These brawny slaves are part of a team of twelve Lusitani slaves who bear the litter of their master, Senator Karelius on their broad shoulders whenever he travels through the crowded, city streets.The senator would never deign to walk the filth-strewn streets; better that his sandals stay unsoiled and the feet of his litter-slaves wade through the rotting rubbish, excrement and urine that fouls the narrow streets leading to the Forum and the Senate Chamber.
Sadly for the slaves, as they carried their master from the Senate to his domus, one of their number slipped on a piece of rotting fruit causing the litter to lurch sideways and dislodging its reclining occupant from among his silken cushions.
To say the senator was angry is an understatement. He saw this as an insult to his "dignitas" which requires the direst punishment. He is known to have crucified a slave for a lesser offence and the thought of seeing his twelve brawny slaves hanging from their rough, wooden crosses is an appealing one.
But today, having just won a major debate with his arch-rival, Senator Maximus in the Senate Chamber, he is feeling magnanimous and decides to be merciful. Rather than crucifixion, a flogging will suffice and each slave member of the team will receive fifty strokes of the whip.
Besides, Karelius is quite attached to his Lusitani team of litter-slaves. They are magnificent beasts-of-burden and would be very costly to replace.
These three are the last to be flogged. Once their whipping is completed they will join the other nine slaves now lying on their bellies on the straw-strewn floor of their pen as they recover.
Clips sourced from the internet and their origin is unknown; the text is mine.
What a wonderful and exciting short story !
ReplyDeleteThese twelve stupid and lazy Lusitani beasts of burden are unable even to walk without slipping or stumbling ! …… and certainly, it’s unbearably irritating, for a Senator of very high nobility and dignity like their Master, to suffer lurching and dislodging while reclining on the comfortable cushions of his wide litter, just because his twelve filthy animals are unable to walk without vexingly staggering the enormous and ponderous litter of their very irascible Roman owner.
I’m fully convinced that Senator Karelius is often even too merciful and pitiful with his loathsome and unworthy litter-bearers. First of all he should follow the example of his noble friend Marcus Flavius and of many other Roman Aristocrats, who, just for avoiding this type of very bothersome accidents, tightens the beefy neck of his sixteen gigantic Britannic litter-bearers with a thick leather dog-collar, that is then securely fastened, with a very short dog-leash not longer than 7 to 8 inches, to the litter-shaft of each slave.
In this way, the litter-bearers of Marcus Flavius are extremely careful to avoid to slip or stumble while they are bearing on their vast shoulders the huge litter of their Roman Lord …. and they are even crazily terrorized that this might happen or that, even worse, the litter may fall on the ground and turn over.
In fact, however stupid and brutish like all slaves, the litter-bearers of Marcus Flavius are well aware that a sudden lurching of the litter, or even worse, its falling, would immediately kill them, by strangling them or by breaking their neck.
Yes, indeed Senator Karelius is too merciful and pitiful with his twelve Lusitani brutes. For such an atrocious offence and disrespect to the sublime “dignitas” of their Roman Master, they have for sure deserved both the flogging ……. at least fifty strokes of the cat o' nine tails whip, twenty five on their vast brawny back and twenty five on their muscular chest and on their colossal bulging pectorals.
And AFTER THAT FLOGGING they would deserve to be CRUCIFIED !
I understand that the Senator is today ….. luckily for his slaves ! ……. in an exceptionally good temper, because in the Senate Chamber he has publicly humiliated and politically destroyed his adversary Senator Maximus.
But to spare these loathsome and unworthy lazy burden-beasts from a well deserved crucifixion, limiting his punishment just to the flogging …… well is something dangerous and a bad example not to be followed by other Roman slave-owners. If we start to slacken the severity of our discipline towards our slaves ! ……. where do we risk to end up ?
Perhaps one day, our slaves will even dare to think that they are almost human !
I do believe that, for whatever reason, when Senator Karelius took this heedless decision of not nailing on a cross his twelve Lusitanii litter-bearers, he wasn’t himself !
As, you tightly recall, he is well known for having crucified MANY SLAVES, not just one, and often for the slightest faults !
Just two weeks ago, a robust 18 years old Iberian slave, who was taking care of his Master’s pets, was unable to avoid that one puppy urinated on the magnificent marble floor of Karelius dining-hall.
Rightly, without even losing too much his temper, at once the Senator ordered that the inattentive and idiotic Iberian slave-lad was immediately nailed on a cross just in the banquet-hall, and then slowly further tortured with whips, canes and hot-irons so that his noble dining guest would enjoy the ferocious and thrilling show.
K.