Disclaimer - Ecce Romani isn't mine. If it were, it would be less about a cart getting stuck in a ditch and more about... Well, you can imagine.

Historical notes at the end. Enjoy!

In a room in the slaves' quarters of the Cornelius family's villa in Baie, the lamps cast long shadows from the fifty or so male slaves sitting together on the hay-covered floor. Davus, a strong young Briton, was sitting in the circle of young men he and Eucleides, his Greek friend, joined every night. As usual, Davus was silent, listening to the other young men talk.

He and Eucleides had been in the villa a full week. While he was not yet used to the hours he would often had to spend laboring in the fields under the hot sun, he was slowly beginning to get the idea of how to work the olive and wine presses.

Eucleides, of course, had it easy, teaching the house's boys all day. Perhaps, Davus thought, that was how the Greek had enough energy to talk for hours and hours every night.

Usually Davus found Eucleides tolerable as a friend, but boring. Today, though, Eucleides had inspired the young men of the group to talk about a topic Davus himself had been wondering about since he had arrived at the villa: sex.

Clearly, the topic had been on Eucleides's mind as well. "Every night, I can hear people walking about the room and then sleeping with each other. What are the rules for that?" he asked. "Do slaves like us take sweethearts or accept lovers like we did in Greece?"

A dark young man answered him, "Oh, sure, some do. I can tell you now, though: You're not going to get your hands on any girls unless you're really clever at escaping." He gave Eucleides a smug smile, clearly trying to show that he was clever enough.

Eucleides was unfazed. "That's fine. I can tell it's hard to get out. Just tell me, what do you do if you need a quickie but you don't want to do it yourself?" He made a motion near his groin with his right hand, and the other young men guffawed.

The dark young man clapped him on the back. "Anything's better than that, right?" he said, grinning. "Well, I don't know how the others do it, but I just work out where somebody I like is sleeping, and then I go over and ask him. I've never been turned down."

"So far," said Eucleides, grinning at him. "So it's really that easy?"

The other man shrugged. "With us young guys it is. Look, we all know about each other's needs, right? So, even if you're not in the mood or you don't like that kind of thing, you should try to help a mate out." The others in the circle nodded.

Eucleides nodded too. "Thanks," he said. "That information will be very useful."

"Watch out, men. Eucleides is out to get his rocks off," joked one of the others. They all laughed again, before changing the topic of their conversation to the lovely, round breasts of the kitchen girl bending over to serve an old man nearby porridge.

Davus had listened in earnest and laughed quietly along with the others, but he felt a strange sense of foreboding. That night, as he lay down on the straw-covered floor, he kept a careful eye on Eucleides. The Greek always seemed to stick close to him when they weren't at work. Davus didn't know if he should like to be Eucleides's target for that night.

In the darkness, he heard the Greek whisper, "Goodnight," from next to him.

."Goodnight," he whispered back before trying to fall sleep.

Yet, as he lay there, he felt someone's footsteps approach. He heard the deep voice of the dark young man whisper indistinct words somewhere to his right, around where Eucleides would be. He tried to catch the words that passed between the two, but before he knew it, their conversation was over. He began to hear noises from beside him; soft, breathing noises that only people having sex made. He heard Eucleides's voice whisper something, and heard the other man stifle his laughter. Their breathing became heavier.

They whispered to one another. Davus couldn't understand what they were saying, but the tone of their voices coupled with the sound of their breathing stirred something deep inside them. He felt warm, he could hear his own breathing quicken. He pressed a hand over his own chest, and his heart was beating faster than usual. He didn't need to touch his crotch to know that what was down there was reacting to his excitement. He was surprised at his own reaction to the two nearby him; he had been turned on a few times by the voices he had heard at night, but he never thought that someday Eucleides might be the cause of it.

Eucleides gave a soft moan, and Davus couldn't stand it anymore. He bit his own lip, and slid his hand downwards. The Greek men whom he worked with often made jokes about masturbation, calling it effeminate and only appropriate for ugly men and wimps. At that moment, Davus didn't care. Panting quietly, he slid his hand up and down, as the two beside him continued to roll around in their lust. Once, someone's foot nudged Davus; Davus's eyes clenched shut and he shuddered, but he didn't let himself come.

Eventually, Eucleides and the young man climaxed, moaning softly. Then, they laughed a little, and kissed. Davus, relieved, let his own orgasm wash over him, taking over all his senses. It was all he could do to keep quiet. The young man soon stood up and left Eucleides, who gave a contented sigh and seemed to fall asleep. It took Davus a little longer, but he eventually did.

The next day, Davus labored hard in the wine-press. The young man who had slept with Eucleides was there. He greeted Davus cheerfully, but Davus found it hard to look at him.

That night, the young man was back with Eucleides again. This time, they whispered for a long time. The, the young man got up and whispered loud enough for Davus to hear, "Alright. It's fine, but you owe me," before leaving.

Davus was surprised and guiltily disappointed that Eucleides hadn't accepted the obvious offer. Although he had become a little excited when the young man had leaned over Eucleides, Davus decided to sleep. He had just closed his eyes when he felt a hand touch his shoulder. "It's me," hissed Eucleides. "That guy just tried to get me to fool around with him again."

"I heard," said Davus.

"Do you think I should have?"

Davus sighed. "I don't know," he said. "Go to sleep."

"I don't want to," said Eucleides. "I mean, Phaedrus is a nice guy and all, but the reason I said no to him was because I was planning to ask you." The hand on Davus's shoulder gripped a little more tightly, and Davus found that he could separate Eucleides's breathing from that of the other men of the room.

"Ask me what?" said Davus, feigning ignorance.

Eucleides gave a low chuckle. "You know. Same question he asked me." He paused. "So? Do you want to?"

Davus thought about it for a second. He wanted to accept, but he remembered the British woman he had slept with a few times back home in Britain. Every time they had done it, she had become a little clingier until he couldn't bear being with her. The thought of having Eucleides, who already seemed to follow him around, change in the same way made him feel uncomfortable. "If I say no?" he asked.

"I'll convince you to say yes," said Eucleides. The hand on Davus's shoulder began to slide to his chest. Eucleides was now close enough that Davus could feel his breath on his neck. "Come on," whispered Eucleides. "I know you were awake last night and I know what you doing. Wouldn't you rather do it with me than make a fool of yourself again?" Suddenly, accepting didn't seem like such a bad idea after all. Davus didn't know how to say it, so he turned from lying on his back to lying on his side facing Eucleides. He reached out and touched him.

Davus soon found that he was a little lost. The only man he had ever touched before had been himself. Eucleides, though, seemed experienced enough for both of them. He guided Davus's hands to his face, his sides, his groin. By that time, the two were lying very close together. Eucleides only had to reach forward a little in order for his lips to meet Davus's.

Davus hadn't really expected Eucleides to kiss him that soon. He was surprised by how similar Eucleides's kisses felt to his British woman's. Somehow, he had expected that his being a man would make things very different. The familiarity gave him confidence. He wrapped an arm around Eucleides's waist and pulled him closer, while leaving his lips loose enough for the Greek to slip his tongue between them.

The two bodies pressed together. The soft panting, the hushed moans, the stifled grunts that they heard every night now surrounded them and cocooned them in their own little piece of night-time. Now one was on top, and now the other. Davus didn't know whether his eyes were open or closed; all he knew was that now Eucleides was whispering in Greek between ragged breaths, as his warm hand pumped up and down between them both. Even at a time like this, the man wouldn't shut up. Davus drew him into another kiss, and melted into the Greek's skillful fingers. He suppressed the loud grunt that was trying to escape from his lips by pressing his lips hard to Eucleides's shoulder. Eucleides said nothing, coming with a loud sigh and another flurry of moaned Greek.

They lay in each other's arms for a minute or two, their breathing slowly calming itself. Eucleides pressed his face into Davus's chest, and murmured.

"Talk Latin," whispered Davus gruffly. "I can't understand you."

Davus heard Eucleides's quiet laugh. "I just said thank you, and that we should do it again sometime."

Davus only grunted at that, but it was a grunt of agreement. He loosened his hold on Eucleides, thinking the Greek would roll away to sleep in his usual spot. Eucleides simply held him tighter and, with a contented sigh, seemed to fall asleep. Davus frowned a little. He had been hoping that the Greek wouldn't cling. Still, although he hated to admit it, it didn't feel bad to lie with another person. As Davus closed his eyes, he let one of his arms wrap around Eucleides again. Soon, he was fast asleep as well.

Notes

I did quite a lot of research into slaves' sexual lives for this. Unfortunately, there is not much information available on the topic apart from lots of stuff about Masters often fucking their slaves.

On male/female slaves' sexual relations:
Wikipedia, "A slave's sexuality was closely controlled. Slaves had no right to legal marriage (conubium), though they could live together as husband and wife (contubernales). An owner usually restricted the heterosexual activities of his male slaves to females he also owned; any children born from these unions added to his wealth. Cato, at a time when Rome's large-scale slave economy was still in early development, thought it good practice to monitor his slaves' sex lives, and required male slaves to pay a fee for access to their fellow female slaves."

On the topic of masturbation:
Wikipedia, "Masturbation is little noted in the sources for Roman sexuality. Martial has a few mentions in his poems, but considers it an inferior form of sexual release resorted to by slaves, though he admits to masturbating when a beautiful slave-boy is too expensive to obtain: "my hand relieved me as a substitute for Ganymede.""
Another book I have, though, states that even slaves, many of whom had once been free men, looked down on masturbation.

I hope you enjoyed this story! Leave me a review, and I'll love you forever; I genuinely do want some feedback on this. Also, concrit is love!