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An Academic Question
John Maddox Roberts
    One of the best things about Athens is that it isn't Gaul. That year my family wanted me out of Rome. I, in turn, did not want to go back to Caesar's army in Gaul. For once the family concurred, not because Gaul was so dangerous and unpleasant but because nobody was winning any glory there except Caesar. If you believed the dispatches he sent back for publication he was conquering the place all by himself.
    But to stand for higher office I needed more military time on my record. This is not to say that Gaul was the only area of Roman military operations that year. Cassius Longinus was fighting the Parthians in Syria, and Appius Claudius was, technically, still at war in Cilicia. But Syria was an ill-starred place since the defeat of Crassus at Carrhae and bad blood lay between my family and the Claudians.
    Fortuitously, a minor outbreak of piracy occurred in the waters around Cyprus and I was offered an equally minor naval command to deal with it. Like any sensible Roman I detest sea duty, but, upon consideration of the alternatives, I took it.
    The secret of handling such an assignment in those days was, simply: don't rush it. I had a whole year ahead of me to crush these nautical bandits so I determined to take my time getting to Cyprus, be leisurely in my naval operations, and get back to Rome just in time to stand for next year's praetorship.
    So, when on the way to Cyprus my little flotilla put in at Piraeus, I was quick to take the opportunity to laze about for a few days and see the sights. I admired the fortifications of Piraeus, built more than four centuries before by Themistocles, and walked the impressive length of the Long Walls, which connected the port with Athens by a continuous stretch of fortification.
    Accompanied by my slave, Hermes, I walked between the walls all the way to the city. I could have hired a horse or been carried in a litter but I needed to stretch my legs after the voyage and, in any case, such luxuries were still frowned upon by my class in those days. A public man of military age was expected to make a show of simplicity, especially among degenerate foreigners.
    I presented myself at the house of the Roman prefect, one Publius Serrius, an agreeable drudge, and let him know that I was on no official business in Athens and would be truly happy not to be involved in any during my stay. Hermes stashed our meagre baggage in the room we were given, and I was off to see the sights.
    It pains me to admit it, but Athens proved to be as beautiful as everyone said. It has been devastated and sacked a number of times but I saw no evidence of this. Admirers from the world over vie with one another to adorn Athens, and it is full of beautiful works of art and splendid architecture. The city is much smaller than you would expect so it is easy to see everything in a short time. Within two days I had seen the sights of the Acropolis, the Stoa and the Erechtheum and everything else. I had seen so many statues that my sleep was populated with them.
    That evening at dinner I remarked to my host that I had run out of noteworthy things to see and asked if he had any suggestions, since I had to depart soon. He turned to the man reclining to his left. 'What do you suggest, Androcles?' This man was a philosopher, one of those tiresome people who spend their lives just thinking about things but never doing anything. He wore the requisite shabby robe and untrimmed beard and had clearly put in long hours practising at looking wise.
    'Has the senator visited the Academy? It is just a short walk from the city by way of the Dipylum Gate.'
    'The Academy?' I said. 'Isn't that where Socrates taught?'
    He looked pained. 'Plato, sir. The Platonic school still meets there, as they have for more than three hundred years.'
    Serrius must have caught my expression. 'It is one of the most beautiful groves in the world, Decius Caecilius. Besides exquisite plantings and landscaping it