Roman Slaves
By: Farrell Squire (guyson@aristotle.net)
[STRAIGHT] [BI] [PENECTOMY] [TESTICLES] [MINOR] Other:
All the recent posts about castration of slaves and the discovery
of those castration clamps from all over the ancient Roman Empire,
has inspired me to do a little speculation. I wondered what it
might have been like to have been a young man in a northern
barbarian tribe when it was overwhelmed by Roman soldiers and the
survivors rounded up and sold as slaves.
To the true historians on this board, I offer my apologies for the
corny names I made up for characters and tribes. I just didn't feel
up to doing extensive research on period names for a 5000-word
short story.
back to index
Roman Slaves
The sun was setting and the guards gave the signal for the slaves
to begin marching from the fields back to the slaves' quarters.
Located behind the stables, the slaves' quarters consisted of a
crude stucco building with straw covering a dirt floor. For Alrac,
the routine was now becoming quite predictable. Each night they
would be given their daily ration of gruel before bedding down on
the crowded floor in their ragged, makeshift blankets.
Work on the latifundia was hard, even brutal. Several slaves had
died in the heat this summer. Attempting escape was futile. A few
had tried, and none was successful. They were captured and returned
to the latifundia to be nailed to crossed beams erected by the
slave's quarters; there to expire in slow agony. Some had lived as
much as three days. Hanging from the beams, they would wail and
bellow with pain and in their anguish, sometimes babble
incoherently. Toward the end, they would lapse into long periods of
unconsciousness, occasionally awakening from their pain-induced
stupor, and let out anguished screams that pierced the still summer
night. Once expired, their bodies would be left in place to wither
and desiccate on the crossed beams as a grotesque reminder to any
slave who might consider escape. Finally, a slave detail would be
ordered to dispose of the putrefying corpse, usually by burning.
At first it had all seemed like a horrible dream. Alrac had
expected to wake up and be back in his own little village on the
edge of the Black Forest. This was his fourteenth summer. This
summer he was to be initiated into the warrior brotherhood of his
tribe; officially a man; ready to begin his life as a proud and
free warrior. Now, just months later, it was his old life that
seemed like the dream. It was a world that no longer existed, as
imaginary as if he had made it up. He would never try to escape.
There would be no place to go. His journey, in chains, to the
latifundia had taken many weeks in a maze-like sequence of events.
Part of the journey had been over water in a galley. Alrac only had
a vague notion of the direction in which his former homeland lay.
Anyway, his village was gone, destroyed. Except for his friend,
Bangar, he knew no one who spoke the language and dialect of his
tribe. The handful of survivors of that Roman raid were scattered
across this strange, giant land; sold as slaves. Miraculously, he
and Bangar had remained together and were sold to the same master.
That night, as usual, Alrac and Bangar lay down on the straw next
to one another. They had been boyhood friends and now they were all
that they had in this world. This new land was brutal and
terrifying, and it fused a stronger bond between Alrac and Bangar
than had ever existed before. It was a miracle sent by the Gods
that had allowed them to retain their manhood. The trauma of
witnessing brutal castration of so many of the young boys of their
tribe had sensitized them to the preciousness of their sexuality.
They had become lovers now, and their greatest fear in all the
world was that they would be separated; sold to different masters.
Alrac remembered that fateful day in the early spring of this year
when his world was destroyed and his life changed forever. Remote
as that time seemed now, the events of that day had been burned
into his soul forever.
They had heard rumors of the Romans, although no one in his tribe
had ever seen one. They were said to be some kind of powerful tribe
living to the south. The warriors of his village had all proven
their courage and prowess in skirmishes and raids against
neighboring tribes. They used to boast about how they would deal
with these Romans in battle. Once the Romans got a taste of the
fierceness and bravery of the warriors of this tribe, they would
tuck their tails run like a pack of whipped dogs. After a few cups
of mead, the men of the village were especially boastful. When the
scout reported that a Roman army had made an encampment near the
village and an army was heading their way, everyone looked forward
to the battle with eager anticipation. As was befitting a tribe of
warriors, fear never crossed their minds. All the young warriors
like Alrac would have a chance to prove themselves in battle, and
have stories to tell to their grand children.
The Romans had attacked a first light. No one had expected that
there would be nearly so many of them. The Roman soldiers were as
thick as the trees of the forest and were advancing slowly and
methodically toward the village. A wall of shields extended in
either direction as far as anyone could see. As soon as the
warriors of Alrac's village broke into the open to face the Romans,
the sky darkened with Roman arrows. The shields of the warriors
proved quite inadequate to protect them from the Roman arrows,
while the Romans, with their long heavy shields, had little to fear
from the arrows of the tribesmen who retaliated in kind, only as a
belated and poorly planned afterthought.
Yelling fierce battle cries, the warriors attacked the advancing
shield wall only to be impaled on protruding spears wielded by the
Roman second rank. In less than an hour, over half of the men of
Alrac's village lay dead or dying. When the arrows stopped flying a
second wall of shields appeared on the opposite side, cutting off
escape. As the two walls came together, Alrac and the remaining
warriors pounded furiously and frantically on the Roman shields
with their swords, but to no avail. Alrac had envisioned many
glorious single contests against individual Roman soldiers. These
were the kind of feats he had heard the warriors brag about around
the fires after the feasts. What was happening was much different.
Alrac had never expected any thing like this. The two walls of
shields came ever closer together, and the next thing Alrac knew,
burly arms were gripping him and securing him with ropes as he
struggled futilely to escape.
The captives were held in improvised enclosures; the men separate
from the women and children. Roman soldiers were going through the
village picking up stragglers, mostly women and children, and
setting fire to all the huts and long houses. The Romans brought up
a wagon loaded with iron chain and began replacing the ropes of the
captives with this more permanent method of securement. Alrac
remembered he and Bangar just looking at each other in
bewilderment. The Romans were so well organized; this had all been
well planned.]
Alrac's father and uncles were dead, as were all the men of the
village. The oldest male captives allowed to live were young boys
about his own age. Alrac watched as his mother was killed trying to
defend his sisters and younger brothers. He watched helplessly as
his bride-to-be, his beautiful precious Galena, was chained and led
screaming into the compound with the other female captives. They
would have been wed on the day of the summer solstice that year.
By midday the village was completely subdued and the Romans were
taking an inventory of captives. The Romans lit a fire of coals in
a brazier, like a blacksmith would use and began heating some hot
irons. The captives looked at each other uneasily. They knew (or
thought they knew) that they were about to be branded. Then
suddenly five burly soldiers grabbed on of the young boys and held
him against a wheel of the wagon, spreading his legs widely.
Another soldier took a gruesome-looking device that looked somewhat
like blacksmith's tongs and clamped it tightly over the boy's nut
sack, while yet another soldier took a knife and cut off the boy's
testicles, sack and all. Then he cauterized the wound with one of
the hot irons. All the while, the boy who Alrac had recognized as
one of his cousins, had kicked and squealed like a girl. His
screams elevated to a high-pitched shriek and the knife separated
his manhood and his wound was sealed with the iron.
A roar of gruff laughter came up from the Roman soldiers who were
witnessing the spectacle. As the next victim was spread-eagled over
the wagon wheel, every boy now realized his fate. Wails and screams
of protest came from the female captives who were witnessing this
happening to the remaining menfolk of their tribe. These were not
just anonymous unknown people for whom they had no personal
attachment. These were lovers, potential husbands, friends,
brothers, cousins, etc. The tribe was like a large extended family.
They all had some personal connection or relationship with each of
the victims. As though it weren't enough to see most of their
families slaughtered in the morning's fighting, they were now
having to watch as the remaining hope of their little village, the
husbands, defenders, and providers of the next generation, being
cut like cattle.
Alrac looked on in horror as his male relatives and friends were
gelded one by one. Most of these boys would have soon been
initiated as warriors in his tribe; brave and strong. Now he had to
watch them kick and squeal like girls as each one, in turn, lost
his manhood. Even Dregough, the toughest boy in the village,
shrieked and squealed just like the rest when his time came. After
being castrated the boys slumped to the ground and bawled and
wailed with a mournful tone of hopelessness and regret that Alrac
had never heard before, or even realized was possible. The
spectacle was increasing the sense of horror felt by the boys
awaiting castration. Some of them broke down and began to cry like
little children. This, coupled with the wailing and begging from
the female captives was making great sport for the Romans.
By late that afternoon, practically all the young boys, about three
dozen in all, had been castrated. Now only Alrac, Bangar, and two
others remained. It was then that Alrac was sure that the Gods, in
the ironic way in which Gods always seem to work, intervened and
saved his manhood. The Roman soldiers looked at Alrac, grinning
cruelly with that "next" look in their eyes.
Suddenly, a loud shout, like a battle cry, was heard in the forest
just north of the village. Then there was another shout, then
another, and another. Soon a chorus of wild battle cries filled the
air and hundreds of barbarian warriors clad in skins and
brandishing swords and spears began descending on the village (or
the remains of it) with a wild fury.
The Romans, caught completely by surprise, frantically tried to
reorganize their ranks to face the onslaught. Soon the battle raged
all about him. Swords clanged against swords and shields, and cries
of the wounded and dying, filled the air. Alrac, bound in his
chains, could only stand helplessly and watch. He recognized the
barbarian warriors though. They were Vulgans, a rival tribe to the
north. They had fought many skirmishes with his own tribe. In fact,
Alrac's grandmother had been a Vulgan. Captured as a young girl in
a raid, his grandfather had taken her to wife.
Though fierce, the battle was short-lived. The Romans greatly
outnumbered the Vulgans who soon retreated back into the forest
from whence they came. However, the Romans, who had suffered almost
no casualties when fighting with Alrac's tribe, had taken a beating
in the Vulgan onslaught. There were over two dozen dead and many
more wounded. Only four Vulgan bodies were left on the battlefield.
This was the kind of fighting Alrac had expected to see that
morning; sword to sword; warrior to warrior in individual combat.
This was what the barbarians were best at. But give the Romans
enough time to plan and organize and they were impossible to defeat.
Alrac felt sure that the Vulgans had not known about the Romans
occupying their village, and had not come to help. The Vulgans were
on a raid of their own against Alrac's tribe. They were as
surprised to see the Romans as the Romans were to see them. Yes, it
was the intervention of the Gods.
Needless to say, however, this attack was enough to take the
Romans' focus off the castration of prisoners for a while. A
perimeter was hastily set up, outlined by torches, and a vigil was
kept all through the night. The Vulgans never returned, but the
Romans never knew when they might be attacked by this new menace.
The next morning, the Romans formed a caravan, and with their
captives, started the long march back to the civilized world.
Alrac, Bangar, and those able to walk were led in chains. The newly-
made eunuchs who were recovering from their operations were allowed
to ride in wagons until they were able to walk. A few died, but
most survived. At various cities and intermediate destinations
slaves were sold, traded, and mingled with other slaves from all
over the known world. Beautiful Galena was one of the first to be
sold, and Alrac wept as he watched her being led away. Finally,
Bangar was the only person left from Alrac's old village. They had
been put to hard labor in fields of a great latifundia, but they
still had their manhood and they had each other.
At daybreak, after being fed a small ration of gruel, the slaves
prepared, as usual, to march to the fields. Some new men were
present, however, dressed in finer garments than the guards, and
were talking to their captain. Soon the guards selected Alrac,
Bangar, and six other boys about their age from the group. The
other slaves were all older and were marched on to the fields as
soon as the boys were segregated from the group.
Alrac and Bangar looked at each other with an expression of
apprehension, but they dared not speak. They had seen slaves
whipped for speaking without permission and had heard of them
having their tongues cut out for such a transgression. A couple of
guards and the well-dressed men motioned to them and accompanied
them to the master's villa which sat atop a hill on the latifundia.
Alrac and Bangor knew something was up, and when you're a slave,
that usually doesn't mean something good. Whispering in their bed
of straw at night, Alrac and Bangar had speculated on their fate.
They decided that since the Romans had left their genitals intact
for some months, coupled with the fact that few of the other slaves
had been cut (it wasn't something that was done to everyone), they
could quit worrying too much about being gelded. The thing that
concerned them most now was being sold - to separate masters.
As the path. crested the hill going toward the villa, Alrac could
see the sea a short distance to the west. He remembered how
terrified he had been when he first saw it (and how sick he had
become the first time he was on a galley). He thought he had come
to the end of the world or something. The land just disappeared and
water went on forever. Then he learned that the Romans glided of
the surface of that water with the same unchallenged dominion as
they marched over the land. The sea was just an avenue to still
further lands and possessions under the dominion of Rome. It was
strange, but now he thought the sea was rather beautiful.
Once inside the stucco walls of the courtyard garden, the slaves
knelt before the master and his family. Alrac had learned enough
Latin in the past few months to be able to pick up on a lot of what
was said in conversations around him. Even though this was the
language of the people who had killed his mother and father, and
wiped out his entire tribe he desperately wanted to learn it. The
only person in the whole world that spoke his own language now was
Bangar. Other slaves all spoke their own tribal languages and the
only language that could be used to talk to everyone was Latin.
The master of the house was Parvius, who along with his wife,
Sophenna, and a small entourage of servants and employees, stood
before the young slave boys looking them over. Parvius seemed
contented, almost to the point of amusement. He said something to
his wife, then sauntered off, accompanied by the well-dressed men
and several attendants. Two of the attendants were young women and
Alrac had learned enough about Roman culture to suspect that these
were concubines. Prominent Roman women would often tolerate this
situation rather well as long as her husband's lovers didn't
challenge her position as mistress of the household. Slave women
posed no threat at all in this respect. Alrac wondered how many of
the male attendants were actually eunuchs. It was hard to tell even
though he watched carefully for clues.
Sophenna was a very attractive and elegant woman with a jovial
personality. Flanked by four male attendants and three young women,
she motioned for the slaves to stand. In a laughing voice she told
the male attendants that the boys were filthy and would have to be
bathed. This made the young girls giggle. Alrac noticed that these
girls were no older than himself, maybe even younger by a year of
two. He could tell by her dress and mannerism that one of the girls
held a high station and the other two were likely her attendants.
Perhaps she was the daughter of Parvius and Sophenna? At any rate,
this was the first time since his capture that he had looked at a
girl and thought about how cute she was. This made him blush and he
looked around quickly at Bangar as though to ask if he was thinking
the same thing. Bangar was smiling at him with a smile that
confirmed his suspicions. They grinned in secret communication with
each other.
The four male attendants escorted the boys to the baths. Once
there, the boys were ordered to strip and the four male attendants
stripped also. This removed all doubt as to whether the men were
actually eunuchs - they were! But most shocking of all to Alrac,
was that two of them had lost not only their testicles, but his
penises as well! Their names were Krabo and Falicus. Alrac wanted
badly to ask them how and why this had been done. Alrac held back
partly because of embarressment and partly because his knowledge of
Latin was still too limited to converse articulately.
Over the next few days the boys worked at the manor, caring for the
grounds and decorative gardens. They trimmed shrubbery and hedges,
polished marble floors, and performed other menial tasks. Part of
each day, however, was spent learning etiquite and protocol
necessary for being an attendant at the masters house, which of
course included lessons in Latin. They worked hard, but compared to
the work in the feilds it was not hard at all. They were given
breaks and provided plenty of water and fruit juice. They took
their meals with the servants and other members of the household
staff. The food was a far cry from the gruel given to the field
slaves. Alrac and Bangar tasted meat for the first time in over
five months.
At the end of each day the boys were instructed to bathe
themselves, but they no longer required the assistance of the
attendents. After bathing and supping with the staff they would go
to the sleeping quarters which were not elaborate, but very
adequate. The floor was cobblestone and there were large, thick
straw mats for sleeping. It was also much cooler atop the hill at
the manor.
As the boys worked, it became obvious to Alrac that they were being
watched by the girl they had learned was indeed the daughter of
Parvius and Sophenna. Her name was Sissi. Sometimes she would stand
up on an overlooking balcony when the boys were working. At other
times she would stand in the shade at the edge of the garden and
watch. Sometimes she would be accompanied by her young attendants,
Tika and Messilina, and sometimes she would be alone. It wasn't as
though she were spying; she never tried to hide her presence. Sissi
was just observing.
Alrac and Bangar never discussed this with the other boys. They
didn't know if they had even noticed. But they whispered about it
to each other in the sleeping quarters. They whispered about it in
their own private, secret language; the language of their extinct
tribe. They wondered if Sissy had the hots for them, and wondered
what it would be like. They also reminded themselves that they were
still only slaves and slaves didn't do things like that with the
master's family - and live. They were so grateful that their
manhood had been spared on that fateful day when the Vulgans
attacked just in the nick of time. Alrac thought of how wonderful
it was to have felt that flush of joy and excitement when Sissy and
her beautiful attendants had stood before them in the courtyard the
other day, and the warm tingle it gave him knowing that her eyes
might be on him as he worked. Yes, manhood was a wonderful thing.
It was a thing taken for granted in his old country, where only a
rare freak accident would produce a eunuch. But here in civilized
Rome, where the splendor of the wealthy stood always in dramatic
contrast to the squalor of the slaves, it was something that could
be all to easily lost. Eunuchs here were an integral part of the
social structure. He would be forever grateful to the Gods for
their precious gift.
One morning after a delightful breakfast of fruits and delicate
cakes the boys were about to resume their duties at the manor. They
had been there several weeks now and generally knew what to do
without having to be told. However, this morning the staff
instructed them to line up in the courtyard. Complying obediently,
they formed a line and quickly knelt in a gesture of submission as
the master and mistress of the manor came out to review them.
Sophenna was standing with three ladies in waiting and the four
eunuchs. Parvius was with three other men (eunuchs too, for all
Alrac knew) and his two pretty concubines. The two groups parted
slightly, allowing Sissi and her two young female attendants, Tika
and Messilina, to pass through and review the boys. Sissi motioned
for them to stand and they promptly complied.
Sissi and her two companions were wearing dresses made from sheer
silky fabric that allowed the soft tender flesh of their young legs
to show through seductively. Sissi carried herself with a certain
composure and aloofness that was required of her station in
society, but her smile and expression belied her sensuous warmth
and youthful innocence. Her young body was literally pulsing with
enthusiasm and erotic sensuality. Alrac felt himself becoming hard
as she passed in front of him.
Sissi concentrated hard to maintain her aristocratic countenance as
she glanced back and forth at her attendants (girlfriends). They
whispered in each others ears and Tika giggled. Messilina put her
hand in front of her mouth to squelch a giggle and Sissi took a
deep breath and composed herself once more. She whispered in the
ears of her companions once more and Tika nodded approval.
Messilina just shrugged and giggled. Sissi strutted before the boys
once more in all her youthful beauty and aristocratic elegance.
Pointing a finger and using a Latin phrase that Alrac understood
perfectly she said, "I choose him and him."
Alrac was both relieved and apprehensive. Sissi had chosen him and
Bangar together. But chosen them for what? Parvius and Sophenna
both looked at each other and smiled approvingly. Parvius then gave
a sign with his hand and some guards came forward; guards who had
crept quietly into the courtyard, unseen, while the boys' attention
had been riveted on Sissi and her beautiful attendants.
Alrac and Bangar were instructed to step forward while the guards
escorted the other boys out of the courtyard and onto the path
leading back to the quarters of the field slaves. The boys marched
out obediently, in dejected silence.
"You must come with us," Krabo instructed, motioning to Alrac and
Bangar.
As Alrac and Bangar followed the eunuchs out of the courtyard,
Alrac turned to look at Sissi who was smiling contentedly. When
their eyes met, Sissi's smile left her face and she gave him a
look, that without words, said all too plainly, "I'm so sorry, but
this must be." Alrac now had a good idea what was in store for him
and Bangar.
The eunuchs led Alrac and Bangar into a chamber that was not unlike
a bed chamber. It contained two beds and perhaps it had been
prepared for just this occasion. The eunuchs explained to the boys
that it was a great honor to have been chosen as Sissi's personal
bed chamber eunuchs. Krabo explained that he and Falicus had been
chosen as Sophenna's personal eunuchs when they were about the same
age as Alrac and Bangar. And yes, that is why they had their
penises removed as well as their testicles. This was the tradition
for bed chamber eunuchs. He assured the boys that a much better
life was in store for them than the fate of those other poor
wretches that were marched back to the fields this morning.
Although resigned to their fate, the two boys were shaking and
almost crying. Then unexpectedly, Sophenna entered the room. She
smiled broadly and sympathetically while gently placing a consoling
hand on the head of each of the sniveling, sobbing youths.
"There, there, my little men," she said. "I understand why you are
frightened, but you are about to enter a more wonderful life than
you could ever have imagined. You are to become the personal eunuch
attendants of may daughter, Sissi. "You will feel anguish at your
loss of manhood at first, but you will soon realize that it was
such a small price to pay."
Sophenna continued running her fingers through the boys' hair and
wiping away the tears that had begun to trickle down their cheeks.
Sophenna had removed her outer garment and was clad in a dress much
like the one Sissi and the other girls had worn in the courtyard
this morning. It was made from that same sheer, silky material that
allowed her shapely legs to show through quite plainly. The boys
couldn't help but notice that Sophenna was quite beautiful. She
looked very much like a more mature Sissi. In spite of the
traumatic event that was shortly awaiting them, they felt
themselves becoming hard underneath their tunics.
"I chose Krabo and Falicus as my own personal eunuchs when I was
but twelve years of age," Sophenna continued. "They can tell you,
perhaps better than I, how it is to be a woman's personal eunuch.
It is more intimate than to simply be a husband or a lover, yet it
is quite different than being a friend or a brother. There is a
closeness and a bond between a mistress and her eunuchs that is
like nothing else. It is the most intimate of all bonds."
Sophenna now had her arms around both boys and was holding them
closely, their heads pressed firmly against Sophenna's voluptuous
breasts. She smiled at them with knowing amusement when she felt
their erections pressing against her legs.
"Yes, my little dears, you will soon make a very small sacrifice
that will allow me to present you to my daughter, Sissi, as her
personal eunuchs. Along with Tika and Messilina, you will become
the most intimate of little families, and you will come to realize
how lucky you were to have been chosen by Sissi.
"Oh yes, Sissi will take a husband some day, as I did my Parvius.
You will help prepare her nuptial bed and perhaps witness her
deflowering. But in time you will see the that the relationship
between eunuch and mistress is stronger than that between husband
and wife, which is, after all, more of a legal matter. Parvius and
I get along quite well; he with his concubines, and me with my
eunuchs."
Sophenna hugged both boys tightly and kissed each of them on the
forehead before releasing them and stepping back.
"Quickly now," she said, "off with your clothes. It is time."
The boys were hesitant and awkwardly tugged on their tunics.
"Come on now," Sophenna chuckled, as she moved in and assisted
them, "don't be bashful."
Soon the Alrac and Bangar were standing before Sophenna and the
eunuchs, stark naked. They both had firm erections pointing forward
and slightly upward. The eunuchs were smiling at the boys with
simple amusement and not a hint of envy in their expressions.
Sophenna literally gasped with erotic excitement on seeing the
boys' firm erections. She pulled the boys back toward her then
reached down and began to gently fondle their genitals. She
delicately played her fingers up and down their erect shafts and
squeezed and kneaded their ripe testicles.
"Oh, my beautiful, beautiful boys," she gasped sensuously. "It
almost seems like a shame that we must do this. Oh yes, such a
shame, such a shame!"
Krabo and Falicus were assembling the castration instruments on a
nearby table, while one of the other eunuchs fetched a clay jug
containing wine.
"We must first get you boys drunk," he said. "Very drunk. Trust me,
you will hardly feel anything."
Alrac and Bangar were both clinging to Sophenna as she fondled and
massaged their genitals. They were drooling precum while tears were
running down their faces. Suddenly Sophenna broke loose from their
embrace and stepped back.
"Wait!" she said, addressing the eunuchs, "As mistress of the house
it is my prerogative to take my pleasure with any new eunuch-to-be
just before he is snipped. We will postpone the boys' surgery until
tomorrow morning. For the rest of the day and tonight, Alrac and
Bangar will be my personal guests in my bed chamber.
The boys fell to their knees in worshipful gratitude. Sophenna
embraced them as they knelt, sobbing and kissing her beautiful legs
through the sheer gossamer fabric of her dress.
THE END
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