The Death of Antinous || bxb ✔︎

IMPERIUM SINE FINE

The boar was a symbol of death to the Greeks due to the fact that hunting season began at the end of the year. This was the same season Antinous was born.

Their carriage rolled through a narrow path to the Arcadian Woods, followed by the imperial retinue and a procession of honoured guests.

It was only a few days until his birthday and he still hadn't received his gift. The Emperor was sentimental. Though Antinous could have anything he liked, Hadrian reserved birthdays for gifts of the heart. He would write him a letter, draw a sketch or wrap a keepsake from one of their walks, like a smooth piece of granite from a temple or a pressed wildflower.

He loved poetry even more than Antinous did. The Greeks in particular. It was unusual for a Roman Emperor to admire another culture as deeply as his own. A Roman boy might have been suspicious but Antinous felt proud. Hadrian read to him from Homer's tale of the Calydonian boar, a monster sent by Artemis to ravage the city of Calydon because King Oeneus failed to honour the goddess in his offerings. Oeneus recruited the bravest hunters in Greece and offered them the boar's pelt as a prize.

Antinous liked the story but the rocking carriage lulled him to sleep. He placed his head on the Emperor's shoulder and shut his eyes.

They hit a tree branch and the carriage bounced and woke him.

"You stopped reading."

"You fell asleep."

"That doesn't mean I wasn't listening."

"How's that?"

"I could hear you in my dreams."

He stretched, his long legs reaching the other end of the carriage. When he first rode in Hadrian's carriage, his feet scarcely touched the ground. In those days he sat on the Emperor's lap as his older lover named every tree and bird in the sky. It seemed that there was nothing in the world that Hadrian did not know.

The Emperor pulled him near for a kiss when the carriage came to an abrupt stop and the door opened.

It was Suetonius.

Antinous grew tense.

"Your page said you wanted me to join you?"

Hadrian invited him in with a warm smile, remembering his earlier directive.

"Yes, of course, come, come."

The historian did everything in his power not to meet Antinous' gaze. One wrong look and their secret would be exposed.

The Emperor rarely had Suetonius record their private moments. He normally joined the Emperor for meetings with his allies and generals. There was something different about this trip and the way he was so purposeful about all of the arrangements.

Commodus could be heard loudly complaining in the carriage behind them. "Why have we stopped? This northern air is drying! I need to get to the lodge and draw a bath at once!"

Antinous leaned out the window and made a crude gesture with his hand.

The carriage rolled on. Hadrian put the book away and set up a game of tabula between them, arranging the ivory pieces one by one.

Antinous rubbed his hands together. "If I win, you will take me to see the gladiators when we return to Rome."

"The games are barbaric," the Emperor grumbled. "What if I win?"

He scratched his head. "I will take you to see the gladiators when we return to Rome."

Suetonius was writing something. He couldn't imagine what it was. Antinous was not a general and this was hardly a war room. The historian had a dishevelled look in both manner and dress and seemed forever distracted or in deep thought like a young Cicero.