ARIADNE AND DIO by David Mario Callan Romans The decadent. The cruel. The supreme power. To conquer. To expand ISBN 978-1-906503-01-7 350 pages. Book not available yet. Excerpt from the novel: Ariadne and Dio. by David Mario Callan copyright (c) 2009 David Mario Callan AB URBE CONDITA. SEPTIGENTI ET VIGINTI TRIENNIUM Scenario: After. The surrender to death. Circus Maximus "I was away from the villa, rehearsing with the other performers. Without warning, I began to have an overwhelming urge to return. I sensed that you were in danger. In panic, I ran all the way home. When I arrived there, the lion was outside and chained to a tree. You were nowhere to be seen. I was frantic because this was something you had never done before. When I untied Hector, he ran away. I had to follow him although it was very difficult to keep up and I soon became exhausted. We ran through busy streets, knocking into people, all the way to The Circus Maximus. I was perspiring furiously and couldn't breath because of the heat of the sun." "You were defending my honor against a man of the tribuni and obviously a skilled fighter. When I appeared, those few who were watching began jeering and chanting, 'prostituta', 'prostituta'. Yes, they did. To taunt me...The one with wealth and privilege. The whore." "You were no swordsman. I never allowed you to have proper weapons. When I saw what you were doing I was terrified. My screaming had distracted your attention and, and...Your opponent killed Hector first, then you, with a blow to the head." "I took the sword which you'd dropped. I swung for the murderer, but he made me look foolish and they all laughed. I couldn't fight because I was weak and distraught, but I wanted to kill him. I wanted to kill him more than anything and I tried to. Each time, he cut my breast and thrust me down. He ran me through the neck with a javelin, almost pinning me to the ground. Still the mocking laughter, that awful laughter. Then, something happened while your killer was walking away from where he'd left me bleeding and in agony. I could see an absolutely huge golden eagle. The bird had been circling the whole time. It swooped down and began attacking him. He couldn't defend himself against the eagle's ferocity. He tried in vain. He fell to his knees, screaming and screaming. It's talons had blinded him and then torn out his eyes for all to witness. His eyes were held still in the air. It was at this point that I lifted the sword. I swung it. I was clumsy and in the greatest of pain, but I took off his screaming head. I hit him three times. When his head rolled, there was blood spurting high in the air." copyright (c) 2009. Callassa Media Company Ltd. Book available soon. Scenario. Before. At the villa of Timotheus. (Censored) It was the morning of the next day and at the luxurious villa of the well-aged, very overweight and lecherous patrician, Timotheus Seleucus. He is reclining and observing Ariadne pose, as had been the promise in return for his arranging of a Greek tutor, that Ariadne will receive education in drama and voice. "It is my piety," Timotheus had begun. "Which makes me push apart the buttocks of every slave with a stick before they come into my service. It is the doing of duty to the gods, you might say. Well, one duty, that is." Ariadne knew the gods would not sanction such an act, but much of what Timotheus Seleucus said was nonsense. He was acknowledged as a genius, the Temple architect, tam superbus, but a depraved human being, having unhindered recourse to and a savouring of all the vices. Hence, his notoriety and popularity amongst the orders of the city. Today, he is reclining on a goatskin couch and eating pineapple whilst his personal sculptor manipulates an unwieldly looking piece of clay. Of course, his eyes were well and truly fixed upon the young and naked torso of Ariadne Sabinus, posing and facing him. "Take my attendants," he was saying following an interruption because of having dropped what he was eating onto his lap. "How could I keep myself fulfilled without them? Tell me?" "You could find a wife, Timotheus." Ariadne was watching the window light pass from the top of his head and onto the table with its bowl of multicolored fruit. There was an embellished pig's head beside this, but its hue seemed less affected by the light. Upon the floor and by Timotheus' feet was a decanter of wine, which at his beckoning was for filling his goblet. "Hmmm," he muttered, his eyes obviously following the curvature of her thighs. "My eyes have been given a goddess." While moving himself, his huge belly had flopped out from his toga. His flesh was hanging in long and unattractive folds before he took the trouble to cover himself up. Ariadne wanted to complain. "Timotheus, if I have to stand here until this work is completed, then I shall be here forever." The sculptor hadn't even begun, it seemed to her. With langor in his voice he replied, "As though I would mind. Of course, you can visit my grooming room, but you have to return and not slip away.....If you want instruction in the fine art of Greek drama and voice. That is, Greek, I emphasise. Greek. Burp." He pushed a piece of pineapple into his mouth. Each time he'd done this, Ariadne was now aware, he'd remained contemplative for a while. He was annoying whether he was speaking or he was quiet. Timotheus, as all the wealthiest Romans, lived immersed in luxuries and wanted for absolutely nothing whatsoever. His beautiful villa, here on the Palatine, was testimony to this fact. Ariadne did not mind standing naked for him to gawk, it was the price which would have to be paid for the arranging of a Greek tutor. As long as he didn't attempt to prize her buttocks apart, which apparently, was his new found fascination. If indeed, that was what he was considering. Now standing, his very short period of contemplation had come to an end, it seemed. "If I give you something to eat, will I be able to hear it going all the way down into the well?" After asking he scooped back what little remained of his white hair, to which the strands became adhered. "I don't know," she replied. He was speaking nonsense again. He took a bunch of huge red grapes from a bowl and then hurried over to where she was standing, his movements appearing to her as befitting those of a comic actor. "Here," he said, then proceeding to push a large grape into her mouth. He watched intently while it was being chewed and eventually swallowed. "I wonder if I can hear it?" he asked, pondering in the serious fashion of one of the philosophers. He pushed another sweet grape into her mouth. Now his ear was following the grape's motion downwards. While whispering, his breath felt warm against her naval. "My, my, my the oceans of paradise are upon me this day. The seeds of Venus are fecund and growing." With his nose touching her, he took a deep breath, held it and then walked away, so to recline again. He didn't exhale until his face had become as brightly red as the grapes placed on his lap. "Timotheus Seleucus. My father would be alarmed if he suspected what was in your mind." "Possibly. If he knew what was gracing my lungs, he would be so." He laughed and carried on his eating pineapple and grapes. It was after a few moment's consuming that he continued on the same topic. "Your father, Tulla Sabinus. Now, there is a noble man. He will not even speak with his own delightful daughter. Twenty days of silence. Ha! What can one expect from another architect? In his concern over the building of public latrines, the man is as a sprinkling of flowers growing from a cesspit." He laughed again, but began choking on a grape. After coughing out the pip, he began noisily flicking his fingers, immediately one of his boy servants came in and sat with him. "Attend forthwith," he said to the boy, after spitting out a grape seed into his out stretched hand. "You are looking at a perfect replication of the universe, its celestial wonder curves. See the centre of her hips, that, in case you do not know, is the source of all life. Well, Roman life and disregarding the plebs. Ohoo, but just look there, that is what wars should be fought over. It is worth dying for, believe me." The boy smiled but seemed more fascinated by the sculptor moulding the clay, which was to be expected because what he'd been told excluded him anyway. "Hmmm. Eyes of brown, nose perfect, big brown eyes.....I always like big eyes. No other eyes are like those of Ariadne. Eyes, eyes.....big. Hmmm. Big." Timotheus was talking to himself because the boy was fascinated by the movements of the sculptor's hands and Ariadne did not wish to listen. "Away," he said loudly to the boy, who then obligingly ran from the room. "Are you a virgin, Ariadne?" As he asked, his eyes becoming illuminated as does the city beneath the dawning of a new day. He was eagerly awaiting her answer, so she tarried for a while before giving it. "I am as The Vestals, of course and you know it so." "Hmmm. Hmmm. Hmmm." came the reply. He got up again and walked over. This time he was carrying the oversized scyphus, the shape of a hand. "I have to put your purity to the test, because the inscription on my statue might be misleading otherwise. Such would make trembles amongst the unseen arbiters of my destiny." "Timotheus, what do you mean, 'put to the test?" "I have no knowledge yet, but by the time you've suckled all this wine I shall have thought of something." "I cannot do such a thing," she imploringly replied and while staring at the decanter which was huge and so heavy that its holding was causing him discomfort. "But Ariadne, the Greek tutor? The woman...The learning. The inscription? My seeds are grown. Look! Attend!" He put the scyphus to her lips........His eyes were wanton and there was........ regd copyright (c) David Mario Callan. All rights reserved. Please note that Ariadne and Dio is not available yet but will be VERY SOON. However, the character Ariadne appears in the novel, Big Eyes and Bluebell Woods and in: Zalia and the One Who Avenged the Elephants. Callassa Media Company Ltd Worldwide The Power. The Focus. The Extraordinary