I am not yet done with our dear Auslander, Lydius. While we have given him a bit of background there are dimensions yet missing to his character and mission. The story itself suggests time lines, chases aka a quest and more in depth conflicts. Fortunately for us, these can be supplied easily enough.
In the proto opening, Lydius is referred to as Old Lydius. Perhaps that should not be mistaken for a man of age, but taken more like Lydius the Elder. This implies a Lydius the Younger. Congrats, old man, you have a new born son, who just happens to wind up held captive by our erstwhile, if unnamed Roman commander. I suspect there will have to be a rescue immediately launched, only to find The Younger is well en route to the slave market. Bad luck old boy, now things are getting even more complicated. How are you going to save your only son and heir in time to prevent him from breaking a nail on the first gladiator he meets and save your adopted nation? Only time and a grand chase will tell. In the mean time, you're going to have to deal with the fact that Roman commanders often turn their young male hostages over to favored soldiers for despoilment. In modern terms, that means The Younger will wind up being the camp butt boy.
Actually, treatment of hostages by Rome was pretty good, so long as they and their nation/village/family were well behaved. It's in the event of war or other misadventure a hostage could suffer death, humiliation and torture.
Here is a nice link to this post which gives a brief view of the life of a Roman hostage.
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