(Lodgings of Cornutus, Subura Quarter, Rome, Dies Martis A.D. VII Kal. Mai. DCCV A.V.C. [Tuesday, 25^th April 52])

‘Virtuous, brave and true, he began humbly, left 30,000,000 sesterces and never listened to a philosopher.’

- the epitaph Trimalchio had composed for himself, as declared at his own feast and described in Petronius’ ‘Satyricon’ (71)

Cornutus lived in similar humble lodgings to those shared nearby by Persius and Quintilianus, the rooms concerned being above one of the schools he operated on behalf of his new employer, Axenius, who had inherited responsibility for Palaemon’s education establishments. The modest accommodation was, like that of P and Q, located in the plebeian Subura quarter, east of the Forum, amongst the trade and noise of common people. The Roman rich, especially those of the patrician class, tend to live in the more peaceful surroundings of the nearby Palatine Hill, on which the Imperial palace is also situated.

Unlike for the relatively impecunious Persius and Quintilianus, who still largely relied on rather parsimonious parental financial support, Cornutus’ humble lodgings did not reflect his remuneration, as he was exceedingly well paid by Axenius. The unpretentiousness of the 32 year-old’s rooms was instead associated with the fact that the great Julius Caesar, who was from an ancient noble family with sadly little money, once lived in the Subura. The increasingly renowned teacher believed that, if the area was good enough for such a man, it was good enough for him, which was an attitude entirely in line with his beliefs on lifestyle because he was a follower of the philosophy of stoicism, currently fashionable amongst the learned.

Cornutus’ main pleasures were gained from developing the boys and girls in the schools he ran on behalf of Axenius into worthy citizens, plus his association with 23 year-old Servius, who represented his one real luxury. The latter eunuch had been freed from slavery by Palaemon.

After Axenius had subsequently sold to Seneca the Younger the Umbrian vineyard, inherited from Palaemon and which Servius had helped to run, the young Germanian had appointed the 23 year-old as Cornutus’ full-time assistant, fully knowing that the pair were lovers and would relish working and living together. The 22 year-old did so not only out of kind consideration but also after recognising that his fellow, slightly older, eunuch possessed substantial management talents, as had been demonstrated at the viniculture estate.

Servius could therefore oversee the logistical aspects of the various elementary and secondary schools now in Axenius’ ownership but under the busy Cornutus’ overall day-to-day control. This arrangement allowed his older lover to concentrate on the educational elements, as well as organising from a select panel of tutors, including himself, the private tutoring of Britannicus. Meanwhile, their young Germanian employer would not be idle, as he focused not only on the welfare and upbringing of his twin siblings, 13 year-old Anacletus and Axenia, and adopted son, 11 year-old Arius, but also on developing his network of worthy scholarly establishments.

The late Palaemon’s schools had always been popular amongst the equestrian business class, who rather admired a former slave who had worked his way up to not only being the foremost teacher in Rome but also a very wealthy person because of his commercial acumen in other economic spheres. In the process, they were prepared to ignore his early reputation for private immorality, which anyway was indulged by many other rich people. However, patricians had often been more hypocritical, especially after both of the Emperors, Tiberius and Claudius, commented adversely about the famous tutor’s lifestyle.

The views of the patrician class began to alter when, after the advent of Axenius into his life, Palaemon clearly adopted greater temperance, both in terms of alcohol and sex, and had also been appointed by Seneca the Younger to the honoured position of tutor to the Imperial prince, Britannicus. The renowned teacher’s publication of a worthily famed book on grammar, plus his innovative and popular addition of modern Latin poets and writers, such as Virgil and Livy, into the curricula of his secondary schools, or ‘grammatici’, additionally helped to alter opinions. Even the inheritance of his educational legacy by a young, barbarian, eunuch, former slave did not change such a revision of attitudes, especially as the increasingly admired Cornutus actually ran the scholastic establishments.

Consequently, Axenius felt able to improve further his inherited network of schools in Rome, as well to establish others outside the Imperial capital. Fatefully for me, one of the new grammatici that he helped to set up was in the port of Massilia in the province of Narbonensis in Gaul.

Servius shared Cornutus’ lodgings and bed and on this morning they were, despite the renowned teacher’s stoicism, enjoying an extended lie-in because the day was a school holiday, being the annual festival of the Robigalia. However, the supposed extra repose had earlier been notable more for hectic sexual activity than quiescent rest.

After lusts had eventually been at least temporarily satisfied and the naked pair instead just lay happily in each other’s arms, they began to engage in pillow talk. Although Servius already knew a little about Cornutus’ background, he now asked for more details, especially about where his older lover’s stoic beliefs had emanated.

"As you know," Cornutus patiently answered, "I was born in Leptis Magna in Libya and was once a slave of Lucius Annaeus Seneca, or ‘Seneca the Elder’. My master was the father of three sons, including young Nero’s current tutor, who’s also the uncle of our pupil, Lucanus. The Annaei family are based in Corduba, capital of Baetia in southern Hispania, and have held a high place in Roman literary and public life for several generations."

"Seneca the Elder," Cornutus advised, "studied in Rome during the periods of the triumvirates and Augustus’ early reign and subsequently divided his time between the Imperial capital and Corduba. Like several important writers of his era, such as Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Titus Livius, he was both a rhetorician and historian. In old age, he also compiled from memory for his three sons a couple of charming anthologies of declaimers uttered by himself and various other orators in his lifetime. There are ten books of ‘Controversiae’, or ‘controversial arguments’, and five of ‘Suasoriae’, or ‘deliberations’. I should know because I was the scribe for most of them!"

"Seneca the Elder," Cornutus announced, temporarily diversifying from Servius’ original question, "was unafraid to mock himself or his family in his works. As an example, let me quote one of the deliberations in his ‘Suasoriae’, which I have in my memory and which recalls the time when an older relative of his once made a fool of himself in debate."

Cornutus now selectively recited, verbatim but with deliberate verbal jocularity, from his remembrance of his late master’s anecdotes: "‘There was a person called Seneca, his name might have reached your ears, of a confused and disorderly cast of mind, who wanted to speak in the big style. In the end, this weakness obsessed him and made him ridiculous. He wouldn’t have slaves unless they were big, or silver vessels unless they were big. His madness led him ultimately to wear shoes that were too big for him, to eat no figs except mariscae’, which as you know are large but have poor flavour, ‘and to have a mistress of vast proportions. He was nicknamed Seneca Grandio’!" Servius could not help but simultaneously chuckle at both the amusing content and his lover’s deliberately comical mode of delivery of the recitation.

"In respect of this asinine relation," Cornutus now commented, "Seneca the Elder told of how, when he was young, the man attempted to engage in debate about the heroic 300 Spartans who bravely but suicidally faced over 1,000,000 Persians at Thermopylae. The relative apparently stood on tip-toe to attempt to appear bigger and, in respect of the fact that all of the other defending Greeks had run away, announced, as if he was one of those that remained, ‘I rejoice, I rejoice! Xerxes will be entirely mine!’ In other words, he was foolishly welcoming the fact that he would be able to fight the enemy king and his vast hordes alone." Servius laughed again at the pompous stupidity of such a person.

"As I’ve mentioned," Cornutus then more seriously declared, whilst returning to the theme of Servius’ original question, "Seneca the Elder had three sons. One is Nero’s present tutor. Another, Mela, is Lucanus’ father, whilst a third, Novatus, was adopted as a young man, purely for reasons of political advancement, by a friend of his father, the orator, Junius Gallio, who at the time had the benefit of being a close associate of Tiberius’ powerful and sinister henchman, Sejanus."

"Despite Sejanus’ subsequent fall and execution, which encouraged the Annaei family to lie low for a while, including indulging in voluntary exile from Rome," Cornutus informed, "Novatus’ adoption did eventually work politically, although undoubtedly also helped by the current influence at the Imperial court of his brother, Seneca the Younger. Now known as ‘Lucius Junius Gallio Annaeanus’, he has just been sent to Corinth in Greece as Governor of Achaea."

"Seneca the Younger himself," Cornutus remarked, "who was a sickly child, had been sent as a boy to Rome to learn rhetoric but also became attracted to philosophy, especially of an ascetic kind. Influenced by Pythagoras’ ideas, he became a vegetarian until he took his father’s advice to desist when Tiberius launched a campaign against foreign practices that were supposedly not becoming of Romans. This recantation was probably fortunate, as I doubt that his frail physique, which had become even more emaciated as a result of his meatless diet, would have survived such mealtime sacrifice for much longer!"

"Seneca the Younger," Cornutus then reported, "instead began to study stoicism under the eloquent teacher, Attalus."

(Lodgings of Persius and Quintilianus, Subura Quarter, Rome, same time)

‘You need only possess perception and be made of flesh, and you will see that pleasure is good.’

- Epicurus

18 year-old Persius and Quintilianus were also enjoying a lie-in, naked in each other’s arms, whilst the plebeian world outside was as busy as ever, regardless of the festival of the Robigalia. The people of Rome, especially the commoners who could not afford the luxury of copious oil lamps to illuminate their activities or a day off work, made the maximum use of sunlight and so they would generally be going about their business from dawn.

The first work of many traders was to sort deliveries of goods received overnight, as wagons were forbidden for safety reasons from the crowded streets of Rome during the day. Early mornings were also the busiest time for conscientious men of importance and patronage, who would receive petitioners and clients. However, Persius and Quintilianus currently possessed no responsibilities that required them to be out of bed at an early hour on a holiday.

Persius and Quintilianus had already made love once on this bright spring morning, with the former ignoring the supposed abhorrence of true Romans to be the recipient of sodomy. In fact, P had indicated that he had gained immense pleasure from his similarly aged lover’s tickling of his prostate by spoiling the bed-sheet with his cum, simultaneous to Q’s impregnation of his delightfully curvaceous rear. However, the sexual appetites of the two 18 year-olds were such that further production of young sperm was inevitable before the very handsome pair finally rose for the day.

Quintilianus presently had one arm under Persius’ head, with the digits of this sleek limb gently caressing his fellow 18 year-old’s unfashionable, for a young Roman gentleman, but nevertheless lovely lengthy hair. Meanwhile, Q’s other forefinger was carefully running circles around one of the cute nipples on P’s smooth chest before beginning to move slowly downwards.

Quintilianus now simultaneously quietly asked Persius, who was being encouraged in his poetry by Cornutus, making them more like close friends than pupil and teacher, a question. Q enquired "P, are you sure that you want to adopt stoic values as your guiding principles in life?"

Persius, not yet appreciating that Quintilianus was embarking on one of his frequent teases, answered "I know that Cornutus takes great care not to force his own philosophic views on his pupils, instead preferring just to concentrate on recommending a humane approach to life. However, I’ve asked him to tell me all about his beliefs and I like many of the aspects of the version of stoicism he follows."

"But P," Quintilianus next asked, whilst feigning a frown and as his forefinger moved even further downwards after recently gently circling Persius’ cute navel, "stoics lead such staid lives. Can’t you just be one in public, whilst being with me an Epicurean pursuer of pleasure in private?"

Persius now felt his already semi-erect cock suddenly become fulsomely hard, as the manicured nail of Quintilianus’ forefinger finally began gently to rub his penial shaft. Realising that Q had lured him into another tease, as a prerequisite to further love-play, the increasingly excited P somehow managed to splutter, in reply to his lover’s mock query, "I….I….couldn’t….be….be….such a hypocrite!"

"Are you sure?" Quintilianus asked. "No!" Persius responded, just before the rosy lips of the two 18 year-olds met again, for the umpteenth time since my beloved Gaius had encouraged them to become friends not enemies over half a decade previously.

(Lodgings of Cornutus, Subura Quarter, Rome, same time)

‘[Corsica] is nothing but a vast desolate place [where] no shade smiles at you after the burst of spring. No grass grows in that accursed soil. It gives neither bread, nor water to scoop, not the slightest spark. Here, there are only two things, the exile and the place of exile.’

- Seneca the Younger (referring in a letter to a friend about his enforced exile on Corsica)

"Stoicism," Cornutus advised, "was first expounded about 3½ centuries ago by the Greek, Zeno of Citium, in the twilight age of the Hellenic city-states. It took its name from the ‘stoa poikile’, or ‘painted colonnade’, in Athens, where the Cypriot first elucidated his beliefs. He particularly propounded the importance of duty, in contrast to probably the philosophy’s most significant current rival, that of Epicurus, which centres on the pursuit of pleasure, or at least the eradication of pain."

Cornutus then quite deliberately attempted to introduce a little further amusement into his discourse, despite the reputation of stoics for supposedly being humourless. With tongue clearly firmly in cheek, he announced "The philosophy of Epicurus was, of course, followed fully, at times almost to extreme, by my late employer, Palaemon!"

Servius, relishing in being lovingly embraced by the manly arms of the handsome Cornutus, could not help but smile on hearing this reference to his own late benefactor, Palaemon, and his Epicurean early liking for pursuing pleasures, particularly of the flesh. Although the 23 year-old eunuch had entered late into the life of the renowned and now sadly deceased teacher, he was aware of the famous tutor’s copious pursuit of sexual ecstasy before a certain Axenius helped to moderate his once notorious lifestyle by becoming the sole focus of such desires.

"Zeno," Cornutus now commented more seriously, "believed that all men, from kings to slaves, possess a share of the Supreme Being, of whom they are one privileged element, being superior for example to animals in being uniquely inclined to social union. All human souls are originally born innocent and gradually acquire knowledge from the experience of living. Consequently, all are basically brothers and therefore all should be entitled to decent treatment in a predestined life whose only goals are to understand and harmonise with nature."

"Stoics believe in divine providence," Cornutus declared, "and a ‘logos’, or ‘rational principle’, embodied in the ‘pneuma’, or element of sacred fire. The most important natural doctrines insist that a good life should entail compassion and love for, and co-operation with, other humans, plus the self-discipline to live modestly and to experience both triumph and tragedy with equanimity. Politically, the philosophy therefore promotes the perfect state as one comprising a single worldwide entity, governed by laws of reason and nature."

"Early stoic writings," Cornutus informed with characteristic honesty, "although voluminous, were extremely dull. However, they subsequently appealed to discipline-conscious Romans because the philosophical works became increasingly concerned with matters of practical conduct and appeared to vindicate what many already instinctively believed."

"However," Cornutus remarked, "some pragmatic Romans, who are attracted to Zeno’s beliefs, discard some of the more utopian and potentially politically dangerous ideals, such as the achievement of moral perfection throughout society, in favour of more practically attainable notions. They, for example, compromise about seeking a worldwide state of absolute virtue in order to be able to justify their loyalty to the Empire and its various rulers."

"Such stoics," Cornutus reported, "argue that, although the Roman Empire is not the perfect, humane world-state envisioned by Zeno, it represents a giant step along the path to such a utopia and so deserves the respect and goodwill of the population. Their emphasis is therefore more on community obligation, so justifying honourable political advancement and current precepts in respect of the family. Within this philosophy, there’s even a place for the traditional gods, as personifications of scientific truths, with observation of the rituals of such allegorical symbols being conducive to honest disciplined living. For example, Jupiter represents the fiery ‘pneuma’, whilst Neptune stands for the important element of water and Venus the significant emotion of love."

"Seneca the Younger has always followed this pragmatic approach," Cornutus suggested, "but nowadays apparently even more potentially hypocritically than previously, which is why his conscience allows him to work directly for a person like Agrippina. Although, it was my early links with him, achieved by being a slave of his father, who kindly freed me in his will, that encouraged me to examine and accept stoicism too as a worthy philosophy to pursue in life, I personally prefer the purer version."

"However," Cornutus continued, "I can also understand why Seneca the Younger has become even more pragmatic of late. He simply hated being exiled by Claudius to Corsica, after falsely being accused by Messalina of adultery with Agrippina’s younger sister, Julia Livilla, early in the reign of the present Emperor. The ambitious and jealous vindictiveness of the then Empress encouraged her to attack not only those she believed to be rivals but also their most important courtiers."

"Seneca the Younger," Cornutus added, "subsequently spent 7 years languishing on Corsica, ruminating on human frailties, observing local wildlife and writing letters of personal consolation, or ‘consolationes’, to friends. He was eventually prepared to do anything to be reprieved and returned to Rome, even working for Agrippina, who appears to be as dangerously perfidious and scheming as her predecessor as Empress and whose son possesses one of the most disturbing pedigrees in Rome!"

"For example," Cornutus advised, "besides the nefarious ambition exhibited by Nero’s mother, his father, Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, who died of dropsy when his son was only 3, had a notorious reputation. He was not only accused at various times of treason, incest, adultery and failure to pay debts but also gouged another man’s eyes out in a drunken brawl and unrepentantly ran over and killed a child on the Appian Way in his chariot. He additionally once worryingly confessed that any baby born to himself and Agrippina was bound to have a detestable nature and become a public danger!"

"Nero," Cornutus announced, "was born at Antium [modern Anzio - Pueros], which is a rather fashionable seaside resort south of Rome. The boy, through convoluted family lines, is both the great-great-grandson and great-great-nephew of Augustus for, although the Ahenobarbus clan had been strong republicans and had fought both him and Julius Caesar, the first Emperor pardoned them and married one of them to his niece. However, the Princeps’ action might be considered unfortunate because the family cognomen means ‘bronze beard’ and some say that, though their beards might be of this alloy, their hearts are of lead!"

"Agrippina, whom Seneca the Younger knows possess no scruples," Cornutus commented, "won’t even allow Nero’s tutor to instruct the boy in philosophy. The Empress considers the subject to be a complete waste of time, although the prince’s teacher does try to overcome at least some of this ignorant proscription by disguising relevant lessons in moral principles under the topic of state-craft."

"In the process of being prepared to end his exile on Corsica in order to serve Agrippina and Nero in such circumstances," Cornutus then declared, "Seneca the Younger therefore sadly displayed none of the stoic’s reputation for being able to exhibit imperturbability in the face of misfortune!"

(Domus of Gaius Musonius Rufus, Subura Quarter, Rome, same time)

‘Zeus, and you other immortals, grant that this boy, who is my son,

May be as I am, pre-eminent….’

- Hector in Homer’s ‘Iliad’ (6.476-7)

My beloved Gaius was as usual, unless I was beside him in bed to deflect him from such intent, up early and had washed, groomed and dressed, with the invariable help of his devoted 10 year-old slave, Hylas. The 22 year-old man from Volsinii was therefore ready to embark upon the various errands he had planned for the holiday. However, his first duty lay in his new home, a small but rather pleasant domus, rented from Axenius and located near to the lodgings shared by his friends, Cornutus and Servius and Persius and Quintilianus.

Gaius had required the larger accommodation because of the two agreeable mementoes he had brought back with him from his recent tour of the eastern Empire, namely the delightful forms of 10 year-old Achilleus and 12 year-old Tyanus. This pleasant happening also caused him to want to recruit an adult slave to assist with the greater volume of housework now generated by four young males living together, although he had not yet achieved this task.

Gaius’ first duty of the day within his new home involved his 10 year-old slave, whom he now addressed before they both ventured out into the Subura Quarter to fulfil his other errands. "I want to free you, Hylas," the young man from Volsinii announced, "and, as I’ve already done with Achilleus and Tyanus, adopt you as my son in order to safeguard your future by virtue of the inheritance I’ll leave you if anything unfortunate should happen to me."

Hylas responded whilst as usual in private using Gaius’ praenomen, although he had recently been trying to utilise the more proper and respectful title of ‘master’ elsewhere. The growing 10 year-old did not want to embarrass, or diminish in the mind of others, the young man from Volsinii by allowing himself, a mere barbarian eunuch slave boy, to exhibit too much verbal intimacy in public.

"Your intent is very kind, Gaius," Hylas answered, very maturely for someone of his tender years. Such maturity was undoubtedly a testament to the upbringing and private education kindly afforded to the slave boy over the previous 5½ years by the marvellous young man from Volsinii.

"But," Hylas continued, "and with all due respect, I wish to decline your generous offer!"

(Domus of Aulus Plautius, patrician quarter, Palatine Hill, Rome, same time)

‘I summon you to continuous pleasures, and not to virtues which are empty and vain and which hold out troubling expectations of rewards.’

- Epicurus

Suffuscus and his younger adoptive brother, Aulus Plautius Minor, respectively now 15 and 9 years of age, were also naked, but they were also shivering. The pair of beautiful boys was emerging from the cold water of the frigidarium, into which they had just reluctantly plunged at the end of their morning bathing process.

Fortunately, Suffuscus and Aulus Plautius Minor were too accustomed to the daily procedure to be seriously discomforted by the frigidarium, an attitude assisted by the presence of two household eunuchs ready to wrap them in warmed towelling. The boys were also too thrilled by the prospect of the day ahead to notice the cold, even though their voices shuddered in line with their bodily shivering as they chatted excitedly.

The senior Aulus Plautius had promised to use his litters to take his two lovely sons to the 5^th milestone of the Via Claudia outside Rome, where the main ceremonies in respect of the festival of the Robigalia would be held. A certain young and very important person would be collected from the nearby Imperial palace on the way, in the form of the older boy’s best friend, the recently renamed Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, who would be 14 in December. The large horse-drawn family ‘carpentum’, or ‘coach’, could not be used for the journey because of the daytime proscription against such vehicles within Rome’s inner urban sprawl, which represented their points of departure and return.

Watching the Robigalian ceremonials were, however, not what really excited the boys’ interest but rather where Aulus Plautius Major then next proposed to take the young threesome. The renowned general, successful invader of my homeland, intended to take the trio to watch the holiday chariot racing at the huge Circus Maximus on the Campus Martius, this time via the stables of the faction, or ‘factiones’, he supported.

There were four charioteer factiones, the Albata, Prasina, Russata and Veneta. They wore the respective colours of white, green, red and blue and were most commonly known by these hues.

You may recall, dear patient reader, that I have already declared my enthusiasm for the Whites. Well, Aulus Plautius Major supported, like the previous Emperor, Caligula, as well as the next still to come, one of the rivals.

(Lodgings of Cornutus, Subura Quarter, Rome, same time)

‘….it is difficult to use the Latin language well when one hears nothing but the jargon of a barbaric people, so coarse that even the barbarians themselves who have some education are shocked by it….My mind has become rusty by dint of long inertia. If you find [my words] unworthy of your genius, or not able to cure your sorrow, think that it is hard to console others when one is preoccupied by one’s own misfortune.’

- Seneca the Younger (referring again in a letter to a friend about his enforced exile on Corsica)

"Seneca the Younger," Cornutus continued, "argues that being able to influence Imperial affairs justifies his lack of resolve in respect of his exile. However, such argument does not deflect me from sadly believing that his motives were mainly selfish, and that his attitude to altruistic stoic tenets hypocritically changes in line with his own personal circumstances. I think that my notion is supported by the contrast between the self-pity he showed in letters of the time to Roman acquaintances, of which I’m aware because I’m also friendly with many of the recipients, and other, much more principled, statements he’s made. For example, I know that he’s preached that ‘the man who is not inflated by prosperity does not collapse under adversity; the man of tested constancy keeps a spirit impregnable to either condition’!"

"In Seneca the Younger’s defence, though," Cornutus advised, "I believe that his moral lapses only occur when faced by intellectual rather than physical hardship. Apart from vegetarianism, he still keeps the ascetic habits of his earlier life, some of which he was forced to spend for reasons of health, including political security at the time of Sejanus’ downfall, with relations in Pompeii and Aegyptia. Such voluntary exile disturbed and slowed his embryonic career in Rome as a lawyer and politician, thereby undoubtedly making his subsequent expulsion to Corsica when finally rising in society even more unendurable."

"Seneca the Younger," Cornutus announced, "still eats and drinks very simply, with no luxuries like mushrooms, oysters or alcohol in his diet. He also does not believe in bathing too often and, when he does, he never uses hot water or deodorants. I additionally understand that every evening he examines his conscience to determine whether he’s lived up to his principles during the day. However, I’m sure that, when confronted by possible mental atrophy, as happened on Corsica, he sadly can no longer maintain a resolute attitude to all of the doctrines he’s supposed to hold dear."

"Nevertheless, now that Seneca the Younger has returned from exile and is again exercising his considerable intellect in Rome," Cornutus then appraised Servius, "I hope that my perception that he has fully reverted for now to his previous stoic values proves correct. You see, on this very day, I propose to test his commitment to the philosophy, particularly the belief that all humans should be treated decently!"

(Domus of Gaius Musonius Rufus, Subura Quarter, Rome, same time)

‘The deliberative faculty is not present at all in the slave, in the female it is inoperative, in the child undeveloped.’

- Aristotle

"Why?" asked an incredulous Gaius of Hylas’ wish to refuse his master’s offer of freedom and adoption. "Because," the 10 year-old slave boy answered "If I accept, I’d no longer always be at your side during our waking hours. For example, you’d send me off to grammaticus, just as you intend for Achilleus and Tyanus from the start of the next academic year in September. I don’t mind sharing the private lessons that you give your adopted sons in the interim but would prefer not to do the same in respect of their formal schooling!"

"Why," Gaius asked again before adding "as such a development, although you mightn’t like it, would surely be good for you in the long term?" "Because," Hylas replied, with genuine selflessness, "I learn enough by being with you and anyway, much more significantly, you need me constantly at your side to do a lot of little chores for you. I don’t think you realise how much you depend on me to attend to such minor tasks, which are activities that allow you to spend more time on the most important aspects of your life, such as your studies and writings in philosophy."

"I can always acquire someone else to perform such duties," Gaius responded, whilst suddenly realising how truly valuable were his conscientious and efficient young slave’s practical contributions to his life. "They wouldn’t be as good," Hylas retorted, not necessarily with excess boastfulness.

"Anyway," the young slave boy continued, "I recall what the old soothsayer on the Vatican, whom Axenius still believes was the goddess, Cybele, once told us. I believe that I can remember her words exactly because they affected me so much, even though I was only a 5 year-old. She announced regarding you: ‘You can become one of the world’s greatest philosophers. Unfortunately, you will be cursed by having your voice listened to and obeyed by few in your time, or for ages to come. Instead, certain other lesser philosophies will be followed that will cause the world much grief over many centuries. However, the day will eventually arrive when, amidst much blight, your teachings are finally given proper consideration. This overdue happening will then lead to the salvation of mankind, but only if you follow your predestined path by conducting your life and airing your opinions as your conscience dictates. Never be deflected from these aims by anyone, for the sake of generations far into the future!’ She then declared in respect of me: ‘Much of your long life will be consumed serving a great cause. There will be many ups and downs but you will remain loyally steadfast and efficient until your work is done. You will also always relish the role you play.’"

"Don’t you recognise, Gaius," Hylas added in successful conclusion, thereby achieving the exceedingly rare accomplishment for anyone of defeating his master in debate, "that what she meant by my ‘great cause’ is you!"

(Domus of Nigerinus, Subura Quarter, Rome, later same morning)

‘Leve fit, quod bene fertur, onus.’
(‘A burden which is done well becomes light.’)

- Ovid

The domus of 22 year-old Nigerinus might not have been the ideal for most Romans, and not just because of the residence’s plebeian location or diminutive size. The fact that his home was fronted by a funeral establishment would instead have been the most off-putting aspect of the place for most citizens. However, the nullified black eunuch did not care because he rather liked living so close to where he worked.

Nigerinus had been freed from slavery by Aulus Plautius Major to manage the funeral business that the renowned general owned to boost his revenues, albeit secretly because patricians were supposed not to stoop to dabbling in commerce. The nullified eunuch had proven an inspired choice because the enterprise was thriving, and not just because of the usual high death rate in Rome.

The service had instead acquired an excellent reputation for the caring and efficient manner in which funeral ceremonies were arranged and conducted. Such standards, along with Aulus Plautius’ influence within Claudius’ court, had led to commissions from the palace, although so far only in respect of deceased slaves, whom the Emperor, unlike many other masters, did not insist had to pay for their own internments. Such Imperial approval had further substantially boosted business and, in almost another 3 years’ time, would also have great significance for certain personalities in my life-story.

Unlike in 3 years’ time, aspects of the funeral business were, however, not currently the reason why Nigerinus had been awake and up since well before dawn. The nullified eunuch had instead spent several hours cradling a cute baby boy in his arms whilst the adult paced up and down a bedroom.

The new-born white baby appeared very content in the kind black man’s caring and comforting arms, happily peering round the lamp-lit bedroom until finally again succumbing to sleep. However, whenever the child was returned carefully and gently to his cot, he would invariably quickly re-awaken and begin crying again until picked up once more, restarting the action cycle.

The baby’s mother was the widow of an impecunious gladiator killed in the arena by the infamous Didius. Being then pregnant and destitute, the young white woman had gladly accepted the offer of the post of housekeeper to Nigerinus, to whom she essentially then became a loving sister. She had now just been allowed a respite from her own similar supervision of her son by the kind eunuch, who assumed the custodial role whilst she gained some sleep.

Nigerinus accepted the chore for three reasons, the first being that he was naturally considerate. The second incentive related to his insistence that the child was not wrapped in the customary but surely highly uncomfortable comprehensive swaddling inflicted on babies by Roman parents, preferring, correctly in my opinion, freer African practices. However, he was now feeling guilty that, by not following the common local habit, he might somehow have caused the restlessness of the boy, who had been named Aulus in honour of the person to whom the eunuch was beholden for his freedom and employment. The third motive was even more emotional.

Nigerinus had come to love both mother and son deeply.

(Imperial palace, Palatine Hill, Rome, same time)

‘Strive with all your strength, struggle with might and main, to save your young master by your efforts.’

- the slave, Acanthio, in Plautus’ ‘Mercator’ (111)

I had finally managed to comfort my similarly aged friend and fellow Imperial slave, Apollinus, with whom I shared modest but comfortable accommodation within the palace, sufficiently to stop him shedding tears. The 20 year-old Rhodian had been lachrymose and sleepless for most of the previous night, after returning to our rooms with the dreadful news.

Apollinus’ sorrowful emotions had previously been immune to my suggestions as to how we could try to overcome the problem that had caused my friend’s tears. I advised that I could mention the issue to Claudius but the young Rhodian, probably correctly, replied that the Emperor, in his dotage, would either be too disinterested or too much under his wife’s influence to react. I then said that I could seek Narcissus’ help. However my fellow 20 year-old rightly responded that the Imperial secretary’s power was currently much reduced because of the recent fiasco at the Fucine Lake, a major construction project for which he had overall responsibility and in respect of which Agrippina was again accusing him of corrupt practices, now damagingly.

I mentioned others who might assist, such as Apollinus’ own younger lover, 19 year-old Rubellius Plautus, whom we both knew was occasionally incestuously coerced into the bed of his aunt, 37 year-old Agrippina. I also nominated my fellow slave’s 17 year-old younger brother, Helius, and his lover, 24 year-old Doryphorus, who formed Nero’s freedmen secretariat and were incorrectly considered to be allies of the Empress.

I additionally proposed that Cornutus and Petronius, with the help of their court connections, plus that of Axenius and my beloved Gaius, might be able somehow to overcome Agrippina’s wickedness. As a final resort, I even suggested that I myself could raise the issue during the daily briefing about Claudius’ activities that I still provided for the Empress, despite appreciating that my influence on her was minimal.

I did not nominate Burrus, whom I occasionally still reluctantly allowed to gain pleasure from my body in return for gaining his unwitting insight into Agrippina’s court circle, in line with my apparently failing conspiracy with Narcissus to try to protect Britannicus. I already knew that the new and generally honourable Praetorian Prefect had already privately aired his objections to the developments with the Empress but she had been unmoved.

Apollinus dismissed all my suggestions, again probably correctly, on the grounds that none of the people mentioned were likely to influence Agrippina. We then both concluded that only one person would be likely to have such an effect, which helped clear my friend’s tears, as we planned our move.

(Domus of Titus Flavius Vespasianus, Pomegranate Street, Subura Quarter, Rome, same time)

‘There can be great men even under bad Emperors, and duty and discretion, if coupled with energy of character and a career of action, will bring a man to no less glorious summits than are attained by perilous paths and ostentatious deaths, with no advantage to the commonwealth.’

- Tacitus (‘Agricola’, 42)

After completing his short part-year as Consul, 43 year-old Titus Flavius Vespasianus had deliberately returned to relative obscurity. He appreciated that, as Agrippina became increasingly more powerful at the expense of his friend and early benefactor, Narcissus, the maintenance of a low profile would be safest. However, he also knew that this past sleepless night necessitated him breaking cover to make a potentially dangerous visit to the Imperial palace.

Vespasianus’ lack of overnight rest unusually did not on this occasion stem from the crying of his second son, Domitianus, who was just a 6 month-old baby, but was instead caused by the sobbing of his older 11 year-old child, Titus. Consequently, the renowned but currently militarily unemployed and impecunious general considered that he had little choice but to visit someone whom he believed might influence Agrippina to change her mind.

Despite the great bravery that Vespasianus had often displayed in battle, he felt very apprehensive about undertaking his mission, as his visit might dangerously raise his profile in Agrippina’s wicked mind. However, the renowned and courageous general believed that, if he was prepared to risk his life for Emperors, he should also do so for his older son.

(Domus of Axenius, Rome, same time)

‘For, as I detest the doorways of death, I detest that man who

Holds one thing in the depths of his heart and speaks forth another.’

- Achilles in Homer’s ‘Iliad’ (9.312-3)

"What can we do?" asked a concerned Axenius about the disturbing news that Cornutus had brought him. "I don’t believe that Seneca knows or would approve," was the reply, "and so I’ll first go to him to request his help."

"Would he be bothered?" Axenius next enquired. Cornutus answered "I think so. Seneca is no enemy of the boy and does not wish him harm. His stoicism should also make him compassionate to others."

"However," Cornutus worryingly added, "Seneca’s version of the philosophy sadly also apparently entails that his first considerations will be for the greater good or, in his case, Rome, plus occasionally rather selfishly himself, and not necessarily in that order!"

(Imperial palace, Palatine Hill, Rome, later same morning)

‘We are all members of one great body. Nature has made us relatives….[members of] a vast and truly common state, which embraces alike gods and men, in which we look neither to this corner of Earth nor to that, but measure the bounds of our citizenship by the path of the sun.’

- Seneca the Younger

"Thank you for agreeing to see me, Sir," Cornutus said politely to Seneca the Younger. "It’s always a pleasure to meet a former member of my father’s household, whom I’ve tempted to become a fellow stoic," Nero’s tutor replied to the person whom he was also happy to have as Britannicus’ principal teacher, "and in respect of what business do I owe the honour?"

"My dismissal yesterday as tutor to Britannicus," Cornutus responded to the shocked Seneca, who still knew nothing of Agrippina’s latest perfidious actions in respect of her stepson.

(Domus of Nigerinus, Subura Quarter, Rome, same time)

‘Non est ad astra mollis e terris via.’
(‘There is no easy way from the earth to the stars.’)

- Seneca the Younger

Nigerinus was still pacing up and down the bedroom with little Aulus, now somnolent again in his arms. As he walked, the nullified black eunuch wondered what the boy would become when he grew up, as he wished the child a good, long and worthy life. He certainly proposed to do everything within his own powers to ensure that his desire came true and he also now prayed to the spirit gods of his distant African homeland to help him.

Nigerinus’ African gods not only must have heard the eunuch’s entreaties made for little Aulus in faraway Rome but also were to prove themselves both powerful and worthy of such prayers. The wish of the nullified eunuch was to be granted in a magnificent way.

The baby boy would, as an adult, even eclipse the meritorious achievements of the man after whom he had been named, Aulus Plautius.

(Imperial palace, Palatine Hill, Rome, later same morning)

‘You must live for your neighbour if you would live for yourself.’

- Seneca the Younger

"Thank you for agreeing to see me, Augusta," Seneca the Younger said politely to Agrippina. "It’s always a pleasure to meet my stoic adviser," Nero’s mother replied, "and in respect of what business do I owe the honour?"

"I should like to retire from your service with immediate effect," Seneca responded to the shocked Empress.

(Domus of Callistus, patrician quarter, Palatine Hill, Rome, same time)

‘Remember that I can do anything to anybody!’

- Emperor Caligula

Callistus was not a patrician but had once been a slave and so his procurement of a luxurious domus amidst those possessed by Rome’s nobility was not welcomed by most of his snobbish aristocratic neighbours on the Palatine Hill. However, such distaste for the presence of the home a mere freedman amongst those of Rome’s supposed elite was kept quiet because he also happened to be one of the Empire’s most influential people, being in charge of petitions and legal matters for the Emperor Claudius.

One compensation for the snobs, in respect of their low-born neighbour, came from the fact that, given Callistus’ position and desire to remain as close to the centre of power as possible, the freedman mainly resided in rooms in the Imperial palace. His domus was therefore principally used by his only daughter, Nymphida, who had been one of Caligula’s mistresses and had given birth to the previous Emperor’s illegitimate son, the now 13 year-old Gaius Nymphidius Sabinus.

Nymphidius Sabinus, possessor of fair curly hair and blue eyes, was quite pretty but contrastingly ugly in character, which might have been a characteristic inherited from his infamous father and partly explained why he had no real friends. However, he made up for such lack of companions amongst his peers by frequently making a misery of the lives of some of the slave boys of his grandfather’s domus, where he lived with his rather remote mother, who preferred debauchery to looking after the welfare of her only son.

Nymphidius Sabinus only chose the prettiest young male slaves to abuse because he was becoming increasingly attracted to such looks. He also generally selected boys who were older than him, as he sadistically liked enhancing their humiliation by causing them additional shame through them being tormented by someone younger.

On this occasion, 13 year-old Nymphidius Sabinus was in a secluded colonnade in the large garden of his grandfather’s domus, attired within the copious rich folds of his child’s purple-edged toga praetexta and seated on a marble bench. Before him stood a very beautiful and rightly nervous barefoot 15 year-old slave boy, with dark sensuous eyes and silky straight hair of similar colour, trimmed in the Roman bowl style, and dressed in a simple, short and sleeveless servant’s tunic without underwear.

Nymphidius Sabinus now commanded the summoned young slave to "Remove your tunic!" The boy, who sadly had been the victim of the young master’s sadism previously, knew better than to hesitate, as such reaction would inevitably result in painful punishment at the hands of the cruel 13 year-old.

"I want you to stop shielding your genitals with your hands," Nymphidius Sabinus subsequently commanded of the newly naked and acutely abashed older slave boy, whilst displaying a wicked smirk, "and instead masturbate and produce some of your seed for me!"