Casca Didius originally posted this story at AncientSites. He's given me permission to repost it here at AncientWorlds

Message: A Saturnalia Carol!!!
Author: - Gaius Didius Casca
Originally Posted December 24, 2000

Stave Octavus: The World Turned Upside Down

In the nine months that followed that momentous Saturnalia, everything seemed to be going Scropa's way. He had a new Head Clerk to bully. The City Cohort Commander provided exactly 100 men for security duty every day without fail. His new trainers were slow, but coming along satisfactorily. The bankers had finally transferred the last of the money from Crachicus's account to his own. That money, plus the money realized on the sale of the domus and furnishings almost fully recouped his losses completely. He probably should go and see the Praetor about the release of Crachicus and his family, but he didn't feel in any particular rush to do so. Life was very good and he owed it all to Aemilius Scropa. He had been going soft. He had been slipping. But he was on the right path now.

Scropa's rosy picture of life was also shared by the other people involved. The Cohort Commander WAS providing 100 soldiers every day, or more accurately 100 men a day. In the past, even if he only provided 60 - 70 men, they had always been the best trained and most experienced men he had available. He was furious at the way Scropa, a mere Lanista, had treated him. Well HE was just as determined to keep HIS profits high. So the 100 men he sent were often little more that just dragged off the street and thrown into a uniform. They were strictly for show. His profits were higher now than ever before. Life was very good for the Commander too.

The new senior trainers had seen the profits their predecessors had made on the side. They deeply resented the fact that they wouldn't be getting their share of the golden goose. They often took it out on the gladiators. Cruelty was substituted for guidance, mindless repetition for an experienced training regimen. They had even been able to make a little money on the side by cutting rations and selling off the extra food. Many times the bread was 10% chalk or sawdust to provide bulk and they received a kickback from the baker on the unused wheat. Life was good for the new batch of trainers as well.

Their world began to fall apart in September, on the day of the showing of two pairs. Some very rich and influential people had come all the way down from Roma. They paid for a private showing of two pairs, to the death. The first pairing, Crixus and Gallino, had gone well. But the second pairing, of a Nubian and a Thracian, was a disaster. The Thracian was on his back and at the mercy of the Nubian. The thumbs-down sign had been given from the box. But instead of delivering the "coup-de-grace", the Nubian turned and attacked the stands instead. Even though the attack was unsuccessful and the Nubian killed, the entire school was in disgrace. The body of Drabba the Nubian was hung by the heels in the center of the slave pens as a warning to all the rest.

The following day, just when Scropa assumed everything was settling back to normal, the spirit of revolt flamed into furious life. The honored guest from Roma had taken quite a fancy to a slave girl named Varinia. Scropa sold her for a fat profit. Scropa was in the process of putting her in the wagon for her trip to Roma, when all Tartarus broke out in the slave compound. Scropa took one look, threw the driver out of the wagon, jumped in and whipped the mules into a fast run. Behind him the slaves had murdered the trainers and were in the process of tearing down the gates. The inexperienced troops stayed long enough to throw a few Pila and jab ineffectually at the gladiators through the bars. But when the fence gave way, they threw aside their weapons and took to their heels. Within a few minutes the entire training area was a mass of flames and the gladiators were heading for the nearest latifundia.

By the time Scropa reached Roma, his business was in flames, his stock of slaves were setting a torch to the countryside, and angry citizens were demanding that the Praetor seize Scropa's assets in order to replace their own losses. Even Varinia had poked him in the eye, jumped from the cart, and went running back to the smoke-filled horizon.

In the morning, he had been a man wealthy enough to buy himself a Senatorship had he been so inclined. By nightfall, he was a penniless vagabond sitting at a Roman fountain.

And Scropa Despaired.


Copyright © 2000-2001, Gaius Didius Casca Longinus Calvus. All Rights Reserved. All copyrighted material is the property of the original author.