THE LYCIAN PRINCE Chapters 3-5
By Pueros

copyright 2005 by Pueros, all rights reserved
Comments to the author can be sent to pueros@hotmail.com

This story is intended for ADULTS ONLY

This long saga, describing the adventures of a young Prince in the Roman Empire of the 3rd Century AD, was originally posted elsewhere but has been revised and amended, including a changed ending, for this site by the author. The tale is mainly a work of pure imagination and the writer hopes that historical truth will be forgiving!

Chapter III – Departure

(January 290 AD)

Diocletian explained that, as guarantee for the agreed peace treaty, Anthonius would accompany the Emperor to Rome, where he would be found some appropriate role in which to serve the Empire. Meanwhile, there was nothing more to discuss. Either the Lycians accepted this condition or the war would continue to its inevitable conclusion. The Princeps emphasised his stance by standing to bring his meeting with the beautiful 12 year-old Prince to an end.

Anthonius recognised Diocletian's determination to take him back to Rome, and also perceptively guessed what the man ultimately hoped to achieve by it. The boy additionally realised that he must accept his fate in order to save his family and his people.

Anthonius looked deeply into Diocletian's eyes, noticing again the clear lust revealed in them, held out his hand and said "We have reached agreement then!" The Emperor smiled broadly in response.

Diocletian also touched the most beautiful boy he had ever seen for the first time by shaking Anthonius' proffered hand and then holding the 12 year-old's shoulder as he personally led him from the tent, swallowing hard much of the way as he experienced his own intense bodily tingling.

After reluctantly releasing Anthonius outside the tent, Diocletian saw the boy approach a splendid white horse and the Emperor immediately thought that surely the steed was too big for one so young. However, the 12 year-old mounted the animal with practised ease and rode skilfully away towards the walls of the Lycian capital, accompanied by two unarmed royal guards.

To the astonishment of bystanders, Diocletian waved Anthonius goodbye. The Emperor then shouted for Armillatus, as he urgently needed to satiate his pent-up sexual frustrations.

Armillatus was later unable to walk or eat properly for a few days afterwards, and not because of the four agonising stokes of the cane that he had received and which marked his bottom so vividly. The boy had simply never known the Emperor to use his anal and oral orifices so harshly and frequently as he did that night.

Anthonius sailed for Ostia a week later, after tearful farewells from his family and friends.

The royal advisors had been pleased with Anthonius' rapid success in establishing peace, even if it was accompanied by personal sacrifice. The sick Lycian king would remain in situ but with his power devolved to an advisory council, led by an Imperial representative supported by a strengthened Roman garrison. The new taxes plus war reparations would be paid and an independent local army would not be reformed. However, such conditions were all that would have to be paid for peace, apart from the exile of the Prince to Rome.

The royal advisors cynically considered such conditions a small price to pay for the salvation of their country. Anthonius' mother and friends thought otherwise but were unable to dissuade the boy from dishonouring the agreement he had made. The Prince even refused to be accompanied by some of his closest companions who had kindly offered to go with him to Rome.

Anthonius knew that the lecherous Diocletian had lustful designs on him and he was determined to try to preserve his purity, especially as the Emperor was far from his ideal of a handsome heroic lover. The boy possessed rather naive confidence in his royal status and the ability it afforded him to fight off any unwanted attentions, whereas his attractive young friends had no such protection.

Unfortunately, Anthonius was also totally unaware that the ethical conduct he had known within the Lycian court was not replicated in Rome.

Diocletian sailed back to Italia on a different ship, ostensibly because he wished to visit Tarentum on the return journey, but actually because he could not trust himself to keep his hands off Anthonius within the tight confines of the vessel. The Emperor had reluctantly decided that all the protocols had to be observed and the relevant gods respected before he engaged in molesting and debauching the boy. He could just about control his impulses and impatience and bide his time for now, as there was always Armillatus and other pretty Imperial pages to play with in the interim.

Chapter IV - Rome

(February 290 AD)

Anthonius was housed in a luxurious villa outside Rome, well cared for by Imperial servants and slaves, until Diocletian himself had returned and his triumphal re-entry into the city, celebrating his recent victories in war, had been readied. The boy then found himself to be an integral and important part of the eventual spectacle, being himself a campaign trophy. He was paraded on his white horse just behind the Emperor's black steed, and later he was a guest at the formal celebratory banquet in the huge, magnificently appointed main hall of the Imperial palace.

The hall had room for almost a hundred guests, lying on couches accommodating three people each, with low tables in front and in a circular arrangement surrounding a central, round, low entertainment platform. All were attended by a multitude of palace slaves attired in off-white sleeved tunics with purple edgings and embossed with a small red Imperial eagle on the chest. Court custom caused food to be served slowly in many small courses and swilled down with much wine.

Diocletian had entered the hall in formal splendour, escorted by Praetorians and a group of very pretty boys, aged from about 8 to 15. Some carried banners displaying Imperial emblems. An immaculately groomed handsome young man finished off the entrance party.

The boys were all dressed in tunics similar to those of the palace slaves but with broader purple edgings and a black eagle emblem. The garments were also sleeveless and shorter, seemingly designed to show off the physical attributes of the young wearers to best advantage without being overly revealing.

Entertainment on the central platform was constant and initially provided by tasteful dancers and acrobats. However, as the evening wore on and after the more cultured and less licentious guests had departed, the acts, involving young male and female troupes, became much more erotic. Some of the almost naked artistes were then invited by increasingly libidinous and drunken guests to share couches after their performances, and they invariably accepted.

Anthonius had now never previously seen anything like the spectacle unravelling before him, and was at first guiltily enthralled by the whole scene. The Prince became especially excited when he noticed many of the guests, inhibitions loosened by their heavy consumption of wine, beginning to kiss and obscenely fondle the scantily-clad youngsters sharing their couches. The boy's interest came to a peak when a particularly pretty young companion of Diocletian stood up, removed his tunic and danced delightfully for the Emperor in just a skimpy black loincloth with a small gold Imperial eagle embossed onto the front flap.

The boy-dancer's movements often caused both of his loincloth flaps to rise to reveal the tight sparse underlying thong that just concealed his private parts, whilst still clearly revealing their seductive outline. Anthonius felt the pleasant tingling, which he had again been experiencing his groin, intensify as he watched.

Anthonius was also aware that he too was being frequently glanced at by many in the hall, not least by the boys in the Emperor's entourage. However, the Prince noticed that three pairs of eyes paid him particular attention, namely those of Diocletian himself, those of the handsome young man now couched next to the Emperor and those of a dissolute fat adult in his forties lying further away.

Anthonius discovered, by enquiring of a servant, that the pretty boys were Diocletian's personal pages and that the young man was Casperius, their supervisor, or `major domo'. Having already recognised the Emperor's sexual preferences, the Prince did not have to enquire about the full nature of the role of the young male servants in the Princeps' life.

Anthonius also did not have to enquire about the older fat man. Although he had no personal recollection of him, the boy recognised the strong likeness to his father in the adult's facial features.

Anthonius, remarkably perceptively for someone so young, believed correctly that he recognised the feelings behind the men's stares. He believed that Diocletian's was one of blatant lust and Casperius' was one of avid curiosity, although the boy also detected a strong hint of cruelty in his eyes. The 12 year-old additionally rightly judged that the fat man's look was not of brotherly love but quite the opposite.

Anthonius did not stay to the end of the banquet. The boy's earlier initial interest and excitement were completely defused, along with his appetite, with the presentation of one particular entertainment.

Two square bondage frames were carried in and fixed in place near the middle of the central platform. Two attractive twins, one boy and one girl about 14 years of age, were also brought in and chained in a spreadeagled pose and facing each other to the two structures. Anthonius discovered later that the two children were campaign trophies too, being the offspring of a slain rebel Syrian lord.

A huge black African followed the twins onto the platform and, to wild cheers, stripped to reveal an enormous but real phallus. He then ripped the clothing off the girl and, to louder cheering, began to viciously rape the obviously virginal child.

The girl screamed in agony but the rape proceeded mercilessly and, after the African had finished, she was copiously leaking blood from her defiled vagina. Meanwhile, the black man had turned his attention to the now whimpering boy.

Anthonius left the hall in disgust, with the poor boy's yells ringing in his ears, to spend the night in the luxurious palace guest chamber allocated to him. However, he did not appreciate the opulence of his surroundings overnight because of his nightmares, in which the two Syrian children and three pairs of eyes were prominent.

Chapter V - Induction

Next day, Anthonius was surprised to be taken to the secluded part of the palace, heavily guarded externally by the Praetorians, where the Imperial boy pages were accommodated in great comfort. He was led to Casperius' own luxurious living quarters, where the young man welcomed him in a friendly manner, although the Prince thought that he still saw cruelty in his eyes and detected some sarcasm in his voice.

After some preliminary pleasantries, Casperius finally came to the reason for the meeting. He declared that Diocletian had asked him to find Anthonius something useful to do during his exile in Rome, and he was pleased to advise that the Emperor had accepted his suggestion that the Prince should be offered the great honour of becoming one of the Imperial boy pages.

Anthonius was aghast, as he was acutely aware that the role was no honour at all for a Prince and was actually insulting to proffer to someone of his royal status. He had also already recognised that the official portrayal of the pages as privileged young attendants was just show to hide, for the sake of public appearance, the fact that they were the Emperor's catamites. However, he now instantly knew that the offer was what the wily Diocletian must have planned for him all the time, and why Casperius and his boys had been staring at him during last night's banquet.

They already knew that this offer was to be made and what real choice did Anthonius have but to accept? Diocletian would be free to renege on his treaty agreement with Lycia if the Prince, as guarantee, was construed as misbehaving.

Declining to honour Diocletian by refusing to enter his service as a page could be interpreted as misbehaviour. Consequently, after some thought and in a halting voice, the Prince reluctantly replied that he would, of course, accept the honour, whilst hoping that his royal status would protect him from the Emperor's obvious active lechery towards pretty boys.

Casperius, wishing to act quickly before Anthonius changed his mind, then speedily introduced the new addition to the Imperial household to a nullified black slave named Niachiarus, who had been standing, unseen by the Prince, in the shadows of the chamber. The major domo informed the boy that the adult Nubian eunuch, dressed in a tunic similar to that of other Imperial servants, would be his personal attendant.

Niachiarus was in his thirties and it was obvious that the tall Nubian had once been handsome. However, some of his muscles were becoming flabby, with his body gaining fat in all areas. Nevertheless, the nullified eunuch slave had still proved proficient in his work for other pages, which he conducted with outward dutiful politeness, effectively disguising the fact that he secretly hated his young charges, being jealous of their beauty, free-born status, current privileges and intact genitalia.

Casperius commented to Anthonius that it would be wise for the Prince to follow the eunuch slave's advice closely, as it would help him considerably in learning the requirements of his new role. The major domo then politely dismissed the boy by stating that Niachiarus would now escort him to his new quarters.

The dumbfounded and deeply dismayed Anthonius subsequently acquiescently followed Niachiarus along a couple of wide corridors to the pleasant suite of rooms that was to be his home, which was remarkably large and opulent for a mere page. The Prince immediately guessed correctly that Diocletian liked to provide excellent accommodation for his favourite catamites.

Anthonius was next swiftly introduced by Niachiarus to some of the humiliating realities of his new life.

Niachiarus told Anthonius, albeit with great diplomacy, that none of the Prince's personal effects, including attire, could be transferred from his previous quarters because Diocletian's pages were normally allowed to keep as possessions only what the Emperor gave. The boy's belongings would be packed and returned to his homeland. He also had to discard his current clothing, with the exception of the golden throat chain with pendant, which attested to his Lycian royal status, and the longer and bigger medallion of the same precious metal, which indicated his sacred dedication to Ganymede.

Niachiarus also added quietly that the removal of Anthonius' present clothing would be an appropriate opportunity for the Nubian to check the Prince's bodily health. In response, the boy initially just stared at his new adult slave in shock, as he realised that the black servant wanted him to strip.

Unlike other aspects of Lycian society that orientated towards Greece, local attitudes to nudity actually stemmed from Persia, where only the worst criminals were seen unwillingly naked before others. Anthonius could not remember a time that he had been seen unclothed by anyone, apart from his intimate friends amidst sex play, although he supposed that he had been when still in toddler's nursery, but then that was different. However, now was equally different, for he was humiliatingly being requested to strip to allow his bare body to be intimately inspected by a slave.

Anthonius felt deep shame but suddenly realised that his cock might suggest otherwise. Within the Prince's loincloth underwear, his penis had incongruously hardened.

Recognising Anthonius' reluctance to strip, Niachiarus attempted to spur action diplomatically by advising "My duties, young master, will also entail supervising your daily ablutions, grooming and dressing. It's therefore important that you become quickly accustomed to me dealing with your naked form, and now is as good a time as any to start!"

The suddenly blushing Anthonius swallowed hard, inhaled a deep breath and reluctantly began to react to Niachiarus' advice by nodding in agreement and then shedding his sandals and lifting his rich, long-sleeved, intricately embroidered, woollen winter tunic up and over his sublime head. The Prince then stood in front of the nullified Nubian eunuch, covered only by his loincloth underwear.

Anthonius' reluctant hands then reached for the bow on the side of the narrow cord that held his loincloth in place and, after again swallowing hard and inhaling a deep breath, began to untie the knot. The Prince then allowed his loincloth to succumb to gravity and fall towards the colourful mosaic on the floor, which, perhaps rather appropriately, the boy now noticed depicted a rampant Zeus in eagle form raping Ganymede.

Anthonius subsequently stood naked before Niachiarus, shyly attempting to hide his humiliatingly hard cock with his hands. However, the slave was prepared for the Prince's acute embarrassment, as he had witnessed similar many times before. The nullified eunuch therefore simply asked if the boy could oblige him by lying face-up on a high padded couch, located in the palatial suite's adjacent bath chamber.

Niachiarus subsequently observed the immaculate form of Anthonius' lustrous bare rear, as the boy turned round to obey, whilst still keeping his hands in their genitally strategic position. The slave then followed the beautiful naked Prince into the bath chamber and waited for the boy to clamber on top of the waiting high couch, which was designed for conducting massages.

Niachiarus subsequently approached Anthonius and began to examine the Prince slowly and very carefully from head to toe, whilst allowing the 12 year-old to continue to hide his genitals with his hands. The slave started with the boy's hair, looked into his ears, nose and mouth, felt his limbs, and their fingers and toes, and then his chest and belly. He lingered particularly at the young Lycian's nipples, delicately massaging them to erection, and at his cute navel, which he gently probed.

Anthonius knew what was due for examination next but he was loath to move his hands, especially as his embarrassing hard- on had intensified because of the attentions being paid to his bare body. However, Niachiarus was excellent at diffusing boys' tensions.

The eunuch slave did so in respect of his latest charge by saying "Now, young master, I know that you don't want me to look and, if you insist, I won't. However, I'll then be whipped for not performing my duties properly and I don't think you want that to happen. Anyway, there's nothing behind your hands that I haven't seen previously. I also suppose it's grown a bit because of what I've been doing. Come let me see!"

Partly assuaged by these words, the still blushing Anthonius reluctantly moved his hands towards his sides and closed his eyes in shame. The Prince subsequently soon felt Niachiarus' sensitive touch, as a hand weighed the boy's smooth scrotum and a finger ran carefully up and down his now throbbing cock.

The hands then went away, causing Anthonius to open his sensuous blue eyes. The Prince now saw that Niachiarus held a long piece of string with regularly demarcated markings, which was obviously a measuring device.

With this device, Niachiarus next proceeded to measure virtually every dimension of the front of Anthonius' divine body, recording the results on a clay tablet whilst successfully discouraging the naked Prince's inclination to return his hands to his groin. The abashed boy simultaneously closed his eyes again but quickly reopened them when he suddenly felt his cock being pumped.

Niachiarus attempted to appease the shocked and astonished Anthonius by saying "Do not be alarmed, young master, as the maximum length of your erect cock needs to be assessed!" The Prince had believed that the slave's measurement of his naked body must be connected with providing him with appropriately sized clothing, including his new page uniform. However, this latest humiliating and puzzling development now placed some doubts in the boy's highly intelligent mind as to whether his original belief was correct.

In fact, Anthonius' original belief was correct. The Prince simply did not yet know that some more exotic items of the new clothing, which would be specially made for him, would need to be able to accommodate his erection.

Niachiarus eventually expertly stopped the pumping of Anthonius' cock just before the Prince reached the point of no return and inevitable orgasm. The slave then completed his measurement, also adding the circumference of the boy's erection and scrotum to his list.

Niachiarus next asked the red-faced Anthonius if he would turn over so that he could complete his inspection and measurements. The shamed Prince reluctantly complied, although as he did so he had to be careful how he rested his embarrassingly hard cock on the padded surface of the couch.

Soon the back of Anthonius' body was experiencing Niachiarus' intimate attentions, with much of the slave's time spent examining the Prince's lustrous bottom. The delightfully curvaceous buttocks were tenderly rubbed and massaged, and the boy could not prevent himself from uttering a moan when his bumcheeks were carefully prised apart and he felt a fingertip gently probing his virginal sphincter. Both the 12 year-old and the eunuch knew that the noise was not one of pain but of pleasure.

Shortly afterwards, Anthonius heard Niachiarus requesting him to turn back over. As the Prince complied, he glanced at his still hard cock. The boy immediately realised that he had previously never seen his penis so big.

Niachiarus again prevented the Prince from shielding the rampant cock from view and instead shocked the Prince by grasping the smooth erection between his fingers, saying "Please forgive, young master, but this is almost the final examination that I'm required to make!" The slave then again started to masturbate the boy, who quickly grasped the sides of the couch to try to stabilise his now quivering body. However, the 12 year-old could not prevent his loins from instinctively rising from the surface towards the hand giving him such pleasure.

The pubescent Anthonius was accustomed to masturbating himself, and had recently proudly begun to ejaculate small amounts of semen. The Prince's previous embarrassment was also now forgotten, as he writhed in increasing ecstasy, and soon unprecedented amounts of sperm spurted out of his cock, as he enjoyed an orgasm of unparalleled intensity. Niachiarus then completed his task by pumping the climactic boy dry, carefully gathering his young seed in a bowl.

Niachiarus subsequently meticulously checked Anthonius' creamy white ejaculate by sight, smell and taste, whilst the slave allowed the Prince to grasp his smooth boyish sexual organs with both hands in a strange mix of post-orgasmic abashment and gratification. Later, the slave gently moved these manual genital defences aside to conclude his final measurement of the boy's form, namely that of his now flaccid cock. However, the 12 year-old's humiliations were still not over, as the eunuch then apologetically asked him some deeply personal questions about his sex life.

Niachiarus asked Anthonius what he fancied and practised sexually, telling the Prince that truthfulness would be best for both of them. The boy, who was anyway incapable of lying,

thought that his humiliation could become no worse, as he
replied with the shameful required veracity, including
describing his regular acts of masturbation, whilst dreaming

of being loved by a handsome young man. However, he was quickly proved wrong in his assumption.

Niachiarus was most content at having secured Anthonius' sexual secrets, which to him confirmed the pubescent Prince as ideally suited to become a young male whore, whilst he now attached some vertical wooden poles, fitted with leather stirrups, to the couch. The slave subsequently placed the puzzled but compliant boy's uplifted legs through these supporting straps so that his knees bent over them and his bottom was uplifted.

Niachiarus now produced a narrow leather hose, to one end of which he applied some grease, whilst fitting the other into a leather water carrier. "Please forgive again, young master, but I now need to clean here," the slave then advised, as he carefully inserted the tube's greased end into the startled Anthonius' exposed anus and lifted the pouch upwards in order to tie it to one of the poles.

Anthonius instantly felt cool water flow into him, as the first of the two enemas to which he was to be subjected began. Later, after overseeing the Prince's final toilet, Niachiarus moved the shocked and shamed boy to a nearby marble-lined bathtub, full of warm water, and bathed him whilst advising him that he would be similarly comprehensively cleansed at least once daily.

"But why do I need enemas?" Anthonius asked, as he was being bathed and despite having perceptively guessed the appalling real reason. "The Emperor likes his personal pages to be as clean inside their bodies as on the outside," Niachiarus replied in incomplete explanation, whilst he sponged the Prince's completely smooth and very pleasantly proportioned genitals. The boy was naturally dissatisfied with this answer but his intention of probing further was deflected when the slave diplomatically changed the subject of conversation.

Niachiarus confirmed to Anthonius that he would henceforward be responsible for the health, cleanliness and purity of the Prince's body, and for preparing the boy for his role as an Imperial page. Consequently, the slave would carefully oversight his young charge's daily diet and exercise, would personally bathe and massage him and would provide him with all necessary duty tuition.

Niachiarus also explained that it was important for Anthonius to resist the temptations of pleasuring himself, as he needed to remain chaste in order to serve the Emperor in the manner required. Accordingly, the Prince would be fitted with a chastity belt whenever he was left alone in his quarters.

Niachiarus fetched the belt concerned, which consisted of a small pouch of hard leather, designed to encase boyish genitalia tightly and make arousal at least very uncomfortable if not impossible. The device was held in place by slender vertical thongs, which were attached at the front and rear to a narrow waist-strap, buckled at the side.

"Once fitted," Niachiarus advised, "a wax seal, with an embossed Imperial eagle, is applied to the buckle and, if this is subsequently damaged, it would suggest that the belt had been removed. I'm afraid, young master, that I have to inform you that, if such impairment is detected, the wearer is punished with a beating!"

"Even if he's a Prince?" an amazed and affronted Anthonius asked. "Regardless of status!" Niachiarus bluntly answered.

"But why do Imperial pages need to remain chaste?" the worried Anthonius next enquired, despite having again perceptively guessed the appalling real reason. "It is by command of the Emperor," Niachiarus replied in further deliberately incomplete explanation, "and his orders are always obeyed!" The slave was also tempted to be more brutally honest with the Prince about the reasons for enemas and enforced chastity but the nullified eunuch believed that he needed to satisfy the boy's curiosity more carefully and diplomatically.

Niachiarus had been told that Anthonius was being blackmailed into accepting the status of an Imperial page, including certain yet-to-be revealed disreputable elements of the role. However, the slave worried unnecessarily that the Prince might still be so disgusted to learn about his full duties that he might reject his destiny or attempt to flee, which would upset the Emperor and thereby cause the nullified eunuch trouble.

Niachiarus would therefore attempt to prepare and introduce Anthonius to the realities of his new position in what was effectively the Emperor's boy harem in a slow, deliberate, careful and diplomatic manner. During this process, the Prince would eventually learn that Diocletian's marriage was for reasons of state and public appearance only. The Princeps had never privately disguised his preference for young males, and always maintained a group of about twenty catamites, aged between 8 and 15 and disguised as Imperial pages.

All of the boys had to be beautiful, unblemished, originally virginal and of noble birth. They were usually offered by aristocratic families who had fallen on hard times, as the Emperor was known to reward his catamites well for loyalty when they became too old for further service, many being granted lucrative state sinecures.

The boys would also be able to help their impoverished families more immediately by passing on the frequent bribes they were known to receive, because of their regular access to Diocletian, from people wanting to petition the Emperor for favourable decisions in legal or other matters. The Princeps happily indulged such activities, and would occasionally hear particular petitions in order to keep his catamites in credit.

All the boys possessed their own comfortable living quarters in the secluded but well-guarded part of the vast and luxurious Imperial palace in which Anthonius now found himself housed. The accommodation centred round an entertainment chamber and adjacent bedroom. The Imperial catamites would generally be required to appease the Emperor's sexual desires within these discreet private amenities.

The whole arrangement was managed by Casperius, who had himself once been one of Diocletian's boy favourites. The major domo had become expert and seemingly indispensable in ensuring that the Emperor's needs were fully satisfied. He was consequently very influential within the Imperial court, had enriched himself considerably because of this and was very jealous of his position.

Under the overall control of Casperius, each boy was allocated a nullified Nubian slave not only to serve them but also to ensure that their bodies were kept at a peak of physical perfection and sexual readiness. The eunuchs also expertly kept their young charges instructed in the latest manners and rituals of the Imperial court and their anticipated duties, both sexual and otherwise.

The boys were taught by their Nubian slaves the arts of lovemaking, with appropriate instruction aided by using a series of ingenious leather and ivory oral and anal dildos, although these devices were never used on a virginal rear orifice. The versions utilised for practising fellatio could spurt a semen-like liquid, produced from herbs, in order to perfect the swallowing of sperm. Catamites were also shown how to manoeuvre their bodies whilst being sodomised in order to ensure the greatest pleasure for the man performing the deed, as well as how to disguise any mental disgust or physical distress resulting from such activities.

The boys were additionally taught erotic dancing and the playing of musical instruments by hired professionals under the supervision of their Nubian slaves, for the Emperor liked his catamites to provide such entertainments. Meanwhile, the eunuchs oversaw strict dietary and exercise regimes, with all food and drink spiced with strong and effective aphrodisiacs. Enemas, massages and body perfuming were invariably included in final ablutions before the pages were ready to assume duties.

Discreet body shaving also occurred when necessary but, once this requirement became regular and obvious, it was clear that a page's days as an Imperial catamite were rapidly coming to an end. Diocletian did not like the thought of even one hair on his boys' torsos.

When on duty inside what was effectively a boy harem, the pages went barefoot and wore, at least initially, just their simple skimpy black cloth loincloths with gold eagle embossed on the front flap. They were allowed elsewhere in the palace only with the permission of the Emperor or Casperius and, unless performing normal routine duties, such as delivering messages, under his strict supervision of their major domo or Nubian slaves. They then additionally sported sandals and their light sleeveless short purple-edged white tunics with Imperial emblem on the chest.

These brief and tight tunics only hid the pages' loincloths if they remained still. Movement often provided teasing views of the boys' barely covered loins.

The boys were told from the beginning that the pleasures to be derived from their bodies were now exclusively the reserve of Diocletian. The catamites were therefore not allowed to play with themselves, at least not without the Emperor's permission and oversight, and, to help keep them celibate whilst off- duty, their Nubian slaves usually required them to wear their chastity belts.

Such enforced chastity was designed to keep the pages in a state of sexual eagerness, which was further intensified by their aphrodisiac consumption and was often demonstrated by their frequently full and constant erections when relieved of the restrictions of clothing. However, sexual relief was generally granted only when Diocletian allowed, either obliging himself by masturbating the boys, having them indulge the habit in front of him or have sex with each other as erotic foreplay before he himself bedded them or another selection from his catamite coterie.

Casperius did sometimes allow pages to masturbate in front of him too, or alternatively personally manually milked them of their stored semen. Such activities usually occurred when the boys had been neglected by Diocletian and were unlikely to be wanted by him soon, mainly because the Emperor was away in the provinces or on military campaign without them.

Diocletian generally treated his boys reasonably well, usually allowing them to be punished only for genuine misdemeanours, the most common of which was, despite the precautions, accidental ejaculation. However, principally to alleviate boredom, the element of cruelty in the Emperor's character sometimes came to the fore and he set some of his catamites sadistic challenges and physically chastised them if they failed.

Entry to the pages' quarters was carefully restricted and contact without permission with anyone else outside was strictly forbidden. The boys knew that the consequences of breaking this cardinal rule could be calamitous for those concerned, as there was a precedent about which they were constantly reminded.

One silly early member of the corps of Imperial pages had seemingly flirted with one of the Praetorian guards, although no real evidence of sexual relationships had ever emerged. The boy was not well liked by the others and so news of his indiscretions eventually passed to Diocletian, who exploded in anger.

Diocletian subsequently had both of the alleged furtive lovers tortured until they confessed to an illicit liaison. Later, with the Emperor and the other pages observing from a balcony, the boy was forced to watch as his supposed adult paramour was dragged out naked into a palace courtyard before the whole of the assembled Praetorian Guard and chained spreadeagled between two punishment posts.

The man's penis and scrotum were then tightly bound with leather thongs, separating them and making them stand out from his body. The Praetorian commander, or `Prefect', then stepped forward, drew a knife, grabbed the genitals and with one slice severed them from the writhing soldier's body. The officer then stuffed them into the victim's mouth to silence his screams, whilst his terrible wound was cauterised.

The boy himself was now stripped and chained to a small wooden horse, in a bent posture with legs splayed so that his bottom was fully exposed. The Prefect then sodomised him, as did as many ordinary Praetorians who wanted to experience the pleasure over the next twenty-four hours.

Diocletian had deemed the mass rape appropriate because the pretty boy seemed to like Praetorians so much. The Emperor and his entourage even viewed some of the early violations of the screaming page but left after a while to enjoy dinner.

Diocletian and his young entourage returned on the next day to see the boy, who had just been re-chained to the same bloodied punishment posts from which his alleged lover's mutilated form had recently been removed. Two huge Praetorians with evil looking metal-pointed whips then approached and began to flog the page slowly but mercilessly. Their orders were to continue to do so until he was almost dead, after which the eventually recovered but permanently marked young victim was to be sold as a slave alongside his nullified supposed paramour.

This precedent subsequently proved useful in keeping the minds and bodies of pages concentrated on serving Diocletian loyally, whilst completely deterring any other potential admirers of the boys from acting on their dangerous impulses or otherwise revealing their attraction.

Anthonius was still hoping that his new life would not entail sexual as well as menial servitude, as Niachiarus completed the intimate bathing of the Prince's immaculate body. However, after the beautiful naked boy stepped out of the bathtub to be carefully dried by his slave and then acquainted with his new chastity belt, the eunuch began the gradual process of diplomatically appraising his increasingly horrified young charge about the appalling reality of his situation.

Niachiarus did so by revealing snippets of information over the next few days, whilst he initially concentrated on accustoming Anthonius to his new home and lifestyle within the confines of his personal chambers. When the slave eventually confirmed to the appalled Prince that he too was expected to be like the other Imperial pages in agreeing to additional sexual duties for Diocletian, the nullified eunuch was pleased to observe the boy apparently bravely and rather fatalistically accept this already feared destiny. The servant's worries that the 12 year-old might instead refuse to co-operate or show signs of wanting to flee thankfully seemed unfounded.

Consequently, Niachiarus even managed some grudging respect for Anthonius, who was clearly courageously prepared to sacrifice his princely status and honour for the continued safety of his beloved Lycia.

(To be continued)