ReadRoom3

Reading Room # 3

Note: This work is copyrighted and cannot be copied or redistributed without the author's permission.

Roman Slaves



	Roman Slaves The sun was setting and the guards gave the signal for the slaves to begin marching from the fields back to the slaves’ quarters. Located behind the stables, the slaves’ quarters consisted of a crude stucco building with straw covering a dirt floor. For Alrac, the routine was now becoming quite predictable. Each night they would be given their daily ration of gruel before bedding down on the crowded floor in their ragged, makeshift blankets. Work on the latifundia was hard, even brutal. Several slaves had died in the heat this summer. Attempting escape was futile. A few had tried, and none was successful. They were captured and returned to the latifundia to be nailed to crossed beams erected by the slave’s quarters; there to expire in slow agony. Some had lived as much as three days. Hanging from the beams, they would wail and bellow with pain and in their anguish, sometimes babble incoherently. Toward the end, they would lapse into long periods of unconsciousness, occasionally awakening from their pain-induced stupor, and let out anguished screams that pierced the still summer night. Once expired, their bodies would be left in place to wither and desiccate on the crossed beams as a grotesque reminder to any slave who might consider escape. Finally, a slave detail would be ordered to dispose of the putrefying corpse, usually by burning. At first it had all seemed like a horrible dream. Alrac had expected to wake up and be back in his own little village on the edge of the Black Forest. This was his fourteenth summer. This summer he was to be initiated into the warrior brotherhood of his tribe; officially a man; ready to begin his life as a proud and free warrior. Now, just months later, it was his old life that seemed like the dream. It was a world that no longer existed, as imaginary as if he had made it up. Alrac would never try to escape. There would be no place to go. His journey, in chains, to the latifundia had taken many weeks in a maze-like sequence of events. Part of the journey had been over water in a galley. Alrac only had a vague notion of the direction in which his former homeland lay. Anyway, his village was gone, destroyed. Except for his friend, Bangar, he knew no one who spoke the language and dialect of his tribe. The handful of survivors of that Roman raid were scattered across this strange, giant land; sold as slaves. Miraculously, he and Bangar had remained together and had been sold to the same master. That night, as usual, Alrac and Bangar lay down on the straw next to one another. They had been boyhood friends and now they were all that they had in this world. This new land was brutal and terrifying, and it fused a stronger bond between Alrac and Bangar than had ever existed before. It was a miracle sent by the Gods that had allowed them to retain their manhood. The trauma of witnessing brutal castration of so many of the young boys of their tribe had sensitized them to the preciousness of their sexuality. Their greatest fear in all the world now was that they would be separated; sold to different masters. Alrac remembered that fateful day in the early spring of this year when his world was destroyed and his life changed forever. Remote as that time seemed now, the events of that day had been burned into his soul forever. They had heard rumors of the Romans, although no one in his tribe had ever seen one. They were said to be some kind of powerful tribe living to the south. The warriors of his village had all proven their courage and prowess in skirmishes and raids against neighboring tribes. They used to boast about how they would deal with these Romans in battle. Once the Romans got a taste of the fierceness and bravery of the warriors of this tribe, they would tuck their tails run like a pack of whipped dogs. After a few cups of mead, the men of the village were especially boastful. When the scout reported that a Roman army had made an encampment near the village and an army was heading their way, everyone looked forward to the battle with eager anticipation. As was befitting a tribe of warriors, fear never crossed their minds. All the young warriors like Alrac would have a chance to prove themselves in battle, and have stories to tell to their grandchildren. The Romans had attacked at first light. No one had expected that there would be nearly so many of them. The Roman soldiers were as thick as the trees of the forest and were advancing slowly and methodically toward the village. A wall of shields extended in either direction as far as anyone could see. As soon as the warriors of Alrac’s village broke into the open to face the Romans, the sky darkened with Roman arrows. The shields of the warriors proved quite inadequate to protect them from the Roman arrows, while the Romans, with their long heavy shields, had little to fear from the arrows of the tribesmen who retaliated in kind, only as a belated and poorly planned afterthought. Yelling fierce battle cries, the warriors attacked the advancing shield wall only to be impaled on protruding spears wielded by the Roman second rank. In less than an hour, over half of the men of Alrac’s village lay dead or dying. When the arrows stopped flying a second wall of shields appeared on the opposite side, cutting off escape. As the two walls came together, Alrac and the remaining warriors pounded furiously and frantically on the Roman shields with their swords, but to no avail. Alrac had envisioned many glorious single contests against individual Roman soldiers. These were the kind of feats he had heard the warriors brag about around the fires after the feasts. What was happening was much different. Alrac had never expected anything like this. The two walls of shields came ever closer together, and the next thing Alrac knew, burly arms were gripping him and securing him with ropes as he struggled futilely to escape. The captives were held in improvised enclosures; the men separate from the women and children. Roman soldiers were going through the village picking up stragglers, mostly women and children, and setting fire to all the huts and long houses. The Romans brought up a wagon loaded with iron chain and began replacing the ropes of the captives with this more permanent method of securement. Alrac remembered he and Bangar just looking at each other in bewilderment. The Romans were so well organized; this had all been well planned. Alrac’s father and uncles were dead, as were all the men of the village. The oldest male captives allowed to live were young boys about his own age. Alrac watched as his mother was killed trying to defend his sisters and younger brothers. He watched helplessly as his bride-to-be, his beautiful precious Galena, was chained and led screaming into the compound with the other female captives. Ironically it was Galena’s very beauty that saved her from rape that day. This was a slaving mission and the Roman commanders demanded that the most beautiful of the captives be saved for the auction block. She and Alrac would have been wed on the day of the summer solstice that year. By midday the village was completely subdued and the Romans were taking an inventory of captives. The Romans lit a fire of coals in a brazier, like a blacksmith would use and began heating some hot irons. The captives looked at each other uneasily. They knew (or thought they knew) that they were about to be branded. Then suddenly five burly soldiers grabbed one of the young boys and held him against a wheel of the wagon, spreading his legs widely. Another soldier took a gruesome-looking device that looked somewhat like blacksmith’s tongs and clamped it tightly over the boy’s nut sack, while yet another soldier took a knife and cut off the boy’s testicles, sack and all. Then the soldier cauterized the wound with one of the hot irons. All the while, the boy who Alrac had recognized as one of his cousins, had kicked and squealed like a girl. His screams elevated to a high-pitched shriek as the knife separated his manhood and his wound was sealed with the iron. A roar of gruff laughter came up from the Roman soldiers who were witnessing the spectacle. As the next victim was spread-eagled over the wagon wheel, every boy now realized his fate. Wails and screams of protest came from the female captives who were witnessing this happening to the remaining menfolk of their tribe. These were not just anonymous unknown people for whom they had no personal attachment. These were lovers, potential husbands, friends, brothers, cousins, etc. The tribe was like a large extended family. They all had some personal connection or relationship with each of the victims. As though it weren’t enough to see most of their families slaughtered in the morning’s fighting, they were now having to watch as the remaining hope of their little village, the husbands, defenders, and providers of the next generation, being cut like cattle. Alrac looked on in horror as his male relatives and friends were gelded one by one. Most of these boys would have soon been initiated as warriors in his tribe; brave and strong. Now he had to watch them kick and squeal like girls as each one, in turn, lost his manhood. Even Dregough, the toughest boy in the village, shrieked and squealed just like the rest when his time came. After being castrated the boys slumped to the ground and bawled and wailed with a mournful tone of hopelessness and regret that Alrac had never heard before, or even realized was possible. The spectacle was increasing the sense of horror felt by the boys awaiting castration. Some of them broke down and began to cry like little children. This, coupled with the wailing and begging from the female captives was making great sport for the Romans. By late that afternoon, practically all the young boys, about three dozen in all, had been castrated. Now only Alrac, Bangar, and two others remained. It was then that Alrac was sure that the Gods, in the ironic way in which Gods always seem to work, intervened and saved his manhood. The Roman soldiers looked at Alrac, grinning cruelly with that “next” look in their eyes. Suddenly, a loud shout, like a battle cry, was heard in the forest just north of the village. Then there was another shout, then another, and another. Soon a chorus of wild battle cries filled the air and hundreds of barbarian warriors clad in skins and brandishing swords and spears began descending on the village (or the remains of it) with a wild fury. The Romans, caught completely by surprise, frantically tried to reorganize their ranks to face the onslaught. Soon the battle raged all about him. Swords clanged against swords and shields, and cries of the wounded and dying, filled the air. Alrac, bound in his chains, could only stand helplessly and watch. He recognized the barbarian warriors though. They were Vulgans, a rival tribe to the north. They had fought many skirmishes with his own tribe. In fact, Alrac’s grandmother had been a Vulgan. Captured as a young girl in a raid, his grandfather had taken her to wife. Though fierce, the battle was short-lived. The Romans greatly outnumbered the Vulgans who soon retreated back into the forest from whence they came. However, the Romans, who had suffered almost no casualties when fighting with Alrac’s tribe, had taken a beating in the Vulgan onslaught. There were over two dozen dead and many more wounded. Only four Vulgan bodies were left on the battlefield. This was the kind of fighting Alrac had expected to see that morning; sword to sword; warrior to warrior in individual combat. This was what the barbarians were best at. But give the Romans enough time to plan and organize and they were impossible to defeat. Alrac felt sure that the Vulgans had not known about the Romans occupying their village, and had not come to help. The Vulgans were on a raid of their own against Alrac’s tribe. They were as surprised to see the Romans as the Romans were to see them. Yes, it was the intervention of the Gods. Needless to say, this attack was enough to take the Romans’ focus off the castration of prisoners for a while. A perimeter was hastily set up, outlined by torches, and a vigil was kept all through the night. The Vulgans never returned, but the Romans never knew when they might be attacked by this new menace. The next morning, the Romans formed a caravan, and with their captives, started the long march back to the civilized world. Alrac, Bangar, and those able to walk were led in chains. The newly-made eunuchs who were recovering from their operations were allowed to ride in wagons until they were able to walk. A few died, but most survived. At various cities and intermediate destinations slaves were sold, traded, and mingled with other slaves from all over the known world. Beautiful Galena was one of the first to be sold, and Alrac wept as he watched her being led away. Finally, Bangar was the only person left from Alrac’s old village. They had been put to hard labor in fields of a great latifundia, but they still had their manhood and they had each other. At daybreak, after being fed a small ration of gruel, the slaves prepared, as usual, to march to the fields. Some new men were present, however, dressed in finer garments than the guards, and were talking to their captain. Soon the guards selected Alrac, Bangar, and six other boys about their age from the group. The other slaves were all older and were marched on to the fields as soon as the boys were segregated from the group. Alrac and Bangar looked at each other with an expression of apprehension, but they dared not speak. They had seen slaves whipped for speaking without permission and had heard of them having their tongues cut out for such a transgression. A couple of guards and the well-dressed men motioned to them and accompanied them to the master’s villa which sat atop a hill on the latifundia. Alrac and Bangor knew something was up, and when you’re a slave, that usually doesn’t mean something good. Whispering in their bed of straw at night, Alrac and Bangar had speculated on their fate. They decided that since the Romans had left their genitals intact for some months, coupled with the fact that few of the other slaves had been cut (it wasn’t something that was done to everyone), they could quit worrying too much about being gelded. The thing that concerned them most now was being sold - to separate masters. As the path crested the hill going toward the villa, Alrac could see the sea a short distance to the west. He remembered how terrified he had been when he first saw it (and how sick he had become the first time he was on a galley). He thought he had come to the end of the world. The land just disappeared and water went on forever. Then he learned that the Romans glided on the surface of that water with the same unchallenged dominion as they marched over the land. The sea was just an avenue to still further lands and possessions under the dominion of Rome. It was strange, but now he thought the sea was rather beautiful. Once inside the stucco walls of the courtyard garden, the slaves knelt before the master and his family. Alrac had learned enough Latin in the past few months to be able to pick up on a lot of what was said in conversations around him. Even though this was the language of the people who had killed his mother and father, and wiped out his entire tribe he desperately wanted to learn it. The only person in the whole world who now spoke his own language was Bangar. Other slaves all spoke their own tribal languages and the only language that could be used to talk to everyone was Latin. The master of the house was Parvius, who along with his wife, Sophenna, and a small entourage of servants and employees, stood before the young slave boys looking them over. Parvius seemed contented, almost to the point of amusement. He said something to his wife, then sauntered off, accompanied by the well-dressed men and several attendants. Two of the attendants were young women and Alrac had learned enough about Roman culture to suspect that these were concubines. Prominent Roman women would often tolerate this situation rather well as long as her husband’s lovers didn’t challenge her position as mistress of the household. Slave women posed no threat at all in this respect. Alrac wondered how many of the male attendants were actually eunuchs. It was hard to tell even though he watched carefully for clues. Sophenna was a very attractive and elegant woman with a jovial personality. Flanked by four male attendants and three young women, she motioned for the slaves to stand. In a laughing voice she told the male attendants that the boys were filthy and would have to be bathed. This made the young girls giggle. Alrac noticed that these girls were no older than himself, maybe even younger by a year of two. He could tell by her dress and mannerism that one of the girls held a high station and the other two were likely her attendants. Perhaps she was the daughter of Parvius and Sophenna? At any rate, this was the first time since his capture that he had looked at a girl and thought about how cute she was. This made him blush and he looked around quickly at Bangar as though to ask if he was thinking the same thing. Bangar was smiling at him with a smile that confirmed his suspicions. They grinned in secret communication with each other. The four male attendants escorted the boys to the baths. Once there, the boys were ordered to strip and the four male attendants stripped also. This removed all doubt as to whether the men were actually eunuchs - they were! But most shocking of all to Alrac, was that two of them had lost not only their testicles, but their penises as well! Their names were Krabo and Falicus. Alrac wanted badly to ask them how and why this had been done. Alrac held back partly because of embarrassment and partly because his knowledge of Latin was still too limited to converse articulately. Over the next few weeks the boys worked at the manor, caring for the grounds and decorative gardens. They trimmed shrubbery and hedges, polished marble floors, and performed other menial tasks. Part of each day, however, was spent learning etiquette and protocol necessary for being an attendant at the masters house, which of course included lessons in Latin. They worked hard, but compared to the work in the fields it was not hard at all. They were given breaks and provided plenty of water and fruit juice. They took their meals with the servants and other members of the household staff. The food was a far cry from the gruel given to the field slaves. Alrac and Bangar tasted meat for the first time in over five months. At the end of each day the boys were instructed to bathe themselves, but they no longer required the assistance of the attendants. After bathing and supping with the staff they would go to the sleeping quarters which were not elaborate, but very adequate. The floor was cobblestone and there were large, thick straw mats for sleeping. It was also much cooler atop the hill at the manor. As the boys worked, it became obvious to Alrac that they were being watched by the girl they had learned was indeed the daughter of Parvius and Sophenna. Her name was Sissi. Sometimes she would stand up on an overlooking balcony when the boys were working. At other times she would stand in the shade at the edge of the garden and watch. Sometimes she would be accompanied by her young attendants, Tika and Messilina, and sometimes she would be alone. It wasn’t as though she were spying; she never tried to hide her presence. Sissi was just observing. Alrac and Bangar never discussed this with the other boys. They didn’t know if they had even noticed. But they whispered about it to each other in the sleeping quarters. They whispered about it in their own private, secret language; the language of their extinct tribe. They wondered if Sissy possibly desired them, and wondered what she would be like. They also reminded themselves that they were still only slaves and slaves didn’t do things like that with the master’s family - and live. They were so grateful that their manhood had been spared on that fateful day when the Vulgans attacked just in the nick of time. Alrac thought of how wonderful it was to have felt that flush of joy and excitement when Sissy and her beautiful attendants had stood before them that first day in the courtyard, and the warm tingle it gave him knowing that her eyes might be on him as he worked. Yes, manhood was a wonderful thing. It was a thing taken for granted in his old country, where only a rare freak accident would produce a eunuch. But here, in civilized Rome, where the splendor of the wealthy stood always in dramatic contrast to the squalor of the slaves, it was something that could be all too easily lost. Eunuchs here were an integral part of the social structure. He would be forever grateful to the Gods for their precious gift. One morning after a delightful breakfast of fruits and delicate cakes the boys were about to resume their duties at the manor. They had been there several weeks now and generally knew what to do without having to be told. However, this morning the staff instructed them to line up in the courtyard. Complying obediently, they formed a line and quickly knelt in a gesture of submission as the master and mistress of the manor came out to review them. Sophenna was standing with three ladies in waiting and the four eunuchs. Parvius was with three other men (eunuchs too, for all Alrac knew) and his two pretty concubines. The two groups parted slightly, allowing Sissi and her two young female attendants, Tika and Messilina, to pass through and review the boys. Sissi motioned for them to stand and they promptly complied. Sissi and her two companions were wearing dresses made from sheer silky fabric that allowed the soft tender flesh of their young legs to show through seductively. Sissi carried herself with a certain composure and aloofness that was required of her station in society, but her smile and expression belied her sensuous warmth and youthful innocence. Her young body was literally pulsing with enthusiasm and erotic sensuality. Alrac felt himself becoming hard as she passed in front of him. Sissi concentrated hard to maintain her aristocratic countenance as she glanced back and forth at her attendants (girlfriends). They whispered in each others ears and Tika giggled. Messilina put her hand in front of her mouth to squelch a giggle and Sissi took a deep breath and composed herself once more. She whispered in the ears of her companions once more and Tika nodded approval. Messilina just shrugged and giggled. Sissi strutted before the boys once more in all her youthful beauty and aristocratic elegance. Pointing a finger and using a Latin phrase that Alrac understood perfectly she said, “I choose him and him.” Alrac was both relieved and apprehensive. Sissi had chosen he and Bangar together. But chosen them for what? Parvius and Sophenna both looked at each other and smiled approvingly. Parvius then gave a sign with his hand and some guards came forward; guards who had crept quietly into the courtyard, unseen, while the boys’ attention had been riveted on Sissi and her beautiful attendants. Alrac and Bangar were instructed to step forward while the guards escorted the other boys out of the courtyard and onto the path leading back to the quarters of the field slaves. The boys marched out obediently, in dejected silence. “You must come with us,” Krabo instructed, motioning to Alrac and Bangar. As Alrac and Bangar followed the eunuchs out of the courtyard, Alrac turned to look at Sissi who was smiling contentedly. When their eyes met, Sissi’s smile left her face and she gave him a look, that without words, said all too plainly, “I’m so sorry, but this must be.” Alrac now had a good idea what was in store for he and Bangar. The eunuchs led Alrac and Bangar into a chamber that was not unlike a bed chamber. It contained two beds and perhaps it had been prepared for just this occasion. The eunuchs explained to the boys that it was a great honor to have been chosen as Sissi’s personal bed chamber eunuchs. Krabo explained that he and Falicus had been chosen as Sophenna’s personal eunuchs when they were about the same age as Alrac and Bangar. And yes, that is why they had their penises removed as well as their testicles. This was the tradition for bed chamber eunuchs. He assured the boys that a much better life was in store for them than the fate of those other poor wretches that were marched back to the fields this morning. Although resigned to their fate, the two boys were shaking and almost crying. Then unexpectedly, Sophenna entered the room. She smiled broadly and sympathetically while gently placing a consoling hand on the head of each of the sniveling, sobbing youths. “There, there, my little men,” she said. “I understand why you are frightened, but you are about to enter a more wonderful life than you could ever have imagined. You are to become the personal eunuch attendants of my daughter, Sissi. “You will feel anguish at your loss of manhood at first, but you will soon realize that it was such a small price to pay.” Sophenna continued running her fingers through the boys’ hair and wiping away the tears that had begun to trickle down their cheeks. Sophenna had removed her outer garment and was clad in a dress much like the one Sissi and the other girls had worn in the courtyard this morning. It was made from that same sheer, silky material that allowed her shapely legs to show through quite plainly. The boys couldn’t help but notice that Sophenna was quite beautiful. She looked very much like a more mature Sissi. In spite of the traumatic event that was shortly awaiting them, they felt themselves becoming hard underneath their tunics. “I chose Krabo and Falicus as my own personal eunuchs when I was but twelve years of age,” Sophenna continued. “They can tell you, perhaps better than I, how it is to be a woman’s personal eunuch. It is more intimate than to simply be a husband or a lover, yet it is quite different than being a friend or a brother. There is a closeness and a bond between a mistress and her eunuchs that is like nothing else. It is the most intimate of all bonds.” Sophenna now had her arms around both boys and was holding them closely, their heads pressed firmly against Sophenna’s voluptuous breasts. She smiled at them with knowing amusement when she felt their erections pressing against her legs. “Yes, my little dears, you will soon make a very small sacrifice that will allow me to present you to my daughter, Sissi, as her personal eunuchs. Along with Tika and Messilina, you will become the most intimate of little families, and you will come to realize how lucky you were to have been chosen by Sissi. “Oh yes, Sissi will take a husband some day, as I did my Parvius. You will help prepare her nuptial bed and perhaps witness her deflowering. But in time you will see the that the relationship between eunuch and mistress is stronger than that between husband and wife, which is, after all, more of a legal matter. Parvius and I get along quite well; he with his concubines, and me with my eunuchs.” Sophenna hugged both boys tightly and kissed each of them on the forehead before releasing them and stepping back. “Quickly now,” she said, “off with your clothes. It is time.” The boys were hesitant and awkwardly tugged on their tunics. “Come on now,” Sophenna chuckled, as she moved in and assisted them, “don’t be bashful.” Soon the Alrac and Bangar were standing before Sophenna and the eunuchs, stark naked. They both had firm erections pointing forward and slightly upward. The eunuchs were smiling at the boys with simple amusement and not a hint of envy in their expressions. Sophenna literally gasped with erotic excitement on seeing the boys’ firm erections. She pulled the boys back toward her then reached down and began to gently fondle their genitals. She delicately played her fingers up and down their erect shafts and squeezed and kneaded their ripe testicles. “Oh, my beautiful, beautiful boys,” she gasped sensuously. “It almost seems like a shame that we must do this. Oh yes, such a shame, such a shame!” Krabo and Falicus were assembling the castration instruments on a nearby table, while one of the other eunuchs fetched a clay jug containing wine. “We must first get you boys drunk,” he said. “Very drunk. Trust me, you will hardly feel anything.” Alrac and Bangar were both clinging to Sophenna as she fondled and massaged their genitals. They were drooling precum while tears were running down their faces. Suddenly Sophenna broke loose from their embrace and stepped back. “Wait!” she said, addressing the eunuchs, “As mistress of the house it is my prerogative to take my pleasure with any new eunuch-to-be just before he is snipped. We will postpone the boys’ surgery until tomorrow morning. For the rest of the day and tonight, Alrac and Bangar will be my personal guests in my bed chamber. The boys fell to their knees in worshipful gratitude. Sophenna embraced them as they knelt, sobbing and kissing her beautiful legs through the sheer gossamer fabric of her dress. THE END Farrell Squire Copyright 1999