italian countryside towards that found elsewhere in the Empire, where peasants have always provided the bulk of those who look after the vital food resources on which the whole Imperial Roman edifice depends. In fact, rural freemen, who had managed to retain ownership of reasonably sized farms and possessed some skill and acumen, gradually began to prosper again late in my lifetime.

This boom resulted from the facts that the Emperors brought a long period of relative peace and improved communications meant that the burgeoning needs of the cities could be met more easily. Some enterprising farmers, appreciating the problems of producing grain that had to compete with cheaper, more plentiful eastern imports, and recognising the opportunities provided by the increasingly insatiable desire for meat from the metropolises, even switched to profitable cattle ranching.

In my later life, the appearance of many new villas, particularly in the Empire’s western provinces, is testimony to the returning success of agricultural activity amongst the lower orders, although I suspect that, if more innovation was applied in respect of the tools used, even greater prosperity could be engendered. For example, donkeys still drive the wheels of many flourmills when, I understand, in some other cultures, river waters are found to be much better. I also hear that a harvesting machine has been devised, pulled by oxen, the main beasts of burden everywhere, which cuts wheat in the middle of the stalk, using iron blades, and additionally digs and rotates the soil. However, its use seems limited at present to northern Gaul, where there is a climatic need to harvest grain urgently before winter arrives. Elsewhere, people seem content to continue to use simple implements such as hoes, rakes and sickles, with scythes to reap and ox-drawn ards, which break but do not turn the ground, to plough.

The continuation of such archaic practices seems to me to make working on the land unnecessarily inefficient and backbreaking. However, as I am now in my dotage, perhaps my judgement is impaired.

(Estate of Caius Silius, Campania, 59 years earlier, Dies Iovis A.D. X Kal. Iul. DCCC A.V.C., in the 6th year of the reign of the Emperor Claudius [or Thursday, June 22nd, AD 47])

‘Species of articulate farming stock.’

- Varro (referring to farm slaves in his agricultural treatise [1.7] whilst contrasting the remark to ‘inarticulate stock’ [oxen] and ‘dumb stock’ [carts])

Caius Silius’ Campanian property was particularly beautiful. The large luxurious main villa was located on a high promontory overlooking the sparkling blue waters of the Sinus Cumanis, or Bay of Neapolis, with the distant rooftops of Stabiae and Pompeii to the east. Further north, along the coast, the town of Herculaneum was evident.

I have to admit, however, that one aspect of the view disturbed me, for landward to the northeast, between the seaside metropolises of Pompeii and Herculaneum, loomed the quiescent but, for some unknown reason to me at the time, ominous form of Vesuvius. The mountain’s lower slopes were verdant because of the many vineyards that flourished there, whilst the middle was dark and the flat peak snow-capped.

I did not currently know it, of course, but not only would the shape and size of the mountain change radically in my lifetime but also the very nature of the view that I enjoyed from the promontory.

Caius Silius’ estate extended inland across many small fields and much larger fruit orchards, olive groves and vineyards, some of which, if still maturing, had cereal sown between the trees.

The fields were mainly used for animal pasture or growing wheat and other cereal, usually in rotation with vegetables. In Italia, the latter could comprise brassicas, including cabbages of different colours, lettuces, onions, carrots, parsnips, beets, cucumbers, leeks, marrows, radishes, celery, artichokes, asparagus, garlic, mushrooms, cress, mustards, shallots, chicory, chives and many other varieties of spice, although items required in small quantities are relegated to gardens. Peas, beans and lentils are sun-dried for consumption in winter, when fresh produce is difficult to acquire. Other products are pickled, or otherwise preserved, and stored in earthenware jars.

Wheat is invariably ground into white flour, most of which is used for cakes and bread. The latter is baked in ovens, or ‘furnucei’, either unmoulded or enclosed in tins, or ‘artopticii’. There are many shapes and varieties of leavened and unleavened loaf, some containing such ingredients as salt, milk, butter, cheese, eggs, honey, sesame, flax-seeds, poppy-seeds and even wine.

Italian orchards are mainly used for producing figs, as other domestic tree planting is generally reserved for olives and grapes, with most other fruits imported. For example, melons and pomegranates come principally from north Africa, quinces from Creta, apples, pears, plums, apricots, cherries, mulberries, elderberries, dates, raisins and jujubes from Syria, and nectarines and peaches from Persia.

Olive groves and vineyards produce two of Italia’s main staples. Olive oil is used for cooking, lighting, washing, perfuming and medicine, as well as for embrocation and making butter and soap. Grapes are eaten as a fruit and also transformed into wine, which, usually diluted, is the most common drink for country adults, including slaves.

Husbandry pastures and enclosures are for the breeding of horses and the rearing of cattle, pigs, goats and fowl, such as hens, geese and ducks. Bees are kept for honey and sheep are present but not in great numbers, for these are mainly to be found in remote upland areas, looked after by shepherds, whose job I do not envy. They have to be tough and self-sufficient, capable of dealing with loneliness, bad weather and the attentions of thieves and wild animals intent on carrying off some of their flocks. During lambing, they might also not enjoy a proper night’s sleep for weeks.

Caius Silius’ Campanian seaside estate naturally also produced seafood. Amongst the produce fished or farmed were bonito, flounder, mackerel, mullet, perch, porpoise, sole, tuna, anchovies, cuttlefish, octopus, squid, eel, ray, cockles, mussels, crayfish, lobster, oysters, prawns, shrimp, scallops and sea urchins.

The vast majority of Caius Silius’ rural workforce were slaves, even the craftsmen, such as blacksmiths and carpenters, who made tools and conducted repairs and were located in premises geared to their work. However, most males were simply farm labourers, whilst the females, generally supervised by the wife of the vicilus, the vicila, concentrated on such activities as the procurement of eggs and milk, the making of cheeses and pickles, food preservation and wool processing.

Slaves with both families and important positions, such as Helius’ father, who was a farm foreman in charge of a number of fields and groves and the associated gang of labourers, were allocated little basic dwellings in which to live. This was not as a result of any particularly caring attitude on the part of the largely absentee landowner or his vilicus. In Caius Silius’ case, the provision stemmed instead from a grudging recognition that keeping such key workers relatively content was essential for productivity and peace. Spartacus’ highly damaging and precariously dangerous slave revolt of 120 years earlier, involving 70,000 insurgents, had still not been forgotten in these parts.

In any case, Caius Silius insisted that the slaves maintained the dwellings themselves. He also charged them rents, which, over time, more than reimbursed him the value of the tiny properties. It was paid for in kind from the vegetables and domesticated animals the foremen and their families were allowed to foster privately. Naturally, my master maintained his rights to the hovels if he ever felt like displacing the occupants, which was another powerful incentive for his key workers to discharge their tasks well and also deliver the performance of their underlings.

Helius guided us across a number of fields, and through a large olive grove, to his small residence, a windowless wooden shack neatly laid out amidst a vegetable garden, where several pigs and goats and many fowl roamed freely and noisily. A woman was toiling in a patch where broad beans grew and looked up in response to the 13 year-old’s shout in Greek of “μητηρ”, or “mêtêr”, which I later learnt meant ‘mother’. Her son then apparently went on to say in his native tongue “Look, I’ve brought guests!”

The woman glanced at me first and smiled. She then looked at Apollinus and, after a brief quizzical scan of his lovely young form, burst into tears.

(Villa of Caius Silius, Rome, same time)

‘All things are in common among friends.’

- Diogenes

“It’s very kind of you,” the handsome elegantly dressed 21 year-old man truthfully declared. “It’s my pleasure,” Caius Silius responded, “as I’m always happy to oblige a friend. Did you enjoy my little gathering last night?” “Not so little, I think,” was the polite answer, “and yes, very much so. The food and wine were, as usual, up to the highest standards, as was the human dessert, although I have to confess that I might have been greedy with the latter. I not only tasted one of your very pretty slave girls but also one of your young eunuchs too.”

“That’s not an over-indulgence,” my master retorted, “compared to some. I noticed that Aulus Vitellius enjoyed two females and three males over the course of the night. In fact, he’s still here, in bed, asleep with his last paramour!”

“He obviously has much more energy than me,” the young man replied. “Not necessarily,” Caius Silius observed, “as perhaps his appetite and stamina stems from much greater experience over the years.” “I doubt that practice will ever bring me up to his standards,” the 21 year-old modestly and, as it turned out, inaccurately commented.

“Now, are you sure that you want to stay at my Campanian estate,” Caius Silius repeated, “as I have others elsewhere just as commodious? They’ll also have the benefit of not having my daughters in residence, for I’m sure that my girls might….how shall I put it? Ah yes….cramp your style!”

“I’m sure,” the young man answered, “as I’d like to be close to Pompeii, where I have some friends.” “Then go with my blessing,” Caius Silius announced, whilst standing to indicate an early end to the meeting and guide his guest rather hurriedly towards his front door. However, the young man ignored the discourteous rush because he had obtained what he had made a special visit to my master’s urban villa to secure, use of the man’s Campanian estate for a summer holiday. He was also now to receive useful bonuses.

“Now,” Caius Silius declared, “I also insist that you take one of my household slaves to supplement your own personal servant in looking after you while you’re there, plus some of my mercenaries to guard you on the way.” “Oh,” the young man responded without conviction, “that’s too much.” However, as they reached the front portico, arrangements had already been settled, including the identity of the young eunuch from my master’s household who would accompany him during his vacation. The 21 year-old knew the pretty 18 year-old quite well because he had bedded him the previous night, which was the reason behind his selection, having found the youth’s physical charms very acceptable.

It is not uncommon for poorer patricians without country landholdings to request such largesse from rich friends, although the young man did not actually regard his relationship with Caius Silius as friendship because he did not particularly like the man. This was an attitude that he currently hid proficiently although, later in life, after becoming very wealthy himself, he would acquire notoriety for plain honesty, thinly disguised amidst well-crafted humour.

The two men, separated in age by about ten years, were well acquainted through their common attendance on the same high society dining circuit. Unlike his guest, Caius Silius mistook such familiarity with friendship and so felt obliged to grant his visitor’s request. He also had the usual secret additional motive, the desire to cultivate allies to support his eventual push for ultimate power.

The young man might not be wealthy but Caius Silius had recognised his great intellect and quickness of thought, which he used cleverly, not to intimidate but to enchant. This, along with his perfect appearance and manners, had endeared him to many, making him amongst the first to be entered on the dinner guest lists of Roman high society, thereby giving him much potential influence. It also enabled him to live largely at other’s expense and so reserve his personal funds to ensure his continued and renowned sartorial elegance.

As the young guest was speeded to Caius Silius’ front door, he presumed that his host must have an important appointment, being unusually but noticeably keen not to prolong their discussion. He was correct, for a certain young nymphomaniac was currently eagerly awaiting my master’s arrival in her rooms at the Imperial palace. Messalina had already been pleasured by a couple of Praetorians but her insatiable sexual appetite now wanted the supposed handsomest man in Rome to carry on where the soldiers had left off.

The young man did not mind leaving Caius Silius’ urban villa earlier than expected for he now had his own urgent and secret mission to fulfil, commissioned by an even older man whom he did consider a close friend.

(Domus of Gaius Musonius Rufus senior, Volsinii, Etruria, same time)

‘Laughing at his own son, who got his mother, and by his mother’s means his father also, to indulge him, he told him that he had the most power of any one in Greece: “For the Athenians command the rest of Greece, I command the Athenians, your mother commands me, and you command your mother.”’

- Plutarch

Gaius’ adoring parents had, of course, been euphoric at seeing their only son again. Both commented, but only privately to each other because they did not want to embarrass the youth, on how he had changed as a result of his time in Rome. In their eyes, as well as mine, their offspring had always been healthy and handsome and had displayed maturity beyond his years. However, his physique and character now seemed to be imbued with a glowing blissful assurance, which his perceptive mother believed had only one cause.

Gaius’ parents were very happy to learn of their son’s scholastic progress from his own mouth, although they had also been kept quietly but considerately informed of this by regular letters from his teacher. This furtive contact was how they recognised that the 17 year-old youth, whom they could still not help but regard as their baby boy, despite his toga virilis and the fact that he was now having to use a razor to keep his chin smooth, was being very modest in his own telling.

Gaius’ parents additionally now appreciated, not least from their son’s copious laudatory anecdotes about Palaemon, that they must have been wrong in not wanting their offspring’s education to be finished off by the renowned teacher. Their worry had stemmed from the tutor’s rakish reputation, despite the fact that they had been told many times by others that the man’s activities in this sphere had never been known to lead to the seduction of any of his pupils. They had been unnecessarily concerned that their beautiful boy might prove to be the exception.

Gaius’ parents had initially been displeased to discover the age of the personal slave bought in Rome by their son. They had originally wanted him to take one of the household’s reliable adult servants, both to perform the required menial chores and for protection. However, they were quickly won over to their offspring’s choice when he provided reasons, which were true but also carefully edited to protect the sensibilities of his father and mother, whom he knew would not want to hear the full gory details about castration and Bacchanalia. Parental concerns were further disarmed by the slaveboy’s clear pleasant efficiency, despite his tender years, and regard for his young master.

When they were alone together, the father asked the mother “Do you think….” However, he never finished his question because his perspicacious wife interrupted.

“Yes,” the mother said, “they love each other but not in the way you’re thinking. I can see it in their eyes. The boy looks up to Gaius in the same way that Gaius looks up to you, and vice-versa. The closeness is paternal, no more, as perhaps it should be for a slave so young. However….”

Gaius’ mother now hesitated, encouraging his father to spur on her next wisdom. “What?” he asked.

Meanwhile, Hylas was furtively listening nearby, having been sent with a message to his young master’s parents from Gaius, currently bathing. The 5 year-old had lingered at the doorway to the room in which the adults were chatting, politely not wanting to disturb a conversation.

“I can tell from his demeanour,” Gaius’ mother announced to her husband, “that our son’s deeply and passionately in love with someone!”

(Estate of Caius Silius, Campania, later that day)

‘Mendacem memorem esse oportet.’

(‘A liar needs a good memory.’)

- Quintilianus (‘De Institutione Oratoria’)

Axenius had already converted me into believing in Cybele, not least as a result of the incident with the soothsayer. It now seemed that Apollinus, unknowingly, was doing the same with the god Helius because one half of my very recent silent prayer to the deity immediately came true, simultaneous to my discovery of how the divinity’s young earthly namesake had recognised my friend as being of Greek ancestry.

The woman dropped the pruning shears she held in her hands and, still crying, ran towards my friend, arms aloft and whilst repeatedly shouting “Apollinus!” My fellow 15 year-old rushed in the opposite direction, delightedly hailing “μητηρ!” Meanwhile, Helius and I had stopped, rooted to our spots in dumbfounded shock.

Apollinus and I had, of course, returned Helius’ courtesy after he had appraised us of his name. “I used to have a brother called that,” the boy had remarked sadly, now in Latin, on hearing my friend’s appellation, “but he died.” “I’m sorry to hear that,” my friend had responded before the 13 year-old moved on to a much pleasanter and altogether different subject.

Of course, Helius’ older brother had not died because he was currently conversing with him, although neither appreciated the fact until the appearance of their mother had corrected their ignorance. It was only now that I realised why the 13 year-old had believed my fellow 15 year-old to be Greek. It was because they looked so alike, which naturally they would be as they were siblings.

I later cursed myself for not appreciating the great resemblance between the pair and putting two and two together. However, I then began to forgive myself for several reasons. First, if the boys themselves had not instantly appreciated their relationship, how could I be expected to forestall them? Second, my mind was, at the time, somewhat befuddled by other matters. These included my concern for my safety, my wonderment at my new surroundings, which were very different from Rome, although not so different from my remembrances of my homeland, and, above all, on-going anguish resulting from my separation from Gaius. Third, the coincidence was surely too ridiculous even for the god of the sun to arrange.

I now discovered, by means of an apology to Helius from his mother, that the younger brother had been told falsely, when only 5 years old, that his older sibling had died. This had happened because his parents considered such a tale to be simpler and kinder to tell an infant than the actual truth, which would probably be unfathomable to a young mind. The adults proposed instead to rectify their fiction when the boy was mature enough to learn the reality. However, the man and woman, forever quietly grieving for their lost son, as if he were really dead, subsequently preferred never to raise the subject because it engendered too much heartache. They did not say so but I perceived that another key motive for their continuing deception was intense shame at allowing their family to be divided, although their consciences should have been assuaged by the fact that there was nothing that they could have done to prevent the separation.

Much happy familial rejoicing was now indulged, with Apollinus’ father, alerted to the good news by his highly excited younger son, returning from the fields as soon as he could to join in the celebration. However, this had to be annoyingly temporarily suspended when I suddenly realised that it was time to return to the estate villa, where Sribonia and Tullia would be completing their bathing and would expect their young eunuch to be in attendance for the rest of the evening. My friend, rarely allowed anywhere near the girls because his testes were still intact, would be simultaneously wanted in the kitchens, whilst the mistresses’ dinner was prepared, to advise the cook about their likes and dislikes in relation to food.

Apollinus’ task was not as easy as it sounds because cooks and their helpers are frequently beaten if their fare does not match the expectations of their masters or mistresses. As the poet Martial later advised an acquaintance, according to his ‘Epigrams’, VIII.23, ‘You think me barbaric, Rusticus, and too fond of my food, because I beat my cook when my dinner is below standard. If that seems to you a trivial reason for the lash, what other excuse is there to flog a cook?’

Fortunately, on this occasion Sribonia and Tullia were not only satisfied with their food but also the day’s travel seemed to have tired them and they retired unusually early to their sumptuous beds, in rooms with glorious sea-views, which contrasted markedly to the accommodation shared by Apollinus and me. My friend and I had already advised the vilicus of our own sleeping arrangements and he seemed happy to allow us to retreat there, as opposed to the male barracks, without embarking upon further chores.

Apollinus and I were later to learn, from my friend’s family, that the vilicus was not so generous with the farm slaves, working them very hard and insisting on stringent discipline in order to achieve the greatest productivity. We were also informed that such a literally slave driving attitude did not actually stem from the man’s desire to earn his absent employer maximum profits, for the owner was happy as long as certain steady targets were met.

Landowners appreciate that the main benefit of surpluses on large estates only accrues to the tax collector, to whom land is the major source of state revenue. Proprietors therefore frequently turn blind eyes to the customary practice of vilici to understate official yields and cream off the value of the hidden largesse into their own pockets.

Landowners actually benefit from this scam, not by securing a share of the illicit profit but, in compensation, by paying their vilici relatively poor wages for such a responsible job. What the bailiffs practise can therefore be termed their due private bonus systems, whereby improved estate productivity accrues greater personal reward.

Accordingly, Caius Silius’ own vilicus was encouraged to ensure that the slaves worked long and hard, his authority over the workforce being reinforced by being empowered to punish as he saw fit, including recourse to execution if needed. After all, slaves have no rights under Roman law, with even their marriages having no official recognition.

I suspect that the vilicus’ fairly pleasant attitude to Apollinus and me arose from a desire not to make unnecessary enemies who had greater access to his employer than he did. The man rarely met the mainly absentee landlord, a situation both parties were content to maintain, but this happy arrangement might be disturbed by slaves returning to Rome full of mischievous tales about mismanagement of the estate.

The vilicus actually probably believed that my friend and I had little or no influence on our master and he would have been right in his assumption. However, he also probably felt that he could not take the chance of mistreating us in case we did. For all he knew, one of us might have been one of Caius Silius’ favourite bum boys, capable of exercising a subtle but persuasive sway on the patrician.

Unfortunately, the suggestion of Apollinus’ family that the vilicus’ disposition to us was in stark contrast to that applied to other slaves was to be amply demonstrated on the next day.

Meanwhile, apart from myself, no-one else was invited to the joyful celebrations of Apollinus’ family. This was not because they were protective of the food and wine that had been put to one side for special occasions, and had now been brought out, but because everyone was aware of the need to keep the happy familial reunion secret.

It was clear that Apollinus and his parents had been deliberately misinformed about their respective fates at the slave auction seven years previously. They had been told that they had been purchased by different people, whereas, in fact, they had been sold to the same patrician, Caius Silius, although for different purposes at separate locations.

The family now feared that the original reason for keeping them ignorant of their mutual ownership, whatever that had been, might still somehow be considered fundamentally important by Caius Silius and his overseers. Accordingly, my master and his henchmen might feel obliged to take unpleasant action to remedy what seemed their clear blunder in allowing the separated parties to meet again.

Accordingly, no-one aware of the secret wanted to endanger the summer-long reunion, and prospect of similar future happy events, by revealing the familial relationship to others. To outsiders, Apollinus’ parents were therefore simply doing what they had often kindly done, hosting a temporary visitor of their own nationality, albeit this time with an additional guest of an altogether different people.

It had, of course, now also emerged that Apollinus had not told me the whole truth in the wagon about his family. “You never said you had a brother,” I gently and quietly admonished my friend, as we later bedded down together on top of a pile of clean straw, with tunics discreetly discarded and after we had finally retired from the long celebrations, slightly queasy as we were unused to wine. The facility for shared repose had kindly been provided for us in a corner of the one-room family shack, separated from the living area and other sleeping arrangements by freshly erected rag curtains.

“Telling you about my parents was hard enough,” Apollinus retorted in a whisper, “because I knew I was on the verge of tears. I thought that, if I brought memory of my brother back, I really would cry.” However, I was somehow unconvinced by my friend’s explanation and, as my arm slid under his bare back to hold him affectionately on this warm summer night, I suggested to him “I think there’s something else you’re not telling me!”

Apollinus thought for a while before obviously deciding to confess all. “Intense jealousy,” he eventually declared, “for, to my shame, I harboured deep resentment against my brother for being only 5 at the time of the slave auction and so lucky enough to be too young to be separated from my parents. I therefore preferred not to think or speak of him in the intervening years, even somehow successfully expunging remembrance of him from my mind. This, along with the fact that Helius is a common Greek title, caused me not to consider his possible identity when he told us his name.”

“However,” Apollinus tried to continue, although it was clear that his emotions were beginning to shatter, “seeing him now….knowing….even after such a short reunion, how……..nice he is, my……..malice towards him has gone, to be replaced….once more….by…………….love.” Tears now did flow but ones of happiness not sadness. My grip on my young friend tightened as I tried to soothe him, although I made no other attempt to stop his lachrymation because I thought that it might be good for his soul, washing away any lingering remnants of past bitterness towards his younger brother.

Later, spirit duly healed, I helped to improve my fellow 15 year-old’s morale even more by beginning to rub his cock, ever eager to receive such attention. Even later, resultant sperm orally consumed, I returned to questioning quietly the reasons for Caius Silius’ deception of Apollinus’ family seven years previously.

“I now suspect,” Apollinus whispered with undoubted accuracy, “that it was considered best not to tell, as one party or the other might have been tempted to run away to secure a reunion. I also suspect that our relationship has long been forgotten by our master and his overseers, otherwise I would not have been allowed to accompany you here. The mistake was probably aided by the fact that the current major domo at Caius Silius’ Roman domus was appointed a few years after my arrival there and might not have been acquainted with my background.”

We silently pondered my friend’s remarks for a while until sleep overwhelmed us, although not before I silently prayed again to the god of the sun. I now begged Helius, the deity, to grant the second part of my original wish, that Apollinus and his family could one day live in freedom on Rhodus, although it was very difficult to see how this aspiration could be achieved, even by such a great divinity.

I later dreamt of Helius, driving across the vault of the sky in his quadriga and bestowing his gifts on a beautiful island, full of colourful flora and happy people.

(Estate of Caius Silius, Campania, on the following day, Dies Veneris A.D. IX Kal. Iul. DCCC A.V.C., in the 6th year of the reign of the Emperor Claudius [or Friday, June 23rd, AD 47])

‘The threshing floor is to be placed so that it can be viewed from above by the master. Such a floor is best paved with hard stone since the winnowed grain is cleaner and free from small stones and earth which a dirt floor nearly always casts up during the threshing….’

- Columella (in his handbook for farmers, ‘De Agricultura’)

At this time of year, the threshing room was unused and so was an ideal location for an illicit liaison. The two pretty 16 year-olds certainly must have thought so when they agreed to meet there.

Both were virgins, as neither had been given permission to have sex with a member of the opposite gender. Such relationships between slaves on Caius Silius’ estates were only permitted for the breeding of the next servile generation and after the permission of the vilicus had been secured. The bailiff invariably made examples of those caught disobeying this rule. However, the growing cravings of the 16 year-olds for each other, encouraged initially by regular eye contact, followed by secret courtship conversations, ultimately progressed not only to kissing and groping but also, almost inevitably, to an unstated deep mutual desire to consummate their passion.

Neither had confessed that sexual intercourse was the purpose of their present meeting but both knew that this was their aim. No resistance was therefore met when the ecstatic boy carefully removed the girl’s dark green tunic, taking great delight in slowly revealing her wonderful naked form for the first time to his enchanted eyes. The beautiful young female then took great personal pleasure in the young male’s gentle manual attentions, now extending to running his hands over her firm cherry-topped breasts before venturing downwards.

The pair kissed passionately as the boy’s eager hands felt the girl’s sublimely curvaceous buttocks before one set of fingers moved to the front to fondle her vaginal jewels. Low ecstatic groans could be heard within the otherwise quiet environs of the threshing room as the young male’s tunic was shed and a young female palm ran along the resolute hardness now desperately wanting to end their joint virginity.

Soon the 16 year-olds were writhing in unparalleled delight on the threshing room floor, oblivious to the cool of the surface or the sound of someone entering the viewing gallery above. The pair did not know it at the time but they would soon forever believe that they should have left the amenity strictly to its designed purpose. This attitude arose because of the identity of the person who was now watching their illicit liaison.

The vilica, wife of the vilicus, was a frustrated middle-aged woman because her husband no longer took any interest in her, apart from her function in helping to manage the estate. The bailiff instead found his sexual pleasures by forcing himself on the many younger prettier slave girls and boys readily, if not willingly, available on the estate as a target for his predatory desires.

The vilica had been unable to attract other males in compensation, probably because her physical attractions had dissipated and no-one wanted to anger the all-powerful vilicus by having an affair with his wife. All feared for their very lives if they did so.

Accordingly, the vilica hated the idea of others enjoying what she was denied. The sight of the pretty 16 year-olds therefore caused her to smile only because she knew that the young pair was in very serious trouble.

As the woman quietly slipped away to appraise her husband of the situation, realising that, if he responded quickly, he should be able to catch the naked 16 year-olds in the middle of their unauthorised union, her smirk broadened at the thought of what was to come.

(Domus of Gaius Musonius Rufus senior, Volsinii, a few hours later)

‘“Honour thy father and thy mother” stands written among the three laws of most revered righteousness.’

- Æschylus

“Son,” Gaius’ father suggested, “I believe that it’s time that we discussed family alliances.”

Gaius had been expecting some such conversation after Hylas had rushed back to tell him what he had just accidentally overheard. The 17 year-old knew that his parents, especially his status-conscious mother, whom he loved but who also could be infuriatingly commanding at times, would now be worried that he had become infatuated with some unworthy Roman girl, whom he might even want to marry.

Gaius, however, demurred from telling his mother the truth in order to correct this inaccurate impression for the youth believed, perhaps correctly, that advising the woman of the reality might be unwise. He worried that the news, that he was not involved with a girl in Rome because he was otherwise enthralled with a young barbarian eunuch slave, might induce fatal heart palpitations in his female parent.

Accordingly, Gaius attempted other means to defeat his mother’s tactic of bringing forward in time the topic of her son’s marriage to a suitable daughter of a rich Volsinii household. As a result of delicate but skilful prompting, he initially encouraged the woman to confess her concerns about goings-on in the capital before then trying to reassure her unequivocally that her concerns were completely unfounded.

Unfortunately, despite Gaius’ usual skillfully eloquent efforts, his mother could not be persuaded. She had heard, from fellow female gossips in Volsinii, exaggerated but, to her, thoroughly convincing and alarming tales about the money-grabbing harlots of Rome, who were supposed to be forever looking out for handsome, rich but gullible bachelors to ensnare.

Equally unfortunately, my youthful lover’s father, another Gaius Musonius Rufus, who was basically acting as arbiter between his wife and son during the discussion, eventually took his spouse’s side. This decision was arrived at not by force of argument, because the youth had clearly won the debate, but rather because his spouse would not give him a quiet life afterwards if he had ruled otherwise.

The male parent, whom Gaius also respected and loved dearly, therefore insisted that suitable betrothal be arranged before his son returned to Rome in Augustus. Because the decision invoked the man’s ‘patria potestas’, or ‘father’s power’, his declared wish could not be denied.

Although I was, of course, ignorant of the fact at the time, the father’s ruling potentially boded the end of my wondrous, life-enhancing relationship with the beautiful youth from Volsinii. Gaius’ inherent loyal fidelity would undoubtedly exclude him from carrying on an affair, even if the person concerned was his true love, whilst promised in wedlock to another.

(Estate of Caius Silius, Campania, same time)

‘Here, in the countryside, men sleep secure, here is a life that never heard of lies, a life rich in goodness of every kind; here men prey to the gods, here men bow to the old; when Justice went out of the world, it was here that she left the last print of her foot.’

- Virgil (‘Georgics’)

I do not believe that the 16 year-olds, caught indulging in illicit sex by the vilica, would have agreed with Virgil’s view of countryside life, particularly in respect of justice. The vilicus, advised by his wife, had not only been the arbiter of judgement on them but also the main prosecutor.

The 16 year-olds were still nude. However, they were no longer enjoying themselves on the threshing room floor. Instead, they had been tied spreadeagled between two sturdy posts apiece in a large farmyard, surrounded by buildings used for a variety of purposes. It was the usual location for the punishment of slaves, a fact evidenced by the deeply engrained sanguine stains on the ground below them, a hue now being reinforced by activities above.

As many other slaves as could possibly be excused duty were watching whilst the young miscreants’ comprehensive flagellation was coming to an end at last. The penitants’ formerly very pleasant forms were now covered from neck to toe, front, sides and back, in vivid red stripes, and many thin bloody strands ran down their anguished bodies. However, both screaming sobbing victims knew that worse was imminently to come.

The punishment of the 16 year-olds was now to be completed by rendering them incapable of ever again enjoying acts of illicit sex. The girl was to be infibulated and the youth castrated, for which purpose his scrotum had already been tied tightly at the base to cut off the blood supply. However, this had not prevented his substantial cock from remaining incongruously hard, drooling copious precum, throughout his whipping. This was perhaps induced by the earlier unfortunate interruption to his young penis’ eager exploration of his lover’s equally keen vagina by the arrival of the angry vilicus, whip in hand and accompanied by his usual brutish heavies.

On the other hand, the display of fulsome erections by male victims of severe punishment was not unusual, as the vilicus, expertly practised in such matters over many years, knew well. So did many of the spectators, who had watched many similar appalling scenes previously. However, despite the inherent sympathy of most observers towards the young couple, significant numbers were guiltily aroused by the sight of their nude suffering.

Apollinus, who was one of the spectators, later confessed to me that the youth’s final erection was matched under his own tunic, a shame identifiable from the resultant bulge in the cloth because he, like me, was not allocated underwear. Likewise, Caius Silius’ rural slaves did not normally sport undergarments and so the same disconcerting reactions could easily be recognised amongst many of the other watching males. Although I was incapable of such embarrassing display, I was grateful that my duties for Sribonia and Tullia excused me from attending the terrible event. I had no wish to watch repeats of what I had already seen in my master’s urban garden, as well as an occasion that recalled my own gelding.

The time eventually arrived for the work of the whip to stop and that of the knife to begin, with the girl first to feel the blade.

Apollinus advised me later that the sight of the girl’s long suffering was dreadful, as the Vilica happily applied the sharp weapon to the 16 year-old’s sexual organs, earlier shaved of hair, whilst, nearby, the helpless tearstained youth uselessly screamed for his lover to be granted mercy. The bailiff’s wife was apparently expert at the operation, having enjoyed inflicting the bloody procedure in similar circumstances several times previously, and she was eventually ready to hand her sanguine implement to her husband, for the young male to be rendered similarly sexually joyless. However, the woman hesitated to fulfil this final task.

According to Apollinus, the vilica instead, whilst her last young victim continued to shriek in agony, asked her husband if she could unman the youth. Her request was followed by audible sounds of shock from the large watching crowd because it was unprecedented for a female to inflict such punishment.

The vilicus considered his wife’s entreaty for a few moments before creating more startled murmurs by agreeing to her solicitation. Apollinus’ father later told me that he thought that the bailiff had done so for two reasons.

First, the vilicus would consider the young slave to be nothing more than sub-human. The bailiff would therefore regard the gelding as being little different to that of any other animal on the estate and so he would be completely unconcerned about increasing the 16 year-old’s anguish by not only having him publicly castrated but also emasculated by a woman. Second, acquiescence to the vilica’s request should ensure the man a quieter domestic life, at least for that day.

According to Apollinus, the eager vilica wasted no time. Already equipped with the necessary tool, which had so recently been used on the girl and was still dripping with her previous young victim’s female blood, the woman approached the sanguinely striped spreadeagled youth from behind. She then knelt and applied the knife to the right base of the 16 year-old’s large ball sac. This apparently dangled nicely, as if positively inviting separation from the groin, but was now purple in colour, as a result of the tourniquet.

One of the vilica’s crony hags held a bronze plate, already containing bits of female genitalia, in readiness to receive the fresh genital offering, whilst the bailiff’s wife grabbed the youth’s balls and squeezed tightly. This transformed the 16 year-old’s entreaties, now begging for pity for himself, into an agonised bellow, which quickly became an excruciated scream when the knife began to saw its gruesome way through his scrotal flesh.

Meanwhile, the female perpetrating the deed laughed and asked “What’s it like, boy, to lose your manhood to a woman!”

According to Apollinus, only a few spectators seemed to look away from the dreadful scene as the youth was castrated, most eyes apparently being transfixed by the genital carnage. He also told me that, just before the 16 year-old ball sac was completely severed, its last substantial supply of sperm spurted out of the young victim’s vibrating cockhead, to mix with the copious blood on the soil below.

The youth’s scrotum was eventually displayed in front of his pained horrified eyes, the sac resting in the bronze plate alongside some of his erstwhile lover’s genital parts. Another of the vilica’s crony hags then brought her mistress a red-hot poker from the nearby blacksmith’s workshop. No precaution to prevent the 16 year-old from damaging his tongue had been taken, which for the young victim was a pity because he now bit off a piece of the oral appendage, as his horrific wound was agonisingly cauterised.

(Estate of Caius Silius, Campania, on the following day, Dies Saturni A.D. VIII Kal. Iul. DCCC A.V.C., in the 6th year of the reign of the Emperor Claudius [or Saturday, June 24th, AD 47])

‘From the end of the colonnade projects a dining room. Through its folding doors it looks on to the end of a terrace, the adjacent meadow and the stretch of open country beyond….

Almost opposite the middle of the colonnade is a suite of rooms set slightly back and round a small court shaded by plane trees. In the centre a fountain plays in a marble basin, watering the plane trees round it and the ground beneath them with its light spray….

At the corner of the colonnade is a large bedroom facing the dining room. Some windows look out on to the terrace, others on to the meadow, whilst just below the windows in front is an ornamental pool. A pleasure both to see and to hear with its water falling from a height and foaming white when it strikes the marble. This room is very warm in winter when it is bathed in sunshine and on a cloudy day hot steam from the adjacent furnace room serves instead.

Then you pass through a large and cheerful dressing room, belonging to the bath, to the cooling room, which contains a good-sized shady swimming bath. If you want more space to swim or warmer water, there is a pool in the courtyard and a well near to it to tone you up with cold water when you have had enough of the warm.

I can enjoy a profounder peace there, more comfort and fewer cares. I need never wear a formal toga and there are no neighbours to disturb me; everywhere there is peace and quiet which adds as much to the healthiness of the place as the clear sky and pure air.’

- Pliny the Younger (describing the joys of his Tuscan villa in one of his letters)

None of the largely agricultural nature of Caius Silius’ massive Campanian estate was visible from its large, resplendent, ostentatiously decorated and furnished villa. This was deliberate because neither my master nor his family and guests wanted to see slaves at their agricultural toils. Instead, the palatial building on the coastal promontory was flanked by sea on three sides, whilst the magnificently grand entrance portico looked inland across a neatly maintained grassy meadow to a little wood beyond.

The villa was full of courtyards, ornate colonnades, fountains and plastered walls, the latter mainly painted, in garish colours, with scenes depicting country life or mythology. The copious floor mosaics basically illustrated the same, although there was one on the portico floor that portrayed a large ferocious hound with the warning ‘cave canem’. However, there was really no need to ‘beware of the dog’ because I can testify to the fact that the resident creature was actually quite friendly once he became acquainted with you.

Some walls had opulent cloth hangings and some floors were covered with similarly expensive and decorated material. I later discovered that, amongst the slaves on the estate, there were weavers, fullers and dyers, as well as the expected smiths and carpenters. During my stay, I also found out that a rather distasteful element to the fulling of cloth was the use of urine in the process, an ingredient that a later Emperor I lived under actually tried to tax.

Caius Silius had also purchased much Samian ware from Arretium in central Italia, which was rich red pottery covered with reliefs, again of ordinary life or mythology. Aquileia in the north provided much glassware, especially drinking cups.

Much of the silverware had been produced by smiths on the estate from the product of my master’s own mine in Apulia to the south. Whenever I laid out or polished this ware, I could not help but think of the poor youth who had been emasculated in, and despatched to that undoubtedly dreadful enterprise from, Caius Silius’ Rome garden for masturbating in response to the sight of Sribonia and Tullia bathing. I wondered how much of the precious metal I handled the poor young nullified eunuch had personally garnered, if he was still alive within the deep, hot, dark and very dangerous mountain mineshafts.

The expensive ornamentation that I describe was augmented by many other precious items and was principally shown off on elegant tables located throughout the villa, especially around the sides of the many rooms. The delicate daily cleaning of these articles alone took up the full time of several slaves.

Despite its position on a high promontory, the villa was supplied with plenty of running water by virtue of underground channels from inland hills. I shuddered to think how long they had taken to construct, in what sort of awful conditions the slaves who built them had had to work and how many had died in the process. I was also at a temporary loss to explain how the liquid seemed to flow uphill to the residence during the last stage of its long journey.

It was Apollinus’ father who put my mind at rest concerning this apparent incongruity when he drew a shallow ‘U’ in the soil for me. He then pointed out, by reference to the two side arms of the letter, which the Emperor Claudius was currently unsuccessfully trying to introduce into Latin, that water will always find its own level. Accordingly, as long as its starting point in the distant hills is at least as high as its proposed destination, the liquid will safely reach the latter. I therefore learnt how Caius Silius’ villa was constantly able to keep its fountains flowing, baths filled and toilets flushed.

In Rome, much more massive aqueducts supply water to public same-sex sit-down flushing latrines, where, as in the communal baths, men and women relax and meet others for conversation. Somehow, the convivial activity, as practised in toilet facilities, has never been one towards which I have personally been partial.

I was, as usual at this time of day, attending to Sribonia and Tullia when the visitor from Rome arrived. The older girl, now 14 years old, was considered an adult, despite still being unmarried, and so, as she and her 12 year-old sister had me as a chaperon, she personally received the unexpected arrival.

“Hello,” Sribonia greeted the handsome young man, “what brings Petronius here?”

(Estate of Caius Silius, Campania, four days later, Dies Mercurii A.D. IV Kal. Iul. DCCC A.V.C., in the 6th year of the reign of the Emperor Claudius [or Wednesday, June 28th, AD 47])

‘Quam bene vivas refert, non quam diu.’

(‘How well you live is important, not how long.’)

- Seneca the Younger

It was after dawn but I was still in Petronius’ arms. Both of us were naked, lying on a magnificent bed near to a large open window with splendid seaview. The 21 year-old’s guestroom was, for decorum, in a different wing of Caius Silius’ huge palatial villa from that occupied by the owner’s young daughters.

“I’ve waited very patiently for a night like last night,” Petronius announced with an endearing smile, “ever since that rogue Palaemon persuaded me, last year at your master’s little orgy, to forego my turn with your delectable body so that young Musonius Rufus could lose his virginity. Little did I know that you’d be the youth’s exclusive preserve thereafter or I wouldn’t have succumbed to the teacher’s argument. I either must be becoming too soft and stupid or was then too drunk for sound judgement. However, I really can’t complain now, for last night truly made up for everything and made the delay worthwhile. You know, Bilicus, you really are gorgeous in all sorts of ways!” I immediately blushed at my newest paramour’s compliments before allowing him to resume an eager manual and oral exploration of my nude body, followed by an expedition involving a restored and substantial erection.

Afterwards, curiosity encouraged me to ask Petronius for further information as to why he had complied with Palaemon’s request to secure my master’s approval to holiday at the Campanian estate. The young man had already briefly informed me that it was to ensure my continued wellbeing but I knew that there was more to tell.

“Well,” Petronius replied, “because he and Caius Silius aren’t on speaking terms, although neither has appraised me of the reason for this, Palaemon couldn’t ask to come himself. In any case, the teacher has his hands full preparing for the start of the new academic year. Your protector, at least in Musonius Rufus’ absence, was nevertheless seemingly determined that someone he trusted explicitly should personally look out for your welfare while you were away from Rome, and I’m honoured that he asked me. I, as always, was looking to secure someone’s country hospitality for the summer and so didn’t at all mind his request, especially as your master has such resplendent estates.”

“I also have to confess,” Petronius now advised, “that being told the identity of the person I was to try to protect only fortified my willingness to agree. You see, I appreciated that the beauty of the scenery of this particular estate would be enhanced many times by your presence.” My facial redness returned on hearing the 21 year-old’s further compliment.

“Nevertheless,” Petronius then announced, “I’m rather bemused as to why you need protection from Caius Silius. Would you care to elucidate?” I remained silent, finding it awkward to tell him that, if Palaemon had not sought fit to bother him with an explanation, I could not break confidence by rectifying the matter. Fortunately, the 21 year-old seemed to recognise my dilemma and, without annoyance or waiting very long for a response, broke the embarrassing silence by continuing “No matter for, whatever the reason, I’m happy to be here. Not only are the accommodation, food, service and surroundings good for my own wellbeing but also last night’s unexpected reward for my secret guardianship was like being in heaven!” My facial flush intensified even more.

“I also appreciate, dear Bilicus,” Petronius informed, by means of one of the interesting anecdotes for which he was rapidly becoming famous, “that Caius Silius wouldn’t have second thoughts about treating people who annoy him very harshly. He might even have fed you to the moray eels I’ve noticed he farms here. After all, his late grandfather, during the reign of the divine Augustus, was an acquaintance of a wealthy equestrian called Vedius Pollio, who was a friend of the Emperor. Pliny the Elder has described, in his ‘Natural History’, chapter IX, from line 39, if my memory serves me, that this man enjoyed throwing condemned slaves into tanks of such creatures, taking great pleasure in watching fellow human beings being torn to pieces.” This bloodcurdling story induced me to gather the young man’s pleasant body closer to me, a reaction I am sure he intended.

I had known for a long time that Petronius fancied me, not least from the incident at Caius Silius’ banquet for the Emperor when the young man had sat me publicly on his knee, to his amused delight and my acute embarrassment. When I had occasionally seen him since, his lust for my body was always evident in his eyes. However, he had never made any moves to secure me for his bed because, I now discovered from questioning him, he had learnt of my relationship with Gaius and he was never one to cross the path of true love. The 21 year-old told me that he thereafter considered me an unattainable cherub, just like the divine ones who inhabit the heavens.

I had, however, disillusioned Petronius’ perception of me on the previous evening, when I deliberately set out to seduce him, which was not a difficult task given his feelings for me. I did so because my body was the only payment that I could offer for his efforts to look after me, and in the firm belief that Gaius would not mind.

You may think, reader, that Gaius might on the contrary be aggrieved by my behaviour. However, I knew, because he had told me frequently and honestly, that he would never be jealous of having to share my body with anyone, for in his philosophy this was merely a corporeal issue. The youth was instead only interested in sole ownership of my love, which he considered a fundamental matter of the soul and which, of course, I gave him with all of my heart.

I have to confess that I dearly cherished Apollinus, Axenius, Hylas and now Petronius but my affection for them was that of very close friends, not true lovers.

Gaius was protective of my body only from unwanted predators. He was happy for me to enjoy its value to the full with others for whom I had feelings or wanted to thank in a manner they really desired, recognising that it was the only gratuity at my disposal. Apollinus had benefited from my youthful lover’s remarkably liberal attitude and now it was Patronius’ turn. In fact, it was a pleasure that was regularly repeated for both throughout the summer, especially as the young man had used his profound oratory skills to persuade Sribonia and Tullia to release me from their service for the summer.

I was now Petronius’ servant whilst the older eunuch he had brought with him from my master’s Roman household had replaced me in attending the girls. “How on earth did you manage to persuade the mistresses to exchange slaves?” I had enquired incredulously of the smirking 21 year-old when he told me the news. “I suggested, without actually saying so,” he proudly retorted, “that their father wanted an older eunuch to chaperon them whilst I was around.”

Petronius gained his reward for his invention that night. Next morning, as I was helping the young man dress, I commented truthfully on his sartorial elegance, for I had never come across someone with such faultless manners when sober or so perfectly turned out. He was always impeccably clean and groomed and his clothing was not only constantly immaculate but also setting new standards of form and presentation.

“Thank you,” he replied to my remarks, “I like to behave correctly and look exemplary, as such elegant attitudes make me feel good, although I’m afraid too much wine and bad company can sometimes ruin my intentions. It is one of the reasons why I now do not count a certain person amongst my friends.” Although I would find out to my cost much later, I was currently unsure of whom Petronius spoke. Nevertheless, I did not raise my lack of recognition with him, instead allowing him to continue.

“I believe,” Petronius now advised, “that there are too many people, even amongst the highest soberest orders, who indulge in rude, vulgar and cruel lifestyles and who have dreadful dress sense. I judge that, if only some of them change to follow my example, Roman society will surely benefit a little.”

“You’re surely right,” I responded smilingly, “O ‘elegentiae arbiter’!” The last expression means ‘arbiter of taste’, an epithet that was to stick to a not displeased Petronius after his eventual return to Rome.

(Antiocheia, the Roman Imperial Colony of Pisidea in Asia Minor, Dies Saturni Prid. Id. Avg. DCCC A.V.C., in the 6th year of the reign of the Emperor Claudius [or Saturday, 12th August AD 47])

‘Try first thyself, and after call in God;

For to the worker God himself lends aid.’

- Euripides

Paul had begun the day quietly celebrating the 50th birthday of his sadly deceased spiritual master, whom he had never seen in life. Now, he was appearing before the magistrates who were charged with arbitrating between his rights as a Roman citizen to remain in Antiocheia and the demands of the elders of the local synagogue for his expulsion from the city for religious sedition.

In the event, the arbiters ruled in favour of Jewish orthodoxy, not wanting trouble to be fermented in their metropolis. However, in view of his citizenship, Paul was given two months’ notice to tidy up his affairs before quitting the province.

(Pompeii, Campania, same time)

‘His own character is the arbiter of every one's fortune.’

- Publius Syrus

Petronius had taken me several times on visits to the splendid townships of Stabiae and Pompeii, which were the closest metropolises to Caius Silius’ Campanian estate. However, on this occasion, I persuaded him to secure Apollinus’ release too for the latest visit.

“Where’ve you been hiding this delicious young creature?” Petronius remarked on meeting Apollinus, whose turn it was now to blush. I have to confess that, at the time, I had not realised that the ‘elegentiae arbiter’ had not seen my friend previously, presuming the 21 year-old must have espied my fellow 15 year-old somewhere sometime around Caius Silius’ rural or urban properties.

It was evident that the pair immediately liked each other. I was therefore not surprised when Petronius, whilst we were slowly traversing a crowded Pompeiian market, looking at the wares on offer, quietly sought my permission to seduce my friend, taking care to ensure that the latter did not hear his request.

“Alas, our wonderful holiday will shortly be at an end,” Petronius had begun with a grin, “and you’ll be returning to your beloved, leaving me forlornly alone. However, I must look on the bright side of life. Perhaps, I’ll find in this market a pleasant little memento of my visit that I can take back to Rome to remind me of our lovely time together.” As the young man spoke, his eyes were firmly fixed not on the various goods on display in the surrounding stalls but on the delicious shape of Apollinus, as my friend examined some cheap trinkets nearby. I reciprocated the smile of the ‘elegentiae arbiter’, knowing full well what he was hinting.

Petronius appreciated that we were now intimate friends but not true lovers and so he would shortly be losing me back to Gaius. I think that he was sad at the prospect but not desperately so because his philosophy to life in such circumstances was to move on in the belief that compensations for such disappointments would inevitably manifest themselves. In fact, I know that, at that moment, such recompense had already displayed itself.

Petronius was, however, too polite to proceed without seeking my approval, even if I was just a barbarian eunuch slave. I naturally gave him permission, believing, correctly as it turned out, that an association between the ‘elegentiae arbiter’ and the young Greek would benefit both of them.

I have to confess, however, that it did feel peculiar to be sleeping that night, on the straw in the dwelling of Apollinus’ family, alone whilst my 21 and 15 year-old friends were supposedly trying to do the same in far more resplendent surroundings. However, I could begrudge neither the pleasure, although I did wonder, from experience, exactly how much repose they would actually attain.

I had tried to explain Apollinus’ unusual nighttime absence to his concerned parents and younger brother by virtue of a story about extraordinary domestic duties at the villa. However, I doubt if the innocent slant I attempted to impose on my tale was accepted, especially after my fellow 15 year-old eventually showed up on the next day.

As Gaius’ father and mother had already done in Volsinii in respect of their own young offspring, Apollinus’ parents now recognised a change in their son. They also appreciated the cause, although they decided not to comment, seemingly being happy to allow matters to run their natural course.

As with the Volsinni equivalents, Apollinus’ father and mother had realised that their son too had now found true love.

(Campania, Dies Lunae A.D. V Kal. Sep. DCCC A.V.C., in the 6th year of the reign of the Emperor Claudius [or Monday, 28th August AD 47])

‘Noli turbare circulos meos!’

(‘Don't upset my calculations!’)

- Archimedes (Reputed words to a Roman legionary during the fall of Syracuse, to which the soldier responded by slaying the great inventor and mathematician)

The holidays had seemed to pass speedily and safely after all and I found myself once again in the back of a wagon with Apollinus, but this time the vehicle was returning to Rome, where my master had remained all summer. I was intensely excited at the prospect of seeing Gaius again. However, unknown to me, my youthful lover was still in Volsinii, debating prospective brides with his parents.

Apollinus was sad to be leaving his father, mother and brother. Their parting had been as heart rendering as mine had been with Gaius over two months earlier. However, all hoped to meet again sooner rather than later and meanwhile they were content to know each other’s whereabouts.

I also knew that my 15 year-old friend, like another 6 years older, was returning to Rome with some compensation for the termination of a recent relationship, for Petronius was as smitten with Apollinus as the boy was with the young man.

Meanwhile, Caius Silius had remained in Rome for a purpose. In retrospect, I believe that my concern for my own welfare, whilst away from the capital and Gaius, was indeed paranoia because I now doubt that, during my absence, I ever entered my master’s thoughts for a moment.

I am sure that Caius Silius’ mind was instead preoccupied with other, much more important issues. He must now have known that it was just a matter of a little time before Messalina and he were ready to launch their quest for supreme power, a development that would engulf me as much as anyone else.

(Domus of Palaemon, Rome, Dies Solis Prid. Kal. Ian. DCCCI A.V.C., in the 6th year of the reign of the Emperor Claudius [or Sunday, 31st December AD 47])

‘Saepe ne utile quidem est scire quid futurum sit.’

(‘Often it is not even advantageous to know what will be.’)

- Cicero

Despite the winter chill, I was standing in the small enclosed garden of Palaemon’s luxurious domus, looking at the moon and stars overhead. Petronius approached me and offered “A silver denarius for your thoughts!”

“My people,” I advised the ‘elegentiae arbiter’, without any impertinence intended, “believe far more in the ability of the heavens to prophesize the future than you Romans seem to do. Your people appear instead to prefer animal entrails.” “I know,” Petronius responded, “disgusting custom isn’t it?” He then asked “Can you read the stars?”

“I’m afraid not,” I answered, “as only the priests of my people were taught to do that. They became very expert and once built great temples where the stones were aligned to the movements of heavenly bodies.” “Pity,” Petronius commented with a grin, “for not only could you have forecast what would happen during the new year ahead but also I could have gained my revenge by calling you ‘stellae arbiter’!”

Meanwhile, Gaius was inside with Hylas, conversing with Palaemon, Axenius and Apollinus.

Gaius had eventually managed to escape Volsinii. The beautiful youth told me, whilst displaying a wicked smirk, that he had finally agreed with his mesmerized parents to a shortlist of six possible wives, to be whittled down further next summer. He did not need to add that he had successfully used his now expert rhetorical guile to cause eventual deferment of the intermittent 2½-month-long debate. He instead gave his strategy away when he had declared “Of course, by the time the list only comprises one name, perhaps several years from now, I’m sure that the girl concerned will have married someone else!”

We were all now attending an intimate feast to celebrate the eve of the new year. The occasion was very unusual because the majority of the guests were young slaves.

Caius Silius’ major domo had been bribed to permit Apollinus and me to attend, although my fellow 15 year-old’s presence was now funded by Petronius not Gaius. The ‘elegentiae arbiter’ had actually previously offered to buy the boy from my master but the latter politely refused, obviously believing that retaining proprietorship of the young slave gave him further influence on the clearly infatuated young man. He had retained ownership of me for not dissimilar reasons.

I am sure that Caius Silius was very surprised to see Petronius return from Campania with such an obsession with a mere slave. Nevertheless, my master granted the young man regular access to Apollinus, given with much better grace than the similar favour extended to Gaius because he still believed the ‘elegentiae arbiter’ to be a friend.

Axenius told me that Palaemon had initially been similarly bemused by his much younger friend’s passion, considering the fascination out of character. However, the teacher had finally resolved the dilemma in his own mind by saying “I suppose that love does strange things to people!” before, as was the nightly custom, smilingly inviting his own young slave to bed.

Gaius eventually came to find me whilst I was still discussing the stars with Petronius.

“Come inside the pair of you,” Gaius ordered pleasantly, “for some mulled wine or you’ll both freeze to death.” Petronius and I laughed but complied, although not before I gave the cloudless heavens one last look, for I was wondering what they did foretell about the year to come, the 801st since the foundation of Rome.

I did not, of course, know at the time that the stars must have been announcing a year that would see profound changes in my own life, and that of others I knew, as well as one that would be of fundamental importance for the future of Rome itself.

(To be continued in chapter XIX – ‘Infidelities’)