The Death of Antinous || bxb ✔︎

NIL DESPERANDUM

Ten sestertii.

That was the cost of a ticket to watch the gladiators. Antinous had nine sestertii and waited patiently until the end of the week to receive his state allowance. The money would be better spent on a new tunic or the public baths, but ever since he arrived in Rome he dreamed only of attending the Flavian Amphitheatre.

Remus and Romulus passed him in the courtyard with twin smiles. The night of Armilustrium haunted Antinous but they went on as if nothing had happened. Still, he could see those smiles cracking beneath the surface like weathered stucco.

Their next lesson was rhetoric. They were debating a passage from Homer's Odyssey. To Antinous' horror their teacher, Gallus, used the Latin translation that referred to Odysseus as "Ulysses." It was bad enough that he was expected to read artless Roman writers. Did they have to butcher the Greeks as well?

Antinous thought nothing of the exercise until he noticed the passage Romulus had chosen to discuss. While Remus was a cold and calculating mathematician, Romulus was an impassioned orator. Antinous had the misfortune of sharing the same name as the poem's famous traitor. Since their plan with the dagger fell through, Romulus sought to lash him with his tongue.

"And what do we make of Penelope's foremost suitor Antinous? He is arrogant and wicked to be sure, threatening to steal everything from our hero Ulysses. You might say, 'Romulus, all of Penelope's suitors are arrogant and wicked,' " he gesticulated with a bony finger, "but remember, Antinous is the only suitor Homer does not portray with sympathy. Why? Because he leads the campaign to kill their son, the innocent Telemachus, who was only a baby when Ulysses left for Troy! Furthermore, Antinous is the first suitor to die. Pierced by the arrow of Ulysses, he chokes to death on his own blood." He made choking sounds in Antinous' direction. "Tell us, Greek, why were you named after the epic poem's greatest traitor?"

"Now, now, Romulus," Gallus tsked, braiding his thick fingers over his belly.

Antinous should have kept his mouth shut, but he had a quick temper and couldn't help himself.

"I was not named after Antinous in the Odyssey! I was named after the princess Antinoë founder of my town's Greek mother-city Mantineia!"

This sent Romulus into hysterics. "I stand corrected, everyone, he's named after a woman. That's much more fitting!"

Everyone burst out laughing.

"What of it? My mother's a woman and she's braver than any Roman man."

Gallus intervened, sternly this time. "That is enough." He motioned for Romulus to take a seat on the straw mat.

As he sat down, Romulus whispered in Antinous' ear, "Your mother's a Greek whore who spreads for Roman men."

Without thinking, Antinous made a fist and punched him in the mouth. Romulus fell backward and shakily touched his split lip.

"Brother!" Remus cried as he kneeled over his twin. "Look at what this brute's done! He attacked my brother! What kind of person would do such a thing? He's an animal!"

"Antinous!" Gallus pointed and sent him out of the classroom. "I don't know how they shape young minds in Bithynia, but violence is not tolerated here at Caelian Hill."

They attacked me with a dagger! He longed to say. They are the brutes! They are the animals!

But all he could muster was, "Yes, teacher."

By noon all of the teachers had learned of his outburst and the Headmaster decided to withhold Antinous' state allowance as punishment.

He dug into his leather pouch and stared at his nine sestertii. He thought of the match that would begin later that day, the one he would miss. It was so close yet so far away.