Glaucus
of Korinthos
or
The
Spoils of War
Part
2: “Face to Face with the Romans”
This is a story of erotic fiction
meant for adult readers over the age of eighteen years.
Written by Jean-Christophe
(Chris)
“The characters and ideas
contained in this story are from the writer’s imagination and shouldn’t be used
without his permission. Please, respect the integrity of the story and don’t do
any rewrites, make alterations or add other people’s pictures.”
Chapter 2: “Face to face with the
Romans”
Chapter 1 was posted last December. I hope to post more chapters soon.
We
have been stopped in our tracks. I watch as the Roman Decurion and his two
companions advance toward us. Using their unsheathed swords, they gesture for
us to stop. Desperately,
I look around for a means of escape. But there isn’t any. They stand before us
halting further flight while behind us a Roman patrol has set up a blockade
preventing anyone from escaping the clutches of the marauding bands of soldiers.
All
around me are the terrible sounds of pillage and rape; the sorrowful cries of a
city in its death throes. I hear the terrified, panic-stricken citizenry
confronted by a triumphant, merciless enemy. I listen to the pain filled screams
of people being put to the sword, the vain begging to be spared, the pitiful
pleading of our virtuous matrons and maidens to the gods to spare them the
shame and horror of being raped. I hear the sounds of smashing from within the
houses as they are looted for valuables. I hear the angry shouts of the
marauding soldiers as they seek out the bolt-holes of men, women and children
trying to hide themselves from a wrathful enemy. And I watch in horror as all the comely, young
men, women and children are dragged away to slavery and uncertain futures.
I am
filled with panic and dread; I don’t know what to do. I look to Perimedes and
Diagoras for support and instead I see their ashen faces and fear filled
eyes. Already, once before, they have
lived through these terrible events when their home had been destroyed and
they’d been hauled away into slavery. For the two brothers there is a sense of
deja-vu and of history repeating itself.
Over
the years, I learned something of their background and Father had been mistaken
in thinking they’d come from some mysterious land to the North. They belonged
to a people called the Keltoi who dwelt in a fertile, green land beyond the
river well known to us as the Rhodanos. I know of this area and its history
through the scholarship of my tutors. The tutors had told me that Ionian Greeks
from Phocaea had journeyed there some four hundred years ago and established a trading
colony called Massalia on the Mediterranean coast which today is famous for two
exports; its excellent wines and prime slaves to meet the insatiable demands of
its Roman allies.
Massalia’s
existence had long been threatened by the Carthaginians, the Etruscans and the
Keltoi. In order to survive, Massalia had entered into an alliance with the
Roman Senate and people and enjoyed the protection of the Roman army.
I
know that Rome has been locked in a bitter war with the Carthaginians for
political and economic control of the Middle Sea and soon a fierce war of
attrition will be waged by Scipio Africanus at the very gates of Carthage
itself. And like Korinthos, it will fall to the might of the Roman war machine;
her buildings and temples will be levelled, her culture trampled underfoot, her
treasures and wealth carried off to Rome, her people put to the sword or enslaved
and the very earth on which she once stood will be salted.
Once
Perimedes had tearfully told me of his family who lived in a Keltoi settlement
which had been overrun by the Romans and their allies from Massalia. The attack
on their settlement was unexpected and undertaken as an offensive action by the
Romans who’d quickly triumphed over the numerically weaker Keltoi.
Roman
justice is swift and without mercy and what followed is now being repeated all
around me in Korinthos.
And
as always, following closely on the heels of the Roman army were the vile
jackals who feast on human misery – the slave-traders. These pariahs have a
nose for a bargain and with fat purses attached to their belts; they soon had
their slave coffles full for the return journey to Massalia.
Perimedes
was distressed as he told me these things and not wishing to add to that
distress, I’d not pushed him for more details.
However,
I did hear that the family had been sold in the slave market at Massalia. His
mother and two sisters had been separated and sold to different owners and his
father and older, warrior brother had been bought by a low grade lanista from Nimes
to train and fight as gladiators in the provincial arenas of Gaul. Despite
their adversities, the gods of fortune smiled on Perimedes and Diagoras
allowing them to stay together. Bought by a travelling slave-trader, they’d
found their way to the slave-market at Korinthos and into my father’s
household.
Despite
my panic, I try to stay outwardly calm. I am after all the master - albeit a
very young one – and I must assume responsibility for my slaves, Perimedes and
Diagoras. I am fortunate that I speak fluently in Latin, a vulgar language that
I truly despise. It had been a constant source of friction between my Latin
tutor and me; I’d not always applied myself diligently to my Latin studies but
he’d persevered and I did eventually learn to speak it flawlessly.
I
regard Latin as a barbaric tongue spoken by a coarse, common people whose aristocratic
elite have discarded in in favour of my own beloved Greek; the language that
lends itself to logical thinking. Can the Roman tongue express itself as
eloquently as Greek in the fields of the sciences, the arts, poetry, theatre
and rational debate? Of course, it
can’t!
But now
I am glad that I speak Latin. I can at least converse with these three Roman
soldiers who now confront us with their swords pressed against our bellies. But
suddenly, my courage deserts me and I am lost for words. Like Perimedes and
Diagoras, I quake from sheer terror. Will the Romans slaughter us and take our
valuables as booty of war?
I
listen as the Romans discuss us not knowing that I can understand their every
word. I struggle inwardly to speak and to reason with them but something about
their demeanours cautions me to keep a still tongue in my head. I decide this
is a time when discretion is indeed the better part of valour.
The
Romans are delighted with their catch and I hear myself described as a ‘snotty-nosed,
Greek brat just ripe for fucking’ as they begin to rough-handle all three of us.
Their venom is directed at me more so than at Perimedes or Diagoras. Quite
obviously, the Romans recognise them as slaves and I as their master.
Certainly, I take the brunt of their abuse. I’m roughly manhandled one to the
other and my head is viciously cuffed by all three. They are joined by their
companions still struggling under the heavy loads of their loot; quickly they
encircle us like ravenous wolves ready to pounce on their helpless prey.
The decurion
speaks to his men and they seize the valuables that we are carrying. It is
useless to protest and anyway my fear prevents me from doing so. The soldiers are
unaware that I speak Latin but I have to confess I am having difficulty in
understanding them. These are rough soldiers, recruited from the dregs of Roman
society and they converse in Vulgar Latin which is so different to the language
that I’d learned from my refined, Latin tutor.
However,
I understand enough of their obscenities to know they don’t bode us well. I
listen in horror as they describe Perimedes, Diagoras and me as ‘three young arse-holes’
begging for an injection of a good, Roman cock. They leave no doubt in my mind
that the three of us are to be raped.
Quickly they strip us of our clothes and naked, we are forced to our
knees. Futilely, all three of us struggle, but we are no match for the burly
Romans. I forget about Perimedes and Diagoras; they can fight their own
battles. My only thought is for my self- preservation.
My
shoulders are seized and my head is roughly forced to the cobblestones so that
my arse is elevated. I continue to struggle uselessly but I am no match for the
combined strength of my captors. My legs are kicked apart and self-consciously,
I’m aware of a new sense freedom as my balls hang low and my sphincter is
stretched open. From the corners of my eyes, I see that Perimedes and Diagoras
struggle as vainly as I do. The thought races through my mind. Did they endure
this same treatment at the hands of their Roman conquerors eight years ago?
They have never spoken of it, but then would they. Who could blame them for
keeping their disgrace and shame from my father and me?
My
mind is a blur; it is a fog of confusion and humiliation. Questions tumble
through my fevered brain. How many soldiers will rape me and what will become
of the three of us when the Romans have had their way with us? Will they put us
to the sword? One part of me sees that as preferable to living with the shame
of having being used by these Romans as a male whore. Yet another part of me
doesn’t want to die. But if I survive, what will my life be? However, I already know the answer to that
question. I know it will be as a slave to the Romans. This prospect fills me
with dread yet I want to live.
Slavery
is preferable to death!
Behind
me I hear the fumbling of our abusers as they prepare to rape us. Looking back
between my legs I see the lower body of a soldier but I’m not able to see him as
he unties the knots of his linen subligaculum allowing his rampant cock to
spring free. I listen to the ribald comments of his comrades as they urge him
on - no doubt impatient for their turn to use me.
Then,
as I brace myself for the worst – salvation! A voice, heavy with authority,
calls the soldiers to order. I hear the clatter of their armour and weapons as
they snap to attention and in unison; they shout their salute to a superior
officer.
“Hail,
Tribune Flaccus Marcus Bruscius!”
Silence
now replaces the soldiers’ unruly behaviour. I kneel with my forehead still
pressed to the cobblestones; too scared to move.
“Who
are these men?”
The
voice is deep and well-modulated – I estimate it as that of a young man in his
mid –thirties – and spoken with a refined accent. It is similar to the Latin
with which I am familiar.
“Tribune,”
the Decurion answers, “it’s only a young Greek and his two slaves. We stopped
them trying to flee the city.”
“I
see! And were they carrying anything with them? Do they carry any documents or
other valuables?”
“They
carried only these, Tribune!”
Still
on my knees, I don’t see the Decurion pass my confiscated papers and other
family possessions to the Tribune.
“Get
them to their feet!”
Perimedes,
Diagoras and I are ordered to our feet not by words but by well-aimed kicks to
our arses with metal, hobnailed caligae or marching sandals. Hastily, I
scramble to my feet and try to cover my naked shame with my cupped hands.
Curious,
I look to see who our saviour is and I am confronted by a tall aristocratic
Roman – and I am correct – he is aged in his mid- thirties. He wears his
uniform with pride and if I knew Roman customs and army rankings, I would see
by the wide purple stripe on his tunic that he is ‘tribunis laticlavus’ -
the senatorial tribune and the most senior of the six tribunes in a legion
which places him second in command of his legion. Later, I will learn that his
name is Flaccus Marcus Bruscius.
The tribune’s
eyes bore into me and as they slowly rove over my naked body I blush profusely.
As a Greek, my nakedness doesn’t normally shame me. But always my nudity has
been at my instigation. This is different; my present nakedness is not of my
choosing. I have been stripped naked and now stand before this Roman as naked
as any slave on a display platform. And I have the sense that he sees me in
this light.
“Is
that true, Greek? Were you trying to flee the city?”
He
asks the question in flawless Greek and emboldened, I answer him in flawless
Latin.
“No Sir!”
Despite my loathing at addressing him as ‘Sir’, I decide that I should maintain
a certain civility towards him. After all he holds all the cards. “I was trying
to return to my father’s house on the far side of the city.”
“You
speak Latin? Obviously, you are well educated. What is your name boy?”
I
bristle at his use of ‘boy’ in addressing me. Through my Latin studies, I know
the term is often used in a demeaning manner reserved for slaves. Many Roman
masters will give a ‘special’ slave a name that is a corruption of their own
names and ‘puer’ the Latin word for boy. For example, should a master be
called Lucius or Marcus he’ll name his ‘special’ slave Lucipor or Marcipor –
literally Lucius’s boy or Marcus’s boy. Is this how the Tribune sees me? Does
he see me as ‘his boy’?
“I am
Glaucus, son of Clearchus of Korinthos.” I answer proudly.
“Tell
me Glaucus, son of Clearchus of Korinthos.” Is he mocking me I wonder? “Who are
your companions?”
“They
are my slaves, Perimedes and Diagoras.”
“I
see! And where is your father’s house?”
“It’s
on the far side of the city, Sir.”
“Then
Glaucus, you will take me there. And your slaves will accompany us.”
He
turns to the decurion and instructs him to.
“Bind
their wrists behind their backs and fasten them by the neck one behind the
other with Glaucus, the son of Clearchus in the lead.”
“But
Tribune! We don’t have any cord to bind them.”
“By
Priapus, man. Improvise! Use their clothing to make their bindings. They no
longer have need of clothing.”
“Tribune! What of the valuables we took from them? What
do you want done with those?”
“Give
me all the documents they were carrying and keep the trinkets to share among
you. You keep them; they are legitimate spoils of war. Just as these three are.
I claim Glaucus, son of Clearchus together with all his father’s possessions
and his two slaves, Perimedes and Diagoras as my ‘spoils of war’.
All three are now to become my slaves.”
The artwork is by the incomparable Baron who interprets slavery in the Ancient World so erotically beautiful. The text is mine
