Augustus Road

Lepidus stepped on numerous corpses, crossed the gap, and arrived at Mithridates' palace. This was a cave hidden behind the wall and built against the mountain. There were stone steps going up, and white marble was piled up on both sides. , exquisite palaces, temples and sculptures. But these buildings, which symbolized the glory of the "King of the Black Sea", were now brutally killed and looted by the victors, the Romans.

There were flames spitting out their tongues everywhere. Bodies of men and women lay scattered beside the pool and on the steps. They were either priests, slaves, or maids. They were all indiscriminate, and their limbs and heads were chopped off by Roman soldiers. .

Beside a beautiful Ionian colonnade, Lepidus saw a Roman soldier fighting bravely against a beautiful palace maid. The woman's top was torn to pieces, and her skirt was completely lifted. One hand was supporting the pillar, and the other was holding on to the pillar. Covering his mouth in humiliation, with tears streaming down his face, he half-hunched over and raised his buttocks high. He was held by the Roman soldiers with both hands, and the "dagger" under his crotch was stabbed repeatedly like a wild dog having sex.

When Lepidah passed by, he saw the palace lady looking sideways and looking at the corpses of several female companions at her feet in horror.

After wrapping the cloak tightly around his body, Lebida could only hurriedly escape from the sight of the palace maid and continued to walk forward. He understood what the fate of the palace maid would be after she was raped.

The centurion stood in the small square where the temple and the palace met. The soldiers had piled up the plundered things here. Several centurions beside him were beating a fat man in rich clothes, using a knife wrapped in thorns. The wooden stick, hit by hit, the fat man could still moan and shout something before Lebida came, but after a while he could only vomit blood and foam, like a pile of rotten meat, and just steamed out. When the centurion saw Lepidus and another slave who knew Greek coming, his first words were full of surprise: "Where are you from, a pig slave?" It turned out that in the melee just now, he didn't have time to see Lepidus clearly. Naturally, I am a little curious now about the appearance of East Asians.

"Coming from farther away in Western Asia, sir," Lepidus answered.

The two soldiers who brought Lepidus paid a military salute to the centurion and then joined the plundering team. The centurion showed no greater interest in the origin of Lepidus. He pointed at Lepidus and the other two pointed at the fat man on the ground and said: "Those who can speak Greek are poor people. They are either pig slaves, sissies, or speechless eunuchs. Now you have to thank me, Hebrida. Now we can commiserate with each other and talk about some philosophical topics!”

It turned out that the fat man was the eunuch in Mithridates' palace.

Sissy? Are you talking about me? At this time, Lepidus looked at the other slave next to him and understood what the centurion was referring to: the other slave had curly flaxen hair, a very thin figure, a pale complexion, a look that both men and women liked, and a pair of large The eyelashes on the eyes are particularly thick and attractive.

The centurion took the spiked stick and struck it at the fat eunuch with a question: "First question, is the place at the top the residence of the King of Pontus?"

The centurion was referring to a majestic core palace on the top of the mountain, with a small moon city on the periphery. The bronze city gate was covered, revealing the majesty of the king. This majesty even made the centurion hesitate. He hoped that Mithridates VI would be inside, so that he could achieve unparalleled achievements; but he was also afraid that Mithridates VI would be inside, because it is said that this Pontic king was more than four cubits tall and could shoot His arrows hit every target, and he rides on a divine horse that looks like a dragon. Mortals cannot hurt him.

"The master has left on his horse." When the fat eunuch spoke, he seemed to be pulled by an iron wire. "My name is Baloud, and I am the chief eunuch beside the master."

Lepidus and the sissy then translated the words of the chief eunuch to the centurion.

"Who else is there?" The centurion's second question came with a second "greeting."

"They are the master's two sisters, two wives and concubines, and a daughter...don't hit me, don't hit me..." Baloud held his head and whined, blood running down his fat face full of wrinkles. She shed, "In addition, you cannot enter this temple, because they all died and ascended into the temple of the Sun God in the most noble way of death... If you enter, it will be blasphemy... Because you Romans, where are you going? All with dirty slaves.”

With a bang, the centurion threw the stick aside, then stood up straight, took a deep breath, grabbed Baloud's hair with one hand, pulled out the dagger with the other, and stabbed Baloud's throat briskly, Pulling it out briskly, the fat man groaned twice, and all his greasy blood splashed onto Li Bida's face.

Lepidus wiped the blood on his face in panic, but the centurion grabbed his arm and threw him forward like trash, "Okay, the discussion of philosophical issues is over, now I, the seventh legion soldier The low-ranking Centurion Hebrida of the Third Regiment of the Sixth Brigade is bringing dirty slaves into the Pontu Palace!"

The four captains of ten men hesitantly pushed open the heavy bronze door of Moon City, and then inserted the torches into the wall lamp stands on both sides of the corridor. Then the captain of ten men at the front instinctively raised his shield on his body. He stepped forward and muttered: "What the hell is going on here?"

Under the illumination of the torch, the group of people discovered that the corridor was crowded with corpses. There were men and women on the floor, stairs, and window sills. The strange smell of corpses came out as the door opened, until Lebida vomited. stand up.

Hebrida stepped forward and kicked around, and found that most of the corpses had swollen faces, curled hands and feet, and various postures, and then made a conclusion: "They were all servants and servants of King Pontu, and they all died of poisoning. Orientals The most cowardly way to die."

They passed the corpse and walked through the corridor, which was a rectangular courtyard. The courtyard was covered with a thin layer of sand, and there were several exquisitely trimmed precious potted plants. It was surrounded by colonnades. The courtyard cast cold moonlight, spreading On the branches and leaves and stone pillars.

Opposite the courtyard was a smaller bronze door. Hebrida and several captains smiled happily at each other, then roughly dragged the two slaves and walked directly on the sandy soil.

After the small bronze door was opened, everyone was dizzy at the luxurious scene inside Mithridates' palace. The walls were all covered with sandy yellow marble veneers, and the floor was all covered with milky white smooth mirror-like stone slabs. In the center It is an indoor cistern with rippling blue water. Reflected water patterns float on the wall. The nails of centurions and tenthions stepped on it. The entire hall was filled with clear and lonely echoes of footsteps. They walked. Slowing down their steps, this silent majesty made them unconsciously cautious.

Lepidus felt the warmth from the bottom of his heart - there should be lead pipes running hot water under the floor and in the walls. The entire hall had a constant temperature that was isolated from the world. There were angry flowers everywhere, and his light He stepped on the ground and felt the heat flowing from bottom to top, ironing every blood vessel in his body. It was indescribably comfortable.

"Sir." A captain of ten pointed to the innermost part of the hall. Everyone saw a giant mosaic on the wall. On the screen were a man and several women. The image of the man was standing on the cliff with Lepidus. The same reliefs seen on the painting, with headdress like scorpion horns, hair and beards as dense as octopus tentacles, "Mithridates VI...the noble ladies in the painting should be his wives and concubines." "

Then Lepidus' eyes moved downward, and his heart skipped a beat. Under the huge mosaic, there was an oval desk carved from walnut wood. Around the desk, there were five ivory armchairs, one, two, three, four, and four people were sitting on the armchairs. A richly dressed lady, motionless, with a strange expression...

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