The Spartan Twins

by Lucy Fitch Perkins

  VI

  THE FESTIVAL OF ATHENA

  The day had begun so early that it was still morning when Melas and theTwins left the house of Pericles and took their way toward the Agora,which was the business and social center of Athens. Here were the marketswhere everything necessary to the daily life of the Athenians was sold.The Twins had never dreamed there were so many things to be found in theworld. Not only were there fruits, meats, fish, vegetables, and flowers,but there were stalls filled with beautiful pottery or with dyed andembroidered garments gorgeous in color, and even with books. The bookswere not bound as ours are. They were written on rolls of parchment andwere piled up in the stalls like sticks of wood. Around the marketplacethere were arcades supported by marble columns, and ornamented by rows ofbronze statues. In the center stood a magnificent altar to the twelveGods of Olympus, whom the people of Hellas believed to be the greatest oftheir many Gods. There were temples opening on the Agora, and beyondthe temples there were the hills of Athens, with the Sacred Mount of theAcropolis, the holiest of all holy places, bounding it on the south.

  Melas had seen all these sights before, but to the Twins it was likestepping right into the middle of an enchanted world. Melas took themeach by the hand, and found an out-of-the-way corner near a stall whereyoung girls were selling wreaths, and there they ate their luncheon,while they watched the people swarming about them.

  The flowers-sellers, the bread-women, and some flute-girls were almostthe only women in sight, but the whole Agora was full of men. There werefathers of families buying provisions for the day. Each was followed by aslave with a basket, for no Athenian gentleman would carry his ownpackages. There were always slaves to do that. There were grave men inlong cloak-like garments with fillets around their heads who walked backand forth talking together. There were boys, followed by their"pedagogues," old slaves who carried their books for them, and saw to itthat their young charges got into as little mischief as possible, as theywent about the streets.

  Suddenly at some signal which neither Melas nor the Twins saw, the wholecrowd began to move toward the south.

  "Where are they going?" asked Dion.

  "Listen to that little Spartan savage," said one of the wreath-sellers,laughing. "He doesn't even know it's the regular festival of Athena. Runalong, bumpkin, and see the sights."

  Melas gave the girl a black look. He didn't like to have Dion called a"Spartan savage," nor a "bumpkin" either, but he knew very well Spartansmight expect scant courtesy in Athens, so he said nothing, but he rosefrom his corner at once and, telling the children to follow, startedafter the crowd.

  They reached the steep incline which led up to the Acropolis, and, stillfollowing the crowd, had gone part way to the summit, when there was amighty pushing and jostling among the people, and loud voices cried,"Make way for the sacred procession." The crowd parted, and Melas andthe Twins were pushed back toward one side, but as they were lucky enoughto be on the border of the crowd, instead of being pressed farther back,they were able to see the sacred procession of the Goddess Athena as itmounted the long slope and disappeared through the great gate.

  In one of the oldest temples on the Acropolis, called the Erechtheum,there was an ancient wooden statue of Athena which the Athenians believedhad fallen from heaven. It was very sacred in their eyes, and every yearthey celebrated a festival when the robes and ornaments of the statuewere taken off and cleaned. This year the maidens of Athens hadembroidered a new and beautiful robe, and it was being carried in stateto the temple to be offered to the Goddess and placed upon her statue.

  The Twins had never seen so many people in all their lives before. Theprocession was headed by some of the chief men of Athens, and foremostamong them the children recognized Pericles. Near him walked Anaxagorasthe Philosopher, with Phidias, the great sculptor, and Ictinus, thearchitect of the new temple of which the Stranger had told the Twins onthe spring evening so long before. There were also Sophocles thedramatist and Euripides the poet. Melas recognized them all, for theywere known to every one and he had seen them at the house of Pericles orwalking about the Agora on previous journeys. He pointed them out to theTwins.

  "That queer snub-nosed man back of Sophocles is Socrates thephilosopher," he said. "He is a friend of Pericles also, though he ispoor and queer, and is always standing about the market-place talking toany one who will listen to him."

  "Are there two philosophers in Athens?" asked Dion. "I thought Anaxagoraswas the philosopher."

  Melas laughed. "Philosophers are as thick in Athens as bees in a hive,"he said, "and poets too."

  The beautiful embroidered robe, borne on a chariot shaped like a ship,now appeared in the procession, and the crowd breathed a long sigh ofwonder and admiration as it passed. Then came a long row of younggirls bearing baskets and jars upon their shoulders. They were followedby older women, for women were allowed to take part in this festival.After them came youths on horseback, and then more youths leadinggarlanded oxen for the sacrifice. The procession was so long that the endof it was still winding through the streets below some time after thehead had reached the top of the incline. Right up the steep slope itstreamed, between the gaping crowds massed on either side, and when thevery end of it had passed out of sight, the people closed in behind itand swarmed over the level height of the sacred hill.

  Melas and the children pushed their way with the others, but the crowdwas so great and the movement so slow that when at last they got near thesacred altars before the Erechtheum, the ceremonies were over and the airwas already filled with smoke and the smell of roasting meat.

  It was late afternoon before the feasting was over, and, meanwhile, theentire hill-top of the Acropolis was covered with moving crowds. As apart of the festival, there were all sorts of games and side shows. Dionand Daphne were so busy watching sword-swallowers, and tumblers, and menperforming all sorts of strange and wonderful tricks, they almost forgotentirely the Gorgon's head with the snaky locks, which the Stranger hadtold them about, and which Dion so much wished to see. Daphne was thefirst to remember it.

  "I'm going to see the new temple that Pericles is building over there.Don't you want to see it, too?" said Melas to the Twins. "Where?" saidDion. Melas pointed to a great heap of marble blocks toward the southernside of the Acropolis. It was then that Daphne thought about the statue.

  "Dion wants to see the Gorgon's head," she said.

  "Well, then," answered Melas, "hurry up about it, for it is getting lateand we must soon be starting for your uncle's house."

  The two children trotted away toward the great bronze statue near theentrance without another word, and it was not until they were quite outof sight that Melas remembered he had not told them where to meet him.

  "I shall find them by the statue anyway," he said to himself, and went onexamining the foundations of the Parthenon.

  Meanwhile the children ran round to the front of the statue and gazed upat the breastplate of the Goddess, upon which Phidias had carved theGorgon's head. There it was with its staring eyes and twisting locks,looking right down at them.

  "Ugh! I don't like it a bit better than I thought I should," said Daphne,covering her eyes. "It's worse than eels."

  "I'd rather see the man swallowing swords any day," answered Dion. "Let'sgo and see if we can't find him again," and off they went toward a crowdof people gathered about a little booth beyond the Erechtheum.

  It was not until they had seen him swallow swords twice and eat fireonce, and the conjurer had begun to pack his things to go away that theTwins thought at all about time. When at last they woke up to the factthat the sun was setting behind the purple hills, and looked about them,there were very few people left on the Acropolis, and their Father wasnowhere to be seen. The two children ran as fast as they could go to theplace where the Parthenon was building, but there was no one there. Eventhe workmen had gone. Then they ran back and looked down the long inclineup which the procession had come in the morning, but Melas was not to beseen. The Twins retu
rned to the statue of Athena, but no one awaited themthere. The Gorgon's head looked down at them with its dreadful staringeyes, and Daphne thought she saw one of the snaky locks move.

  "Oh, let's run," she cried.

  "Where?" asked Dion.

  "I don't know," said Daphne. "Anywhere away from here! Let's go back tothe Erechtheum. Perhaps Father will be there looking for us."

  They went all round the old temple, which was partly in ruins, and whenthey found no trace of their Father, sat down miserably upon the steps ofthe great porch of the Maidens on the southern side. It was called thePorch of the Maidens because, instead of columns of marble, statues ofbeautiful maidens supported the roof. Daphne looked up at them.

  "They look strong, like Mother," she said. "It doesn't seem quite solonesome here with them. Maybe we shall have to stay here all night."

  "Don't you think we could find Uncle Phaon's house by ourselves?" askedDion.

  "Oh," cried Daphne, shuddering, "never! We couldn't even by daylight, andnow it is almost dark."

  "Anyway," said Dion, "we're safer being lost here than anywhere else inAthens. It's where the Gods live. Maybe they'll take care of us."

  "We might sacrifice something on an altar," said Daphne, "and pray, theway Father does."

  "We haven't a thing to sacrifice," answered Dion. "We haven't anything toeat even for ourselves."

  They were so tired and hungry and discouraged by this time that theydidn't say another word. They just sat still in the gathering darkness,and wished with all their hearts that they had never come to Athens atall.

  They were startled by hearing footsteps above them on the porch. Thestone balustrade was so high, and the children were crouched so far belowit near the ground, that they could not be seen by people above unlessthey should lean over the balustrade and look down. The twins snuggledcloser together in the darkness and kept very still. Suddenly they heardvoices above them; there were two men on the porch talking together inlow tones. One was the voice of Lampon the priest; the children bothrecognized it at once.

  "Look over there," it was saying. "Pericles is building new temples inAthens, to the dishonor and neglect of the oldest and most sacred of all.Pericles does not fear the Gods, even though they have raised him tohis proud position. He is a traitor to our holy office, and I hate him."

  "You speak strongly," said the other voice.

  "It isn't only that he neglects the old temples and refuses to restorethem, but he actually builds a new one before our eyes on this holyhill," went on the voice of Lampon. "It is not only an impiety in itself,but an affront to you and your holy office. I myself saw his scorn andindifference this very day. I was called to his house by his pious wifeto see a prodigy. A ram was brought from his country estate that had butone horn,--a marvel, truly!"

  "How did you read the portent?" asked the other voice.

  "As favorable to him, of course," answered Lampon. "What else could I dowith Pericles himself watching me, and with that old fox of an Anaxagorasby his side?"

  "The Gods punish people who do not believe in them," said the othervoice, "and we are the priests of the Gods. Should we not do all we canto bring such wicked men to justice?"

  "Yes, but," said Lampon, "the people adore Pericles. They would notbelieve evil of him. We must act carefully, lest we ourselves receive theblow that we aim at him."

  "I have found out that he went to the boat-race at the Piraeus thisafternoon," answered the voice of the other priest, "and after that hegoes to a banquet at the house of the rich Hipponicus, and will returnlate to his home. If we could waylay him and make him angry, he might saysomething blasphemous to us, not knowing we were priests. He might evenoffer us violence! Disrespect to a priest is disrespect to the Gods, andno man in Athens, not even Pericles, can insult the representatives ofthe Gods and live."

  "A good idea, truly, and worthy of the priest of Erechtheus," said thevoice of Lampon.

  "We will doff our priestly robes and appear as men of the people.Pericles must not suspect who we are, or of course he will be too cleverto allow himself to speak the insults we know only too well he would liketo offer us as priests. We can each be witness for the other; and hecannot deny our report."

  If Daphne had not sneezed just at this moment, everything that happenedafter that would almost surely have been quite different. But she didsneeze! The air was damp and chill, she was sitting on a cold stone step,and a loud "kerchoo" suddenly startled the two plotters on the porch. Thechildren were so frightened they could not move, but they rolled up theireyes, and over the edge of the balustrade they saw two shadowy headslooking down at them.

  "Who's there?" said the voice of Lampon.

  The children were too frightened to answer.

  "Bring a torch," cried the voice of the other priest, and soon the twoheads were again hanging over the balustrade and a torch in the hand ofLampon threw light on the upturned faces of the Twins.

  "Who are you?" said the priest of the Erechtheum, "and what are you doinghere at this hour, you miserable little spies?"

  "Oh, please, we aren't spies at all," cried Dion. He didn't know what aspy was, but he thought it safe to say he wasn't one. "We are lost."

  "Come up here at once." It was Lampon who spoke.

  The children, half dead with terror, went round to the other side of theporch, climbed the steps to the entrance, and stood trembling before thepriests. Lampon lifted his torch and looked at them carefully.

  "Didn't I see you this morning at the house of Pericles?" he askedsternly. The Twins nodded.

  "Who sent you here?" he asked.

  "Nobody sent us. We're lost," cried poor Daphne.

  "Humph!" said the other priest. "That's a likely story."

  "Did you hear what we were talking about?" asked Lampon. He took Dion bythe shoulder, and as he did not answer at once, shook him.

  "Come, yes or no," he said.

  "Ye-e-es," stammered Dion.

  The two priests looked at each other, and Lampon said: "They are thechildren of the farmer who brought the lamb to Pericles. They live on hisfarm."

  "It will be a long time before they see the farm again," answered theother shortly. "They say they are lost. Very well, we will see to it thatthose words are made true. What do you say to shipping them to Africa?They would make a pretty pair of slaves, and a ship sails for Alexandriato-morrow. It can easily be arranged. I know the captain."

  "A good idea!" said Lampon. "Since these children are in a sense wards ofPericles, they are for that reason the more likely to be enemies of theGods. It would be an act of piety to send them where they could do noharm by betraying the secrets of the temple."

  The children were speechless with fright. Their two captors pushed themroughly before them into the temple and drove them through the greatgloomy interior, lighted only by a few torches, to a small closet-likeroom somewhere in the rear. As they walked, huge black shadows cast bythe torch of Lampon danced grotesquely before them. At the closet the twopriests stopped to unlock the door.

  "Here is a safe harbor for you for the night," said Lampon, as he pushedthe children into the closet. "To-morrow we may find a yet safer placefor you," and with these words he locked them in.

  The children were so exhausted by hunger and fright that, even thoughthey were Spartans, they sat down on the cold stone floor and wept ineach other's arms.

  "Oh, Mother, Mother," sobbed Daphne, "why did we ever leave you?"

  "Don't you remember," said Dion, struggling with his tears, "that thesigns were favorable? It must be all right somehow, for the word Motherheard was 'Go.'"

  "If I only hadn't sneezed!" sobbed Daphne.

  "But a sneeze is always a good sign," said Dion.

  "Well, anyway," said Daphne bravely, though her voice shook and her teethchattered, "crying won't do any good. Let's feel around and see if thereis anything in this room."

  It was dark, except for a gray patch of dim light from a window high upin the wall. Dion and Daphne kept close tog
ether and went carefully roundthe room, feeling the wall with their hands. Dion stumbled againstsomething. It was a chest where the priests' robes were kept.

  "Do you suppose we could move it?" whispered Daphne. "If we could, maybewe could look out of the window and see where we are."

  They both got on the same side of it and pushed with all their strength.The chest moved a little and made a horrible screeching sound on thestone floor.

  "Sh-sh-sh," whispered Daphne, as if the chest could hear. They held theirbreath to listen for footsteps. There was no sound outside. They waited alittle while and pushed again. Again the chest screeched, and again theystopped to listen. After many such efforts it was finally moved underthe window, and the two sprang up on the top of it to look out. Bystanding on tiptoe they could just see over the sill. There was no glass,for there was no window-glass anywhere at that time, and the cool nightair blew in on their faces. The Acropolis was bathed in moonlight. Therewas no sound outside, and no one in sight anywhere. Apparently the worldwas asleep. Suddenly the stillness was broken by the hoot of an owl, andthey could see the great bird flying toward them.

  "It's Athena's own bird," whispered Dion, "and it's flying from the east.That means good luck. Oh, maybe we can get away from this dreadful placeafter all!"

  "Let's pray to Athena," quavered Daphne. "We can't sacrifice, but maybeshe'll hear us just the same."

  The two little prisoners spread their hands toward the sky, and Dionwhispered, "Help us, O Athena, just the way you helped Perseus kill theGorgon."

  "Give us wisdom to get out of this place and to save Pericles from thesewicked men," added Daphne.

  "Sh-sh," whispered Dion, "they're priests."

  "They are wicked, anyway, whatever they are, to want to kill Pericles,"said Daphne stoutly. Then she added: "Maybe that's why we're here! Maybewe could warn him about the priests if we could just get out. Anyway,we're Spartans, and we've got to stop crying and do our best."

  Dion put his hands on the window-sill and gave a jump.

  "I believe I could get up here if you'd give me a boost," he said.

  "But how shall I getup?" asked Daphne. "There'll be nobody to boost me."

  "I'll pull you," said Dion.

  "You might fall out backwards, or fall in head first doing it," saidDaphne.

  "Let's try, anyway," said Dion.

  Daphne boosted, and Dion climbed, and in another minute he was sitting onthe window-sill with one foot hanging down outside and the other firmlybraced against the side of the window. He held on with his left hand and,leaning over, was able with his right to clasp Daphne. She hooked herleft arm on his, put her hand on the sill and leaped. The next instantshe was lying on her stomach over the sill, and Dion was helping her to asitting position.

  "It isn't so very far to drop," whispered Dion. "I've dropped from thebalustrade into the court lots of times at home."

  "All right," said Daphne, "You drop first, and I'll follow."

  Dion turned, stuck his head out as far as possible, and looked in everydirection. Then he let himself down from the sill, hung to it for amoment by his hands, and dropped like a cat to the ground. He flattenedhimself against the wall of the temple, and in another moment Daphne wassafe beside him.

  "Now," whispered Dion, "we'll run like everything around behind thetemple to the statue of Athena."

  Hand in hand through the moonlight they sped, and were soon in the shadowof the great bronze statue.

  "Let's wait here a minute and look around," whispered Dion.

  They crouched down in the shadow and looked back. Their hearts almoststopped beating when they saw two cloaked figures emerge from the temple,and they recognized Lampon and the priest of the Erechthcum. The two menpassed so near the statue that the children could plainly hear theirvoices, though they spoke in low tones.

  "We will wait at the head of the street of the Amphorae," they heardLampon say. "He is sure to pass that way. It will relieve my tongue totell him some things in the guise of a common ruffian which I could notsay as a priest."

  "You did well to recognize those brats," said the priest of theErechtheum. "They might have upset all our plans if we had not kept themsafe."

  The two brats behind the statue shook their fists at the retreatingfigures. They waited until the sound of footsteps had died away, and thenthey made a quick dash from the shadow and flew down the inclineup which the procession had come in the morning. In a moment they were atthe bottom. They could just see the dark figures of the priestsdisappearing toward the north. The children shrank back again intothe shadow.

  "What shall we do next?" said Daphne. "We don't know our way anywhere atall. We don't even know where our uncle lives."

  "What was the name of that rich man at whose house they said Pericles wasgoing to the banquet?" asked Dion, with a sudden inspiration.

  "Oh, dear," said Daphne, "I can't think. Let me see. Hip---Hip--"

  "Ponicus," finished Dion, "that's it! Surely any Athenian would knowwhere a rich man like Hipponicus lives. We must just go along until wemeet some one we can ask."

  "Suppose we should meet Lampon!" shuddered Daphne.

  "We shan't," said Dion; "they've gone off that way. They are going to thestreet of the Amphorae. We should recognize that street. It has the longrow of vases, don't you remember? We went through it this morning."

  "If we can find the house of Hipponicus and warn Pericles about thepriests, I'm sure he'll take care of us," said Daphne.

  Encouraged by this thought, the two children passed boldly out of theshadow and ran westward. They passed a few people, but for the most part,the street was deserted, and they met no one they dared speak to. At lastthey came to the city wall and a gate.

  "Now what shall we do?" murmured Daphne. "We can't go any farther thisway."

  "Why, I know this place," Dion whispered joyfully. "It's the gate thatopens into the paved road to the Piraeus. It's the very gate we camethrough this morning! The luck is surely with us now."

  "Let's stay here and speak to the first person that comes along," saidDaphne. "I'm sure it will be the right one."

  The two children waited with beating hearts. A tall figure now appearedwalking toward the gate, followed by a slave carrying a torch. As the mandrew near, the children went boldly out to meet him.

  "Can you tell us the way to the house of Hipponicus?" asked Dionpolitely.

  The man stopped, and the slave held the torch so his master could see thefaces of the children.

  "By all the Gods," said the man, "what are you children doing out here atthis time of the night?"

  "The Stranger! Anaxagoras!" cried Daphne. "Oh, I knew Athena would helpus!" and the two children threw themselves into his arms, so great wastheir relief and joy.

  They told him the whole story of their adventure on the Acropolis and whythey wanted to find the house of Hipponicus.

  "Well," said Anaxagoras, when they had finished, "I live in the Piraeus.I was on my way home, but now I shall go with you to the house ofHipponicus, and you shall tell your story to Pericles himself."