The executioners crucify the two men first. Publius is the first one to be nailed to his cross, while Verina, the prostitute. heaps abuse on him.
Verina continued to laugh at his agony and heap abuse on him. “I want to see you take that cornu up your ass, Publius! Think about how that’s going to feel going in, all rough and splintery! And it’s bigger and harder than that floppy little worm you stuck in me!”
They take Antius, the other one, next. Sabina describes the scene as they nail his wrists to the patibulum:
He continued to plead and became hysterical when Antius pressed the point of a nail against his wrist and raised his hammer. His babbling was cut off with an agonized scream as the first blow of the hammer fell. Verina and I laughed out loud at the ridiculous way his cock flopped from side to side as his body jerked following each blow of the hammer, like the shock of the hammer would travel down his body and come out there. It was so funny to watch!
This is a reminder that Sabina has come to watch this crucifixion because she enjoys it. And she joins right in with the cruelty of the crowd, not knowing that in a few days time, she'll be on the receiving end of it herself.
Now it's Lucilla's turn.
When they came for the woman Lucilla, she angrily tore off her loincloth and threw it in Antius’ face. There was laughter along with murmurs of appreciation from the crowd at that. She was just as tanned underneath as she was everywhere else, and clean-shaven between her legs.
Antius threw the cloth on the ground. “Lucilla,” he said testily, “we can do this the easy way or the hard way, your choice. But we are going to put you back up on a cross now.”
“Fuck you Antius, you shit-eating, cock sucking bastard!” She shouted at him, straining against the taut chain at her neck that held her back like a wild animal. If he’d been within her reach there was little doubt that she’d have been on him, scratching, biting and trying to throttle him just like the spectator she’d had a go at earlier. Instead she heaped more abuse on him. “That filthy, poxy, leprous whore of a mother of yours should have left you in the latrine where she dropped you like the steaming pile of shit that you are!”
“Lucilla, I know you only say these things to try to win my heart, but I’m not one to give up my virtue so easily!” He waited for the laughter of the crowd to die down before continuing. “If it was up to me, I’d nail you to a cross right now, and in three or four days you’d be dead.
“But I - didn’t – poison - him! I wasn’t even there! When I came back from the market, they were all already dead or dying. I was the one who went for help! How can they call me guilty when I wasn’t even there! It’s not fair!”
“Fair doesn’t matter. The magistrate sentenced you to this; it’s our job to carry out his sentence. We’re just workmen doing our job.”
Standing there naked in her chains, Lucilla continues to argue, insult and threaten everyone around her. Finally, Antius calmly deals her a threat that breaks her spirit:
“Lucilla, don’t forget I can make it worse for you. There’s the good sedile that gives you a place to rest on, and then there are many kinds of bad sediles that will make you pay a price, like that groaning bastard there is finding out now,” he said, pointing at Publius on his cross. “Remember what it was like when I gave you a bad one? Want to spend another week of misery like that?
“And that’s not the worst I can do. I could easily lose count of just how many times I’ve put you up on a cross. Let’s see,” he said, pretending to count to five on his fingers, “has it been five times…” He folded the last finger down. “Maybe I was wrong, maybe it’s only been four times now.”
She stared at the executioner, speechless. A tear started down her cheek and her shoulders slumped. She was beaten. “Fuck you all… oh gods, fuck you all,” she trailed off, nothing left to say.
With Lucilla finally compliant, Antius tells his helpers to put her on the cross.
“Ajax, Hercules, put her on the cross,” the executioner said. His two big Nubian helpers moved in, one holding her arms from behind while the other unfastened her shackles and collar. They were about to drag her over to her cross, but paused when she shook her head.
“No, let me do it,” she sobbed, “I can do it. Just… when I lie down, hurry and get it done.” She rubbed the tears away, straightened herself and resolutely walked over to the X-shaped cross that lay waiting for her between where the two other victims now struggled and moaned in agony. There was a murmur from the crowd; no one had ever seen a victim walk calmly to her cross without a struggle.
Lucilla sits down on the cross and positions herself:
Lucilla straddled the cross’s center post and carefully eased her bare bottom down onto the timber near the place where its arms intersected, taking care to avoid any splinters. She spread her legs and positioned her feet one at a time on the cross arms where they would go when she was crucified. She leaned back and used her arms to lift her hips and slide her buttocks down a bit, fitting herself to the X-shape. Even though her legs were spread wide toward the crowd, she showed no embarrassment. I suppose she was long past all of that.
I should have done more illustrations for this part of the story, but I got lazy I guess.
...................................I hope
