Zelamir

Sejanus

Chapters 11-14

Chapter 11

"Get across the bench now child. Don't delay things I've got a lot of boys to thrash this evening."

Sulis tried to get to his feet but his legs failed him and he collapsed back onto his knees.

"Come on boy before I loose my patience and double your punishment."

Dictys scuttled forward and with a fearful glance at Scyrax hauled Sulis to his feet. With the older boy supporting him Sulis made his way on shaking legs to the low wooden bench where so many young slaves had suffered. Reaching the bench the child appeared to freeze with terror. He stood trembling his eyes glazed and rolling like a calf taken to slaughter apparently unable to move.

Dictys slipped his arm about the younger boy's shoulders and whispered in his ear while easing him down across the bench.

"Dictys I am most grateful for your help although I don't remember asking for it," Scyrax remarked. Mild though his words were they made the boy pale and cringe away from his Master.

Scyrax turned his attention to Sulis now lying face down over the wooden bench.. He slipped his left hand between the boy's thighs and pushing forwards and upwards lifted the brat's bum so that it was raised ready for the cane. Satisfied that the boy was correctly positioned he stood a moment running his hand gently over the child's tight little bottom. The boys knelt silent watching in fearful anticipation. They knew that anyone of them could be called on to follow Sulis onto the bench at the whim of their Master or of his eunuch, the hated and feared, Felix. Scyrax delivered a sharp open handed slap on Sulis's bottom. The sound of his hand striking the boy's tautly drawn flesh rang out loudly in the silence.

He rested his cane across the child's rump carefully measuring his distance. Sulis tensed under it's touch, deepening the dimples on either side of his bottom. Scyrax lifted the cane high over his shoulder and paused looking down at the slim child's body stretched naked and defenceless before him. Scyrax's massive bulk towering over the boy's small body would have served as a symbol of the despotic power that nature has given the strong and brutal over the weak. All could see, as Sulis in his terrified boy's heart knew, that resistance was useless, escape impossible.

Scyrax waited a moment, savouring his power and enjoying the misery of his whimpering victim. Then he slashed the cane down with all his strength and weight behind the stroke. The rod hissed through the air with a deep terrifying whistle. It struck Sulis's naked bottom with a sharp crack which echoed round the silent courtyard. Scyrax laid the first stripe across the centre of the boy's bum. Sulis jerked convulsively but for a moment he was silent for the pain had driven the breath from his body. Then he screamed shrilly. Scyrax stood waiting until the boy was still again. He was in no hurry. He wanted the boy to have plenty of time to feel to the full every cut inflicted on him. The white streak that the cane had left across the boy's flesh reddened and darkened. At it's edges began to appear areas of deep purple and blue bruising. In time Scyrax knew the deepest bruising would add green and yellow to the colours decorating his victims body but that would not be for some time after the thrashing had been completed.

Scyrax raised the cane again. This time the blow was delivered about a quarter f an inch below the first stroke. Sulis was screaming before cane struck him, his bare feet beat a tattoo on the marble paving, his body arched and writhed as the agony coursed through him , tearing his nerve ends, destroying every sensation except that of the all consuming pain.

The cane rose and fell, the sound of wood striking naked flesh blended with Sulis's screams and the thumping of his feet as he leapt and twisted under the it's impact.

Scyrax with all the skill that came with many year of practice at flogging boys laid the strokes on methodically, each one parallel to the last, each one a quarter of an inch or so below the preceding one. The fourth he delivered exactly along the crease where the back of the boy's thighs met the curve of his bottom. That blow Scyrax knew would burn the hottest and longest. Not that Sulis, he resolved, would easily forget the last two. Slightly shifting his ground he delivered the fifth and sixth stroke diagonally across the boy's already well sliced bottom. Where each of these strokes intersected with the earlier weals dark droplets of blood began to form.

The flogging over Scyrax bent down to inspect his handiwork. A satisfied smile crossed his face. He knew the truth of the adage that a well marked bottom is a well beaten one and Sulis's was well marked indeed.

"Get up," he ordered reinforcing his commend with a slap across the sobbing boy's bruised and bleeding rump. Sulis scrambled to his feet and began on rubbery legs to make his uncertain way back to his place among the kneeling boys.

"No not there," Scyrax rapped, "go and wait by my couch. I have not finished with you yet."

"Now Felix," he continued, "what have you next for me?"

Felix consulted his tablets once more.

"Lysias Sir - gross impertinence in that he 3;"

Over the next two hours boy after terrified boy was summoned from among their kneeling comrades to take their places stretched over the flogging bench while the courtyard was filled with the sound of the crack of wood on tender flesh and the shrill screams of young boys under correction. After he had thrashed five boys Scyrax announced that he had cramp in his right arm and surrendered the cane to the Negro. As he was bigger and more powerful than Scyrax and flogged with energy and enthusiasm the boys did not notice any improvement resulting from his substitution.

Scyrax walked back to his couch at whose foot Sulis knelt and dropped panting on to it. He lifted his hand and a boy darted forward with a wine cup while another appeared with a bowl of cold water and a cloth with which he mopped his master's heated brow. Refreshed Scyrax reached out and lifted Sulis onto his knees and began to fondle him. Sulis whimpered as Scyrax's tunic pressed against the raw flesh of his bottom. His master took no notice but taking the boy's tiny balls between the fingers of one hand he gently played with them while with the other he stroked the boy's face. Sulis's child's cock despite his misery and pain began to harden. Scyrax hand dropped from the boy's face to his chest. He took the child's left nipple that had been nicked by the cane between his finger and thumb. He pinched it hard and blood began to well again from the reopened cut. Scyrax bent his head and licked the blood away.

Comparative silence had fallen on the courtyard. There was no sound now apart from the tinkling of the fountains and the suppressed sobbing of the boys who had had their bottoms flogged. The last boy stumbled unsteadily away from the bench holding his burning rump in his hands. Felix seemed to have reached the end of his list of young defaulters.

Scyrax noticed the silence and raised his head.

"What Felix is that all?" He asked. He sounded disappointed. "Do you not have any more boys for correction."

"I am afraid I do Sir," Felix replied though he did not sound at all upset. "Two boys I discovered in one of the store rooms Sir, having sex together. That is so serious an offence that I had them confined in the cellar unless they should try to runaway."

"Quite right Felix. Well done. Which are they."

"Nisus and Giton Sir."

"Have them brought here. I will make an example of them both. I will not tolerate such behaviour among my boys."

(chapter XXIV)

The grooms released their grasps of the boys' necks. Nisus and Giton threw themselves to the ground at Scyrax's feet pressing their lips to the floor. Scyrax sat silent for a moment staring coldly at them. Then he spoke.

"You are thieves. You both know that your bodies and all the pleasure and service that can be rung from them belong to me and yet you deliberately choose to go off together to secretly pleasure each other. Furthermore I was preparing Giton to sell. I would have got a good price for him; a blond twelve year old virgin. I only sell top quality fresh stock. My reputation as merchant is all important to me. How can I sell such debased goods as Giton now is? Worse what would have happened to my reputation if you had succeeded in evading the watchful eyes of my good loyal Felix and I had sold him as fresh untouched flesh when he was in fact already damaged goods."

"As thieves you deserve to be crucified but as always I am merciful 3; Perhaps too merciful. I will content myself with the usual punishment. Giton you will be whipped and sold for what you can fetch tomorrow as, what you are, a common little tart. Nisus you too will be whipped and then when you have recovered from that sufficiently to feel and know what is being done to you I will render you incapable of offending in a similar way again."

"Master," it was the older boy who spoke. "Please Master don't treat Giton like that. I got him into the store room by a trick Master. He didn't know what I planned and I didn't fuck him Master. I just put my cock along his crack and 3; You could sell him still for a good price. I didn't enter him Master. Punish me Master but not Giton."

I will most certainly punish you Nisus but I will punish Giton as well. He may not have known what you intended when you took him into the store room but he certainly new quick enough after that and he did not resist you. He did not cry out. He is as guilty as you."

"I told him I would kill him if he resisted or called out Master. It's not his 3;"

"And he put his miserable life above the duty he owed me his Master. He will be punished. Now be silent unless you want me to have your tongue removed as well."

"If Giton is to be sold tomorrow I may as well get as good a price for him as I can. You will be beaten boy but your shoulders and bottom will be unmarked."

"Fetch the staff."

A groom brought forward a wooden post somewhat thicker and longer than a broom handle. It was clear the men were accustomed to the procedure and knew well what to do. While two of them held the staff firmly at either end the other two ceased Giton by the arms and threw him roughly on the floor on his back.

"Tie his ankles separately to the staff and a little apart," Scyrax commanded.

Lifting Sulis from his lap he heaved himself to his feet and waddled over to where Giton lay. He checked the cord binding the boy's ankles to the shaft. Picking up a cane he lashed Giton hard between the legs bringing it slicing down across his testicles. Screaming the boy clasped his hand to his crutch. Two of the grooms grabbed him by the wrists pulling his hands above his head and pinioning them to the floor there.

"No stop Master stop," Nisus shouted jumping to his feet and running forward in a desperate and doomed attempt to help his lover.

The Negro stepped forward and slammed his fist into the boy's face. Nisus slammed to the floor blood streaming from his nose and mouth.

"Pick the brat up," Scyrax commanded. "I want to him to see his little whore punished."

Grinning Felix pulled Nisus back to his feet. The naked youth squirmed and twisted in the eunuch's grasp desperate to stop Giton's punishment but the man's grasp held firm.

"That's what you sinned with so that's what I'm going to beat," Scyrax said turning his attention back to Giton raising the cane for a second blow. Four times Scyrax cut the boy across the balls while the grooms strained to hold the beam steady and the boy's hands to the floors and Giton screamed and pleaded uselessly for mercy. Then he stepped back and signalled to the Negro.

The black man came forward to take his place. He was carrying a rod some what shorter and less pliable than a cane. The two men holding Giton's hands to the floor stood up and grinning, prepared to watch the fun. The Negro began to beat the boy across the souls of his feet with the rod. The strokes were not so very hard but they were delivered firmly and steadily, blow after blow. The first few Giton lay quiet under but very soon he was screaming and thrashing about on the floor as the pain mounted and consumed his whole body. The thump of the rod across the child's bare feet, his howls of pain, the thudding of his hands and head on the marble floor as he threw himself about in agony and the cruel laughter of the watching men as they enjoyed the spectacle, dominated the otherwise silent garden.

At last the boys screams began to weaken, his writhings to get less wild.

"That's enough Scyrax rasped, "release him."

The grooms undid the cords binding the boy's ankles to the pole. Scyrax looking down into the his tear and snot stained face kicked him hard in the ribs.

"Get to your feet slut," he ordered.

Giton obeyed and then the hilarity of the watching men knew no bounds as he hopped in agony from foot to foot. It was as though he was walking on burning coals and indeed that was exactly as it felt to the boy. Finally he dropped back to his knees on the floor unable to stand the agony any longer.

"Get out of the way," Scyrax ordered disgustedly kicking Giton in the bottom and sending him scuttling on all fours to one side.

"That's the entree out of the way. Now for the main course. String the other brat up by his wrists and flog him."

Two grooms took the struggling Nisus away from Felix and dragged him over to where Scyrax stood. A rope was thrown over a beam of the pergola. An end was tied round Nisus slim boy's wrists fastening them in front of his body. The rope was drawn tight so that Nisus stood his hands drawn above his head the tips of his toes just touching the floor.

Scyrax ran his hands over the boy's taut body. Saliva dribbled from a corner of his mouth. The front of his tunic bulged where it covered his crutch. It was clear that the man was very aroused.

He walked back to his couch. Before he seated himself he pulled off his loincloth and lifted his tunic above his waste revealing a vast belly covered in a matt of dark hair. His cock erect and demanding pressing up against his somach's bulging overhang. He collapsed on the seat and reached out for Sulis. This time he did not lift the child on to his lap but pulled the face down into his crutch. The back of Sulis's head began to move violently and there were damp sucking licking sounds as the boy got down to his work.

Scyrax glanced at the Negro and nodded. The black man picked up the whip. It's lash of plaited leather, well oiled, glistened darkly and moved in his hand like a live thing, a thick black snake, coiled and ready to strike. He carefully measured his distance and then swung the whip back over his shoulder. Bringing his right foot forward so that he could bring the whole strength of his body into play he brought it ripping down across the boy's bare shoulders. Leather impacted on bare flesh with an unmistakable crack. The lash curled round the boy's body, it's tip splitting the tightly drawn skin of his chest. The force of the blow knocked the boy off his feet and for a moment he swung suspended by his wrists as his feet scrabbled desperately for purchase. The scream when it came was shrill, loud and scarcely human.

The Negro plied the whip mercilessly. The boy leapt and twisted under it's impact in a wild dance of suffering and pain. Blood trickled down the boys back and flanks as the lash tore his skin. Each time a blow landed a light red haze would be thrown up and once or twice the watching grooms had to wipe the splattered boy's blood from their faces. For a time the boy's screams combined into a constant high wail but as the flogging progressed it's volume abated until the only sound coming from the lad was a low grunt each time the whip struck home. The Negro having well bloodied the boy's shoulders turned his attention to his buttocks. Now Nisus had ceased to struggle to keep his feet. His body simply hung limp suspended from his wrists jerking to and fro under the impact of the lash.

Scyrax cried out. A moment later Sulis hunkered back on his knees, cum trickling down his chin.

"Stop," Scyrax commanded, "the brat's not feeling the whip any more. Throw some water over him."

Two grooms hurled buckets of water over the boy's inert body. Water pouring down his body took on a pinkish tinge from his bleeding shoulders and rump. Nisus moaned and his toes scrabbled weakly at the wet sand. Scyrax walked over to him and taking his chin between his finger and thumb tipped his drooping head back. The boy in his agony had bitten through his lower lip. Blood mixed with tears and mucus trickled down his chin. Nisus eyes blinked open. He stared about himself wildly and then his eyes focused on Scyrax's face. He screamed loudly. Laughing Scyrax bent forward and kissed him hard on his lips.

"Make the boy's file pass him so that they can see what happens to slave brats who break the rules. Then cut him down and tend his back. When he can walk again bring him to me. I want him to feel the knife and know what is being done when I complete his punishment."

(chapter XXV)

Dictys bowed and collecting the two exhausted smaller boys led them further into the interior of Scyrax's great mansion. Crastus himself sat on his couch beaming indulgently as the boys filed silently out of the garden gazing with horror filled eyes as they passed Nisus's well whipped body. A gang of boy's began to sweep up the sand scattered over the marble paving.

The boys slept at the very back of the house. Their dormitory was a single long rectangular room spotlessly clean, with barred windows set high in bare white washed walls and a well scrubbed tile floor.

Dictys collected a sleeping mat from by the door and spreading it on the floor settled his two charges on it. Sulis whimpered quietly for a second or so but he and Marius were soon soundly asleep. The older boy stood looking down at them for a brief moment a half smile on his face. Dictys longed to love and be loved. In the claustrophobic atmosphere of Scyrax's house, where boys once admitted did not leave except to be sold, it was only possible for him to love his own kind. But even that he dared not do. Nisus's agony showed the fate that awaited those who sinned against Scyrax's rules in that respect. Regretfully he turned away. Scyrax wanted him and he knew he must not keep him waiting. Surprisingly his step was quite light and eager. He knew he would find no love and some pain in Scyrax's bed but sex at least provided a momentary escape from the terrors and frustrations of slavery.

Chapter 12

(chapter XXVI)

"What should we do now?" he whispered to Sulis.

The nine year old stretched sleepily.

"I was waiting for you to wake up so that we could both go to the kitchen and find something to eat."

The child rolled onto his face, careful to keep his bruised bottom from contact with the floor, and then cat like with one lithe movement got to his feet.

"How's my bum look?" he asked twisting about himself in an effort to get a view of it.

Marius examined the other boy's rump seriously. Deep crimson welts cut across the smooth curve of the child's bottom. Here and there were darker almost black marks where the cane had drawn blood. The flesh around the welts was reddish purple and dark blue with undertones of sickly green and yellow where the deeper bruising was beginning to show through. The sight of the boy's ravaged bottom frightened but at the same time excited Marius. He felt himself begin to harden again.

"It's badly marked," he said reaching out and gingerly touching the angry weals with his finger tips.

"It's sore enough," Sulis said cheerfully. "Scyrax knows how to use the cane all right."

There was no resentment in his voice just respect for and even a certain pride in the skill of his Master.

"Have you been beaten often?" Marius asked.

"No not often. This is the first time I've been given six strokes. The most before now was two or three at a time."

"Hi," Sulis continued catching sight of Marius's stiff little cock, "you're like Dictys. He's always going hard when he looks at my bum. He fancies me you know and he's all right but we can't do anything about it because Scyrax would cut his balls off if he caught us together. And he'll be sold soon anyway. Scyrax only keeps very few boys on after they've reached sixteen."

(chapter XXVII)

The kitchen when they reached it was very similar to the one in Marius's father's country villa but larger, busier and with more and prettier slave boys. Taking Marius by the hand Sulis wriggled and pushed his way through the milling crowd of boys and youths to where a fat red faced man was standing supervising the stuffing of a goose with olives and wild pomegranates.

Sulis stood respectfully silent waiting to be noticed.

"Well boy," the cook said eventually, "what do you want."

"Please Sir," Sulis's voice had a begging note to it, "we wondered if you could let us have something to eat Sir. We haven't had anything this morning."

"Well from what I heard you had a good supper last night - the best supper a little slut like you can get from his Master," the cook said chuckled at his own joke.

"I was a very lucky boy Sir," Sulis replied grinning, "but I'm hungry again now."

"For the same dish," the man laughed lifting the front of his tunic suggestively.

"If you wish Sir," Sulis grinned beginning to kneel down.

."No, no," the man said hastily, "the Master has a short way with any of us who enjoy one of his sluts without permission.. Come along with me now the pare of you and I'll give you some porridge and black bread to fill your stomachs."

A few minutes later the two naked boys were squatting in the corner of the room a large bowl of steaming porridge between then two large chunks of rye bread grasped in their hands.

They ate quickly, Marius because he had been half starved for more than a week, while Sulis had learnt early in his young life to fill his belly when the chance arose for as a slave he could not be sure when the next opportunity would arise.

"So there you are Sulis. I might have known you would be in the kitchen stuffing your belly."

Sulis twisted round and grinned up at Dictys who was standing looking down at the two smaller boys.

"I was just showing Mariullus where the kitchen was Dictys," he said. "I thought I ought to look after him."

"And get your head in the trough at the same time. I would have thought your bum was raw enough from last night without risking getting another hiding so soon."

"Want to look at it?" The younger boy asked and jumping to his feet he pushed his little boy's bottom out towards Dictys for him to inspect. Marius looking up from where he crouched on the floor could see that under the skimpy tunic that was his only clothing Dictys was stiff while Sulis's tiny cock was also standing at attention.

Dictys ran a finger tip gently along one of the livid welts that ribbed Sulis's rump.

"That must be sore," he remarked. "Crastus has sent me to put some ointment on Mariullus's bottom. He's given me a whole jar so there'll be some to spare for you."

"Thanks Dictys. I bet your bum sore as well after being with Scyrax."

"Well he's never very gentle with a boy."

"Did you take his whole cock into you?"

"Yes," Dictys sounded proud of his achievement. "Right to it's roots. I could feel his bush pressing against my bum."

" I wonder if I could manage it. It's very big. My jaws ached like anything."

"If he decides he wants you Sulis you'll have to take it."

(chapter XXVIII)

Marius scrambled up and in his turn presented his bottom to the older boy. Soon he too was hard as Dictys worked the soothing ointment into the soreness where the plug had cruelly chafed his bottom. A few days previously he would have felt shamed and humiliated to be treated in that way and to be seen naked let alone with an erection. All pride and modesty had been stripped from him. He was no different than any of the dozens of other pretty slave brats who served and suffered in the house of Scyrax. Indeed it was common place there to see boys in a state of sexual excitement for one of the cruellest tyrannies practised by Scyrax was to forbid to them, at the time when they approached their most sexually active, any release of their urges except in his own service. The place was a hotbed of barely suppressed sexuality as the boys talked and dreamt of sex but were forbidden it's practice unless selected to satisfy their Master's cruel lusts.

(chapter XXIX)

(chapter XXX)

He did all he could to ensure that his name was not among those read out by Felix from his dread punishment roll. He was to find however that neither obedience nor a careful performance of the tasks set him were sufficient to ensure a boy an unmarked bottom.

A grand dinner had been planned. The talk among the boys had been for more than a week of the host of guests summoned, the number and intricacy of the courses to be served, the jugglers, the acrobats, dancing boys and other entertainers. For two days Sulis, Marius and two other boys had been set to work polishing Scyrax's rich collection of silver plate. It had been boring work. Each item and there were dozens of them, plates, goblets, candlesticks, ewers, even silver tables had to be burnished to mirror like brightness by the boys using friction and a dry cloth alone. Now at midday on the third day all had been done except a single gigantic silver platter. It had Niobe grieving for her murdered sons and daughters engraved in the centre and chased in gold. Round her lay the unclothed bodies of her twelve slaughtered children, six boys and six girls all equally beautiful, portrayed in elegant but erotic detail. To one side stood the fearsome figures of Apollo and Artemis, their swords dripping with the gore of the murdered innocents, regarding their handiwork with obvious satisfaction. Sulis and Marius had carried this between them into the garden and in the shade of the pergola they knelt beside it whispering quietly as they worked. They knelt in the special way prescribed for slave boys in the house of Scyrax, knees wide apart feet pushed together behind them, bottoms pressed down to the floor, balls and cocks exposed to view.

Sulis was chattering, as he did so increasingly, about Dictus, how Dictys fancied him, how he quite liked Dictys and what clever kind brave things Dictys had done, when there were the sound of footsteps and he suddenly fell silent and bent assiduously to his work. The footsteps stopped. A sweet cloying scent was in the air.

"What a lovely little boy, I haven't seen him before. Where have you been hiding him Scyrax you naughty man?" Marius did not recognise the voice it was high, affected and peculiarly sexless. Marius stole a glance upwards. He saw the familiar bulk of Scyrax and standing very close to him a slim elegantly dressed young man hardly out of his teens with sleek blonde hair and a pale cold face it's pallor enhanced by the rouge that had been applied to the cheek bones.

"What Mariullus. I bought him three weeks or so ago. In a terrible state. You would have turned your nose up at the brat then but he's not too bad now I must say. He'll be sold next week and will turn me a nice profit I'm sure."

"You lucky man Scyrax. What a lovely little bottom the child's got. A really provocative little bum. So smooth and tight with such nice little dimples on either side. Why is it boys' bottoms seem to absolutely invite the cane. Do let me thrash the little darling."

"Now Maccius I've said the brat's to be sold next week. I don't want to put him on the block with his rump all raw. It'll spoil his price."

"That's typical of you Scyrax. You don't care about anything but money. You begrudge me the smallest little pleasure just because it'll knock a few sesterces off the price that you'll get for the little whore."

"But Maccius the boy's done nothing wrong," Scyrax protested unhappily.

"That'll make beating him all the more fun. But if you won't let me - well there it is. I don't know if I'll bother to stay for your stupid dinner after this. You obviously don't care about me really. I'll be off."

"Wait, wait," Scyrax pleaded urgently. "Let me think 3;.. Well I suppose the auction is more than a week away and young flesh heals quickly and some men like a boy with a few marks of the cane on his bottom 3;. If I let you have him Maccius will you be really nice to me?"

"Scyrax you are an old dear 3; Grumpy on the surface but so nice and kind and generous underneath. I'll be nice to you straight away you lovely man." The youth through his arms round Scyrax's shoulders and lifted his face to the older man's. Scyrax kissed him hard on the lips. They stood for a moment embracing passionately. Scyrax's hand slipped up the back of the youth's thighs and lifting his short tunic squeezed his bottom. Then they broke apart and began to move off.

Scyrax glanced back and catching Marius's eye crooked his finger at him. Marius rose to his feet and padded after the two men his throat tight with fear.

(chapter XXXI)

Other boys hurried round carrying pitchers out of which they poured sparkling Falernian (There is literary evidence that certain Roman wines including Falernian could be at least piquant presumably this was achieved by secondary fermentation although this is a matter of some controversy) or red Spanish wine poured over heated honey.

Each couch had it's own serving boy to wait on it's occupant. Dictys had been allocated to Scyrax's couch and either he had been tipped off by Sulis, or he had guessed from Marius's misery, that he was to be thrashed. He took every opportunity he dared to try to bring some comfort to the other boy. When serving Scyrax or Maccius he manoeuvred so that his bare thigh brushed against Marius's shoulder. When at rest he surreptitiously stretched out a hand to him under the cover of the couch touching him to show that he was not altogether alone or uncared for. Marius who was aware how Dictys risked his own hide in making these gestures, small though they were, was grateful for his kindness.

An orchestra played at one end of the room. The sound of lyres and flutes together with the deeper tones of cornets combined with the chatter of the guests to create an almost deafening din. Suddenly there was a clash of cymbals and all was silent. A tall heavily built man stripped to the waist and wearing only a pare of baggy striped trousers gathered at the ankle strode in leading by his hand a lithe dark skinned boy wearing only a tiny triangle of white cloth between his legs. The man bowed low to Scyrax. An assistant ran in and handed him a long ladder, holding it with one end resting on the floor the man signed to the boy to climb it.

While the lad did so the assistant set about the floor dozens of metre long iron spikes. Three sided they rested on their bases their sharpened tips pointing menacingly upwards. The boy had reached the top of the ladder. He caught hold of the top rung with both hands and began to raise his legs upwards. He was now standing on his hands at the top of the ladder the lamp light glistening on his dark oiled limbs. He raised one hand from the ladder. He spread his legs and reached out his arm, balancing himself on a single hand. The man sank to his knees and holding the bottom rung of the ladder began slowly to stand up right..

The assistant began to intersperse blazing torches on the floor among the fearsome spikes. There was complete silence apart from the laboured breathing of the man as he exerted his full strength to lift the ladder. The man now was upright the ladder held at waist level. He began to raise his hands. Slowly and painfully he brought his hands to shoulder level, the boy's body moving slightly as the ladder wobbled fractionally. The man paused. Then with a single smooth movement he raised his hands so that they were extended above his head. He paused again. The cymbals clashed once more and he removed one hand from the ladder.

Above him the boy brought his legs together and began to rotate his body by shifting his grip on the ladder from hand to hand. The cymbals clashed with increasing frequency as the boy turned more quickly. The guests began to take up the beat thumping their hand or goblets on the tables beside their couches.

Suddenly the boy bent double. He let go of the ladder and straightened, balanced for an instance his feet on the topmost rung. He did a back somersault and landed on both feet, unscathed in the centre of the iron spikes and blazing torches. The guests stamped and shouted their appreciation. The man and boy bowed low in acknowledgement.

The show though was not yet over. The assistant ran in and handed the man a blazing hoop and a long supple cane covered in plated leather. Holding out the fiery ring at arms length from his body the man snapped an order to the boy reinforcing it with a cut of the cane across his bare thigh. The lad did a series of forward and backward flips through the hoop. Faster and faster he went driven on by the sharp cuts from the cane. There was silence now except for the snap of the cane against naked flesh and the slap of the boy's bare feet on the marble floor.

Marius who rather prided himself on his own back flips watched fascinated, his own troubles momentarily forgotten. He thought he could do them just as well as the dark boy but perhaps not so fast. But then he had never tried doing them with a man with a cane driving him on.

Suddenly the man shouted and lifted the hoop above his head and the boy stood panting his body slick with sweat.

The room echoed with the shouts of applause. The orchestra added to the noise with blasts on cornets and trumpets and the clashing of the cymbals. Scyrax beckoned the man and boy to him. He threw a purse to the man and showed signs of wishing to have the boy, who was a pretty little thing, join him on the couch but Maccius objected so he popped a sweet meat in his mouth and pinched his bottom. The man spoke sharply to the boy and they backed away bowing and grinning.

A blast on the trumpets announced the arrival of the next course. Four youths carried a silver gilt table into the centre of the room. They were followed by four more carrying a stretcher on which rested the great platter on which Marius and Sulis had been working. On it lay a whole roast wild boar with a dozen piglets set about it. The cook followed carrying a carving knife with a blade as long as a sword's. He slit open the belly of the boar and dozens of blood sausages rolled out of it mixed with whole roast thrushes and black birds.

Serving boys hurried about bearing plates piled with meat or replenishing wine goblets. When all the guests had been served the orchestra began to play again and a crowd of delectable boys began a slow lascivious dance short skimpy tunics rising to show intriguing glimpses of golden roundness. Then a single chord was struck on the lyre. The boys froze as if in terror. The lights dimmed. A lute began to play a simple tune, simple but somehow sinister. From the back of the hall appeared first one and then another and then fully nine satyrs with cloven feet, goat like legs, bodies covered with matted coats of black shaggy hair out of which monstrous phalluses rose and heads with tiny horns sprouting from their fore heads. They advanced upon the cowering boys. The orchestra struck up a wild tune of wailing flutes and crowing trumpets as the boys fled before their brutish pursuers. Clothes were torn from young bodies as the satyrs tried to catch their prey. The boys desperate to escape flung themselves on their knees before the guests begging to be taken onto their couches. The guests laughing gave protection to those children they fancied kicking those they did not into the hands of the semi-human beasts. Soon there was not a guest who had not at least one trembling naked boy clinging to him for protection. It might be questioned though whether the fate these children were fleeing from would be different in any material respect to that they would ultimately experience at the hands of their protectors. The rest of the boys having nowhere else to run were ultimately overpowered by the monsters and dragged away wailing and screaming.

The lights went up again and once more the guests applauded wildly calling out their thanks to Scyrax for his generosity while kissing away the terrors of their young prizes. Serving boys singing sweetly brought in the next course. Plates piled high with all manner of fruit, elaborate cake soaked in honey, were proffered to the guests.

Maccius who now was lying with his head resting on Scyrax chest looked up into his face and whispered quietly to him. Scyrax smiled fondly down at the youth.. He nibbled at his ear and then kissed him hard on the lips.

"You have been good to me Maccius," he breathed, "and you will have the reward I promised."

"Dictys fetch the came."

A second or two later Dictys was back. He shot a pitying look at Marius as he proffered the cane to his master. It was a formidable object well designed to strike terror into the heart of any unhappy child who might be subject to it's cruel discipline. Four foot long and finely tapered so that it's tip would curl about a boy's upraised rump and bite deep into his defenceless flank.

Scyrax swung his feet to the floor and stood up. He took the cane and swung it experimentally. It's hiss sounded menacingly in Marius terrified mind.

"Here you are Maccius," Scyrax said cheerfully handing the rod to his young friend. "Show me how good a boy beater you are. The brat's rump is unmarked so it will be all your own work. Remember aim as if to strike about a foot beyond where his bum actually is. Stand up Mariullus and turn round"

Marius obeyed conscious that his cock despite his terror mysteriously stood erect.

"Now aim to get as many cuts along the crease of his bum here," Scyrax continued. Marius felt the man's finger move across his bottom indicating the area to be attacked. "It'll hurt most and longest."

"You can give him a dozen cuts eight on the rump and four on the back of the thighs."

Marius began to cry. He could not help it. Twelve cuts with that thing. Twice as many as Sulis had endured.

"Mariullus seems to be unhappy about something," Maccius remarked with a giggle.

"He'll cry a good deal louder when he feels the cane across his rump," Scyrax replied harshly.

"Get down over that table Mariullus and we'll soon give you something to cry about."

"Master," Marius sobbed, "please I haven't done anything wrong 3; Please." He knew in his heart there was no point in pleading but he could not help himself.

Scyrax clouted him hard on the side of the head. Marius staggered and loosing his balance fell to his knees.

"What's that got to do with it?" He laughed fiercely. "It is my wish that you should be beaten and that is the end of it. Get down and you know the rule stay down or it'll start all over again."

"Master I don't know if I can do it," Marius wailed from where he crouched on the floor. "It's the first time Master for me."

"Well, well the first time is it?" Scyrax said recovering his good humour. "All right then. I'll make it easy for you. Dictys will horse you. Now up you come boy." He bent over and taking hold off Marius by the arm pulled him to his feet.

"You see I do care about my boys," he continued ruffling his hair.

"Dictys come here and take that tunic off. I don't want it soiled if Mariullus wets himself."

Obediently Dictys pulled his tunic off over his head and dropped it to the floor. He too was hard. Turning his back on Marius he lent down so the younger boy could reach forward over his shoulders. Taking a firm hold of Marius's wrists he straightened and bending forward lifted the smaller boy's feet clear of the ground. Marius hung there feeling Dictys's smooth skin against his. His cock already stiff became rock hard and he wriggle so that it was pointing upwards along the older boy's back. Then he was still, waiting, knowing that at any moment Maccius would bring the cane slicing down across his defenceless rump, knowing that there was no chance of mercy or escape from the agony to come.

He tensed as he felt Maccius's hand lightly caress his rump.

"What a lovely little bottom you have my poor pet," the youth crooned in his high epicene voice, "so smooth and tender and the skin stretched all taught for the cane. It's terrible to think that soon it'll be all ripped and bloody. And it's so unfair. You've done nothing wrong have you my little one. You've been a good obedient child but I'm going to flog that delicious bottom of yours just the same. Just because I'll enjoy hurting you, scoring deep wheals across that sweet bottom, listening to you scream as I lay the stripes on, watching you writhe and kick as the cane tears the boy hide from your rump. No wonder you're crying knowing what is to be done to you."

"A beautiful boy," he remarked sliding his hand up Marius's back. A really lovely child, so ripe, so pretty, so vulnerable. The poor darling."

Marius felt the youth's breath against his shoulders and Maccius lips brushed the side of his neck just behind the ear.

"I am so sorry to do this to you my poor Mariullus but you see I enjoy hurting pretty little boys like you. Well I suppose we may as well begin the fun mayn't we."

Maccius straightened and took the cane from Scyrax. He laid it gently across Marius's rump carefully measuring his distance. He saw the boy's rump tense in fearful anticipation of the pain to come.

He raised the cane over his right shoulder. The chatter and the laughter of the guests quietened. An expectant hush fell on the room. This was broken by the rich urgent hiss of the cane as it sung through the air, the sharp crack of wood striking bare flesh, followed by a moments unearthly silence as Marius, all the air driven from his body by the pain, fought for breath. Then the boy screamed shrilly. It was the cry of a wounded animal. The shrill howl of some small animal in extremis. A rabbit or hare with it's hind legs shattered by the blast of a shotgun makes a similar cry. Amber fluid began to flood down the back of Dictys's legs. Marius had peed himself. His flogging had begun.

(chapter XXXII)

He was aiming, as Scyrax had advised him, for the tender area of Marius's body where his thighs ended and his bottom began. The first stroke fell somewhat above this point scoring a white line across the boy's taught flesh that soon darkened to deep red edged with purple. The second stroke was also high while the third fell across the very top of boy's thighs rather than his bottom. The third fourth and fifth were however better placed and Maccius might literally be described as having found the grove as he plied the cane with all his vigour and poor Marius howled and twisted under it's impact. The cane was a pliant one and it's tip curling round the boy's flanks nicked his flesh had quickly drew drops of blood. Now as the strokes began to overlap and intersect blood began to flow more freely down the back of Marius's thighs.

Scyrax signalled to Maccius to stop. He stepped forward to examine the damage done to Marius's rump. He pressed his finger tips hard into the welts raised by the cane ringing a further scream from the lips of the sobbing boy.

"That's enough just there," he said, "I don't want the brat permanently marked. Put three more across his bum higher up and the last four across the back of his thighs."

Maccius took his time inflicting these last few strokes, making each one count, ensuring that Marius felt each one to the full.

At last the flogging was over but not Marius's sufferings.

"You have done a good job on that Scyrax remarked," as he once more inspected the boy's raw and bleeding rump.

"Dictys take our little Mariullus round so that our guests can see what a slave brat's bum should look like after a thrashing."

Still hoisted on Dictys's back Marius was taken from couch to couch. All the guests were clearly excited by the spectacle of the child's bruised and bleeding bottom. Some wanted to kiss it better, pressing their lips to the torn skin. Others, less kindly, slapped and pinched it ringing fresh howls from the boy.

Only after a full circle of the room had been completed was Marius permitted to dismount from Dictys's back. There was a sucking sound as he slipped to theground breaking the seal between the two boys' bodies that sweat and urine had created.

Marius stood for a moment unsteadily on his feet. The hush that had fallen on the room during his flogging dissolved in a clatter of laughter and talk.

"Take him away," Scyrax commanded Dictus, "We have had our fun with him."

Chapter 13

(chapter XXXIII)

"You here?" Dictys said sounding not at all too pleased. "Take Mariullus to the dormitory and get a cloth soaked in cold water from the pump and lay it on his bum to take the bruising out. And don't come back here again 3;. If you're spotted you could get badly hurt."

He turned and hurried back into the noise and glare of the dining room. Scyrax was not a man who like to be kept waiting for his pleasures.

Marius stumbled sobbing quietly along the ever narrower and darker passageways that led to the boys' dormitory. He was conscious of little beyond the burning pain that had it's seat in the raw bleeding flesh of his bottom but seemed to fill his whole body. Sulis, shocked by the sight of the other boy's lacerated rump, for once was silent.

(chapter XXXIV-XXXV)

Sulis woke early in the morning. He gently lifted the towel from the other boy's raw bottom. Marius heard him draw his breath in sharply.

"You really caught it Mariullus," he said in awed tones. "You stay here while I find some ointment."

There was a general bustle in the long room as Scyrax's young slaves roused themselves for another day in the service of their master. A number paused to inspect Marius's bottom on their way from the room. They knelt beside him speaking in low voices their fingers lightly touching the livid welts that ribbed his flesh, sympathy for Marius equally mixed with respect for the young man who had inflicted so severe and vigorous a thrashing.

Soon the room was empty and silent. At last exhaustion brought relieve to Marius and he fell into a fitful dose.

He was roused from this by a loud wailing. It was unmistakably a cry of distress but not of a sort with which Marius was familiar. It was certainly not the blubbing of a freshly caned boy, a sound common enough in that house. Marius did not know it but it was not a cry of physical pain but of spiritual agony. It was the cry of creature bereft, a cry against the injustice and cruelty of life.

He heaved himself painfully to his knees and stared about him. At that moment Sulis appeared. He was moving in a strange stumbling run, his knuckles were pressed to his eyes and he was bawling his misery to the world with all the strength and volume that his young lungs could muster.

Marius forgetful of his own injuries in his concern for the misery of the other boy scrambled to his feet. Sulis stumbled towards him and a few seconds later Marius's arms were full of howling naked boy. He stood looking down on the top of the smaller child's head, feeling his face wet with tears pressed against his own chest. He had never seen Sulis in such a state before. The boy cried when he was beaten. What boy did not? But like boys in general he was a resilient little beast and when his bottom was not freshly striped he was cheerful and lively.

It was some time before Sulis did anything else than press his body against Marius's and howl his misery to the world. Marius, feeling utterly lost and helpless, hugged the boy to him waiting for the fit to pass. Even at this moment, though, his body shamed him. The feel of the younger boy's skin cool and silky smooth pressed against his excited him and his prick jumped to attention.

Sulis however appeared oblivious or uncaring of this and slowly the story emerged, frequently interrupted by renewed bouts of sobbing. Dictys was dead. He knew he should have gone to Felix for the ointment but the eunuch was cruel man who delighted in hurting boys. So he had gone to look for Dictys instead. Dictys was good and kind and would do anything he could to help. And now he was dead. The only person who really cared for him, the bravest kindest boy in the house, dead.

Sulis broke down again at this point but after sometime recovered and went on.

He had looked everywhere about the house for him. In the end he had gone to the dining room to see if he was helping clean the place up after the dinner. It wasn't Dictys's job to do such work but often the place was in a terrible mess a dinner and it would be like Dictys to turn up to help.

Here the narrative was interrupted again by another bout of crying as Sulis remembered the many virtues and kindnesses of his hero. With a couple of loud sniffs he continued.

The dining room had been in an awful mess, broken plates, food wine and vomit spilt on the floor. A team of boys were employed in cleaning it up but he could not see Dictys. He went into the room looking for him and then he saw him lying on the floor beside Scyrax's couch - dead.

Marius was unwise enough to ask at this point Sulis was sure he really was dead. This brought on a further fit of wailing.

He was quite sure, Sulis sobbed, remebering the horror of the thing he had seen..

Marius stood holding the younger boy close. He too was near to tears but he knew with all the maturity and responsibility that an eleven year old could feel for a child two years younger than himself that he must not give way to his own grieve. His job was to comfort Sulis and he could not do that if he too was crying.

"What is this abominable noise. Why are you two sluts idling your time away here? Why aren't you both working?" Felix demanded in his high pitched effeminate voice. The eunuch had crept up on the two boys unheard and was now working himself into a thoroughly enjoyable frenzy. Enjoyable that is for him who took pleasure in persecuting the boys of Scyrax's household.

"Sir," Marius blurted out, "I'm sorry Sir but Dictys is dead. Sulis has found his body and it's upset him."

As soon as he had spoken Marius knew he had made a mistake. Scyrax's secretary grabbed Sulis by the arm and wrenched him away from Marius. He spun the boy round and swinging the thick leather strap which the boy slaves all knew and feared began to flog the boy. "You ungrateful slut," the eunuch screamed shrilly. "You choose to ignore your duty to your Master who out of the goodness of his heart feeds and houses you to spend time weeping about a worthless slave brat. I'll give you some thing to really cry about. I'll teach you 3; I'll make you squeal 3;. I'll 3;."

Leather cracked against boy's flesh. Sulis squealed as he twisted and leapt in the eunuch's grasp vainly trying to evade the cuts that Felix mercilessly rained upon his bare rump. Blow after blow slashed down across the boy's tender bottom until Felix short of breath stopped and stood panting. Sulis collapsed to his knees on the floor sobbing, his sorrow at the loss of his friend and hero temporally forgotten in his own physical agony.

"Get off with you," Felix shouted planting a kick on his raw bottom. "Do something to earn your keep. There's plenty of to do cleaning up after the dinner last night."

"And you too," he said turning on Marius, "Don't think you can spend your day lazing around just because you got hiding last night 3; Move or you'll have a taste of the strap too."

Clapping his hands over his bum to defend it from the secretary's strap Marius scuttled off after Sulis; reduced once more to a frightened, bare bottomed, little slave bra; his role as the protector of the younger boy forgotten.

Marius was glad to see that Dictys's body had been removed by the time he and Sulis reached the dining room. The two boys were sent to join a team of young slaves scrubbing the floor. For a time they worked side by side on their hands and knees in a silence broken only by the occasional loud sniff from Sulis. The sniffs became less frequent.

"Dictys wasn't worthless," Sulis suddenly muttered rebelliously.

"No, no he wasn't," Marius agreed in a placatory whisper keeping his head down and working away assiduously to avoid attracting the attention of the youth who was meant to be supervising them.

"He was good and kind. He was better than anyone else in this place," Sulis continued a catch in his voice. "We should tell the Gods so that they know he's not worthless."

Marius paused in his scrubbing. He hadn't thought about the Gods but now it seemed to him that Sulis was quite correct. They should be put right about the nature of Dictys.

"How can we do that?" He asked.

"We could pour a libation for him."

Marius thought back to his Grandfather's funeral, the smoking pyre, the professional mourners hushed for the moment as his father dressed in his best toga solemnly stood and raised the great silver wine cup chased with gold, his elder brother and sister standing silent beside him, his nurse holding his hand tight and whispering to him to stand still. He valued Dictys a great deal more than he did his grandfather, a cold and remote figure, but how could they possibly do anything like that for him? Yet he felt more and more that they should do something. It wasn't fare that he should leave this world without them doing something to contradict Felix's unjust description of him as worthless.

The two boys whispered urgently together as they worked. It was clear that Sulis had little idea of what was involved in a libation. He had only heard other boys talking of it. He was clear it involved pouring wine on the ground. Surely Marius and he could manage that? It would help the Gods understand that Dictys was a good person so they should do it shouldn't they?

There was no question of their getting hold of one of the silver goblets used in the banquet. They had all long ago been cleared away and locked up. Perhaps though they could find something that would serve in the kitchens. Wine too was usually hard to come by. The only time a slave boy was likely to taste it was if Scyrax or a guest of his took a fancy to the lad and let him take a sip from his cup. After the dinner however the dregs from the wine goblets would have been collected. These dregs would now be in jugs in the kitchen waiting to be poured into the swill bins for the pigs. They might well be able to steal of some of this.

Their plans completed the two boys, working away hard at scrubbing the floor, manoeuvred themselves behind one of the tables in a dark corner of the room. Abandoning their brushes and bucket they made a dart for the door. The groom supervising their work, bored with the tedium of watching eight tight naked boy rumps wriggling about in the air as their proprietors vigorously scrubbed the marble floor, had fallen asleep on one of the dining couches so they escaped unnoticed..

Half an hour later the two boys were arguing quietly but vehemently in a corner of one of the most distant cellars in the house as to which of them should say the invocation. Marius thought it should be Sulis as Dictys was primarily his friend. Sulis thought it should be Marius because the Gods would understand his patrician Latin better than is own slum argot. In the end Marius, recognising that Sulis had no idea of what to say, took the cracked earthenware cup that served them as a chalice and standing rigidly erect held it out before him saying as he poured the mixture of dregs of wine on the earthen floor as much as he remembered of the invocation. His young voice rang out sharply in the underground chamber for he had to speak loudly so that the Gods would hear him. Whether a libation given in this form by two naked slave brats both of whose bottoms bore the marks of recent beatings was as effective as one given in the full pomp of patrician ceremony and wealth cannot be known.

(chapter XXXVI)

Marius stood in front of Scyrax his head bowed feeling the man's eyes on his body. Despite himself his prick hardened.

"You're a good boy Mariullus," the fat man chuckled softly, "I know you will sell well. Turn round now and let me see if you look as nice from behind as you do from in front."

Scyrax smacked his lips appreciatively. Indeed Marius had a delicious bottom, round and firm and deeply dimpled.

Marius shivered as he felt the man run his hand up the back of his thighs. The wheals left by the cane had largely healed. Only a light bruising remained that gave an added piquancy to the boy's beauty. Scyrax ran one podgy finger along one of the fading purple and red lines scored by the cane across the smooth curve of the boy's bum. Marius felt the man's breath warm against his back. The boy whimpered in excitement and Scyrax laughed.

"You're ready for it boy," he said softly. "And you won't have long to wait now. But we don't want any accidents in the night do we? We want you really hot in the morning so you show yourself well to the gentlemen."

"Turn round again and face me."

Scyrax picked up a narrow leather thong from the small table beside his couch. Leaning forward he slipped it behind Marius's scrotum. The boy realising what was about to be done started backwards but was caught by the shoulders by Felix who held him firm and growled at him to be still. Scyrax twisted the two ends of the leather thong together and drawing it tight and around the boy's small cock and balls knotted it firmly in place. Marius's prick deprived of blood drooped and became flaccid.

"The brat's so small it seems hardly worth bothering to do Sir," Felix, always looking for an opportunity to humiliate the boys whose sexuality he envied, sneered.

"Better to have small balls than none at all," Scyrax answered the eunuch with careless cruelty.

Felix flushed and not daring to answer his master back, bit his lips in anger.

"Now the seal," Scyrax commanded.

Felix produced a stick of wax. A groom stepped forward with a lighted lamp. Marius felt the heat of the flame against his belly. Felix dropped molten wax onto the knot of the thong. A drop fell on the boy's bare skin and Marius cried out in pain. Felix always found ways of taking out his resentment at his emasculated condition on the boys subject to his whims.

"Don't make such a fuss child," Scyrax commanded pressing his ring into the soft wax. "Now I want to see that seal unbroken in the morning. If it is not I'll reduce you to the same state as Felix."

"Take him away" He commanded dismissing Marius with an open handed slap on his rump. One of the grooms stepped forward and taking the boy by the hand led him away. He was taken to a small cell at the back of the villa. He was chained by the ankle to a ring set in the floor. It was the first time that he had been chained since he had arrived at Scyrax's villa. Scyrax was a wise man and experienced in the handling of boys. He knew that boys were most likely to panic and try to run when facing alone the terrors of the unknown.

Later the groom returned with a steaming bowl of pork and bean stew and a chunk of black bread. The boys did not often get meat but Marius was to be well fed and rested in preparation for the next day.

Chapter 14

(chapter XXXVII)

It was not likely that it should for the next day would determine the whole course of his future life. He was going to be taken to market and sold to the highest bidder like any other item of livestock. His purchaser would own him in just the same way as he owned his dog or his horse.

Marius did not feel any great resentment in being treated in that way. Slavery was a part of life. He wished he was not a slave and he was fearful of what was to come but to be a slave was to suffer a misfortune not an injustice. He hoped he would be bought by a kind master. He knew very well that Scyrax dealt in speciality goods and the nature of the services which he would be required to provide. He knew too that he was a pretty boy. Only such boys were kept by Scyrax. His body told him that he was ready. Lying there, alone and frightened, he tried to imagine he was with his new master. The feel of the man's arms about his body, the man's smell in his nostrils, his taste in his mouth.

He told himself he would try hard to be a good slave and to please his master. Indeed it was likely he would try hard. Brutally wrenched from his family he was in desperate need of affection. Marius wanted to love and be loved.

He wondered who his master would be, perhaps a senator or at least a rich knight. Then after many years of loyal service he would be granted his freedom and he would be able to find Pannnychis the slave girl who had suffered so much for helping him. He would buy her and set her free. He would buy Sullis from Scyrax as well and then they could all live together. Pannychis could cook and look after the house and he and Sullis could work and earn money.

For a moment he lay there dreaming happily but then his thoughts of Pannychis reawakened nightmare memories of the last few weeks. Echios's, his father's steward, sudden change from obsequious servant to insolent gaoler. His imprisonment in the farm cellar, the darkness squalor and hunger relieved only by the scraps of food smuggled to him by Pannychis. The terror that overcame him when the girl did not come and he was left to lie there in his own filth, his hunger gnawing at his guts. The sudden appearance of Crastinus who informed him with casual brutality that he had killed his father and sister and brother. His own shame at the way his body had been awakened by the touch of this butcher. The brutalities committed by Crastinus and his men during their stay at the farm, the whipping of Echios's favourite boy Pulchellus and of his own protector and friend Pannychis. The horrors of the long painful march to Rome. His sale to the slave dealer Scyrax and the cruelties he had witnessed in his house, the flogging of Nisus and Giton and Sulis and Lysias and dozens of other frightened and defenceless boys. He heard again the sound of leather cracking against bare flesh, of boys screaming as the lash tore their tender bodies. He remembered his own agony as Maccius had laid the cane across his quivering rump.

Terror replaced hope in his mind. He curled up in a small ball of naked misery sobbing quietly to himself. In time sleep brought him a momentary release from his fears.

(chapter XXXVIII)

In the centre of this activity stood the gross figure of Scyrax. At the moment when Marius was brought to the room he was standing naked by his couch, his huge belly bulging before him. He was urinating into a silver bowl held for him by a small black boy with the sweetest roundest bottom that could be imagined.. The child knelt respectfully on the floor while his master directed a stream of pungent amber fluid into the bowl held only a few inches away from his face.

The groom left Marius standing just inside the door. With a feeling of sick horror the boy saw Maccius lounging on the couch. The young man was naked but while Scyrax's body was fat and was covered with a mat of dark hair Maccius was slim with only a tuft of blond hair about his scrotum. But thin and hairless though his body was he held himself with such arrogance that it was impossible to confuse him with the slave boys who hurried nervously about the room.

He was playing with a dagger with an ivory hilt, it's pommel set with a single large ruby. The sunlight glinted on the slim blade as he toyed with it. While Marius watched Maccius lent forward and smiling gently rested the point against the side of the little Negro's thigh. The child tensed as he felt the touch of the cold metal against his bare flesh.. Maccius smile broadened as he increased the pressure on the dagger. Marius saw it's point sink into the boy's taught thigh. A bead of blood formed on his dark skin and began to trickle downwards. The boy's chest heaved as he felt the pain but still he held the bowl steady. Discipline in the House of Scyrax was firm.

At last the stream of pee dwindled to a trickle. Scyrax shook the last few drops from the tip of his cock and wiped his hands on the child's tight black curls. He gestured and the boy rose to his feet. He bowed deeply and backed away still carrying the bowl with it's steaming contents. As the boy passed him Marius saw the side of his leg was glistening darkly with fresh blood.

Maccius laughed and licked the tip of the dagger.

Scyrax glanced round and seeing Marius beckoned the boy to him. Marius moved forward on leaden legs his eyes fixed on Maccius who said nothing but smiling coldly tested the point of his dagger on his thumb..

"I think he remembers you darling," Scyrax remarked giggling softly as he reached out and drew the reluctant boy to him.

Seating himself on the couch beside his lover he bent forward to examine the wax seal on the cord knotted tightly about Marius's scrotum.

"Why Mariullus you have been a good boy haven't you? I knew you would. Maccius would you be very kind and cut it off."

Maccius giggled and leaning over the man's fat thighs pressed the blade of the dagger across the base of Marius's prick. Marius shuddered and closed his eyes.

"Stand very still now sweetest," Scyrax counselled him softly, "I don't want Maccius making a mistake. A pretty little thing like you would be worth much less if he cut too far."

Maccius giggled again and then Marius felt the sharp blade drawn lightly across his prick. His cock snapped upright and he realised the cord had been neatly severed. He gave a sob of relief and Scyrax laughed outright.

Felix appeared carrying a tray with a variety of objects on it including a strange canvass tube with a bronze nozzle at one end and followed by two boys both carrying large earthenware bowls; one empty, one half full of gently steaming water.

"Now Mariullus we've got to get you ready for the auction," the fat man said taking hold of the boy by his wrist and pulling him face down over his knees. "We must have you clean inside and out."

He rested the one hand on the boy's rump and Marius wriggled appreciatively under it's touch. He felt strangely content lying across his master's fat thighs his bare bum and ready to his hand. He felt no shame just a feeling off acceptance and surrender.

"There's a good boy," Scyrax murmured softly patting his naked rump. "Now push that pretty little bum of yours as high as you can and spread your legs. That's right 3; good lad."

Marius gasped as he felt Scyrax's grease coated finger tips pressing into him.

"There we are 3; .Now the nozzle. I'll just get it a little warm so it doesn't make you jump so much when I push it in."

Marius caught his breath again at the further invasion and then after a slight pause a delicious sensation as warm water flowed into him. After a time the initial feeling of well being turned to discomfort and then to positive pain as the pressure of the fluid inside him increased.

He murmured a protest and wriggled uneasily on Scyrax's lap.

"Just a little bit more my sweet," the fat man cooed and then just as Marius though he would burst the nozzle was withdrawn from his bottom.

"Up you get little one," Scyrax said reinforcing his command with a sharp slap on the boy's bottom.

"Now hold that inside you till Maccius has counted to twenty."

Maccius began to count very slowly, deliberately leaving long pauses between each number and drawing each word out for as long as he could

"Oooone 3; 3;.twoooo 3; 3;.threee 3;.."

Marius whimpered and clapped his hands to his bottom trying desperately to hold the liquid inside him. He began to jig about on his bare feet trying to find some relief from his agony while his two tormentors lent back on the couch watching him and enjoying his discomfort.

At last Maccius completed his leisurely count.

Marius in the nick of time made it to the empty earthenware bowl. He squatted over it emptying himself while Scyrax watched him with a quizzical smile on his face and the bustle of the room went on around him regardless. Even Marius despite the harsh schooling he had undergone felt the shame of his position.

A great tub was carried into the room by four youths and filled with scented water. Marius was required to kneel in it while Scyrax sponged him down. Then he was wrapped in a towel and dried. Oils were brought and the man's plump soft hands strayed over the boy kneading and stroking, leaving no cleft or cranny of his young body untouched. As he worked Scyrax talked. He spoke softly, almost hypnotically, of the things that Marius would experience at the hands of his new master, of the pleasures he would experience and give, commenting on the attractions of his body and the uses to which they would be put.

"Look at these legs Maccius so slim and elegant and yet so strong. His thighs firm and smooth and his bottom, so pert, so well rounded, those dimples, there and there and this cleft 3; Just bend forward a little my child 3;. can you imagine so tight 3; 3; " and so on for Scyrax knew that in order to get the best price for a boy of the sort he traded in the child had to be sent to the block in a state of high excitement

At last it was finished and Marius stood before his slim boy's body burnished and glistening.

"Have you seen anything nicer?" Scyrax demanded. "Look at the little dear, his tiny cock all stiff and hard, ready and eager for his new master. He'll fetch a good price."

"I'd like to have him," Maccius remarked lightly.

He paused a puzzled look on his face.

"Why is it that I enjoy destroying beautiful things?" he asked suddenly.

"Well you can't have this one." Scyrax replied lightly. "He's going to make us lots of money. Aren't you Mariullus."

He took the boy's chin between his finger and thumb and tipped his head back so he looked down into his face.

"You see Mariullus," he continued, "that's a slave brat's only protection. His cost to his master. The more you cost the more he'll look after you. So if you fetch a high price it will be good for both of us."

He paused and smiling ran his finger along the boys lips.

"And just to make sure you try really hard to at the market. I'll put a nice big reserve price on you and if you do not make that reserve I will have you brought back here and give you to Maccius for him to play with. So you will try hard won't you child?"

"Yes Master," Marius whispered and waited to hear his fate.

"Fifty sesterces child. You make that for me or I'll give you to Maccius."

Marius's heart sank. It was almost enough to buy a good horse. Who would pay such a sum for a mere boy?

Scyrax saw his face and laughed.

"It's a high price Mariullus," he chortled, "but a pretty little virgin like you could make it on a good day. You'll just have to try hard and hope there's a rich buyer who fancies golden boys," and he laughed again.

Maccius rested the point of his dagger against Marius's chest just below his left nipple.

"Do let me have him Scyrax 3;. Please I would like so much to make the blood flow and to hear him scream," he pleaded.

Marius felt the sharp blade cold against his skin. He stared down terrified into the youth's black eyes hard and glittering and mad. He saw a small fleck of saliva form at the corner of Maccius's painted lips, a scarlet slash in his pallid face, and begin to trickle down his chin. The boy whimpered in terror.

Scyrax gestured. A slim metal ring with a light chain attached was snapped tight about Marius's wrist. Maccius's wild laughter rang shrilly out behind him as he was led from the room by a sturdy groom.

As they were crossing the great entrance hall with it's elaborate mosaics and brilliantly painted walls Sullis darted out from behind a pillar. The child must have been hiding there all morning hoping to catch a last glimpse of his friend. He ran out and flung his arms tight around Marius's neck. Marius looked down into the younger boy's face. Sullis's cheeks were wet with tears and his lips trembled. Marius instinctively bent his head and kissed the other boy hard on the mouth.

The groom turning to see what had checked their progress across the hall laughed at the sight of the two naked boys embracing.

"You're certainly ready for market young one," he remarked jerking on the chain fastened to Marius's wrist. "Come on now, you'll give your new master whoever he is value for money I'm sure."

Alseus, the big Negro porter, stepped forward also grinning. He wrenched the two boys apart and sent Sullis spinning across the floor to collapse in a heap by one wall. Nothing further would have happened to Sullis then but as luck would have it Felix choose this moment to enter the hall. The eunuch taking in at a glance what had happened drew out his metal tipped strap and advanced on the boy whose bottom, as he tried to scramble to his feet, offered a very attractive target. Soon the hall was echoing with the crack of leather and the squeals of a child in distress.

Marius checked again but the groom pulled firmly on his chain and he was led from the house, the unmistakable sounds of a young boy under correction ringing in his ears.

Then those sounds of juvenile misery were drowned by the din of the Roman street. Men shouted and cursed, carts rumbled noisily by. Marius had experienced this before but long weeks spent locked up in Crastinus's mansion had made him unprepared for the noise, the smells and the sights that now assaulted his senses. The excitement of being out in the teeming crowds drove all thought of Sullis's sufferings from his mind.

His excitement was heightened by the fact that he was himself a subject of interest and admiration. The last time he had been out on the streets of the capital no one had taken any notice of him. He had been just a filthy half starved slave brat, no different from many hundred of others. Now though he had been washed and groomed with as much care as if he was a thoroughbred horse, his hair, his skin glistened with health. He was a thing of beauty. Men turned to look at the naked honey skinned boy with the dusty gold hair. They smiled at the sight of his slim young legs, his deeply dimpled bottom and his hard little prick that wobbled erect as he trotted along behind his keeper. A few called out words of admiration or offers of money to the groom if he would only let them enjoy the boy. Some even tried to touch him but the groom was big and fierce, specially chosen for his task, and they fell back when he turned on them.

Indeed the chain about Marius's wrist was not so much to prevent him running away, for where would he run to, but to prevent his being stolen.

(chapter XXXIX)

The one to which Marius was destined dealt only with the choicest of young stock, girls and boys. It was simply an open sided paved area, from the sun by a large tarpaulin, at one end of which was a raised platform with a table to one side of it and a small solid wooden block in the centre.

When Marius and the groom arrived the auctioneer and his assistants were engaged in lotting the items to be offered for sale that day. A queue of sellers with their young merchandise had formed. Marius and the groom joined the tail of this. They shuffled slowly forward as one by one the children were submitted to the auctioneer for inspection. He worked quickly and decisively. Those that were clothed he would strip, a quick examination, a few terse questions on age, experience, skills and so on, addressed not to the child but to the seller, an enquiry as to the reserved price if any and the boy and girl was led away by one of his assistants, a metal tag on a leather thong hanging about it's neck giving it's lot number.

Not all went smoothly. Sometimes there would be an argument. A seller would demand a higher reserve price than the auctioneer considered reasonable or would contend for a different lot number than he was prepared to concede. Much depended on the lot number. A brat brought to the block before the market got fully underway or after it had passed it's peak might not sell at the best price. When that happened the seller would shout and rage, the auctioneer would drawl in his mannered and supercilious accent while the waiting crowd muttered and jostled impatient at the delay.

On another occasion a poor man selling one of his sons to pay his debts broke down, hanging on to the boy and weeping. That time the auctioneer lost his temper and berated the wretched man, telling him that it was his own fault that he had to sell the brat and that he had no right to stop honest men earning their living. The boy was led away, his shoulders stiff, trying to stop himself breaking down and adding to his father's unhappiness.

At last Marius and the groom reached the front of the queue.

"Not a bad looking lad," the auctioneer remarked putting his head on one side and casting a connoisseurs eye over the naked boy.

"Name of seller, name and age of boy, any abilities or skills," he drawled running his hands over Marius's body.

"He comes from the house of Scyrax, he is called Mariullus, he is eleven year old and he is a virgin Sir," the groom said respectfully.

"Eleven years old and a virgin and a good looker too. We don't get many of them here. I'd better have a look."

"Turn round boy and put your feet apart."

Marius felt one of the auctioneers hands on the back of his neck pushing his head forward. Then his hands moved down to his bottom prying him open.

"Yes. Well I should have known Scyrax would not try to sell counterfeit goods. What does he propose as a reserve price."

"Fifty sesterces Sir."

"Fifty! That's a high price but then he is a pretty piece of boy's flesh. Very well Lot number eight."

A leather thong from which hung a metal tag bearing the number VIII was hung round Marius's neck. One of the auctioneers assistants took him to sit among a crowd of naked children huddled at the base of the platform.

(chapter XL)

Then a sudden and complete hush fell as the first of the prospective purchasers arrived. The preliminary viewing had begun. Men moved among the crowd of children making their selections. Boys and girls were pulled to their feet and the most intimate recesses of their bodies brutally explored. Any reluctance or hesitation attracted the attention of one of the assistants and was quickly overcome with a blow and a curse.

Over the next hour or so Marius was the subject of a good deal of attention. He stood still patiently submitting to a series of the most intense and detailed examinations. No part of his body was exempt from intrusion. Some man laughed and talked among themselves as they fingered and prodded his body. Some actually spoke to him, asking a terse question or making a rough comment or coarse joke as they handled him. At first Marius felt frightened but his fear was quickly banished by the excitement of being fondled.

At last the auctioneer stepped up onto the platform and rapped on the table with his gavel. His assistants hustled the boys and girls who were to be sold to one side forcing them to sit or squat on the ground. The men formed a wide semicircle facing him.

"Well gentleman, we may as well begin. We have a wide selection of the highest quality livestock for sale today. It is my policy to collect for your enjoyment the choicest young slaves available in the whole Empire. This sale is for the discerning connoisseur and the goods on offer reflect this. So let us not waste time. Lot number 1."

A trembling rather skinny eight year old boy was dragged from the huddled crowd of naked brats. He stood uncertainly at the foot of the platform. The contrast between the appearance of this frightened miserable child and the boasts of the auctioneer as to the quality of the stock for sale led to roars of laughter and raucous shouted comments from the crowd. The boy began to cry.

"You may laugh Gentlemen," the auctioneer said raising his voice over the noise of the crowd, "but I tell you there is quality in that slut for a man with patience to fatten him up a bit."

"Make him show himself off one of you."

One of the assistants cracked his whip at the boy catching him on the side of the thigh with it's tip. The brat squealed and began to move unsteadily round the edge of the semicircle formed by the crowd tears streaming down his face.

"Get your hands down by our sides," the assistant screamed at him reinforcing his order with a further flick of the whip, "let the gentlemen see what they are paying for."

"Not that there's much to see," the auctioneer remarked as the men hooted and jeered.

The poor little brute was beside himself with terror. It took another cut of the whip to get him up on the platform and a further one onto the block itself..

"Well I can see this particular item does not meet with your enthusiastic approval," the Auctioneer continued near laughter himself, "so I will start the bidding at a low price. Who will offer me five denarius. Thank you six. Six it is 3; any improvement on six 3; 3;"

Eventually the boy was sold for eight denarius to a hard faced man dressed in the coarse clothes of a fisherman.

"Well Grimus," the auctioneer remarked as the deal was concluded, "I hope he lasts longer than most of the ones you buy from me."

The auctioneer did not sound at all distressed by the low price the first lot had made. Indeed he might not stand to make much commission from that particular sale but it had served it's main purpose. All the slave brats now knew the procedure they had to follow and the consequences of their failing to do so.

Following lots were of considerably better quality and achieved better prices. Soon lot number six, a handsome dusky lad was on the block and the bidding had reached twenty sesterces and was rising strongly. Marius could see that lot number seven, a pretty dark skinned girl of about fourteen year was being held ready by an assistant to take her place in the ring. The man held her one hand fondling one of her small firm breast the other rubbing her crutch. The girl's eyes were glazed with lust as she wriggled her bottom against the man.

Lot six went for forty sesterces and the girl was pushed out into the wring. She walked swinging her hips her pert little breasts pushed proudly forward. Marius was pulled to his feet and brought to the edge of the ring ready to take his turn. The assistant held Marius tight against his body one hand gently squeezing one of the boy's nipples the other toying with his already hard prick.

The bidding for the girl was brisk. Her price raced up to fifty and then more slowly climbed to seventy- five where it stuck. Then it was Marius's turn.

The assistant pushed him out into the ring sending him on his way with a smart smack on his rump. Blood roared in Marius's ears as he moved forward careful to keep his hands away from the front of his body. The men were a blur of white faces and coloured clothes as he moved slowly round the edge of the semicircle.

In his confusion he only heard disjointed phrases from the auctioneers address.

"A beautiful boy 3; 3; .eleven years old but still a virgin 3;. ripe as a peach 3; ready for the plucking as you can see 3; 3;. round dimpled bottom 3;. still bears the mark of the cane 3; A boy with a bit of spirit in him 3;.. Like riding and breaking a young colt."

He completed his circuit and mounted the platform. The bids came quickly ten twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty - at least now he was safe from being given to Maccius to play with - sixty five. The bids were beginning to slow but Marius stood in a daze the sounds of the bids the chant of the auctioneer, the shouts of the men a confused and raucous babble.

Suddenly he was brought back to earth by a stinging blow on his thigh.

"I said," the auctioneer grated, "put your hands on your head and turn round and show the gentlemen that sweet little bottom of yours. Now do it."

Marius saw that one of the men had lifted his whip to strike again. Quickly he obeyed. As he turned he gave his bottom a little wriggle showing that, like all boys, he had a bit of the slut in him. The men excited by this and by the sound and sight of the lash tip snapping against Marius's bare thigh began to bid again and continued to do so until his price reached ninety five sesterces.

(chapter XLI)

His wealth was confirmed by his buying two further boys before the end of the auction; a flaxen haired lad with a peaches and cream complexion from the most Northerly limits of the Empire and another even more exotic creature, an olive skinned boy with almond eyes and straight jet black hair.

The man watched as his German slave fastened iron collars joined by short lengths of chain about the boys' necks. [Author's note: such chains were quite common in the Roman empire. A good example can be seen in the archaeological galleries of the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff although that chain incorporates five rather than three collars.]

Outside the Emporium the man mounted a horse and clattered off leaving the German in charge of the boys. The German slipped a cord round the collar of the lead boy. Holding this he set off after his master at a sharp pace The boys had to trot quickly after him to keep up. Marius at the back of the coffle found this was not easy. Move too quickly and he banged into the back of the boy in front of him. Move too slowly and he received a painful jerk on his collar. When eventually he had mastered this he found he could not see all that much any way, beyond the back of the head, the neck and the bare shoulders of the boy in front of him. He saw enough however to realise that they were in a prosperous part of the city. The streets were wide and uncrowded with large well spaced villas.

They passed through the Porta Appia and were in the open country. A moment later they turned off the main road and shortly afterwards came to heavy double gates set in a high stone wall. Beyond these stood a magnificent villa. A broad flight of marble steps led up to it's massive portico. Half way up these steps stood a statue of an eagle many times life size it's beak clamped about the neck of a naked boy whose body was partly shrouded by the birds great wings. On the plinth on which this statue stood was engraved in gold letters the words "The House Of Ganymede." With a feeling of despair Marius realised he had not been bought by a millionaire senator not even by a rich knight . He was the property of the owner of a boy's brothel.

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