Having, now rather guiltily, spent the whole of the previous night with me in the room I shared with Apollinus at the Imperial palace on Rome’s Palatine Hill, Gaius, with Hylas, finally made his way to Axenius’ luxurious domus. Of course, my beloved not only wanted to meet his Germanian friend again for the first time in over a year, apart from their brief encounter in Telamonis, and the new members of his fellow 21 year-old’s household, but also Achilleus and Tyanus.
Gaius and I had not only become pleasurably very well re-acquainted with each other’s bodies overnight, with me additionally learning about my lover’s Athenian adventures, but also Hylas had enjoyed an uninterrupted night’s sleep on Apollinus’ nearby bed. My fellow 19 year-old Imperial slave had recently taken to staying occasionally and entirely platonically in Britannicus’ bedchamber, whenever the 10 year-old princes’ regular worries about his future threatened to disturb his slumber.
As I was to discover on the next morning, when Apollinus returned to our quarters to bathe and secure fresh clothes, the previous night had been such an occasion when Britannicus had needed his slave’s reassuring presence. As my friend, as he still usually did, helped me to comb and garland my long, silky golden hair, he revealed the cause of the latest princely concerns.
Apparently, despite Seneca’s attempts to dissuade her, Agrippina had further curtailed her 10 year-old stepson’s palace privileges. Britannicus was already quartered in far more remote and less salubrious accommodation than when his late mother, Messalina, had been Empress, with fewer slaves and tutors, although Apollinus liked to believe that quality now made up for lack of numbers. The boy’s movements were now also being subject to much tighter restriction, ostensibly for his own protection but in reality to try to prevent anyone of influence, including his father, Claudius, from gaining easy access to him.
Agrippina was intent on further marginalising Claudius’ natural son, while her own, Nero, was given a prominent place at court, including many state celebrations and functions. She successfully managed to excuse her policy towards Britannicus to the Emperor by suggesting to him that his male offspring was too young and immature to participate in such events.
Claudius was influenced in his meek acceptance of this explanation by his conservative Roman attitude towards younger children, whereby they should be rarely seen and never heard. This poor regard was played on and reinforced by Agrippina, occasionally with the help of sacrificing her still attractive 36 year-old body to her 61 year-old spouse’s lusts, to such effect that not even Narcissus could persuade the Emperor otherwise in respect of his own natural son. The Princeps’ sad disposition was maintained despite the contrary evidence that the highly intelligent Britannicus was mentally mature beyond his tender years.
During our periodic night-time talks when Claudius dined alone, I, at Narcissus’ prompting, even tried to influence him to allow Britannicus more freedom, albeit in a highly diplomatic and discreet manner, as befitted someone who was merely a barbarian eunuch slave. Unfortunately, the Emperor was not to be dissuaded from his stance and his wife’s actions therefore caused the 10 year-old prince to disappear from not only public view but also most people’s minds. The latter included that of the 61 year-old Princeps, who was beginning to show signs of his dotage by concentrating on his personal pleasures rather than his rightful heir.
Meanwhile, Gaius and Hylas finally arrived at Axenius’ domus, where my truthful beloved confessed to the young Germanian where he had spent the previous night. "Don’t apologise," the smiling host then commanded, "as I’d have done the same as you if I had been in your position!"
"After all, what does a little delay in meeting up once more with friends matter," Axenius asked with genuine conviction, "compared with re-acquainting yourself with the person you love most in the world?" My beloved blushed guiltily, but nevertheless still managed to thank his similarly aged Germanian friend profusely for his kind consideration.
Gaius was then reunited with Achilleus and Tyanus, who joyously hugged their new father figure with great tenderness, and not a little relief. Despite Axenius’ impeccable recent supervision of their welfare, the pair was immensely thankful that secret worries, that the young man from Volsinii might disappear forever from their lives, had proved unfounded. My beloved was then introduced for the first time to the young Germanian’s pretty, 12 year-old twin siblings, Anacletus and Axenia, as well as to Caratacus’ five children, who happened to be visiting in order to play with their new friends. Meanwhile, the young slave, Arius, was now a happy part of this playful, richly dressed childish company, as if the supposedly servile nature of his status did not exist.
In fact, such an impression would have been correct. Axenius, recalling the granting of his own freedom from slavery and adoption by his late lover, Palaemon, had perpetrated the same in respect of the delightful Arius, who was from his own Germanic tribe, the Chatti. The 10 year-old boy with the important intact balls was now his adoptive son, and thereby technically the nephew of the slightly older Anacletus and Axenia.
Fresh acquaintances and reunions having been concluded, and whilst all the children went off to renew their games, Gaius reiterated to Axenius his great sorrow at the loss of Palaemon. My beloved then asked his friend if he cared to tell him from his own lips what precisely happened to bring about the renowned teacher’s death in Germania.
Axenius had long since become accustomed to controlling his emotions about the tragedy, although recall for him was always to be tremendously sad. He was therefore able to recount his tale once more, albeit with inherent melancholy.
After Axenius eventually concluded, Gaius could not help but openly speculate "I wonder what Palaemon meant when he reiterated, on his death bed, that Cybele had given him someone for whom he could provide the means to fulfil a great personal destiny. If you recall, dear friend, the old female soothsayer on the Vatican suggested something similar about your future!"
"Well," Axenius answered with intelligent insight, as well as customary modesty, "I’ve thought much about the matter and have concluded that my ‘great personal destiny’ has actually little to do with me. I believe that instead it has everything to do with young Anacletus, Axenia and Arius, whom I’ve managed to save from slavery and probably worse."
"I’ve come round to the idea," Axenius announced with firm conviction, "that such action will be the limit of my personal eminence, apart from the minor part that I’m still playing in helping the young trio towards their own, much more worthy futures. I’m sure that it’s each of those children, and not me, who have a ‘great personal destiny’ to fulfil!"
Dear, wonderful Axenius was to prove correct in his perceptive speculation.
(Imperial palace, Rome, same time)
‘All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reason, passion, desire.’
- Aristotle
Rubellius Plautus had been summoned to an audience with his aunt, Agrippina. The Empress had acquired maternal rights over the orphaned young man, whilst she had delegated ‘pater potestas’ to Seneca. However, the Augusta, having recently seen, for the first time for a while, the very handsome 18 year-old at a court function, did not have family matters currently on her agenda.
Agrippina had been waiting for the beautiful youth, son of her deceased younger sister, to blossom into manhood before making her move and she now judged that the time was right to introduce the 18 year-old to the feminine form. The invariably well-informed Empress was aware that her nephew was still a virgin as far as females were concerned, as he currently apparently preferred to indulge his passions with one of Britannicus’ few remaining slaves, by the name of Apollinus. It was a situation that she now was ready to remedy, as she fancied a regular lover younger than her present trio of frequent paramours, Aulus Vitellius, Pallas and Faenius Rufus.
The Empress’ desire would even have been lawful, if it had not been adulterous. In order to marry Agrippina, who was his niece, Claudius had changed the law so that such relationships were no longer considered incestuous. However, even if this legal alteration had not been made, I doubt that the Augusta would have been deterred in her aim of bedding her young nephew.
Rubellius Plautus was worried about his invitation to an audience with Agrippina, which were very scarce. However, his concern did not relate to any imminent attempt to seduce him on the part of the Empress, which he innocently never considered a remote possibility, but from fear.
Despite Agrippina’s previous motherly attitude towards him, Rubellius Plautus knew that he might now, after accession to formal manhood, be regarded as a rival to the Empress’ blatant, lofty aspirations for Nero. After all, several other potential obstacles to such ambition had already been eliminated through judicial murder.
Rubellius Plautus was therefore somewhat relieved when 36 year-old Agrippina, deliberately informally dressed in a light, revealing low-cut stola, greeted her nephew pleasantly, whilst inviting a kiss on her cheek and declaring "I thought, boy, that it was time that we became better acquainted!" However, the shocked 18 year-old’s initial assuagement was quickly eradicated, after early innocent small talk, when it became obvious, by the Empress’ subsequent ribald words and intimate actions, what the Augusta meant by "better acquainted".
For example, Agrippina asked whether Rubellius Plautus found her attractive because she found his form so. The Empress, sitting closely next to her nephew on a couch, also began seductively to pat and stroke the 18 year-old’s knee, presently covered by his formal toga virilis. The Augustus’ other hand was soon fondling the young man’s hair, whilst her lips clearly waited to be kissed.
Rubellius Plautus was tempted to succumb to Agrippina’s obvious desires, as the Empress still retained much beauty despite her dissolute lifestyle. Her face was lovely, with a very attractive creamy complexion and rosy lips, whilst the barely concealed breasts below, uplifted and displayed to best effect by use of a ‘strophium’, which is a soft leather band underneath the bosom, were clearly firm and fulsome. However, although his hidden cock began to throb in evident readiness, he was restrained by two disparate factors.
First, Rubellius Plautus, despite only being an 18-year-old, was a rather conservative traditionalist who believed, regardless of the recent law change, that having sex with his aunt was sinful. Second, the young man, never having made love to a woman previously, was worried that his inexperience might cause him to annoy the powerful Agrippina by not performing to her satisfaction.
On the other hand, Rubellius Plautus was not concerned about betraying his current love for Apollinus, as he knew that the 19 year-old Imperial slave would understand the situation and, anyway, did not expect exclusivity. The great grandson of Tiberius was also unafraid that the nature of his sexuality would let him down, as he genuinely appreciated the beautiful forms of both women and youths.
Rubellius Plautius hesitated to kiss the inviting rosy lips of Agrippina, whilst he weighed up the unexpected situation in his confused but excited mind. Unfortunately, this delay made the waiting Empress dangerously angry.
Agrippina stood up in clear frustration and fury and commented "So, nephew, you don’t find me attractive. I suppose that your cock’s only good enough to impregnate fellow youths, such as your Apollinus, or do you prefer him to do it to you?" This naming of the Imperial slave was Rubellius Plautus’ first inkling that his aunt was aware of his current homosexual affair.
"Well," Agrippina shouted menacingly, "I’m not going to have a mere slave sodomise my nephew, the great grandson of the divine Tiberius. To prevent such shameful, perverse acts continuing to be inflicted on the sacred body of a member of the Imperial family, your Apollinus will lose his genitals, if not his life. I’ll called the Praetorians to do the deed straight away!"
(Domus of Axenius, Rome, same time)
Lead me, Zeus, and you, Fate. Wherever you have assigned me, I shall follow without hesitation but, even if I am disobedient and do not wish to, I shall follow no less surely.
- Cleanthes
"Well," Gaius commented, "whatever happens, I hope that Palaemon’s other hope for you, that you acquire a ‘partnership with a worthy young paramour’, who’ll love you as much as he had done ever since he saw you outside the temple of Cybele, comes true. You truly deserve such love!"
"Thank you," Axenius replied, "but Palaemon’s memory still pervades my mind during my waking moments. Almost everything I see in this domus reminds me of him, even Anacletus, Axenia and Arius. After all, when he was killed, we were on an expedition to Germania to try to rescue, at his behest, any remnants of my family who might have survived the Roman response to the Chatti uprising. My younger twin siblings are representative of the success of this mission."
"Meanwhile," Axenius continued, with dampness now evident in his sparkling blue eyes, "Arius personifies my fulfilment of Palaemon’s advice that we should always strive, whenever possible, to improve the sad lot experienced by others in life. Hylas, Achilleus and Tyanus, and to an extent Bicilus, are examples of your own adherence to this maxim, just as I was for my late lover!"
"Well," Gaius remarked, "I still hope that Palaemon’s hope for you regarding ‘a worthy young paramour’ becomes reality. After all, true love, as he knew, is a panacea for all sicknesses of the heart and mind!"
"I promised Palaemon," Axenius declared, "that I’d fulfil his wish to live without him. However, loving someone else is too much for even him to ask of me!" Gaius diplomatically decided to say no more on the subject, although he was sure that, in respect of this particular topic, the young Germanian’s fervent belief would prove incorrect, whilst his late lover’s hope was fulfilled.
This time, it was Gaius who was to prove correct in his perceptive speculation.
(Imperial palace, Rome, same time)
‘The lamb began to follow the wolf in sheep's clothing.’
- Aesop
Agrippina was in ecstasy, as she felt a substantial, eager, throbbing cock penetrate her vaginal innards and then begin to thrust keenly in and out. Meanwhile, young hands fondled her breasts vigorously, whilst mutually rapturous kissing proceeded.
Apollinus would have recognised the fornicating cock anywhere, as the member concerned had sodomised his anal and oral orifices often enough. The Imperial slave knew and relished every little nuance of the penis, including the blood-filled veins that always throbbed intently when they entered him.
19 year-old Apollinus was not to know until later how near his own cock and the rest of his genitalia had come to forfeiture. Fortunately for his continued masculinity, his 18 year-old lover, before finally succumbing to seduction by the most important woman in the Roman Empire, had desperately but successfully apologised to his aunt for his early timidity, blaming such a reaction on his inexperience with females.
(Imperial school of gladiators, near Rome, same time)
‘We solemnly swear to obey in everything; to endure branding, chains, flogging and even death by the sword.’
- Petronius (quoting a new gladiator’s oath to his owner, or ‘lanista’, whereby the fighter listed what he was prepared to suffer at his master’s will, whilst also promising to follow orders without question and to pay for all food and drink received with his blood)
A young gladiator, of a type called a ‘secutor’, was training hard for his first appearance in the amphitheatre, which was due to take place a week later.
The life of a Roman gladiator contains periods of great danger and excitement, particularly when they make their appearances in the arena. However, such public showings of their combat capabilities, which sometimes involves travelling to a variety of cities and venues, might only number three or four per year. Accordingly, such occasions are interspersed with times of harsh training and quieter reflection amidst their ‘familia gladiatorias’, or ‘gladiatorial troupe’, in their ‘ludus’, or ‘school’, each of which is managed by a ‘procurator’ and is owned by a ‘lanista’, or group of ‘lanistae’.
Most early ludi were located in Campania to the south of Rome, with the most famous being situated at Capua. It was from here that Spartacus launched his infamous 2-year revolt. Subsequently, many of the schools have been established nearer to or actually in the capital, where, after all, usage of gladiators is most fervent.
The owners of the ludi stand to gain considerable, steady earnings from hiring out gladiators to those hosting games. However, hypocritical public contempt for such a method of securing income tempts most lanistae to maintain discreet profiles, sometimes by use of nominal front-men proprietors.
If you recall, dear reader, I mentioned previously that the late unlamented Caius Silius had been a part owner of the familia gladiatorias of which the cock-less Didius was a prominent member. Naturally, being an ambitious patrician snob, my former master maintained a careful secrecy about his potentially highly remunerative shareholding.
As an example of how financially attractive such interests can be, I can cite Cicero’s friend, Atticus, who, during the previous century, was quoted by the great statesman, orator and writer as having recouped his investment in a gladiatorial troupe after just two shows. Subsequent lucrative engagements therefore represented pure profit.
Caius Silius’ secret shareholding in Didius’ familia gladiatorias was eventually confiscated, after my first owner’s demise, by the Imperial treasury, controlled by Pallas. Claudius, a great fan of gladiatorial games, subsequently commanded his freedman to buy out the other lanistae in order to acquire the first stable of fighters to be owned by an Emperor. However, he also earned no public disdain for this action, as the masses appreciated that his purchase was not for reasons of profit but economy and state.
After all, why should an Emperor have to hire gladiators at great cost, for the many free games held at Imperial expense, when they can more economically own their own combatants? Many people also recognised that Claudius was beginning to undertake a sensible precaution, which would be finished by his successors, of bringing most of these skilled fighters under state ownership and control, thereby removing potentially dangerous military forces from the influence of potential rivals for the Principate.
As a relate my life in Dacia almost 55 years later, this process of consolidation under Imperial proprietorship has led to the creation of four main gladiatorial schools under the direct control of the Emperor. These are the Ludi Matutinus, Gallicus, Dacicus and Magnus, totalling about 2000 fighters between them and with the first trio respectively mainly for bestiarii, Gauls and Dacians.
As I shall further describe later in my history and as is indicated by the ludus’ name, the Magnus school is considered to be the greatest of the four. This brick-faced complex of building is now located just 60 paces away from the Coliseum, to which it is linked by an underground passageway.
As I have mentioned in earlier chapters, gladiators originally appeared only during funeral celebrations, or ‘munera’. However, Julius Caesar subsequently began to distort the circumstances in which such shows could be held, in order to bolster his support amongst the masses, by holding free contests to commemorate anniversaries of deaths and other events.
For example, Julius Caesar displayed 320 pairs of gladiators on the 20th anniversary of his father’s death. His successors, and other publicly ambitious people throughout the Empire, have continued such practices. In the process, the word ‘munera’ has now come to mean ‘gladiatorial games’, in line with the fact that the shows have become almost entirely separated from their original funerary context.
Gladiators were forcibly drawn, after identification of their potential combat prowess, mainly from the ranks of prisoners of war, criminals and slaves, with some of the latter offered by previous owners as a form of punishment. However, some destitute or otherwise despairing free citizens, like Didius, also volunteered and, by my era, about half of all such fighters comprise the freeborn, who have given up their ‘libertas’ to become, sometimes for set periods, the slave-warrior property, or ‘infames’, of their lanistae.
You may ask, dear reader, why free citizens might embark on such a desperate course of harsh slavery, where the use of brands, chains and whips are indeed common, as is the likelihood of a violent and agonising end. The odds against ultimately surviving, let alone prospering, are slight. This is despite the fact that miserly sponsors, or ‘munerarius’, of some games are reluctant, on grounds of expense, to give the thumbs up, denoting death, to prone combatants because they will have to pay the cost of trained replacements for the ludi from which the men come.
There are actually a wide variety of reasons for the free to volunteer for gladiatorial servitude. Some crave adventure and danger, although I can think of many more preferable routes to fulfilling such a wish. Some desire the better lifestyle, as, outside of the often brutal training and stern discipline, most voluntary gladiators are relatively well looked after, receiving three good meals a day and the best of medical and physical care, whilst living in decent accommodation. Some seek the enrolment and appearance fees and prize-money on offer, perhaps for selfless purposes, such as supporting otherwise destitute families.
The latter pair of motives was naturally boosted by the recent, sudden famine, as well as by the more gradual drift over many years of much of the rural population into urban squalor. For desperate families, gladiatorial enrolment fees alone, amounting to about 2,000 sestartii each for suitable freeman, are not easily ignored.
Alternatively, some of those wanting to be gladiators possess profound psychological desires to try to secure public acclaim to brighten otherwise undistinguished lives. Any adulation gained from adoring fans invariably includes sexual elements. Meanwhile, other men, like Didius originally did, simply want to end their lives, but in a glorious setting.
All gladiators know that, if they somehow survive long enough, they will be granted their freedom. The motivation of many is therefore also undoubtedly stimulated by an often mistaken belief that they will be amongst the few to emerge from their careers, both physically unharmed and wrapped in glory, to enter into comfortable and honoured retirement.
Meanwhile, the harsh and often brutal training endured is generally accepted as needed by most of the participants. Such preparation encourages high standards of fighting ability and, more importantly, self-control, which provides the men with their best chance of remaining alive whilst in the arena.
How female, and not just a few male, spectators can find the sight of gladiators at combat, their frequently scarred, inevitably muscular bodies flexing, sweating and blood-stained, as they stalk and attack each other in the arena, sexually stimulating and alluring amazes me. I have seen, with my own eyes, some such observers enter states of euphoric ecstasy, as they watched the sharp weaponry strike bare flesh successfully, creating often fatal human gore.
I have also seen women, often of the most rich and noble families of Rome, afterwards virtually fling themselves at successful fighters, so deeply desirous were they of indulging in copulation before the men had time to clean their sweaty, bloodstained bodies. For such females, adultery is not only a disgrace but also a crime, and to perpetrate the deed with a gladiator, regardless of his achievements, only compounds the abasing nature of the depraved illegality. However, for many, the very idea of such a sordid liaison apparently only enhances their arousal to a level of illicit passion that is simply too strong to ignore.
The attitude and example of such dissolute females is followed by some homosexual males. However, the latter usually have to pay to ease their passions with gladiators, who, at least publicly, like to exhibit an air of strong heterosexual manliness, despite the fact that loving but generally secret couplings between such fighters are not uncommon.
Gladiators are taught to kill and die well. The Romans expect people to meet their ends with courage, dignity and honour intact, even after defeat in combat.
The gladiator is therefore shown how to take the life of his opponent quickly and thereby most mercifully, mainly by means of a thrust of a blade through the neck, whilst remaining unmoved by the thick, sanguine gushes of blood that invariably follow such a fatal blow. He is also taught how to receive such a strike when he is defeated and the spectators urge a compliant munerarius not to be merciful. The man is not, at such times, to cringe or shrink away from the weapon that will despatch him to the underworld. Neither is he to cry out as the blade pierces his flesh and his life blood spills onto the arena sand, whilst his slowly closing eyes observe the sky above for the last time.
Inside their ludi, new voluntary gladiators generally live in airy cells around their exercise square, whilst more recalcitrant fighters are confined to darker and danker prisons. The schools possess large kitchens, in order to provide the men with the proper sustenance they need to keep in good, healthy physical shape, and a substantial armoury, which contains a large and varied quantity of the deadly tools of the trade, plus appropriate instruments of punishment.
The gladiatorial oath, swearing to suffer brands, chains and whips, plus death if necessary, for the lanista, is not an idle one for those who prove difficult or slothful. In particular, the involuntary fighters, comprising slaves, prisoners of war and criminals, often have to be rigidly disciplined to keep them under control, although as Spartacus proved during the previous century, sometimes this authority could founder.
The initial training of gladiators is undertaken by the ‘doctores’, who are generally successful fighters whose expertise enabled them to survive the arena. Each ‘doctor’ is usually particularly skilled at one form of fighting technique.
Invariably standing in the centre of the training yard is the ‘palus’, which is a sturdy 2-pace high wooden stake used to practise fighting techniques, often with a ‘rudis’, a rudimentary wooden sword. Permanent acquisition of this fake weapon also represents the ultimate goal for a gladiator wanting to survive because such an implement is presented to him as a symbol of his freedom if he lives to secure his release from service, although many return to fight on a commission basis.
Elsewhere in the ludus is inevitably an oval replica of the amphitheatre, where the gladiators can hone their deadly skills in a realistic environment, whilst using real weapons, which are heavier than normal so that the fighters can build up the stamina they will need in actual combat. However, a novice, who is called a ‘tiro’, is not allowed to indulge in advanced training, or ‘armatura’, against others until he has eliminated his worst errors and perfected his techniques at the palus.
The bestiarii, or venatores, who engage in fights with animals, or ‘venationes’, are regarded as being even lower on the social scale than other gladiators. They generally wear only loincloths, sometimes with decorative leggings and hide plates to protect the left arm and torso, although occasionally some brave souls fight completely naked. They are also usually trained by barbarians, as few Romans have experience of hunting and slaying in their natural environments the wild beasts involved in arena shows. Consequently, for example, Moors often demonstrate the use of the spear in such circumstances, whilst Parthians teach the bow. Amongst the poor creatures used for such spectacles are lions, panthers, tigers, leopards, bears, bulls, elephants, hippopotami, crocodiles and ostriches.
A gladiator’s diet is good, and is particularly high in protein and fat to provide essential muscular growth and energy. The development of a surplus layer of flesh also provides handy protection against cuts, often preventing muscles and tendons from being sliced, which could cripple the fighter and lead to his doom.
Medical and physical care is exceptional for my era, even surpassing that encountered in the army. No one wants to lose valuable gladiators through poorly treated wounds or sickness, or poor exercise and body preparation.
Gladiators within each ludus frequently form ‘collegia’ and worship Heracles in particular. Strong friendships in a committed and unified community are also commonly formed. This phenomenon might seem bizarre to an outsider, given that the men concerned might one day have to try their best to kill each other. However, I believe, not least through my own personal experiences, that such companionship can be explained by the fact that history teaches us repeatedly that mutual extreme adversity can be a strangely unifying force.
Good gladiators are often rewarded by being allowed to form relationships with women, if their sexuality does not tempt them elsewhere. The most trusted are sometimes even permitted to start families and live outside their ludi.
As Nigerinus had discovered to the benefit of his business, subscriptions by gladiators to the joint funeral funds of their ludi assure the costs of worthy burials for those who die. The nullified black eunuch now arranged all such rites for Didius’ familia gladiatorias, by virtue of which his proficient services had become known to the retiarius’ occasional secret employer, Agrippina.
Agrippina was almost as keen as her husband about gladiatorial combat, for similar sadistic reasons. The Empress even extended such interest to occasional, furtive meetings with Didius, usually soon after he had fought in the amphitheatre. However, such secret liaisons were obviously not for overt sexual purposes because the young man possessed no cock. Instead, the Augusta liked to hear the renowned retiarius describe his own feelings as he bloodily slaughtered yet another opponent.
As Didius quietly related his bloody tales, Agrippina’s right hand would invariably disappear under her ‘palla’, or ‘shawl’, towards the loin area of her ‘stola’, or ‘tunic’. The Empress obviously then pleasured herself, judging from the low but ecstatic sounds that were now invariably emitted from her lips. However, the gladiator always diplomatically averted his eyes and ignored such activity, and instead continued his lurid, gory discourse until his host had completed her climax and ended their audience, usually after a little small talk. It was in the verbal aftermath of just such an event that the Augusta discovered what happened to the dead fighters, after their bodies had been dragged out of the amphitheatre.
Claudius was also conscious of the funeral business, discreetly and efficiently run by Nigerinus on behalf of the Emperor’s close friend, Aulus Plautius. As a consequence of this awareness on the part of both the Princeps and his wife, the enterprise began to gain Imperial commissions, primarily relating to deceased palace slaves.
One day, however, Nigerinus’ work would extend not to the burial but to the salvation of someone much more important than an Imperial slave.
(Amphitheatre of T. Statilius Taurus, Campus Martius, Rome, 1 week later, Dies Lunae Kal. Nov. DCCCIV A.V.C., in the 10th year of the reign of the Emperor Claudius [1st November, AD 51])
‘The games! Go there for the ultimate scandal,
Looking at Gracchus who fights, but not with the arms of a swordsman,
Not with a dagger or shield (he hates and despises weapons),
Nor does a helmet hide his face. What he holds is a trident,
What he hurls is a net, and he misses, of course, and we see him
Look up at the seats, then run for his life, all around the arena,
Easy for all to know and identify. Look at his tunic,
Gold cord and fringe, and that queer conspicuous arm-guard!’
- Juvenal (criticising retiarii in general and one called Gracchus, who was from a noble house, in particular)
A week after Agrippina had enjoyed the favours of her nephew, the Empress watched her regular assassin, Didius, entering Rome’s main amphitheatre for bloody spectacle in the parade of gladiators. The place, built mainly of wood by one of Augustus’ crony generals, Titus Statilius Taurus, was oval instead of being round, which would have been the perfect shape for everyone’s viewing. However, an ellipse meant that a proper place of honour could be afforded to the most prominent spectators, not least the Imperial party. Meanwhile, the infamous Coliseum was still almost three decades away from being constructed.
To loud cheers from the watching throngs and led by trumpeters, or ‘tubicines’, the gladiators marched round the amphitheatre, two abreast in military formation, wearing brightly coloured, embroidered clothes and carrying their helmets. Further musical accompaniment was provided by an orchestra, whose instruments included an ‘organum’, or ‘water-organ’, ‘tubae’, which are straight bugles, and ‘cornu’, or alternatively ‘litui’, which are curved horns. A group of servants followed, carrying a selection of weapons. After the conclusion of the parade, this armoury was examined with great care, with the best selected by the men who now had to use them to try to save their own lives whilst possibly ending others.
The pairing of gladiators was made by lot, in line with the particular desires of the sponsor, or ‘munerarius’, for the format of the contests. This host then signals the various impending duels to begin, after which the fighters try their best to fulfil their ‘missio’, which means leaving the arena with life and honour intact. On this occasion, Claudius happily performed the deed that commenced combat.
Games, especially in Rome when hosted by Emperors, are generally enormously expensive, not least because of the numbers of people and animals involved in the fighting. For example, the spectacles organised by Augustus averaged 625 pairs of gladiators and subsequent Princeps, with the exception of Tiberius who hated such spectacles, tried to outdo their predecessors.
As I relate my life history to my worthy scribe, over half a century after the events I am currently describing took place, I have just heard that the current Emperor, whom I know well, has recently held games in Rome involving 10,000 gladiators, many of whom were prisoners of war. The Princeps was celebrating his successful campaign in Dacia, where I am now residing in my 76th year, hopefully just temporarily, if the gods care to grant me a little more time in this life.
To my lifelong disgust, shared by Gaius and most of my other friends, the majority of Romans adore gladiatorial combat. They like the fighting and the gore but, most of all, they love watching bloody, agonising death overwhelm some of the poor people involved.
To many Romans, such sacrifice is symbolic of the powerful, martial qualities of their own race, particularly their utter contempt for suffering and the worth of human life, not least their own, which they consider has contributed enormously to making their civilisation so great. After all, they had acquired their vast Empire by means of sometimes very brave but brutal military violence and also, to them, how a person confronts death is at least as important as how he lived his life.
By my time and according to my calculations, such philosophically bloodthirsty tastes has, over recent centuries, already condemned many hundreds of thousands of people to death in the Empire’s many amphitheatres. Nevertheless, my personal abhorrence is tempered by recognition that there is a side to human nature, sadly inherent in most of us, that ignobly draws us to such spectacle. For example, I am such that we would all be morbidly intrigued to watch actual war unfold at first hand, if a safe mechanism existed to facilitate such a miracle.
The Empire’s many great amphitheatres are routinely packed by people wanting to see men fight bloody battles, against either each other or a dazzling array of wild, exotic, dangerous animals. They watch awful, intense violence, inflicted by dagger, sword, spear, trident, arrow, jaw and claw. To demonstrate any signs of horror or pity, or even be just mildly upset, at the spectacle is considered to be pathetic, un-Roman weakness.
The Romans are also ambivalent to gladiators. They consider the fighters to be both the scum of the earth and, as far as the successful ones are concerned, celebrities.
Successful gladiators are not only lusted after by women and men but also often followed round by crowds of adoring fans whenever they traverse the streets. As I have already mentioned, some of the combatants even survive into comfortable retirement, supported by their hard-earned appearance fees and victory winnings. However, most eventually meet gruesome ends. They generally die amidst a vast expanse of bloodstained, gory sand, whilst excruciating pain and consequent terrified pounding in their ears drowns out the joyous screams of the crowd, as the signal for the final death blow is awaited.
Despite the closing in of winter, the bloody spectacles in Rome’s amphitheatre continue. The 26th day of October marks the beginning of the annual ‘Ludi Victoriae Sullanae’ celebrations, in honour of the Roman goddess of victory, Victoria, and the late Dictator, Sulla. They last 5 days, finishing on the 1st day, or ‘Kalends’, of November.
The festival deliberately ends with gladiatorial games on the Kalends of November because the day is the anniversary of the victory of Sulla over the Samnites, on this occasion 133 years previously. However, I doubt that many of the gladiators involved, as they saluted the excited Claudius, sitting next to his wife in the Imperial box, gave much thought to the reasons behind the event. I am instead sure that, as they solemnly declared "Morituri te salutant" ["Those who go to their death, greet you!"], the men were much more worried about surviving the occasion intact.
Many men, mainly criminals of one kind or another, had already died, most torn apart and partially eaten by purposefully starved and enraged animals, during executions called ‘damnatio ad bestias’. Some of the scenes involved were re-enactments of myths. A few prisoners had also been compelled to fight each other to death, with the raucous crowds considering the spectacle highly amusing because the contestants concerned had usually proven very clumsy, having been unused to wielding weapons. A number of poor beasts had additionally been forced to attack each other, or enter combat with the highly efficient, heavily armed bestiarii. The creatures have little chance of success against the co-ordinated skills of the latter.
By virtue of his current, highly successful record, Didius had latterly proved the exception to the amphitheatre crowd’s usual contempt, exemplified in the above quotation from Juvenal, for retiarii, or ‘net-men’, from ‘rete’, the Latin for ‘net’. Such general disdain actually incongruously results from the fact that this particular kind of fighter, who technically should not be described as being a ‘gladiator’ at all because he does not use a ‘gladius’, or ‘sword’, bravely possesses little defensive capability.
A retiarius’ only weaponry is that of a fisherman, namely a net, trident and dagger, whilst his only piece of armour covers his left arm, although sometimes a metal shoulder shield, or ‘galerus’, is added to try to protect his neck and lower face. Consequently, one of his most useful tactics, whilst trying to trip up or entangle his opponent with his net and then stab him with his trident or knife, is to dart hither and thither around the arena until he gains an opening for a successful attack. However, although such a stratagem is quite legitimate and well understood by the crowds, the spectators still acquaint such movements with cowardice and therefore consider the perpetrator to be the lowest type of gladiator after the bestiarius.
Most other gladiatorial types have evolved from three ancient enemies of Rome, the Italian Samnites, the Gauls and the Thracians. The first developed into the modern ‘hoplomachus’, which is Greek for ‘heavily armed’, like the Hellenic warriors called ‘hoplites’. Hoplomachi wear large, crested helmets with visors and thigh-length greaves on their left legs, whilst carrying a large, rectangular legionary-style shield, or ‘scutum’, and the common, straight and relatively short sword of the Roman soldier, the ‘gladius hispaniensis’.
The Gaul developed into the ‘murmillo’, which is a term derived from the Greek for ‘fish’, ‘murmuros’, because he sports a fish-shaped crest on his visor-less helmet. His shield, or ‘scutum murmillicon’, is long and hexagonal in shape. Meanwhile, the traditional Thracian is still encountered in the arena, sporting his broad-brimmed helmet, small round shield, double leg greaves and native, curved, Danubian weapon, or ‘sica’.
The retiarius actually affords his two most common types of modern opponent their titles. The ‘murmillo’ displays a fish on his helmet because he frequently tries to kill gladiators equipped like fishermen. Meanwhile, the ‘secutor’, meaning ‘pursuer’, is so-called because he often has to chase retiarii.
The unique, crested helmet of the ‘secutor’ covers the head completely, with small round holes in the visor to facilitate vision, and is egg-shaped and brimless so that it is difficult to ensnare in his common opponent’s net. Like a hoplomachus, this type of gladiator also uses a rectangular legionary shield, short sword and greave on the left leg. He additionally wears a wide leather or metal belt, guarding his genitals in particular, whilst laminated bands, called ‘manicae’, protect his right arm.
Others types of modern gladiator include the ‘dimachaeri’, who carry a traditional short legionary sword in each hand, and the ‘laquearii’, who try to use a lasso to bring opponents down. There are also the ‘equites’, who fight on horseback, and the ‘essedarii’, who are often Britannians because they use chariots, just like my homeland’s warriors.
Didius’ opponent today was a common secutor. Despite the bigger size of the latter young man, compared to the famous retiarius, he did not give himself much chance against his renowned but more diminutive adversary.
Didius’ small frame actually aided his prowess as a retiarius because it enabled him to be very swift and agile on his feet, thereby helping him to evade his opponents’ blows whilst simultaneously wearying them through their fruitless exertions. He was also expert at timing his own, usually fatal, immobilising envelopment of the other gladiator’s legs or body with his net, which was invariably a precursor to delivering a proficiently disabling blow with his trident.
Didius’ popularity with the watching crowds was not just due to his fighting prowess. The retiarius also possessed the clever knack of generally only disabling, as opposed to killing, his opponent, thereby giving the joyous spectators the opportunity to influence the munerarius about the defeated gladiator’s fate.
Didius would invariably end up with the three, deadly, sharp prongs of his trident resting forcibly against his defeated opponent’s throat, whilst the crowds screamed at the munerarius, demanding thumbs either up or down. The attitude of the throngs towards the prone gladiator’s fate would usually depend upon their mood on the particular day and how well the man had previously fought before succumbing to the retiarius’ expertise.
Today’s young secutor did not give himself much chance of survival in his own first appearance in the amphitheatre, as one of the newly fully trained gladiators, or ‘primi pali’. This term, literally meaning ‘first stakes’, refers to the customary wooden training post, or ‘palus’, of each ludus.
The new secutor had suffered the misfortune of being drawn to fight one of the most famed and feared fighters of the day, Didius, who was of the higher rank of ‘tertii pali’, or ‘third stakes’. The young man was, like his redoubtable opponent, a plebeian freeman who had entered voluntarily into a gladiatorial career. However, his own motives concerned the desperate need to secure the enrolment fee to ensure the survival through the recent famine of his pregnant girlfriend.
The girl had not wanted her very handsome, strong boyfriend to become a gladiator. However, she had finally and most reluctantly been persuaded by him, as she clearly needed urgent nourishment, if she was to save her unborn child, and the pair of young lovers had nowhere else to turn to for help.
The young man had been unsuccessful at seeking alternative work at a time of record unemployment in Rome, caused by the massive flow of rural refugees into the Imperial capital over recent decades and the shear volume of slaves already present to perform most of the urban menial chores. Neither of the young lovers could think of any other way of securing money. Even the girl volunteering to prostitute herself was unrealistic, for two reasons. First, her obvious pregnancy would be off-putting for most potential customers. Second, at such desperate times, not only were there many rivals for business but also, as a result of the glut of human flesh on offer, rates had plummeted to levels that still could not guarantee survival when the cost of the scarce food was so high.
The young secutor’s apprehension in facing the famous, undefeated Didius was compounded by having to wait awhile to fight. After the parade, he and the other gladiators, not needed for the early exhibitions of deadly combat, had returned to holding cells within the cavernous cellars immediately below the sturdy, sand-covered, wooden floor of the arena.
As the young secutor waited, he somehow knew that he would die on this day. He therefore prayed to the gods for the welfare of his girlfriend and still unborn child, as well as for his own soul.
(Corinth, Achaea, Greece, same time)
‘Why should any honest man have need of a priest? The gods need no mediator to make them kind to him.’
- Apollonius of Tyana
Aquila and his wife, Priscilla, were continuing to act as hosts to Rufus Pudens Pudentius’ half-brother, Paul, and this man’s young travelling companion, Timothy, who had arrived in Corinth almost 2 months previously.
Paul and Timothy had actually been present in Athens when Gaius and his boys had been there but they had not met up again, remaining mutually ignorant of each other’s presence. Given my beloved’s dislike for the Christian preacher’s narrow and intolerant beliefs, both parties were probably fortunate that such a reunion did not materialise.
Paul originally intended to try to establish a worthwhile ‘church’, or large group of Christian believers, in Athens. However, he gave up his attempt in frustration when he recognised that the devotion of the vast bulk of the citizenry to their pagan gods was too strong for him to achieve his aim. He and Timothy therefore left in disgust for Corinth, where he hoped to experience better fortune.
Paul, with Timothy, was now to spend 2 years in Corinth trying to accomplish his holy task. He paid his way by assisting Aquila in their shared trade of tent-making.
Whilst in Corinth, Paul became busily engaged on not only his tent-making profession, and preaching his beliefs and converting poor lost souls to them, but also writing many letters to followers located elsewhere in the Roman Empire.
(Amphitheatre of T. Statilius Taurus, Campus Martius, Rome, later same afternoon)
‘Everywhere there were wounds, moans, gore; one could only see danger.’
- Quintilian (‘Rhetorical Exercises’)
As the fearful young secutor re-entered the amphitheatre, he could smell and see death everywhere. The bodies of some of those who had already fatally fallen had still not been dragged away, whilst much of the sand had not yet been turned to hide the copious spillage of blood onto the vast, grainy floor of the arena.
Despite the raucous noisiness of the huge crowds, the young secutor could also hear something that seemed to him to foretell his own imminent fate. He heard the sound of swords and other weapons being sharpened, as well as the whip of his lanista being exercised in readiness, if needed, to encourage the gladiators to enter and perform combat properly.
The young secutor watched the official sinisterly dressed as Phersu, the Etruscan demon of the underworld, prod the bodies of the last of his deceased predecessors, all bearing gaping wounds to both body and throat, with red-hot brands to ensure that they were truly lifeless. This man then ordered the corpses to be dragged out with hooks, whilst resting on the couches of Libitina, the Roman goddess of death. The gate, or ‘porta’, through which the dead then departed, is named after this deity.
As the young secutor observed this frightful scene, he must have wondered how long it would be before his own dead form was similarly despatched from the amphitheatre. A few tears then began to form in his pessimistic eyes, but probably not because of fears for his own life.
The young secutor instead, given his fatalistic attitude, undoubtedly grieved intensely that he would never see his girlfriend again, know if she ever bore him a child or once more play with her beautiful body. Nor would he be able to continue to look after her future welfare. He also almost certainly would have prayed to the gods that someone good would assume his loving, protective role in the young woman’s life.
The young secutor then heard more orchestra music, which indicated that his demise in this world was about to be inflicted. The rhythms of these instruments rise and fall, in line with the perceived momentum of the various deadly conflicts.
The young secutor somehow knew that he would die, even if he fought very well in defeat, displaying great ‘virtus’ and thereby justifying, from a decent crowd and munerarius, a missio to enable him to survive to fight on another day. His glum attitude existed despite the fact that his imminent combat with Didius was not ‘sine missione’, where the defeated were permitted no reprieve.
Whilst bloody and prone at Didius’ feet, the young secutor would naturally raise the index finger of his hand as a sign of submission and entreaty for mercy, whilst his opponent was temporarily restrained from killing him by the supervising lanista. However, he had already recognised, from the regular, loud, shouted chants from above of "Hoc habet!", or "He’s had it", which he had heard whilst waiting in the holding cell below, that today’s 30,000 crowd did not seem in a merciful mood. Judging from the dead bodies he had seen, the event’s munerarius, the Emperor Claudius, also appeared to be in a similar sadistic state of mind.
(Domus of Aulus Plautius, Rome, same time)
‘Those who aim at great deeds must also suffer greatly.’
- Crassus
"It’s again very kind of you," Cephas announced, "to invite me for refreshments at your domus, whilst your husband and sons are out together. Would I be correct in supposing that they’re sharing the Emperor’s box at the games in the amphitheatre today?" "As usual, you’re correct," Aulus Plautius’ wife, Pomponia Graecina replied to her frequent, platonic guest.
"Would I also be correct in supposing," Cephas continued, "that Suffuscus will be in Nero’s company in particular?" "Again, you’re correct," Pomponia Graecina smilingly answered.
"Well," Cephas then commented, "let’s hope that the close friendship between the two boys survives the eventual disclosure of Suffuscus’ true background and heritage." "Do you think that this revelation need ever be made," Pomponia Graecina responded, with a worried look displayed on her still attractive face.
"Given Suffuscus’ almost perfect character," Cephas perceptively declared, "it’s bound to, as I’m sure that your adopted son will eventually tell Nero himself. He’s not the type to be able to conceal such facts about himself for ever from his closest friends, although I’m sure that he’ll only do so when he’s confident that such a revelation can hurt no-one but himself."
"Oh dear," Pomponia Graecina asked with clear concern, "do you think that the revelation could then still harm him?" "Undoubtedly," Cephas advised, "if not at Nero’s hands, then at those of the Empress!"
"Oh dear!" Pomponia Graecina repeated, with real alarm evident in her eyes.
(Amphitheatre of T. Statilius Taurus, Campus Martius, Rome, same time)
‘That he [Claudius] was of a cruel and bloodthirsty disposition was shown in matters great and small. He always exacted examination by torture and the punishment of parricides at once and in his presence. When he was at Tibur and wished to see an execution in the ancient fashion, no executioner could be found after the criminals were bound to the stake. Whereupon, he sent to fetch one from the city and continued to wait for him until nightfall. At any gladiatorial show, either his own or another’s, he gave orders that even those who fell accidentally should be slain, in particular the net-fighters, so that he could watch their faces as they died. When a pair of gladiators had fallen by mutually inflicted wounds, he at once had some little knives made from both their swords for his use. He took such pleasure in the combats with wild beasts and of those who fought at noonday, that he would go down to the arena at daybreak and, after dismissing the people for luncheon at midday, he would keep his seat and in addition to the appointed combatants, he would for trivial and hasty reasons match others, even of the carpenters, the assistants and men of that class, if any automatic device, or pageant, or anything else of the kind, had not worked well. He even forced one of his pages to enter the arena just as he was, in his toga.’
- Suetonius (‘Life of Claudius’, 34)
I have to confess that Claudius’ regular attendance at gladiatorial games brought the worst of his character to the fore. He did exhibit a strong cruel streak at such times, which was usually missing elsewhere, apart from when traitors and criminals were receiving their due punishments. However, I also have to add that the Emperor’s sadism has subsequently been grossly exaggerated by later critical historians, who have displayed a habit of inextricably mixing fact with pernicious misinformation.
For example, although Claudius rarely took me with him to games, because he knew that I strongly disliked such events, I was never told by anyone who did accompany him that he forced errant amphitheatre workers or palace pages into the arena to fight. I would have heard about such happenings if they had truly taken place, as they did with some of the Emperor’s successors. Like most of his fellow Romans, the Princeps simply enjoyed the bloody spectacle of gladiatorial contests, and he was currently particularly appreciating the young secutor’s struggle against the diminutive but renowned , formidably skilled and mobile Didius.
The heavily armed and armoured young secutor appeared cumbersome in contract to the lightly attired Didius, equipped only with net, trident and dagger. To the intrigued, raucous spectators, including Claudius, it only seemed a matter of time before the famous retarius tired his opponent sufficiently in order then, as was his custom, to close in for his kill.
Despite being November, the sun, overhead in the cloudless blue sky, was bright and hot. Consequently, despite his previous, lengthy, comprehensive physical preparation for his debut in the amphitheatre, the frightened young secutor began to feel very weary, and he had not yet been anywhere near to striking his elusive adversary. Contrastingly, Didius had almost fatally tripped up his opponent with his net on several occasions. Meanwhile, the 30,000 crowd, including Claudius, bayed for blood.
The young secutor eventually began to feel light-headed, as exhaustion and despair began to overwhelm his handsome form. A few more tears also started to emerge in his eyes, although these were largely hidden by his helmet. His lachrymation was caused by the realisation that his end was surely near. Then, Didius, judging his own moment well to prove his opponent’s supposition correct, finally launched a successful assault.
The legs of the secutor became ensnared in Didius’ net. One mighty tug from the retarius then brought the young man to the ground, amidst a cacophony of loud cheering and screaming from all around.
As he fell, the secutor lashed out wildly and desperately with his own sword, which somehow managed to nick Didius’ right arm, enraging the retiarius, for he was only very rarely wounded. Consequently, the young man’s little victory was to prove pyrrhic.
The secutor soon felt his shield kicked away and the wrist of his arm, which held his sword, agonisingly pierced by one of the sharp prongs of his adversary’s trident. This caused the young man not only to screech aloud in excruciation but also to drop his weapon.
The furious Didius was quickly astride his disarmed and prone adversary and, with further proficient use of his now bloody trident, he managed to slice off his opponent’s leather belt, thereby publicly exposing the young man’s genitalia. Before his lanista could prevent the next blow, the retarius then swiftly and accurately rammed all three blades of his own weapon into the secutor’s vulnerable groin.
A severed penis immediately jumped into the air before returning to rest on the bloodied sand under the secutor’s loins. Meanwhile, the middle blade of the trident that had perpetrated this savage act, much to the crowd’s delight, also penetrated the young man’s scrotum, temporarily pinning him by his remaining genitalia to the ground.
The young secutor had been at the receiving end of a vengeful action from Didius that the latter was perpetrating for the first time. However, given its apparent popularity, it was not to be the last occasion that the renowned retiarius would inflict such barbarity on opponents, feats that only made him even more famous.
The lanista then came to the secutor’s temporary rescue, as his arms held those of Didius to prevent the victor from inflicting another, more fatal blow. Most eyes then turned to Claudius, who stood up to deliver his verdict on the ultimate outcome of the contest, amidst vociferous chants of "Hoc habet!"
Despite the acute agony the secutor was naturally experiencing, he recognised the full extent of the damage that had been inflicted upon him. He therefore prayed to the gods for Claudius to give the thumbs up so that Didius could despatch him to Hades. Unlike his opponent, the young man did not want to continue to live without a penis.
The secutor therefore did not submit by raising his forefinger but instead deliberately exposed his neck, clearly inviting the death blow. The cheers of the crowd then resounded even more loudly round the amphitheatre, as the young man felt the trident being agonisingly removed from his scrotum.
The last sight the secutor ever saw through the small eyeholes of his visored helmet was the three blades of the trident, dripping with his own genital blood, then crash down towards his exposed throat. As much more sanguine fluid subsequently spurted out of the resultant trio of fatal wounds, just like a fountain, the surrounding cheering attained a previously unprecedented level. Meanwhile, Claudius smiled as he watched the gory spectacle, with his arm outstretched and displaying an upright thumb.
What no-one, of course, realised on that day was that the sad demise of the poor debutante gladiator would subsequently be of great consequence because, despite his defeat and early death, he must have been beloved by the gods. The deities had listened to the young man’s earlier prayer, requesting that someone good would assume his loving, protective role in his girlfriend’s life.
Now, not only would the pregnant girlfriend of the young secutor play an important part in the lives of certain characters in my saga but also their unborn child would be of great significance to them and to Rome.
(Imperial palace, Rome, 1½ months later, dies Mercurii A.D. XVIII Kal. Ian. DCCCV A.V.C., in the 10th year of the reign of the Emperor Claudius [Wednesday, 15th December, AD 51)
‘Not he who abstains, but he who enjoys without being carried away is master of his pleasures.’
- Aristippus
"Titus Petronius Niger," the slave charged with formerly announcing the arrival of the guests at Nero’s 14th birthday celebrations loudly declared. Shortly afterwards, the same Imperial servant shouted "Marcus Salvius Otho!"
Otho was unaccompanied by his new wife, Poppaea, and so, after declaring his birthday greetings and best wishes to Nero, who was, as ever, closely accompanied by the delightful Suffuscus, he sought out someone with whom he could chat. He chose the always friendly and interesting Petronius, whose cognomen of ‘Niger’ related to his black hair.
Otho’s choice was influenced not only by Petronius’ well-known affability, humour and erudition but also the reputation of the ‘elegentiae arbiter’ for holding interesting, orgiastic dinner parties. Despite being newly married, the young patrician, who still shaved his body hair daily, liked to receive invitations to such events, as he welcomed sexual variety.
In fact, having secured an invitation from Petronius to the elegentiae arbiter’s next cena of a particular kind, Otho then successfully sought out Aulus Vitellius in order to obtain a similar result with him. It was as he proceeded on this mission that I first realised that the young patrician was present at Nero’s birthday celebrations, where I was attending to Claudius, in case the Emperor wanted to sample any of the sumptuous array of food and drink on offer.
As Otho passed behind me, I felt a hand creep quickly under my short tunic and pinch my bottom. I jumped in shock before turning to see the young patrician smiling at me.
"You look more beautiful than ever," Otho then whispered so that Claudius, who was busy talking to his friend, Aulus Plautius, could not overhear. I blushed at such flattery, but also have to confess that I was immodestly not displeased.
"Your unparalleled beauty," Otho continued, with clearly genuine, eager enthusiasm, "only makes me lust after you more. Please, I beg you, put me out of my misery and grant me a secret liaison so that I can alleviate my desperate desires!"
(Imperial palace, Rome, 2 months later, dies Veneris A.D. III Id. Feb. DCCCV A.V.C., in the 11th year of the reign of the Emperor Claudius [Friday, 11th February, AD 52])
‘I will make nothing better by crying, I will make nothing worse by giving myself what entertainment I can.’
- Archilochus
In marked contrast to Nero’s flamboyant celebrations, Britannicus’ commemoration of his 11th birthday was held in private, in his rather small and dowdy palace quarters and with only one guest. However, as the latter was his best friend, Titus, the prince was not overly bothered, apart from his continued apprehension about what his demeaned status within the Imperial court augured for his future.
(Alba Fucens, near the Fucine Lake, Sabina, central Italia, 1 month later, Martius, DCCCV A.V.C., in the 11th year of the reign of the Emperor Claudius [AD 52]))
‘About the same time, the mountain between Lake Fucinus and the River Liris was bored through, and that this grand work might be seen by a multitude of visitors, preparations were made for a naval battle on the lake, just as formerly Augustus exhibited such a spectacle, in a basin he had made this side of the Tiber, though with light vessels and on a smaller scale. Claudius equipped galleys with three and four banks of oars, and nineteen thousand men. He lined the circumference of the lake with rafts, that there might be no means of escape at various points, but he still left full space for the strength of the crews, the skill of the pilots, the impact of the vessels, and the usual operations of a sea fight. On the raft stood companies of the Praetorian cohorts and cavalry, with a breastwork in front of them, from which catapults and balistas might be worked. The rest of the lake was occupied by marines on decked vessels. An immense multitude from the neighbouring towns, others from Rome itself, eager to see the sight or to show respect to the Emperor, crowded the banks, the hills and mountain tops, which thus resembled a theatre. The Emperor, with Agrippina seated near him, presided. He wore a splendid military cloak, she, a mantle of cloth of gold. A battle was fought with all the courage of brave men, though it was between condemned criminals. After much bloodshed, they were released from the necessity of mutual slaughter.’
- Tacitus (‘Annals’, XII.56)
Claudius, Agrippina and Nero were staying in a sumptuous domus, loaned by a rich, fawning, patrician courtier, in the town of Alba Fucens, which occupies a lofty situation at the foot of a mountain in central Italia, about 50 Roman miles to the east of the Imperial capital. Britannicus, still in Rome, was a noticeable absentee for the impending celebrations, arranged to commemorate the inauguration of the draining of the nearby Fucine Lake.
Alba Fucens was originally a town of the Aequi, located near their frontier with the Marsi. However, both peoples had long since been conquered and subdued by the Romans, who colonised the strongly fortified town because of its strategic importance.
Alba Fucens rests against its mountain, just to the north of the Via Valeria, which extends from Rome across Italia to Aternum on the coast of the Mare Adriaticus. Because of the fortified mountainous location, which is circuited by formidable walls 2 Roman miles long, the town is a regular place of detention for important state prisoners, amongst whom were once numbered Syphax of Numidia, Perseus of Macedonia and Bituitus of the Arverni.
You will recall, dear patient reader, that I mentioned, in what my worthy scribe has numbered chapter 27 of my saga, that Claudius’ greatest construction project was the draining of the Fucine Lake, which required the labours of 30,000 men. The lake, which was fed by the run-off of rain from the Apennines, had no natural river out-fall. It was normally drained solely by evaporation and ground seepage, which when combined with the sloping bottom conspired to produce local irregular cycles of flood and drought. The land exposed during shrinkage of the lake was rich in alluvium and consequently proved to be highly productive farmland, important to assist the feeding of the Roman masses. However, the local inhabitants, the Marsi, were frustrated in their exploitation of this resource by continued frequent flooding. The approach taken by the Emperor and his capable freedmen to rectify the problem displayed the audacity typical of many of their engineering schemes. A tunnel, 3 Roman miles long, was forced through the difficult geology of a mountain to link with the distant River Liris.
The opening of this tunnel had just taken place and began as a great spectacle. A fake naval battle, or ‘naumachia’, was arranged on the lake with real ships and 19,000 appropriate gladiatorial combatants, or ‘naumachiarii’, all criminals arranged into two groups representing the ‘Sicilians’ and ‘Rhodians’. The fighting commenced when an ingenious mechanical device encouraged a large silver triton to rise, seemingly miraculously, out of the waters. Meanwhile, a long wooden wall and many stands had been assembled to accommodate the huge crowds that ringed the lake to watch.
Claudius was present along with Agrippina, who wore an ostentatious cloak of gold thread. Meanwhile, both young Nero and his accompanying best friend, Suffuscus, sported military dress.
Unfortunately, the whole remarkable and exciting but bloody and deadly spectacle culminated in a farce. Following the naval battle, which produced many corpses on board the ships and floating in the lake, the tunnel sluices were opened but sadly little water flowed inside to commence the draining procedure. An engineering error had caused the channel to be dug insufficiently below the level of the lake to enable effective drainage, to the acute embarrassment of everyone concerned.
As a furious Claudius returned to his temporary domus in Alba Fucens, he promised "For their sh....sh....aming incompetence, I’ll have the chief en....en....gineers responsible for this f....f....fiasco fight each other to the death in the a....a....amphitheatre in Rome!" Fortunately, when the Emperor dined later alone, apart from his attendant slaves, of whom I was one, he had calmed and I took the opportunity to plead for the lives of the miscreant ‘fabri’ concerned, even though I had never met them.
Claudius, as he often did when he dined alone, had engaged me in conversation and the topics included that day’s events. "Perhaps," I suggested when the Emperor mentioned the chief civil engineers, "if I might make so bold a suggestion, Sire, the ‘fabri’ might be better left in post. After all, who are better placed than them to correct the mistake, given their intimate knowledge of the project? A warning that they’ll fight each other to the death like gladiators in Rome’s amphitheatre might therefore best be left as a threat regarding what’ll happen next time if they repeat their ineptitude!"
Claudius smiled in response and, peering into my sky-blue eyes, announced "As u....u....usual, B....B....Bicilus, you p....p....provide wise c....c....counsel!" However, unfortunately for the chief civil engineers of the Fucine Lake project, the reprieve that I had just secured for them was only to prove temporary.
(Rhodus, same time)
‘Happiness comes from understanding one basic principle: some things are within our control and some things are not. Our opinions, ambitions, desires and aversions are in our control. We can change the contents of our inner character. Our body, wealth, fame and social status are not in our control. They are external to us and not our concern.’
- Epictetus
Having been brought to Rhodus by a series of fortunate occurrences, the parents of Apollinus and Helius had resettled well in their ancestral homeland. This happy outcome occurred despite the facts that they were separated from their sons and their island was currently subject to Roman martial law.
Rhodus had been deprived of its former freedoms by the Emperor Claudius, 7 years before the parental arrival, because of local riots in which citizens of Rome had been killed. The islanders would not regain their former rights for another couple of years, and then the parents of Apollinus and Helius would actually play an unwitting but key part in the rehabilitation of their homeland within the Roman Empire.
(Alba Fucens, near the Fucine Lake, Sabina, central Italia, same time)
‘They bake cakes, as they’ve always done. They infuriate their husbands, as they’ve always done. They conceal lovers in the house, as they’ve always done. They buy themselves little extras on the side, as they’ve always done. They drink their wine neat, as they’ve always done. They enjoy a bit of sex, as they’ve always done. And so, gentlemen, let us waste no time in fruitless debate or in asking what they propose to do, but quite simply hand over the reins of government to them, and let them get on with the job. In doing so, we need only remind ourselves firstly that, as mothers, they will naturally be concerned for the safety of our soldiers. Who is more likely than a mother to ensure them an adequate supply of food? Further, a woman is a highly resourceful creature when it comes to ways of raising money, and certainly, when in office, she will never allow herself to be taken in. She knows all the tricks already!’
- Aristophanes on women (‘The Assembly Women’)
Agrippina had not dined with her husband because she was elsewhere in Alba Fucens. The Empress was making courtesy visits to local dignitaries, as befitted a dutiful Augusta whose always introvert and now largely disinterested spouse no longer bothered to indulge in such diplomatic pleasantries.
Agrippina’s aim was threefold. First, she wanted to appear dutiful and competent to her husband, thereby encouraging him to delegate more and more state tasks, and therefore power, to her. Second, she hoped to extend her own influence over important citizens by flattering them with her visits. Third, the occasions also allowed her to complete her missions early so that she could enjoy a liaison with one of her lovers.
It was Faenius Rufus’ turn to benefit from the early conclusion of Agrippina’s diplomatic visits round Alba Fucens. As the naked 37 year-old Empress now rested in the arms of her 26 year-old paramour, after their first bout of copious overnight lovemaking, she confided in him her own secret thoughts about the day’s farce on the Fucine Lake.
"I couldn’t have organised the fiasco better myself," Agrippina smilingly declared, "as what’s happened should enable me to undermine Narcissus’ position even more. He’s officially responsible for overall oversight of the project and so the day’s embarrassment provides me with ammunition with which to attack him. The situation can only improve even more if we can furtively create more humiliating problems for the scheme!"
In fact, as Agrippina subsequently recognised, the plan she now devised to sabotage Narcissus’ position within the Imperial court almost led to disastrous consequences for many other people besides the Imperial secretary.
Agrippina herself, her husband, Claudius, and natural son, Nero, also almost perished as a result of the botched plot, along with a certain barbarian eunuch slave named Bicilus.
(To be continued in chapter XLV – ‘Sabotage’)