He’d be executed, for sure, most likely by crucifixion. But it would be worth it, would it not? He was still very fast with a sword – perhaps faster than he had been in his gladiatorial days, for these wolf senses he now possessed added a dimension of power and agility to his human form that he had never before experienced. He would be able to fight off a handful of these guards, who were little more than badly paid and poorly trained street thugs, while hacking those soft, fat and helpless senators to pieces. They wouldn’t be able to run very fast or far now, would they, with their paunches all stuffed full of meat and wine and gravy …
‘Honoured guests! May I please have your attention? Your attention, please, if I may!’
Once again, Batiatus’s thunderous voice interrupted Lucius’s thoughts as it tore through the aural maelstrom of music, laughter and loud conversation. Everyone fell silent, and the musicians stopped playing their lyres, flutes, harps and drums.
‘My dear friend, Senator Octavian, has organised the main spectacle tonight, which will be the climax of the evening’s entertainment. I will let him introduce that himself when the time comes. However, before that special event, as we begin to serve the main courses – which I hope you all still have room in your bellies for – I myself have put together a small programme of entertainment for your collective enjoyment. First, in honour of my dear nephew Hortensius and his new wife Aelia, who are hoping to soon be blessed with the conception of a son, we will have a show of copulation, performed by a number of Mistress Dometia’s sultry pleasure slaves, exotic barbarians who come from lands far from the southern, northern, western as well as eastern reaches of our Empire. In these savage and uncivilised places, they perform the act of intercourse in positions and manners that will astound and awe you! Performing with them will be a number of male slaves, also owned by Mistress Dometia. They are renowned for their sexual prowess – they have the stamina and strength of bulls, and they will be doing their utmost to satiate their ravenous female charges! Let us observe this wondrous spectacle, my friends, and give praise to the god and goddess of fertility, Liber and Bona Dea, that my nephew and his beautiful wife may conceive a strong and intelligent boy who can carry the honour and nobility of my family name!’
Cheers and bawdy laughter rippled through the dining hall, but from around the table nearest Lucius there burbled a discontented grumbling, which was coming from the two old senators, Claudius and Lepidus. Lepidus leaned over to his friend Claudius and spoke in a low voice.
‘Bah! It’s just like one of these minor aristocrats, with no real lineage to speak of, to include such base entertainment at one of their feasts. Look at this place! It’s hideous in its sheer ostentatiousness. No taste whatsoever! To think that Octavian enjoys keeping company with such an undesirable individual as this Batiatus … shocking, is it not? First Octavian began dabbling in gladiators and other such lowly enterprises, things with which only uneducated and brutish plebs are concerned … and now this, a, a lewd display of carnality! How revolting!’
Claudius shook his head and grimaced.
‘To be bluntly honest, this causes me much despair. These people around us, these uncivilised businessmen with low-born origins, they simply have no class whatsoever. They’ve made fortunes off of brothels, taverns, and gambling, essentially – because that’s all that this gladiatorial nonsense really is, a savage and bloody form of gambling – and this is no honourable way in which to amass coin and riches. Not at all. And look at the manner in which these brutes flaunt their newfound wealth! The garishness of these people’s clothes is hideous in its tastelessness! I know that this Batiatus used to be a general of our glorious Legions, once upon a time, and that he comes from an noble if rather minor family – but to be honest, in his behaviour now he seems little better than some crass Egyptian or Greek merchant, drunk on new wealth, without the slightest clue how to spend his ill-acquired coin in a tasteful manner.’
Lepidus narrowed his eyes and he scrunched his wrinkled visage into a haughty frown of disapproval.
‘If this is the type of person who will inherit power and start to wield influence in the Republic, I fear greatly for its future.’
‘This Batiatus fellow,’ Claudius muttered, ‘I’ve heard rumours that he greatly desires a position in the senate.’
Lepidus shook his head and crossed his arms over his pigeon chest before he replied.
‘Surely such things cannot be credible? That blustery buffoon hasn’t got the connections or the family background, much less the intelligence required to get into the senate. That sounds like a baseless fabrication to me.’
‘Beware Lepidus,’ Claudius muttered. ‘Should I remind you that you have in the past been guilty of underestimating opponents? I assure you, these little whispers come from extremely credible sources.’
Lepidus stroked his wispy beard and nodded.
‘I see. Well, in recent times Octavian has struck up quite a friendship with this brute. But to what end? Yes, he is rich, but his wealth is a mere trickle compared to the torrentially-flowing rivers of gold that each of us boasts.’
Just then Octavian got up from his side of the table and strutted over to the pair, swaggering with brash confidence and grinning smugly as he sipped on his wine.
‘Claudius! Lepidus! How goes the evening?’
Claudius smiled awkwardly,
