Only two cubits in height, fully intact, the
artifact is certainly a collectible---and might
have been prized, even stealthily sought, by
one of the innumerable Roman tourists who
visit, and sometimes linger (sometimes too
long, with too many ulterior motivations),
under Mark Antony's indulgent encouragement.
But the statue has come, instead, into the
possession of his stepson, Kaisarion (Pharaoh
Ptolemy XV, Philopator, Philometor, King
above other Kings, Lord of the Two Lands),
who---at this moment, in his private chamber
(sumptuously appointed and furnishings;
marbled, in-floor bathing pool)---is a long-haired,
slender, fantastically beautiful adolescent; naked as
he carefully places the statue, still properly
affixed to its small base, at the head of his bed
(secrets of which would offend prejudiced haters and
old prudes). A figure of another, adolescent
young man, entirely naked and slender also---and,
explicitly and invitingly, tumescent: obviously, the
artist was highly skilled at his craft, and lovingly
concentrated all of his considerable ability on details,
even the most subtle; especially that tumescence.
Even the figure's fingernails and toenails have been
enameled---as Kaisarion's are now; and this
circumstantial coincidence pleases him very much.
Attractive, too, is the figure's facial expression, and
Kaisarion does not remove his eyes from it as he,
aroused by his own exquisite desires, draws on to
his cleanshaven legs a delicate pair of stockings
(Koan silk, perfectly translucent, except for the
soft opacity of the doubled weave that now
ensheathes his toes). He positions his lovely
body prone, on the bed, and begins to kiss the
statue with moistened lips and eager tongue,
especially there; and then, unable to refrain
further, he attends to the surging demands of
his flesh. The sweetstuff released from his
core, as he quietly moans in pleasure, is a
sort of offering, a gift of himself, that he has
displayed in before the statute. He has been
able to read the hieroglyphic name on the
front of its base---Smenkhkare---but does not
know that he, Smenkhkare, was the friend and
lover of Pharaoh Akhenaten (the believer in a
sole, almighty God); Smenkhkare, who himself
ascended the throne; and was, like his friend and
lover, brutally murdered by the haters of that time.
Similisticist