The Lycian Prince 19

Diocletian, who had given Anthonius up for dead, was amazed when the boy described his recent adventures. However, Anthonius had had to lie for the first time in his life when he was closely questioned about whether his body had been sexually violated. The boy did not dare confess that he had been raped by the bad Arab or that he had felt compelled to perform fellatio, with the Arab through fear and with Zeni through lust. He knew that he would not have spent a moment longer as a boy companion if he had told the truth because Diocletian covetously accepted nothing less than exclusive use of his boys’ bodies. Avoiding the consequences for his homeland, that veracity would undoubtedly have wrought, was more important than his conscience. The Emperor believed instead that Anthonius had managed to protect his sexual integrity but at agonising cost and made a sacrifice to Zeus in thanks for his favourite’ survival and recovery, allowing the boy to make his own donative at the same time for his late black friend. Diocletian considered Anthonius’ piercings to be attractive but had the rings of base metal changed for ones of gold despite the pain that this caused the boy. Anthonius was then quickly reintroduced to Diocletian’s bed and they returned shortly afterwards to Rome, where Casperius and Lysus had been busy organising their revenge on Sura.

The vengeful plotters had had Sura’s trainer brought before them after the games. They explained that Sura had caught the Emperor’s eye and enquired about the boy’s background. They discovered that he was an orphan and that the trainer was his guardian. The pair came from Sicilia. They were also reassured that the boy remained a virgin and that they could check for themselves if they wanted. The trainer elucidated by stating that he had always discouraged approaches for the lad as he believed that it would adversely affect athletic performance. He did not confess that he had once been very attracted to the boy himself but, when the opportunity came to have him, it was too late. An injury in a drunken tavern brawl had made the man impotent. He also did not mention that he was tempted by some of the monetary offers that he had occasionally received for Sura’s sexual services but they had unfortunately been made at times that could jeopardise the boy’s ability to win the more lucrative games prizes, which had afforded him a comfortable lifestyle. However, Casperius made the man an offer he could not refuse.

Sura was to join the Imperial household and the trainer would be compensated for his loss. The man knew that he could not decline even if he had wanted, for to deny the Emperor his pleasures would be fatal. However, he was happy to accept because the generous compensation would set him up for life. He envisaged buying a smallholding, perhaps in Campania, which had always taken his fancy. There he would marry a woman desperately needing a husband, and there were always plenty of them. Not for sex as he no longer wanted that but she would cook and clean and manage the holding whilst he enjoyed the pleasures of the local inn. The deal was quickly done and Sura found himself being escorted by Casperius from his humble lodgings to the magnificence of the Imperial palace. His plebeian background meant that he could not be one of the Emperor’s boy companions. Instead, he was to become one of the Imperial pages.

When Diocletian had become Emperor six years earlier, he quickly reassigned the group of adult servants who had served his predecessors as palace messengers, taking verbal and written communications between the various Imperial administrators. As the establishment of the boy companions showed, he liked to have pretty boys around him and the job of palace messenger seemed ideally suited for any non-patrician free boys he fancied. The major domo of the boy companions was made responsible for the pages, although in practice the task was delegated to assistants. Diocletian would often enjoy the young bodies of the boys when they delivered a message into his presence. He was also known, whilst walking through the palace, to intercept others who were on their way elsewhere and take them somewhere quiet for a quick molestation. The Imperial pages, as the group of about fifty boys became known, were informed during their training about Diocletian’s habits and the consequences of resisting them. Unfortunately for Sura, Casperius kept the new recruit to the ranks isolated from the rest and somehow neglected to acquaint the boy about the Emperor’s little foibles.

Anthonius arrived back in Rome with Diocletian at the end of January. Casperius and Lysus were pleased to learn about the boy’s African sufferings but disappointed at his survival seemingly unscathed. However, they had already carefully planned to make Anthonius’ reintroduction to court life an unpleasant experience.

A few days later his return, Anthonius was shocked to see Sura in the palace dressed in the tunic of an Imperial page, similar to that of a boy companion but brown. Casperius had deliberately arranged for Sura to deliver his first message to Diocletian during the later stages of a banquet, when the Emperor’s inhibitions would be overtaken by wine. The major domo knew what Diocletian’s reaction would be when he observed his pretty new page and trusted that the boy would behave as he and Lysus hoped. In the event, the plotters’ aspirations were far exceeded and produced a very pleasant bonus.

When Diocletian groped under Sura’s tunic, the boy instinctively responded by slapping the intruding arm away and pandemonium ensued. Diocletian turned purple with fury and called for the Praetorians. The terrified Sura was soon held firmly by the arms by two of the guards in front of the raging Emperor, who stood up and smacked the boy fiercely across the face twice before focusing his attention on the lad’s belly. Diocletian turned to Casperius, who had stood up from his own couch, and said “Get the brat out of here to the dungeons. I want to see him whipped in the morning and his body scarred for life!” Casperius, somehow managing to keep a straight face, bowed in acknowledgement and signalled to the guards to take the screaming miscreant away. Diocletian and Casperius sat again, with the latter waiting for the Emperor to calm before making his pre-planned proposal. “Highness,” he said quietly, “will you kindly permit me to make a suggestion?” Diocletian nodded affirmatively and so the major domo continued “Two birds with one stone!” He quickly answered the Emperor’s puzzled expression “I can think of one cut that would be a far more effective punishment for the urchin who has insulted you than the many from the whip. It would also help resolve a problem I have in looking after the Imperial boy companions. You see, I believe that I can improve their care by providing their eunuchs with some help. More adults would be unnecessarily expensive but a few slaveboys would do nicely. Of course, they would have to be gelded." A broad smile gradually formed on Diocletian’s face as he recognised the full implication of the major domo’s proposition and again appreciated why he had chosen the young man for the post. However, Anthonius’ face paled. He had been sitting on the floor on the right hand side of Diocletian’s couch so that the Emperor could run his hands through his hair whenever he wanted, as was his whim, and had overheard the conversation. The boy had been wondering what he could do to save Sura from the whip, and he now knew that he could not delay or his friend would be condemned to much worse. He had to act immediately before Diocletian could respond to Casperius.

Anthonius startled Diocletian by jumping to his feet, kneeling before him and begging him to have mercy on Sura. However, Diocletian’s surprise rapidly changed to renewed ire He stood again and reached for one of his sandals. Anthonius immediately recognised that, not only had his plea fallen on deaf ears, it had rebounded with wrath for he had seen the Emperor inflict informal punishment on a boy companion once before. The red-faced Diocletian took up position on Anthonius’ left, pulled him upright by his hair before ripping away the boy’s detachable rear loincloth flap and bending him over. The undercloth just about obscured the lad’s bumcrack and so afforded little cover or protection to his bumcheeks. Still holding Anthonius firmly in place by the hair, the Emperor began to slap the boy’s near buttock with the footwear as hard and as frequently as he could, instantly reddening the skin and leaving the clear imprint of the tread all over the surface, before relocating to the other. The many guests in the banquet hall had originally been silent, intrigued by the goings on, but now began to laugh loudly at the spectacle of the Emperor’s boy favourite being publically spanked, and harshly, by the man himself. However, there was no-one more amused than Casperius and Lysus and, watching from a remote cubby-hole, Niachiarus. The eunuch’s advice to Casperius about Sura’s likely instant reaction to the Emperor’s advances had not only proven correct, his supposition regarding the likely response to this plight from the page’s friend had also been vindicated. Niachiarus looked forward to his reward, for which he had been conscientiously and ecstatically practising over the last few days.

Anthonius’ whole bottom was scarlet by the time that Diocletian’s arm tired. The Emperor put the sandal back on his foot and returned to his couch, signalling Armillatus to join him, and, still enraged, ordered Casperius “Strap Anthonius later, twenty strokes all over, and I want to hear his screams whilst Armillatus here amuses me.” Before Diocletian had stopped speaking, the elated major domo was already working out how the twenty lashes could be converted into many more.

As Anthonius was dragged away towards Diocletian’s pleasure quarters, the Emperor turned again to Casperius and pleased the major domo further by saying “I like the brand round Anthonius’ navel even though it does not bare my emblem. I want all future companions to display one that does in that place. As for my Nubian eunuchs’ new gelding, I want him to have one too, as well as others round his nipples, in the hollow sides of his thighs and in the middle of his buttocks, in addition to the usual places.”

(To be continued with Chapter 20 – ‘Practice’)