Death On The Nile (2 of 4)

By Pueros

Part II – Rome

‘I delight in the prime of a boy of twelve,
but a boy of thirteen is much more desirable.
He who is fourteen is a still sweeter flower of love,
And one who is just beginning his fifteenth year is even more delightful!
The sixteenth year is that of the gods,
But, as for the seventeenth, it is not for me, but for Zeus, to seek it.’

- Strato (2nd century Greek poet, writing of boys who physically matured less quickly than those of modern times)

Negotiations between Hadrian and Antinous’ surprised but delighted widower father, conducted in Greek because the pair of guests could not speak Latin, whereas the host was fluent in the Hellenic language, had not taken too long. After all, how often was a humble plebeian artisan, resident in a remote provincial backwater, offered, by the Emperor himself, the chance for his son to become an Imperial servant? What caring single parent of poor background could reject the opportunity for his offspring to gain an excellent education before embarking upon a career in Rome that could lead to great fortune, if not fame as well?

Antinous’ father recognised that there was undoubtedly an ulterior sexual motive in Hadrian’s offer to have the boy taken to Rome to become an Imperial page. The Emperor’s pederasty was widely known. However, the Princeps also had a reputation for looking after his young catamites very well in return for good service, with most moving on to important and usually lucrative positions once their attractions had faded. Parental liberality towards the inevitable intimate nature of the relationship was further encouraged by three other factors.

First, the father’s Greek Thracian heritage entailed a benevolent attitude to pederasty through the common Hellenic custom whereby boys accepted rich pedagogues, who would assist their development and future prospects in return for sexual favours. Who could make a better pedagogic patron for Antinous than the Emperor himself?

Second, Hadrian confirmed that Antinous would, prior to joining his service, initially spend a few years at the school for Imperial pages in Rome to improve his scholarship, particularly in Latin subjects, and be introduced to palace etiquette. The delay would enable the boy to attain the customarily more acceptable age of 13 before entering into his pedagogic association.

Third, Antinous’ father, in return for his agreement concerning his son’s future, received commissions to produce many more statues for Imperial projects throughout the Empire. Hadrian had already proven that he was a great benefactor of architecture, instituting many resplendent building projects in his vast domains. As compensation for losing his offspring to the service of the Princips, the parent was to be kept busy for the rest of his life, whilst in the process being seriously enriched by the highly profitable work.

Antinous’ father subsequently always considered the commissions to be due reward for his artistic capabilities. However, he was the only person to adopt this self-delusional attitude. There were many other very able sculptors in the Empire who were not so lucky, and accordingly other people recognised the sudden Imperial patronage for what it truly represented, namely the price afforded to a parent to give up his son.

On his part, Hadrian realised that Antinous was a diamond of unparalleled beauty and value, but one who nevertheless needed polishing. The boy, reared in relative poverty in a remote Greek community, knew no Latin, probably little of Roman ways and certainly nothing of court manners. Accordingly, for the 10 year-old’s own sake, as he would undoubtedly be ridiculed in the Imperial capital for lacking such acumen whilst simultaneously displaying plebeian Hellenic traits, the youngster needed preliminary education in the appropriate subjects before he could take his place in the service of the Emperor.

Hadrian appreciated that such schooling would take the boy away from him for a lengthy period, especially as the Emperor proposed to continue his travels away from Rome. However, the Princeps believed that the sacrifice would be beneficial. He astutely realised that Antinous was a precious gem that would become even more attractive through the intellectual and physical refinement the temporary separation should induce.

Hadrian’s instant infatuation with Antinous undoubtedly partly stemmed from the fact that the Emperor had immensely admired Hellenic people and culture ever since he had been a boy himself. In fact, his attitude had earned him the derogatory childhood nickname of ‘Graeculus’, meaning ‘Greekling’ [i.e. ‘Little Greek’]. In adulthood, his frequently quoted proposition that “What is said best is said in Greek”, along with the previously unprecedented, for a Princeps, sporting of a beard, neatly summed up his disposition.

Hadrian’s lust for travel was also partly caused by his preference for Greek rather than Latin ways, which, for example, made him hate Rome but adore Athens, although there were also another three important factors for his journeys. First, he was simply interested in seeing different places, peoples and civilisations. Second, he was a hands-on Emperor, who genuinely sought to improve the local administration and amenities of his far-flung domains through his visits, often displacing municipal or provincial officials if he thought them incapable or corrupt and inaugurating many new public works. Third, he and his wife, the Empress Vibia Sabina, granddaughter of the sister of his predecessor, Trajan, loathed each other and so he liked to keep well away from her.

One of Hadrian’s own grandmothers had been the sister of Trajan’s father. When Hadrian was 10, his own father died and Trajan, along with Acilius Attianus, a man of equestrian standing, became the boy’s guardian. Hadrian had subsequently married Sabina because she was the daughter of Matidia, the child of Trajan’s sister, Marciana. By this union, the ambitious Hadrian became Trajan’s closest male relative, both by blood and marriage, and so the likely heir to the Principate. However, his open sexual preference for boys had subsequently led to rapid estrangement from his wife, as well as intense mutual dislike, although the pair was never divorced.

Hadrian had to overcome, by means of summoning up unselfish sacrificial resolve, the immense temptation of taking Antinous with him when the Emperor eventually left Claudiopolis, on a different road to the one the boy would take shortly afterwards. The Princeps was to continue his travels for almost three more years before returning to Rome, whereas the new Imperial page-to-be would be at his new school in the distant capital within a couple of months, escorted there, via land and sea, by a small retinue of slaves and soldiers. The protective efficiency of the latter was assisted by their appreciation that their lives would undoubtedly be horribly forfeited if they did not deliver their young charge unharmed to the centre of the known world.

Hadrian’s selfless fortitude in temporarily giving up Antinous was assisted by the fact that the Emperor had regularly made such forfeitures previously. During his extensive travels, the Princeps had a habit of identifying exceptionally gorgeous boys of about 10 years old and despatching them back to Rome to be trained to be his future pages.

Meanwhile, Hadrian had three consolations with which he could compensate himself for his temporary separation from the newly discovered young splendour in his life. First, his interesting travels would be continued. Second, his regrets at having eventually to return to, what he considered, the political and urban horrors of Rome should be substantially mitigated by being able to look forward to meeting Antinous again. By then, the boy would have attained the age of 13, which represented the Emperor’s preference for new young servants because of both his particular sexual taste and desire to respect Greek practice. Third, the very pretty pages, who were currently accompanying him on his journeys, should continue to provide him with pleasant solace until then.

Hadrian was to be the most travelled of all Emperors, spending half of his reign outside Italia on such sojourns. For the previous two years, he had toured the western provinces, visiting Germania, Gaul, Britannia, where he had ordered the construction of the eponymous wall, and Hispania. He then became the first Princeps to visit Africa by crossing across the ‘Columnae Herculis’, or ‘Pillars of Hercules’ [i.e. across the straits separating the modern-day Rocks of Gibraltar and Ceuta], to Mauretania [modern-day Morocco and Algeria]. Here, he personally oversaw the suppression of a revolt in this frequently troublesome area before moving to the Hellenic east, where he was to spend two years among the various territories of Asia Minor and a third in Greece itself.

Antinous was, of course, surprised at the sudden turn of events, about which he was not consulted, as the adults concerned conducted their negotiations without reference to him. In the society of the period, children were not considered worthy of being invited to contribute their views to debates, even if the conversations involved their futures.

Nevertheless, despite sadness at leaving his father, wider family, friends, home and city, Antinous was not displeased at the agreed proposals, even after appreciating the reasons behind the honour Hadrian had bestowed on him. Such ulterior motives had been evident to the boy by the reactions of the Emperor, whom he knew was a notorious pederast, when they had met. Despite the Princeps’ attempts to hide his true feelings, it was clear to all witnesses that he lusted after the delectable 10 year-old.

Antinous’ appreciation of the real background to his selection as an Imperial page-to-be was reinforced during a rather embarrassing ritual he had to endure so that the agreement between Hadrian and his father could be confirmed. The boy was required to undergo an intimate physical examination by one of the court physicians who always accompanied the Emperor.

Antinous had been taken to another ornate chamber, within the Provincial Governor’s resplendent palace, for his check-up. Once alone with the doctor, the boy had been asked politely to strip so that the close scrutiny of his sublime naked 10 year-old form could proceed.

The physician then examined, prodded and probed the beautiful Antinous most intimately from sublime head to sweet foot. He took particular time over the boy’s well-groomed and immaculately clean long silky blonde hair and perfect teeth, before moving slowly downwards towards the 10 year-old’s private parts.

Antinous’ lovely face turned scarlet as his smooth genitalia, comprising slender but, for his age, surprisingly long uncut penis, and nicely proportioned and hung scrotum, were manhandled, with the kneeling examiner’s eyes nearby. The colour of the boy’s impeccable visage became even more extreme when he felt his copious foreskin being pulled back whilst the doctor checked his cockhead. However, the 10 year-old’s embarrassment became most acute when he was turned round and bent over so that the physician could fulfil his most important mission, verifying the youngster’s anal virginity. Hadrian did not appreciate soiled goods joining his retinue of pages, regardless of how beautiful they might be.

Antinous’ new demeaning bent position and perspective, as his bumcheeks were prised apart so that his pink sphincter could be examined, enabled the boy to view his luxurious surrounds from a different direction, although this accomplishment was not immediately at the forefront of his intensely abashed mind. Nevertheless, the fresh insight in respect of the ornate chamber caused the 10 year-old to notice obvious movement behind a nearby wide, ceiling-to-floor drape.

Antinous’ belief that there was someone hiding there was then confirmed by the sight of white fluid suddenly spurting out from behind the curtain to fall onto the frescoed floor, accompanied by clear orgasmic groaning. The boy was about to react in alarm to this development when he glanced further upwards and noticed that part of a head was peering round the silken drape. The 10 year-old instantly realised to whom the sole visible eye belonged, recognition reinforced by the nature of the beard beneath.

Consequently, Antinous refrained from raising the alarm. The boy instead wisely just allowed the doctor to conclude his checks, which later included scrutiny of a suddenly rigid 10 year-old penis.

Despite his tender years, Antinous was far from being sexually naïve, having learnt all about such matters from his peers. The boy’s firm conviction that it had been Hadrian, who had been masturbating behind the drape, was later confirmed in his own mind when he discovered that his father had been quickly, albeit politely, dismissed from the Imperial presence as soon as the 10 year-old had departed with the physician.

Antinous was subsequently surprised by his own reaction to such knowledge because, instead of being discomfited, disgusted or angered, he was guiltily rather proud. Other unidentifiable tingling sensations also ran through the boy’s wondrous body whenever he recalled the happening.

Antinous had never ventured beyond the confines of his remote inconsequential city but frequently wondered what the world was like beyond the tall mountains, which almost surrounded his home municipality. The boy also often dreamt of visiting the greatest metropolis on Earth, Rome, to seek fame and fortune. Now, having passed the physician’s intimate scrutiny, the opportunity to satisfy his curiosity and realise his fantasies had arrived suddenly and unexpectedly early.

Antinous had previously begun to believe that he might be someone special, perhaps placed in error by the gods in the home of a poor artisan in a minor obscure city. After all, the boy was frequently assailed, directly or indirectly, with praise about his exceptional beauty. Hadrian’s interest in him now had the effect of reinforcing the 10 year-old’s beliefs about his own true nature and the fact that he had a great destiny to fulfil.

Antinous already had many open admirers, who had registered with his father their interest in eventually becoming the boy’s pedagogue, when he was deemed old enough to enter into such an association, the minimum age usually being regarded as 13. As potential down-payment, some of these men had helped to fund the boy’s elementary education, so that he was now both numerate and literate in Greek, as well as his attendance, for physical exercise, at the local gymnasium, where he had proven to be the best athlete amongst his peers.

Despite his tender years, Antinous was fully aware of the ulterior motives of his patrons and many other admirers. The boy and his friends and acquaintances regularly chatted about such matters, including the latest pedagogic love affairs of their elders. Such conversations often produced much giggling, although this gossipy hilarity was sometimes tinged with a strange mixture of emotions, such as pride, envy, embarrassment and apprehension.

Even if Antinous had not heard, directly or indirectly from older boys already involved in pedagogic associations, about the common sexual expectations and practices inherent in such relationships, the 10 year-old probably could have guessed the men’s aims.

The lascivious eyes, and supposedly furtive comments, of many men, as they observed Antinous train or compete in the gymnasium, in the customary nudity, gave away their desired hopes. Similar libidinous symptoms, when visitors came to his father’s humble workshop, which was always open to the public, to watch the sculptor transform a block of marble into a replica of his son, posing for the work naked, only reinforced the boy’s appreciation of the situation.

Accordingly, despite only being a 10 year-old, in an age when boys matured, at least physically, later than in modern times, Antinous was departing for Rome, leaving many disappointed admirers behind, with full cognisance as to Hadrian’s eventual expectations. However, he had been brought up in a culture where such an eventuality with an adult male was expected.

Antinous therefore shared his father’s view, despite the associated loss of everything and everyone familiar to him. Who was better than the Emperor, whose own 47 year-old bearded physique was not displeasing to the boy’s blue eyes, to become his eventual pedagogue, particularly as a relationship with the Princeps promised unmatchable future adventures and prospects?

Consequently, Antinous finally left Claudiopolis with great sadness, at having to say goodbye to that and those he had known, with particularly distressful farewells indulged with his father and closest friends. However, this emotion was allied to an immense sense of excitement at what he was now about to experience.

(Paedagogium Ad Caput Africae, Palatine Hill, Rome, about 2 months later, early autumn, 123 AD)

Antinous’s immediate sense of excitement would certainly have been much more restrained if he had known what awaited him in Rome, a place where he was to spend almost three years without seeing the Emperor again.

Antinous had undertaken a long but, for him, wondrously interesting journey from Claudiopolis to Rome. The boy, and his protectors, had first taken the road to Nicomedia and Calchedon in Bithynia, before crossing the Bosporus Thracius to Byzantium. The land route had then traversed Thracia and Greece to the port of Dyrrahachium on the Mare Adriaticum, by way of Perinthus, Philippi, Amphipolis, Thessalonica, Pella, Edessa and Lychnidus.

A ship had taken the small party across the Mare Adriaticum to Brundisium in Calabria, before a final land journey up and across the Italian peninsula, along the Via Appia, brought them to Rome. Antinous had been awed by many of the sights along the way but nothing had prepared him for the vision of the Imperial capital itself.

Antinous found the teeming cramped metropolis of over two million souls, whose dwellings and workplaces sprawled well beyond its ancient walls, truly astounding. The boy was almost overcome by the sheer magnitude of Rome, with its huge populace and thousands of varied structures. On the one hand, there were resplendent palaces, mansions, temples, monuments, aqueducts and gardens, amidst magnificent wide thoroughfares and squares. On the other, there were tall, dark, crowded and unsanitary plebeian tenements in dirty streets, full of effluent and so narrow that sunlight never reached ground level. The 10 year-old’s own unpretentious home city, as well as all the other relatively modest communities through which he had passed en-route, simply could not be compared, either in size or amenities, to the Imperial capital.

As Antinous’ party rode along the busy streets of Rome towards the boy’s ultimate destination, in the covered ox-drawn wagons that had brought them slowly from Brundisium, the 10 year-old glanced the upper canopied structure of the huge Coliseum towering above the roofs ahead. He did not at first know what the massive edifice was and therefore asked its identity of one of his adult escorts, selected to accompany the page-to-be because of his ability to converse with his young charge in Greek.

At first, Antinous’ beautiful face turned white and his sublime body visibly trembled when told the answer. The boy had heard of the Coliseum and places like it, and knew their purpose. He began to fear that perhaps he and his father had been tricked by a devious, wicked and bloodthirsty Emperor, whose real intent in sending the 10 year-old to the capital was to see him die horribly in the dreaded amphitheatre. After all, during the fifty years since the arena’s construction, the place had been the scene of the terrible demise of many thousands of humans and animals, simply for the benefit of the entertainment of the Roman masses.

Fortunately, Antinous’ trepidation was quickly ended by his arrival at the ‘Paedagogium’, the training school for Imperial pages, which was located on the Palatine Hill in the Caput Africae, one of the thoroughfares that led from the nearby Coliseum to the aristocratic Caelian quarter. The institution was situated in part of the Domus of Gelotiana, so-called because the Emperor Gaius Caligula had bought these apartments, which adjoined the north side of the hilltop Imperial palace, from a certain Gelotius. However, the acquisition had not been made to add space to the Princeps’ personal quarters, which were already voluminous, but to satisfy his mania for the races and associated personalities of the Circus, by providing accommodation for charioteers and their horses and equipment.

Gaius Caligula was a passionate supporter of one of the four squadrons of charioteers, the greens, with whom he liked to spend time, sharing their dinners and suppers, as well as indulging with them in all sorts of excesses, particularly of a sexual nature. The house of Gelotius was bought because the complex lay nearer to the Circus than any other building, adjacent to the palace, on the Palatine.

A substantial part of the Domus of Gelotiana was first converted into the training school under Gaius Caligula’s successor, Claudius, and the amenity was maintained under subsequent Emperors. Hadrian and his predecessor, Trajan, afforded the facility particular attention and resources because their sexual proclivities encouraged them to appreciate around them a large retinue of very pretty but nevertheless erudite and efficient young pages.

Pages-to-be normally underwent, usually from about an age of 10, a maximum of four years’ education and training in the Paedagogium, coupled, whenever appropriate, with practical experience, gained by working for minor officials in the adjacent palace. The length of tuition depended on the boys’ prior accomplishments and subsequently demonstrated abilities to absorb instruction, with the average stay being three years.

Antinous was initially expected to need the full four years to acquire the necessary level of education and practical capability because of his ignorance of Latin. However, this supposition was quickly disabused when it became evident that boy was gifted not only with beauty. He was also highly intelligent, adroit and a rapid learner. The 10 year-old was additionally immediately to prove brave and gregarious.

Antinous was arriving at the Paedagogium about a month later than the other forty or so pupils, approximately equally divided into 10, 11 and 12 year-olds, with a few, slower-learning 13 year-olds. As was common in such institutions, cliques, frequently led by bullies, often abounded.

The acknowledged paramount leader of the present group of pupils was a handsome 13 year-old named Mastor. The need for him to spend a fourth year in the school was attributable to the fact that he was originally of simple, illiterate, barbarian, peasant stock. He had been saved, a few years previously, from enslavement in Germania by Hadrian, who had been highly impressed with the boy’s superb features during one of the Emperor’s visits to his northern provinces.

Mastor had been helped towards his current pre-eminence in the Paedagogium by physical growth that had enabled him to become clearly the tallest and strongest pupil. These physical assets, allied to a bold and assured spirit, had ensured that no one challenged the boy’s present primacy. However, other character strengths included degrees of amity, compassion, fairness and a liking for universal accord. Consequently, he never became a bully, instead developing into a generally popular and respected leader, whose usually sound dictates, designed to secure school-wide harmony, almost everyone was happy to follow, especially the more meek souls who might otherwise suffer from intimidation by others.

Unfortunately, such a relatively benign dictatorship did produce at least one younger dissenter, a 10 year-old Roman newcomer called Marianus. This boy was also taller than his peers, a feature that aided his desire to be a bully, at least of those in his own age-group.

Without Mastor’s knowledge, Marianus had already managed to acquire a little group of sycophants, whilst coercing some others into petrified subservience. Two of the latter were Greek youngsters.

Alexamenos came from Philippi, where family members belonged to the new Christian sect. Corinthus was named after his birthplace. Both came from good backgrounds and were already proficient in verbal Latin.

Marianus made his move to intimidate the late arrival, Antinous, as soon as the latter had been introduced to the dormitory shared by the now ten 10 year-olds. As soon as the bully appreciated that the latest newcomer could not speak the local language, he ordered the cowed Alexamenos to translate for him.

“Welcome to my dormitory,” was Marianus’ initial greeting to Antinous via his young shrinking translator, with a particular emphasis on the word ‘my’ and before even asking the newcomer’s name and origin. “I rule here,” the bully, standing with four of his sycophants at his shoulders, continued, “and so you do as I say. Your two fellow servile Greeks, Alexamenos here and Corinthus, already perform chores and go on little errands for me and you’ll do the same if you know what’s good for you. In fact, you can start now by cleaning my sandals!”

Marianus sat on the nearest bed, removed his footwear and threw the articles at Antinous. The latter did not attempt to catch the sandals but let them strike him before falling onto the floor, instantly appreciating that a defining moment for the quality of his future life in the Paedagogium had arrived. The boy then uttered a few bold Greek words, in an unflinchingly resolute voice and which a surprised Alexamenos at first hesitated to interpret until the bully impatiently demanded the translation.

“He says that he’ll see you in Hades first,” Alexamenos advised in a quivering voice. Marianus then demonstrated overt surprise at this unexpectedly brave retort, as the bully was not accustomed to such defiance of his will. However, the tall 10 year-old soon recovered from his shock and commented, whilst standing ominously, “We’ll see about that!”

Marianus intended to advance, with his retinue of young flatterers, towards Antinous to give the impertinent newcomer a good beating, in order to encourage the new boy to change his unprecedented attitude. However, before the bully did so, he waited for Alexamenos to translate his latest words.

Marianus was now to be surprised again, as, instead of interpreting the bully’s latest announcement, Alexamenos went to stand by Antinous, whose name he did not yet know, before declaring, in Latin, “I’m supporting the new boy!” The young Philippian later never knew how he had summoned up the daring fortitude to take such action, which was inconsistent with his normal bashful character, although he recognised that there was something about the newcomer that had drawn him compellingly to do so.

Marianus’ shock was then compounded when, at the opposite shoulder of Antinous from where Alexamenos had positioned himself, the usually equally timid Corinthus arrived to advise “I too support the new boy!” The Bithynian newcomer needed no translation to realise that he had already acquired two friends who were prepared to help him when he was in danger.

Marianus again tried to recompose himself before suggesting “Well, it’s still us five against only three of you.” However, his surprise then returned when Alexamenos commented, whilst his original timorous look had transmuted into a broad grin, “I don’t think so!”

Marianus then noticed that his erstwhile supporters had returned to their own beds.

(Paedagogium Ad Caput Africae, Palatine Hill, Rome, 3 months later, early winter, 123 AD)

After the arrival of the latest batch of would-be young recruits to Imperial service, the scholastic routine of the Paedagogium had become settled again. The advent of the 27th day of November also caused Antinous to attain his 11th birthday, although such occasions were not celebrated in the school.

There had been several consequences of the incident between Marianus and Antinous, which had occurred immediately after the arrival of the latter in his new Roman home. The erstwhile bully lost his authority in the eyes of his peers, with his former sycophants allying themselves to the much pleasanter Bithynian boy and his two fellow Greeks, a development not abused by the recipient of the allegiances.

Marianus now became a resentful loner, quietly despising the popular Antinous and plotting revenge for his humiliating fall from primacy. However, in compensation for acquiring a lifelong enemy, the young Bithynian gained a trio of close lifelong friends in Alexamenos, Corinthus and Mastor. The latter had belatedly learnt of the defining incident in the dormitory for 10 year-olds and had decided to check the arrival from distant Claudiopolis, who had so bravely and defiantly stood up to a bully.

Mastor liked Antinous instantly, and not just because of the boy’s unparalleled beauty, which was uniquely outstanding even for the Paedagogium, where the key qualification for entry was physical attractiveness to the Emperor. The 13 year-old welcomed the 10 year-old’s impeccable character just as much, particularly after he observed the youngster’s selfless courage at first hand.

The pupils of the Paedagogium were segregated by age only for the purposes of their sleeping arrangements. Despite having attained varying stages of educational development, they normally shared one large classroom and, for the different lessons, the same proficient tutors, who, in line with Roman custom, were sticklers for discipline and ready users of rods to chastise their charges. For the slightest of reasons, boys would receive nasty blows across either their palms or bare bottoms, depending upon the perceived seriousness of offences, not that this ever prevented the young males, given their inherent natures, from regularly being mischievous or becoming inattentive.

In respect of such punishments, there was only one limit forced on the teachers, who were all chosen for their abilities and strong heterosexuality, the latter being a particularly important qualification given the nature and destiny of the pupils. Any proven molestation of the boys by any tutor, or any other adult who met them, would not only incur Imperial displeasure but also nailing to a cross.

The punishment parameter required that no permanent physical damage should be perpetrated on the miscreant pupils. The young penitents were all ultimately headed for the Imperial bed, and Hadrian did not appreciate imperfections, artificially inflicted by careless teachers, on the bodies of his young catamites.

Nevertheless, the yelps of chastised boys regularly resounded round their classroom, as vivid red stripes were created on their hands or naked backsides. However, rarely was such painful punishment inflicted on someone who had readily voluntarily confessed to a misdemeanour he had not committed.

Antinous was learning his Latin alphabet, by copying lettering onto his wax tablet with his stylus, whilst most other pupils were engaged in some form of supposedly quiet reading, when he looked up to see a bored Corinthus making amusing faces at a similarly fed up Alexamenos. Unfortunately, as a result, the latter could not help but utter a loud giggle in response, alerting the previously somnolent tutor to naughtiness amidst his young charges.

The teacher stood up, rod, or ‘ferula’, now in hand, and further disturbed the quietude by loudly demanding that the boy who had giggled should also stand to identify himself and explain what was so amusing in what he was reading. Antinous had, by now, gained the basics of verbal Latin, a development aided by living in an environment where only the local language was normally spoken and by unofficial lessons from Alexamenos and Corinthus. The now 11 year-old therefore fully understood both the tutor’s question and the probable painful repercussions for such an offence.

Antinous also noticed Alexamenos’ very pretty face turn white, presumably at simultaneous appreciation of what would now be inflicted on his curvaceous bottom. The former additionally observed that his friend was hesitating, through sheer terror, to own up to his misdemeanour. The young Philippian would eventually have to do so because the well-appreciated alternative was for everyone in the class to be beaten, a development that would cause the boy considerable later trouble with his fellow pupils.

In fact, the petrified and very retiring Alexamenos was currently trying his best to summon up all of his rarely used courage. Although the young Philippian had somehow miraculously managed the feat when he had gone to Antinous’ aid three months previously, he was presently so afraid that his endangered bottom would not lift its delightful self off the stool on which the prim curves were settled.

Alexamenos’ traumatised hesitation was still proceeding when he heard the movement of someone else’s stool, clearly caused by another pupil standing up. The amazed young Philippian then heard the voice of his friend from Bithynia falsely confess “I’m sorry, sir, it was me who was giggling. A funny thought just entered my mind!”

Alexamenos looked at Antinous in shame and horror. The shame was caused by his own hesitation in confessing and his horror at witnessing his friend offer himself for punishment in his place. The young Philippian immediately wanted to attempt to rectify the situation by making his own admission to the teacher but was at first dissuaded by a discreet smile and negative nod of the head from the knowing 11 year-old Bithynian.

Despite, or probably because of the display of such evident courage, Alexamenos, own intrepidity suddenly restored, then determined not to be deflected from telling the truth by these selfless, non-verbal, attempted acts of dissuasion by Antinous, until he realised that it was too late. The young Philippian had recognised that, if he now made his confession, both he and the 11 year-old Bithynian would be beaten, the latter inevitably more severely for lying.

Alexamenos therefore reluctantly sat still and said nothing, whilst he was forced to observe Antinous receive the punishment that should have been his. As the young Philippian did so, he swore to his Christian God that, one day, he would return his friend’s brave favour.

“I won’t ask you,” the sneering teacher now loudly told Antinous, “what your funny thought was. Instead, I’ll just induce thoughts of excruciating anguish to enter your tiny, stupid mind instead!” The man’s attempt at humour was rewarded by copious laughter now resounding round the classroom from the mouths of most of his pupils, who knew that hilarity in response to such tutorial commentary was permissible. Of the observers, only Alexamenos and Corinthus were glumly silent.

“Come forward to the head of the class,” the teacher now commanded. Antinous obeyed reluctantly but without noticeable hesitation or fear, despite the fact that his advance to his painful fate was accompanied by much continued chortling from his fellow pupils.

After arriving at the required location at the front of the classroom, Antinous was instructed by the teacher to remove the undergarments located beneath his simple but clean, thick, long-sleeved woollen winter tunic. The boy, now realising that the flesh of his posterior rather than his palm had been confirmed as the target of the tutor’s rod, began to comply by lifting the front of his outer apparel to reveal his simple wrapped loincloth, or ‘subligaculum’ [literally ‘little bindings underneath’].

Antinous was unperturbed by this particular action, especially as he was currently facing away from the rest of the class. In any case, he and the other pupils had often seen each other in their undressed states, in their dormitories or whilst undertaking their ablutions in the large well-equipped baths within the Paedagogium, which dated back to the time when the buildings had been the residence of Gaius Caligula’s favourite charioteers. The boy was also accustomed to some public nudity at home, in his father’s workshop or the local gymnasium.

After Antinous’ subligaculum had been cast to the cool stone floor, the teacher ordered “Usual position, boy!” The 11 year-old’s father had occasionally, albeit rarely and privately, laid him across his manly knees to spank his son’s bare posterior for participation in some naughty adventure, invariably involving mischievous scrapes with friends. However, the youngster had not yet had his backside beaten at the Paedagogium, although his palm had once been rapped for a mistake in his work.

Nevertheless, despite Antinous’ lack of personal experience of this particular type of school discipline, he had witnessed such events often enough over the past three months to be fully aware of the demeaning posture he now had to adopt. The apprehensive boy therefore once more compliantly obeyed his tutor’s instruction, with as much nonchalance as he could muster in order to try to exhibit outward fearlessness, which was actually in marked contrast to his true inner turmoil. His action entailed placing his feet apart and bending over to grasp his ankles, whilst keeping his back to his fellow pupils. The 11 year-old then felt the rear hem of his tunic being lifted and rested on his bent lower back to expose his vulnerable bare bottom.

Antinous next felt his teacher’s left hand come to rest on top of his long silky blonde hair, helping to steady the young imminent victim of tutorial displeasure. The 11 year-old presumed correctly that the man’s other hand, gripping the harsh, thin but sturdy well-used wooden ferula, would now be uplifted ready to strike.

As Antinous peered back through his legs, from his upside down perspective, he noticed that, despite his personal general popularity amongst his fellow pupils, only Alexamenos and Corinthus did not appear to display faces full of lustful sadism. Marianus particularly exhibited immense delight at the turn of events.

Although Mastor was guiltily ashamed of his own disposition, he was not exempt from the prevailing mood. However, having witnessed the whole episode from its real roots to this denouement, the 13 year-old’s sensations were mixed. They now included reinforced admiration for the 11 year-old, having recognised the boy’s brave self-sacrifice.

Antinous could suddenly tell from the expression on Marianus’ face that the first hit was on its way. Nevertheless, despite the boy’s attempted preparation to receive the blow, he was acutely shocked at the instant agony induced by the expert delivery, which excruciatingly temporarily expelled blood along a thin line across his lustrously smooth buttocks. The 11 year-old could not help but utter a low groan, as this stripe then became a vivid red with the sudden painful return of the sanguine fluid, before eventually darkening simultaneous to the mark becoming a narrow linear bruise.

As Antinous awaited the second strike from the teacher’s rod, he tried to refocus, through his now unsteady legs, his suddenly damp blue eyes on Marianus in order to attempt to guess the timing of the next undoubtedly very painful delivery. However, he then noticed that his smooth slender cock was embarrassingly beginning to grow in size, despite his anguish. Nevertheless, the boy’s shame at this penile development was swiftly subsumed by the second accurate and efficient blow laid across his vulnerable bare bottom, an action that this time caused him to utter a loud squeal, which in turn created renewed laughter amongst the spectators.

Fortunately, the teacher now decided that, for a first offence of classroom rowdiness, Antinous had endured enough and stopped the punishment, although not before running his right forefinger along the still hot and vividly red pair of stripes that he had created. This activity had the unfortunate side-effect of encouraging the boy’s unruly cock to full rigidity, so that when he was allowed to stand up to reattach his subligaculum, more gingerly than when he had shed the undergarment, his fulsome erection made his task awkward to achieve. The abashed 11 year-old’s face became as scarlet as the marks on his rear as he tried to cover his loins again, particularly as renewed chuckling hinted that at least some of the spectators had recognised the cause of his difficulty. However, his discomfiture would have been lessened considerably if he had known that, behind much of the laughter, there was much admiration. This esteem stemmed from not only the way in which he had taken his punishment but also, for the well-positioned lucky few, the lovely sight of his divine groin, crowned by the wonderful exhibition of young male virility.

Foremost amongst Antinous’ current classroom admirers was Mastor.

(Paedagogium Ad Caput Africae, Palatine Hill, Rome, over 6 months later, early July, 124 AD)

Mastor was about to graduate from the Paedagogium, after which he would be despatched to Asia Minor to serve in the huge entourage accompanying Hadrian, who was still enjoying his eastern travels. The soon-to-be 14 year-old would be replacing an older page, whose boyish looks had been lost and who was therefore destined for a return to Rome and a pleasantly remunerative post within the Imperial tax collection service.

Mastor was determined to end his four years at the Paedagogium on a high note. He therefore invited Antinous to a furtive liaison in a disused wing of the school complex, where the pair would make love.

Mastor had initially befriended and then seduced Antinous just after the latter’s first but, as it turned out, given the boy’s natural effervescent energy, daring and sense of fun, by no means last beating from a ferula. The young Bithynian had not resisted the older Germanian’s amorous advances very much, as the 11 year-old’s inner feelings were ready to embark on such an adventure for the first time, especially with such a handsome 13 year-old paramour.

Naturally, given their situations, anal penetration was ruled out of their sexual play, as discovery of such indulgence, during the regular medical checks to which all pupils were subjected, could mean crucifixion for betraying the Emperor’s favour. However, there was a much more relaxed attitude towards boys mutually practising other sex acts, as the teachers secretly considered such non-damaging activities to be useful for the future. Nevertheless, the tutors publicly showed displeasure, with any boys caught participating in such pleasures being severely chastised with the rod.

Accordingly and inevitably, over the months, the overwhelming development of all-pervading hormones in gorgeous young bodies overcame fears of agonising but survivable punishment. Mutual fondling and masturbation, indulged on an approximately weekly basis, became shared fellatio and then interfemoral intercourse, whereby Mastor placed his erection between Antinous’ thighs before gyrating his body as if he had entered the younger boy. Only the 13 year-old was capable of ejaculating a little semen but the 11 year-old had happily discovered that his body was mature enough to enjoy delicious orgasm.

All of the other pupils had become aware of the relationship between Antinous and Mastor because they could identify the telltale signs. Most were unconcerned because they were more interested in either indulging or developing their own love affairs. Other now well-established couples included Alexamenos and Corinthus. However, one lone boy was acutely jealous, until he realised that he could use the situation to his own advantage. Marianus was, after all, still seeking his retribution.

After returning to his dormitory, having made love in the school with Mastor for the last time, as the 13 year-old was leaving the Paedagogium the next morning, a melancholy Antinous was cheered to see that his paramour had somehow already left a departing gift on his bed. No one else was in the room, whilst the now smiling young Bithynian uncorked the amphora jar to see what was inside, because the other now 11 year-olds who shared his room were supposedly at play.

Antinous had chosen not to join his friends yet until he had restored his morale from its post-coitus sadness, just as the clever Marianus had anticipated from observing his enemy’s previous behaviour after meeting Mastor. The young vengeful Roman’s belief that his target would now be unable to resist drinking some of the content of the amphora also proved correct.

Antinous correctly surmised that the sweet smelling and delicious liquid inside the jar was his favourite fruit juice, the purchase of which must have entailed the swallowing of much of Mastor’s pocket-money allowance, provided by the school. In fact, the 13 year-old had instead bought his 11 year-old lover a medallion to remember him by, which he proposed to give to the younger boy when they said their farewells on the next day.

Antinous, thirsty after indulging in sex on this hot summer’s evening, drank some of the juice. The boy savoured the delicious taste, which neatly disguised the flavour of the herbal drug within. The substance was usually used as a poison instead of a soporific because mistakes in judging the tiny dosages required for the latter purpose could be fatal. However, Marianus, who had stolen the compound from the palace apothecary, to whom he had been assigned to practice the delivery of messages between minor Imperial officials, did not mind making such an error. He hoped that his enemy would live to suffer the terrible consequences of what he proposed to do, but he also deemed killing him now as a satisfactory alternative outcome.

The highly dangerous herbal compound rapidly succeeded in its work, swiftly making Antinous exceedingly tired, before inducing the beautiful boy into potentially terminal unconsciousness on his own bunk. Marianus then timed his entry into the quiet dormitory well and was soon as his somnolent, or possibly already dead, enemy’s bedside.

Marianus checked that Antinous, currently lying face-up, was still breathing. The boy was, although now very shallowly.

Marianus then turned Antinous over. He followed this up by lifting the rear of the boy’s light sleeveless summer tunic to expose the subligaculum underneath, which was subsequently quickly removed to reveal the sublime curvature of the 11 year-old’s buttocks.

Marianus spread Antinous’ legs so that his young enemy’s pink sphincter was clearly visible. He then pointed the broad wooden broom handle, with which he had earlier equipped himself, at the tight virginal opening.

Marianus’ intent was to sodomise his enemy with the wooden implement, so damaging the boy’s sphincter and rectum that the Imperial physicians could not deny his later accusation that Antinous had voluntarily indulged in buggery with Mastor. If the young Bithynian died in the interim because of the drug he had been given, it would be because he had committed suicide after being told that his secret was about to be revealed. Alternatively, if he survived, the evil young Roman looked forward to watching the 11 year-old dying on the cross, alongside his 13 year-old lover.

(To be continued in the penultimate part 3 – ‘Tibur & Athens’)