Rise of Tenax

An Encounter With Tenax

“Twenty-thousand sestertius for the older girl,” Alem shouted hurriedly as if not to be outdone by anyone else. “For the older one, twenty thousand!” She repeated firmly it as if to stress her bid.

“Ten-thousand sestertius,” countered a man from within the gathering.

The gathering turned their attention to the nuisance who dared to bid lower than the trend and defy convention. It was only customary for slave buyers to bid upwards not down. But this man who emerged from the crowd audaciously bade downwards. Who was he? It was not long before the crowd discovered that the new bidder was Tenax, the man from the Subura of Rome. At the discovery of his presence, each man in the crowd pulled aside for him to have a pass. His presence obviously sparked fear and forced respect. Tenax was a thug and notorious gambler who ran a Gambling tavern in the Subura in Rome. He boasted a shady reputation of orchestrating the downfall of men who came against his will. He was known for his vicious character and heavy obsession with the Flavian games. His presence in the gathering was unexpected as such men as Tenax were not known to purchase slaves but to lord over men for their vindictive errands. His unexpected bid sparked curiosity, and the crowd watched, holding their breath to see what he was up to.

“Ten-thousand sestertius for the older one,” Tenax repeated, walking confidently towards the slave merchant.

Feeling cheated, Alem walked out of the crowd to reiterate her bid to the slave merchant. She moved forward as if to challenge Tenax’s bid in clear terms.

“Twenty-thousand sestertius for the older girl!” Shouted Alem.

Without wasting time, the chubby man quietly accepted the bid from Tenax. “Ten-thousand sestertius have it,” he said.

“But I offered twenty thousand,” said Alem, accosting the chubby man to protest his decision.

The slave merchant looked shamefacedly at Alem. He had guilt popping out all over his face. “Sorry, I didn’t hear you,” he replied, feigning pretense while looking only cursorily at Alem. Addressing the gathering further, he said, “ladies and gentlemen, we bring the auction to a close at this point.”

Alem felt completely defeated this time. She had just lost two children to strangers in a far-flung city of Rome. Her purpose in Rome had just been crushed to smithereens. She had just been oppressed both by wealth and power. Alem suppressed her rage and misery as she watched her older daughter, Aziza, being carted away by the strange man, Tenax. Astonished, Alem wondered who Tenax was and why his presence struck fear in people. For Alem, this Tenax was just another man, but she agreed within herself that he bore the poise and guile of a truly dangerous man.

Tenax walked gallantly past Alem as his men dragged Nola along to the away from the aution. “Nice try, old lady,” Tenax said in a baritone voice, winking at Alem pettily.

Alem looked on as Tenax passed by. Seething with rage and guilt, she muttered a curse under her breath as she locked her face with her daughter’s in a mix of affection and regret. “I will come for you with every fibre of my being,” she muttered. It was no coincidence that Tenax had shown up out of the blue to throw up a bid for a slave. His obsession with gambling and the Flavian games had driven his needs to have his adversary’s weakness capitalized upon in this event. More to his addiction to gambling, he had had his eye set upon the hierarchy of the Flavian games in the king’s arena. The Flavian games involved horse races and seasoned gladiators showing off their combative skills in blood bath. But for these games, only four factions were licensed to present their men, horses and gladiators, and each faction was controlled by four notable Roman senators, thereby giving them the exclusive authority to scoop the revenue from the games.

The Flavian games were a blessing and a gift bestowed upon the people of Rome, thanks to king Flavia Vespasian’s innovation and commercial savvy. King Flavia Vespasian did not stop at this, but he went further to gift the people of Rome the most elegant arena for the games in the whole of Rome, and the games - just like his long-established dynasty - were named after him. Out of sheer desperate ambition for a seat in the factions, Tenax had been on the tail of the four senators who had exclusive licenses to stage horses and gladiators for the games, looking out to infiltrate the factions and wreak havoc on any of them. A Snippet of information from within any of the factions was everything there was for Tenax, and he was willing to risk anyone’s life to spy on the factions to his own advantage. As luck would have it, fortunes had smiled upon him today when he caught the sight of Senator Cato’s wife, Cornelia, ordering the purchase of Aziza and bagging the young slave girl home. It was only wise for Tenax to make a swift move to bid for the other sister, Nola. Holding on to the freedom of a girl who had an affectionate connection with her younger sister bought by Cornelia, was a link Tenax was willing to exploit to the fullest