Ok, got over 100 views for most of the pics in that last set and only 13 likes, which I guess means that about 90% of you don't like them. Artists like me receive no other payment for their work than your feedback, and it costs you nothing to at least click the "Like" button.
Moving on, with Lucilla's sedile set in place, Antius leaves it to the two Nubians, Ajax and Hercules, to rope her feet. Hercules bends Lucilla's left leg up and places the sole of her foot against the timber while Ajax skillfully binds it to the cross. Lucilla watches but does not resist; at least not yet. But her resolve is wearing thin as she feels herself becoming more and more helpless.
Sabina describes what she saw:
Although he had made it sound like the sedile was an act of mercy on his part, I saw that it was no different than the short sediles commonly used in executions, or even the one he had just used for the criminal Albanus. Had he truly intended to show her some mercy, he might have turned it upside down, with the wider edge on top. As it was, the sharp edge was facing upward.
This great, really looking forward to the final foot being secured, please, do it quickly!
The other Nubian, Ajax, was waiting with the ropes for her feet. As Antius moved out of the way, Hercules let Lucilla’s body swing back against the cross. He held her left leg for Ajax to slip a loop of rope around her ankle, then bent it up and positioned it with the sole of her foot placed flat and high on its crossbeam.
While he held it there, Ajax wrapped the rope several times around the crossbeam and her ankle, finishing with several wraps between the cross and her heel to make everything tight so that she could not work herself free.
“Just like the way they do it in the brothels,” Verina said. “You want to tie someone up over and over again, you can’t have the ropes cutting into them.” She glanced at me, saw me staring, and said, “We get all kinds in my business, and there’s a fine line between pleasure and pain.”
Ajax completed the job with two wraps across the top of her foot to hold it flat against the timber.