The Hadrian Enigma - A Forbidden History

by George Gardiner

  My project on behalf of our homeland, young sirs, is to foster eastern values in the mind of Rome’s rulers. This includes using influences such as you, gentlemen, to promote Roman Asia’s welfare in an intimately personal way to the highest echelons of the Imperium. Hadrian is the uttermost echelon, and he has shown his personal interest in you, Antinous.

  Your forthcoming role, Antinous, as eromenos to Hadrian means our Caesar can be repeatedly made aware of the necessity for defensive protections at the Eastern frontier. He has the influence and power to persuade his senators, but he himself needs to be regularly persuaded too. This, Antinous, is the role your countrymen now expect of you. You are our frontline defense.

  Secondly, the East needs at least two additional Legions to reinforce the existing two Legions based in Cappadocia to protect our borders. This initiative will be a costly investment in coin and manpower at a time when Roman armies no longer siphon wealth from newly conquered enemies to justify its conquests.

  For five hundred years Rome has been annexing the land, wealth, and manpower of its neighbors piece-by-piece, but this expansion program is no longer tenable. The cost of the defense and supply-lines exceeds the value of the booty seized. It teaches us how even brute power has its limits.

  But where do you, Antinous, fit into these matters, you ask? To be brief, my boy, you are shortly to become Caesar’s personal connection to Roman Asia. Your proximity to him will repeatedly remind him of the importance of the culture he already greatly admires. This is your destiny, Antinous, and even yours too Lysias.’

  Arrian paused to toss dippers of cooling water across his frame. He continued.

  ‘Your selection, young man, followed wide enquiries among the landed classes to identify a freeborn candidate of a suitable quality, status, and ability for Caesar’s interest.

  For example you already know of Glaucon the Syri? He was the silver-voiced fellow who sang love songs at the celebration of your hunting kill at Nicomedia last October. Glaucon only lasted a month in Caesar’s company despite his porcelain beauty and our every discreet encouragement to appeal to Caesar’s tastes. But he was soon returned to his Damascus family crest-fallen and bitter, but also far wealthier than even his wildest dreams could imagine. Gold has its appeal for some, too. Not all contenders prize honor.’

  Arrian paused to measure his effect upon his companions. Antinous and Lysias looked to each other questioningly. Arrian seemed satisfied and continued.

  ‘Our conversation here, my friends, is to be confidential between us. It is not seditious or irregular, but it is sensitive and must be respected,’ he said softly. ‘It was our community’s desire to provide great Caesar with an eromenos of a superior standard suited to his status. After scouring all the Aegean for a suitably mature meirakion and then discreetly wheeling these prospects into Caesar’s company, only a single candidate of our collection met with his favor.

  Caesar is a fickle aesthete, yet one with an educated eye and very perceptive insight. He knows good horseflesh when he sees it, but he also knows a good heart.

  The choice proved to be you, Antinous, after he saw you and Lysias wrestling fiercely at the youth’s games of Claudiopolis five months ago, plus subsequent events. Despite a dozen other eligible fellows on display naked in the dust that day, and despite one or two others being feathered later into the boar hunt at Nicomedia, it was you Antinous who eventually became the chosen one,’ Arrian divulged with a faint smile. ‘The rest you know.’

  Antinous at last spoke. He had been digesting this information carefully.

  ‘You say, my lord, that this is my life’s destiny. If so, what am I supposed to do about it? I am here in Athens for my final education and continued training in weapons. Letters have passed between my father and various agents of the Imperial Household, yet I have no idea how to go about the project you have outlined?’ he said. ‘How am I to achieve such a unique goal?’

  ‘Arrangements are already taking place which will take care of this issue,’ Arrian replied enigmatically.

  ‘But this does not answer my query, my lord,” Antinous interjected. “Under what terms am I to be received by great Caesar? What steps should I take? I’m at a loss to know how to respond or what to do. I am no coquette or teasing courtesan with practiced wiles.’

  ‘Do not worry, lad. As I said, certain matters are being prepared in readiness. Tomorrow you and Lysias should keep your eyes open and stay within Caesar’s sight throughout the day’s events. Especially, you should watch for anything odd or suspicious which appears in your field of vision,’ the noble offered with puzzling vagueness, ‘and respond appropriately. There have been rumors circulating, so be prepared for any surprise.’

  Antinous and Lysias slopped further dippers of water over their heads. Arrian continued.

  ‘But you should also realize, Antinous, how our Caesar currently has another young fellow gracing his company at Athens. To some degree you have competition.’

  Both of the boys sat up briskly amid the lethargic heat, their energy restored.

  ‘Competition? What do you mean by ‘competition’, sir?’ Antinous asked with a hint of alarm. Arrian considered his words carefully.

  ‘Well, my boy, for the past few weeks Caesar has been enjoying the company of his friend at Rome of recent years named Senator Lucius Ceionius Commodus. This senator is residing with Caesar at Athens not very far from your own villa.’

  ‘Oh,’ said Antinous, as he wondered at the import of this. ‘Who is this man Commodus? Is he a Roman noble too?’

  ‘Ah yes, he most certainly is. Commodus is descended from an ancient Etruscan family of the senatorial class. He is definitely a patrician. They are extremely wealthy and they are of the best blood. As a result Commodus has been raised with not just a silver spoon in his mouth but perhaps an entire golden service. He has very good political prospects. Yet from what I have seen of him he is quite spoiled and temperamental and given to extravagance. However I must admit he is also very good looking.’

  ‘Was he an eromenos to Hadrian? I am told on good authority Caesar had not taken an eromenos previously.’

  ‘No, Antinous. Hadrian did not display his friend as a formal partner. Commodus has simply hovered discreetly in the background or been out of sight altogether.

  Antinous sat in stony silence for a few moments to digest this information. I suspect he began to wonder if Caesar was really a man of his word or not.

  ‘Sir, is there not a law forbidding Romans to accost freeborn maidens or youths?’

  ‘Yes, Antinous,’ Arrian conceded, ‘the ancient law known as the lex Scantinia with its objection to the offence of stuprum. It still remains respected among older Romans. However there have been no prosecutions for it for at least a hundred years. What people do between themselves in private, or what a Caesar may deign to venture in his majesty as Princeps, is another matter entirely.

  People say Commodus might be adopted by Hadrian into his gens as his lawful son and prospective successor, just as Julius Caesar did with Gaius Octavius long ago. Octavius eventually assumed the title of Caesar Augustus. Nerva did likewise with Trajan. Yet though Commodus possesses the necessary bloodlines to be eligible, he doesn’t possess the military experience or political influence, I’d say. The Legions barely know or respect him. They will count.

  Yet we from the East suspect this prospect is being manipulated by forces at Rome who wish the succession to be securely finalized now Hadrian has entered mid-life and its inevitable health risks. An unresolved succession is a proven recipe for civil war when an emperor dies. A bloodbath can result, with totally unpredictable outcomes.

  Also, the succession of Commodus would once again shift priorities and resources away from us in the east into the western sphere. We resist this strongly while the barbarians are at the door.’

  ‘What then is your advice in this matter? I am not experienced in the stratagems of lovers, seducers, or courtesans. I am a plain speaking fellow from the
provinces. What is your advice, sir?’ Antinous asked somewhat plaintively.

  ‘Love? Lovers!? What has love to do with it? Hadrian only wants to enjoy your pleasant company,” Arrian retorted sharply. “Laughter and lust are your functions, my boy, perhaps coupled with a longing for the son he has never bred. Your role is to satisfy the call of Eros. You take his mind off the issues of state. So make the best of it, my boy, for all our sakes.’

  Antinous grew impatient with this overly pragmatic philosophy.

  ‘You must think very little of me, sir, if you think I am but a kept boy?” Antinous challenged daringly. “I am not for sale, my lord. I am protective of my honor, my arete.’

  ‘Yes, yes, yes, lad, I acknowledge your quality,” Arrian responded, realizing he had ruffled the lad’s sensitivities. “But you are now entering a realm where everything and everyone are purchasable. Power is a commodity and it is for sale, usually at a high price in coin or blood.’

  ‘But I possess few needs, my lord. I do not seek power or influence. I do not seek great wealth. So is there anything specific you can recommend to me?” Antinous persisted. “I’m not sufficiently experienced in courtly ways to determine a path forward.”

  Arrian paused to reflect for a moment. Then he looked fixedly at Antinous with a glinting knowingness in his eye. He smiled.

  ‘Yes, there is one important thing. Perhaps it’s how you have gotten this far so swiftly. Great Caesar is certainly smitten by your charms, young man. I have witnessed your effect upon his moods. Your physical grace has impacted upon his more earthy appetites, true, as has your sassiness, your daring, and your cool persona. You indeed possess the upper hand in this courtly dance, Antinous. But one thing is worth accenting to you here.

  I wish to reveal to you an important matter. Listen carefully because I will tell it to you only once.

  You must show your most winning features to him. Yes, display your youth; display your beauty; display your fine young muscles; display your smooth flesh; display your intelligence and most appealing attributes. Display too your impudence, your drive, and daring. But also, ---‘

  Arrian’s eyes started to drift slowly across Antinous’s sweatily glistening frame, down its sculpted surfaces, and then low in the direction of his reproductive organs. Arrian was not being provocative, prurient, or suggestive; he was simply scanning the facts of Antinous’s physicality. Yet his eyes lingered politely over the young man’s adequately proportioned genitalia which now lay wetly shriveled in the sodatarium heat. His vision came to rest in a manner which seemed to silently, meaningfully, signal a message.

  ‘--- be audacious, Antinous. Do the unexpected,’ he concluded smoothly.

  After a few moments Antinous and Lysias both perceived what this unspoken message may have been at precisely the same time,” Geta added. “They turned to each other in sudden recognition but also in embarrassment. It was now evident why Arrian had chosen the nudity of a hot room at the Baths for his dissertation and its special clue to Caesar’s tastes. He wished to make a particular point without it being too boldly articulated. Arrian continued.

  ‘You possess certain attributes which may appeal to Hadrian, young man. Yes, display a possibility to him Commodus has never offered in the first place,’ Arrian alluded obliquely. ‘Commodus is renowned for his sexual appetite to the point of being considered an unrestrained cinaedus obsessed with sensuality. But I don’t think his repertoire with his own gender is reputed to be especially dominant, if you catch my meaning? Not at all, in fact. So, Antinous, I suppose it was no accident Great Caesar personally checked your physical attributes at Nicomedia last year.’

  Antinous blushed fully crimson despite his existing rosy hue of a hot-room flush. The cat was now out of the bag about who was witness to the event in the amphitheatre at Nicomedia. Lysias too now realized who the other observer had been shifting through the shadows. It had been Arrian.

  ‘Among other things show him a possibility which may have agreed with him when he first observed your qualities, my boy. And do it shamelessly,’ Arrian persisted, nodding casually in the direction of Antinous’s crutch. ‘Others have failed in this role perhaps because Hadrian is Caesar, which can be intimidating, while custom tends to object to the senior partner participating in this way. But custom is blind.

  Do you get my drift, lad? But also be flexible, be versatile, be willing to shift according to his changing moods, be open to all possibilities. And yes, be willing to submit too. This is the Bithynian way, my friend.’

  ‘I think I do get your drift,’ Antinous murmured distractedly.

  ‘Don’t forget Antinous, to be Caesar’s Companion is to be at the centre of the universe. It is to participate in works of great import. You enter history, young man. You become part of history. It’s your life’s destiny made concrete,’ Arrian concluded. ‘You must make of my advice what you will, and act according to your arête, your virtue. Praise be to Caesar!’

  ‘To Caesar!’ the boys echoed in unison. Both youngsters were thoughtful for some moments at this newest revelation. Then it was time for a cold plunge bath after stewing so long in the steamy heat.

  Arrian led the trio from the private chamber to the vaulted public pools of the Baths. The marbled caverns echoed with two hundred bantering voices amid the splashy hubbub.

  The hollow cacophony slowly diminished to furtive murmurs as they arrived. Much whispering tinged with gasps of admiration were accompanied by eager eyes sweeping the arcades as the three took their cooling plunge in the main pool.

  This, coupled with the opaque message of the previous conversation, caused Antinous and Lysias to begin to wonder what they had gotten themselves into.”

  Geta paused momentarily as the team of investigators contemplated the implications of his story. Clarus was disconcerted by its revelations.

  “Things soon became more complicated,” Geta forwarded. “On the second day of the Great Dionysia, which I attended in my role as Caesar’s master of ceremonies, certain developments occurred.

  On their arrival at Caesar’s villa at high sun, the two Bithynians were made welcome at the courtyard gate by the younger Herodes Atticus.

  Herodes Junior had recently been awarded Roman senatorial rank and been appointed quaestor at the status level of inter amicos – a ‘friend of the emperor’ – a high honor for a Greek in his mid-twenties. Herodes invited the two youngsters to share in the company of his friends of a similar age awaiting the arrival of Hadrian and the officials of the Dionysia Festival from within the villa.

  This mix of Greek and Roman young men seemed an agreeable group to the newcomers, even though they displayed standards of attire, comportment, and ornamentation at a level of wealth far beyond their own. Herodes explained how the entire assembly would soon be joining the public procession currently winding its way along the city’s Sacred Way to the Acropolis.

  At last clarions sounded and the Imperial party appeared from within the villa. It was led by Hadrian accompanied by notables including Arrian and Athenian officials in ceremonial attire. I too was in this retinue in my usual role as Hadrian’s factotum.

  Later I was told how Antinous and Lysias took special interest in the young patrician following close beside Hadrian. To their eyes he was a delicately chiseled, slender-waisted ephebe of pale complexion garbed in a fulsome Roman toga of blindingly white purity. It was striped with the scarlet blazon of a senator.

  He wore a meticulously closely-trimmed beard of an unusually slender design. His head was a riot of voluminous curls dusted with sparkling glitter and skewered with elegant needles of silver filigree. He bore a diadem announcing his lofty status as a member of a noble family. His wrists and arms were adorned with bracelets of precious metals while bright jewels were affixed to each earlobe. Both hands displayed many antique rings on each finger and a prominent antique brooch adorned his shoulder. The fellow flourished hand gestures of great fluidity as he talked, accompanied by a jubilant manner with many calculated
sardonic smiles and expressive eye gestures. His eyes were finely underlined in kohl accents which gave his features a distinctively feline appearance.

  Even from their position some distance away in the courtyard the boys could detect the heady scent of an expensive Assyrian fragrance wafting from his direction. His age was somewhere in his twenties yet his bearing had the decidedly stately mode of a far older man. Members of the Roman patrician class definitely project an image of class superiority.

  ‘My lord Herodes, please tell me who is that striking figure of a man behind Caesar?’ Antinous whispered behind one hand. The Athenian acknowledged his companion’s comment on the senator’s demeanor as being ‘striking’.

  ‘Why, Antinous, it is Senator Commodus. He’s a close friend of Caesar,’ was the reply in a restrained whisper. ‘He arrived from Rome recently and is residing at Caesar’s villa.’

  I suppose in the eyes of Antinous and Lysias the young senator was a revealing exponent of the current high-fashion at Rome. The senator displayed it with the studied, urbane, supercilious confidence seemingly ingrained in Rome’s patrician class.

  Hadrian did not wear a toga nor his Imperator’s military cuirass, but was dressed in Greek attire. Both his tunic and mantle, however, were of an opulent Tyrian purple trimmed in finely embroidered golden eagles as befits an emperor who is to act as president of The Great Dionysia. He wore no other decorative devices other than a simple wreath of natural grapevines encircling his head. This was a leafy corona heralding spring, symbolic of the cult of Dionysius and the joyful fruits of the vine.

  Taking his stand on steps above the courtyard with Arrian and Commodus behind him, Caesar patiently awaited the thirty-odd attendees in the yard to file past and make their proper obeisance. Both Antinous and Lysias followed the others by bending their knee to the yard’s gravel while bowing their head in unison and crying Hail Caesar!

  Hadrian stepped forward and raised the two Bithynians to stand upright before him.

  ‘Rise, young friends, and welcome. It’s a pleasure to see you again,’ he stated loudly so all could hear, while glancing back at Commodus with a nodded acknowledgement.