Read Online The Life of Polycrates and Other Stories for Antiquated Children by Brendan Connell - Free Book Online
Authors: Brendan Connell
Ads: Link
cross of pine, crucified with his front facing Samos, which he could actually see. Though exhausted and suffering great pain, he conducted himself with fortitude, even when the stakes were driven through his hands and feet, and joked in a feeble voice that he thought it a shame that he would now no longer be able to play the magdis to his Lacedaemonian hound; with rain he was washed by Zeus and, when the dew of agony came upon his skin, anointed by the fingers of the sun.
Eriphyle came to plead for her father. She offered ransom, not of mere money, but of whole islands and districts rich and fertile, but cruel Oroetes, drunk with fleeting power and advised to ruthless acts by Maeandrius, would not listen. In front of her he had Polycrates’ intestines torn out and burned before the man’s eyes; and she screamed in horror while her father was dumbfounded by agony, his soul, that self-moving number, seeping into the underworld. Oroetes had the young woman seized, personally robbed her of her virginity, then prostituted her in the public roads; and later, when she had been steeped in humiliation, he had her tortured, slivers of glass thrust under the nails of her fingers, and then put to death in a horrible way. The thighbones of both father and daughter he had made into handles for his cutlery, but the rest were pounded in a mortar together with their dried flesh, and this was distributed to the Samian mills where it was mixed in with the flour, so the population was made to eat it in their loaves of wheat.
After the death of Polycrates, Maeandrius became tyrant. At first he advertised himself as a liberator of the people and claimed to support an isonomous form of government. He had jars of wine opened in the streets and festoons of flowers placed over the gateways of the city; then built an altar to Zeus, Defender of Freedom, of whom he claimed himself to be the ambassador-priest; and at the Heraion he offered up all the sumptuous furniture of Polycrates’ palace. However, he soon revealed his true character, refused to renounce the power he had gained and began to oppress the islanders, proscribing those citizens who had previously been most prominent at court, putting them to death in ignominious ways, quartering Telesarchus, impaling Polydor. He railed against Polycrates, soiled his memory with foul words, but neither he nor his words pleased the Samians who remembered their former ruler with fondness, because he had enriched them, and brought great things and glory to the island.
And so it was that when the Persians, with an army led by Otanes, arrived and attacked Samos, hardly a single one of the citizens, dispirited as they were and hating Maeandrius, would take up arms in its defence. . . . . . . And the Persians committed many outrages, looted and then fired the Heraion, slaughtered great numbers . . . . . . defeated Maeandrius, who escaped with much treasure [ to wander Greece with his impoverished name ], replaced him on the throne with Syloson; and while that brother of the dead Polycrates feasted himself on endored heads of kids and salted hearts of ibex, while he communicated obscenities in languid tones to Pison, the temples fell into disrepair; the island became depopulated through his mismanagement; so the saying: “By the resolve of Syloson there is plenty of room.”
Collapsing Claude
I.
The sun had already gone down; the lake was a dark, glassy sheet; the branches of the tree by which he stood dripped down into the water and a few pieces of driftwood and trash floated near the bank. Claude was still; he inhaled the breath of the flowers in the gardens behind him; watched the lights appear on the opposite shore; and things sank into night. He lit a cigarette and walked along the path, with the lake to his right. Twelve years of his life of twenty-nine he had spent endeavouring to put himself in certain situations; behind closed doors; in scented or filthy chambers; to experience the
Eriphyle came to plead for her father. She offered ransom, not of mere money, but of whole islands and districts rich and fertile, but cruel Oroetes, drunk with fleeting power and advised to ruthless acts by Maeandrius, would not listen. In front of her he had Polycrates’ intestines torn out and burned before the man’s eyes; and she screamed in horror while her father was dumbfounded by agony, his soul, that self-moving number, seeping into the underworld. Oroetes had the young woman seized, personally robbed her of her virginity, then prostituted her in the public roads; and later, when she had been steeped in humiliation, he had her tortured, slivers of glass thrust under the nails of her fingers, and then put to death in a horrible way. The thighbones of both father and daughter he had made into handles for his cutlery, but the rest were pounded in a mortar together with their dried flesh, and this was distributed to the Samian mills where it was mixed in with the flour, so the population was made to eat it in their loaves of wheat.
After the death of Polycrates, Maeandrius became tyrant. At first he advertised himself as a liberator of the people and claimed to support an isonomous form of government. He had jars of wine opened in the streets and festoons of flowers placed over the gateways of the city; then built an altar to Zeus, Defender of Freedom, of whom he claimed himself to be the ambassador-priest; and at the Heraion he offered up all the sumptuous furniture of Polycrates’ palace. However, he soon revealed his true character, refused to renounce the power he had gained and began to oppress the islanders, proscribing those citizens who had previously been most prominent at court, putting them to death in ignominious ways, quartering Telesarchus, impaling Polydor. He railed against Polycrates, soiled his memory with foul words, but neither he nor his words pleased the Samians who remembered their former ruler with fondness, because he had enriched them, and brought great things and glory to the island.
And so it was that when the Persians, with an army led by Otanes, arrived and attacked Samos, hardly a single one of the citizens, dispirited as they were and hating Maeandrius, would take up arms in its defence. . . . . . . And the Persians committed many outrages, looted and then fired the Heraion, slaughtered great numbers . . . . . . defeated Maeandrius, who escaped with much treasure [ to wander Greece with his impoverished name ], replaced him on the throne with Syloson; and while that brother of the dead Polycrates feasted himself on endored heads of kids and salted hearts of ibex, while he communicated obscenities in languid tones to Pison, the temples fell into disrepair; the island became depopulated through his mismanagement; so the saying: “By the resolve of Syloson there is plenty of room.”
Collapsing Claude
I.
The sun had already gone down; the lake was a dark, glassy sheet; the branches of the tree by which he stood dripped down into the water and a few pieces of driftwood and trash floated near the bank. Claude was still; he inhaled the breath of the flowers in the gardens behind him; watched the lights appear on the opposite shore; and things sank into night. He lit a cigarette and walked along the path, with the lake to his right. Twelve years of his life of twenty-nine he had spent endeavouring to put himself in certain situations; behind closed doors; in scented or filthy chambers; to experience the
Similar Books
