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The Fate of a Goth Girl
- Thread starter Praefectus Praetorio
- Start date
Praefectus Praetorio
R.I.P. Brother of the Quill
I should hope not. Barbaria's incredible courage and defiance here should win the respect of the authorities. It would be grossly unfair to punish her more!
Fossy
SEXPIOGENTUS
I think such a possibility would be met with a resounding
...
settantuno
MUTUS PICTOR
Fossy
SEXPIOGENTUS
What a story that one piece of art alone tells!
Praefectus Praetorio
R.I.P. Brother of the Quill
Many in the crowd had a passing knowledge of the Gothic language. Most figured out almost at once the meaning of the girl's outburst. Her feisty defiance, her incredible courage and strength of will from the cross, her spit hitting the rotund youth, and the universal dislike of the spoiled brat conspired to turn the nasty mood of the mob from the Goth and redirect it to the hated son of the nevertheless respected Praeses. One or two started laughing at Galerius, immediately joined by several others, and quickly, the whole Amphitheater was rocked with raucous laughter at Galerius's expense. Jeers and taunts were shouted out, attacking his manhood and lambasting his weight.
The poor, unfortunate lad squealed insults back at the mob. But soon, his words were drowned in a sea of abuse. Galerius burst out weeping, tears running down his round face and his large soft body quivering with sobs. He covered his face in his hands and collapsed to his knees.
Barbaria, hearing the shouting, painfully lifted her head to look at her tormentor. She saw beneath her a fat youth, weeping like a child and groveling on the ground. A small smile of satisfaction came to her chapped lips.
The Praeses stood and came to the front of the Box. He signaled Marianus, the Cornicen, who had been resting in the shade. The soldier immediately stood and blew a long blast on his horn. The sound, reverberating in the circular space, shocked the crowd into silence. They looked to the Governor, who was holding his arms up for silence. Obediently the mob sat down. The Praeses gestured to the servants with his son and indicated to bring him back to the Box. Mogurix waved two soldiers to help, which was wise because moving the weeping, limp and obese young man back up the steps was no mean task. When Galerius reached his father, he began whining, "You must punish her for speaking like that! For assaulting me! And those nasty people – he waved at the crowd - they should go to the cross!"
Gaius held up his hand to silence his son. “I in domum nostram! Nunc! (go to our home! Now!)” He turned to the Centurion and asked him to send along two soldiers to make sure they got to Villa Praesidis (the Governor's palace) without incident. Galerius, silenced by his father’s unaccustomed strong command, went with the servants and soldiers to the atrium and the rear exit.
The Praeses spoke again to Calixtus. “You understand, I must punish her somehow for her insolence. I honestly don’t want to, but it must happen. It’s not about Ius (justice) or Aequus (fairness) anymore. It's a matter of seeing the Signum Magnum (the "Big Picture"). The Centurion was very used to dealing with political versus justice decisions. Despite the Praeses’s tendency to sway with the popular winds, he had come to respect the man as one who tried to do right. Calixtus liked him and could see he was terribly torn over the need to decree more iniquitas (injustice) for the girl. He nodded and said, "Faciam, (I shall handle it).” Antonious was relieved by having the decision of the punishment taken out of his hands. He just wanted this horrible day to end.
Calixtus went down to the arena and walked to the cross. He surveyed the Goth girl's desperate efforts to breathe as her body quivered in pain. The panting, suffering girl looked at him questioningly. The Centurion called for the soldier to come with the stool to place before the girl. He told the man to draw his gladius (short stabbing sword) and climb onto the stool in front of Barbaria. Though she had been praying for death, the sight of eighteen uncias of sharp, stabbing steel held before her gut terrified her even now. She shut her eyes tight and whispered, "Ni."
Calixtus had the man raise his sword over the girls' head and use the flat to pry the titulus off the cross and throw it to the ground. The soldier climbed down, took the stool, and stepped aside. The Centurion turned to his Optio and spoke a few words. Mogurix smiled and fetched the 'tool bag.' Calixtus rummaged in it for a moment and drew out a Scorpio (a particularly vicious scourge enhanced with bone fragments and twisted wire). He went and stood before the crucified girl, who, not seeing the whip behind his back, now looked at him even more confused.
“Barbaria, Filia Fritigernus (he intentionally addressed her by the name she had claimed. He wanted to show respect for her courage)," he announced loudly so that all could hear. "You have insulted the Praeses in the person of his filius. Take your punishment.” Calixtus had many, many years of experience disciplining hardened soldiers and chastising criminals. His right arm was thick with battle-hardened muscles. He twisted back and swung the Scorpio, hard and fast in a sweeping blow against her belly, causing several bruises and deep cuts to the tender flesh. Barb screamed with what little breath she had. Before she could even inhale again, the Centurion struck again, this time aiming at her lovely breasts. The girl let out another howl. With just two expertly delivered blows, her fair breasts and belly were now almost as shredded and bloody as her back.
Calixtus turned, threw the Scorpio to the ground in disgust, and climbed back up to the Box.
The poor, unfortunate lad squealed insults back at the mob. But soon, his words were drowned in a sea of abuse. Galerius burst out weeping, tears running down his round face and his large soft body quivering with sobs. He covered his face in his hands and collapsed to his knees.
Barbaria, hearing the shouting, painfully lifted her head to look at her tormentor. She saw beneath her a fat youth, weeping like a child and groveling on the ground. A small smile of satisfaction came to her chapped lips.
The Praeses stood and came to the front of the Box. He signaled Marianus, the Cornicen, who had been resting in the shade. The soldier immediately stood and blew a long blast on his horn. The sound, reverberating in the circular space, shocked the crowd into silence. They looked to the Governor, who was holding his arms up for silence. Obediently the mob sat down. The Praeses gestured to the servants with his son and indicated to bring him back to the Box. Mogurix waved two soldiers to help, which was wise because moving the weeping, limp and obese young man back up the steps was no mean task. When Galerius reached his father, he began whining, "You must punish her for speaking like that! For assaulting me! And those nasty people – he waved at the crowd - they should go to the cross!"
Gaius held up his hand to silence his son. “I in domum nostram! Nunc! (go to our home! Now!)” He turned to the Centurion and asked him to send along two soldiers to make sure they got to Villa Praesidis (the Governor's palace) without incident. Galerius, silenced by his father’s unaccustomed strong command, went with the servants and soldiers to the atrium and the rear exit.
The Praeses spoke again to Calixtus. “You understand, I must punish her somehow for her insolence. I honestly don’t want to, but it must happen. It’s not about Ius (justice) or Aequus (fairness) anymore. It's a matter of seeing the Signum Magnum (the "Big Picture"). The Centurion was very used to dealing with political versus justice decisions. Despite the Praeses’s tendency to sway with the popular winds, he had come to respect the man as one who tried to do right. Calixtus liked him and could see he was terribly torn over the need to decree more iniquitas (injustice) for the girl. He nodded and said, "Faciam, (I shall handle it).” Antonious was relieved by having the decision of the punishment taken out of his hands. He just wanted this horrible day to end.
Calixtus went down to the arena and walked to the cross. He surveyed the Goth girl's desperate efforts to breathe as her body quivered in pain. The panting, suffering girl looked at him questioningly. The Centurion called for the soldier to come with the stool to place before the girl. He told the man to draw his gladius (short stabbing sword) and climb onto the stool in front of Barbaria. Though she had been praying for death, the sight of eighteen uncias of sharp, stabbing steel held before her gut terrified her even now. She shut her eyes tight and whispered, "Ni."
Calixtus had the man raise his sword over the girls' head and use the flat to pry the titulus off the cross and throw it to the ground. The soldier climbed down, took the stool, and stepped aside. The Centurion turned to his Optio and spoke a few words. Mogurix smiled and fetched the 'tool bag.' Calixtus rummaged in it for a moment and drew out a Scorpio (a particularly vicious scourge enhanced with bone fragments and twisted wire). He went and stood before the crucified girl, who, not seeing the whip behind his back, now looked at him even more confused.
“Barbaria, Filia Fritigernus (he intentionally addressed her by the name she had claimed. He wanted to show respect for her courage)," he announced loudly so that all could hear. "You have insulted the Praeses in the person of his filius. Take your punishment.” Calixtus had many, many years of experience disciplining hardened soldiers and chastising criminals. His right arm was thick with battle-hardened muscles. He twisted back and swung the Scorpio, hard and fast in a sweeping blow against her belly, causing several bruises and deep cuts to the tender flesh. Barb screamed with what little breath she had. Before she could even inhale again, the Centurion struck again, this time aiming at her lovely breasts. The girl let out another howl. With just two expertly delivered blows, her fair breasts and belly were now almost as shredded and bloody as her back.
Calixtus turned, threw the Scorpio to the ground in disgust, and climbed back up to the Box.
M
montycrusto
Guest
Her insults and gobful of spit,
It seems, the right target had hit.
While Galerius burned
With shame, the crowd turned,
And applauded the Goth girl’s true grit.
It seems, the right target had hit.
While Galerius burned
With shame, the crowd turned,
And applauded the Goth girl’s true grit.
NewUser
Magistrate
Well, is the worst over now for Barb?
Praefectus Praetorio
R.I.P. Brother of the Quill
Define "worst"?
NewUser
Magistrate
M
montycrusto
Guest
Her belly and tit-flesh were torn,
In revenge for her withering scorn.
But can they have moore
Cruel torments in store?
Will Barb rue the day she was born?
In revenge for her withering scorn.
But can they have moore
Cruel torments in store?
Will Barb rue the day she was born?
Fossy
SEXPIOGENTUS
If I am reading today's chapter correctly the titulus has now been prised away, and therefore needs (perhaps) to be connected elsewhere in this horrific vignette. More horrors perhaps for the battered, beaten and thoroughly abused Goth slut ...
old slave
FELIS RESPICIENS
The titulus read:
So removing that titulus is further honouring her name (I think, though knowing @Praefectus Praetorio anything is possible)
M
montycrusto
Guest
Praefectus Praetorio
R.I.P. Brother of the Quill
A small peek behind the magic curtain to show how my
I chose the titulus and its inscription as an ultimate humiliation of the proud Goth girl. What would be worse than going to her death as an unnamed slave? Quotes from two of my favorite authors illustrate:
The greatest Latin poet, Virgil, in his magnum opus, the Aeneid, describes the death of Priam, the king of Troy, at the end of the Trojan War. "Who was once the superb ruler of Asia with all its land and peoples":
...Iacet ingēns lītore truncus,
āvulsumque umerīs caput et sine nōmine corpus.
...his trunk lay where it was thrown on the shore,
the head ripped from the shoulders, a body without a name.
Bob Dylan in a song he wrote when he was 21, "Only a Hobo," described finding a dead panhandler on the street one morning. I heartily recommend listening. But here is the relevant stanza:
"Does it take much of a man to see his whole life go down,
To look up on the world from a hole in the ground,
To wait for your future like a horse that's gone lame,
To lie in the gutter and die with no name?"
The noble Calixtus (noble in character, if not in birth) found the titulus disgusting. He had it ripped off and thrown in the dust. He will not use it again. He used Barbaria's name to give her a modicum of dignity as she endures the last flogging before dying a humiliating death. He even throws the scorpio down in disgust.
BTW we shall visit that passage from Virgil again at the end of the story.
Praefectus Praetorio
R.I.P. Brother of the Quill
Some of you thought Barbaria's spirit had been broken. That she would submit meekly to her end.
@Barbaria1 was rather prescient of her final defiance!
M
montycrusto
Guest
Barbaria may show defiance,
But here’s an appliance of science.
Any one who is wise
Will observe Barb’s demise,
If they stand on the shoulders of giants.