May I take a moment to introduce myself. I am Antonious and I am 22 years of age. I am standing on a hill on the Island of Capri watching a trireme slowly making its way towards this island. My job here is to protect the man whose hand currently is caressing my testicles. Than man is the centre of the Universe and the most powerful man alive - Gaius Octavian Caesar- the master of the world.
I came to this position via the traditional route of the army. Born of noble blood, I chose the army of Rome as a natural means of avoiding my lack of interest in politics or commerce. And the army has been good to me and provided the opportunity to visit the ends of the Empire and to realise my special skills. From Gaul to Greece, service in the name of Caesar taught me the ways of the world and happenstance brought me to the attention of Caesar himself. From my legion I was ordered at age twenty to join the Praetorian Guard and to keep myself at Caesar's side.
Two years on, and any number of real or imagined assassins now dead, Caesar has come to rely upon my protection.
Now this path has not been without cost nor indeed compromise but the end has justified the means by which I traveled here.
Yonder stands the immense black Nubian, Zoticus, Octavian's principal torturer. I suspect that he can read my mind for he smirks as if he knows my secrets. Possibly he hopes to find out the truth some day so that Caesar might indeed pass me to Zoticus to have my furrow ploughed by the obscenely massive weapon which is the Nubian's main instrument of torture.
But Zoticus may suspect but I doubt that he could ever prove that the men whom I have put to death for threatening the life of the Divine Caesar were perhaps not guilty at all. To me, it matters not for surely each had thought, no matter how briefly, how it might feel to have the power of Caesar, to be in his position, and such thoughts are clearly treason. I care not that they might have only had idle thoughts, dreams perhaps, but treason is treason no matter what form it takes.
Take Marcellus for example. There was a man who possessed everything - a sweet face, a wonderful body, the right connections in the corridors of power and an arse in which Caesar reveled. Marcellus would now be commander of the guard, standing in my place, had I not heard him make the statement - "if I were Caesar....". Was I not duty bound to advise Caesar of this statement? Was it also not my duty to express concern at Marcellus' political lineage and the fact that his great Uncle had conspired against the Divine Julius? The judgement had been Caesar's, not mine. And who could think ill of me that Octavian decided that Marcellus should be impaled following his lashing by the entire company of the Guard? I might have displayed the cause of this outcome to Caesar, but it was Caesar who decided the outcome.
There have been many such people who have had to be dispatched in order that Caesar might be safe and my career and position secured. No matter, there are many where they came from. Indeed, the trireme brings to us not only slaves but one Gaius Cetellus, whom my sources state uttered a curse against Caesar for having seized some property in forfeiture of taxes which had gone unpaid.
Zoticus and I are both looking forward to young Gaius' judgement by Caesar. But more of that later when he arrives.
Let us begin at the beginning or at least near to it, for the early years of my life were quite unremarkable.
My schooling in Rome was undertaken within the confines of the establishment which had been established by the Divine Julius prior to his assassination. I was not a good student but excelled at games and was playful by nature. Our teachers were perhaps only doing their duty as they ordered us to remove out tunics and to bend to receive the lashings of their switches and whips, but I resented their authority. Discipline, they maintained, was what had created the Empire and they maintained it with all the ferocity of the Legions who commanded the countryside.
So when the complexities of language or mathematics were presented to me, I almost invariably finished up with a sore posterior. For being lazy, for being inattentive, for simply not understanding, those teachers found that the way to instill knowledge in me was through my rear rather than my brain.
"Antonious," they would declare, "time for some special tutoring I fear."
Knowing full well what was in store, I would stride to the front of the class and expose my rear for all the world to see and then await the whistle of the rod through the air and the explosion of pain in my backside. Sometimes five strokes would be administered, but as I grew older the number was generally increased to ten - enough to make one need to stand for eating and to lie upon one's stomach for sleeping.
My friends and I, of whom there were many, would compare the effects of our beatings but, for some reason, my backside always seemed to be in a poorer condition than the others.
Now do not think that I spent my whole life at school with my posterior on display to receive a beating. Indeed, as manhood approached, it was perhaps more often that it was unclad for reasons more pertaining to _s_e_x_ual pursuits than for discipline. As boys would, we explored the _s_e_x_ual world as often as possible and none thought ill of us for this. Indeed, Julius himself had slept with his men during the conquest of Gaul and if that was good enough for a god, it was certainly not unacceptable in youth. But I digress.
From my early years as a youth, my father took me to observe the workings of Government but I displayed little aptitude for such matters. I preferred to use my good looks and lanky body to tease the soldiers who were on guard and would try to encourage them to be inattentive to their duties. My father, when he caught me at this game, would take me home and have his head slave beat me with a whip for behaving so outrageously in the heart of the Government of Rome.
When my true aptitude emerged it was apparent to all that I should be a fighter, a soldier in one of the great Roman Legions. If the truth were known, I think most of my immediate family was happy to see the back of me for I yearned to travel and to fight and found the comfortable life of Rome a bore.
In Greece, in command of a cohort, I took advantage of my position and noble birth to learn the practical skills of politics and developed an immense capacity for intrigue. I learned also the wonders of power and the unlimited varieties of _s_e_x_ual gratification which one could have with members of either _s_e_x_. My preference for men and boys grew stronger in that brief period and, on more than one occasion, provided my body to another's pleasure to ensure my rapid promotion.
The first of these men was Agrippa who was Governor of the East at the time. He reported everything to Caesar and indeed drove Caesar to distraction with his accounting of the minutest details. When the Governor found myself firmly planted in the somewhat, but not entirely, unwilling arse of one of Athens' finest young men, I knew my duty. I groveled at Agrippa's feet and begged him to punish me himself rather than advise Caesar of my ill-advised _s_e_x_ual conquest.
Knowing that I would one day be a potential ally in Rome, Agrippa agreed to my submission and had me removed to a pavilion below the palace walls where, in privacy, he would undertake my well-deserved punishment.
Naked and tied by hand and feet to two pillars, I had waited, trembling, for Agrippa's arrival. Only two slaves who took great delight in running their hands over my body and muttering about the punishments to come witnessed my fear. Although my sense of pleasure in delivering pain to others had yet to be developed fully, I found that being in a position of absolute powerlessness to be somewhat erotic. The slaves took full advantage of the obvious signs of my excitement, manipulating me to the very edge of ecstasy and then leaving me in that unsatisfied condition.
When Agrippa finally arrived and seated himself in front of me, I was at a point of unbelievable _s_e_x_ual frustration. Agrippa told me about the relationship between pain and pleasure and began my punishment with pain. The two slaves took up light whips which had many thongs and gently tenderised every inch of my body. Initially concentrating on the chest and back, they gradually progressed to my arse and arms and then my thighs. The pain derived, not from the force of the blows but rather from their number and from their slow progression. By the time the slaves stopped, I was both immensely erect and writhing in pain.
Thinking that my punishment had stopped, I opened my eyes which I had clenched shut from pain, only to see Agrippa hand one of the slaves a length of thin hide with which my _c_o_c_k_ and balls were firmly tied. Then the whips returned to play their evil game with my entrapped organs and the space between my inner thighs. This was the true punishment for the pain was greater than any I had known and soon I was writhing and struggling as one is prone to do in such circumstances.
Finally, the beating ended and my hands were lowered but not released and I sank to my knees, exhausted.
Agrippa then advised me that their remained a portion of my punishment still to go and as I looked up through tear-swollen eyes, I saw the two slaves disrobing. Both were in a state of _s_e_x_ual arousal. At first I resisted their attempts to thrust their organs into my mouth but when Agrippa advised that this was the only lubrication I would have when they entered my other orifice, I relented. Agrippa prepared himself with a lotion of some sort as I did my best to make the entry of the two slaves as least painful as possible.
One of the slaves was of moderate dimensions and it was he who had first entry to my body. The second was larger but not as large as Agrippa. The first made me wince and the second brought tears to me eyes as he entered. But it was Agrippa who tore the skin of my nether hole and penetrated further than either of the others. My only relief came as the slaves, having spent themselves in my body, used their mouths to bring me the relief I had craved for so many hours.
By nightfall, Agrippa judged that my punishment was complete, my having endured a second round of beatings and penetration. Graciously, he advised that the matter which had brought me to this state would not need to be reported to Caesar and that, in due course, he might call upon me to assist him when at Court.
Agrippa decided that, once I was able to ride, my men and I should proceed to Gaul where the battles to control the rebellious population continued unabated. During the three days it took my body to heal, Agrippa attended to my education. He found in me a willing pupil who listened intently to his pronouncements on the ways in which to assert authority for the pleasure of Caesar. He instructed me about the value of taking slaves to Rome and the need to select the prettiest ones for Caesar's service. I learned also to make executions as public and as painful as possible so as to instill fear amongst those with a predilection to rebellion. He also took me to his prison where I was able to see the various techniques used to extract information from prisoners and the exact revenge for petty crimes. It was a most valuable experience for which I thanked him most profusely as I prepared to depart for Gaul.
At out parting, Agrippa presented me with a slave so that I might be kept warm in my bed and not have to resort to the company of my own troops on our journey. He unveiled Alexander with great flourish and my eyes feasted on a youth of perhaps no more than six and ten years with dark curly hair, a pretty face and a body which was tantalising in the extreme. The boy had no body hair although he was quite clearly well on the way to manhood and, upon turning about, revealed an arse which just begged for attention. I was speechless both with the boy's beauty and with Agrippa's generosity and I left Athens greatly indebted to my new mentor.
I could barely keep my eyes from the slave and as soon as the sun began to edge towards the horizon, I ordered my men to make camp by the nearest stream and to set up my tent. Alexander bathed as I instructed, and then washed me. He fondled me with a look of concern at the size to which my manhood rose which suggested that he might indeed be unfamiliar in the ways of lovemaking. I would soon enough find that this was the case.
I ate with my men and then retired for the evening. Alexander came with me and, without being instructed, disrobed. Although a slave, I treated the boy as a lover and gently took him with all the passion I possessed. Throughout the journey, each night we shared our bed and it was perhaps those days of travel which were the happiest of my life.
I joined the IXth legion some months later on the banks of the great river which formed the boundary of the Empire and there set about ingratiating myself with General Marcinius who was much in favor with Caesar at the time. He was a handsome man with a vile temper and I found the lessons which Agrippa had taught me regarding the slow and painful interrogation of prisoners of great service to the General. He was delighted as he watched me instruct the soldiers in the steady infliction of pain and humiliation upon the rebellious populace and soon I was dining regularly at his table.
My greatest triumph in the eyes of the General came when we captured an entire village far to the north of our encampment and brought back to the General more than 100 prisoners. I presented our captives to the General as was his right but suggested to him that we might make sport of their plight for the amusement of the otherwise bored army. With Marcinius' blessing, I proceeded to divide the prisoners into family groups and had each confined in a separate area. I then selected the old men and women from each and suggested to Marcinius that they should be used as targets for our archers, with prizes offered for the best marksmen.
Our soldiers immediately wanted to know what the prizes were so I visited each family group and removed from each the youngest children and those best suited for the slave markets of Rome. I then offered as a prize the person of any of the remaining prisoners for any marksman, and his comrades, who could hit the bullseye. Marcinius was intrigued but asked that I be more specific about the targets.
Knowing of Marcinius' thirst for pain, I had the prisoners, some twenty-two in all, stripped naked and tied between the trees at the end of the clearing in which our camp stood. From one hundred paces, I declared, the object which would give rise to a prize was to place an arrow either in the penis of a male prisoner of the love canal of a female. Marcinius applauded my inventiveness and the competition commenced.
From one hundred paces, the targets were indeed small and our archers killed all of the captives before anyone could find one of the targets. Notwithstanding, the practice continued until one man could claim the prize and he duly selected a woman from amongst the captives whom he generously shared amongst his friends.
Marcinius inquired as to my selection of the prisoners for the long trip to the slaves markets. I explained to him that the selection had been made on the basis of age, beauty and strength. This meant that the babies and those who could not possibly be of physical or _s_e_x_ual service were not worth transporting. Marcinius thought on the problem he faced. Although he had a great love of inflicting pain as punishment, Marcinius had no appetite for the meaningless mass slaughter of civilians. I too pondered the problem.
The following morning, I approached the General with a possible solution of which he approved.
I went out to identify the leader of the tribe and brought him to the General. A pact was signed which guaranteed peace and this agreement was pronounced to all of the tribes people who would soon be freed. To demonstrate the consequences of breaking the pact, I then selected a boy and girl from the group who I had rejected for slavery on the basis that they were somewhat malnourished and were unlikely to survive the journey to Rome. The two were set up on the stage upon which entertainment of a different nature was generally provided for the troops. The two were then stripped of their clothing and were bound at opposite end of a table which I had had moved there for the purpose.
I then selected two of the General's guards and gave them each a switch cut from the birch trees. The captives were then advised of the importance of their agreement with the Empire and that what now would befall the two bound captives would be visited upon them ten fold should they break the pact.
At my signal, the two soldiers proceeded to lash the backs and buttocks of the two who pleaded almost from the start for release. After fifty sound strokes had been applied, I signaled the guards to cease and then watched as that lifted their tunics and plowed their engorged members into the fundaments of the two. Both were apparently virgin in this respect at least for their cries of pain soared over the trees and down the valley. I was sure at that moment that each of the onlooking captives knew that they should hold to their agreement.
When the guards had finished their duty, the General allowed the headsman to release them and to take his miserable band off to their village to live in peace.
Marcinius congratulated me on my inventiveness and my diplomatic skills and advised that he would send me with the prisoners back to Rome with a most favourable report to Caesar.
To ensure that we had a sufficiently large number of slaves to warrant the long trip, our troops raided many villages and we repeated the process of intimidation which had proved so successful. By the time we had more than two hundred slaves, Marcinius decided that it was time to take our booty to Rome and I was dispatched with a large guard to report to Caesar.
We arrived in Rome during the spring and Alexander and I took lodgings near the Tiber and had the slaves placed in the care of one of the traders.
Alexander saw to my needs while a messenger was sent to the palace to inform Octavian that I had arrived.
Caesar directed that we should enter the city by the great southern gate the following morning and my men and I made a triumphant side as we marched the salves into the city. Coming down the hill to the Forum I could see Caesar standing on the podium. I halted our company some little distance from the Forum and saluted Gaius Octavian Caesar. I spoke clearly the greeting from the General and added a greeting from Agrippa.
Caesar acknowledged my salute and then welcomed me and my men to the City. He bade me accompany he and his guard to his palace set on the hill above the capital, an order which I more thank willingly obeyed.
Octavian greeted me in the central hall of his palace and directed the guards to leave us alone. Dressed in a simple purple robe, I gazed upon a most handsome man who returned my gaze as if he were stripping me of my clothes as I stood before him. He advised me that he had been informed of my accomplishments and that he would like me to stay within the City and provide instruction to the pupils at the Imperial School which I knew stood in the shadows of the Temple of Vesta. With that instruction, he dismissed me and I made my way back to my men who would now join the Legions which guarded the City.
Within months I had asserted my authority over the School and the pupils and began to develop a reputation for being a tough but fair task master and this brought me to the attention of many of Caesar's friends. Most of the boys at the School were typically high strung and excitable and many were the opportunities to thrash a backside or two. Even Caesar's son did not escape. Indeed, with Gaius Germanicus I took certain liberties which no one knows about.
It was after punishing Germanicus that Caesar invited me to the palace for one evening meal. I though the young boy must have informed his father what had happened but that was not the case.
Octavian never dined alone and there was a considerable company of men and women at the meal. Octavian was married at the time but was also having a relationship with the Lady Livia and with the eldest son of one of the Senators. It was well known that Caesar used women for procreation and boys and young men for recreation.
After a very fine meal, at which I had consumed a fair amount of wine, I went out into one of the palace courtyards to relieve the pressure in my bladder. I thought I was alone until I was startled by a hand reaching for my streaming _c_o_c_k_. I was so shocked that I swung around and sprayed some of the liquid onto the bottom of Octavian's robe and his sandals. He laughed as he swung me away from him so that I might finish what I had started and then led me to his chamber where he made me wash his feet while he disrobed.
I knew what to expect and was not at all surprised when Octavian directed me to remove my robe. He complemented me on my good looks and my physique as he fondled my genitals and my backside. As we stood face to face, our chests touching lightly he suddenly thrust two fingers into me and kissed me at the same time. He broke off the kiss and laughed at my startled expression and informed me that his spies had indicated that I was both disposed to discipline and to Greek love. It was then that Caesar informed me that he thought we might have similar tastes and that he would see to it that I joined the Praetorian Guard so that I might be available when such matters arose.
That night Caesar mounted me with a viciousness which seemed aligned with his great power and, although not a virgin, I would have half excepted my cries of pain to bring the pillars of the palace crumbling down.
Within days I was almost constantly at Caesar's side and it was through that association that I was able to advise him of the endless conspiracies through which I achieved my current position and Caesar accumulated his vast fortune.
I can smile now at my path to power but I have taken some liberties which hopefully will not catch up with me. Having mounted Germanicus only a couple of weeks ago after a rather brutal punishment might not have been a sound idea, but know one knows of that and Germanicus is abed in Rome so is in no position to inform his father.
When I think of it, I have been fortunate in that I serve Caesar and still supervise sword and javelin practice at the Imperial School. Caesar had enjoyed watching many a beating from the spy hole set in the wall of the room where I conduct such punishments and has had Zoticus' mouth providing him pleasure as he watched.
Together we have beaten, flogged and ravished any number of boys and young men and it has forged what I hope is a lasting bond between Octavian and myself.
I must pay attention and stop reminiscing for the trireme is now almost at the beach and Caesar will want to discuss what he wants done with young Gaius Cetellus.