The Gladiators Revenge

A Poem by David Lewis Paget

He vows to endure to be burned,

To be bound, to be beaten and killed,

The gladiatorial vow,

He lives by his sword and his skill.

With sentence of death on each head,

Whether woman or man, none escaped,

If one raised his sword against Rome,

The arena and death was his fate.

The brothers Aurinus and Severus

Were shamed in the army’s defeat,

They fled from the Battle of Cannae,

And Hannibal saw their retreat,

They were stripped with their Legion, of honour,

Arrested and sold then as slaves,

They were sentenced ‘damnati ad ludum’,

A dishonour they’d take to their graves.

They were branded and marked with stigmata,

On their foreheads that they’d not escape,

And their wives, Lucadina and Julia

Were sentenced to share the same fate,

They were owned by a wealthy Lanista,

Marcelus, the scum of the earth,

With a stable of Bestiarii

That he’d raised and he’d trained from birth.

‘You will fight in the great Colloseum,

And your women will fight there as well,

They will bare their breasts for the Legion,

And so may be spared for a spell.

You will be matched with my favourite sons,

Put on a show, and choose,

If you wish to receive manumission,

You will hold yourself back, and lose!’

The quaestor, Septius, scheduled the games

For the Saturnalian week,

Hoping to head off the revels outside

By drawing them in from the street,

The Bestiarii, first on the bill

Fought lions and boars in style,

But cowered back at the first attack

From a bevy of crocodiles.

Aurinus and Severus, with their wives

Were thrust in front of the crowd,

The plebes already baying for blood,

Four secutores stood, and bowed,

They flew at the brothers to take them out,

They flew at the brother’s wives,

The brothers could possibly take them, but

Had thoughts for preserving their lives.

They backed and they turned to fend each blow,

The wives acquitted them well,

They wouldn’t go down while their husbands stood

They’d hold them off for a spell.

Then Severus caught a glancing blow

That felled him, there at their feet,

And Aurinus put his finger up

To signal a dismal defeat.

They waited to see what the quaestor did,

They expected missio,

But the crowd had wanted a show of blood

And he signed sine missione

Severus leapt to his feet at that

Ran his sword through a secutore,

While the women thrust their lances through

And two more fell to the floor.

The secutore that was left, he turned

But Aurinus took his head,

Slashed his sword through the fighter’s throat

‘Til the floor was running red,

Then Aurinus took a javelin

That had fallen beneath his foe,

Swung round, and aimed at the quaestor, then

He let his arrow go.

The quaestor barely raised in his seat

When the javelin pinned him low.

The blank surprise at his fearful eyes

Was the last thing he would know.

The women got the Lanista, chased him

Dealt with him as he feared,

They cut his throat, to the baying note

Of the crowd, who stood and cheered.

Then they chanted ‘Saturnalia’

Where the low become the high,

And the roar from the Colloseum rose

Into a cloudless sky.

They sheltered the foursome in the crowd

And they changed clothes at the gates,

And never were seen in Rome again

Though they may have been found in Thrace!

David Lewis Paget

Glossary - damnati ad ludum - sentenced to the arena

Lanista - a keeper of gladiators

Bestiarii - gladiators who fought wild beasts

Manumission - freedom from slavery

Quaestor - (pron. Kwestor) - magistrate

Saturnalia - December festival where the low become high,

The Lord of Misrule. A forerunner of Christmas.

Plebes - plebeians - ordinary people, citizens of Rome

Secutores - gladiators

Missio - life spared - thumbs up

Sine Missione - death - thumbs down.

© 2013 David Lewis Paget

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quinfinn

David, you have a flair for writing the perceived and real events historical which reaches beyond any talent for this venue i have ever witnessed. certainly, you have announced to the reader your niche and the areas of your expertise as a dramatic poet. i never know what to expect from you when i see a r/r with your name, other than a very well written and generally historically accurate and epic write. awesome work, my friend!