To Love Again - Bertrice Small [80]
Jovian looked drolly at his elder sibling. “Phocas, my dear brother, you wound me deeply. When did I ever purchase any male slave for this house that I did not inspect their attributes most thoroughly first? At rest the manhoods of these three hang limply at least six inches. Aroused they will lengthen to eight, if I am not mistaken, and I rarely am.”
“Your pardon, brother,” Phocas said with a brief smile.
With an answering smile and a bow, Jovian departed his brother’s presence. Calling to his favorite body slave, and current lover, to come and join him, he walked swiftly through the gates of Villa Maxima and out into the street.
Chapter 8
Cailin had always believed that the home in which she had grown up was luxurious, but life at Villa Maxima was a revelation to her. No windows despoiled the outside walls of the building facing the street. One entered through bronze gates that led by way of a narrow passage into a large, sunny, open courtyard. The flooring in the courtyard was designed of square blocks of black and white marble. Great pots were set about the perimeter of the space. They were planted with small trees and pink damask rosebushes. There were always attractive slaves on duty within the courtyard to welcome visitors and to direct them up the two wide white marble steps onto the colonnaded portico, and through it into the atrium of the villa.
The atrium was magnificent. It had a high, curved, vaulted ceiling divided into sunken panels that were carved and decorated in red and blue, and gilded with gold. The walls were decorated with panels of white marble, and the baseboards were overlaid in silver. The entry to the atrium had two squared columns and four rounded pillars in red and white marble, all topped with gilded cornices. Above the entry were three long, narrow, latticed windows.
The doors leading from the atrium were of solid bronze, and the door posts sheathed in green marble, carved and decorated with gold and ivory. The floor was of marble tiles of various contrasting shades of green and white arranged in geometrical patterns. In the recessed wall niches set about the room were marvelous marble sculptures of naked men and women, singly, or in pairs, or groups, all in erotic poses calculated to titillate the viewer. There were marble tubs filled with brightly colored flowers, and several marble benches where clients sat waiting admittance as their identities and credit were checked.
What little of the rest of the villa that Cailin saw in her first weeks in Constantinople was equally magnificent. The walls were all paneled, and centered upon them, painted pictures in frames. The subject of most of these paintings was erotic in nature. The ceilings were all paneled, and decorated with raised stucco work which was gilded or set with ivory. Doors were paneled and carved with colorful mosaic thresholds. The floors were either of marble of various hues, or mosaic pictures made of pieces so tiny that they appeared to be painted. The floor of the main chamber where the entertainments took place had the story of Leda and Jupiter illustrated in exquisitely colored pieces of mosaic that gave a jeweled effect.
The furniture found at Villa Maxima was typical of a wealthy household. Couches were everywhere, and they were ornately ornamental in design. Wonderfully grained woods were used for the legs and the arms, which were often carved. Tortoiseshell, ivory, ebony, jewels, and precious metals were used to decorate them. The couch coverings were of the finest fabrics available, embroidered in both gold and silver threads as well as sewn with jewels.
The tables were equally