"So? What happened next?" Suetonius asked.
Lysias sat upright to begin his testimony again.
"On returning to our sleeping quarters I was confronted with another surprise. Our staff was standing around staring in dismay at the places where Antinous and I were supposed to be asleep. Squatted atop Antinous's bed of piled straw a pace from my own stack was a human figure reclining in a nonchalant manner.
She was a young woman of striking pertness, delicacy, and shining with a copper-colored complexion. Her dark hair was bound high on her head in the fashionable style of gentlewomen of quality at Rome, pinned with needles of ivory. She was dressed in the fine, sheer raiment and silken mantle of a member of the Imperial Court adorned with drop earrings and a necklet of filigree gold. Her eyes were outlined in thin black lines of kohl, a striking fashion affected at the eastern half of the Empire.
She had a travelling sack bulging with possessions lying beside her, and as I approached I realized she also had a sheathed gladius short-sword lying on the blanket before her. The weapon's matching hip dagger and its finely-crafted belt-strap were immediately-recognizable. It was the knife which had brought down the boar earlier in the day. Hadrian's knife. It was accompanied by an Imperial scroll tied in scarlet silk and sealed with a clay bulla.
'Antinous of Bithynia?' she asked brightly as I came near.
'No, I am Lysias, his friend,' I responded. 'Who are you? What do you want with Antinous, young lady?'
'Oh,' she said firmly, 'I am instructed to speak only with Antinous of Bithynia.'
At that moment Antinous entered the marquee, only to be surprised to find everyone awake and standing forlornly around his bedding place. It was occupied by the dark eyed interloper seated between her various possessions. He glanced around the motley group facing him.
'What the…?' he gasped.
The lithe young beauty arose from her seat with a supple dexterity and a delicate feminine grace I have rarely seen expressed so effectively in a single human bodily movement. I realized the delightful creature in the resplendent attire with her supple elegance was perhaps one of the dancers from the evening's entertainments, or some other nubile attendant to the Imperial Household.
She met eye-to-eye with Antinous and immediately understood how this blond haired, tall-statured youth with the gilded suntan was her mission's objective. Someone had told her Antinous would be the very good looking fellow of our group.
'Antinous of Bithynia, victor of the Hunt, greetings!' she proclaimed gaily. 'I am instructed by my master to deliver these gifts to you and ensure their purpose is understood.'
With a nod of the head gesturing to the sword and dagger at her feet while proffering the official scroll, she continued trippingly.
'These are awards from Great Caesar to be delivered directly into the hands of Antinous of Bithynia. I am also instructed to deliver myself into your household's service as well,' she said with a teasing flash of the eyes. She rose to her full height barely up to Antinous's chest and offered the gladius, dagger, belt, and scroll, accompanied by a small kidskin pouch knobbled with bulges. It suggested many coins within.
'Yes, I am Antinous of Bithynia, young lady,' he confirmed with formality before the eyes of all. 'So who are you?'
Antinous scanned his grooms and steward for an explanatory response.
'The young lady was escorted to our tent by two of Caesar's soldiers,' his steward said. 'They departed just before you arrived. She is unaccompanied.'
Antinous glanced at me questioningly but then took the sword belt with its attached scabbard and dagger in his hands and unsheathed the well-wrought polished blade. The gleam of quality metal and fine craftsmanship shone beneath the lamp-light while the white enameled inlays and silver decoration announced its costliness. Antinous looked to me as we both immediately recognized its origin and owner.
'It's the blade which killed the boar today. It's Caesar's.'
Antinous developed a growing blush as its implication dawned on both of us at the same time. 'A small hunting kill, a fine weapon, or a drinking vessel', the classic definition of admissible suitor's gifts to an eromenos which did not imply bribery, let alone prostitution.
'My master has instructed me to say you will understand what this gift represents,' the petite birdlike woman confirmed in wide-eyed innocence.
The nutty russet of her skin, her straight line of white teeth shining from a beaming face, her whiter-than-white eyeballs with their piercingly dark pupils, the painted kohl around her eyes, and the slenderness of her figure told us this pretty creature was a foreigner of neither Hellene nor Asia Minor origin. Yet her spoken Greek was without accent.
Antinous nodded acknowledgement and took the scroll and sack of coins in curiosity. He broke the scroll's clay seal and unwound the papyrus. Glancing to me and the others from time to time, he began to softly enunciate the message within.
'Antinous of Bithynia, son of Telemachus of Claudiopolis, greetings! I, Imperator Caesar Publius Aelius Hadrianus, as a token of my friendship, regard, and affection, bestow your person with this gift of a finely wrought sword of best Syracuse workmanship. This sword was once the property of King Nikomedes IV of Bithynia, being a part of the treasure endowed by his estate to the SPQR at the time of Caesar Augustus. You will recall this sword's efficacy in our Imperial Hunt this day, and comprehend its intended message as a gesture of my regard. Respect the beauty and quality of this rare artifact just as I respect the equivalent character of its human recipient.
Accompanying this gift is an endowment of a specially selected slave acquired at market at the Isle of Delos, the holy abode of our divine Apollo, for your personal service. THAIS is her name. She is fifteen years of age, and a native of Cyrene at Roman Africa. She is trained in all domestic duties, household stewardship, finances, is a body servant or lady's companion, and is a dancer and singer of talent.
However, more importantly, she is also schooled in Palatine Latin, Koine Greek, plus Syrian Aramaic to a high standard for your continuing language instruction. She reads and writes in all three scripts. This bestowal of ownership with its documents is supported with a purse of coins to pay for upkeep of her services for at least a year. Future annual upkeep is subject to your continuing demand of her services. Yours in friendship, etc."
Antinous and I stared with amazement at this gift of living flesh standing demurely before us. Antinous peeped into the pouch. His eyes widened as he poured the contents of the purse onto the cloth before him.
A pile of coins of deep yellow gold lay before him, to the audible gasp of the surrounding household attendants. There was enough gold in the pouch to purchase several slaves of quality and provide their upkeep for years. Antinous didn't think anyone of the group, including him, had ever before seen so much gold in one place.
The assembly looked to the human acquisition before them in wonderment. She looked back to Antinous with an open expression of disingenuous delight and a brightly twinkling smile.
'Hello Master. My name is Thais,' she volunteered without permission, 'I am trained as an educated servant for a master or mistress of quality. I was born of a slave mother at Cyrene, capital of Cyrenaica in Africa, and raised in the household of the Imperial Prefect of the province at Cyrene and Ptolemais. My mother was Lais of Canopus, the concubine favorite of the Prefect. I am competent in the duties necessary for managing a household of quality such as the Prefect's two palaces in Cyrenaica.
At age fifteen on my maturity I was sold in the specialist slave emporium at Delos in the Aegean Sea. I was offered by my master, the Prefect, on the understanding I was to be sold only to masters or mistresses of honor, and not to traders in virgins or courtesans. I am told my price was subsidized by my master to ensure a select placement. However, due to my language skills and proficiencies in the service of the Prefect and his wife, I was acquired by the Imperial Administration on behalf of the emperor's Household, possibly on the Prefect's recommendation.'
Thais paused to observe and assess her audience's reactions. She then continued.
'Among my duties, I am intended as a live-in tutor of spoken languages and of courtly comportment. I am an instructor in manners in the Imperial mode to special students assigned by the Imperial Administration. I am charged by my former master that you, Antinous of Bithynia, are to receive my services,' the delicately boned waif with the hugely bright eyes and winning, if presumptuous, manner announced with lively enthusiasm.
Antinous and I shared a querulous expression and then burst into laughter.
'Well,' said Antinous after studied consideration, 'I see. Welcome to our service, Slave Thais of Cyrene. Make yourself useful to my steward and ourselves until such a time as I confirm your acquisition with the elders of my household.'
'I am desirous, Master, of performing well in your service,' she responded with a courteous, if slightly too obsequious, genuflection. Her response was spoken in pure Latin. It possessed an exacting pronunciation redolent of a native speaker of the patrician class. No Bithynian intonation was evident.
'May I take the liberty of offering this first lesson in conversational Latin, master?' Thais said with a tinkling laugh.
It was uttered with a lively gaiety which brought a smile to everyone's lips despite her faintly patronizing tone and a worrying lack of proper servility. It seemed Slave Thais had learned the habits and lifestyles of her masters too well at the Prefect's palace at Cyrene.
Antinous and I realized at last it had been a most unusual day and night.