consequence.
A private letter conveyed to me by Caesar's Proconsul to Asia, Serenius Granianus, has enquired if I as your Father offer my authority for your special engagement, Antinous, with the Imperial Household in the station of Friend to Caesar until your maturity.
The role of 'Friend' is outlined under the terms of the traditional Erastes/Eromenos relationship of the Hellenes. It is for your further education in Greek and Roman customs, in the Latin language, courtly manners, and the procedures of Roman Law. It is for mastering the hunt and the prosecution of warfare, while sharing the companionable society of distinguished men of the Imperium. It means you would enter within the Imperial Household under the emperor's protection for its duration. You are entitled to include friends such as Lysias within your personal household under Caesar's patronage.
This is an extraordinary honor for a young man's advancement. Are you aware, my son, of the munificence of this endowment to a Greek of non-Roman origin? Also, son, are you aware of the implications of the role as eromenos to such a noble supplicant?
I am obliged to respond promptly to the Proconsul with my opinion. But importantly, my son, do you yourself accept these terms? You must think upon this and respond to me here today prior to my permission. I will be guided by your desires.'
Telemachus paused for breath, took a sip of wine from a chalice, and observed his son's response with keen intent. The previously dulled, ageing eyes glinted with the intelligence and confidence of the man at an earlier period of life. Antinous took his time to reply in the hushed chamber.
'Father, I believe I do,' Antinous responded cautiously. 'My tutors and companions have long prepared me for the prospect of a role as an eromenos. Among my friends, including Lysias here, we have discussed such matters often since childhood. But I had not expected a suitor to be one as noble as Great Caesar.'
I noticed Telemachus shifting uneasily in his seat.
'To receive the favor of the emperor is a remarkable boon,' Telemachus continued, 'but it has obligations to be carefully weighed. In addition to your exposure to the uppermost echelon of Roman life, the role of 'Friend' in Caesar's private contubernium possesses remarkable opportunities. However, it also has equally remarkable obligations.
Do you appreciate the extent of the demands to be made upon you by Caesar as your erastes, Antinous? I do not wish to give my permission to you unless it is your firm desire to become a Friend of Caesar and to freely accept such a notable mentor.'
The older man scrutinized his son with some intensity, I recall. He continued his queries.
'I am your father, Antinous. You are the fruit of my seed and, along with your elder brother, carry the seed of this House and our line into the future. I wish to ensure your well-being, son, with your personal confirmation of this proposal if it suits your temper.
It may surprise you to learn how in recent times I have received two submissions from suitors of quality for the honor of being erastes to you. Though they were newly-bearded, unmarried young fellows of the land-owning class a few years older than you who are probably known to you from the palaestra yard, I nevertheless rejected their proposals. They were petitioners of an unsatisfactory quality for my son. I did this even without discussing them with you.
However, Antinous, a proposal from Caesar seems an exemplary opportunity to your benefit, and one in which I have difficulty detecting fault. Do you agree?'
There was a thoughtful pause.
'I am proud and flattered, Father,' Antinous uttered with not a little calculation, 'that Caesar has taken an interest in my character and welfare. My single day's exposure to his company at Nicomedia proved our Princeps to be a most generous gentleman. He was very attentive to those of us there, and to me especially, with openness I found disarming in so great a noble.
Nevertheless I request your opinion, Father, of his proposal and your advice on what you expect of me? I request your instruction about the terms of this relationship, as a father expects of a dutiful son.'
Telemachus again shifted uneasily in his seat.
'You and your friend Lysias are very young men, Antinous, barely out of childhood though already of a military age,' he said. 'At your age I was already serving as a junior officer with the Greek auxiliaries to Trajan's legions at Dacia.
Over the coming few years both you and Lysias will mature towards man's complete status. You will learn what it is to be a man who takes initiatives in life, who possesses focused drive and consummates his ambition by effective action in a warrior's way. It is the dynamism of being male, both physically and spiritually. It is training in a way of life which separates us of the Hellene elites from the craven races beyond the Black Sea and our borders. They are slaves to their masters.'
As he continued his brow darkened. Telemachus drew himself forward towards the four men standing before him.
'Among the Hellenes the optimum virtue is arete, the pursuit of excellence. In Homer or Socrates or Aristotle it is arete which infuses the Greek view of life. Arete is goodness, arete is achievement, arete is manly excellence, arete is when our actions rise above the conflicts of life and we achieve high honor. Arete propels our Olympic Games. Arete drives Greeks to Victory! Arete is life! The spirit of arete is the most important facet of the training of youths to full manhood,' the ageing soldier and farmer proclaimed with intensifying emotion.
'In days long ago our forefathers told that a man's masculine power, his arete, is carried in his life fluids. His living blood, sweat, and semen convey the masculine energies. Especially, they said, his semen, which is the source of his regenerative powers. Semen propels the seed of life of a man, and conveys within it a man's domination of his world. Our physicians say a man's semen, when sown into the body of a woman, nurtures and ripens and grows in her nourishing moistures until it blooms and fruits into a newborn child. Preferably a son.
Likewise, those ancients said, when it is planted in the body of a youth it nurtures and grows spiritually. The arete ripens into masculine traits worthy of participating in the society of mature men, for deeds of courage, honor and decisiveness.
The ancients said a student, an eromenos, partakes of his trainer's — the erastes' — male energy by ritually absorbing his vital spirit and vital fluid. By intimately relating to his erastes over time, the eromenos is imbued with the erastes' gift of the power to pursue excellence, to achieve victory, to be a leader of his people, and also in the breeding of straight-limbed sons. He learns how to act like a man in the competitive arena of life.
In return the younger man shares his friendship and his body's perfection with his erastes in both spiritual and physical ways. This has long been the way of the Hellene elites, my son. It has a noble pedigree over many generations.'
His listeners were deathly silent.
Antinous fumbled for an appropriate response. He was made apprehensive by such a candid exposition of the eromenos' role.
'I think I understand, sir, and I salute the heritage,' he waffled. 'But, Father, I humbly seek your advice on an aspect of this matter which concerns me and remains barely spoken among my tutors and peers. It is a clouded matter. It is this. Women and even young girls who have attained menarche are said to enjoy and delight in the reception of the male seed from a worthy partner, their husband. We are told their bodies are created to desire their husband's dominion and penetration so as to nurture his seed into living offspring, our sons.
They display a Nature-given satisfaction with his lust, just as we see among all the farmyard and forest creatures around us. But does an eromenos seek and enjoy penetration by his erastes? Is this the understanding of the tradition? In truth, Father, I do not think I would enjoy such an imposition upon my body or willingly succumb to another man's domination readily — even so great and noble a man as Caesar! What is your advice on this issue? It is a concern for me.'
Telemachus sat impassively for some moments, his eyes resting upon his troubled son.
'Yes, this is certainly a question for a worthy eromenos,' he said. 'You are correct to raise the matter, to be frank. It's an area where polite fictions may prevail.
Yet you already know how it is natural for men to be driven by Aphrodite's urging or her child Eros's impulses? It is natural and proper for men to be hot blooded and lustful, especially the young. The urge to inject seed is common to all male creatures. The urge to receive seed by a male is less obvious, though it too exists among many creatures around us. We see it in the farmyard or forest more often than we recall, and there are
