Lex Scantinia exempted freeborn men from infamia and prosecution in the case of rape or forced passive intercourse. According to the jurist Pomponius, “whatever man has been raped by the force of robbers or the enemy in wartime (vi praedonum vel hostium) ought to bear no stigma." However, it was considered a capital crime for one freeborn to rape another, such an act carrying a sentence of death. To prevent the rape of minors, boys would wear a toga praetexta garment, a mark of “inviolable status” and a bulla to turn away the wandering eye of men.

A Roman Citizen was allowed to exploit his own slaves for sex, no matter the age or circumstances of birth. A freeborn Roman could even rape, torture and abuse their property without charge or prosecution. A slave had no civil protection or authority pertaining to their body; in essence the body of a slave was to be used to appease the sexual appetites of their dominus.

Boys born or sold into slavery, captured as spoils of war, or freeman (freed slaves) were often exploited and sexually preyed upon. It was actually considered socially acceptable to abuse young male slaves, in sordid acts of pederasty by the elite class of elder Roman men.

The term, puer delicatus or deliciae (meaning sweet, dainty) is often applied to child slaves used specifically for sexual gratification and companionship. 

In more extreme cases, a puer delicatus would be castrated and dressed with feminine attire. This was a peculiar and sordid attempt to preserve youthful qualities and prolong feminine and passive attractiveness in children and young males.

The growing trade in slaves for sexual gratification, in particular the trade in Eunuch slaves and puer delicatus during the early Empire prompted the senate to approve a motion of legislation that eventually prohibited the castration of a slave against his will “for lust of gain.”

Such was the trend, that even the famous Emperor Nero (54 to 68AD) had a puer delicatus named Sporus. A young man of notable feminine charm, who he castrated and supposedly dressed wearing the regalia, customary only for Roman empresses. Sources believe he later married Sporus after the death of his wife Poppaea Sabina.

Rebecca Langlands, 2006, Sexual Morality in Ancient Rome, Cambridge University Press

Thomas A.J. McGinn, 2003, Prostitution, Sexuality and the Law in Ancient Rome, OUP USA; New Ed edition

Thomas Habinek, 2004, “The Invention of Sexuality in the World-City of Rome,” in The Roman Cultural Revolution, Cambridge University Press

Was it so common or accepted for free women to have sex with male or female slaves?