My Roman Crucifixion (Part 1) - Broken, Nailed, and Displayed

Frontal Scourging

I thought it was over.

But they only turned me around. My legs shook. My back was ripped open, slick with blood and sweat, stinging in the air. Now I stood facing him, the soldier, the whip still in his hand - heavy with blood, strips of skin clinging to the thongs.

Two guards held my arms behind me and tied my wrists to the post facing forward, stretching my chest forward. I was bare. Exposed. My skin pulled tight across ribs and belly. Every breath was a warning.

The soldier smiled.

The crowd now had a full view of my frontal nudity. Before I was slightly hidden by the upright beam but now there was nothing in front of me. I also did not see most of the previous strokes but now I could see the full performance. The crowd continued to laugh at my prediction, pointing at my bloody body, mocking at my nakedness, making comments about my manhood. 

One of the women shouted, “he’s immodest, he’s showing us everything, even his little acorn cock head is exposed”. Much laughing, clapping and comments abounded. 

Strike 21 – Across the chest

The whip struck straight across my breast, just below the collarbone. The lead tips bit into the skin, tore across both nipples. It felt like fire being dragged across bone.

I screamed. My chest spasmed. Blood spilled immediately.

Strike 22 – Diagonal from left shoulder to right hip

A crosscut. The lash whipped across the upper chest, across the sternum, and down to the side of my belly. It left a red slash, like a rope burn from hell, lined with blood. My skin split like soft hide.

I nearly fell, but the rope held me firm.

I was watching the soldiers eyes to get an idea of where he would work next. It gave me time to brace myself although nothing really prepared me for the pain. 

Strike 23 – Right thigh and hip

A low strike. The whip coiled around my right thigh, the thongs snapping across the groin crease, just below where the belly ends.

It burned deep. My leg gave out for a moment. I cried out through clenched teeth.

Strike 24 – Left thigh, curling to the inner thigh

This one came wider. The thong wrapped around, and one strip struck my inner thigh, just an inch from my sex.

It left a deep, purple welt, and I sobbed through my nose. My shame was complete. There was no part of me left untouched.

Strike 25 – Across the belly, just above the navel

A cruel one. The lash landed flat across my gut, the thongs snapping into the soft flesh above the navel. It knocked the wind from me.

Pain hit deep, deeper than before. Like a cramp made of fire. I gagged, my torso spasming against the grip of the rope.

Strike 26 – Groin, direct hit

He did it deliberately. One thong caught me squarely across the genitals, a glancing but lethal stroke.

I had not expected this as his eyes were initially fixed on my face. He was now playing a game to unnerve me. 

I screamed high and sharp. My legs twisted. The pain radiated; not just in flesh, but in soul. My vision blurred. For a moment I tasted blood.

One guard whispered, “He might black out.”

The soldier stopped for a moment to take a drink. What I would do for a drink now. Nice cold water. 

The crowd cheered at this painful event, they wanted more. Someone shouted “he is enjoying it, he is proud to show us his manly body”, many laughed at this apparent joke. 

One women near the front shouted back in response, “he’s enjoying it so much he has an erection”, there was much clapping and laughter. 

A man responded “I’ve seen a bigger erection on a rat”. 

Obviously I did not have an erection, in fact it was very small due to the fear. They were just mocking me. 

I felt that I wasn’t there, I was not part of their fun, but I knew that they were having fun at my painful expense. 

Strike 27 – Across the left shoulder and chest

Another across the top. It landed near my neck, snapping down across the collarbone and upper chest. I felt a rib shift. The pain was sharp, angled.

My head lolled forward. I couldn’t lift it anymore.

Strike 28 – Right ribs and side

He moved to my right and swung in an arc. The lash curled around my side, digging into the ribcage, tearing skin in thin, overlapping slashes.

The bleeding was faster now. My knees were soft. I sagged.

Strike 29 – Between the legs from underneath

One of the crowd said “stop his erection and enjoyment, hit him again there”.

One last cruelty. The whip came upward, a low, arcing swing. It caught the underside of my thighs and the scrotum again.

As the thong struck high one of the bone fragments hocked into my anus. Nobody saw at the front, but I felt it. There was a wet feeling coming from my backside as flesh was pulled away. 

I howled, a sound no man should ever make. I felt something tear. Maybe inside me.

I wept, no longer from pain, but because I wanted to die and still lived.

Strike 30 – Across the face

I wasn’t expecting it. It came fast, deliberate - a final humiliation.

The thongs struck my left cheek, across the mouth, one lash cutting the lip, another grazing the eye.