‘So, you would make slavery your enemy? Then you would make an enemy of me, for I have slaves by the thousand.’

‘My enemy is not slavery,’ Ajax countered. ‘My enemy is Rome.’

‘Then you are an ambitious man indeed.’ Talmis smiled. ‘Your ambitions exceed your means, gladiator. You cannot afford such an enemy as Rome. That is the privilege of kings and princes - not slaves, gladiators or common free men.’

‘Yet I choose to make Rome my enemy, Highness. If a man is not free to choose his enemies then he is not free at all.’

Talmis raised his eyebrows. ‘That is a peculiarly extreme definition of liberty . . . I suspect that there is a less abstract motive for your hatred of Rome, or perhaps your hatred for specific Romans. Am I not right?’

Ajax was still for a moment and then nodded.

‘Then tell me what really drives your hatred.’

‘I would rather not, Highness,’ Ajax replied quietly. ‘The wounds are deep. Is it not sufficient that I swear to serve you loyally, whatever the ultimate reason?’

‘It is not sufficient for me,’ the Prince replied firmly. ‘In exchange for accepting you into my service I demand that you keep no secrets from me, and if you ever deceive me I will have your heart cut out.’ He paused briefly to let the threat sink in. ‘So tell me, gladiator, what has driven you to offer your services?’

Ajax drew a deep breath and sighed. ‘Very well. Then know that before I was a slave, I was a pirate. An ignoble and parasitical pursuit, some might argue.’

‘And well they might.’

Ajax pursed his lips and continued. ‘The truth is that we were a brotherhood, loyal to each other and motivated by lust for booty. Many of us had women and children. We were bound to each other in the same way that other people are. Life was good. We took what we needed and perhaps more than we needed on occasion. Then came the day when the Romans decided to hunt us down and exterminate us, like vermin.’

‘As I would have done, if you had preyed on my kingdom.’

Ajax looked pained. ‘I know that, and accept it. But whatever you may make of me and my brothers, it is still the case that they were family and friends and they were all that I had ever had. The Romans destroyed it all. They burned our ships, sacked our settlement, massacred our men, women and children.’ Ajax swallowed bitterly. ‘My own father they nailed to a cross and left to die. They enslaved me and the other survivors.’

‘And you blame Rome for this?’