waves realise they have lost their chance of gaining the
boy, the wind almost immediately drops and the storm abates. The sailors
mutter a prayer to great Neptune for his mercy and forbearance.
In the cabin Hadrian is angry, angry with himself that he has
allowed Antinous into danger. He controls himself, though, as a good
soldier should and strips the soaked clothes from the chilled boy and
tenderly dries him, rubbing the youthful skin back into warmth and
vibrancy with soft cloths. At this attention, Antinous' cock rises but
the Emperor ignores this, pouring him a glass of sweet wine and then
tucking him in his own bed while he, having changed his own clothes, sits
at his desk and works quietly at his official papers. After a while the
quiet, measured breathing from the bed tells himthat Antinous sleeps and
Hadrian ignores matters of State and gazes through anguished and longing
eyes at the boy.
Extract from 'the Secret Lives of the Caesars (Julius Caesar to
Domitian)' by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus.
"The arrival of the Emperor in Alexandria was met with great pomp and
circumstance and the Pharaoh - which is what the King of Egypt call
himself - came himself from his capital at Thebes to meet and personally
swear allegiance to Hadrian. The procession through the streets to the
Palace was impressive in the extreme and was watched by what must have
been the majority of the Alexandrian citizens who lined the streets and
cheered lustily. First came the lictors bearing the fasces - those
bundles of rods with projecting axe blades - symbols of authority, next
came the consuls and proconsuls appointed by Rome