'Turn the harlot around!' Commodus instructed his companions.
Taking Antinous by the scruff of his mane and locking his arms, they forcibly revolved him and pinioned his jaw to the altar's bleached stone. Commodus reached with the sword's tip and delicately lifted the hem of his tunic to expose the young man's securely clothed rump beneath. Antinous struggled fruitlessly under his oppressors' crushing weights.
'It's whispered, hustler, that you've been positioned at Court for Caesar's delectation by covert forces aiming to shift the balance of politics of the Imperium in some treasonous faction's favor. They say you're a stratagem or gameplan for deviously cornering Caesar's influence?
Who is your patron, whore? Who set you up? Tell me! Do you represent the long arm of Senate discontents reaching far into Asia? Do the Legates at Ephesus or Antioch use you for persuasive ways to shore-up their claim to the succession someday? Or have the tentacles of that monstrous creature at Rome, Praetorian Prefect Turbo, set you up to spy? Perhaps it's merely Vibia Sabina herself has recruited you to punish her husband in some witty, wily feminine way? Which?!'
Commodus was warming to his subject.
'It seems our foreign prostitute deserves his posterior's flesh to be incised with a memento of his intransigence to help loosen his tongue, to take as a keepsake of this night to remember for evermore?'
Commodus waved the iron blade's tip ever closer to the young man's hindquarters.
'Clear the slut's tail!' he commanded one of the masked men, who stripped the cloths from Antinous's hips. His slender pelvis and dimpled butt was exposed to view.
'I have done you no harm, my lord!' Antinous called aloud. 'I am no prostitute or spy. On Apollo's honor I've committed no offence I know of! You assault an innocent freeborn subject, sir!'
'Yet you possess a whore's pretensions! Your true offence is in your very existence,' he continued. 'It's your existence that requires concrete conclusion. You take liberties with the honor and favor of the Imperium. You deserve the ultimate penalty. You merit being cast to wild dogs or large cats in the arena. I as a representative of The Senate am empowered to act as magistrate upon such offence, and pass judgment — '
Commodus idly circumscribed the gladius blade in the direction of the lad's exposed rump, aiming erratically as though preparing to strike.
'Not if you wish to commit violent assault and sacrilege yourself, Commodus!' a new voice called from the temple entrance. 'Drop that weapon and release the boy! You have no jurisdiction here, Roman senator or not!'
Commodus and the two masked men spun around to see at the door Herodes Atticus, Lysias, and three guardsmen of the City Militia with pikes poised for instant action.
'This is a consecrated temple of the Imperial Cult within the sacred precinct of the Acropolis,' Herodes declared. 'Neither weapons nor sacrilege are permitted in this precinct. This freeborn youth has done you no harm. He has committed no offence. As a commander of the City Militia and a councilor of Achaea, I charge you with public disorder and breaking the peace, Lucius Ceionius Commodus. You have assaulted a special guest of the emperor who is under civic protection. You wield a weapon where weapons are forbidden. You dishonor the memory of the several Caesars about you in this holy place. And you insult the councils, laws, and hospitality of the city of Athens. At least one of these violations will be a capital offence!' Herodes snapped. 'So drop the sword now!'
Commodus responded haughtily in kind.
'I am a citizen and senator of Rome. Do not speak injudiciously in my presence, Greek!' the patrician declaimed with lofty derision.
Herodes and his team moved forward with the long pilum shafts reaching close to the caped trio.
'You forget I too am a citizen and senator of Rome, Commodus,' Herodes responded calmly, 'endowed personally by Caesar, not acquired by purchase. As a commander of the Athens Militia I posses the jurisdiction to take punitive action wherever necessary.
If you harm Caesar's guest one whit I will fulfill my duty to a matching degree. This sacred place is under the rule of the law of Athens, not travelers from Rome! Release the young man unharmed, discard your weapon, or suffer lethal force. I will spill the blood of any coward who attacks an unarmed man without reason!'
The three militia guardsmen had maneuvered their long blades within reach of the assailants. The trio of Romans wavered.
Commodus signaled to his companions to unhand Antinous. He was about to flamboyantly tumble his blade to the paving stones with smirking bravado when he suddenly spun around. With lightning speed his sword flashed out at Antinous, its blade whispering close by his face. A slim hairline incision two inches in length opened across Antinous's cheek. It welled scarlet.
Lysias raced to his friend's assistance as Antinous lurched away from his persecutors to greater safety, grasping his loincloths about him as he moved.
Herodes grabbed a spear from one of his militia companions to resoundingly whack its metal-studded hardwood shaft across Commodus's back. The impact knocked the gladius from his hand and brought him tumbling against the altar block with a sharp cry. He clawed at his spine and fell to the flagstones in an ignominious flurry of toga wools and dust.
Now three glinting spear points were hovering menacingly within inches of the senator's face. The smirking bravado had vanished.
Herodes raised the sword from the flagstones and waved it languidly in the direction of the Roman.
'We are done here, Senator Lucius Ceionius Commodus. You have exhausted your credit in this city,' the Athenian declared as the patrician stumbled painfully to his feet.
'You insult Rome, Greek!' Commodus declaimed as he gathered his toga around him. 'You will hear more of this! Make way for your betters, foreigners!' He prepared to flounce out of the shrine.
Herodes stretched his arm in the Senator's path across the door portal. Commodus was halted in mid-flight, the sword's point now waving close to his face, not Antinous's.
Herodes spoke quietly.
'This event tonight will be duly recorded by a magistrate of the City Watch, Senator, and its recording documents witnessed by those present. As a councilor of this city I will ensure the deposition remains secured in perpetuity. I will not take you into custody on this occasion; its embarrassments would disturb the tranquility of Caesar's pleasures at our Dionysia.
But be rest assured, Commodus, the charges will remain alive on file. I doubt you or your pleasant companions will be welcome to Athens at any future time because my father, the Prefect of the Free Ports of the East, will object to such troublemakers receiving passage. We are law abiding in this city. You are not welcome here. I suggest you depart Athens promptly and return to Italy, or else these charges will be enacted upon you within twenty-four hours. They will be to your eternal dishonor in the eyes of all Athenians, especially including Great Caesar.'
Commodus smirked thinly and swept grandly away with a pained stumble as he clutched at his back. He sneered at Antinous as he passed through the door into the night beyond.
Lysias was attending to Antinous's wound while the injured youth fumbled with adjusting his attire. Herodes closely inspected the sliver of red flesh across his cheek.
'The wound is superficial but it needs proper attention, Antinous,' Herodes observed. 'It pains me this should happen to you in such an exalted place. We will withdraw immediately to my villa nearby where my own physician can attend to the lesion. I will send a message to Caesar that you have been indisposed, and where to locate you later if he should desire.'
Antinous took his two friends by the forearms and looked into their eyes.
'Why has this happened, Herodes? What have I done to deserve such an attack? I don't even know this man Commodus!' Antinous implored. Herodes responded immediately.
'Welcome to imperial politics, Antinous of Bithynia. Your journey into its shadows has just begun.'
'So, Geta, you say Senator Commodus is a candidate for being a serious enemy to Antinous? You say he might even be involved in the death of the youth by some nefarious means?'
Clarus as usual was blunt.
Geta looked blankly to the four faces facing him as the river raced in a continuous rush in the background and morning insects buzzed around. The day's warmth expanded rapidly.
