helmet on. He looked very tall.
“Father,” I said, “can I ride Korax and come too?”—“Certainly not. If things go badly and they call for boys of your age, go where you are told, and obey your orders.” Then he put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Though we may be here or there, defending the City we shall be side by side.” I replied that I hoped he would have no cause to be ashamed of me. When he had embraced my mother, she gave him his knapsack with three days’ food in it. He stooped under the lintel, then vaulting on his spear leaped upon Phoenix, and rode away.
The City seethed all day. Everyone thought the Thebans had had a signal from the conspirators, and that the plot had come out in the nick of time. Some said it was the Spartans who were coming, and the plan had been to open the gates to them. The Senate marched up to the High City and sat all night.
My mother and I worked about the house, making everything fast. She talked cheerfully to the slaves, and said she remembered her own mother doing all this when she was a child. I went with our old slave Sostias to buy food in case of siege. But when dark fell and the troops were still standing by, I got tired of sitting indoors; so I said, “Father would be glad of some wine, I expect, since everything is quiet.”
She gave me leave. I said she must keep Midas at hand, so, lighting a torch, I went up alone to the Anakeion. The temple precinct was full of the smell of horses, and the sound of their treading and snorting. High above the picket-lines I could see the Great Twin Brethren, the friends of the horseman, leading their bronze chargers against the stars. I put out my torch, for one could see by the light of the watch-fires; and I asked for my father by his name, and his father’s name, and the name of his deme.
Someone said he was standing guard at the northeast corner of the precinct; and going that way I saw him on the wall, leaning upon his spear with firelight on his armour, like a warrior done in red on a black vase. I went up and said, “Sir, Mother has sent you some wine.” He said he would be glad of it later; I put it down, and was going to bid him goodnight when he said, “You may stay for a while, and watch with me.”
I climbed up and stood beside him. One could not see far, for the night was moonless. No one was very near; as it got cooler, they were drawing round the fires, or into the temple. I felt I should say something to him; but we had never talked much together. At last I asked him if he expected an attack in the morning. “We shall see,” he said. “Confusion in a city breeds false alarms. Still they may be coming, in the hope we have not enough men left to man the walls.” He did not look round as he talked, keeping his eyes on the dark, as men do on watch, lest the firelight dull them. Presently I asked, “How long will it take the Army, sir, to conquer Sicily?” He answered, “Only the gods know.”
I was surprised and fell silent. After a moment he said, “The Syracusans had not injured us, nor threatened us. The war was with the Spartans.”—“But,” I said, “when we have beaten the Syracusans, and have got their ships and harbour and the gold, shan’t we finish the Spartans easily?”—“Maybe. But time was when we fought only to hold off the barbarian, or to defend the City, or for justice’s sake.”
In most men I should have thought such words poor-spirited; for I was used to hearing that we fought to make the City great, and leader of the Hellenes. But when I saw him standing in his armour, I knew not what to think.
He said, “In the third year of the war, when you were still at nurse, the Lesbians, our subject allies, rose against us. They were reduced without much trouble; and the Assembly voting on their fate thought it wise to make an example of them. The men of fighting age should be put to the sword, and the rest of the people sold as slaves. So the galley set out for Lesbos
“Father,” I said, “can I ride Korax and come too?”—“Certainly not. If things go badly and they call for boys of your age, go where you are told, and obey your orders.” Then he put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Though we may be here or there, defending the City we shall be side by side.” I replied that I hoped he would have no cause to be ashamed of me. When he had embraced my mother, she gave him his knapsack with three days’ food in it. He stooped under the lintel, then vaulting on his spear leaped upon Phoenix, and rode away.
The City seethed all day. Everyone thought the Thebans had had a signal from the conspirators, and that the plot had come out in the nick of time. Some said it was the Spartans who were coming, and the plan had been to open the gates to them. The Senate marched up to the High City and sat all night.
My mother and I worked about the house, making everything fast. She talked cheerfully to the slaves, and said she remembered her own mother doing all this when she was a child. I went with our old slave Sostias to buy food in case of siege. But when dark fell and the troops were still standing by, I got tired of sitting indoors; so I said, “Father would be glad of some wine, I expect, since everything is quiet.”
She gave me leave. I said she must keep Midas at hand, so, lighting a torch, I went up alone to the Anakeion. The temple precinct was full of the smell of horses, and the sound of their treading and snorting. High above the picket-lines I could see the Great Twin Brethren, the friends of the horseman, leading their bronze chargers against the stars. I put out my torch, for one could see by the light of the watch-fires; and I asked for my father by his name, and his father’s name, and the name of his deme.
Someone said he was standing guard at the northeast corner of the precinct; and going that way I saw him on the wall, leaning upon his spear with firelight on his armour, like a warrior done in red on a black vase. I went up and said, “Sir, Mother has sent you some wine.” He said he would be glad of it later; I put it down, and was going to bid him goodnight when he said, “You may stay for a while, and watch with me.”
I climbed up and stood beside him. One could not see far, for the night was moonless. No one was very near; as it got cooler, they were drawing round the fires, or into the temple. I felt I should say something to him; but we had never talked much together. At last I asked him if he expected an attack in the morning. “We shall see,” he said. “Confusion in a city breeds false alarms. Still they may be coming, in the hope we have not enough men left to man the walls.” He did not look round as he talked, keeping his eyes on the dark, as men do on watch, lest the firelight dull them. Presently I asked, “How long will it take the Army, sir, to conquer Sicily?” He answered, “Only the gods know.”
I was surprised and fell silent. After a moment he said, “The Syracusans had not injured us, nor threatened us. The war was with the Spartans.”—“But,” I said, “when we have beaten the Syracusans, and have got their ships and harbour and the gold, shan’t we finish the Spartans easily?”—“Maybe. But time was when we fought only to hold off the barbarian, or to defend the City, or for justice’s sake.”
In most men I should have thought such words poor-spirited; for I was used to hearing that we fought to make the City great, and leader of the Hellenes. But when I saw him standing in his armour, I knew not what to think.
He said, “In the third year of the war, when you were still at nurse, the Lesbians, our subject allies, rose against us. They were reduced without much trouble; and the Assembly voting on their fate thought it wise to make an example of them. The men of fighting age should be put to the sword, and the rest of the people sold as slaves. So the galley set out for Lesbos
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