Separately, the young men rarely enjoyed being ravaged by their clients. They bite their lips in discomfort, and in the provinces are likely to be still untrained in simple intestinal hygiene.

But Suetonius kept the albino slave in mind to mention to Hadrian's master of diversions, Geta the Dacian, to whom he owed a favor or two. Perhaps the albino might meet the emperor's taste, despite Hadrian's known aversion to sex worker slaves.

In the recent words of the philosopher Plutarch, an emperor does not stoop to importune a slave who will have absolutely no rights in the matter, regardless of their admirable looks or unique sexual skills.

Besides, Caesar's long companionship with his Favorite of the past five years, the sweet-natured young man Antinous of Bithynia, had seen him desist from the excesses of his predecessors. This is despite many earlier Caesars being prone to an exuberant intemperance in such things.

Hadrian had a reputation in much earlier life for pursuing beauties. Nevertheless though Suetonius could recall the names of several elite males who had succumbed to Hadrian's seduction, he could not recall any of a member of the opposite gender. An interesting omission he thought, unless Hadrian's marital status precluded such dalliances?

The historian's own taste had contracted over time into an unfashionable focus on women young enough to be his grand-daughter's age. That is, if he had actually bred any children or grandchildren. This included a taste for voluptuous fleshiness in lasses capable of maintaining a breezy conversation. Such qualities recalled his favorite slave-concubine Priscilla, he realized, may the gods bless her long departed soul.

Priscilla died after being his companion for five years. She joined her ancestors while giving birth to a child who may, or may not, have been his. The child too died. Mortality is a constant companion to us all, we know, yet one whose presence inevitably interrupts unexpectedly.