Zelamir

adapted by Pueros

The Traitor's Son

Chapters 23-31

Chapter XXIII

Marius' slumber was eventually interrupted when Scyrax decided that he could not delay his usual midday meeting with his secretary for long. In Roman society, the holder of such a position was always masculine and often a slave. The fat man's household was not an exception and, in fact, possessed no feminine staff at all.

Scyrax disliked females. His only liking was for young and pretty males, in respect of whom, as well as enjoying sexually, he also derived immense pleasure from occasionally hurting, either emotionally or physically.

There was one notable exception to Scyrax's love/hate relationship with young and pretty males. There was a highly attractive homosexual youth of patrician background, whom he adored and was infatuated with. The fat man would never want to harm a hair on the boy's lovely head and, in fact, would instead do virtually anything to make him happy.

Unfortunately, the youth's highly attractive looks were not matched by his character. He was a hateful sadist, who especially relished in seeing other boys suffer, particularly if he was the cause of their pain.

The youth did not even like Scyrax. However, he kept this emotion well hidden because the fat man, in return for his company and occasional sex, which the boy deliberately teasingly rationed to help boost his obese paramour's clear obsession, provided him with money and entertainment.

The youth needed the money because his family, despite being of patrician status, had fallen on hard times as a result of unwise investments. His sadistic homosexual tastes were also well served by Scyrax's trade in buying and selling particularly beautiful slaveboys.

Most of this boy merchandise was only in Scyrax's ownership briefly. However, the youth rather liked such a turnover, as there were always fresh gorgeous young bodies to play with, humiliate and hurt, although he did not just restrict himself to the fat man's newest purchases, as Dictys had regularly discovered to his cost.

The youth visited Scyrax's home virtually daily, usually to dine in the evening, when he would pick up his pocket-money and be entertained by some of the fat man's boys. Unfortunately for Marius, the young patrician was to adopt a particularly sadistic affection for the merchant's latest exceptionally beautiful purchase.

Perhaps fortunately for Marius' current damaged emotions, the boy remained unaware of the youth's existence and nature when he was now awoken, still in Scyrax's lap, after the fat merchant began to address his secretary, whom he had finally summoned. The assistant was a plump young man named Felix, whose soft chubby face and high voice betrayed his emasculated condition.

The bulk of Scyrax's adult staff were eunuchs, who would, by virtue of having no balls, be no sexual danger to the beautiful boys in whom he traded. The fat man wanted to restrict any molestation of their gorgeous forms whilst present in his home to himself and his beloved young patrician, and even they generally allowed the rare virgins to retain their purity because of the substantially increased auction value such an unusual but prized attribute earned.

The secretary made his report. He subsequently took notes of his master's instructions and introduced visitors, who had been waiting patiently in the atrium for an audience with their wealthy patron. The clients included military officers and government bureaucrats on their way to accept or return to positions in the provinces. Once there, they would seek to boost their state income by lucratively trading in human flesh.

Also seeking an audience with Scyrax was a particularly disreputable ship's captain. He often resorted to piracy and kidnap in order to secure required goods.

Marius, still sitting naked in Scyrax's lap, was witness to all of these audiences and was amazed at the extent of the fat man's contacts and his consequent reach in terms of the territories from which he secured boys. Meanwhile, as the intrigued 11 year-old watched and listened quietly, he was ogled by the visitors, all of whose expressions appeared to indicate that they liked what they were viewing.

Marius now made no effort to cover his cute genitals from the sight of the visitors, as he did not want his knuckles rapped again. However, avoidance of the rather natural instinct to hide his shame was not helped when his little cock perversely reacted to the ogling by becoming hard and maintaining its humiliating rigidity until after the last client had gone, helped to do so by occasional resumed fondling by Scyrax.

When the final visitor had left after several hours of meetings and the penultimate secretarial report had been considered, Scyrax turned his attention to domestic matters. However, even here, private and business interests overlapped, as his own household served as a training ground for his choice merchandise before they were sent to take their turn on the auction block.

In reaction to an instruction from Scyrax, the secretary consulted a fresh clay tablet, whilst an eager smirk formed on his plump face, as what was imminent was the part of the daily routine that he most enjoyed. Being a eunuch, he envied and hated the beautiful boys that formed the bulk of his master's household, especially their still whole genitalia. He, like most of the other adult gelded servants, therefore enjoyed seeing them suffer and hoped that most were eventually castrated after finally being auctioned.

"You seem to have a full list, Felix," Scyrax remarked. He did not sound as if he was displeased with the fact.

"A very full list, Sir," affirmed Felix in his high effeminate voice. The secretary subsequently giggled excitedly.

As Scyrax and Felix spoke, the four adult servants, who were all eunuchs and had earlier brought and subsequently taken away the bath, reappeared, this time carrying buckets of fine sand, which they began to spread evenly over the marble paving stones of the courtyard. After they had finished and departed, a great gong sounded deep in the house, followed by the noise of many lightly scampering bare feet.

Boys of varying ages subsequently began to file into the large courtyard. The youngest were attired only in minuscule thongs, whilst those in the middle age range sported tiny loincloths and the oldest were covered by the briefest of tunics. All of the garments were white and tight, and all of wearers were exceptionally beautiful.

As each boy entered the courtyard, they knelt briefly before Scyrax and pressed their lips to a small round golden plaque imbedded in the marble paving stone immediately in front of his couch, from where the bath had earlier been removed whilst Marius dozed. An erect phallus was engraved into the precious metal.

The boys subsequently scuttled off to take their place in the swelling ranks of their fellows, sitting cross-legged at a respectful distance from where their master sat on his couch. The fat man happily observed the scene, with a grin playing on his lips, whilst the smirking Felix stood beside him, with his eyes glinting in excited anticipation. However, there were no smiles on the faces of the gathering young males, who, as their owner had advised Crastus earlier, amounted to about forty in number.

The adult servants again reappeared and on this occasion pulled forward a low wooden bench and set it on the sanded floor before stepping aside to watch the fun from the edges of the courtyard. Dictys, who had been allowed to redress and leave whilst Marius was dozing, also arrived, carrying a great pot in which about a dozen canes were sinisterly soaking in brine.

Dictys placed the pot at one side of the bench. The youth subsequently knelt and kissed the ground in front of Scyrax too before taking up position adjacent to the container that he had brought.

The gigantic black African servant, who was also a eunuch, albeit one who, unlike the others in the household, did not exhibit any effeminacy but rather the opposite, next strode in, with a heavy whip clasped in his right hand. As he bowed to Scyrax, a susurration of in-drawn breath, representing an involuntary murmur of terror, rose from the huddled crowd of boys.

Scyrax waited momentarily until complete silence, apart from the tinkling waters of the fountains in the courtyard, had finally descended before speaking. "First," the fat man then announced, "we have a new addition to our family!"

Scyrax spoke hardly above a whisper. However, the acoustics of the courtyard were good and his every word could be clearly heard by all.

"He is called Mariullus," Scyrax advised, whilst picking the boy in his lap up and standing him on the floor. "He will live in this house," the fat man added, "and serve here until he is ready to be sold."

Marius immediately blushed but not because of what Scyrax had just said. The boy was instead very embarrassed to be the only person present who was completely naked. However, recalling the fat man's earlier instructions and the painful rap of the rod on his knuckles, he made no effort to hide his exposed genitals, to where tingling sensations now returned. The 11 year-old associated this phenomenon with the fact that many of the spectators of all ages were clearly ogling his nude body with apparent interest and even admiration.

"Dictys, take Mariullus and show him where to sit amongst his fellows," Scyrax subsequently commanded. The youth obediently stepped forward and, taking the naked child gently by the hand, led him over to the front rank of boys.

Marius, still weary, stumbled after him. The boys in the front rank then shuffled sideways and made just enough room for him to sit cross-legged amongst them.

Scyrax waited until Marius was settled and Dictys had returned to his post before he spoke again. The fat man subsequently addressed his young audience with continued quietness. However, there was now a more menacing tone to his voice.

"I speak of us as a family," Scyrax declared in his usual preamble to this daily ritual, which everyone present except Marius had heard before, "and you as my children because that is what we are. While you live here, I am your father, for you have no other in this world."

"As your father," Scyrax continued, "I look after you and part of the care that I afford you sadly has to be to chastise you whenever you are bad. Disobeying a parent's instructions and rules is naughty and, in respect of me, is doubly so because I am your master too."

"I, out of the goodness of my heart have bought you at great expense," Scyrax preached on, "and taken you into my household to serve me and prepare you for resale but too often my kindness is met with insolent ingratitude. Instead of working hard to please me, you are often lazy and disobedient. However, as is the way with a good father, I do not disown you at once for such attitudes but attempt instead to correct your faults and teach you the error of your ways."

"I can see that Felix has a tablet full of names of boys," Scyrax informed, "who have failed me since this time yesterday. This situation greatly saddens me because all of you are fortunate. You are lucky to be in the ownership of so kind a master as I. Those of you destined for the slave market should be especially grateful to be trained in my household for you will realise a good price at auction and therefore be valued by your purchasers. However, some of you are still lazy or disobedient. Such brats should remember that my patience is not unlimited. If I find any one of you so sunk in indolence and mischief that you will never profit from my efforts to improve him, then he will be sent away to be sold but not to decent people."

"Such idle and unruly brats," Scyrax rambled on, "don't deserve good homes. I shall instead ensure that they are sold to labour in fields, quarries or mines, and so be condemned to a living death of constant hard toil!"

Scyrax paused again to allow the full ominous weight of the threatening words of his usual sermon to be felt. The fat man was happy to observe that all of the normally extremely beautiful faces in his young audience bore suitably miserable expressions.

Some of the youngest boys were already quietly snivelling in anticipation of what they knew was now to come. Scyrax initiated these proceedings by again heaving himself up from his couch.

Knowing that every movement of his was watched with dread by his youthful audience, Scyrax subsequently walked slowly across to where Dictys had placed the pot containing the canes beside the punishment bench. The fat man then selected one of the sinister implements and lifted it out of the container.

Scyrax deliberately weighed the cane in his hand and menacingly swung it experimentally, making the supple rod sing in the air. A shudder ran through the rows of boys.

"Felix, who is the first offender?" Scyrax next asked in the mildest and quietest of voices. "Sulis, Sir," the secretary joyously answered.

"Sulis, come here," Scyrax therefore growled. A nicely round-bottomed 10 year-old boy, wearing only a minuscule white thong, immediately rose from the front rank of young slaves and stumbled reluctantly forward.

Sulis moved stiffly. His arms and legs, indeed his whole body, appeared to have lost co-ordination.

Sulis' normally very pretty face was also twisted in such a grotesque expression of misery and terror that Scyrax almost laughed out loud, whilst a flash of white crossed the black African's dark face as he revealed his teeth in a broad grin. The boy eventually respectfully dropped to his knees before his master and dutifully pressed his lips to the golden plaque, simultaneously elevating his curvaceous bare bottom invitingly in the air

"Felix, tell me what has this brat been up to," Scyrax next enquired, whilst looking down at the boy at his feet and with his voice shaking with hardly suppressed amusement. "He showed a lack of respect to the household gods," the secretary announced, "and the images of the Divine Emperors Augustus and Tiberius, Sir, by not bowing to their effigies when he passed their sanctuary."

"Failed to make obeisance to the household gods and our beloved divine Emperors," Scyrax squeaked in feigned disgust, "but that's both impiety and treachery. Does the profane brat not know that our mutual prosperity depends on a proper respectful observance of all rites?"

"He must know Sir," Felix replied. "However," he cruelly falsely added, "it would seem that he does not care!"

"Well," Scyrax responded, "we'll have to make him care. However, I am a fair man and before I flog a boy I always give him an opportunity to tell his version of events. Well, Sulis, what therefore have to say for yourself? Speak up you miserable little profane brat!"

Sulis raised his now tearstained face from the sand-covered marble paving. His rosy lips then tremulously moved but no sound emerged, as utter terror had robbed him of speech.

In annoyed reaction, because he disliked cowardice almost as much as he hated displays of courage, Scyrax lashed his cane diagonally across Sulis' bare chest. A deep red bead of blood began to form where the tip of the supple rod, which had curled round the boy's ribcage, had nicked his skin.

Sulis immediately howled and clasped his hands to his tortured flesh. "Don't you know better than to raise your arms when I'm thrashing you, brat?" Scyrax was therefore compelled to ask rhetorically whilst now in a sudden cold fury.

"Put your arms down by your sides and keep them there," Scyrax also commanded, whilst again ominously raising his cane above his left shoulder. The fat man then momentarily stood with the rod poised to strike, whilst he looked down at the almost naked boy, cowering tearfully at his feet, reluctantly obey his order.

Sulis' anguish and terror at perhaps imminently being beaten for the first time ever in his young life caused him to lose control of his bladder. Amber fluid began to soil his thong before spilling from the edges and running down the insides of his legs to create a dark patch of dampness on the newly spread sand below. "Filthy little animal," Scyrax remarked in reaction to the sight.

Scyrax also reacted by again slashing his cane viciously across Sulis' chest. On this occasion, the tip of the rod agonisingly caught the boy across the edge of his right nipple, splitting the flesh.

Sulis' mouth again first opened silently, this time because his excruciation had temporarily driven the breath from his body. The boy then screamed shrilly but somehow also managed to keep his arms at his sides.

"That's better," a calming Scyrax suggested softly on observing Sulis' continued obedience, "and obviously represents one lesson that you've learnt. Now, since you seem to have regained the use of your voice, I'll again give you the opportunity to explain why I should not have your bottom sliced into ribbons for your recent profane behaviour."

"Master," Sulis' restored voice, rendered shrill and uncertain by terror, begged "please don't hit me again. Felix sent me on an errand to the kitchen and he said he would flog me if I wasn't quick. I was therefore running and I forgot about the sanctuary. I didn't mean to and I won't do it again. I promise!"

"You mightn't forget again," Scyrax replied, whilst clearly enjoying himself, "but boy's memories can be very short unless assisted. We must be absolutely sure that you never again act in a profane manner and so I believe that you must be provided with such help."

"It also seems to me," Scyrax added, "that you are currently more concerned to avoid a sore bottom than to show a proper respect for the gods and Emperors. I must therefore take action to make certain that you achieve a better understanding of the relative values of a slave brat's buttocks and the dignity of the divinities!"

Turning to his secretary, Scryax asked "If Sulis had been slow in performing his errand, Felix, how many times would you have flogged him?" "Well, Sir," the eunuch answered, "he's small, young and new and hasn't caused too much trouble so far. I would have considered three cuts to be enough for a first offence!"

"Then six should be sufficient to make him realise that respecting the gods and Emperors is more important than avoiding a sore backside," Scyrax happily declared. Sulis, who had been kneeling and looking up into his master's face with damp imploring eyes, let his head drop forward in despair on hearing his sentence. His narrow shoulders also began to shake as he again sobbed.

By now Sulis fully appreciated by witnessing relevant events how much hurt and harm that even a single stroke of the cane could cause to a young boy's flesh if vigorously applied. He was only a small 10 year-old, who had never been beaten previously, and was not a sturdy youth, whose bottom was well seasoned to the rod.

"Take your soiled thong off, filthy brat," Scyrax next commanded of Sulis, "and lay across the bench. Don't delay because the exceptionally long list that Felix has prepared means that I've got a lot of boys to thrash this evening!"

Sulis attempted to be compliant and tried to rise to his feet. However, the boy's trepidation was such that his legs failed him and he collapsed back onto his knees.

"Come on, brat, get into position before I lose my patience and double your punishment," Scyrax therefore threatened. However, despite the warning, Sulis still experienced difficulty in rising. The brave and kind-hearted Dictys consequently decided to intervene.

Dictys scuttled forward and, with a fearful glance at Scyrax, hauled Sulis to his feet. The older youth then carefully pulled the younger boy's currently damp and soiled thong down and off, subsequently casting the shed garment aside.

Sulis' immature but nicely proportioned genitals were now exposed to view. However, the boy's petrified mind did not become focused on his shameful nudity but instead continued to contemplate in dread what was about to happen to him.

With Dictys supporting him, Sulis was now encouraged by the older youth to make his way on shaking legs towards the low wooden bench where so many young slaves had previously suffered. However, on reaching the furniture, the boy again appeared to freeze with terror.

Sulis stood trembling before the flogging bench, with his eyes glazed and rolling like a calf taken to slaughter. Dictys therefore slipped his arm about the younger boy's shoulders and whispered words in his ear, encouraging him to be brave, whilst also easing him down across the wooden surface, which was noticeably stained with the dried blood of some of the previous young victims chastised here.

"Dictys, I am most grateful for your assistance," Scyrax now finally commented, "although I don't remember requesting it!" Despite the fact that these words were mild in context, they were delivered with such an ominous tone of irritation that the youth's lovely face immediately turned pale.

Dictys had appreciated that he was taking a risk in helping Sulis without Scyrax's agreement, for he did not know how his master would react to his intervention. The fat man might welcome the youth's action or he might be annoyed.

Scyrax's verbal tone suggested that he was displeased. Such an attitude did not bode well for Dictys' immediate future, although his master thankfully now turned his attention on Sulis, who was now finally lying facedown over the wooden flogging bench.

Scyrax slipped his left hand between Sulis' thighs and, pushing forwards and upwards, lifted the boy's buttocks so that the delicious smooth curves were appropriately raised in readiness to be hit by the cane. Satisfied that his next young victim was correctly positioned, the fat man subsequently ran his hand gently over the child's tight little bottom.

Meanwhile, the other boys sat silently, watching in fearful anticipation. They appreciated that any one of them could be called on to follow Sulis onto the flogging bench at the whim of their master or his adult servants, especially the hated and feared Felix.

Although some of the boys already knew that they were to be chastised, and so were tremulously waiting to be called forward, the rest recognised that advance notice was not always granted. They might have been espied allegedly performing some minor misdemeanour, which might not be revealed to them until Felix went through his long list of supposed miscreants. Excuses for punishment were also frequently petty, with the young slaves often not even realising that they had apparently committed an offence.

Marius was as fearful as his new companions, with whom he was sitting, cross-legged on the ground. The boy appreciated that from now on he too would be subject to the appalling disciplinary regime that he was witnessing.

Scyrax suddenly delivered a sharp open-handed slap onto Sulis' pert bottom. The sound of the fat man's chubby hand striking the boy's tautly drawn flesh rang out loudly in the silence pervading the courtyard, which was also disturbed by a surprised yelp from his young victim.

Scyrax subsequently placed his cane across the upper curves of Sulis' bottom in order to gauge the initial target that he wanted to hit. The terrified boy tensed under the cruel implement's touch, deepening the cute dimples on either side of each of his curvaceous buttocks in the process.

Scyrax then lifted the cane high over his shoulder and paused, looking down at Sulis' lovely slim body, stretched naked and defenceless before him. To some of the more philosophic witnesses of the scene, the fat man's massive bulk towering over the boy's little form appeared to serve as a symbol of the despotic power that nature has given the strong and brutal over the meek and mild. They could see, as the 10 year-old in his terrified heart also knew, that resistance was useless and escape impossible.

Scyrax waited a moment, savouring his power and enjoying through the suspense increasing the misery of his now whimpering young victim. The fat man then finally slashed the cane downwards with all his strength and weight behind the stroke. The rod hissed through the air with a deep terrifying whistle and struck Sulis' bare bottom exactly on target with a sharp crack, which echoed round the silent courtyard.

Sulis immediately jerked convulsively but was initially momentarily silent, as the pain had again temporarily driven the breath from his body. However, the quietude was only brief and the boy soon uttered a shrill scream, whilst his feet rapidly beat the ground repetitively as a result of the unprecedented agony reverberating through him.

Scyrax therefore decided to wait until Sulis had recovered his composure and was still again before delivering the next blow. The fat man was in no hurry, and anyway he wanted the boy to have plenty of time to feel to the full excruciation of every cut inflicted on him.

Whilst Scyrax waited patiently, with his cane again raised ominously high into the air, he noticed that the white streak that the cane had at first left across Sulis' flesh was quickly reddening and darkening. Areas of deep purple and blue bruising were beginning to develop at the edges. Having gained plenty of experience of beating boys, the fat man knew the best wounds would add green and yellow to the colours decorating his young victim's bottom but such hues would probably not emerge until after the thrashing had been completed.

The sobbing Sulis, still somehow remaining compliantly in place, eventually stilled and so Scyrax launched his second blow, which was aimed and delivered to a point just below the first. After hearing the associated whoosh, the boy actually screamed before the cane struck him, whilst his bare feet again beat a tattoo on the sand-covered marble paving. His young and pretty body then arched and writhed when the hit landed and agony once more coursed through him, devastating his nerve ends and destroying every sensation within his form except that of the all-consuming pain.

The cane rose and fell another two times and the sound of wood striking naked boy flesh blended with that of Sulis' screams and the thumping of his feet, as he shrieked and convulsed with each impact. Whilst he suffered in this way, Scyrax, with all the skill that came with many years of practice at flogging boys, laid the strokes on methodically and neatly, each one at a similar distance and parallel below the last.

Scyrax deliberately delivered the fourth blow exactly along the crease where the back of Sulis' thighs met the curves of his bottom. The fat man knew that the hit would burn the hottest and longest. However, he was resolved to ensure that the boy would also not easily going to forget the last two strikes.

Slightly shifting his ground, Scyrax delivered the fifth and sixth strokes diagonally across Sulis' already well-beaten bottom. Each of these hits intersected with the earlier wheals and dark droplets of blood began to form there.

"Get up, brat!" Scyrax then commanded, reinforcing his order with a harsh slap across the bruised and bleeding bottom of the sobbing 10 year-old. Sulis immediately scrambled to his feet in compliance and instinctively began on rubbery legs to make his uncertain way back to his place among the ranks of the other boys.

"No, don't go there," Scyrax instructed, "but go instead to wait by my couch. I haven't finished with you yet!" Sulis obediently changed direction, whilst worrying about what his cruel master still had in store for him.

"Now, Felix, what have you next for me?" Scyrax then asked of his secretary, who again consulted his clay tablet. "Lysias, Sir," the eunuch later began to announce, "for gross impertinence in that he…….."

Over the next two hours, boy after terrified boy was summoned from among their sitting comrades to take their places stretched over the flogging bench, whilst the courtyard was filled with the sounds of the crack of wood on tender flesh and the shrill screams of youngsters under correction. During this time, the watching Marius became aware of the purpose of the pot, as the inevitably drying cane being used was regularly changed for one made suppler by the brine in the container.

After he had personally thrashed five young victims, Scyrax complained of cramp in his right arm and surrendered his cane to his enthusiastic black African servant. As this man was bigger and more powerful than his master, he inflicted the relevant later beatings with even greater vigour.

As his black servant began his, for him, very enjoyable duties, Scyrax walked back to his couch, at whose foot the panting Sulis had dropped. The fat man lifted his hand and the dark curly-haired boy, who had been attending him, darted forward with a goblet full of expensive wine. He subsequently produced a bowl of cold water and a cloth, which he used to mop his master's heated brow.

Suitably refreshed, Scyrax reached out and lifted Sulis onto his knees and began to fondle him. The boy initially whimpered again, as his master's tunic pressed against his sore bottom. However, the fat man took no notice of this reaction and instead gathered the 10 year-old's tiny balls between the fingers of one hand and gently played with them, whilst he stroked the child's pretty but tearstained face with the other.

Despite his pain and misery, Sulis' little cock began to harden in response to Scyrax's manhandling. Having achieved this happy result, the fat man next dropped his hand downwards from the boy's face to his chest.

Scyrax now took Sulis' right nipple, which had earlier been nicked by the cane, between his finger and thumb. The fat man then cruelly pinched the rosy tit hard, causing blood to well again from the cut that he had consequently reopened. The fat man subsequently bent his head and licked the sanguine flow away, whilst his young victim groaned in anguish.

Scyrax eventually returned his attention to his black servant, who was happily flogging boys, all of whom were required to divest themselves of their pristinely white attire in readiness for their beatings. This practice was customarily followed not only to ensure that no protection was afforded to the target flesh but also to avoid staining the garments with blood, urine expelled by frightened bladders and semen. The latter substance was amazingly not uncommonly produced by older victims, although not on this occasion.

Comparative silence later finally fell on the courtyard. There was now no sound apart from the tinkling of the fountains and the suppressed sobbing of the boys who had had their bottoms beaten. The last young victim had stumbled unsteadily away from the flogging bench, holding his burning rear in one hand and his shed loincloth in the other. Felix appeared to have reached the end of his list of defaulters.

"Is that all, Felix," Scyrax therefore asked, whilst displaying some disappointment, "don't you have any more boys for correction?" "I am afraid that I do, Sir," the secretary answered, although he appeared pleased rather than upset.

"I discovered two brats in one of the storerooms, Sir," Felix continued, "and they were having sex together." This revelation instantly induced a shocked murmur amongst the listening boys, who appreciated that chastisement for such action, which was expressly forbidden by Scyrax unless he gave permission, would be extreme.

"This is so serious an offence," the secretary added, "that I had the brats confined in the cellar in case they tried to run away to avoid their due punishment!" "Quite right and well done, Felix," a clearly angry Scyrax commented before enquiring "Who are these wicked whores?" "Nisus and Giton, Sir," the smirking eunuch reported.

"Have them brought here immediately," Scyrax next ominously commanded, "to enable me to make an example of them both. I will not tolerate such disgraceful disobedient behaviour amongst my boys and so their punishment will be very severe indeed!"

Chapter XXIV

One of the boys, Giton, was a slim 12 year-old with fair curls, whilst the other, Nisus, was bigger, being 15, and dark haired. Both were somewhat bruised and both were clearly very frightened.

The servants released their grasp on the boys after they had approached Scyrax's couch. Giton and Nisus immediately threw themselves to the ground at their master's feet and reverently pressed their lips against the golden plaque inscribed with the crude phallic symbol. Their cute but seriously endangered bare bottoms were therefore nicely exposed for viewing by the young spectators and adults behind them.

Scyrax sat silent for a moment, staring coldly at the prostrating boys. "You are thieves," the fat man then declared angrily, "as you both know that your bodies and all the service and enjoyment that can be rung from them belong to me and yet you deliberately chose to go off together to pleasure each other secretly. Furthermore, I was preparing Giton to sell and I would have obtained a good price for him, as a blond 12 year-old virgin."

"I have also not just lost the extra profit," Scyrax continued, "from selling a virgin. I could have additionally seriously damaged my good reputation if you had succeeded in evading the watchful eyes of my good loyal Felix and I had attempted to sell Giton at auction as fresh untouched flesh when he was in fact damaged goods!"

"As thieves you deserve to be crucified or fed to the animals in the amphitheatre," Scyrax suggested before deliberately pausing to make the boys worry that he might indeed send them to such an appalling fate. However, the fat man eventually added "But, as always, I am too kind-hearted and I shall therefore be more merciful, although in your wicked cases not too much so!"

"Giton, you will be beaten badly," Scyrax announced, pronouncing sentence without hearing from anyone about what precisely happened between the two boys in the storeroom, "and shall leave this house as soon as possible to be sold for what you can fetch as, what you are, a common little whore. Nisus, as the elder of the pair of you and therefore someone who should have been more responsible, you too will be flogged but even more severely. Later, when you have recovered from the flagellation sufficiently to know and feel what is being done to you, I shall render you incapable of offending in a similar way again!"

The six eunuchs in the courtyard secretly rejoiced that the beautiful but naughty Nisus would soon be turned into one of their own number. They hoped that they could be witnesses when Scyrax used his gelding knife.

Meanwhile, Nisus immediately showed how brave and selfless he was by raising his face from the ground and begging for mercy not for himself but for the other younger boy. However, this display of bravado was assisted by the fact that the youth's distressed mind had not yet realised what Scyrax had meant when he had promised 'I shall render you incapable of offending in a similar way again'.

"Master," Nisus pleaded, "please don't punish Giton. I tricked him into going into the storeroom. He didn't know what I planned. I also didn't fuck him. I just ripped his loincloth off and was rubbing my cock along his bumcrack against his will until…….."

Nisus paused, apparently too ashamed to admit what he intended the conclusion of his action to have been. He instead suggested "You can therefore still sell Giton as a virgin for a good price, Master. I honestly didn't enter him. He also wasn't a willing partner. Consequently, punish me but not him!"

In response, Scyrax did not question the pleading youth. He instead asked of Felix "Did you hear any protests or struggles from the storeroom whilst all this was happening?" The secretary answered "No, Sir, I just entered because I knew that the two boys were in there and appeared to be lingering. When I arrived, Nisus was doing what he describes but whilst masturbating Giton from behind, and the latter appeared to be enjoying himself!"

Scyrax returned his attention to Nisus. "Your entreaty on behalf of Giton," the fat man now announced, "is dismissed. The young whore might not have known what you intended when you took him into the storeroom but he certainly knew soon enough afterwards and he did not protest or resist your actions but instead enjoyed it. He is therefore as guilty of disobedience and theft as you and so will still be severely punished, although not as much as you will be!"

"But I told him," the pleading youth exclaimed in desperation, whilst courageously continuing to display more concern for Giton than himself, "I would kill him if he protested or resisted, Master. It's not his…….." However, Scyrax interrupted by suggesting "Even if what you say is true, the young whore nevertheless put his miserable life above the duty he owes to me. He therefore still deserves severe chastisement and that's what he'll now receive. Be silent, Nisus, unless you want me to have your tongue removed as well as well as other parts of your anatomy. You've already earned extra punishment for having the impertinence to raise your head from the ground and address me without permission!"

Nisus now finally realised in horror what Scyrax had earlier threatened in addition to an imminent flogging. He also sensed correctly that his entreaties on behalf of Giton were never going to succeed and that escape from their respective fates would be impossible.

Consequently, Nisus' chin slumped onto his chest and soon sobs could be heard. Copious tears could also be seen dropping onto the ground.

Scyrax ignored Nisus' descent into forlorn sobbing and instead now addressed the younger miscreant, whilst simultaneously quietly indicating that motives of profit superseded those of his inherent sadism, which would have liked to see the boy even more comprehensively punished. "If I'm to remove you, Giton, from my household as soon as possible," the fat man declared, "I may as well still attempt to secure as good a price for you as I can in order to try to recoup some of my investment in you. You will still be beaten, brat, but to aid quick recovery and disposal your back and bottom will be excused the attentions of the whip."

The predominance of Scyrax's commercialism in his attitudes actually also extended to Nisus' proposed punishment. There were two reasons for this phenomenon.

First, Nisus' imminent flogging would be comprehensive. However, as delivered by an expert, the whipping would not mark him for life.

Second, Nisus' later castration would not reduce his market price but would probably instead increase his value. The only reasons why Scyrax did not geld all of his slaveboys were because the market for eunuchs was limited and fatal infections after surgery sometimes caused losses. He preferred the purchasers to take such risks, although he was occasionally prepared to accept the gamble, as with the miscreant youth now, in order to present an example to the other boys.

In Scyrax's opinion, such an example should not just help to maintain order amongst his current stock of boys. Household gossip should also ensure that future arrivals became aware of the potential appalling consequences of disobeying instructions not to indulge in sexual activity without permission.

"Fetch the staff!" Scyrax subsequently commanded of Dictys, who reluctantly collected a sinister bloodstained wooden pole, which was thicker and longer than a broom handle. An audible gasp of horror arose amongst the boys watching proceedings, as all, with the exception of the newcomer, Marius, knew what Giton was about to suffer.

The four attendant white servants also knew and, without needing a command from Scyrax, two of them immediately stepped forward to grab Giton by the arms and throw him roughly on his back on the sand-covered ground. They then held the naked boy's arms firmly above his head, despite his struggles and pleas for mercy, whilst the other pair of eunuchs tied his ankles separately and slightly apart to the staff.

Lifting Sulis from his lap and onto his feet, Scyrax next heaved himself from his couch and waddled over to where Giton lay prone. On arrival, the fat man visually checked the cord immovably binding the still pleading boy's ankles to the staff.

Satisfied with the efficacy of the bondage but displeased with Giton's entreaties, Scyrax subsequently picked up a cane from the nearby jar. Standing slightly to one side, he then viciously lashed the implement hard and accurately between the boy's legs, somehow missing his flaccid penis but striking both of his young immature testicles in the process. The 12 year-old's pleas were consequently immediately terminated and were replaced instead by a vociferous scream.

"No, please stop, Master, please stop!" the still tearful Nisus took up the entreaties in reaction, whilst jumping to his feet and running towards the scene in a desperate and doomed attempt to help Giton. However, the black African servant intervened by stepping forward and slamming his fist into the boy's face.

Nisus crashed to the floor, with blood streaming from his nose and mouth. After witnessing the incident, Scyrax ordered his black servant to "Pick the slut up and hold him so that he can see his little whore punished!"

The grinning black servant was happy to oblige and soon Nisus was squirming and twisting in the eunuch's grasp, desperate to stop Giton's imminent punishment. However, the struggles of the naked boy proved useless, as the immensely strong African's hold remained resolutely secure.

Returning his attention to Giton, whose current excruciation was made worse by not being able to grasp his agonised balls, Scyrax commented, whilst again raising his cane, "Your genitals are what you sinned with. Consequently, they're what we're going to beat first!"

Four times Scyrax cut Giton across the balls, whilst two eunuchs happily strained to hold the pole and the other pair the boy's hands steady on the paving. Throughout the process, the now copiously tearful 12 year-old's screams and pleas for mercy echoed around the courtyard, along with the similarly useless entreaties still coming from Nisus, who could not escape the black servant's strong grasp. The youth's despair and distress was made worse by the sight and feel of the harsh whip that would soon comprehensively flog him, the handle of which was still in the African's hand.

Scyrax eventually stepped back to admire his work. The fat man saw that Giton's previously smooth and creamy nicely proportioned scrotum was now vividly red, with four scarlet stripes particularly prominent.

"If I continue," Scyrax remarked with a smirk, "I'd probably do to the whore what I definitely will do soon to his older lover, albeit with my gelding knife and not the cane. I suppose I'd therefore better desist and target something else!"

What this next target was to be was quickly discovered by Giton. The boy soon felt the first lash of Scyrax's cane hit the vulnerable soles of his feet, which, with the exception of his balls, represented the part of his young and beautiful anatomy that was most susceptible to feeling intense pain.

Scyrax's subsequent strokes were not particularly hard but they were delivered with firm and steady accuracy. Consequently, Giton lay relatively quiet whilst the first few were delivered but eventually the boy was screaming and thrashing about on the ground, as the cumulative effect of the cane hitting his soles mounted and acute excruciation again began to consume his whole body.

The thump of the cane across Giton's bare feet, his resultant anguished howls of pain, the thudding of his tearstained screaming head on the marble paving, as he writhed in agony, and the cruel laughter of the watching servants, who were all thoroughly enjoying the spectacle, rapidly dominated the courtyard. Meanwhile, the witnessing Marius was appalled but his lovely blue eyes could still not refrain from watching.

Giton's screams eventually began to weaken and his writhings became less wild. Scyrax, whose plentiful experiences of punishing boys enabled him to recognise when his victims' mental functions were starting defensively to shut down, therefore stopped his caning of the 12 year-old's now red- raw feet.

"I think that's enough," Scyrax subsequently rasped, "so release the brat!" His servants immediately complied and the boy's arms quickly lost their firm manual restriction and the cords binding his ankles to the pole were soon untied.

Scyrax then look down into Giton's tearstained and still sobbing face and kicked the naked prone boy hard in the ribs. "Get to your feet, whore," the fat man simultaneously ordered, "and take your place amongst the other brats!"

Giton somehow began to obey, to be rewarded, as he literally hopped in agony from foot to foot towards the boys who had just watched his chastisement, with loud laughter from Scyrax and the other adults present. The pained and shamed boy felt as though he was walking on burning coals as he proceeded and so was very relieved when he was eventually sitting amongst his fellows, some of whose bottoms were still hurting from their own earlier punishments.

"That's the entree out of the way," Scyrax next commented, whilst turning towards Nisus, who was still in the black servant's firm grip, "so now for the main course." "String the other slut up by his wrists," the fat man subsequently ordered of the African, "and whip him with your usual expertise, as my arm is now a little weary!"

Two of the paler eunuch servants helped proceedings by taking the struggling Nisus away from their darker colleague and dragged him over to where Scyrax stood. A rope was then thrown over a beam of the courtyard pergola by one of the others.

One end of the rope was next tied around Nisus' slim wrists, initially fastening them in front of his naked body. However, the twine was quickly drawn tight so that the boy was forced to stand with his hands high above his head, with the tips of his toes just touching the ground.

Scyrax subsequently ran his hands over Nisus' smooth taut body, whilst saliva dribbled from a corner of his smirking mouth. The front of his tunic also bulged where the garment covered his crotch, clearly indicating that he was very aroused by the prospect of what he was about to watch.

Scyrax lingered for a while when fondling Nisus' hairless genitals. Amidst this process, he weighed the boy's scrotum, above which his cock had become instinctively rigid because of the manual attentions and despite his terror about what was now to be inflicted on him. "I'm looking forward, slut," the fat man commented, whilst purposefully feeling the 15 year-old's balls, "to extracting these soon!"

Nisus' long and slender uncut cock had been deprived of satisfaction for several weeks, which was the main reason why his raging teenage hormones had tempted him to try to have sex with Giton, to whom he had secretly been particularly attracted for a long time. Unfortunately, Felix had discovered their furtive liaison before the older boy had gained such gratification.

For this reason and equally unfortunately, Nisus' desperate genitals now reacted to his master's manual and verbal attentions by succumbing to orgasm and exploding, soiling Scyrax's tunic with plentiful creamy ejaculate. The infuriated fat man, who still held the cane with which he had beaten Giton's soles, initially reacted by describing the boy as a "Disgusting filthy slut!" He then followed up his comment by lashing his rod down onto the 15 year-old's still erect cock, which was now dribbling extraneous cum, and subsequently launching an uppercut against his scrotum, whilst further remaking "My gelding knife will soon cure you of your disgraceful habits!"

Scyrax furiously repeated the action with his cane on several more occasions until weariness rather than merciful compulsion encouraged him to desist and return to his couch to allow his black servant to take over the task of punishing Nisus. The fat man consequently left behind a boy who was already sobbing and in deep anguish before the African had even begun to lash him with his harsh whip.

Before Scyrax seated himself on his couch, his attendant dark curly-haired slaveboy had already dutifully cleaned his master's soiled tunic with a cloth as best he could. The fat man had also lifted his garment above his waist, exposing a vast belly covered in a matt of dark hair, and pulled off his loincloth, revealing a long and fat cock, which was fully erect and pressing demandingly up against his obese stomach's bulging overhang.

Scyrax subsequently collapsed onto his seat and reached out for Sulis. However, on this occasion, the fat man did not lift the boy onto his lap but pulled his pretty face down into his sweaty and smelly crotch. The 10 year-old's head was soon moving backwards and forwards, amidst audible licking and sucking sounds, as the child dutifully began the obviously required chore.

Whilst Sulis compliantly licked and sucked as he had been trained to do, Scyrax glanced and nodded at his black servant, who obediently readied his sinister whip for action. The lash was of well-oiled plaited leather that glistened darkly and moved in his hand like an ebony snake, coiled and ready to strike.

The black servant carefully measured his distance and swung his whip back over his shoulder. Moving his right foot forward so that he could bring the whole strength of his body into play, he then, with expertise gained through vast experience of flagellating boys, made the lash crash ferociously down across Nisus' bare back. Leather impacting on naked flesh simultaneously produced the usual unmistakable cracking noise.

The lash curled round Nisus' body, the tip cutting the tightly drawn skin of his chest. The force of the ferocious blow also knocked the boy off his feet and for a moment he swung suspended by his wrists as his toes instinctively scrabbled desperately for purchase. Meanwhile, his scream was loud and shrill and scarcely human.

The black servant subsequently plied the whip mercilessly and Nisus shrieked, leapt and twisted under the lash's remorselessly regular impact in a loud wild dance of pain and suffering. Blood also began to trickle down the boy's back and flanks, as the scourge started to tear his skin at points revisited or where the tip hit.

Nisus had been positioned side-on to Scyrax's couch, so that the fat man could watch both the back and front of the boy's lovely contours being flogged, which was the original intent. Such an expanse of young flesh was deemed appropriate in order to maximise his suffering without causing permanent damage that would seriously reduce his future market value.

Scyrax was therefore able to watch a phenomenon that was remarkably common during beatings. "It's amazing, isn't it," the fat man was consequently, on sighting the literal development, encouraged to shout to his black servant above the sound of the whip hitting sweet and tender boyish flesh and the screams from the young victim, "how the cocks of many brats, especially the older ones, become hard during a prolonged flogging, even to the point of climax." The clear evidence for this comment was the return to fulsome throbbing erection of Nisus' penis, despite, or perhaps strangely more correctly because of, the excruciation he was suffering.

"I bet this brat orgasms again too," Scyrax sinisterly added, "and, if he does, give his miscreant genitals a couple of lashes from your whip." Unfortunately for Nisus, the fat man's forecast subsequently proved correct, after his black servant began to make the boy's sublime buttocks instead of his ravished back a target for his scourge.

Simultaneous to the fourth savage blow hitting Nisus' bottom, the boy did not scream but instead grunted loudly. His swinging body also arched forward at the same time and his almost vertical erection, seemingly standing proudly upright, erupted with more ejaculate. The semen initially flowed into the air like the water in some of the nearby fountains before finally succumbing to gravity and falling onto the sand covering the marble paving below.

On observing Nisus' perverse reaction to his whipping, the black servant needed no further command from his master to reposition himself in front of the orgasmic boy. He also required no second order to aim his lash at the 15 year- old's unruly genitals, where the cock was still drooling cum and had not yet softened, and which were still red and marked from the earlier attentions of Scyrax's cane.

Not having whole genitals himself, the jealous black servant particularly relished in beating boys' sexual organs. The watching Scyrax also sadistically did not mind perpetrating or witnessing such action.

The black servant soon crashed his lash down hard on Nisus' cock before the penis had had time to soften, immediately opening a bloody cut on the upper service of the shaft. Amidst his resultant agony and screaming, the boy immediately raised his legs into the air by bending them at the knees. This instinctive reaction was to attempt to give, as his hands were unavailable to undertake the duty, his deeply pained genitals some comfort and defence. However, gravity ensured that such succour and protection could not remain in place for long.

The black servant only had to wait for a short period before Nisus' wearied legs were reluctantly lowered again and the eunuch could launch his lash again at the boy's genitals. On this occasion, he delivered an uppercut, which struck the undersides of his shrieking young victim's scrotum and now flaccid cock, once more creating a bloody cut.

Nisus could not subsequently recall actually climaxing and shooting copious sperm onto the ground whilst under the whip. He later vaguely remembered experiencing a strange sensation of intense ecstasy amidst much suffering, a tiny island of acute pleasure amongst a huge ocean of abject misery. However, he had not realised the cause until he was told, whilst still recovering several days afterwards, by another young slave.

The black servant now returned to giving attention to Nisus' rear. Eventually, each time that a blow landed a light red haze was thrown up and once or twice the eunuchs watching from nearby had to wipe the boy's splattered blood from their faces and tunics. For a period, the young victim's screams even combined into a constant high wail but, as the flogging progressed further, the volume slowly abated until the only sound coming from him was a low groan when the whip struck home.

Consequently, in order to enliven his young white victim, the black servant arranged for his fellow eunuchs to throw occasional buckets of cold water over Nisus, which they did with relish. As the fluid subsequently ran down the boy's body, the liquid took on a pinkish tinge by mixing with his blood.

For a time, the water also did enliven Nisus so that he could once more fully appreciate his excruciation. The evidence for such revitalisation came from his increased groaning and the sight of his toes scrabbling weakly at the now wet and bloody sand below him.

Having well bloodied and marked Nisus' back and buttocks, whilst always being expertly careful not to inflict damage that would endure by leaving permanent scarring, the black servant turned his attention to the rear of the boy's legs. By now, the 15 year-old had ceased his struggle to keep his feet, as the hurt to his wrists resulting from his suspension was nothing in comparison to what his torso was suffering. His body therefore simply hung limply, jerking to and fro under the impact of the lash.

As the black servant now struck the rear of Nisus' legs for the first time, the watching Scyrax cried out. Moments later, Sulis hunkered back onto his knees, with cum trickling down his chin.

Scyrax subsequently lowered his tunic to cover his sated crotch but did not bother to reapply his loincloth whilst he watched the rear of Nisus' legs becoming as bloody and marked as his back and buttocks until the black servant eventually stopped his whipping. By now, the swinging boy was utterly silent. Buckets of cold water proved incapable of enlivening him.

"I believe, Sir," the black servant reluctantly advised his master, "that the slut's inured to further suffering and so now is the time to stop the whipping. Flogging his front would have little purpose."

"I'm sure you're right," Scyrax replied, with disappointment evident in his voice and whilst again rather clumsily standing up from his couch, "which just shows you what a coward he is. Anyone braver would have suffered for much longer!"

Scyrax then walked over to Nisus and taking the gently swinging boy's chin between his finger and thumb tipped back his drooping head, on which the eyes were currently closed. The fat man now saw that his young slave had in his agony bitten through his lower lip so that blood mixed with tears and nasal mucus trickled down from his mouth.

In reaction to Scyrax's tipping of his chin, Nisus' eyes suddenly blinked open. The acutely agonised boy subsequently initially stared about wildly before focusing on his master's cruel smirking face.

Nisus, feeling overwhelming excruciation surging through his comprehensively flagellated body, then screamed loudly, although he was later unable to judge whether the immense pain or the sight of his sadistic master had caused this loud reaction. In response, Scyrax laughed, bent forward and kissed the boy hard on his bleeding lips.

Scyrax subsequently turned to his black servant, whose muscular bare chest was splattered with Nisus' blood, and ordered "Dismiss the other brats back to their dormitories without supper. They can thank the two whores we've just punished for the lack of food!"

Scyrax added "Make the brats file pass Nisus on their way to the dormitories so that they can closely confirm what happens to slaves who break my most important rules. Then cut him down and tend his back and buttocks. When he can walk and is fully conscious again bring him once more to me at one of my daily gatherings with my slaveboys."

Scyrax sinisterly added "I want Nisus to feel the knife and know fully what is being done to him when I complete his punishment in front of the other brats!"

Chapter XXV

Dictys bowed reverently and, after collecting the two named smaller boys, led them further into the generally luxurious interior of his master's great mansion. Scyrax himself remained on his couch, beaming indulgently as his young slaves, some with hurting bottoms, filed silently out of the courtyard, whilst occasionally gazing in horror back at Nisus' well-whipped body. The fat man also laughed again when he noticed Giton forced literally to hop away because of his very sore feet.

With the exception of the black servant, who was attending to Nisus, the eunuchs present simultaneously began to sweep up the bloody sand scattered over the marble paving, whilst the dark curly haired slaveboy attendant on Scyrax refilled his master's wine goblet. Soon afterwards, the well-whipped boy also departed from the scene, over one of the shoulders of the African who had happily inflicted the flogging.

Marius now discovered that Scyrax's slaveboys slept at the very back of the residence. Their dormitory was a single long rectangular spotlessly clean room, with a well-scrubbed tile floor and barred windows set high on bare whitewashed walls.

Dictys collected a spare light mattress from near to the door. After subsequently spreading the bedding on an empty part of the dormitory floor, he settled his two weary charges on top.

Sulis, whose chin was still soiled by some of Scyrax's cum, briefly whimpered, as his caned bottom momentarily met cloth. However, he quickly repositioned himself on his side and, despite the dulling pain and his hunger through the lack of supper, was soon as soundly asleep as the new boy sharing the straw-filled mattress.

Dictys actually stayed long enough to oversee the pair of beautiful naked younger boys drift rapidly into deep sleep. The youth even briefly remained standing nearby, looking down at them with a half-smile on his own handsome face because he rather fancied both Marius and Sulis.

Dictys longed to love passionately and be the recipient of similar affection. However, in the restricted claustrophobic male-only environment of his master's house, where young slaves once admitted did not leave except to be sold, it was only possible to become sexually involved with his own kind and then solely at Scyrax's instigation. The latter development invariably meant that the fat man wanted to watch such action.

As Dictys continued to look at the pretty forms of the naked and slumbering Marius and Sulis, his cock began to grown again under his tunic and he was once more tempted somehow to gain relief from his frustrations. However, Nisus' recent agony had clearly demonstrated the fate that awaited those who were caught sinning against Scyrax's sexual proscriptions.

The highly considerate Dictys would have loved to save Nisus from his whipping and planned castration, not least because he rather fancied that boy too. However, the youth was realistic enough to appreciate that such salvation was impossible.

Not only was escape from Scyrax's house very difficult because the tall surrounding walls gave the residence fortress-like protection but also there was nowhere realistically to flee. Captured and returned fugitive slaves additionally generally ended up as an example to others on the cross or being eaten by animals in the amphitheatre. Dictys therefore concluded that being whipped and castrated was better for Nisus than being crucified or fed to wild beasts.

Dictys eventually regretfully turned and walked away from the slumbering forms of Marius and Sulis. The youth did so to avoid further temptation and because he knew that he was wanted by Scyrax and he must not keep his cruel master waiting for too long.

Dictys departed, happy in the knowledge that none of the other boys now crowding the dormitory would trouble Marius or Sulis. Disturbing the peace by messing about in the sleeping quarters, as in any other part of Scyrax's house, was punishable and, as the youth had just witnessed, the penalty for molestation was extreme.

Consequently, the boys attempted to behave as well in the dormitory as elsewhere and in fact most had already now settled themselves on their own shared double mattresses. Despite the fact that about forty naturally energetic young males were present, only muted whispers between neighbours broke the quietude, as the light flowing in from the high windows lessened with the setting of the sun.

As Dictys departed, he wondered whether he would be allowed to return during the night to his own mattress, which, like the others, he shared with another boy, who was also someone he fancied. However, attraction was as far as their relationship had gone because the first job Scyrax's eunuchs did in the morning was to scour the dormitory for signs of sperm on the bedding, the tiled floor and the bodies of the young slaves. Again, Nisus had just provided a good example as to what would happen if traces of semen were discovered and, in such circumstances, if the miscreant procreators of the ejaculate could not be ascertained or did not confess, everyone was flogged. This unpleasant possibility invariably induced the innocent to point out the guilty.

As Dictys returned to Scyrax, he wondered whether he would be spending the night in the fat man's bed, as he had often done over the last 5 years, being his master's favourite, or in that of one of the dinner guests, for his owner never ate alone. Either way, the youth appreciated that he would find no love but instead probably some pain of both the mental and physical type. The 16 year-old also shivered nervously at the thought that he might be given for sex to a certain similarly aged young patrician.

There were only two consolations amidst Dictys' thoughts. First was the hope that Scyrax might have forgotten his annoyance at the help the youth had given to Sulis. Second was his wish, despite his master's earlier threat of keeping him chaste for another few weeks, that he might be permitted to cum tonight to give him some sexual relief.

As Dictys passed the sacred sanctuary of the household gods and the Emperors Augustus and Tiberius, pausing to bow to the deities as Sulis had so unfortunately forgotten to do, he, however, sincerely begged of the divinities that he did not ejaculate without permission. The youth appreciated that such a breach of self-discipline, perhaps perpetrated as his prostate was tickled by a man's cock, would result in his own punishment across the flogging bench at tomorrow's gathering of slaveboys with their mutual master.

Chapter XXVI

Marius lay quietly for a while, watching the motes of dust dancing in the shafts of sunlight from the narrow windows set high in the whitewashed walls. This morning represented the first time for days that he had been allowed to wake naturally and he wanted to idle a bit longer.

Unfortunately, memories of the previous day suddenly came flooding to his mind, and so the brief moment of mental peace was sadly banished. Consternation instead gripped him, as he remembered the hiss of the cane and whip, the sharp crack of wood and leather hitting bare tender flesh and the screams of suffering boys. He had heard and seen enough in his few hours in Scyrax's house to fear incurring the owner's displeasure.

Turning to Sulis, who was a year younger and had not yet noticed that his slightly older companion was awake, Marius greeted him politely with a "Good morning!" These words induced the other boy to turn round, carefully avoiding any contact between his bottom and the mattress as he did so.

Worried that perhaps they should be somewhere else, given the absence of the other boys from the dormitory, Marius followed up his greeting by immediately next asking "What are we supposed to be doing now?" In response, Sulis, with one nipple displaying a little scab and his chin still stained by dried cum, rather nonchalantly stretched sleepily on his side.

"I was waiting for you to wake up," Sulis eventually replied, "so that we could both go to the baths to prepare ourselves for the hours ahead. I've been told by Dictys on behalf of Scyrax to look after you on your first full day here and show you how the household operates. Such care began with allowing you to enjoy an extended sleep after what was described to me as an apparently harrowing and wearying journey here. The other boys were up at dawn to wash, groom, dress and have breakfast before embarking on their assigned duties."

Sulis, demonstrating great suppleness, subsequently, with one lithe movement, and whilst again carefully avoiding contact between his bottom and the mattress, jumped onto his feet. The boy then turned round in front of the still prone Marius and asked "How does my bum look?" He also twisted his cute body in an effort to obtain his own view of the pert buttocks in question.

Marius knelt to examine visually the other boy's bare bottom seriously. His sensuous blue eyes discovered welts cutting across the smooth curves of Sulis' buttocks. The flesh around the wheals was reddish purple and dark blue, with undertones of sickly yellow and green where the deeper bruising was beginning to show through. Here and there were also darker, almost black, marks, where the cane had drawn blood.

The sight of Sulis' ravaged bottom frightened but at the same time strangely excited Marius. As a consequence, he felt fresh tingling in his groin and his cock began to harden again.

Nevertheless, whilst attempting his ignore his cock's unruliness, Marius announced to Sulis "Your bum's badly marked but I doubt permanently." He subsequently could not resist the temptation to reach out and gingerly touch one of the angriest wheals with a fingertip.

In reaction, Sulis winced and so Marius quickly withdrew his fingertip. "It's certainly still sore, as Scyrax definitely knows how to use the cane well," the younger boy subsequently commented in further response, albeit with rather incongruous cheerfulness suddenly evident in his voice, "but, for the same reason, I'm also sure that you're right and the damage will eventually disappear. I've been told by Dictys that our master only sends perfect physical specimens to market and so will not allow permanent injury to be inflicted, as that would seriously hurt not only his reputation for the choicest goods but also the price he obtains." There was actually no resentment in his voice as he said these words, instead just respect for and even a certain pride in the skill of his owner.

"Dictys says," Sulis continued, "that he has known the occasional mistake made during the 5 years that he's been here when beatings have gone too far but these have been very rare and never deliberate. Scyrax has then been forced to sell, at reduced profit if not actual loss, the poor boys concerned to another trader, known for more mundane goods, in order to preserve his market reputation. I just hope that I prove not to be someone disposed of this manner!"

Sulis now turned round to face the kneeling Marius and he caught sight of the slightly older boy's stiff little penis. "Hey," the amused 10 year-old therefore remarked with a smile, "you're like Dictys. His cock's always going hard when he looks at my bum." "He fancies me, you know," he added with evident pride, "and I like him a lot because he's looked after me as much as he can ever since I arrived here. However, I can't thank him for all his kindnesses towards me in the way that I realise he'd enjoy because Scyrax would cut his balls off if he caught us together."

"I'm therefore unlikely to be able to thank Dictys in the way he desires," Sulis suggested, "especially as he's told me that he'll soon be sold because Scyrax never keeps any slaveboy after the age of 16. He naturally wants to go to a better home and master. I share his hope and wish him well."

In response to Sulis' remark about his little erection, Marius somehow did not feel ashamed. The boy was instead somewhat proud, especially as he appeared to share the increasingly common phenomenon with the nice Dictys.

"How did you end up here?" Marius therefore changed subject, whilst standing up and now being apparently rather happily nonchalant about having his seemingly proud erection observed. "I could ask the same of you," Sulis replied, "but whist we talk here we're delaying being fed. After toileting, bathing, grooming and dressing, we can go to the kitchen for breakfast. I'm famished and I bet you are too."

A sudden rumbling within Marius' cute tummy immediately caused the boy to confirm that he was indeed hungry, whilst remembering that he had only once been fed over the last few days since leaving his late father's former country estate. The promise of finally being able to cover his embarrassing nakedness was also a stimulant to action. As a result, the two naked boys were soon rushing to that part of the baths complex of Scyrax's large residence reserved for the young slaves, with Sulis leading the way.

As the pair progressed along ornate corridors, they observed other boys dutifully at work, cleaning and polishing and performing other chores, such as carrying provisions to the kitchen and going on errands. Some were under the supervision of Scyrax's eunuchs, who carried long but very thin whips, designed to sting bare flesh rather than hurt more seriously, which they obviously occasionally utilised to encourage efficiency and productivity.

Sulis first guided Marius to the young slaves' rectangular communal toilet, where they sat on small stone benches, which circuited the walls and possessed at regular distances round holes in them. Running water in a channel below competently washed their waste away, whilst sponges on sticks were afterwards used to clean bottoms.

Marius subsequently discovered that the amenity was, like the dormitory and baths to come, large and spartan but also spotlessly clean and organised. He had already learnt, from some of the chastisements inflicted on the previous day, that the pristine appearance and good order was, as with most parts of Scyrax's house, maintained in line with their varying duty schedules by the slaveboys. They would be punished for clumsiness, error or lack of effort or quality in their work.

Marius and Sulis soon next reached the washing facility. Normal Roman amenities of this type generally comprised a room for rubbing on and scraping off olive oil, which was the normal method of cleaning a body, plus three baths, which were essentially for both relaxation and stimulus. One of the latter would usually be warm, another hot and steamy and the third a cold plunge.

Given Scyrax's mean character, he naturally afforded his boys not only no oil but also only a cold bath. This facility was made chilly, even in the hot summer, by the facts that there were no windows in the young slaves' amenity and the water was brought to Rome mainly in tunnels and closed aqueducts rather than open ones from distant mountainsides.

Scyrax refused to expend unnecessarily in respect of his boys, including wasting fuel on heating water for them. However, personal sexual preferences and income considerations did encourage him to be generous over clothing, perfumes, diet and an excellent doctor, who was an expensive freedman of Greek origin. This physician would, of course, assist in overseeing Nisus' eventual safe castration and subsequent successful recovery, after his master had punitively gelded him, so that the new 15 year-old eunuch could be resold profitably at market.

Given his late father's wealth, Marius was accustomed at home to using all three kinds of bath, and with slaves to attend him. He had never liked the final quick cold plunge but had always bravely endured such an ending to his daily ablutions because of custom, the fact that it was supposed to vitalise the body and for appearances, as he did not want to appear cowardly.

Now, the cold bath, which was constantly refreshed by the residence's clever plumbing system, appeared to represent the only way to wash himself, with the sponges and crude perfumed soap provided, and, as such, Marius would be compelled to stay longer in the chilly water. However, as he did not want to appear cowardly in front of Sulis, who, being more accustomed to the situation, had already dived in, and as he was also keen to have the ordeal completed quickly so that he could satiate his hunger, he too rapidly made the plunge. His action finally caused his little unruly cock to shrivel in the cool to flaccidity.

Given the chilling circumstances, Marius and Sulis naturally did not linger long in the bath, which was another reason why Scyrax only provided a cold amenity. The fat man did not want just to waste fuel. He also did not like the idea of his slaveboys wasting their time by having fun playing in water.

Marius and Sulis were soon drying their beautiful glistening bodies with a towel apiece, selected from the copious number provided for the purpose, which were later placed in large laundry baskets. The younger boy, whose pretty face now at last displayed no evidence of the act of fellatio that he had performed for Scyrax on the previous evening, subsequently demonstrated to the slightly older newcomer the grooming techniques demanded by their master. His young slaves were always to be presented in the most attractive way for the day ahead.

"We always split into pairs for this," Sulis informed Marius, as he combed the slightly older boy's golden hair, "and, whatever your partner does for you, you have to do for him. You'll also have to be efficient. Not only is there normally a limited time before the eunuchs come with their scourges to demand we go for breakfast but also both will be punished if either is groomed unsatisfactorily!"

Sulis eventually introduced Marius to the huge jar containing the sweetly perfumed liniment, which they were rub all over each other's naked bodies. The former boy naturally took great care when spreading the substance over the newcomer's sore knees and shins, whilst the latter reciprocated in respect of his companion's recently caned bottom, despite the distraction of renewed tingling in his groin.

The freshly glistening and sweet-smelling Sulis later showed the equally sparkling and perfumed Marius the three baskets containing clean, pristinely white different slaveboy garments. "How old are you?" the 10 year-old subsequently asked of the newcomer.

"Eleven," Marius confirmed. "Then," Sulis advised, "you'll wear a loincloth. In accordance with Scyrax's rules and presumably personal tastes, the thongs are reserved for slaves aged 10 and under and the tunics are for 15 and 16 year-olds."

Sulis rummaged amongst the white loincloths to locate one that should fit Marius and, having achieved his objective, he presented his find to his companion. "It looks very small," the slightly older boy commented in response, whilst collecting the garment, which comprised a little thong and two skimpy flaps sewn to a narrow waist-cord, which was to be tied at his side.

"Scyrax expects you to wear the smallest one possible," Sulis explained, "and this should just fit you." Marius was soon to demonstrate that his companion's judgement was correct. The thong covered his genitals but so tightly that their full outline was perceptible, whilst the front flap barely hid this scenery and the rear shielded the lower part of his bumcrack only if he did not move.

Nevertheless, Marius was grateful for finally eradicating his embarrassing nudity and Sulis, as he inspected his companion, confirmed his own satisfaction by saying "Perfect!" The younger boy subsequently dressed in a tight minuscule thong before the pair then eagerly went to the kitchen to seek breakfast.

Chapter XXVII

Marius had, for example, learnt that Scyrax's secretary, Felix, was a particularly nasty and cruel man, who was always attempting to cause distress for his master's boys. Alseus, who was the muscular black servant and regular fearsome wielder of the cane and whip on behalf of his master, and the other more effeminate eunuchs were not much better but at least they did not deliberately provoke punishable trouble for the young slaves.

Sulis also offered Marius the tip that, when he was set to work in the kitchen, which he undoubtedly sometime would, as Scyrax liked his boys to learn about all aspects of menial household routine, he should try to secure the job of carrying dirty plates from the dining room. As a result, he would gain the opportunity to consume the scraps to supplement the rather bland diet afforded to his young slaves by their master. The cook's special honey and cinnamon pudding was particularly recommended.

Marius now noticed that the kitchen was similar to the one in his late father's country villa. However, Scyrax's was even larger, busier and possessed more and prettier slaveboys.

Taking Marius by the hand, Sulis guided his slightly older companion through the busy crowd of other slaveboys to where a fat red-faced man was standing supervising the stuffing of a goose with olives and wild pomegranates. The pair then stood respectfully silent nearby, waiting to be noticed by the cook, who was one of the few adult servants in Scyrax's household not to be a eunuch.

"Well boys," the cook eventually asked after he did indeed notice the young pair, "what do you two want?" "Please, Sir," Sulis answered, "can we have some food? Scyrax has given me permission to bring this newcomer late to breakfast."

"Well," the cook laughingly retorted, "from what I heard you had a good supper, the best a little slut like you can obtain from his Master, last night and therefore you shouldn't need breakfast!" Marius was initially confused by the man's suggestion because Scyrax had punitively refused all of his slaveboys their last meal on the previous evening.

"I was indeed a very lucky boy, Sir," Sulis replied, whilst smiling sheepishly and adding to Marius' confusion, "but I'm hungry again now." "For the same dish?" the cook next jested with a chortle, whilst he suggestively lifted the front of his food-stained tunic to reveal his loincloth underwear.

"If you wish, Sir," responded Sulis, whilst beginning to kneel down in front of the man and immediately relieving Marius' confusion. The slightly older boy finally realised that the cook was joking about his companion's act of fellatio for Scyrax on the previous evening.

"No, no, stand back up," the cook hastily commanded, whilst lowering the hem of his tunic, "as you should know that the Master doesn't like any of his adult slaves enjoying one of his sluts without permission. Instead, the pair of you come along with me and I'll give you some porridge and black bread to fill your stomachs."

Soon afterwards, Marius and Sulis found themselves alone, sitting on stools alongside one of the benches in the large dining room provided for Scyrax's slaveboys, which was as spartan as their other amenities. Big bowls of steaming porridge were in front of them, and each held a chunk of rye bread grasped in the hand not holding his spoon.

The boys ate quickly. Marius did so because he had been given little food for more than a week, whilst Sulis had learnt early in his young life to fill his belly rapidly whenever the chance arose for, as a slave, he could not be sure when the next opportunity would come along.

"So there you are Sulis," an older voice suddenly commented from behind, just as the boys were finishing their food. "I might have known you'd be in the kitchen stuffing your belly," the verbal tones added, not unpleasantly.

Sulis twisted round and grinned up at Dictys, who was standing looking down at the two smaller boys whilst holding a small jar in his hands. "As you said we could," the 10 year-old then replied, "Mariullus and I are having a late breakfast."

"I see that you're sitting on your bum," Dictys subsequently remarked, "so can I presume it's a bit better?" "Yes it is," Sulis responded before adding "Do you want to look at it?"

Without waiting for Dictys' answer, Sulis, attired only in his minuscule thong, jumped to his feet and pushed his bare bottom out towards the youth for him to inspect. Marius, looking at the scene from where he was still sitting, observed the sudden appearance of a bulge in the 16 year- old's tunic, whilst the younger boy's own tiny garment also began to balloon outwards.

Dictys now decided to take up Sulis' offer by inspecting the boy's bottom manually as well as visually. Consequently, the youth was soon running a fingertip gently along one of the livid welts that ribbed the 10 year-old's buttocks.

"That must be sore," Dictys next commented, as he noticed Sulis wince a bit in reaction to his touch. "Scyrax has sent me to put some salve on Mariullus' bottom," the youth subsequently advised, "but, as he's given me a full jar, there'll be some to spare for your posterior too!"

"Thanks, Dictys," Sulis politely replied. "I bet your bum's sore as well," the boy added, whilst standing upright and turning to face the very pleasant youth, "after being with Scyrax last night!"

"Well, you're right," Dictys affirmed, "as our Master is never very gentle with any boy and last night he was particularly harsh with me." "Did you take his whole cock into you?" the intrigued Sulis enquired.

"Yes," Dictys answered, although there was actually more pride than shame evident in his voice, "and as usual right to its roots. I could feel his pubes regularly pressing against my own bum!"

"I wonder if I could manage that," Sulis conjectured, "as Scyrax's cock is very big. My jaws are still aching after having it in my mouth!"

"If Scyrax decides he wants you in that way, Sulis," Dictys advised, "you'll simply have to manage it. He won't give you any choice!"

"I bet it hurts the first time anyway," Sulis suggested, "and more than the cane, I expect." "Much more," Dictys confirmed soberly, "much, much more. The excruciation experienced when a virgin is initially deflowered by Scyrax's enormous cock is worse than anything else a boy is ever likely to suffer, and it never gets much better. Even though I've had our Master's erection inside me many times, it still causes a lot of anguish because it's so big. However, if our owner wants to fuck you, you just have to endure the act without complaint, and anyway it wasn't just sodomy that caused me pain last night."

"Oh," Sulis asked, "what did?" Dictys had actually disclosed more information to the boy than he had intended, as he had not wanted to embarrass or cause mental hurt to the 10 year- old. However, the youth also did not like lying and so he answered the question truthfully by turning round, lifting the hem of his own tunic and showing the youngster his own bottom.

Sulis gasped in shock because Dictys' bottom displayed a mishmash of welts that was much worse than had been inflicted on his own buttocks. "When and why did our Master beat you like that?" the boy therefore next enquired.

"After I had attended to him at dinner and just before he took me to his bed," Dictys answered, "which made subsequent sodomy even more painful than usual. His motive was the unauthorised assistance that I gave to you to encourage you to lie across the flogging bench for your own beating in order to help you avoid doubled punishment."

"Scyrax instead inflicted the doubled punishment on my bum," Dictys continued, "in addition to the three he had given me earlier!" In reaction, Sulis' pretty face turned bright scarlet because the youth had received another twelve strokes of the rod because of the boy's tremulous cowardice.

"The whole experience was made even more painful, at least mentally," Dictys added, "because Scyrax inflicted the caning in front of his usual dinner companion, a certain sadistic young patrician of my own age, who laughed at the delivery of each blow. As I was later sent naked to await our Master in his bedchamber, the guest even suggested that the fact that my sore was bottom should add spice to his host's fucking!"

Dictys did not know that Scyrax had only summoned the efficient youth back to him so that he could attend him at dinner, at which he had then belatedly remembered the unauthorised assistance that the 16 year-old had afforded Sulis earlier in the day. The fat man had also not originally intended to take him to his bed because, after 5 years' menial and sexual service for him, he was finally tiring of his body, which was rapidly advancing into young manhood and which he would therefore soon sell.

Even before his young dinner guest had made his suggestion about spicing the act of sodomy, however, the sight of Dictys' sore bottom after his further beating had encouraged Scyrax to want the youth in his bed. The notion of ramming his own fat heavy thighs against the hurting buttocks was simply too tempting to ignore.

Chapter XXVIII

Dictys' disarming smile encouraged Sulis to cheer up and reply, perhaps rather too eagerly, "Of course I'll do that!" "Excellent," the youth subsequently commented, with suspicious equal enthusiasm, before suggesting "but I think Mariullus' bottom should be the first recipient of the salve. After all, that's what our Master has sent me here to do!"

"So Mariullus, please stand up," Dictys then requested in line with his proposal, "and remove your loincloth." The boy complied, albeit reluctantly because he recalled his anguish when Scyrax had introduced ointment to his sore anus on the previous day.

The fact that Marius was stripping naked before others was notably no longer significant in his young mind. The boy's obedience even subsequently became enthusiastic when Dictys smilingly reassured "Don't worry, as the salve is different from what our Master used on you and is very soothing."

Consequently, Marius quickly found himself presenting his bare bottom too to Dictys. The boy's own small cock also soon became hard, as the youth subsequently gently worked the soothing salve into the soreness created where Crastus' plug had cruelly chafed his bumcrack and rectum.

"I'm sorry I can't lie you in my lap whilst I do this," Dictys commented, as he bent over and proceeded with his delicate task, "but I'm afraid that my own bum's too sore to sit on at the moment." "That's all right," Marius replied, as he felt the youth's cool salve-covered finger carefully probing inside him.

Not long before, Marius would have felt deeply ashamed to be treated in this intimate manner and to be seen naked with an erection. However, all pride and modesty had been stripped from him by recent events and he had become somewhat inured to such humiliation. Despite his secret prominent background, the boy now sadly considered himself to be humiliatingly no different from any of the other pretty young slaves who served and suffered in the house of Scyrax and were destined for similar servitude elsewhere, possibly losing their balls along the way.

In fact, as Marius was to discover, boys in a state of erotic excitement were commonplace in Scyrax's abode. One of the fat man's cruellest tyrannies was to forbid them, at the very time that many were approaching, were passing through or had just completed pubescence to become highly sexually charged, any relief for their natural urges except at his acquiescence.

Scyrax's household was consequently a hotbed of suppressed sexuality, as many extremely frustrated boys looked at their invariably beautiful companions and dreamt erotic thoughts, which they were forbidden to practise unless selected to satisfy their Master's lecherous lusts and permitted relief as a reward, which was rarely granted.

Chapter XXIX

Marius had also somehow so far not incurred any adult displeasure and so had not yet been caned or suffered other punishment. The boy had achieved this feat by cleverly absorbing instruction quickly and well and fulfilling his subsequent duties efficiently and without error. He had additionally succeeded in maintaining a low profile as far as the dreaded Felix was concerned.

Marius had consequently so far found life in Scyrax's household not to be too personally distressing. The chores tended to be long and tedious but relatively light, whilst the food was plentiful if plain. Apart from those summoned to Scyrax's sexual service, the slaveboys were also permitted a good night's sleep, which might only be interrupted if their bottoms or other parts of their gorgeous anatomies hurt or slumber was made fitful by unrequited sexual desires.

Well exercised, fed and rested, Marius' exceptional body therefore gradually filled out to its previously perfect shape and proportions, whilst his golden hair and creamy skin recovered their healthy glow. As the boy's condition improved in this way, so did his energy and gregarious spirits, helped by his burgeoning friendships with Sulis and Dictys.

Although Marius was unaware of the close attention, Scyrax, from whom little escaped his notice, happily observed the rapid improvement in the boy's physical and mental condition. The fat man approved the alluring cheerful grin that often formed on the 11 year-old's beautiful face. He also liked the pert well-rounded bottom, which was regularly revealed from under the young slave's tiny rear loincloth flap whenever he energetically scurried to complete an errand or had to bend over to fulfil a chore. He especially welcomed the sight of the almost continuous bulge displayed at the front of the child's sole garment, which was clear evidence that the cock underneath was in a virtually constant state of arousal.

Scyrax suspected correctly that Marius' constant arousal was caused by three factors. First, the boy was on the cusp of the sexual awakening that was pubescence, and his body was beginning to react accordingly. Second, the sparsely-clad young slave appeared to enjoy being clearly admiringly ogled by others, as frequently happened. Third, the child also seemed to like the sight of his beautiful companions.

Nobody knew better than Scyrax how much the sight of a stiff cock enhanced a boy's value on the auction block. When the owner was a young blonde virgin of exceptional beauty, the fat man appreciated that the price that he should obtain for such marvellous fresh goods should be equally exceptional.

The perceptive Scyrax had also noticed other exceptional qualities in Marius in contrast to most of the other young slaves, who generally emanated from very humble domestic or foreign backgrounds. The boy spoke rather refined Latin in contrast to the coarser accents of many of his companions and was exceedingly well-mannered.

Scyrax had also suspected that Marius was literate, numerate and, from overhearing him speak to Sulis about Virgil's 'Aeneid' when they were brushing a floor together, well- versed in literature, which were very rare attributes amongst his young slaves. The fat man had confirmed his suspicions by the simple expediency of furtively testing the boy through ensuring that he was once given chores in the kitchen requiring the reading and writing of labels and weighing of ingredients and other calculations. He had additionally encouraged his cook to chat simultaneously about books and his servant had later reported back that the 11 year-old's knowledge of the subject was far superior to his own, and had passed the other trials superbly.

Scyrax's discovery that Marius spoke and probably could read and write good Greek as well was, however, accidental. The doctor he employed to check the welfare of his slaveboys on a regular basis had being shocked to find the young Roman politely addressing him in his own language.

To Scyrax, such attributes initially suggested that Crastus might have for some reason underplayed the quality of Marius' origins during the sale negotiations. The fat man judged that the boy's clearly superior education, which further increased his market value, might indicate that his provenance was greater than just being the son of an ordinary family fallen on hard times that had sold the child to pay off debts.

On the other hand, why would Crastus have undervalued Marius' origins, which only meant that he would obtain a lower price for the boy? Scyrax's mind consequently began to surmise that the 11 year-old's parents were probably once just free servants to some rich patrician, to whose own son theirs had been a companion and therefore, as was common, would have shared his private tuition. Something disastrous must have subsequently happened to cause them to lose their positions, which then led to desperate impoverishment.

Scyrax pondered quizzing Marius about his background but his conviction that the second scenario in his mind was the only plausible explanation for the boy's excellent education became overwhelming and he therefore did not bother to check his theory. His busy schedule also helped his attitude, as new slaveboys were constantly being acquired, whilst others were being regularly sent to market.

Scyrax's attention was additionally diverted by preparations for an imminent party that he was hosting to celebrate his birthday. Having satisfied his own mind about the reason for Marius' excellent education, which could be passed on to prospective purchasers in order to enhance his value, the fat man therefore gave the issue no further consideration.

Marius was therefore fortunately spared potentially dangerous questioning by Scyrax about his origins. If the fat man had trapped the boy into revealing the truth, he would undoubtedly not have taken any chances but would have had the 11 year-old quietly raped and strangled, although he himself would probably not have performed these acts. He knew a certain young patrician who would instead love to perpetrate the deeds.

Before subsequently disposing of Marius' dead body, Scyrax would also undoubtedly have blackmailed Crastus into not only repaying the boy's price but also donating a fee on top for him to remain silent about the other man's treachery against the Emperor. The fat merchant was, after all, good at his business.

Chapter XXX

At the evening audiences, a procession of sobbing boys was invariably forced to expiate faults, regardless of how trivial, by lying across the flogging bench. However, Nisus had not yet been returned to suffer his threatened castration. Rumours abounded amongst the young slaves that the wounds from his whipping had become infected, which appeared to be substantiated by the regular disappearance into the cellar where he was confined of Scyrax's hired Greek doctor.

Giton was also no longer visible. Rumours concerning him suggested that Scyrax had fulfilled his promise to sell the beautiful blonde virgin 'for what you can fetch as, what you are, a common little whore'. The whispers indicated that the 12 year-old had been sold to a boy brothel.

The excruciating wielding of cane and lash at the daily audiences with Scyrax represented by far the worst part of the daily routine. Marius feared such punishments but he had a natural cheery optimism and resilience that generally allowed him to enjoy the current moment, whatever personal terrors haunted him deep down, and most of the rest of his daytime schedule was not too bad.

Marius continued to do all he could to ensure that his name was not among those read out by Felix from his dreaded punishment roll and, by the day of Scyrax's birthday party, he was still succeeding. However, the boy was sadly now to discover that neither obedience nor efficient performance of his duties were necessarily sufficient to ensure a young slave's bottom remained unmarked.

For over a week, the main excited topic of conversation amongst Scyrax's slaveboys had concerned the party. They gossiped about the number and identity of the guests invited, the volume and intricacy of the courses of food that the cook was proposing to prepare and the acrobats, jugglers, dancers and other artistes, who would provide the entertainment.

For two days, Marius and Sulis had been helping two other slaveboys to polish those parts of Scyrax's rich collection of silver objects that were to be used at the party. The work had been very boring and stressful to their fingers, as the young slaves only used friction from a dry cloth to clean plentiful sets of plates, cutlery, goblets, ewers and candlesticks, all of which had to be burnished to mirror- like brightness.

Now, at noon of the day on which the party was to be held, all the silver had been polished except for a single gigantic platter. The enormous dish had an engraving of Niobe grieving for her six murdered sons and the same number of slaughtered daughters in the centre, chased in gold. Round her lay the unclothed bodies of her twelve dead children, all equally beautiful and portrayed in elegant but rather erotic detail. To one side stood the fearsome figures of the twin deities, Apollo and Artemis, with their swords dripping with the gore of the innocents, examining their homicidal handiwork with obvious satisfaction.

Marius and Sulis had carried the platter into the courtyard and the shade of the pergola, where they knelt beside the enormous dish, whispering quietly as they polished. They squatted in the special way prescribed for slaveboys in the house of Scyrax, namely with knees wide apart, feet pushed together behind them and bottoms pressed down to the ground so that their groins, currently covered by respectively a loincloth and thong, were exposed to full view.

Sulis was happily chattering to Marius, as he was increasingly prone to do, about Dictys. He described, with clear pride, how the youth clearly fancied him and, with obvious admiration, some of the kind and often clever or brave actions the 16 year-old had occasionally undertaken to help him.

The sound of the footsteps of two older people was then suddenly heard nearby behind him and so Sulis immediately fell silent. The boy instead bent assiduously over his work.

Scyrax did not mind his young slaves quietly talking whilst performing their duties, as long as their conversation did not affect their efficiency. However, Felix frequently suggested that such chatter had indeed caused inefficiencies in order to condemn the boys to punishment. Not knowing who was nearby, Sulis had therefore decided not to take the chance that one person might be the dreaded secretary and so he had stopped his chattering.

The footsteps also stopped. A sweet cloying scent began to pervade the air.

"What a lovely little boy," a high rather effeminate voice was then heard to say, "whom I haven't seen before. Where have you been hiding him, Scyrax, you naughty man?"

Marius did not recognise the voice and so stole a glance upwards. He saw the familiar bulk of Scyrax and, standing adjacent to him, a slim elegantly dressed youth with sleek blonde hair and a pale cold face, whose pallor had been enhanced by rouge carefully applied to the cheekbones.

"That's Mariullus," Scyrax announced, "whom I bought a few weeks ago in a terrible state. You would have turned your nose up at the brat then but, I must say, that the care and attention that I've since afforded him means that he's not too bad now. I propose to sell him next week and I'm sure that he'll earn me a nice profit!"

This was the first time that Marius learnt that he was to be sent next week to market. The boy immediately wondered why he was being sold before the likes of Sulis and other young slaves, who had been in Scyrax's house longer, but knew better than to ask the reason. He also felt some regret that he would soon be split from his new friends.

In fact, Marius' quick recovery from his earlier sufferings, his especially rapid and efficient absorption of all that he had been taught, his inherent good manners and his excellent education meant that he could be readied for market more speedily than most other young slaves. The boy also did not yet know that Scyrax had also decided to retain Sulis for now as a replacement for Dictys, whom the fat man proposed to sell soon too.

In Scyrax's opinion, the exceptional Marius was actually more beautiful than Sulis. However, the former boy, given his various impressive attributes, definitely possessed much greater market value, whilst the latter child of humbler origin was still highly attractive to the fat man's tastes.

Scyrax had therefore chosen to liquidise his most lucrative asset, Marius, whilst the boy remained a valuable virgin. The loss in later sending Sulis to market, having earlier deprived the boy of his innocence by deflowering him and subsequently having sex with him on a regular basis, would be less.

"You lucky man Scyrax," the effeminate youth next announced, "because the brat has a particularly lovely little bottom!" The 16 year-old patrician could see most of the delicious curvature in question under Marius' tiny rear loincloth flap because the kneeling boy was now dutifully stretching over the gigantic platter to polish the middle.

"It's a really provocative little bottom," the youth continued, to Marius' initial embarrassment and subsequent horror, "which is so smooth and tight, with such nice little dimples on either side. It's a bum that absolutely invites the cane. Please let me thrash the little darling!"

"Now, Maccius, I've told you that the brat's to be sold next week," Scyrax replied, "and I don't want to put him on the auction block with his rump raw. It'll spoil his price!" Marius, still somehow continuing to perform his polishing despite his horror at overhearing this worrying conversation, was naturally pleased with his master's initial protective attitude.

"That's typical of you Scyrax," Maccius complained in response, "as you don't seem to care about anything but money. You begrudge me this small little pleasure just because it'll knock a few sesterces off the price that you'll secure next week at market for the little whore!"

"But, Maccius, the brat's done nothing wrong," Scyrax protested unhappily. "That'll make beating him all the more fun," the youth immediately sulkily retorted, "but, if you won't let me, there's nothing that I can do about it. However, I don't know whether I'll bother to stay for your stupid party after this, as you obviously don't care about me like I thought you did. I'll just go home instead and thrash the bottom of one of my father's young slaves!"

"Wait, wait," Scyrax pleaded urgently, as Maccius turned to walk away, "whilst I reconsider the matter." Marius was naturally unhappy at his master's wavering but continued his polishing, whilst his endangered bottom remained stuck in the air.

"Well I suppose the auction is a week away," Scyrax subsequently commented, after considering the issue only very briefly and whilst indicating his abject surrender to his beloved Maccius' sadistic desires, "and young flesh heals quickly. Some prospective purchasers might also like a boy with a few marks of the cane on his bottom!"

"If I let you beat him, Maccius," the fat man next asked, whilst revealing the true motivation for his abject surrender, "will you be really nice to me tonight?" "Scyrax, you are an old dear," the youth obsequiously answered, "who's grumpy on the surface but so kind underneath."

"Of course, you lovely man," Maccius confirmed, "I'll be nice to you tonight!" The youth subsequently placed his arms round Scyrax's shoulders and lifted his face towards the much older and uglier version possessed by the fat merchant.

Maccius then kissed Scyrax hard on the lips and the incongruous pair stood for a moment embracing passionately. One of the fat man's hands simultaneously slipped up the back of the youth's thighs and, after lifting his short tunic, squeezed his bottom. However, they eventually broke apart and began to move off.

Scyrax glanced back and, catching Marius' fearful glance, crooked his finger at him. The appalled boy immediately compliantly rose to his feet and padded after his master and Maccius, with his throat suddenly dry with terror.

Sulis looked at Marius with pity before returning alone to complete the polishing of the enormous platter.

Chapter XXXI

Scyrax and Maccius shared a couch placed at the head of the range of tables. Marius sat miserably on the floor beside them, trembling at the thought of the cane soon cutting his tender bottom.

Maccius had agreed to Scyrax's suggestion that, if he had to beat Marius' delectable bottom, the deed should not be done for nothing other than the youth's own pleasure. The delight gained in caning the boy's lustrous posterior was instead to be shared by the more than twenty guests at the fat merchant's birthday party, as part of the evening's varied entertainment.

The guests essentially comprised those of Scyrax's most important business associates who shared his sexual tastes. They were all therefore sadistic pederasts.

On either side of Scyrax and Maccius, these guests lolled on their couches, chatting and laughing, whilst some of their host's young slaves served them many courses of fine food. All of the attendant boys, even the oldest but with one exception, only wore minuscule white thongs for the occasion.

The dishes included black and white olives, dormice sprinkled with honey and poppy seeds, hot sausages in beds of damsons and pomegranate seeds, meats cooked in double sauces, slices of the most delicious ham, oysters and mussels seasoned in fish sauce. Other young slaves also hurried round carrying pitchers, out of which they poured sparkling Falernian or still Spanish red wine, sometimes served over heated honey.

For their efforts, the serving boys were regularly discussed by the guests, with the various beautiful attributes of the scantily-clad young males being invariably the subject of conversations. They were also frequently fondled and pinched by the adults, which caused some of them to drop food or spill wine. Naturally, Felix, who had been allowed to attend by his master, albeit whilst only seated on a stool as befitted a slave, made a note of such errors. The perpetrators would, of course, be asked to lie across the flogging bench on the next evening in order to atone for their careless mistakes.

Each couch was also allotted an additional serving boy to attend to other miscellaneous chores for those occupying the divans. Dictys, now wearing a skimpy tight white thong rather than his more normal brief tunic, which nicely outlined the shape of the underlying genitalia, had been allocated to Scyrax and Maccius.

Dictys had already been told by Sulis that poor Marius was to receive his first beating. The kind and considerate youth therefore took every opportunity that he dared to try to bring some comfort to the younger boy, who was sitting so clearly miserably nearby.

When serving Scyrax or Maccius with the likes of a napkin, Dictys often manoeuvred so that his bare thigh brushed against Marius' shoulder to encourage the younger boy to look up at him so that he could try to console him with one of his disarming smiles. When sitting at rest on the floor, the youth also surreptitiously stretched out a hand to the 11 year-old, under the cover of the couch, to touch him for a similar purpose and indicate that he was not altogether alone, with no one caring for him.

Marius, who was now aware how Dictys risked his own hide in making these gestures, small though they were, was deeply grateful for his kindness. However, given that his bottom would still soon be flogged, the boy could not help but remain miserable and scared.

A group of hired musicians were currently playing at the far 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. However, there was suddenly a clash of cymbals and all was quickly silent.

A tall heavily built man, stripped to the waist and wearing only baggy striped trousers gathered at the ankle, then strode into the dining room. He was leading by his hand a lithe and attractive dark-skinned 13 year-old boy, whose body was oiled and who was wearing only a tiny triangle of white cloth between his legs.

The man bowed low to Scyrax. An assistant subsequently ran in and gave him a long ladder, which he held firmly upright, with one end resting on the obscene mosaic floor, and signalled the boy to climb. Whilst the child did so, the helper set about the floor around a dozen deadly three-sided iron spikes, which he rested on their bases, with their sharp tips pointing menacingly upwards.

When the boy 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 soon standing on his hands, whilst the oil lamps, illuminating Scyrax's dining room, glistening on his dark oiled torso and limbs and his sole tiny garment fell downwards to reveal very pleasant hairless genitalia displaying signs of arousal.

The boy next raised one hand from the topmost rung. He also spread his legs and reached out his arm, balancing himself in a single palm-grip. The man sank to his knees and, holding the bottom the ladder, subsequently began slowly to stand upright once more.

The assistant then started to intersperse blazing torches on the floor amongst the fearsome spikes. There was now complete silence in the dining room, apart from the laboured breathing of the man as he exerted his full strength to lift the ladder.

The man was soon upright, with the ladder held at waist level. He next began to raise his hands.

Slowly and with much clear exertion, the man eventually brought his hands to shoulder level, whilst the lovely body of the boy above, who was still attached to the ladder with only one hand, wobbled fractionally and dangerously. The adult then paused.

After composing himself and gaining fresh energy, the man subsequently, with a single smooth movement, raised his hands so that they were extended above his head. He then again paused.

The cymbals clashed once more shortly afterwards and the man immediately removed one hand from the ladder. Above him, the inverted boy brought his legs together and started to rotate his body by shifting his grip from palm to palm.

The cymbals next began to clash with increasing frequency as the boy turned more quickly. The guests simultaneously started to take up the beat, thumping their hands or goblets on the tables beside their couches.

Suddenly, the boy bent double, returning his feet to the topmost rung of the ladder. He then immediately released his grip and straightened, balanced for an instant on his soles, whilst his only skimpy garment again hid his genitalia from view.

The boy next performed an amazing back somersault and landed on the obscene mosaic on both feet, somehow unscathed amidst the iron spikes and blazing torches. The guests rewarded him by stamping and shouting their appreciation.

The man and boy bowed low in acknowledgement. However, their performance was not yet over.

The assistant ran in and handed the man a blazing hoop and a long supple pleated crop. Holding out the fiery ring at arm's length from his body, he subsequently snapped a command to the boy, reinforcing his order with a cut of his leather implement of chastisement across the child's bare thigh. This cruel action was not, of course, necessary to ensure obedience but was what he knew that the adult spectators present liked to see.

Despite the nearby presence of the iron spikes and blazing torches, the boy now performed a series of forward and backward flips through the blazing hoop. He was encouraged to go faster and faster by continued sharp cuts from the crop, which produced the inevitable red marks on his flesh as a symbol of their true nastiness.

There was again now silence in the dining room, except for the snap of the crop against naked flesh and the slap of the boy's bare feet on the mosaic floor. Marius, who rather prided himself on his own athletic flips, watched fascinated, with his own troubles momentarily forgotten.

Marius believed that he could do the flips just as well as the boy artiste but perhaps not so fast. However, he had so far never been encouraged to increase velocity by a man wielding a crop.

Suddenly, the man shouted and lifted the hoop above his head to indicate the conclusion of his act. The boy now stood panting nearby, with his body slick with sweat and marked with red stripes.

The dining room immediately echoed with applause and cheering. The musicians added to the noise with blasts on their cornets and clashing of cymbals.

Scyrax beckoned the man and boy to him. He threw a purse to the adult and showed signs of wishing to have the attractive child join him on the couch. However, Maccius objected.

Scyrax therefore instead popped a sweetmeat into boy's mouth and pinched his bare bottom and allowed the grinning man, who was happy with another successful public performance and early receipt of his fee, to back away with the child, with both bowing as they did so. The adult artiste would subsequently tend to the 13 year-old's cane wounds, as the young body had to be perfect again for the next show in one week's time, and reward him for his skill by subsequently sodomising him.

A further blast of the cornets now announced the arrival of the next food course. Four of Scyrax's slaveboys carried a silver gilt table into the centre of the room. They were followed by another quartet, carrying a stretcher, on which rested the enormous platter that Marius and Sulis had been polishing earlier in the day.

On the platter lay a whole roasted wild boar, surrounded by a dozen similarly cooked piglets. The cook followed, carrying a carving knife with a blade as long as that of a sword.

The cook subsequently slit open the belly of the boar and dozens of blood sausages rolled out, mixed with whole roasted blackbirds and thrushes. Serving boys were subsequently soon again hurrying about, bearing plates piled with the fresh meat or replenishing wine goblets.

When all the guests had been served, the musicians began to play again and a large crowd of delectable boys, aged between 11 and 13, entered and began a slow lascivious dance, which encouraged their short tunics to rise occasionally to show intriguing glimpses of what was underneath. Then, a single chord was struck on the lyre.

The boys, who were a hired troupe, immediately froze, as if in terror. A number of oil lamps were then extinguished to darken the scene.

A lute subsequently began to play a tune, which was simple but somehow also sinister. From the back of the large dining room, a satyr appeared, with cloven feet, goat-like legs, and body covered with a matted coat of black shaggy hair, out of which a monstrous phallus rose. There were tiny horns sprouting from his forehead.

This first satyr was soon joined by eight others, and they all advanced quickly upon the cowering boys. Meanwhile, the musicians struck up a wild tune of wailing flutes and crowing cornets, as the children apparently attempted to avoid the clutches of their brutish pursuers.

Clothes were soon being torn from young bodies, as the satyrs subsequently tried to catch their young prey. The boys, seemingly desperate to escape, flung themselves on their knees before the guests, begging to be taken onto their couches.

The invariably laughing guests gave protection to those young dancers they fancied, whilst kicking those they did not into the hands of the semi-human beasts. There was soon not a couch, except that of Scyrax and Maccius, that did not have at least one apparently fearfully trembling naked boy clinging to an occupant for protection.

The rest of the boys, having nowhere else to run, were ultimately overpowered by the monsters and dragged away, wailing and screaming. The previously extinguished oil lamps were then re-lit and once more the guests applauded wildly.

On this occasion, the guests also called out their thanks to Scyrax for his generosity, as well as for the ingenious manner in which he had allocated to them their boys for the night. Many of them subsequently spent time kissing away the supposed terrors of their now naked young prizes.

Serving boys singing sweetly brought in the next course. Plates piled high with various types of fruit and elaborate cakes, many soaked in honey, were proffered to the guests.

Noticeably absent from the servers, at least to Marius, was Sulis. The former boy was later to discover that the latter had been allocated to duties involving the washing of dishes.

Maccius, who now was lying on his couch with his head resting on Scyrax's chest, looked up into the fat man's face and whispered quietly to him. The obese and ugly merchant smiled fondly down at the youth before nibbling his ear and kissing him hard on the lips.

"You will be good to me later, won't you Maccius?" Scyrax subsequently asked, whilst referring to his desire to have sex with the youth. "Of course, my dear!" the 16 year-old answered, whilst fluttering his eyelashes.

"Then, you will have the reward I promised," Scyrax confirmed. The fat man therefore commanded "Dictys fetch my cane!"

The face of Marius, who was listening, immediately turned deathly pale, as he appreciated what the command heralded. The boy's buttocks also instinctively clenched at the prospect of what was about to be inflicted on them.

Dictys reluctantly but dutifully departed and was soon back, holding his master's well-used favourite cane, which had over the years chastised the bottoms of many boys, as well as other parts of their anatomies. As the youth returned, he shot a pitying look at Marius before proffering the rod to Scyrax.

The cane was a formidable implement, being well designed to strike terror into the heart of any unhappy child who might be subject to its cruel discipline. The rod was long, springy and finely tapered so that the tip was likely to curl round a boy's upraised bottom to bite deep into his buttock's defenceless flanks.

After allowing Maccius to move his head away from his lap, Scyrax swung his feet to the floor from his couch and, with his customary difficulty, stood up. He next took the cane from Dictys and waved it experimentally.

The hiss of the cane, as Scyrax waved it about, sounded menacingly in Marius' terrified mind. However, the noise was pleasanter to the ears of the fat man's guests, who all liked to see a boy being beaten.

Conversation and lewd activity amongst the guests, including that involving their new boy toys, therefore again ceased. All attention was instead focused on Scyrax and what he proposed to do with his cane.

"Here you are, Maccius," Scyrax eventually announced, whilst cheerfully handing his cane to his young friend. "Show me and everyone how good a boy beater you are," the fat man subsequently requested of the smiling youth.

Turning his attention to a certain terrified boy, Scyrax then commanded "Stand up, Mariullus, turn round to face my guests, remove your loincloth, spread your legs, bend over and hold your shins to present your bum nicely for Maccius to cane!" The 11 year-old reluctantly began to comply, realising that disobedience or hesitation would lead to worse punishment.

Marius had been the only one of Scyrax's slaveboys not to be attired just in a thong at the party. His master had decided not to require him to redress because the boy would instead soon be naked.

Marius was aware that many eyes were now focusing on him, and not just those of the lecherous adults present. The naked boys now sharing couches with the libidinous guests and the young slaves still serving food and drink were also looking at him in intrigued fascination.

After standing in the required position, Marius' trembling hands ventured to the side of his white loincloth, where a little knot on the waistband kept the skimpy garment in place. The boy's shaking fingers subsequently reluctantly pulled at the bow and soon his sole covering was falling onto the mosaic floor below.

Marius immediately heard loud satisfied murmurs coming from most of the nearby couches, as many lustful pederasts indicated their delight at seeing the exceptionally beautiful boy's completely naked form. For these lasciviously sadistic men, the sight was made even pleasanter by the fact that the young slave was not only clearly petrified about what was imminently to happen to him but also incongruously erect.

Marius had earlier again detected tingling in his groin. The evidence for this phenomenon was originally a little bulge in the front of his loincloth and, with the skimpy garment shed, was now visible for all to see, as his small but nice cock stood proudly horizontal.

After Marius had spread his legs and bent over as instructed, he heard Scyrax commenting, after also happily noticing the boy's erection and to laughter from all around, "I see, Maccius, that, judging from the brat's hard cock, he's really looking forward to what you're about to do!" The 11 year-old's pretty but currently clearly scared face had already reddened in response to having to strip naked in front of so many obviously interested spectators but the hue of humiliation now deepened in reaction to his master's insulting but somehow true remark.

Scryax next asked, whilst beginning to feel Marius' seriously endangered young buttocks, which were now nicely positioned for the imminent painful attentions of the rod, "Have you ever been caned before, brat?" The boy nervously answered "N….N….No….Master!"

"I thought not," Scyrax advised, whilst still running his fingers across Marius' bottom, "as I always seem to be able to tell when a brat's being beaten for the first time. You must have been a good boy previously to avoid such punishment!"

Marius was unsure whether to respond to the latter comment. He was also tempted to remind his master that he had remained a good boy and was only now being beaten to satisfy Maccius' sadism. However, he was prevented from saying anything further when the fat man again began to address the cruel youth.

"So, dear Maccius," Scyrax suggested, "the brat's virgin bum hasn't been hit previously and is therefore currently unaccustomed to the anguish and marking induced by a decent caning. Consequently, you'll be introducing the slut to a completely new experience, namely the agony of a good beating across his backside."

"I therefore recommend," Scyrax continued, "that, in order to ensure that the introduction is memorable for both of you, you proceed carefully and slowly. Aim each blow as if it was targeted to hit beyond where the brat's bum actually is and pause between each strike to re-compose yourself and allow the slut to appreciate his agony fully before more is induced."

Maccius was, in fact, no stranger to beating boys, in both in his own household and that of Scyrax. The young patrician's immediate family might have fallen on hard times. However, generous loans from rallying fellow members of the upper classes, generally awarded by relatives or in return for political or commercial favours, still enabled them, like many in similar predicaments, to have a decent home with servants, although both were mortgaged to the maximum. The fat merchant had also often let the youth flog a miscreant juvenile slave, although usually one who had erred in serving their dinners and never before in such public circumstances without justification.

Scyrax was, to Maccius, obviously offering him the benefit of his advice and extensive experience partly to show off but also more helpfully to ensure that the youth did not forget in the public circumstances how to deliver a good thrashing. In this situation, the young patrician was prepared to listen acquiescently to the recommendations, even though he believed them unnecessary, because the reward, namely the imminent ability to cane the delectable Marius, outweighed his suppressed impatient annoyance.

"Also try to aim your blows," Scyrax added, "at slightly different parts of the brat's bottom to ensure full coverage, leaving the area around the crease of his bum for last." Marius now felt the fat man's fingers move across the relevant part of his flesh, namely his uppermost thighs, indicating the area to be attacked.

"Blows here will hurt most and longest," Scyrax advised, with accuracy gained from long experience of inflicting canings on boys. "You can give the brat eight cuts, Maccius," the fat man subsequently announced to Marius' horror, "comprising six on his rump and a couple in this crease. I'm sorry that I can't let you inflict more but, if I did, he'd never recover in time to be sold at market next week!"

"I suppose eight will have to do, then," Maccius responded, with disappointment apparent in his voice, "but that'll mean that I mightn't be as nice to you later as I would have been if I could have hit the brat more, say a dozen times!" Not wanting to lose out on having sex with the youth later, Scyrax subsequently quickly conceded the additional four strokes.

Scyrax was rewarded with a comment from Maccius that "You're a lovely dear man!" The youth also obsequiously kissed the fat merchant in gratitude.

Many people present wondered why Scyrax was so infatuated with Maccius. After all, the youth was not overly attractive and the fat man had ready access to far prettier and compulsorily more compliant boys.

Most concluded that Scyrax's infatuation actually partly stemmed from the challenges that he encountered when encouraging the constantly teasing Maccius into his bed. The fact that the difficult-to-seduce youth was also of free patrician status, was amusing company and shared his sadistic pederastic tastes also appeared to be key factors, for the fat man, in the 16 year-old's allures.

After hearing his sentence, Marius' eyes began to fill with tears. The boy had done nothing to earn chastisement but nevertheless he was to be imminently beaten more comprehensively than any boy he had seen being punished at Scyrax's daily audiences with his young slaves, apart from Giton and Nisus.

Despite attempts to show bravery, Marius could not help his tears, as the thought of now suffering twelve cuts from the cane, twice as many as Sulis had endured, was just so appalling. However, despite his terror, the boy's cock, which was dangling between his splayed legs, remained mysteriously erect.

"Mariullus seems to be unhappy about something," Maccius subsequently commented with a giggle, as he now saw teardrops fall to the mosaic floor. "He'll cry a good deal louder when he feels the cane across his rump!" Scyrax replied harshly.

"Master," Marius suddenly sobbed, "please don't let me be beaten. I haven't done anything wrong!" The boy knew in his heart that there was no point in pleading, especially as he might now receive extra punishment for speaking without permission. However, he somehow just could not help himself from uttering his desperate entreaty.

"What's that got to do with it, brat?" Scyrax retorted, whilst laughingly referring to Marius' reminder that the boy had committed no offence worthy of punishment. "It is simply my wish that you should be beaten," the fat man added, "and that is the end of the issue!"

Scyrax subsequently rewarded Marius for his desperate entreaty by clouting him hard on the side of the head. Consequently, the boy staggered forward, lost his balance and fell to his knees.

"Hmmm, if a simple clout to your head makes you fall to knees, brat, what will the cane encourage your little cowardly body to do?" Scyrax subsequently queried, as he viewed the naked Marius sobbing whilst on his knees. "We could be here all night," the fat man then speculated, in jest rather than accurate complaint, "if I allow you to collapse every time that dear Maccius hits you!"

"I'll therefore make matters easy for you to retain your position," Scyrax announced, "as I'll instruct Dictys here to 'horse' you. Now stand up, brat!"

Scyrax bent over and took hold of Marius by the arm in order to help him to his feet. Having fulfilled his aim, the fat man commented to the boy, whilst ruffling his golden hair, "You see, I do care about my brats!"

"Dictys come here," Scyrax next commanded, whilst turning to the named youth, "and take your thong off. I don't want the garment soiled if Mariullus wets himself when Maccius is beating him!"

Dictys obediently but reluctantly stepped forward and removed his thong, immediately verifying what had been evident by the previous ballooning of the sparse attire. The youth's much bigger cock was as erect as the smaller version possessed by Marius.

Dictys was not too embarrassed by his nudity or his public display of arousal. The youth had been exhibited in such a manner before guests of his master on so many different occasions over the previous five years that he had almost become immune to the humiliation. However, a deeper redness to his handsome face did indicate that he was not entirely inured.

Dictys advanced to Marius' front and encouraged the still, kneeling, sobbing and incongruously erect boy to stand through whispering in his ear "Come, my brave little child, demonstrate to all these people that you're no coward. In fact, exhibit to them that, by your show of fortitude, you're better than any one of them, including the person who's permitted the beating and the one who's inflicting it!"

In whispering these words into Marius' ear, Dictys was naturally hoping not only to help the boy complete his ordeal as quickly as possible with at least some decorum but also that no one else would hear what he had said. Scyrax, Maccius and the other guests would have been outraged by the inference about them in his comments and the youth would consequently have suffered severely.

Fortunately, Dictys' brave whisper was not overheard. The youth's courageous gesture was also rewarded by similar from Marius.

Dictys turned his back and lent down so that Marius, who was aware of what Scyrax had meant by the verb 'horse', could reach his arms forward over his shoulders. The boy, despite his acute fears but encouraged by the youth's whispered words, subsequently plucked up enough courage to do so.

Taking a firm hold of the Marius trembling wrists, Nictys stood up, lifting the younger slave's feet clear of the mosaic floor in the process. As the youth's back was still bent, his new posture ensured that the younger boy's bottom was again nicely presented for imminent chastisement.

Marius now hung against and felt the smooth skin of Nictys' back. However, the younger boy's still remarkably hard cock immediately experienced discomfort, as the undisciplined erection also pressed against the youth's flesh. He therefore instinctively wriggled so that his unruly penis pointed more easily upwards along the older slave's spine, whilst somehow becoming more rigid than ever.

Marius subsequently lay still, whilst fearfully and helplessly waiting for the moment when Maccius would sadistically bring the cane slicing down across the boy's defenceless bottom. The 11 year-old now knew that there was truly no chance of mercy or escape from the imminent agony to come.

Marius tensed, as he next felt one of Maccius' cruel hands, presumably not the one holding the vicious cane, lightly caress his bottom. "What a cute little bum," the terrified boy then heard the sadistic youth croon in his high effeminate voice, "you have, my pretty one. It's so smooth and tender and the skin is stretched so beautifully taught in readiness for the rod. It's terrible, isn't it my poor pet, to think that soon it'll be all ripped and bloody, and it's so unfair too. You've done nothing wrong, have you, my sweet?"

"You've been such a good obedient boy," Maccius sadistically continued, "but I'm still going to cane that delicious bottom of yours, just because I'll enjoy hurting you. I'll pleasure in scoring deep wheals across that sweet bum, whilst listening to you scream as I lay the stripes on, watching you writhe and kick, as the rod tears the hide from your rump. No wonder you're already crying, knowing what is to be done to you and why!"

On hearing these cruel comments, Nictys would have loved to have released Marius and turned to kick Maccius in the balls. However, the much nicer youth appreciated that he would be lucky to escape with nothing worse than the loss of his own testicles for perpetrating such a deed against his master's sadistic beloved. He therefore reluctantly just continued compliantly to hold the younger slave securely in place, knowing that such obedience was better for both their futures.

"A beautiful boy," Maccius proceeded to ramble, as he now slid his free hand up Marius' bare back, "who's such a lovely child, so ripe, so pretty and so vulnerable. Your poor darling!"

Marius then felt Maccius' breath against his shoulders and the youth's lips brush the side of his neck, just behind the ear, before he heard a whisper announce "I'm so sorry to do this to you, my poor cutie. However, I just enjoy hurting pretty little things like you!"

Marius could not tell whether the immediate comprehensive outbreak of goosepimples affecting all of his body was as a result of the close breathing, the lips brushing him, the whisper or the actual announcement. In fact, the boy gave little thought to the reason because Maccius next declared "Well, I suppose we may as well begin the fun now, mightn't we my poor pet, because otherwise the spectators will be becoming impatient!"

Maccius subsequently straightened and laid his cane gently across Marius' bottom, caressing the lovely curvature with the wicked rod, whilst carefully measuring his target. The youth was rewarded by the sight of boy's buttocks tensing in fearful anticipation of the excruciation to come.

Maccius subsequently raised his cane over his right shoulder. All chatter and laughter amongst the guests immediately ceased and was replaced by an expectant hush that befell the large ornate dining room, which was now only interrupted by the sound of Marius' fearful sobbing.

The watching Felix was perhaps the most disappointed man in the dining room. The couches had, in accordance with common practice, been placed in strict hierarchical order in line with the status of the guests lying on them.

Being a slave, Felix's stool had been positioned beyond the customary inverted-U formation of couches, at the end of one of the two flanks of divans occupied by increasingly less important guests. The secretary was therefore sitting to one side at the opposite extremity of the dining room to where his master and the host, Scyrax, was situated.

Felix therefore could observe Marius' head appearing above one of Nictys' shoulders, plus the boy's legs dangling between the youth's own splayed lower limbs, and Maccius' cane rise in the air before disappearing. However, from his perspective, the secretary could not actually see the rod hitting a young bottom, which he would have preferred to do.

All that Felix could observe, as a result of the slowly deliberate caning that Maccius now delivered to Marius' bottom, was the acute agony displayed on the boy's face and the temporary disappearance of his legs, as they momentarily kicked backwards in protest at what he had just excruciatingly suffered. Greater evidence for the young slave's current immense suffering actually emanated from his vociferous screaming and fruitlessly repetitive begging of "Please stop!"

Nevertheless, despite his disappointment at his view, Felix still happily smirked. The sight of the face of a particularly pretty boy enduring agony, and hearing the resultant shrieks and useless pleading, represented, to the secretary, truly magnificent party entertainment.

Felix also happily knew that even better cruel entertainment was soon to come.

NEXT PART