I clasped Antinous around the shoulders and gave him a big hero's hug, coupled with deep relief that the hunt's outcome had been so propitious.
Hadrian took Antinous' right arm in a firm Legion greeting clasp.
'Bravo Antinous, son of Telemachus of Claudiopolis. The hunt is yours! Hail to the Victor!'
He raised his arm high, just as they had seen gladiators do in the arena at Byzantium after a win. Then he glanced knowingly at his comrades Arrian, Julianus, and Geta with a sly grin.
'But tell me, young man, do you know the story of Hermolaus? Do they teach you these things in Bithynia?' he asked loudly enough for all to hear.
Hadrian glanced to Arrian, and both Antinous and I detected a flicker of a wink pass between them. I saw Antinous slowly beginning to blush to a deep crimson.
I could not recall a 'Hermolaus' story from my studies, though the name was vaguely familiar. I wondered if I had misinterpreted Caesar's accent of Latin-colored Greek. However Antinous seemed very aware of the name. It visibly troubled him. His eyes fell shyly to earth as the hunt support staff arrived to bind the boar for transport.
Hadrian spoke.
'As my friend Arrian can tell us, who is a very great authority on these things, Hermolaus was a page in the service of Basileus Alexandros. King Alexander of Macedon was on a boar hunt in Persia with boys from his retinue, and this one lad — Hermolaus — struck at the chased boar which Alexander himself prized to kill. Hermolaus killed it instead.' Caesar looked around at the group as everyone's eyes narrowed with rising concern.
'Alexander was so outraged at being denied the strike he had the boy thrashed before his fellow pages and confiscated his horse,' he added.
A hush settled on the group, and despite Arrian's knowing smile everyone feared for Antinous's comfort. Was Caesar being cruel? Was this another side to Caesar?
Antinous caught his breath and stood straight to his full height, which was already almost level to Caesar's, to look the emperor directly in the eye. The emperor waited patiently for a response with the barest hint of a smile. Antinous's cheeks flushed.
'My Lord Caesar, sir,' he began in a formal tone with a salutary dip of his head, 'May I speak?' The emperor nodded. Antinous responded.
'Hermolaus, son of Sopolis, committed far worse than steal a hunter's kill. He was involved, if I recall correctly, in the tragedy of a plot against Alexander the Great, and many of the pages paid dearly for it. Justly so, we in Asia believe, such was the degree of the treason. The Roman historian Curtius Rufus of the days of Caesar Nero records the tale at length.'
He paused to measure his effect in case he was stepping beyond the boundaries of protocol. But it seemed he wasn't.
'We Hellenes read the story of Alexander with pride because he is one of us, though we read the Curtius text in Latin with its parallel Greek translation for our schooling. But we also read King Ptolemy's version of these tales of Alexander in their archaic Attic Greek, along with the historian Aristobulus and the other romance tales of Alexander,' Antinous offered with scholarly seriousness. He had regained his tongue.
Hadrian was taken aback by this schoolroom history lesson. So too were Arrian, Julianus, Geta, and the others, who raised approving eyebrows. Even the two Praetorian Guardsmen seemed impressed behind their professionally sullen demeanor. The emperor nodded agreement but then, after another conspiratorial glance to Arrian, his countenance became stern. He posed a further question.
'Tell me, Antinous of Claudiopolis, what else do you know of Alexander? Who was Alexander's most important comrade? Name some of his Companions.'
The question seemed to both Antinous and I to be a further simple schoolboy's test.
'His strategic comrades, my Lord, were great heroes,' Antinous proposed. 'Lysias, my friend here, and I would probably name from among his Companions his general Cleitus as his worthiest comrade. He saved Alexander's life at the Battle of Issus and always spoke the truth, despite the king's eventual drunken murder of him.'
I was hugely flattered to be included by Antinous in this erudite summary. Yet Antinous continued.
'But for me, of course, it was his Commander of the Companions and fellow prince, Hephaestion, who was most important. Their great friendship sings across the ages and enters our hearts even today, my Lord.'
Antinous is a fond admirer of the Greek heroic classics. Unlike Alexander he doesn't keep a copy of The Iliad under his pillow, but he has several precious scrolls of such books in his personal chest.
Hadrian and Arrian shared a further meeting of eyes. It contained a coded message beyond our understanding. Hadrian then changed the subject.
'Where did you two lads learn to cleave to mountain ponies with such mastery? You must teach us your skills,' he stated with perhaps excessive flattery. 'It was a sight to behold. Your mounts are unique creatures and deserve their own reward. Tonight you and your friends here can serve us your hunt victim grilled on a spit to celebrate your victory. My household will provide the entertainments, and we will dedicate the spoils to the Goddess Artemis herself.'
'But my Lord, if I may speak,' Antinous interjected. He had recovered his civil tongue at last, but spoke out of turn without permission. 'It was not I but you who brought down the beast. I was merely your attendant-at-arms, your page. The actual kill was certainly yours.'
Antinous had retrieved sufficient of his senses to offer this polite diplomacy. I guess Hadrian and Arrian noticed it was expressed without any of the cloying deference of a courtier, which was probably a novelty for them.
'That's very modest of you, lad,' Hadrian offered, 'I praise your tact. But in truth I merely fulfilled its destiny, a destiny resolved by your good scouting, chase, and strike. You deserve your award for your skill and courage. Tonight we will assign you its ears and snout as tokens of your victory. Be proud of your feat, my boy. Each of us here are proud on your behalf, and we rejoice in the day's adventure with you.
Antinous blushed deeply again. I think I blushed too.
Hadrian then turned to Arrian, Julianus, Geta, the Praetorians, and the others who had assembled. He regaled us with a message we grew to appreciate later.
'There's fine talent here among these Greeklings in Bithynia, I see. We must inspect their credentials more closely. If this province is to have a new generation of trained statesmen and administrators, or military officers and governors, we must seek out those worthy of the honor with diligence. Perhaps tonight we will test their quality?'
The assembled hunters slapped their swords against their breastplates in noisy accord while we youngsters looked around to each other with swelling pride.
I noticed Arrian smiling calmly to himself in a manner which suggested he was very pleased indeed with the day's work.'
Lysias ceased his recollection and reached for his goblet to sip some wine. He looked reflectively to the floor tiles and shuffled his feet. He had disappeared into a private reverie.
CHAPTER 9
'So, did something unusual happen at the celebration feast?' Suetonius asked.
'Yes, there were intimations of what was to follow,' Lysias responded.
'Then tell us about it. But remember, time is passing.'
'We six meirakia guys with our attendants were freshly spruced and dressed in our finest attire,' Lysias began. 'Our status as the guests of honor heartened us sufficiently to cope with so intimidating a social event. After all, it was an Imperial Symposium.
Were we expected to engage in learned displays of rhetoric or philosophical debate? Would it be an ordeal in classical education or a test of scholarly knowledge? Or would it be a wild drunken revel matching our own young men's monthly gatherings in our respective communities?
The hunt victim had been skinned, gutted, cleansed of vermin, dowsed in olive oil and garam sauce, scattered with herbs, plugged with garlic, and slung straddled on a roasting spit above hot coals to be rotated in splashes of
