In the morning Plinius’s squad marched from the place of execution back to the camp. His legionaries were allowed to copulate all night again to their hearts content with the breeding-slaves, so they were in good spirits. The old legionary had been shown his future quarters, and was allowed to sleep there. Prudent Pisollus rewarded an obedient slave-girl with a night with the old legionary, she returned to work in the morning fresh and bright, truly blossoming, the envy of her colleagues. She made sure to proclaim the sexual services of the legionary among the flock of slave-girls, as women do, adding one detail after another! The anticipation meant that the female flock was unusually docile, following all the instructions of Pisollus and his overseer, each one was keen to be rewarded in the new year as the first to spend a night at the old man.
Over the bodies on the cross swarmed birds, insects and maggots, feasting. Travellers paused to glance, but quickly left the stinking place. It was summer, decay progressed quickly, after a month, only a pair of misshapen skeletons hung on the crosses. The last fibres rotted away in time, and the remains fell to the ground. Stray dogs grabbed the bones and gnawed the last scraps of meat from them, their powerful jaws cracking the bones and feasting on the marrow of the crucified humans.
Their hope of finding each other in the afterlife came to nothing, they were dead and there was no afterlife.
Principalis Plinius Humanus married the widow Livilla Demus, they spent a happy life together, and brought a small litter of Romans into the world, the boys would all go into the Legion.
When the old legionary made his way after his discharge from service back to the estate to take up his duties, he passed the place of execution. The crosses were empty, except, still hanging on a nail, a piece of the pretty Egyptian girl’s hand. With a sigh, he remembered the desirable youngster back in the summer, now her body had virtually disappeared. Fuck, the old man thought, Pisollus has enough young, nubile womenfolk on his estate, why waste time turning them to corpses?
He was welcomed with great excitement among the slave women on the estate, and began his new duties immediately, eagerly. Each day another fertile woman’s flesh was given up to him. He performed this service to the satisfaction of the slavegirls and of their Master. After nine months, the women were birthing little slaves almost daily. The Legionary received a share in the proceeds of slave-sales, and so came to enjoy real prosperity in his old age.
When he was becoming decrepit, he trained three suitable stud-slaves who would able to mate with all the women of the herd whenever their sexual receptivity was diagnosed. But these three were quite insufficient to match his performance, and the women did not want to be mated by ordinary slaves, so Pisollus gave up and castrated all his male slaves. But that's another story.
The world continued to turn, and nobody was thinking any more of the crucified slave-pair, only Plinius Humanus occasionally remembered the unhappy youngsters. We have his report to thank for the record of their fate.
madiosi 2012
translated by eulalia 2015