Among the Emperors - Pluribus

Pluribus was the cadet son of a wealthy senatorial family of Rome, whose patriarch, in order to gain favours of the current Emperor, offered his youngest son as hostage to send to the Goths. This was at a time when the Goths had the upper hand and claimed a large donation and a few hostages every year, like some kind of a new version of the Minotaur.

Therefore, the young Pluribus was plucked from his childhood villa and sent packing with a dozen young men to the court of the king of the Goths - which was basically a smelly long stable.

There, Pluribus discovered a world beyond his wildest dreams. Disdained and barred from office by his brothers, he made himself so much at home that he became famous among the Goths themselves. Soon enough he attracted the attention of the prince of the Goths. They became friends. Pluribus taught the Goth everything he knew about the Roman world, and in exchange the Prince taught him the proper Gothic ways.

After a few years like that, Pluribus had become a ruthless warrior. The prince, him, knew his Latin and rhetoric better than a Senator, and was dreaming of the Roman forum.

Eventually, the hostages were due to be released and sent back to Rome. But Pluribus had no intention to come back and leave his adopted home. Meanwhile, the prince was eager to discover Rome. So, they switched their clothes and the Prince went back in place of Pluribus to Rome.

The family of Pluribus barely recognized their son, but they had never paid him any kind of attention. They accepted him grudgingly, because this was the proper thing to do in the circumstances. The Goth knew everything about them and dealt appropriately with his brothers and sisters in order to gain inheritance. One accidental death after another accidental death, he was left with a fair heritage and able to make his grand entrance into the politic of Rome.

It took him a few years to get used to the cutthroat business of the Senate, but eventually mastered it so well, that he was elected Emperor without shedding any blood.

And just in time : the Goths had a new king, and this new king was intent on imposing his mark, by demanding a large tribute, twice bigger than the former one. The new Emperor laughed off the Gothic ambassador, to the amazement of the Senate. He told them they had nothing to fear.

A few weeks later, a huge Gothic army crossed the Danube and headed straight to the Italian peninsula. Calmly, the Emperor Pluribus mustered an army, met his foe on the field. He knew everything about Gothic tactics and crushed them and captured their king.

Pluribus the false kept his captive in a cell under the Coliseum for a long time, delaying his triumph for months, for the great surprise of the plebs. Such a victory deserved a triumph, and games, and an expiatory victim thrown to the wolves! A kind of melancholy took the Emperor and no one knew the reason.

When he realized he could not delay any more, Pluribus the false went to the cell of his former friend and comrade, under the Coliseum.

"You must be happy, dear friend, told Pluribus. Your name is now famous and revered. You are no longer the despised scion of a ingrate family. Your name will be known and adored. Maybe they will deify me. I mean, you. Meanwhile, I will die in the arena, devoured by the lions, trampled by the beasts, and be remembered as another archenemy of the Empire defeated and subjugated. Do not worry. I will make yourself famous beyond your wildest dreams."

They say that when the Gothic king eventually succumbed in the arena, the Emperor shed a tear, as if he was losing an old friend.