Nero 9

By Pueros

Chapter IX – Confessions

(Domus of Palaemon, Rome, in September of the 5th year of the reign of the Emperor Claudius [AD 46])

‘History is very near to poetry, and may be considered in some sense to be poetry in prose.’

- Quintilian

“You didn’t have sex with him,” Palaemon exclaimed in incredulity, “then what did you do with the boy all those hours, as I know you fancied him?” Gaius’ face blushed whilst he truthfully made his confession as to why his virginity had remained intact overnight. His teacher’s own façade slowly changed from one displaying astonishment, at the failure of his efforts to alleviate his latest pupil’s sexual inexperience, to one indicating both amusement at and admiration for the youth’s selfless denial.

“He’s no whore,” declared Gaius, with his own clear display of admiration evident in his lovely hazel eyes, “and I didn’t want to treat him as one. In fact, I made sure, by staying with him, that no one else did after that awful Aulus Vitellius had his evil way with him.”

Hylas was in his usual position whilst the conversation between his young master and the teacher proceeded. The 4 year-old stood alongside the 16 year-old, whose arm, as was now common practice, rested reassuringly around his new slave’s infant shoulders, with the hand occasionally moving to ruffle the youngster’s silky hair.

Hylas reciprocated with an arm around Gaius’ waist and a constant facial display of contentment. It was a now regular exhibition of affection between a master and slave, very rare elsewhere. If Palaemon had not been certain that the association between the two was entirely platonic, he might have thought that the relationship between the pair was sexual. In fact, as time passed, the teacher began to realize that the bond between the two young males was more like that of father and son than of lovers, despite an age difference of only twelve years.

“I presume that it was this plan and not my persuasiveness that therefore encouraged you to change your mind and accept the appointment I’d arranged for you with the boy?” asked Palaemon, visage now engulfed by a broad smile of genuine appreciation of Gaius’ well-intended deception. The young equestrian did not have to confess, as his sheepish look and maintained facial redness had answered the question for him.

A member of the equestrian order is called an ‘eques’, or ‘knight’. The term derives from the old Roman practice of classifying men according to the position they once held in the military system. Equites, or knights, were those wealthy enough to contribute a horse and armour, ranking them, in the original non-professional citizen-army, above the infantry, which was recruited from the poor.

By my lifetime, most of this now largely business-orientated middle class had little to do with horses and armour, unless they were involved in associated enterprises. Equestrians, for example, ran the profitable chariot stables. The advent of slaves in huge volumes meant that there was no longer any need for a citizen-army, many Romans being freed, by the presence of these menial servants, to become career soldiers. Nevertheless, the substantial middle class, still called by its old appellation, had, over the centuries, become very significant in the Roman Empire, and not just because of the grouping’s immense economic significance. Much power and influence had been acquired, especially under the Emperors, at the particular expense of the patricians.

The patricians were now in a quandary in respect of their relationship with the equestrians. The former resented the latter’s intrusion into areas traditionally the reserve of the upper class, such as the highest positions of state. However, they also needed the middle class, and not just for the general prosperity its activities rendered.

The equestrians often furtively ran businesses actually owned, at least in part, by patricians or were the main source of loans for members of the upper class fallen on hard times or, not uncommonly, just excessively spendthrift. Such finance was often supplied not in expectation of repayment in cash but rather through favours. The middle class also formed a buffer between society’s highest echelons and the dreaded plebeians, whom the better-off always feared might revolt at any time for the slightest reasons.

As I’ve mentioned previously, the existence of many slaves had led to large numbers of plebeians being unemployed, or at least under-occupied, with many relying on the corn dole to survive and free games for entertainment. It was the perennial worry of the upper classes that such charitable largesse would be insufficient one day to maintain civil order.

“Well, then, what did you do with the boy all those hours?” Palaemon continued, by repeating his earlier question whilst maintaining his broad smile and believing that he already knew what the answer. The teacher was proved right in his assumption when his pupil confessed “After I insisted he redress in his tunic, we just talked.” “Tell me then,” the man requested of the youth, “ because you by now know my nosey mind, what you discussed and learnt from your discourse with Caius Silius’ young slave.”

Gaius could not help but confess almost everything to the understanding Palaemon, because he appreciated that he needed the man’s help. The teacher therefore discovered much of my life history. However, it was probably the manner in which it was now described by the 16 year-old that made the perceptive tutor realize that his pupil was not only smitten by the boy from Britannia but also hopelessly head over heels in love.

Palaemon did not wonder at such quick sudden character transformations, especially in the young. He had, after all, once been the same age himself and in love several times, although subsequent experiences for him had unfortunately not been permanent. He also thought that Gaius’ passion would prove transitory. However, he was not subsequently displeased to be proved wrong in this presumption.

Gaius’ passion about me was apparently evident to Palaemon not only from the way the youth spoke but also from the clear twinkles in the youth’s lovely hazel eyes. The teacher had therefore already guessed what the inevitable final question would be well before it was asked.

“How can I see him again?” Gaius enquired tentatively. “Why would you wish to do so?” Palaemon teased in response. “I….I….I just liked him. I….I….I found him pleasant company,” the youth answered with clear embarrassed understatement. However, the 16 year-old instantly recognized from the man’s kind understanding expression that his underlying secret was known, not that the innate coyness of the pupil would let him confess this realization to the teacher.

Gaius also appreciated from the Palaemon’s smirking visage that his tutor had already foreseen and formulated a possible solution to the problem. “Well, then, my young friend,” the teacher pleasantly retorted, “I can’t see you deprived of such agreeable company. It was clear to the host and all the guests at Caius Silius’ banquet that you must like the boy, having decided to disappear with him for the whole night. Your appreciation of the young slave’s undoubtedly delectable form also disappointed some of the other diners who had reserved his later sexual services. Some were actually intent on disturbing you, their ardours demanding overdue attention, until I managed to use my best oratory skills to persuade them to go elsewhere to secure relief. This wasn’t easy, given their zeal to enjoy….what did you say his name was?” “Bicilus,” the youth answered, with twinkles returned to his sensuous eyes as he did so.

“Ah, yes….Bicilus,” Palaemon continued, still with his friendly knowing smile, “and my success was despite both parties to the discussions being rather the worse for wine. Nevertheless, your noble teacher prevailed in debate as usual. However, I’m afraid that I have to confess that I felt obliged, whilst doing so, to refer to your youthful innocence, and the need for you to be allowed to lose your virginity in peace without being rushed. I regret that I considered the arguments necessary to divert eager passions away from the boy from Britannia.” Gaius blushed again, this time at the thought of his libidinous shortcoming being the central factor in drunken discourse. However, he realized, as his tutor had done, that the compensation for such embarrassing public reference to his sexual inexperience made the disclosure worthwhile.

“It’s probably crossed your mind to try to buy Bicilus from Caius Silius,” Palaemon proceeded with correct perception, “but I can tell you now with conviction that you wouldn’t be successful. Your keen fascination with the boy would only be reinforced in his current master’s mind by any such attempt. You see, the immensely wealthy host of last night’s banquet likes to keep an influence on people whom he believes might be of help to him in future. He has mighty ambitions for himself and has accordingly been avidly acquiring prospective allies for his cause for several years. You might only be a youth of sixteen but he knows that I allow only my ablest pupils to accompany me to events such as his. He, like me, therefore sees an important Roman of the future in you and would like you beholden to him.” Gaius’ facial flush returned again, this time as a consequence of realizing for the first time the true high esteem in which the famous teacher held him.

Palaemon now advised “Caius Silius will therefore not sell Bicilus to you, as that would remove his long-term sway on you, but he will allow you access, which will have the desired reverse effect for as long as you maintain an interest in the boy. However, I presume that you don’t want your ostensible purpose for future liaisons to be given simply as your liking for his young slave.”

Gaius’ facial redness reappeared with sudden appreciation that the true reasons behind his desire to meet me again, and regularly, would be recognized not only by Palaemon but also by others who became aware of his wish, regardless of how the situation was presented. This would, of course, include myself but this was of no concern to the youth because he knew, from our one platonic night together, that his insatiable hunger to see me would be reciprocated. The normally coy and private 16 year-old was instead initially concerned about displaying such eagerness to the likes of Caius Silius. However, he later told me that this was soon overcome by recall in his mind of what he eloquently and flatteringly termed ‘my unparalleled magnificence of character and form’.

When Gaius subsequently said these words to me, he was immediately rewarded with yet another long lingering kiss, this time for the kind phraseology after earlier enthusiastic lovemaking. However, the inaccuracy of the description, in terms of some of my character traits, was instantly evidenced by the fact that he had stimulated not only my passion for him but also my pride and vanity. Nevertheless, as I was to assist with his own personal development, he was to help with mine. Very subtly over the years, my lover not only recognized my failings but also was paramount in securing their eradication to make his early verbal declaration eventually come true, unless this very claim here suggests that some vestiges remain.

Gaius eventually gratefully accepted Palaemon’s diplomatic solution to the problem. The teacher would approach Caius Silius with the youth’s request for regular access to me. The covering story would centre on the 16 year-old’s compassion for those less fortunate than himself.

Having been unhappy to learn that I was illiterate, Gaius, through Palaemon, would offer Caius Silius his time to teach me to read. The argument was that such betterment would be beneficial to all, not least my master because he would acquire a more much useful chattel, whose value would therefore substantially increase. It was a convincing tale that did not fool anyone, but it was one that was accepted to meet the requirements of social etiquette to justify the frequent intimate meetings between young equestrian and slave.

Caius Silius was happy to oblige the very influential Palaemon and secure the on-going gratitude of a youth with excellent prospects. The teacher was also pleased to have assisted his young pupil, who was thereafter forever indebted to the tutor not only for his excellent finishing education but also for securing his lifelong love.

Palaemon did not particularly like Caius Silius but always accepted the patrician’s hospitality. The teacher, ever careful of money since his days as a slave, was always more than content to dine at others’ expense, which he did most nights. He particularly appreciated invites made by those of his more lecherous acquaintances who provided appropriately racy human delicacies to follow the three main food courses.

Palaemon’s humanist beliefs had once encouraged him to try to give up his avidly licentious lifestyle but his lustful urges had proved too overwhelming. Accordingly, the teacher adopted the philosophy that it was useless to fight human nature but right to try to ensure that personal leanings did as little harm, and as much good, as possible. The tutor was therefore very careful whom he selected to be his many sexual partners. For example, he would never have chosen to bed me on the night of Caius Silius’ banquet, even though he fancied me, because it was obvious to him that I would have been an unwilling lover. The considerate lecher instead always picked young attractive males and females who were apparently demonstrably predisposed to accepting his attentions, either because of their own sexual needs or for financial reasons, or both.

Palaemon had enjoyed the favours of a girl entertainer and a young eunuch slave at Caius Silius’ banquet, carefully and skillfully ensuring, despite his insobriety, that they enjoyed the feel of his rampant cock in respectively their vaginal and anal orifices. Unlike some of his attitudes elsewhere, although not in respect of his staff, who were amongst the best rewarded in their profession, the teacher also showed no parsimony towards those who gave him orgasmic delight. A gold aureus, equivalent to 100 sestertii or three months’ wages for an ordinary working man, would inevitably be placed in his young male or female paramour’s palm just before the pair separated.

Such well-known customs made many young entertainers and slaves very keen to be one of Palaemon’s nighttime partners, especially as some of the alternatives not only left no tip but also were particularly disagreeable. I had unfortunately already met one of the latter, in the form of Aulus Vitellius.

“Well, Gaius Musonius Rufus,” Palaemon announced to his deeply elated and appreciative latest pupil, after advising the youth about the success of his mission to Caius Silius’ urban villa, “now you can perform a return favour!”

(Domus of Palaemon’s residential pupils, plebeian quarter, Rome, a little later)

‘Nowadays, our young men are taken to the schools of the rhetors….The classroom exercises to a large extent defeat their purpose. There are two kinds of material handled by the rhetors - suasoriae and controversiae. Since the suasoriae are clearly easier and require less maturity of judgment, they are assigned to the boys. To the young men, who are more prepared, are assigned the controversiae. But, my word, what poor quality! And how incredible they are in content! The subject matter is far removed from reality….’

- Tacitus (‘Dialogue on Orators’)

Persius and Quintilianus returned with their respective adult slaves to the large domus they shared with almost thirty other boys and youths. They had managed to avoid further chastisement to their very pleasant posteriors, still sore from the previous day, by ignoring each other during the long school hours, which stretched from just after dawn to mid-afternoon. It was now time to exercise and wash in the residence’s bath complex before dinner. However, their intent to so indulge was thwarted when they discovered that the bedrooms they shared with others had been changed.

Persius and Quintilianus were not surprised to learn about the reallocation, which was common whenever pupils left or newcomers arrived. However, they were shocked that they had now been boarded together, along with an older youth who was waiting to greet them in their new communal bedroom, with a very young slave standing at his side.

“Hello, I’m Gaius Musonius Rufus,” the happy youth declared, “and you’ll be Persius and Quintilianus. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you!”

(Temple of Cybele, Rome, same time)

‘It is a difficult thing for man to resist the natural necessity of mortal passions.’

- Plutarch

Axenius was engaged in lone dance practice. He had decided that, if he had to perform in public in female garb, his embarrassment would be less if he did so proficiently. However, the beautiful eunuch did not train in feminine attire but in the skimpy white loincloth he normally wore for bath duties. The young 16 year-old Germanian slave was also not on his own, for a young 20 year-old Roman patrician was furtively watching from nearby.

The young, newly initiated, priest was shunned by most other gallae because he was one of the recent recruits to the order whose genitals remained whole. The 20 year-old had been enthralled by the prospect of joining the sacred order ever since he had been taken to a ceremony in the temple of Cybele by his mother a decade earlier. His strange interest in dressing up like a girl had then secretly begun, although it only started to become an overtly sexual desire a couple of years later.

The young man’s raging confessed transvestitism had eventually become blatant. His shocked family had therefore not been too aggrieved to fund the black sheep’s admittance to the gallae of Cybele, making use of Claudius’ liberalization of Roman participation as long as citizens did not castrate themselves. The 20 year-old liked being wooed and carnally enjoyed by adult males and his undoubted physical charms had not only attracted many during his earlier life, quite a number supposedly rampantly heterosexual, but also continued to do so during nocturnal sojourns around the inns of the plebeian quarter. His easy virtue and pleasant accommodating orifices were prized amongst the poor because they were delivered without charge.

The young man, however, also had other tastes, apart from being the subject of entertainment for other males’ cocks. His own penis occasionally wanted to be pleasured by flesh and apertures possessed by other beautiful specimens of his own gender and, in the form of the quietly and erotically dancing Axenius, he had just spotted an ideal candidate for such diversion.

Axenius finished his exhausting routine and was beginning to towel the engendered sweat off his wondrous body when the young priest made his presence known by stepping out of nearby shadows. “Greetings,” the 20 year-old declared whilst displaying a lecherous smirk, “and thank you for your performance. I enjoyed the eroticism of it greatly!”

Axenius jumped in surprise at the sudden voice and turned to see who was issuing the salutation. He observed the young priest and tried to exhibit his own smile in response, because he did not want to be unfriendly, regardless of the attitude of the gelded gallae. However, his attempt could not disguise his embarrassment at having been unknowingly watched whilst training, especially as he had not intended his dance to be erotic. Nevertheless, being aware, not in a conceited way, of his own physical pleasantness and the fact that his near-nudity might be enticing to others, the 16 year-old could also not help but feel some pride in relation to the 20 year-old’s comment.

Axenius was then confronted with the young priest’s well-practised seduction skills. The 20 year-old went right up to the 16 year-old and took the towel off the young slave, suggesting persuasively “Let me do this. It’s the least that I can do to repay you for the private show!”

Axenius could not deny the young priest his wish, and not only out of politeness but also as a consequence of the tingling sensations that coursed through his wondrous body from being blatantly lusted after by a young man who, despite his feminine garb, was obviously very handsome. The Germanian youth had enjoyed his recent encounters in the Archigallus’ bed, where smooth wooden phalluses skillfully provided his prostrate with much pleasure, never previously encountered when he had had to service Caius Silius and his cronies. The phenomenon had been totally unexpected by the 16 year-old, who had sincerely believed that, after his castration and subsequent distressing experiences, he had forever lost the ability to enjoy sex. However, the chief of the gallae had made the young eunuch ponder whether, after all, real cocks, lovingly administered, could also deliver ecstasy.

Axenius began to speculate that his earlier inability to enjoy being the recipient of sodomy, and perhaps even the giver of fellatio, had actually been down more to the shame of the previous circumstances, and the not infrequent associated verbal and non-sexual physical abuse endured. The young slave had been the unwilling toy of many lechers attending Caius Silius’ regular orgies, who, like his master, considered him to be nothing more than an otherwise worthless object on which to satiate their desires. Most, nevertheless, always expected him to exhibit both personal enjoyment, regardless of how untruthful such a display was, and faultless expertise, with any deficiency in either being rewarded by slaps or worse, a regime I had not yet fully experienced.

Axenius wondered whether the forced false show of delighted competence, which he was compelled to display throughout the proceedings, had been the main root cause of his later dislike for, and lack of personal ecstasy from, the sexual acts. This attitude had even extended to the occasional more tender partakers of the young Germanian’s delectable form. Apart from these few, most had taken their pleasures without any consideration whatsoever for their young catamite, some actually enjoying being quite brutal, Aulus Vitellius being one of the worst culprits.

I subsequently learnt that Palaemon had been pleasured by Axenius’ body on several occasions, but only because the boy’s inaccurately seeming willing facade had been so convincing. The young Germanian told me that not even the teacher’s careful gentleness, or award of a gold piece, could compensate him at the time for his, albeit well-disguised, feelings of degradation and disgust.

The Archigallus’ skilled ministrations to Axenius’ anus had, however, now been instrumental in not only encouraging the 16 year-old to review his attitude to sex but also suddenly to be keen to experiment further in relation to the topic. The approach of the 20 year-old priest, in the quiet empty palaestra of the large complex that comprised the temple of Cybele, could therefore not have been better timed, from the older male’s perspective, as he found the younger specimen surprisingly very amenable to his advances.

“Let me take this off,” the young priest requested in a sweet low voice, full of excited innuendo and referring to Axenius’ skimpy white loincloth, “as you’ll need wiping underneath there too.” The beautiful young Germanian, back currently towards his would-be seducer and delectable form enraptured by the earlier toweling, said nothing. However, more importantly, the 16 year-old also did not resist, as the 20 year-old managed to free the tie that held the sparse garment in place.

Axenius’ sole attire soon fell to the tiled frescoed floor and, instead of the feel of the tiny cover to his lustrous buttocks, he experienced the delights of the towel being gently rubbed all over the now fully exposed sublime curvature. The young slave could not help but separate his legs widely and eventually utter a low groan of delight when the cloth finally ventured up and down his bumcrack, lingering awhile at his pink sphincter. It was then that the young priest also began to divest himself of his feminine clothing. He now knew that the young Germanian had been captured yet again, this time not by efficient Roman legionnaires in the boy’s homeland but by someone skilled at the art of sexual seduction in the temple of Cybele.

Axenius, eyes half shut as ecstatic sensations pervaded his whole form, did nothing to prevent his hands being rested against a nearby pillar of the presently gloomy cavernous temple. The young slave’s gorgeous body, legs still splayed, was compliantly being leant against the tall stone structure in a slightly bent pose to present the 16 year-old’s bottom nicely for what he not only knew was to come but also now wanted to experiment with intensely.

Axenius’ head turned to meet that of the quickly stripped young priest and their lips joined in a long kiss, as two hands, freed of the now unnecessary towel, wandered all over the young slave’s delectable nude form. Fingers carefully explored the 16 year-old’s gelded genitalia, rubbing themselves up and down the still nicely proportioned flaccid hairless cock. An older, larger, erect, hirsute penis, benefiting from intact supporting testes, could then be felt pressing against the young Germanian’s anal opening, keen to explore the darkness within. This eagerness was reciprocated by the cavity itself, which pressed backwards, demanding invasion. The 20 year-old human phallus was happy to oblige.

Pleasurable groans permeated the shadows around the stone column as sodomy progressed. The young priest’s hips thrust backwards and forwards rapidly and in great earnestness, filling the young slave completely before fully retreating again to repeat the cycle with enthusiastic swiftness.

For the first time in his life, Axenius was finally thoroughly enjoying being the subject of sodomy by the proper tool, a situation evidenced by his increasingly voluminous grunts as his prostrate was expertly entertained by another male’s fully functional cock. The young slave’s body shuddered all over in orgasmic delight when he felt the young priest attain his own climactic delirium, gushing spurt after spurt of creamy sperm deep into the 16 year-old’s innards.

Afterwards, Axenius experienced something else for the first time in his life, a real desire to perform fellatio. After turning towards the young priest to reward the 20 year-old for what he had just done, even though no such dividend was expected, the 16 year-old kissed his seducer on the lips once more before following up by kneeling in front of the astonished but delighted young priest.

Axenius, still experiencing an unprecedented sexual high, simply could not resist the temptation of continuing his experimentation. He encased the surprised young priest’s softening cock, remarkably clean despite still dribbling some cum, between his rosy lips and began to suck the member back to full erection. More copious semen was soon flowing into the 16 year-old, this time through his mouth and down his throat, to match the impregnation of his other orifice, from which some white substance had escaped to ooze down the insides of his lovely lithe, virtually hairless, legs.

The young priest had to confess later that he could not believe his luck. However, his belief in his current good fortune was to be quickly shattered, although the young slave would suffer much worse from their mutual misfortune, which was caused by the fact that their illicit liaison had not gone unobserved.

(Domus of Palaemon’s residential pupils, plebeian quarter, Rome, same time)

‘Special fame was gained by his method of teaching. For to stimulate the efforts of his pupils, he used to pit those of the same advancement against one another, not only setting the subject on which they were to study, but also offering a prize for the victor to carry off.’

- Suetonius (‘On Grammarians’, 17)

“I’ve been advised,” Gaius confessed, “that you two don’t like each other for some reason. Well, I’ve been commissioned by Palaemon himself to sort out this unfortunate situation, and he’s provided me with full authority to do so.” By means of verifying what this meant, Hylas, reacting to a furtive wink from his young master, went to collect something from one of the wooden boxes that contained some of the youth’s possessions. Persius and Quintilianus were dumbstruck when the pretty 4 year-old slave returned not only with a broad grin but also the type of rod, or ferula, to which their very pleasant 12 year-old bottoms had recently become so accustomed.

“Now,” informed Gaius, “I don’t intend to spend much time on this matter because I have a lot of other things to do. So, we’ll get on with resolving the problem straight away. I believe that the pair of you would normally bathe at this time of day?”

Persius and Quintilianus somehow nodded affirmation, despite their shock at the turn of events and clear fear of seeing the rod now in Gaius’ hands. “You’d, of course, strip for that,” the youth continued, “and I want you both to do the same now, although neither of you will be leaving this room afterwards until the issue at hand is settled.” Hylas could not help giggling at the obvious bewilderment and astonishment induced by this command on the boy’s pretty faces.

Persius and Quintilianus meekly tried to raise objections to the order but were quickly stopped when Gaius replied “Be quiet and strip now or I’ll bring others here to help me and I’ll then begin proceedings with six of the best across your clearly deserving posteriors!” The boys’ light summer tunics were therefore speedily shed, to be followed much more shyly by their subligacula undergarments. Both 12 year-olds then tried to hide their smooth genitalia from view using their hands. They would have been less coy in the domus’ large bathing complex, being accustomed to nudity in such a situation, but being naked in this present context was different. Their shared view was reinforced by noticing Hylas’ continued amusement at their embarrassing plight.

“Now, lie face-up on that bed over there,” Gaius instructed, pointing at the furniture in question. This was the first time that the previously stunned and bewildered Persius and Quintilianus realized what was unusual about the room they were in, for they recognized that their ordered destination was one of only two, albeit very large, beds. They would have expected one more, given that the accommodation should sleep three, with the infant servant reposing in the slave quarters.

Persius and Quintilianus complied reluctantly with Gaius’ command, whilst beginning to worry why the youth wanted them to lie naked on the bed. The thought crossed both 12 year-old minds that perhaps the 16 year-old’s declaration, of being assigned by Palaemon to rectify their attitudes to each other, might be cover instead for playing a wicked joke or worse. However, the pair was too fearful of the consequences of being wrong to test the theory.

“Now, which one of you is Perseus,” Gaius asked with continued unanswerable authority, once the two boys had assumed their positions and having visually confirmed the presence of stripes on the pair’s bottoms, from the beating delivered the previous day by their grammaticus. The relevant 12 year-old identified himself. “Well, I’m going to call you ‘P’ from now on,” the 16 year-old announced, still standing at a distance across the room, “and Quintilianus ‘Q’. You can both refer to me as ‘sir’. Do you both understand?” Two rather subdued replies of “Yes, sir!” could be heard in response.

“Now, P,” Gaius ordered, “please turn over and lie on your front. I want Q to inspect the damage that he’s caused!” Perseus was considering a complaint until he saw the authoritative youth menacingly raise his rod. The 12 year-old then simply bit his rosy lip and obeyed the order.

“Well, Q,” Gaius instructed, “I want you to examine closely, by sight and touch, the four marks for which you were responsible on P’s posterior. I require you to use both hands for your manual inspection and not only to be careful, because I’m sure the stripes are still sore, but also to take your time so that you can appreciate fully what you caused. When you’re done, I then want you to turn over so that P can do the same to you.”

Q complied with initial reluctance, not only because he had to touch his hated adversary but also because using both hands would expose his own genitals to view. However, the 12 year-old’s thoughts of resisting Gaius’ request were immediately quashed by continued sight of the dreaded ferula in the youth’s possession.

Gaius had been appraised earlier by Palaemon, along with other appropriate background information, of the very nice attributes of both Persius and Quintilianus. The 16 year-old had then used this knowledge and all his perceptive ingenuity to formulate a strategy that he believed would achieve the speedy success of his mission.

Quintilianus looked at and then felt the contours of Persius’ striped backside and he could not help his initial artificial distaste from being overwhelmed by eventual true interest in the delicious curved formation. Q’s nicely proportioned smooth cock, now exposed to view, began to expand whilst the forefingers of both his hands started to rub their way gently along the marks on P’s buttocks.

Perseus at first tried to exhibit his own version of quiet disdain and disgust at the initially humiliating manual manipulations to his rear until his own cock, hidden underneath him, began to replicate Quintilianus’ penile reaction. P then could not prevent his body from beginning to squirm, as a consequence of delight not distaste. When, it was eventually time for the 12 year-olds to swap places, both their sublime bodies displayed fulsome erections, recognized by each other. These had begun to drool precum when Gaius, content at seeing his preliminary tactics work and himself sporting a throbbing hard-on, hidden under his toga virilis, issued his next comments and commands.

“Well,” Gaius declared, with a veracity that could not be denied, even by the boys themselves, because the evidence was so clear, “neither of you seemed to dislike the other during that activity. So, let’s continue with another exercise. Lie, facing your bed companion, and begin to rub your fingers lightly up and down each other’s upper side. Then, look into your neighbour’s eyes and truthfully confess to him why you dislike him so much.”

Persius and Quintilianus obeyed the youth’s instructions with far less reluctance than previously. Neither could then relate why they had adopted adversarial positions to each other from their very first meeting, and so silence prevailed in the bedroom. Neither also made any remark when they heard the door close, their youthful manipulator having departed with his infant slave. The two 12 year-olds were more concerned about moving their ardent hand’s towards each other’s eagerly waiting erections.

Later, Persius and Quintilianus made no complaint about having to share both a room and a bed with each other or about the presence of a very young slave platonically occupying the other sleeping amenity with Gaius. Neither also objected to being nicknamed P and Q, the alphabetical proximity of the lettering seeming to summarize nicely and accurately their own new-found closeness. In fact, both young pupils would probably have resorted to violence if any attempt had been made over the next few years to change these arrangements.

(Schools in the plebeian quarter, Rome, next morning)

‘We must train our memory by learning by heart as many pieces from native and foreign writers as we can….we must acquaint ourselves with poetry, study history, read and familiarize ourselves with the published authorities in the liberal arts, and practise our own art by praising, expounding, emending, criticizing and confuting them.’

- Cicero (on grammatici)

11 year-old Silius Italicus was learning passages from Virgil’s ‘Aeneid’ in his grammaticus to which he had just transferred from his litterator. 7 year-old Marcus Annaeus Lucanus had recently started at the latter elementary school and had already confessed, to anyone who would listen, that he hated arithmetic.

Nearby, the teacher in another grammaticus, this one owned by Palaemon, had been astonished to see the overnight transformation in the relationship between Persius and Quintilianus, now forever gossiping with the other whenever allowed and continually and overtly happy in each other’s company. The man looked at his own ferula, sitting patiently on his table at the front of the class waiting for another young miscreant male palm or bottom to chastise, and smiled, mistakenly giving the ancient wooden implement the credit for the miracle.

Meanwhile, his employer, Palaemon, was less astounded at Gaius’ rapid completion of his task, for the early victory had only confirmed what he already knew. He had to confess that his pupil was truly someone special. I too was to become swiftly appreciative of this fact.

(Domus of Agrippina the Younger, Rome, same time)

‘It is only the ignorant who despise education.’

- Publilius Syrus (‘Maxims’)

8 year-old Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus was another dissatisfied at having to learn arithmetic. As the rather unpleasant chubby boy studied the mathematical problems set by his personal tutor, his mind, not uncommonly, began to wander. The youngster’s daydream centred round becoming a great artiste, perhaps a renowned poet or actor, and he was already prepared to confess to himself that he foresaw that little work was needed to achieve this aim.

Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus not only had no interest in his current studies or any other but also possessed no attraction for the world of politics towards which, even from his current very tender age, his mother was clearly trying to direct him. However, as it turned out, the boy, as he became a youth and then a man, would at first fulfil both Agrippina’s ambitions and his own. He would gain high office and many artistic awards, although privately many thought the latter to be both corrupted by being won from ingratiates and demeaning to his eventual status.

(The villa of Caius Silius, Rome, mid-afternoon, same day)

‘One word

Frees us of all the weight and pain of life:

That word is love.’

- Sophocles (Oedipus at Colonus)

Caius Silius had welcomed Gaius, inevitably accompanied by Hylas, to his urban villa with charming formality, already trying to ingratiate himself further with someone who might be useful to his cause in the future. My master had then allowed the major domo to escort the youth to where I waited impatiently. This was thoughtfully in the same guestroom where the 16 year-old and I had so recently spent the night, engrossed by both conversation and the loveliness of our companion.

Gaius sat next to me on the bed, where I had already positioned myself. I refused to confess to myself until a long time afterwards why I had chosen this starting location, amongst all the variety of ornate furniture, including many couches, chairs and stools, contained in the room. However, it was, of course, only for one reason. I wanted to compensate the youth for his obvious infatuation with me, which was a reciprocated phenomenon. I appreciated that this could be achieved not only by means of the only appropriate recompense that I could offer but also with the reward that I intuitively knew he really wanted.

Apollinus kindly prepared my body for the liaison, more carefully than ever despite the fact that he was almost as excited as me. “He’s clearly a nice young man, in all senses,” my fellow 14 year-old cheekily remarked as, after bathing me, he combed my long blonde hair, “who obviously wants more than just to teach you to read.” I was about to admonish my friend for his impertinence but his smile was so disarming that I just joined him in a giggle, as he gently placed the fresh crowning laurel in my silky golden locks. I then gave him his now usual oral reward, still common practice despite the terrible prospects for anyone caught in such acts, grotesquely exemplified recently at the external punishment frame.

The inaugural liaison with Gaius began with Hylas sitting discreetly on the floor by the bed, playing with some marbles, whilst his young master diplomatically opened proceedings by taking a small clay writing tablet out of his leather satchel to introduce me to the delights of the Latin alphabet. However, it was as the 16 year-old was scraping the letter ‘A’ with his stylus on the writing surface, now resting on my lap, that he obviously viewed my lithe 14 year-old lower limbs below. They were fully exposed from just underneath my groin because of the manner in which my very short scarlet tunic rode up my body whenever I adopted a sitting position.

I noticed Gaius’ inability to continue talking, as his mouth suddenly dried up completely. I looked away from the tablet towards the youth’s already waiting hazel eyes, glazed with desperate, accumulated but as yet unsatisfied need. Without deflecting from my gaze, I put the writing surface to one side and removed the stylus from the 16 year-old’s unresisting, slightly quivering, hand.

I then, somehow infused by a deliberately targeted but completely non-resistible emotional force, delicately placed Gaius’ hand on my upper thigh and advanced my lips towards his own.

Hylas continued to play his game of marbles whilst a scarlet tunic and a toga virilis, with its associated undergarment and sandals, joined the clay tablet alongside the now naked and passionately fevered young duo on the bed. However, the 4 year-old began to exhibit a broad grin and expel a quiet chuckle, as his young master finally lost his virginity.

Meanwhile, Sribonia and Tullia were most upset at being temporarily deprived of their newest slave, although Crispina was less bothered because her advanced pregnancy had confined her to her bed. I was the girls’ favourite only because, for some cruel reason, they particularly enjoyed tormenting me. Nevertheless, my short-term replacement, a handsome 15 year-old eunuch, was made to suffer in my place. The sadistic young females also made up for lost time whenever I returned to their service after my 3-hour liaisons with Gaius.

My meetings with Gaius were highly pleasurable events that were now to be permitted every other afternoon, with at least part of the time used for exercise of the mind as well as the body. The worth of the occasions always made the later vengeful feminine aftermath, which usually cost my bare bottom at least a stripe or two, not only bearable but also seem a small price to pay for what had previously been enjoyed.

My disposition was invariably strengthened by Gaius’ earlier optimistic words of comfort, designed to fortify my resolve to help me put up with my current life until he could arrange better times. However, in actuality, the latter eventually and thankfully arrived as a consequence of nothing that my youthful lover did, but rather ironically came as a result of a major misjudgment by others who were totally unconcerned for my personal welfare.

My mettle, when presenting my bare bottom to Caius Silius’ younger daughters again, was also aided by lingering happy recall of Gaius’ tender hands, earlier delightfully fondling my rear curvature. His cock would then have gently penetrated the middle aperture of my posterior to tickle my prostrate, with remarkable skill and consideration for a beginner. As 13 year-old Sribonia or 11 year-old Tullia struck my backside with their crop, my now always defiant fortitude to their actions, exemplified by a lack of tears, was further reinforced by pride at the continuing feel and taste of my youthful lover’s sperm impregnated deep inside my orifices. However, no evidence of this would be available for the girls to notice, as both my youthful lover and his infant slave took great care to tidy up my 14 year-old form before we parted.

As my initial liaison with Gaius was coming to an end, Caius Silius departed his urban villa in his litter, carried by four sturdy slaves and destined for the Imperial palace. My master had to confess to a slightly guilty conscience as he did so because he had left his residence despite knowing that his 15 year-old wife had just gone into labour.

(Temple of Cybele, Rome, same time)

‘Curae leves loquuntur ingentes stupent.’

(‘Light griefs are loquacious but the great are dumb.’)

- Seneca the Younger (‘Hippolytus’)

Axenius had to confess to surprise and alarm at unexpectedly not being required to sleep with the Archigallus and his dildos overnight, or to perform his usual duties at morning bathing. The young Germanian had instead, since dawn, been allocated even more menial and lowly chores, including cleaning the temple’s latrines. The 16 year-old’s concern about what his sudden change in duties implied was to be quickly vindicated when he was finally summoned, by an escorting whip-carrying adult slave, into the presence of the chief of the gallae.

The stern-faced Archigallus waited for the loinclothed Axenius with another feminine-clad male member of the priesthood and an ordinarily dressed outsider.

“You have disgraced not only the order,” the clearly very angry chief of the gallae advised a now very fearful young Germanian, “but also Cybele!”

“We do not need you to confess to your evil. My trusted colleague here,” the Archigallus continued, referring to his priestly companion, an older gelded member of the gallae renowned for his conservatism and hatred of the recent uncastrated recruits to the order, “witnessed your disgraceful profane liaison with one of the new priests in the temple confines. Your demeaning sacrilegious submission to filthy bodily lusts on sacred ground can engender only one result. You are to be immediately expelled from our order!”

“My friend here,” the Archigallus proceeded to tell the appalled and terrified, and consequently temporarily speechless Axenius, “is one of the kindest benefactors to our order and has generously agreed to take your unworthy body off our hands for its full market value. He runs certain establishments where eunuchs with your looks and base appetites are welcomed. One of these caters for men who like geldings made up as females, which to me seems an ideal destination for your vile character!”

“Your deceitful and obnoxious lover,” the Archigallus declared, “has already been banished from the temple and you may now also depart with my friend here. Please remove your loincloth, as your unworthy corrupt body defiles the uniform of the servants of Cybele!”

The anguished and shocked Axenius resisted the command momentarily, instead trying to formulate some form of mitigating defence for his passionate actions of the previous day, along with pleas for mercy. However, the young Germanian’s mouth only uttered a shriek, as his bare back suddenly felt the agony of a blow from his escort’s whip. The 16 year-old’s skimpy loincloth then quickly and compliantly fell to the floor, whilst the brothel-keeper advanced to exchange the bronze tag, which denoted the young slave’s ownership and which dangled from a thin chain around the youth’s sublime neck. The man then fastened a wide heavy metal ring, with sturdy loops for attachments at the front and back, around the young eunuch’s throat.

Axenius’ hands were rapidly manacled halfway up his back, now sporting a vivid bloody stripe, and attached to the rear of the ring around his neck. The young Germanian’s horror at his predicament was then compounded by realization that his new owner, who had clearly ogled the 16 year-old’s impeccable form with unmistakable lecherous interest, had no alternative attire for him.

Axenius almost fainted when he recognized that he was to be imminently led, through the crowded streets of Rome to his new brothel home, not only in chains but also in complete nudity.

(Imperial palace, Rome, same time)

‘Yesterday I dined with Demetrius, the boys’

gymnastics teacher, luckiest of men. One was lying

in his lap, one was draped on his shoulder, one served him

food, one drink – what a quartet! So I said to him, in

jest, “Good friend, do you

have exercises for them at night too?”’

- Automedon (epigram)

5 year-old Britannicus and Titus Flavius Vespasianus were, along with other similarly aged and nude male youngsters, exercising in a palace palaestra. This time they indulged under the close supervision of a young Greek gymnastics teacher who not only enjoyed the company of the boys in his charge but also was liked in return.

The boys were too young to appreciate how much pleasure their naked activities, which included much intimate innocent play with their overseer, gave their teacher, although they might have noticed if he too had been unclothed. However, the man’s plentiful and sturdy loincloth, size and strength markedly superior to the light diminutive article worn by Axenius, kept his constant erection both in check and out of sight. He knew what the awful consequences might be if his secret was revealed or he ever succumbed to almost unbearable temptation.

For this reason, the Greek had to confess, given his real preference for slightly older young male specimens, that he might have to seek employment elsewhere before his charges aged into that delightful later phase, perhaps giving way for a eunuch to take over. He surmised that a castrated gymnastics teacher should be free of such spiritual and genital torture.

Meanwhile, nearby in the palace, Rome’s most promiscuous nymphomaniac, in the form of the Empress Messalina, eagerly awaited the arrival of the city’s supposedly most handsome man, Caius Silius, whilst the Emperor Claudius was inspecting harbour improvement works in the port of Ostia.

Cephas was also visiting Ostia but to oversee the conversion of souls, not inadequate maritime facilities. He also heard those who wanted to confess their sins.

Cephas’ Christian colleague, Paul, also continued similar religious ministrations in Antiochae. However, he did so whilst additionally planning to make journeys to spread his gospel elsewhere.

(Temple of Cybele, Rome, same time)

‘The descent to Hades is the same from every place.’

- Anaxagoras (quoting Diogines in ‘Lives of Eminent Philosophers’)

Axenius’ new smirking owner, now equipped with a whip, led his latest delicious human purchase by a length of light chain, attached to the front of the metal ring fixed to the naked young slave’s delectable neck. The deeply aghast and abashed 16 year-old, brought up to consider public nudity to be almost the ultimate disgrace, reluctantly followed the man towards the daylight streaming in from the wide main entrance of the temple of Cybele. The unclothed young Germanian knew that his humiliation at dancing through the crowded streets of the largest city in the world dressed as a female would be nothing to what he now had to endure.

Axenius eventually emerged, quaking with fear and shame, into the sunshine at the top of the long flight of steps that extended downwards to the large busy square in front of the temple. On all sides were roads of various types, leading to different parts of Rome and beyond, all thronged with many men, women and children going about their daily affairs.

As the tremulous mortified young slave was led down the stone steps, already warm from the unrelenting overhead sun, he recognized that the next half-hour or so would seem to be the longest in his life so far. The 16 year-old realized that it would take at least that length of time to reach the particular plebeian quarter where most of the capital’s notorious brothels were located, even if his new owner did not make diversions elsewhere or stop to chat on the way. Somehow, the young Germanian knew that the latter was more probable than possible, with acquaintances wanting an intimate view of the man’s new property. Already people were beginning to point at the young eunuch’s nude form and some were laughing, presumably either at his nakedness or more succinctly at his now fully exposed gelded genitalia.

The beautiful blonde blue-eyed Axenius confessed to me later that, at that moment in time and despite a virtually cloudless sky, he prayed for a thunderbolt to strike him from the face of the Earth.

(To be continued in chapter X – ‘Exposures’)