Nero 4

By Pueros

Chapter IV – Pastimes

(Main slave market, Rome, in July of the 5th year of the reign of the Emperor Claudius [AD 46])

‘Injustice, swift, erect, and unconfined,

Sweeps the wide earth, and tramples over mankind.’

- Homer (The Iliad, book ix, line 628)

My pretty very young compatriot, who was to be given by his new masters the new name of Hylas, after Hercules’ boy love, was only 4 years old but had nevertheless just been sold at market for a substantial sum for one of such tender age. It seemed that the most select young captives from Britannia were still maintaining their fashionable value, especially when the purchaser perceptively saw beyond the current allure of the goods on offer to the even greater attractions to come.

The boy, whom I shall refer to as Hylas even though he did not yet know that he would be called by that name, had then been escorted to the same private roofless room with wooden walls where I, like many before and since, had lost my testes. The skilled castrator checked the frightened and bemused 4 year-old’s pleasant naked form, especially his tiny genitalia, before suggesting to the man who had bought the youngster that he might wish to return the following day to collect the amended goods.

Hylas then had to suffer the nasty after effects of being forced to consume a strong purgative to empty his stomach. This was despite the fact that there was little inside because he had, as customary for slaves-to-be in the days before being brought to market, been fed nothing of late, as a precaution in case he was to be castrated. Naturally, providing no sustenance to those about to be sold also helped the slave traders improve their profits by enhancing even more the usual miserly parsimony shown towards their charges.

Once Hylas’ body was ready to be altered forever, the boy was not strapped to the table on which my scrotum had been sliced open and my testicles extracted. He was instead sat in a small tub of steaming water, almost too hot to withstand, for the castrator had deemed that the 4 year-old’s ball sac was too undeveloped for cutting. The craftsman had decided instead that his latest young victim was to be a type of eunuch known as a ‘thlibias’.

Hylas, completely ignorant about his imminent fate, was both confused and ashamed when the castrator frequently ran his large strong right hand, well practised in the imminent task, into the steamy water to feel between the boy’s legs. However, the 4 year-old’s bewilderment and abashment at being so regularly and intimately defiled in his most private area did not stop his little cock from hardening for one final time.

The castrator was trying to ascertain the right moment, when the boy’s scrotum and contents would be fully relaxed by the hot liquid. When he was happy, satisfaction reinforced by much experience, he nodded to his two burly slaves, the same pair who had not long before fastened me to the castration table. The grim duo advanced to hold the 4 year-old firmly in position, legs wide apart in the tub, after first tying the same large leather chew that had been positioned to separate my own teeth between the frightened youngster’s trembling lips.

Hylas soon uttered a muffled shriek as the castrator, after carefully locating one tiny testicle, expertly crushed the minuscule orb between his powerful thumb and forefinger until he was content that it was thoroughly liquefied within the ball sac. The craftsman then agonisingly perpetrated the same on the twin organ, causing his infant victim to faint.

In current Roman parlance, Hylas’ boyhood had been ‘shattered’. No surgery would be needed on his devastated scrotum, as the mush within would eventually be dissolved by natural bodily fluids. There was always the risk of infection with this method of castration, common for very young boys. However, this particular infant victim was to be lucky, if you can call his current and future circumstances such, for his masculinity had been ruined in order to help his new masters provide others with entertainment, though the enjoyment of certain pastimes.

(The villa of Caius Silius, Rome, same time)

‘To labour is the lot of man below;

And when Jove gave us life, he gave us woe.’

– Homer (The Iliad, book x, line 78)

At the end of an earlier discourse, which my scribe has titled chapter II, I mentioned that there was a boy within Caius Silius’ household who was imminently to suffer much worse than me.

I was unaware at the time, as I stripped naked for two girls and three boys, all younger than me, that the quintet had just been entertained outside by a very harsh punishment inflicted on one of Apollinus’ young male colleagues from the outer household of slaves. However, whilst later tidying up the mess that the five young Roman patricians had made of my nude body, my fellow 14 year-old acquainted me with what had happened. My friend had himself heard the tale second-hand because he had been preparing me for my re-presentation to Sribonia and Tullia whilst events unfolded.

The victim was a comely 16 year-old youth who was primarily allocated gardening work. However, development of raging but frustrated hormones had made him take chances to secure sexual relief. He had managed the occasional furtive liaison with an older slave woman, similarly deprived and willing to risk the wrath of the master for being discovered in such an unauthorised relationship, her own boldness encouraged by flattery that such a handsome young male was interested in her.

The youth would have much preferred a slave less plain and old but none of those who matched this description seemed interested in endangering themselves. The 16 year-old had therefore, for variety, taken to peeking through a spy-hole, normally hidden by bushes and which he had discovered whilst engaged on his gardening. It was located in the wall of the unctuarium of the villa’s bathhouse. He often went there to masturbate whilst secretly watching the pretty patrician girls of the house, Crispina, Sribonia and Tullia, have perfumed oil rubbed into their naked bodies every morning by sparsely clad young female slaves.

Unfortunately, the youth did not question the spy-hole’s existence for he might have been more circumspect if he had appreciated who had created it and why. He instead allowed himself to be caught by the major domo whilst experiencing the literal climax of his secret pastime. Neither the terrified 16 year-old nor Caius Silius, before whom he was now dragged, possessed the calm insight to ask what the freeman was himself doing in the bushes by the bathhouse. Both the boy and his master were too emotional to ponder such a matter, the former with fear and the latter with fury.

It did not take long for the livid Caius to decide what punishment would be most appropriate for the young miscreant who had been spying so perversely on his wife and daughters. A messenger was despatched to the main slave market whilst the youth was stripped and suspended by rope from a sturdy rectangular wooden frame located outside specifically for the chastisement of slaves. Meanwhile, the spy-hole was plugged, only to be furtively replaced by another within a few days.

Quite a few slaves of both genders had over the years become well acquainted with the particular frame from which the youth was now helplessly suspended, many ingrained bloodstains within the woodwork being a testament to this fact. However, the multitude of sanguine marks had always previously been the product of cane or leather meeting naked flesh not sharp metal.

The terrified tearful youth had been left dangling from the frame, with splayed legs firmly tied to each side post and rope painfully biting into to his wrists and ankles. However, his biggest distress was not this or his demeaning nakedness, degradation made worse by residual drying semen clearly visible on his cockhead, but at horror at what he had been told was to come. The handsome 16 year-old’s slim body, smooth apart from a little tuft of pubic hair, quaked in anguished trepidation but this only served to reinforce his dread because the shivers caused his endangered, miraculously still hard, penis and nicely substantial low-hung ball sac to sway.

I suspect that the youth became acutely aware of the pleasures that his gently gyrating penis had often afforded him, whilst supplied by the copious fluids produced from the twin weights inside each delightfully formed swinging scrotal orb. He must have been aghast at the thought that all of this masculinity was now imminently destined to be lost.

The youth, in his tormented mind, might have temporarily forgotten the first penance he was to suffer until his memory was jogged when the majority of the outer household, not required elsewhere, was assembled around his dangling nude form. The significant congregation excluded Apollinus because he was attending to my preparation.

The major domo had then reappeared, this time displaying his hirsute chest and strong upper body to view, being only attired in his undergarment. He was followed by Caius Silius, Crispina, Sribonia, Tullia and their recently arrived but now intensely excited three boy guests.

The major domo’s undergarment was a loincloth but of far more substantial covering capability than that worn by Axenius. However, this comparison of fashion registered little in the tremulous 16 year-old’s mind for his concerns were mainly focused on the multi-thonged metal-tipped whip in the man’s hands. The youth had been told by his master that his emasculation would be more merciful than he deserved because he would feel little as his genitals were severed, having first been made almost senseless by a flogging that would remove the skin from his back and buttocks. His colleagues would, of course, watch the spectacle, as a warning.

It was apparently my own castrator, summoned speedily from the main slave market by the promise of an impressive fee, who perpetrated the final deed.

The youth, raw rear dripping much blood, was barely conscious and created no real opposition when his low hanging genitalia were finally pulled carefully downwards by the castrator. He then only uttered a very muted groan as the craftsman’s razor-sharp blade performed its dreadful task and the awful sanguine results of the work were presented to the 16 year-old’s intensely anguished and appalled eyes. Thankful unconsciousness then overwhelmed the boy when the flame of a waiting torch was presented to his terrible wound.

I understand that several other slaves, not all female, discreetly vomited or more noticeably fainted at the sight. However, Crispina, Sribonia, Tullia and their three young male friends all laughed loudly and frequently as the event took place and whilst afterwards closely inspecting the severed organs and nullified groin of the unconscious youth before the five youngest departed to greet me.

Caius Silius owned much property, including lucrative enterprises that no respectable patrician would confess to possessing. Profitable businesses were supposed to be the prerogative of the rich equestrians, being beneath the dignitas of the aristocracy. However, this attitude was universally secretly overcome by a common avaricious need for steady substantial income and the consequences hidden by use of middlemen, acting as agents for undeclared, and almost certainly untaxed, literally high class owners, at least in hypocritical social if not moral standing.

After recovering sufficiently from his almost fatal flagellation and nullification in order to be able to travel, the youth would be sent to one of Caius’ copper mines in eastern Italia, where, if lucky, he might survive for a year or two. However, as I now recall the matter, I pray that perhaps the lad was more fortunate and that the gods removed him from his torment more quickly.

I was, of course, unaware what 13 year-old Sribonia, 11 year-old Tullia, 8 year-old Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, 7 year-old Marcus Annaeus Lucanus and 11 year-old Silius Italicus had just observed whilst I, the oldest present, obediently quickly stripped for them. However, hindsight made me appreciate that the great curiosity of the three boys, as they intimately examined my gelded genitals, each lifting my flaccid cock to gain a better view of the empty scrotum underneath, had undoubtedly been stimulated further by what they had so recently seen.

I was to learn much later, from the mouth of one of the boys, that they had never previously seen an emasculation take place or inspected gelded human genitalia so closely. However, at the time, I could not care less, as my shame at my plight was so acute, especially when they played with my soft member to reassure themselves that no amount of attention would make it grow. Judging from their raucous verbal comments and regular laughter, they found their scrutiny and experimentation highly amusing, causing their young female hosts to join in the banter and chortling.

I was also to learn later that all three boys had themselves ‘given up their nuts’. However, this common Roman phrase does not mean that they had lost their testicles like me but rather indicated that they had all started school, common for both males and females at about 7 years old.

Nuts are often played with like marbles, although by poorer children than this particular masculine trio, who would have enjoyed the privilege of colourful spheres made from pottery and glass. Many plebeian childish pastimes centre round the use of nuts and so giving them up suggests the formal beginning of schooling.

Given their wealthy backgrounds, the quality of the learning establishments attended by two of the boys present would be expensive but good, although the cost might not have been reflected in the pay of their teachers, many of whom are not citizens or even freedmen. It is an accepted fact that many of the best educated and most talented and indispensable people in our society are slaves, their existence perversely creating a large unskilled and unemployed lower class of free men that causes Rome many problems.

Perhaps I should explain at this time, for those who are unaware, the difference between a freedman and a free man. The latter is a citizen of Rome or elsewhere whilst the former is an emancipated slave.

School fees are also rarely wasted on expensive premises and furnishings. Educational establishments often occupy accommodation originally designed for retail use, having open fronts on busy streets and being equipped with rough benches, on which pupils sit, wax exercise tablets on knees and bone writing styli in hands.

Up to the age of 11 or 12, especially for the privileged, educational priority is given to elementary reading, writing and arithmetic. Studies in large groups, presided over by an individual teacher, are undertaken from dawn until mid-afternoon, with a break for lunch at home.

The schooling of females generally concludes at the age of 11 or 12. However, that of males from financially comfortable families usually continues with a move to a grammaticus, where the boys become well acquainted with much of the poetry and prose that I quote to spice up my saga. They also learn Latin elocution and the Greek language. They then progress, after acquiring the toga virilis, indicating manhood, to rhetors, who teach confident oratory designed for three purposes, conveying panegyrics or invectives, persuading audiences to particular points of view and propounding legal prosecutions or defences. Five skills in particular are taught: selection of content, arrangement, language, memory and delivery.

Schools teach traditional religious observances but only supplement the training of proper conduct and morality, which is normally provided at home. Older upper class boys are also frequently exposed to the various branches of Greek philosophy, some later preferring the guidance so gained to that elucidated from the state religions. Some rich leading citizens even employ resident sages.

School discipline is very harsh, with the use of the rod on young males very common. Slave teachers beating the sons of the most revered elite are not unusual. Horace remembers verses ‘dictated to me as a boy by flogger Orbilius’ (Epistles II, 1.70/71).

Only two of the quintet now present with me in Caius Silius’ main tablinum, however, actually now went to school. The girls had finished their education whilst 8 year-old Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, who was, by far, the most important member of the group, had a private tutor, called a ‘pedagogue.’ This man would eventually be replaced by another, who was to have great influence and be at the centre of much intrigue once he returned to Rome after enforced exile.

The two girls and three boys escorted me into the family section of the outer garden, well out of sight of where, unknown to me, an anguished nullified youth was still dangling from a punishment frame. The females, as befitted their gender, were to be amused spectators whilst their young male guests indulged their pastime, with me, now nude, at the centre of the action.

It was the smirking chubby 8 year-old Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus who was the apparent leader of the male trio, despite being three years younger and more diminutive than the 11 year-old Silius Italicus. I later surmised correctly that this was because the older boy had diplomatically deferred to the status of the younger.

It was therefore the latter who now gleefully instructed me in my game role.

(Circus Maximus, Rome, same time)

‘They galloped apart in equal ranks and the three companies, parting their bands, broke up their columns; then recalled, they wheeled about and charged with levelled lances. Next, they enter on other marches and other countermarches in opposing groups, interweaving circle with alternative circle and making an armed mimicry of battle. And now they bare their backs in flight, now turn their spears in charge, now make peace and ride on side by side.’

- Virgil on the lusus Troiae (Aeneid)

Claudius was in the Imperial box watching the chariot racing in the massive oblong Circus Maximus. A quarter of a million other spectators were also indulging in the same pastime.

Roman Emperors seek to provide the heterogeneous free inhabitants of their city, over a million strong and many subsidised by the state or the wealthy, with entertainment as well as grain. They do so in order to help occupy the copious spare time enjoyed by many of the otherwise potentially bored and, as a consequence, rebellious populace. This situation exists not only because of the large number of days set aside for official public celebrations (then there were almost 100, now there are even more) but also because many are under-employed as a consequence of the existence of the slaves.

People now expect ‘panem et circenses’, or bread and games, as their right. Public entertainment is therefore an important aspect of Imperial policy, with Princeps seeking to outdo predecessors to enhance their popularity and authority.

At this particular festival, over a thousand birds had already been set free and many lottery tickets thrown into the crowds of spectators. The many valuable prizes included boats, houses and land, as well as gold and jewellery.

The magnificent opening ceremony, or pompa, then followed, headed by the organiser dressed as a triumphal general and accompanied by a cohort of soldiers, who were allowed by custom to berate the Emperor for any discontent experienced by the people. At a time when political activity amongst the citizenry is almost non-existent, this is a rare opportunity for critical free expression. Princeps usually heed what is conveyed, invariably increasing their popularity amongst the masses.

Chariot drivers, mostly young, belong to stables, or factiones, private enterprises operated by members of the equestrian order and denoted by the colours red, white, green and blue, to one of which spectators, including the Emperors themselves, invariably become intensely devoted. Some fanatics even dispatch homing swallows and other birds, claws dyed the colour of favoured teams, to their families to bring rapid news of victories.

Races, upon which many bets will be laid, commence when a white scarf, or mappa, is thrown onto the track. Chariots are traditionally drawn by two or four horses, although six or even ten in-hand races sometimes occur. Each stable is generally represented by one vehicle circumscribing the long oblong course seven times, although more occasionally participate and there have been events which last 24 hours. Much raucous supportive cheering invariably emanates from the enormous watching crowds.

The trickiest places on the course are at the turning posts where collisions and subsequent bloody piles of human bodies, horses and wrecked vehicles are common. There are many epitaphs in the Circus Maximus to dead charioteers, who are usually aged between 18 and 22.

The races are interspersed by formal parades, such as the lusus Troiae, described earlier in my narrative in the words of Virgil, which are more eloquent than I ever can produce, or the ars desultoria. The latter is an exhibition of horse-riding skills offered by members of the equestrian order.

By the time of Claudius, charioteers were mainly professionals, drawn from the lower social orders and often from other nationalities besides Roman. Success is idolised by the crowds and the greatest practitioners of the art gain greater social standing, as well as glory and much money. Those claiming a thousand wins are particularly honoured.

Claudius enjoyed the racing, especially if a bloody accident happened, although he preferred the gladiatorial contents in Rome’s other main amphitheatre best, as there gore and human death could be guaranteed. The latter stadium was not, of course, the Coliseum, the construction of which was a quarter of a century away from being started by a later Emperor.

Claudius never publicly stated anything quite as barbaric as his predecessor, Gauis Caligula, who often instructed, after condemning someone to die in front of his eyes, ‘Kill him so that he knows he’s dying!” However, the current Emperor ordered that all gladiators who fell accidentally should have their throats cut, taking special delight in seeing this done to the net-fighters, who wore no helmets to disguise their fatal agonies. The obverse of his rather reserved timid character was easy vengeful temper and greedy cruelty, leading to many executions during his reign. 35 Senators and over 300 Equestrians were put to death for conspiracy and treason, mainly as a result of quarrels induced by the further erosion of republican traditions in favour of Imperial power.

(Imperial palace, Rome, same time)

‘If there is anyone in this city who does not know the art of loving,

Let him read this poem and, having read it, love like a professional.’

- Ovid (Ars Amatoria)

Messalina was engaged, in her husband’s absence at the Circus Maximus, at her own personal favourite pastime. This time the large cock entertaining her, belonging to a black Imperial slave famed for the size and energy of his member, had already tickled her voracious vagina and was now trying to pleasure her prostrate via her anus.

Meanwhile, the Empress’ son, Britannicus, was playing more innocently with his new friend, Titus Flavius Vespasianus. The two young boys were currently harnessing mice to model carts.

(The temple of Cybele, Rome, same time)

Axenius was again discovering, as he had first a couple of weeks earlier, how the gallae of Cybele continued to enjoy mutual sexual passion despite being eunuchs. The Archigallus, regardless of the fact that it was still daytime, had taken a sudden fancy to a continuance of the erotic pastime and he was in his opulent personal quarters with his latest young slave. Both were naked on the large bed, with the young Germanian lying face down with legs wide apart whilst his master/mistress carefully sodomised him.

Axenius groaned with acute pleasure, much as Messalina was currently doing not far away for similar reasons. However, the young Germanian’s passion, resulting from the tickling of his own prostrate, was induced not by a massive real throbbing cock but by a large greased wooden phallus strapped to the Archigallus’ gelded groin.

(Plebeian quarter, Rome, same time)

‘Watch for a scorpion, my friend, under every stone.’

- Praxilla

Rome prides itself on its many monumental public buildings, temples and palaces, as well as its resplendent parks and gardens, especially those located in the forum, which is basically the formal city centre. The huge metropolis is also the seat of noble families with almost inconceivable wealth, such as that of Caius Silius. However, perhaps the true heartbeat is to be found in the cosmopolitan streets of the various plebeian quarters, so narrow that the sun rarely penetrates and generally thronged with men, women and children from many nations and races. These naturally comprise Romans and others from elsewhere in Italia but also include Greeks, Gauls, Germanians, Hispanians, Aegyptians, Jews, Asians and blacks from beyond the north African deserts. I note that many Britannians are today additionally to be found amongst the crowds.

Plebeian urban residences are generally unpleasant, being primarily located in tenement blocks, six or seven storeys high. It is estimated that, if you count slaves, such constructions house over 1,500,000 of Rome’s people. Many are built cheaply on poor foundations and are therefore prone to sudden collapse.

Privacy is poor because only the most expensive tenement dwellings have the benefit of comprehensive internal walling. Sanitation is superficial. Just the more well-to-do occupy ground floor accommodation and thereby have ready access to the public sewer, from which upstairs latrines are usually disconnected. Upper floor tenants therefore regularly make their own alternative arrangements for disposing of their personal waste. There is frequent recourse to chamber-pots, often emptied into a hole at the foot of a stairwell or simply out of the window into the street below.

Nevertheless, great is the medley of costume and language in plebeian Rome, and not all smells are distasteful. Thousands of shops offer a wide variety of food and manufactured goods, some very exotic and from the farthest reaches of the Empire. There are innumerable restaurants and taverns, many staying open all night. Wandering minstrels, dancers and acrobats perform. Astrologers can be hired to tell fortunes and much gambling occurs, with bets based on dice or knucklebones or cock, partridge or quail fighting. However, criminal activity is alas frequent, as is prostitution of various kinds. Secret societies, many of the oriental type, committed to orgiastic practices, also proliferate for purposes of pastime.

It was to serve one of these societies that the unfortunate Hylas had been purchased and castrated. His buyer was now confirming the boy's acquisition with his colleagues, who were all looking forward to meeting the new young eunuch.

(The villa of Caius Silius, Rome, same time)

“Now, No-balls,” Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus advised me, using my new insulting but accurate appellation, “you’re the wild boar and we’re the hunters. You have the whole of this garden, with its many bushes and trees, in which to try to avoid being killed by our spears!”

(To be continued in chapter V – ‘Games’)